Rush Hour 3 (2007)

Wow, it has been 9 years since the first installment of the Rush Hour franchise was out in the cinemas. While the debut Rush Hour 1 (1998) was about Jackie Chan getting lost and confused in the streets of Los Angeles, and the Rush Hour 2 (2001) was Chris Tucker's turn to make a fool of himself in Hong Kong, it make sense to use a neutral ground in this third installment so that both of them can embarrass themselves. Well, this time the playground of choice would be Paris, in the land of American-hating, France. You can expect some anti-American jokes and jibes being thrown in.

Plot wise, it offers nothing new. You know, Lee (Jackie Chan) needs to protect someone. That person got hurted/killed, so he needs to find the culprit. Then Carter (Chris Tucker) feels the need to tag along to "help" Lee.

The jokes also felt very repetitive, with some being recycled and modified from the previous installments. Not doubt most of them are funny, but after a while you do get uneasy with all the sexist and racist jokes, especially those from Carter.


The heroines in this how are both newcomers to the franchise. Famous Chinese actress, Zhang Jingchu (of Seven Swords and other major China's movies) plays the now grown-up daughter of Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma). She was ok, but her acting can be slightly over-dramatic in my humble opinion.

The other would be Noemie Lenoir, a French supermodel cum actress playing a French woman of course. She is definitely hot, and her acting was admirable as well. We might see her more often on Hollywood movies in the near future I reckon.


So despite the shortcomings that I have mentioned, this movie still packs enough quality for us to check it out on screen. Scenes involving Jackie Chan's "kungfu" and stunts are always enjoyable to watch, and there are few really hilarious moments involving Chris Tucker. But some might say Rush Hour franchise has lost its charm and drive. It is quite enjoyable, especially if one wish to just lay back and watch a simple but fun movie, in my opinion. I do hope they won't be making Rush Hour 4 though.

Oh please stay put for the cut scenes at the end. Beats the movie itself easily. Kekeke...so dang funny. I don't have to think twice to purchase the DVD if they compile those cut scenes into an hour clip.

Starring: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Zhang Jingchu, Noemie Lenoir, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tzi Ma, Yvan Attal, Roman Polanski

Director: Roman Polanski

Genre: Action, Comedy

Running time: 90 minutes

Official website: www.rushhourmovie.com

Tai Jor Lah's rating: 68/100 (can be higher for Jackie Chan's fans)

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

One of the movie that I have anticipated the most, as I am one big The Simpsons' fan. So lo and behold, I went with a couple of friends last Friday to the Golden Village Cinemas (GSC) at Midvalley Megamall. After avoiding the looooooong queue at the box office by purchasing tickets online, we gingerly made our way into Hall 17 at about 11:20pm.

I have chosen 3 seats on the last row (furthest from the screen) to avoid the nightmare of seats being kick for 90 minutes from the back. But as soon as I sat on our seats, I almost immediately can smell something funny. To our horror, after about 30 minutes into the movie, our backs started to be itchy. Yucks!! GSC management, if you happen to be reading this review, please get your underpaid and overworked Bangladeshis to wash those darn dirty and smelly seats!!

Ok sorry for diverting so far, back to the movie itself now. I have to admit, the first 5 minutes of the show was way below my high expectation. I thought some of the jokes were pretty lame and lack the grand entry scene that I was hoping for. Oh at the beginning, Homer sarcastically took a jibe of us for paying to watch what we can get for free on TV!!

But after the minor hiccup, the rest of the movie was a bliss, thank goodness. This movie is basically a extended episode of The Simpsons that we have grew familiar with on TV. You got a full 87 minutes of the usual satire jokes, about almost everything under the sun. From politics, Hillary Clinton was the running mate for THE mouse (from the movie within the movie, Itchy & Scratchy Show) in a presidential campaign; to environmental issues ala-Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth.

One particular scene that I reckon is the funniest in the whole movie was when Bart Simpson skateboarding in the nude. Totally cracked me up, as disturbing the scene might be.

I am not going to tell you more about the movie's many scenes or the plot, as it will throw away the element of surprise and spontaneity.

I truly enjoyed the movie, although I have a feeling that this movie will appeal more to Simpsons' fans as compared to other movie-goers. So if you don't like the TV show version, my advise is you might want to avoid this as well. Turning a TV hit-show into a full-length movie is not an easy endeavour, but I thought the director, David Silverman and the team done it darn well.

