Training Day (2001)

I honestly lost count of how many times I watched this movie, it's actually pretty ridiculous because every time I watch it I feel like it's my first time seeing it. It's one of those movies that you just can't get enough of. After watching this film, my respect and admiration for both Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington reached sky high. The story is basically about a man named Jake (Ethan Hawke) being evaluated by a respected narcotics detective Alonso Harris (Denzel Washington) throughout a 24 hour period. as the story unfolds, we find out that in order to be a narcotics officer, you need to bend some rules, and we also discover a dark secret about Alonso.

What I admired about this move is that, unlike many other films, it depicts L.A  in a way that's I felt was always hidden in films. It shows the real L.A that people know, not the one that's mostly depicted in films, and I respected that very much. I think there is no doubt that the real star in this movie is most definitely Denzel Washington. That guy impressed the hell out of me, his acting was right on point and he made it look so natural and smooth, you'd think that he'd actually been a narcotics officer before. Everything from his body language, his style of talking, all the way up to the way he dresses. In fact he nailed the part so well that he got an Academy Award for Best Actor, you can't argue with that. What I also liked about his character was the fact that you never know if he was good or bad until the end, you can never tell, and to be honest not many people can pull that off as convincingly as he did in my opinion.

Ethan Hawke also did a fantastic job portraying Jake, in fact he did such a brilliant job that he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The soundtrack was pretty awesome, the setting was on point, the story was intriguing, and the cast was fantastic. I definitely recommend this movie because it's one of those movie that you just have to watch without any excuse. Trust me you won't be disappointed.

"Do you wanna go home or do you wanna go to jail?"
Ahmed

Disordered (Short Film Preview)

Hey Guys! I'm officially a high school senior at school and let me tell you, it WAS NOT an easy year, academically and socially. Anyways I'm very excited to say that I have the whole summer to write on this blog, It'll be raining reviews soon! I'm also extremely happy to announce that my cousin, Hassan Ahmed Janahi, is starring in his first movie, as the main character! It's a short film called "Disordered", I'll hopefully review it when it gets released on the 2nd of July. I watched it's trailer the other day and I was really impressed (my cousin is the guy that gives a death stare). I was supposed to have a cameo in the movie as a garage mechanic, but my part was taken (CURSES!!).  I'm very happy for him and I hope this will be the first of many more films to come. If you are indeed in Bahrain, come and watch it at the Bahrain City Center cinema on July the 2nd, I'll DEFINITELY be there. 

The Movie Blogger.

Hey guys! How's it going, hope you all are enjoying yourselves (and the movies you're watching). I'm writing this post as something to kinda hold you over, I'm under a lot of tension at the moment because of my external exams and I barely have time to write up anything. But alas! summer is right around the corner and I do have some big plans for this blog.  Just know that I'm forever thankful for all your support my dear readers. So anyways, I've been a blogger for about ten months now and let me tell you, it's been great! I just want to dedicate this post to anyone who has just started as a movie blogger or someone who is aspiring to be one.

Here's some tips that I can give all you early/aspiring movie bloggers:

1. Start by watching really old movies, then work your way up: Like every subject you want to write about, you need to do some research on its historical background and witness how it revolutionized throughout the years. This will give you a better understanding of how films were made back in the day and  trust me, you will learn a lot from old movies. The oldest movie I own is Der Golem that was released in 1915!

2. Don't let anything cloud your judgement: In the end, movie reviewing is all about presenting your own opinion, so don't let anyone or anything change your opinion on any movie.

3.Build your vocabulary: This step is extremely crucial to any movie reviewer, to build your vocab, especially your descriptive language. As a non-native English speaker, it was really hard for me in the beginning, but I worked on my English and look at me now! Movie reviewing is conveying your emotions about a certain movie to your audience, so descriptive language is key.

