moviefreak

This 2008 comedy is pretty funny, though it’s rather crude as it deals with drugs. The screenplay is written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Seth Rogen also plays the main character, btw. Pineapple Express is the name of a drug combo that’s pretty “dangerous” to the brain. You can see stupid actions done by those people who have smoked Pineapple Express in this movie. This movie is rated R for pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and violence, so parents, beware!!!

However, since it cracks me up in many scenes, I’ll give this one a 7 stars out of 10. My fave scene is when two of the guys get into a “fist” fight and one of them pinches the other guy’s nipples (yeah, both of them). Then the other one bites the first guy’s ear. What kind of a fist fight is that? HA HA HA HA HA HA…But that’s what makes it funny anyway.

Remember, though: STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS!!!! STAY HEALTHY!!!!!!!!!!! 

The Story:

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a marijuana addict. He works as a courier for court orders and he has a girlfriend who’s still in High School. He often visits Saul Silver’s (James Franco) apartment ‘coz he’s the drug dealer. When Dale visits Saul this time, he introduces him to Pineapple Express. They smoke marijuana together and then Dale goes out to do his work. He has to give some court order paperwork to Ted Jones (Gary Cole). While smoking Pineapple Express in his car outside Ted’s house, he witnesses a murder. Ted and a police woman shoots an Asian guy several times. Shocked and scared to death, Dale throws away his Pineapple Express and drives as fast as he can to Saul’s place.

After talking to Saul (who’s stoned), Dale finds out that the only person who’s dealing Pineapple Express is Saul and that Ted is actually the one selling the Pineapple Express to Saul. So now Dale realizes his mistake (when he threw out the marijuana) and he believes that they’re both in danger. In a panic, he tells Saul to get out of the house with him and run away to a safe place.

Funny, stupid incidents happen after this as both guys are sought after by bad guys. Thus begins the cat-and-mouse chase. The problem becomes more complicated as the bad guys find out about Dale’s girlfriend and Dale is trying so hard to keep her alive without sounding like a lunatic who tells the story about witnessing a murder and being chased by drug dealers. Who gets caught and who survives?

Here’s the trailer:

First of all I’d love to THANK YOU to all of you who’ve been visiting me and dropping your EC cards. We’ve just moved to our new apartment and our internet connection is finally up and running again. I’ll drop on you people bit by bit every day, okay? We still have so many boxes to unpack and things to organize he he he…

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Before we moved, we had time to watch this movie. It’s a movie that is based on the Nancy Drew novels. I myself have never read them, but they’re quite popular in Sodankylä’s library (Sodankylä is a small village up north in Finland). I’ve been helping out in the library and I notice that many teenagers lend Nancy Drew books (of course the translated ones!). Anyway, since they’re based on novels on a young detective girl, I find that that some parts are hard to believe, but then again what can you expect from such stories, right? I mean, I grew up reading and loving The Famous Five (or “Lima Sekawan” in Indonesian language) and back then I just enjoyed the stories.


I like the fact that this movie isn’t about the usual teen theme: sex, but it is still valid since the main character is supposedly “different” from the rest of the students in the big city and yet she can still make a difference and she still stays true to herself. IMO that’s a good message!!! So overall I’ll give this movie a 6.8 stars out of 10. Remember, though, that it’s rated PG for mild violence, thematic elements and brief language.

The Story:

Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts, daughter of Eric Roberts) lives with her father Carson Drew (Tate Donovan) live in River Heights, a small town. Her mother died years back. Nancy loves solving mysteries and she’s well-known in River Heights as a teenage detective. She has all sorts of gadgets to help her escape trouble. Nancy has a best friend in River Heights named Ned (Max Thieriot). It’s clear from the start that Ned is into Nancy and Nancy is also into Ned, though they don’t really date each other.

Anyway, Carson wants to get some more money, so he wants to go to California with Nancy to find out what kind of job he can get there. He’s warned Nancy that he wants her to be a “normal” teenager while they’re in California and he wants her to enjoy life and party a little while they’re there. So off they go to a house where Nancy has picked for them to stay. She’s nicely chosen a house with a mystery to solve. It’s the house where a famous actress used to live in. Her name is Dehlia Draycott.

25 years ago Dehlia made a disappearing act for 5 months even though her career was at its peak at that time. After she came back, she held a huge party, but then she was found dead in her swimming pool. Nancy is eager to find out what happened and who did it.

Meanwhile, in her new school, she’s seen as an “eccentric old-fashioned” girl who loves wearing old-fashioned type of clothes and ensemble. Nobody welcomes her except Corky (Josh Flitter), a 12-year-old boy who has a crush on her. He gets jealous when Ned comes to California for a little while and helps Nancy in trying to solve the Dehlia Draycott’s case.

While trying to solve the mystery, Nancy runs into different kinds of trouble as there are people who apparently don’t want the case to be solved. Who are those people? What is the secret behind Dehlia’s disappearance? How can Nancy be accepted by her schoolmates?

