Movies : Upside Down, Flight, Premium Rush & Hope Springs

movies again!

the second movie-round for 2013 starts of with a fantastic romantic sci-fi ‘upside down’, the emotion-high drama ‘flight’, action-packed ‘premium rush’, and the romantic comedy ‘hope springs’.

 

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how does LOVE overcome challenges in the romantic stories we know of? romeo and juliet defies their feuding family just to be together. ghazali and engku zaleha are separated by darjat. peter parker and mary jane couldn’t be together in the beginning for fear that spiderman’s enemies might hurt her.

in this romantic sci-fi ‘upside down’, the LOVE in this fantastic movie is separated – by GRAVITY. 

the premise of this sci-fi romance is that the two lovers live in two separate worlds – one on top of the other but are close enough that they can build ONE really tall building that connects the two worlds for business purposes, but citizens of both worlds can never socialize, and are bound by the gravity of their home planet.

(don’t worry, in the opening scene of this movie, this concept is explained very clearly by the hero. it’s all extremely fascinating, really!)

the two sweethearts adam and eden met for the first time when they were just kids, on the tallest point of their world, and from then on fell in love. how could this relationship be possible, when gravity pulls each on their own ground, that they can never live on the other’s world? their love seemed impossible, and yet, one would risk everything to be with their one true love.

jim sturgess as adam is just so adorable in his pursuit to find eden (kirsten dunst), and she is just the same sweet and charming young lady we know in her movies, despite all the new young hot names popping up in hollywood like amy adams, amanda seyfried, rachel mcadams and many more. the two have fantastic chemistry, and a joy to watch.

the cinematography is amazing – well, green screen yes – but still! it reminds me of that cool scene from ‘inception’ where the city landscape sort off rolled up 90 degrees. awesome. in ‘upside down’, the whole city with skyscrapers and millions of lights are always right above their heads. what a sight. creative genius!

if you were a science-freak watching ‘upside down’, please don’t be a party-pooper by pointing out all the illogical points regarding gravity, planet movements or whatever intellectual crap you have. just chill out and enjoy the sweet romance from the adorable leads; kirsten dunst and james sturgess as they defy gravity – literally – to be together.

highly recommended. you will cry, you will laugh, you will cheer with the hero, and feel his frustration. you will say YES way to go and oh NO at the suspense! but above all, you will sigh. oh, how sweet!

 

 

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i would say that ‘flight’ is an OK movie, and the only thing that made it interesting is denzel washington. no wonder he is the only thing smack right on the movie poster.

as always, denzel washington delivers a powerful performance full of emotions and the usual swagger. if it weren’t for him, ‘flight’ to me would just be another movie about an alcoholic pilot accused of causing death when the plane he flies went down.

denzel’s character piloted a flight that went wrong – 6 people ended up dead from the crash. some said noone could’ve landed the plane the way he did or more people might end up dead. he saved them! on the other hand, he also had been drinking. drugs were involved. he is forced to face his own demons – admit his problem, seek help, falling from grace, or cover-up everything, play the blame game and walk as a hero? what will he do?

i guess i’m not interested in movies about people battling alcoholism or drugs. boring.

i would recommend watching this movie once, just to know what it’s about, and of course if you’re a denzel washington fan. or if you’re a pilot. or have once been on a plane.

 

 

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a surprisingly good movie that i enjoyed watching very very much. ‘premium rush’ is a non-stop action-packed movie without a boring moment. the whole movie just speeds up just like the characters who are all mostly moving fast on super-speed bicycle in the middle of a busy manhattan city streets.

the title ‘premium rush’ refers to the name they give any package or letter that is important, super-urgent, and must arrive 5 minutes ago.

wilee is sort of a courier guy – on bicycle. yup, instead of sending packages and letters using large trucks or cars, he cycles. one day, he picked up an envelope to be delivered fast – little did he know he was about to get involved in one serious cat-and-mouse chase with a dirty cop who wants that envelope as badly as he’s willing to kill the cyclist.

from the get-go the cyclist dictates the pace of the movie – fast, smooth and slick. no room for mistake. joseph gordon-levitt as wilee makes bicycle looks freaking cool and sexy! he must’ve developed some seriously *sick* thigh muscles just for this role. now i wanna take up cycling!

a unique subject matter – a cyclist-courier guy in a fast-paced chase through a busy city with a mystery to solve – what’s with that envelope? a must-watch!

 

 

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this endearing movie ‘hope springs’ reminds me of another ‘elderly love’ movie ‘last chance harvey’ starring dustin hoffman and emma thompson. both movies are charming and no less passionate than the ones with young lovers!

and before you turn away from this movie like, ‘eww old-wrinkly-people-makin-out’ – let me just tell you that this is one of the sweetest, most honest romantic movies i’ve seen in years. if you’re married for a fairly number of years – be it 5 or 15 years, you would totally get this movie, especially if you’ve experienced rough patches here and there in your marriage. i mean, sedangkan lidah lagi tergigit kan?

kay and arnold are no longer sleeping in the same bedroom. after a broken back, arnold slept in the guest room, and the routine sort off just became habit. their lives have become perfunctory – just going through the motion – wake up, make breakfast, leave for work, have dinner with the kids, yada yada yada. arnold sees nothing wrong, but kay thinks something is missing in their 30-years marriage.

they met a relationship therapist, and so begin an amusing journey of discovering each other once more, learning to listen, finding words to express and of course, falling in love all over again.

as a married couple, our problems might be different then theirs, but there’s always something to learn when it comes to understanding, give and take, and making an effort in a relationship, and ‘hope springs’ might give you a little of that.

it’s about putting the romance back in your marriage. about rekindling the fiery passion that is lost. it’s about going back to the times when you just have to touch each other while driving, watching tv or simply toes-touching as you sit at the dinner table. it’s about looking at the person you’re spending the rest of your life with, and remembering why you badly want to do it in the first place.

and with tommy lee jones and the lovely meryl streep, you can never go wrong. a sweet, sweet story for married couples everywhere.

 

 

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any more movies to recommend? i’m out!