4.Open up to different genres: When I first started, I hated Romantic comedies, historical movies, and a lot of other different genres. But then I realized that this wasn't going to make me an accomplished reviewer, so I forced myself to watch movies in the genres that I previously hated, and let me tell you, some of the movies I watched were absolutely fantastic.

5.Collect DVD's: You don't have to do this but it'll look really good because that will show you love and dedication for movies. ]

6.READ,READ,READ: Read until your mind can't take anymore. Read the biography of any actor/actress, read reviews of other critics, and any movie news you can get a hold of. This will not only make you more creative in your writing, but it'll also give you a better understanding of the movie industry nowadays.

So I hope that these tips help you , and remember, creativity has no limits.

"No, I am your Father"
Ahmed

Iron Man 3 (2013)

It's been a while. Hello my dear readers, I'm very glad to inform you that I have finished my finals, and I'm officially on a semi-summer vacation since I do still have some IGCSE's. Anyways, I got the chance to watch Iron Man 3 this weekend, and I enjoyed it.....alot. As you may or may not know, I am a HUGE Batman fan so it's only natural that I have this mild hatred for Marvel characters, but hey, I won't let that get in the way of my opinion on a movie.

So anyways, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering from panic attacks and anxiety because of the events from The Avengers. Nonetheless, as a new foe, The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) arises, it's up to Tony to fight his inner demons and protect the security of himself and that of the United States of America.

First of all I would like to say that Robert Downey Jr. is one of my all time favorite actors and I believe that he was literally born to play Tony Stark/Iron Man, I honestly can't think of any other person that can portray Tony other than him. The plot is definitely more interesting than the first two in my opinion and it this time, it's personal in every meaning of the word. There's definitely more gadget galore going on in this movie, and as a technology freak, I could do nothing but appreciate that. Another thing I appreciated was the amount of humor that was injected in the movie, it's honestly unexpected and it did make me laugh maybe a little too much in the theater (yeah, I was getting death stares from some people). Also, the plot is twisty, which is always a good thing because it makes the movie unpredictable, and you guys know how I feel about predictable movies. Iron Man 3 is a pure popcorn flick, definitely not Oscar material in my opinion but it's just a very entertaining movie, I was really satisfied with the outcome and it really exceeded my expectations.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out of the house, go to the theater, grab some Dr.Pepper and a bucket of popcorn, and ENJOY. I promise you guys won't be disappointed with the outcome, and I'm positive that you'll be just as entertained as I was, oh and stick around for the post credits scene, a very unexpected character will make an appearance. By the way, my Metropolis DVD finally (it took two months) arrived today, it comes with the restored version of the movie and a 50-page booklet, how spectacular!

"I'm Tony Stark, I build neat stuff, got a great girl, occasionally save the world, so why can't I sleep?"

Ahmed  

A Good Day To Die Hard

This may seem odd, but I actually watched Rush Hour for the first time last night, weird right? I should've watched that movie ages ago. Anyways, so yeah people A Good Day To Die Hard, or as I like to call it, DIE HARD 5!! Truth be told, I really didn't expect this one to be as good as the last one, and what do you know!! I was correct. I've been a die hard Die Hard fan for a long time now (Die Hard 2 is my favorite) and to be honest, I hated this one as a Die Hard film, it was like the black sheep of the herd. I'm not saying that it was a HORRIBLE movie, oh no no no, what I mean is, don't pin your hopes on this being like all of the previous Die Hard movies.

John McClane travels to Russia to help his estranged son get put of trouble, but he discovers that his son is actually CIA and is on top secret mission that, if failed, could result in a catastrophe (cliche?). Apart from the fact that it's an action packed thrill ride from beginning to end (literally), Die Hard 5 just fails to please me. Let's start of with the rant about sequels, IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A SUCCESSFUL MOVIE FRANCHISE  DON'T MAKE SEQUELS THAT WILL KILL IT!!! Seriously, when will movie makers realize that this is wrong? Moving on, how many times does John have to repeat "I'm on vacation." what was this supposed to be the catchphrase or something? I was fine with "Yippee ki-yay motherfucker!"; besides, the one time he says it in the movie, you can barely hear it. Another thing that pissed me off was the fact that the father and son team actually went to Chernobyl without any form of protection from all the radiation, I know this may sound ridiculous, but there's a limit as to how much you can exaggerate in an action flick. Finally, I felt like this movie was rushed, it's like Bruce Willis just wanted to get it over and done with as fast as possible.