OK, here’s the trailer:

Just by reading the title, I could guess what it was about, though I didn’t expect the ending to be the way it was. This movie is shot most of the times at night and the killer in the movie only spoke two short phrases during the ENTIRE movie, so he mostly shows his “cruelty” by his gesture, body language, and facial expressions. Cool!!! This movie is also very gruesome and grisly in some places (rated R), so be warned!!!

This movie makes me wonder about some things that are revealed at the end of it, but when I found out that it was based on a short story by Clive Barker, I understood more why it was like that. And I also find some explanation about the ending, which you can find here. Overall, I’ll give this movie a 7 stars out of 10. I don’t like the ending too much, but still this movie shows you COOL angles of some scenes, so THUMBS up for that effect!!!

The Story:

Leon (Bradley Cooper) is a wannabe professional photographer who is trying hard to be known. He lives with his girlfriend Maya (Leslie Bibb) in New York. Through a friend named Jurgis (Roger Bart), Leon is introduced to Susan Hoff (Brooke Shields), a gallery owner who has an eye for art. Susan gives Leon a few suggestions on how to take better pictures, so he follows her advice.

He begins to roam the city at nights to take better pictures to show to Susan. One night he sees a young woman being bothered by a gang of guys. He keeps on taking pictures of the incident and then he shows the gang that there’s a video surveillance camera that records the incident, so he manages to save the young woman. The young woman then gets inside the midnight train and there she meets her death. Leon manages to take a picture of the killer’s ring as the young woman gets inside the train.

When Leon reads the newspaper article about the young woman’s disappearance, he begins to worry. So he goes there again at night to find that guy. He follows the guy and takes pictures of him. Turns out the guy is a butcher who works in a meat factory. He tries to report his hunch to a police officer, but to no avail. He’s got no proof about anything.

So one night he decides to get inside the train along with the butcher. The butcher always waits for the last train to come and then he butchers all the people who are inside that last train. He then takes away their eyes, fingernails, and teeth. Then he hangs them upside down, just like the meat hanging in the meat factory. Leon is shocked by what he sees, but he manages to be brave enough to take pics of the whole incident.

However, of course the butcher finds out, since the train never stops in any platform except the very last one. The next thing Leon knows, he wakes up in a strange place with marks on his chest. He comes back home to a worried Maya and explains to her that he has just witnessed such an incident, but the camera is taken away by the killer, so he can’t go to the police.

Maya decides to investigate this with Jurgis. They decide to go to the hotel where the butcher stays in to get Leon’s camera and proof of the killings (Maya knows where he stays because Leon has taken so many pictures of the butcher, including when he follows the butcher getting inside that hotel).

Will Maya and Jurgis be able to find the camera? What is exactly going on? Why does the butcher do that? What for? Who will survive in the end and who will be killed? Expect plenty of twists at the end of the movie!

Hubby bought the DVD since it was on a discount, so we can watch the bonus part, as well. When watching the movie, I wondered how true the description of life was in the movie. I found the answer in the bonus part. Turns out that due to the gap between the rich and the poor in Latin America, there have been plenty “Secuestro” and “Secuestro Express”.

Basically Secuestro Express is a type of faster kidnapping, so there can be up to 3 different people being kidnapped for ransom by the perpetrators and they usually ask for a smaller amount of ransom. Secuestro is a slower type of kidnapping where the victims can be kept for months or even years while the perpetrators ask for a bigger amount of ransom.

So as you can guess by now, this movie is NOT a feel-good movie. I’ll give this movie an overall 7 stars out of 10.

The Story:

Carla (Mia Maestro) and her boyfriend Martin (Jean Paul Leroux) are enjoying their night out in the car as three guys are trying to find victims to kidnap. The three guys are Trece (Carlos Julio Molina), Budu (Pedro Perez), and Niga (Carlos Madera). Among the three, Niga is the most compassionate one, whereas Budu is the roughest one. So those three guys kidnap Carla and Martin, tell them to get in the car, and they call Carla’s and Martin’s fathers to ask for ransom.

As they force Martin to get some money from an ATM, another robber with a gun comes closer to Martin (who is standing alone in front of the ATM) and tries to get the money. The helpless Martin tries to explain that he’s a victim of kidnapping, but the man doesn’t care about it. Then Budu realizes what’s going on, so he shoots the robber and they run away from the scene of crime with the car.

After that, they visit Marcelo (Ermahn Ospina), a gay drug dealer to buy some stash. They blindfold Martin and Carla while they do the transaction. Marcelo asks for some money and half an hour with Martin.

Something happens while Martin is left at Marcelo’s place (I’m not going to spoil it for you). To cut the story short, they all leave the place afterwards to go to a store. They want Martin to buy five Rolex watches with his credit card. Martin and Trece leave together to the store while Carla, Budu, and Niga stay in the car. Realizing that there are many cops in the area, Martin warns Trece to set him free or he’ll shout at the cops that he’s kidnapped. Trece decides to let him go since Martin doesn’t even care even if Trece kills Carla.