Oh, do stick around after the credits for some extras. Just ignore those cleaners walking around you. Kekeke...enjoy!

Starring: (voices) Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, Marcia Wallace, Pamela Hayden, Joe Mantegna, Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks Director: David Silverman Genre: Comedy, Animation Running time: 87 minutes
Official Website: www.simpsonsmovie.com

Tai Jor Lah's rating: 82/100 (Simpson's fan's biased rating)

The Guardian

Been wanting to watch Night at The Museum for weeks liau, so planned to watch it that night. But somewhat unsurprisingly, tickets for the show all sold out. At first I was pretty disappointed, as there wasn't really any good alternatives to choose from. There were a number of those typical Asian horror flicks, and a couple of Malay movies as well.

Then I saw the title "The Guardian", and I immediately thought of what my friend, Gillian told me a few days before about the show. She said the show is very nice, very moving and meaningful. I was pretty skeptical bout it as I'm certainly not a big fan of Ashton Kutcher, or even the evergreen Kevin Costner. Some of their previous below-par movies left a bad taste for me. And I'm also not fond of rescue flicks and anything that have to do with the ocean (think Perfect Storm, Waterworld and Deep Blue Sea).

But oh what the heck I thought, watching this show is certainly a much better option than watching Cicak-Man (no disrespect to the local movie industry) , or watching those horror flicks (I'm currently abstaining myself from horror movies due to what perceived as spiritual attacks), or even re-watch Curse of the Golden Flower or Confession of Pain.

* The movie's 2 main characters, teacher Ben Randall (K.Costner), and student Jake Fischer (A.Kutcher)

And guess what? Turns out The Guardian is very much a gem I would say. The acting is convincing (yes, even Ashton Kutcher's), the action/rescue scenes are intense and realistic, and the funny scenes are, well, funny! The storyline is pretty predictable some might say, but somehow you will be glued to your chair, wanting more of it.

* One of the many rescue scenes. Look at the bodies floating around the rescue swimmer (Kevin Costner)

In this movie, you will see how boys learn to be men, how people learn to cope with traumatic moments in their lives, how boys falling in love (and falling out) with girls, how men valiantly trying to save others, and sacrificing one self for others.

* Melissa Sagemiller, acting as Ashton's love interest in this movie.

Well, I wouldn't wanna spoils it all by telling you everything or even the ending of this movie. Do trust me, please do go and watch it. Chances are you'll be lovin' it as much as I do!

P/S: The US Coast Guard rescue swimmers' motto reminds me alot of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for all of us. The motto is "So Others May Live".

Starring: Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Sela Ward, Melissa Sagemiller
Director: Andrew Davis
Genre: Action-Drama

Tai Jor Lah's rating: 78/100

Casino Royale (2006)

I've just watched the latest James Bond movie, The Casino Royale. Kekeke....need awhile to adjust to the fact that the new James Bond is a blondie. While I must say the new boy Daniel Craig looks much more tougher, charming and stylish than the previous Bond; Pierce Brosnan, I still feel that Daniel Craig lacks the charisma or the X factor to be an ideal Bond. Or maybe because Sean Connery sets the bar too high!

Oh well, I wouldn't say this is the best Bond movie, it is still a very enjoyable movie. There is a very cool chasing-after-the-villain scene, plus lots of poker playing. I thought all those was awesome, but the lack of cool gadgets, Q, crazy car chases, cheesy one liners (there were a few but not much), and the Bond theme playing not until the end credits definitely took a lot out of it. And as usual there are a lot of love scenes and kissing as well, but our lovely and protective government make sure all of 'em are censored from our innocent eyes!

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical back when the movie was first announced, however, I do enjoyed this one.

The different approach to the series was very nice to see, as the past few entires have basically been all the same, with near-impossible stuff occuring in them, which just made the movies laughable. I like this one because it was more realistic, to an extent. It brought new life into the series, which had become a little too cliche as of late.

Anyway, for all those Bond's fans out there, you have a chance to be upclose and personal with Daniel Craig himself. Just tune in to the Ticket's Moviedate on Wednesday, 22nd Nov, 8pm. If you are lucky, you could win a trip for 2 to Sydney to see Casino Royale Premiere together with Daniel Craig and the rest of the stars (Eva Green is hot!!).

My Rating: 75/100