CinemaShafiq

  A film that was not only a good thriller that kept you on edge, but also a film that would inspire a whole new subgenre (computer screen film).  More John Cho in Hollywood, please. He's a good actor and probably the only reason for me to watch Netflix's Cowboy Bebop. 8/10

As a movie lover as well as someone who is really invested in Malaysia's political scene, I think the existence of this film itself is an accomplishment. The story of 9 May 2018 indeed, should be made into a film. With that being said, this film was good, but it could've been better. The six-story narrative may need to be revised or cut to less than six, and it can be felt that this film was rushed as the script itself felt like assemble of events happening in Malaysia, before and during the GE14.  I am a lover of historical and biography films, but it irks me a bit when a film that had a potential to be great turnt out to be only subpar, especially coming from Nik Amir Mustapha (whom directed KIL , a local film that I really love) and Saw Teong Hin (who directed Puteri Gunung Ledang ).  The story(ies?) were messy and the overall production of this film just felt rushed. They should've take their time to develop and produce this movie, Pakatan Harapan is going to

This whole movie is basically just Jared Leto enjoying his weird affection to the Japanese culture, this time; a white yakuza. Maybe he didn't had enough satisfaction playing with Japanese elements in Blade Runner 2049.  There was nothing much about this film, it was about Jared Leto being a former US military, stranded in Japan, and for some weird reason in the universe that this film was taking in - the Yakuza seems to be very welcoming in accepting a gaijin , a white one especially, being accepted into the family. Sure, to be honest, the promise of a white guy being a part of the Yakuza is actually interesting, and there were plenty of materials already made on this premise.  However, what we got is one long movie, which drags and didn't really deliver a good story about that and what was more annoying is that there seems to be illogical "white saviour" moments sprinkled in this movie. It felt like Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai . That fi

James Wan is a creative and brilliant director who managed to balance between adapting comic-accurate elements in  Aquaman  while ensuring it's "cheesiness" was not overboard and that the film would still fits in the DCEU's aesthetics. Aquaman is to me, the best DCEU movie so far (before Joker came into the existence). It was fun, energetic, a campy ride with emotional moments and it served more as a fantasy movie with a sprinkle of superhero elemens on top of it. I can't help but to think that it is a mix of Thor, Black Panther, Star Wars & Lord of The Rings. And the mix worked perfectly.  DCEU, thanks to Zack Snyder, has been this gloomy, brooding, supposedly "realistic" looking-universe, and it was daunting. Such settings might be suitable for a Batman film, but not all DC characters. James understand this and he really did his best in giving the faithful adaptation of Aquaman's comics - known for its campiness (talking wit

It's probably the dumbest out of all Predator movies yet it's so much fun. Shane Black's effort to change a Predator movie into a dumb, fun and action-packed serving works well for me. I had a good time and I would say this is the best Predator movie since 1987. Unpopular view, I know. But I really had a fun time from the absurdity and campiness that this movie had. It's not as dry as Predator 2 and not as vanilla like Predator (2010). Gotta admit tho, the final "anti-Predator armour" was an unnecessary push that made the movie more campier than it already is. I don't think it would grant a sequel, but if there would be, I hope they would keep the fun and campiness aspect and improvise it by giving a better story and a more realistic touch. 5/10

Paskal was a very good Malaysian film. I think this is the first REAL local action film, like real action. No CGI explosion or any cringy action stuffs. It was also the most accurate local movie in presenting the technicalities and true SOP of our Malaysian military. So no more cringy stuffs like "Tuan, orang jahat kat sana tuan!" or anything resembling like that coming from Gerak Khas or Roda-roda KL. It also has a strong patriotic message and really shows just how cool our military, specifically, our navy, really is. Though I think there are some cons. There were too many expositions and I think it was better if the main lead was not Hairul Azreen. Dude can act but he's just not hardcore enough for the main role. OH and this movie introduced me to Jasmine Suraya who is such a delight so there's that. Hi Jasmine    7/10

Malay movies are mostly trash in my book.. but this is the ultimate trash, and that's the only good merit of this garbage. Badang also got the honor of being only the second film that gets a 1/10 rating from me.. so pats yourself on your back Razak Mohaideen. 1/10

Just another The Rock's movie. With CGI explosions. And The Rock jumping over 30m mid air from a crane into a burning door at level 60+. And China's Hollywood invasion. Perfect materials for 2018 starter pack of "generic action film that mass audience would enjoy". The China invasion into Hollywood was not even hidden with the main plot taking place in China, a Chinese main character, as well as some minor Chinese characters that have more screentime than they should. This is the kind of movie that you would play if you're doing house chores and you feel like wanted to play something on the background. 5/10

It was a light, fun entrance in MCU that was good, especially after we had been served with the momentous Avengers: Infinity War. The first Ant-Man movie is one of my top 10 MCU movies and Scott Lang's addition in the MCU was very well accepted by the fans as he was just a nice and decent guy who just want to did his best for his daughter. Comparing Scott to other big names of MCU like Tony Stark or Steve Rogers; a genius billionaire playboy and a stoic ripped super old war veteran, those are characters too big to be relatable to audience; the everyday's people and this is what makes Scott Lang stands out against them in this regards - relatibility. Ant-Man and The Wasp delivered as well as the first movie. In this one, relationship between Scott and Hope and the Scott-Pym-Hope dynamic were explored further, with the introduction of new characters; Janet van Dyne and the Ghost, Ava. The main plot is basically to rescue Janet from the Quantum Realm as they are against

