The film is said to be inspired by the book Imperial Life in The Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran but the storyline is all credited to Director Paul Greengrass, who developed the original script. Right from the opening sequences, Green Zone is full of action with frantic camera-work and sharp editing. This is expected, considering the director was also responsible for The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.

General Al Rawi (Yigal Naor): Your government wanted to hear the lie Mr. Miller… they wanted Saddam out and they did exactly what they had to do… this is why you are here…

The plot comes straight out of a conspiracy theory. It makes you wonder whether Green Zone is a work of fiction or a documentary. It is nicely spun thriller that uses the politics of post-war Iraq as the background. It poses questions such as the source of the intelligence data with regards to Saddam’s WMD. In the movie, Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), a veteran CIA operative, told Miller that there were no weapons and it was all a ruse to allow American troops to take over Iraq and install a puppet president.

Miller (Matt Damon): At least tell me how it happened. How does this happ… how does someone like you write something that’s not true? Tell me.

If I’m Matt Damon, I wouldn’t do another movie unless Greengrass directs it. Green Zone is well done and the cast did an excellent job with their parts. It is realistic and unpredictable. Plus there’s no shortage of action in this one. This is one of the great movies about the fake war, right next to The Hurt Locker.

You can tell that Shutter Island is heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock. You wouldn’t find any bright spots in the movie. It is dark and creepy, just what a film noir should be. It is about US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). They go to the mysterious island to investigate a prison break.

Right from the start, Shutter Island is dark and creepy. It started out as a probe on the escape but the movie is really about Teddy’s story and his quest to find the truth. Slowly, Teddy and the viewers are given subtle clues to the puzzle. And just like Teddy, the conclusion blindsides everyone.

Leonardo DiCaprio sure likes to fuck the minds of people watching his movies. Shutter Island and Inception assault people’s senses in a good way. His characters in the two movies can’t let go of their dead wife. In Shutter Island, Teddy’s wife Dolores is played by Michelle Williams.

People might say that I’m just hallucinating but I do think that Leonardo DiCaprio is a good actor. This is evident in Shutter Island. Ben Kingsley also gives out a remarkable performance as Doctor Cawley, the master of Shutter Island.

Shutter Island requires your full attention. It is a thriller that requires the viewer to think. Some people might need to watch it a second time to grasp all the pieces of the puzzle. This might turn off some movie watchers who like watching mindless horror movies.

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio): Which would be worse – to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?

Shutter Island is a must-watch. This makes the book a must-read. It is a complex story that some people might not get. People could get lost in its intricacy. With that said, it is not for everyone. If you want a thought-provoking, gripping thriller, then go watch Shutter Island.

The Housemaid is more of a character study and a satire about classes than an erotic thriller. The plot is simple. Eun Yi (Jun Do Yun) is hired by a rich household as a housemaid. The family members are Hoon (Lee Jung Jae), his pregnant wife Haera (Seo Woo) and their daughter Nami (Ahn Seo Hyun). Seo Woo is expecting a pair of twins, which is the reason why they needed to hire extra help around the house.

Eun Yi is a divorcee and being a housemaid is her chance to improve her life. At first the family treats her well. Nami the daughter became close to her. I first thought that Eun Yi would be the one to seduce Hoon but it’s the other way around. Hoon goes to Eun Yi when his wife can’t satisfy him. His mindset is that money is power and he could get away with it.

Eun Yi is not the typical scheming mistress. You wouldn’t wish for anything bad to happen to her. Jun Do Yun deserves the praises she got for her portrayal in The Housemaid. The viewer would feel the pain Eun Yi went through throughout the movie, especially when she learned about her abortion that led to her suicide.

Seo Woo also did well in the Housemaid. As Haera, she was superficially polite and I enjoyed her transformation after learning about her husband’s betrayal. But she looked a bit young to portray the wife with a pre-teen daughter.

Watching the changes in the household dynamics and the power struggles of the characters made The Housemaid enjoyable to watch. It effectively explored the wickedness of the wealthy. The plot is simple and the twist was not that surprising. A lot of reviews say the original is better. I guess I need to hunt down a copy because I enjoyed watching this version of The Housemaid and the original might blow my mind away.

The police have been on his trail for a long time but fail to catch him. Then one day Joo Yeon (Oh San Ha) becomes his latest victim. She is the daughter of a retired police chief and fiancé of NIS agent Soo Hyun (Lee Byung Hun). This made him decide to go after the killer himself. He promised to avenge the death of his girlfriend no matter what it takes.

I have no complains about the violence and gore in I Saw the Devil. I knew before watching it that it would be bloody as hell and it didn’t disappoint me in that department. Credits must be given to both Choi Min Sik and Lee Byung Hun for their acting as well as for Director Kim Jee Woon.