So now Carla is left alone in the kidnappers’ hands. What will happen to her? Will she be set free in the end? How about Budu’s lust? He keeps on trying to get into her pants. Will Carla be violated by Budu? What about Martin? What will happen to him?

Note:

I can’t help feeling frustrated and sad while watching the movie, especially while following the twists and turns. This movie really plays with my emotions, so I guess it’s a good movie after all. If it’s not good, it won’t be able to make me feel like I’m a part of it, right?

This movie is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

The theme is about one of parents’ worst nightmares: human trafficking. Plus the main character is played by Liam Neeson, my fave actor HO HO HO HO HO… It deserves an 8.5 stars out of 10. There’s NOT a boring second at all in the movie, but remember that it’s rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language.

The Story:

Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a former government agent (more specifically a preventer - someone who prevents bad things from happening). He’s very meticulous and he’s now retired since he wants to make up for the lost time with his daughter. His 17-year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) now lives with her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) and very rich stepfather Stuart (Xander Berkeley).

Kim wants to go with Amanda (Katie Cassidy) to watch U2’s worldwide tour around Europe, but since she’s under 18 years old, she needs Bryan’s signature. At first Bryan is against it, since after all he’d seen around the world (all the bad people he met at his job), he is worried about the prospect of letting two girls be on a trip together far away from home. But after some thinking, he relents with the condition that Kim is supposed to contact him every day to make sure that he knows she’s okay.

When Kim and Amanda land at the airport in Paris, a cute guy named Peter (Nicolas Giraud) tries to befriend them and they share a cab together. Thus Peter knows where they’re staying. Turns out that Peter is a spotter for an Albanian group of human traffickers. When Kim is on the phone with Bryan in the bathroom, a few guys come inside the apartment and kidnap Amanda. Bryan knows that Kim is going to be taken away, so he tells her to describe the guys on the phone as best as she can while he records the conversation.

And true as prediction, Kim is taken away. Bryan flies to Paris right away in order to find Kim. Will he be able to find her? Of course he will. But still the long journey to find Kim will keep you at the edge of your seat, especially because the Paris police department is after him since he’s created chaos here and there as he tries to find Kim. 

Note:

The theme of the movie is really disturbing in a way, since the girls being kidnapped are young travellers who are then being drugged and sold as prostitutes (as it is cheaper than trying to seduce girls from other countries to work as nannies). And they put the virgins on auctions, can you believe it? It’s so sad to think that it happens in the world. So sad.

This movie is a good reminder that we have to be careful with promises of jobs abroad, because I know that some village girls in Indonesia have been promised to get jobs abroad, but then they are actually sold as prostitutes. 

I’m a HUGE fan of Saw ever since I watched the first one. Of course Saw 1 is THE BEST of all since I didn’t know what to expect yet. But still Saw 5 is good and enjoyable to watch. It’s still gory, sickly cruel, unpredictable and the cleverness of the plot still shocks me (that’s why it’s rated R). I’ll give this movie an 8 stars out of 10. 

The Story:

This sequel tells the story of Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) other apprentice other than Amanda Young in the previous sequel. Remember Agent Strahm (Scott Paterson) who got “trapped” in a room with Jigsaw as he took his last breath? Well, the beginning of the movie show us how Agent Strahm gets out of the room and then he’s being knocked out by Jigsaw’s other apprentice. As in the DVD cover above, that’s what happens next to Agent Strahm. Fortunately he is able to get out and stay alive. 

Meanwhile, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) comes out of the building alive with Jeff Reinhart’s daughter (from Saw 4) and he is hailed as the hero. The wounded Agent Strahm is released from the hospital and he starts digging into old files since he believes that Mark Hoffman is connected to Jigsaw because he is the only one who leaves the building with only a few bruises. 

Everybody thinks that Jigsaw is now dead, so they are all safe from harm. But no sireeeeee…as Mark Hoffman AKA Jigsaw’s apprentice strikes again. Five people are locked in a room to “play the game”. As usual, as they become conscious, then a video with Jigsaw’s doll as the speaker starts giving them instructions on how to survive. They’re told that they’re all connected, but what is the connection between them? You’ll learn about it at the end of the games. As usual, for each “game” they don’t have enough time to think clearly since if they don’t act fast, they’ll die. They have to face 4 games in total. Who will survive and who will die? 

Meanwhile Agent Strahm starts tracing back the old files and the locations where Jigsaw “played the games” and he realizes that his instinct was correct. As Agent Strahms does this, you’ll be taken back to the first meeting between Jigsaw and Mark Hoffman. Will Agent Strahm find Mark Hoffman and capture him? 

Note:

I wouldn’t mind if there’s another sequel to this movie. I’d DEFINITELY watch it!!!