It's definitely bigger and more explosive than it's predecessor. But bigger doesn't mean better. A lot of jokes, including the meta ones, feels either out of place, too long or just not funny.  Plus there's too many characters, including new ones, and few story plots that make the movie a bit messy. Loud and explosive, but at the same time annoying and off-putting. It basically suffers from the sequel syndrome, like Iron Man 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Guardians of The Galaxy 2. Too bad because I really like the first one and Deadpool 2 actually got potentials, just that it was executed badly.  6/10

Meh. if there were not too much of unnecessary screaming (just to create intense moments/macho moments), I probably can rate it higher. This film is also a tryhard imitation of The Departed, which itself is a remake of Infernal Affairs. 4/10

Expecting the 3rd act would be about The Rock inhaling the gas and becomes a giant but ok. 6/10

Absolute garbage of a movie. Nothing makes sense - the plot, the acting, like what the fuck even? A casino gambler movie without a big final heist? Cringy moments throughout the movie and I rather watch paint dry than this again. This movie also served me a lesson though - Never watch a Russian movie. 2/10

A great film on pop culture, consumer-capitalism, and an appreciation movie for movie & video game geeks. Any geeks. Spielberg showed us that he still had it in the "good popcorn movie master" department. I initially am not expecting much from this movie but I was surprised. The tons of cameos and references from films, video games, animes, and especially from 80s, plus it being a really good film with good hearwamig story and good character, well this is a rarity. I don't wanna spoil anything but the final battle blown me away, and when those two BIG Gs coming out, I feel like screaming like a kid. And the ending would make you sob, especially if you're a gamer or a geek, because you might can relate to what the message given by Mark Rylance. Thank you, Spielberg. 7/10

Admittedly, this took me a while. Being busy and lack of motivation to write were factors to be fault. But here we go. So, my most hyped and anticipated film of 2018, does it deliver? Oh boy, yes it did, and exceptionally well. Now, I had watched Avengers: Infinity War (AIW) a total of three times in the cinema, as I was mindblowned by it after the first watching, and the second and third watchings were complimentary to the experience. In short, Marvel (read: Russo brothers) delivered on all their promises - a satisfying climax to Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a cohesive and tight story telling, a balanced story and sharing of screentime of casts with it being the most casts-crowded movie of all time, a nerve-jerking film that ends leaving you wanting for more, and definitely, a monumental mark in the superhero movies genre. The most casts in a movie ever. Too many praises? Let me break it down one by one. First of all, as we know, AIW was considered as the climax

Bohemian Rhapsody was a good biopic of Queen and Freddie Mercury. Of course the best outtake of this film was on its casting; Rami Malek did his best to embody Freddie Mercury and the other casts were eeriely similar looking to the original Queen members. This film covers the story of Queen on every events; their formation, to the years of Freddie leaving them, to the day of their historic performance on Wembley Stadium in 1985. The good thing about this biopic was that it did not only show the good things about Freddie, it told all aspects of his life, addressing his sexuality and how he used to treat his band members. This film delivered these aspects in a way that we can empathise with Freddie, so that's good. If you are a fan of Queen, or a music fan generally, you will enjoy the moments when Queen songs were played in the film. The Wembley Stadium scene was the best arc of this film, as you'll feel like singing and clapping along with the movie.

Halloween was definitely a movie that suprised me this year. It was unexpectedly good and it served the franchise's fans and regular moviegoers as well. Now, Halloween franchise is a legend amongst other horror franchises as its first film was out back in 1978 and it's the one to start the slasher horror genre and inspire many upcoming slasher films after that such as Scream . Halloween has had 12 movies in its franchise and this new one totally abandons all the previous sequels and it serves as a sequel to the original 1978 film. This is totally fine and brilliant as the previous sequels were too cheesy and they made Michael Myers silly. However, this latest installment totally respects Michael Myers and Laurie, played by the legendary Jamie Lee Curtis. It has been 40 years, and she's geared up to prepare against Michael. What surprised me about this new film is that how it totally respects the original film, it gives the same vibes as the OG one, and it

Man.. I don't know. Okay look, I might not be the most hardcore Potterhead among my friends but that does not mean I cannot review this film for the sake of it being a.. film. I watched all Harry Potter movies and even the first Fantastic Beasts and I would say Harry Potter franchise is one of the biggest film franchise in league with Star Wars and Lord of The Rings. However, Fantastic Beasts 2 didn't do it for me. It was muddled, messy and too convoluted. They hyped us for Grindelwald and Dumbledore and yet they focused on a super-complicated storyline of a family lineage of a certain character. Look, it's not wrong to take that as an aspect of your movie's storyline, but it is a MAJOR problem if it was the only conflict that exists. Plus this isue was not because I am a not big Potterhead, because even amongst the fans themselves, this puzzle plotline was too messy and convoluted. The pacing was so slow and there were just too many characters. Remove

What went wrong? Solo: A Star Wars Story is the fourth Star Wars movie by Disney, and the 10th Star Wars movie in total (not counting the 2008's Clone Wars movie). Considering how Disney never failed to impress with their other Star Wars products, which at least had made USD1 billion mark in the worldwide release, sadly, Solo is far from reaching this minimum threshold. After a month of release, Solo made only $344 million, worldwide . That was a major setback and downfall for Disney. Their non-stop success with their products, especially the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and Star Wars movies, should ensure their non stop money-raking movies trend. But Solo fell far from the 1 billion mark. It could not even rake $500 million. So, what went wrong? When Solo was announced, I was curious on how would they tackle the movie as fans would only relate the legendary character Han Solo to Harrison Ford and we know that Ford, already decided to stop appearin