The plot of I Saw the Devil is good to start with but I guess the director wanted large amounts of brutality and shock value in it. Soo Hyun applied catch and release method so that he could torture Kung Chul more but it became too repetitive and boring at times. There was a moment in the movie when I shouted at Lee Byung Hun to just end it already.

Kyung Chul (Choi Min Sik): Why do you look like you stepped on shit?

And what’s with the ending? Soo Hyun became a monster as well. He shouldn’t have made the kid see his father’s head roll off like that. As a fan of Korean thrillers, I’m a little disappointed with I Saw the Devil. It was a bit predictable and I feel that it’s overrated by the critics.

But during her show, she received a text message from Dong Su (Yoo Ji Tae) stating that he broke into her apartment and took her kid as hostage. He wants Sun Young to follow his instructions or else he would kill his hostages.

Midnight FM is a nonstop suspense from start to finish. This is the type of movie that I don’t want to spoil for everyone. The director did a good job in building up the tension and the cast members did their parts well. Ji Tae is the perfect as the psychotic killer.

The plot might have been done a couple of times before but Midnight FM made it fresh with its execution. There was no dull moment in the movie. It turns out that Dong Su was an avid listener of Sun Young’s show. In the beginning, he made Sun Young remember specific events from her previous shows and made her duplicate them on air.

Midnight FM featured several issues such as vigilantism and media responsibility. Dong Su thinks that he’s some type of hero by being a vigilante that’s out to kill criminals. The movie showed the backstory as to how seemingly unconnected events led to his actions.

The other characters were a little distracting but like the idea of the stalker helping out to fight another stalker. That was one aspect of the movie that I didn’t expect. But as a whole, Midnight FM is a pretty good thriller. Everything is tied up in the end.

Eight years later, Joo Young Soo is no longer a pastor and now runs a business to make ends meet. He is now divorced with his wife Park Min Kyung (Park Joo Mi). He believes that their daughter is already dead while his wife is still looking for her. She forwards missing children cases to detective Koo (Lee Byung Joon) in the hopes that these are connected with her missing daughter.

Then Joo Young Soo received a call from the kidnapper to tell him that his daughter is alive (now played by actress Kim So Hyun) and he could get her back if he pays a large ransom. He tries hard to collect the amount and even pulled the plug of his ex-wife for insurance money. But this time around he leaves the police out of it and becomes a Man of Vendetta.

The movie is about a man who loses his faith and Kim Myung Min did a good job to portray the character’s transition from being a pastor to a Man of Vendetta in the end. The movie focused a lot of time to differentiate Joo’s life before and after his daughter was kidnapped. This part of the story is believable. We can read a lot of stories in newspapers and online about lives ruined because they lost a loved one.

The illogical part of Man of Vendetta is the kidnapper’s motives for his acts, which is not explained at all. Except for his obsession with high-end audio equipment, Choi Byung Chul (Uhm Ki Joon) seems normal. Yet he acts thoughtlessly at times, like the time he killed a couple in broad daylight. It makes you wonder how he managed to evade being caught by the cops.

This is a different Uhm Ki Joon in Man of Vendetta. Last time I saw him was in Dream High, where he played a mild mannered music teacher. Lee Byung Joon was also different in that musical series, where he tormented Teacher Kang as the Principal of Kirin Art High School.

Man of Vendetta is an unpredictable thriller. Maybe it was due to the fact that the serial killer/kidnapper is illogical with his actions. It is a movie of revenge, which the pastor managed to get in the end. If you like thrillers then you’ll enjoy this one. Just don’t think too much.

The movie is about a veteran investigative reporter, Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), who tried and succeeded in uncovering the truth behind the suicide of the mistress of his friend, Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) is an internet blogger hired by McAffrey’s boss (Helen Mirren) and asked McAffrey to show her the ropes. As they dug deeper into the apparent suicide, they discover facts that led them to believe that it was murder instead.

State of Play has some political overtones and it made the movie more interesting. It also turned out that McAffrey is close not only with the congressman but also with his wife Anne (Robin Wright), who was his girlfriend during their college. But she got nothing to do with the murder so let’s forget about her for a while.

Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe): The newspaper article he types reads: Three Deaths Tied to Gulf War Army Associate New evidence links Rep. Stephen Collins with the suspect in the killings of three people, including Sonia baker, the congressman’s political researcher. When confronted by the Washington Globe with information tying him to suspect Robert Bingham, Collins admitted he had directed his former Army associate to follow Baker after learning that she was secretly on the payroll of military contractor PointCorp. Collins, the chairman of the committee investigating PointCorp’s government deals, said he authorized Bingham only “to observe” Baker. He said he never intended for her to be harmed. “He just did it,” Collins said of Bingham. “He seemed more upset about what she was doing than I was.” When police went to arrest Bingham at his Northern Virginia apartment last night, he was found dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A rifle was next to his body. Investigators said they believe Bingham pushed Baker to her death under a Metro train earlier this week and later shot two witnesses, Deshaun Stagg and Vernon Sando, to silence them.

Russell Crowe is a guy I always love to hate but he did a pretty decent job in State of Play. Ben Affleck was perfect as a congressman with big political aspiration. Rachel McAdams held her ground against the two male leads. Jason Bateman played a pivotal role as a big shot PR guy that knew too much.

State of Play is one of the suspenseful thrillers I’ve seen in recent times. It provided all the right twists that made it unpredictable. With all the political scandals we read in the news these days, State of Play provides a very frightful scenario.

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is an unpopular high school student who decided to become a superhero even though he has neither special powers nor abilities. So he dons a green spandex suit and becomes Kick-Ass.

Okay, so the main hero Kick-Ass pretty much had his ass kicked everytime he tried to help someone out. He provided the comedic relief as he tried to save the world but end up getting beaten up. It’s a good thing that he’s not the only superhero in town.

Enter Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), who is probably the best ever little person I’ve seen in a movie; beating Yoda by just a few punches. She commands the viewer’s attention whenever she’s on screen. I bet she can beat the hell out of GoGo Yubari in a death match. Without Hit Girl, Kick-Ass will just be another superhero movie. Hit Girl made it into a great one.

Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse): Yeah, that’s right! We’re superheroes! You love us!

Superbad’s McLovin Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays an important role in Kick-Ass. Chris D’Amico went from being an annoyance into one of the most important characters in the movie. His life is complicated being a son of a crime lord who wants to be a superhero as well.

The pacing of Kick-Ass was perfect. There were no dead spots and provided all the right elements to make it interesting all throughout its runtime. It had the correct mixture of teen angst, bloody violence, and comedy.

Kick-Ass is not for everyone, especially those who don’t like violence and gore. If you like Kill Bill and Superbad then you’ll definitely love this one. I didn’t know that a foul-mouth preteen girl can make such an impact that contributed to this movie’s greatness.

The pace of Tenderness is slow but the strong emotions of the characters make up for it. It tried to be a deep, meaningful movie with the theme of change or the lack of it. In a way it succeeded because I felt nothing changed during the course of the movie.

Tenderness has a few questions left unanswered. So we learned that Eric killed his parents and a girl after raping her. Lori is stalking him because she saw what he did and was thrilled by it. But why is the detective so consumed in putting him back in jail? And how is his comatose wife relevant to the story? The movie didn’t even tell us why she’s in the hospital in the first place. Maybe the answers are found in the book by Robert Cormier where the movie was based on. But after watching Tenderness, I won’t put it on my priority list.

I’m not much of a Russell Crowe fan and Tenderness will not convince me to be one. His portrayal of the detective was flat and it didn’t help that the character’s lone mission throughout the movie was to pin down Eric.

Tenderness can be likened to a steamroller, heavy and slow. It wouldn’t keep you on the edge of your seat. The ending was predictable. C’mon, even the detective knew that Eric will commit a mistake sooner or later. It didn’t matter that Lori’s death was an accident and Eric tried to save her.

Tenderness is for Russell Crowe fans. Since I’m not a fan, I don’t know why I saw it in the first place. If you see this now playing on cable, change the channel.

The Taking of Pelham 123 started as an ordinary day for New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington). Little did he know that his job title will also include hostage negotiator when Ryder (John Travolta) takes over a train during his shift and holds its passengers hostage until the city pays him $10 million.

As expected, Washington and Travolta delivered stellar performances but The Taking of Pelham 123 still dragged slowly as it progressed to the expected ending. Travolta’s over-acting was balanced by Washington’s subtle performance. It is a character-driven movie but the character development was weak. There’s no tension that can grip the audience and make them sit on the edge of their seats.

Ryder (John Travolta): You’re my goddamn hero.

So how can a subway employee who is being investigated for taking a bribe become a hero in the end? Ryder doesn’t want to go back to jail and he gave Garber no choice but to shoot him. That’s how Garber got his life back. I want to get the time I used to watch this movie back please.

The Taking of Pelham 123 is a letdown with all its flaws and its unrealistic ending. It does have entertaining action scenes but it doesn’t change the fact that the movie sucked. It was just after watching the movie that I found out that it was a remake and there are people telling me that the original is a hundred times better than this one. Now that’s one movie I got to see.