First of all, GREEN TEA MOVIE would like to apologize for the delay in updating this movie blog. As I have been saying, I was occupied by my works in the college and therefore, this movie blog is stuck in the limbo....Fear not, GTM is now back into business and I have written short reviews (instead of the usual lengthy detailed and constructive reviews) to summarize the whole thing. Since the last post on The Sorceror's Apprentice, Green Tea Movie is behind the schedule for more than a dozen movies. Well, I have decided to do two or three short reviews per post for all the movies that I have missed. Stay tune as I updated more reviews soon. CHEERS!
SHANGHAI (English, Chinese, Japanese/18+)
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Release Date: 22 July 2010
Distributor: The Weinstein Company, Nusantara Edaran Filem
Running Time: 105 minutes
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Barry Mendel, Jake Myers
Writers: Hossein Amini
Casts: John Cusack, Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat, Ken Watanabe, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, David Morse, Franka Potente
Plot: US Secret Agent Paul Soames (John Cusack) returns to a corrupt Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor, only to discover that a friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and gradually discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.
Boasted by a spectacular talents of acting that includes the regular husband-and-wife in the form Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li, together with Ken Watanabe and ever persona John Cusack, the movie is a surprisingly decent mystery drama that sets in the time of hardship in China during the WWII. With an awesome casting, however comes several issues of over-narration, improper styles of language and been a bizarre romantic espionage movie. Nevertheless, Shanghai presents a very clear cut and easy to follow espionage thriller that leaves some room for the audience to think and with rooms for potential twists to happen. It is a very typical movie anyway!
SALT (English/PG13)
Watching Salt is only making The Bourne's trilogy looks more and more epic. So to say, is the Bourne's standard is too high for others to follow? Salt fails to distinguish between the need for a balance story-driving and a need for sense of thrills. The action is getting ridiculous as time passes on. While Salt tries to grab your attention by creating a question of who is Salt is, in the end Evelyn Salt is just another character we couldn't care much.
THE RATING
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Genre: Drama/Mystery
Release Date: 22 July 2010
Distributor: The Weinstein Company, Nusantara Edaran Filem
Running Time: 105 minutes
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Barry Mendel, Jake Myers
Writers: Hossein Amini
Casts: John Cusack, Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat, Ken Watanabe, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, David Morse, Franka Potente
Plot: US Secret Agent Paul Soames (John Cusack) returns to a corrupt Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor, only to discover that a friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and gradually discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.
THE VERDICT
THE RATING
Story - 3.0 stars
Casts - 4.0 stars
Cinematography - 3.5 stars
Effects - 3.5 stars
OVERALL - 3.5 stars
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 13.8
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Genre: Action/Thriller
Release Date: 29 July 2010
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Running Time: 102 minutes
Director: Phillip Noyce
Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Sunil Perkash
Writers: Kurt Wimmer, Brian Helgeland
Casts: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, August Diehl, Daniel Olbrychski
Plot: Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA officer who swore an oath to duty, honour, and country. When she is accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy, Salt goes on the run to clear her name and ultimately prove she is a patriot. Using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative, she must elude capture and protect her husband or the world's most powerful forces will erase any trace of her existence.
THE VERDICT
THE RATING
Story - 2.0 stars
Casts - 3.0 stars
Cinematography - 3.5 stars
Effects - 3.0 stars
OVERALL - 2.5 stars
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 10.7