People don't read signs nowadays

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, the film does have some positive points after all. For instance, my bam-bam-kaboom-meter (yeah that's what I call it) was filled right to the top. Moreover, the amount of badassery in the movie is just ridiculous, and there are a lot of unexpected twists. AND, it's always good to see Bruce Willis on the big screen, god that guy is just amazing. 

To sum up, if you're looking for an good action flick, go right ahead and watch this movie. But if you are a huge Die Hard fan like I am, don't even bother, like seriously, DON'T EVEN BOTHER!!

"YIPPEE KI-YAY MOTHERFUCKER" 

Ahmed 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

I have become a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy over the past year or so, I remember sitting down for more than eight hours in front of the TV to watch the trilogy. I instantly felt a sense of disappointment because I didn't get to watch them in the cinema, but what could I do, I was too young to understand what was going on. So you guys could imagine how excited I was when I heard that The Hobbit was out in theatres. I could finally have the Lord of the Rings style experience I have been longing for such a long time. I went and watched The Hobbit yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. It was not better than Fellowship of the Ring, but that is expected. That aside, It still maintains that standard that the Lord of the Rings movie were known for. 

This is the kind of movie that you would want to watch in a cinema rather than at home, unless you have an amazing surround sound system, because the music in the movie is just eargasmic!! The battle scenes in the movie were epic and the stunts were perfect. The story is very interesting, and I loved the fact that I got to witness Biblo Baggins' early adventures. There is a substantial amount of humour in this movie, coupled with a lot of action and a dash of suspense. The cast was just as stunning as ever and I think that Martin Freeman did a fantastic job portraying the young Bilbo Baggins. A handful of the original cast from Lord of the Rings reprised their roles, including Frodo! The locations that the movie was shot in were just jaw dropping, they define the word beautiful. I also loved the CGI in this movie. My only complaint is that I didn't get to see the dragon, Smaug. Plus I felt that this movie followed the same rhythm of Fellowship of the Ring. Some people say that the ending was abrupt, no it was not, trust me! 

This movie didn't let me down, and I think it was a great start to The Hobbit trilogy. It satisfied me as a movie lover and a Lord of the Rings fan. The production is great, you could see that a lot of work was put into it, I really recommend that you go and watch this movie even if you were not a Lord of the Rings fan, because its just a good movie, that is all. 

"Home is now behind you. The world is ahead"

Ahmed 

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

When I first heard of the Back to The Future Trilogy, my first thought was "man this is going to be horrible." And that was where I was gravely mistaken. The Back to The Future Trilogy is one of the most ingenious and imaginative movies I have ever seen. The first two were outstanding, but many people have complained about the third part, like it was the black sheep of the herd or something, why?

The reason here is that the third movie was based in the Wild West  rather than in the 50's or in the future, this  disappointed the fans since the second movie ventured into the future and provided a more realistic image of it, which was a relatively new idea back in the day. And there are a couple of annoying characters in the movie, like Clara, god she just annoyed me for some reason. But nonetheless, it's still a Back to The Future movie, the comedy, the storyline, the dialogue, and the production of the movie were all fantastic. It answered a lot of questions and provided a satisfying conclusion to this amazing trilogy.

As a movie, it is a blast! But compare it to the first two, then it won't really be as good. But I highly recommend it, because I really enjoyed it and guarantee that you will enjoy it too. This is the kind of movie I'd be happy to pop into the DVD any day!  

"You're not thinking fourth dimensionally"

Ahmed