WEEKEND PIC - June 5 - 7, 2009

YOUR GUIDE TO THE WEEKEND MOVIES

NEW THIS WEEK:

a) HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE (Musical with Miley Cyrus, Mitchel Musso, Jason Earles, Billy Ray Cyrus and Emily Osment) Rating * * * (3 stars out of 4): A fun outing for the family with Miley in hip-hop and country mode.

b) THE BROTHERS BLOOM (comedy adventure with Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, Nora Zehetner and Robbie Coltrane) Rated * * 1/2 (2.5 stars): Con men caper about two brothers trying to fleece an heiress. The movie is upstaged by Weisz. (Reviewed below)

c) 17 AGAIN (fantasy comedy with Zac Efron, Leslie Mann (pictured), Thomas Lennon, Michelle
Trachtenberg, Matthew Perry and Melora Hardin) Rated * * 1/2 (2.5 stars): Yeah, Efron rocks in this body-switch vehicle about getting a second chance at life. Jokes are mostly on character quirks, though. (Reviewed below)

d) FIGHTING (drama with Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Zulay Henao, Brian J. White and Luis Guzmán) Rated * * (2 stars): A rather tame and sometimes lame story about an Alabama lad seeking his fortune in the underground fights circle of New York City. (Reviewed below)

STILL GOING STRONG:

1) TERMINATOR SALVATION (sci-fi thriller with Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood and Common) Rated * * * (3stars): This mix of Transformers and Mad Max will please action fans but Terminator dudes may feel shortchanged. (Reviewed below)

2) MONSTERS Vs ALIENS (animated thriller with voices of Reese Witherspoon, Will Arnett, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, and Stephen Colbert) Rated * * * (3 stars): It's action-packed fun for the family even if it does not quite match up to The Incredibles and WALL-E. (Reviewed below)

3. ANGELS & DEMONS (mystery thriller with Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Armin Mueller-Stahl) Rated: * * * (3 out of 4 stars): Director Ron Howard has learned from his mistakes in The Da Vinci Code and has made a much better 'sequel'. He has also made a few changes from Dan Brown's book, resulting in a tighter movie. (Reviewed below)

4. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2 (fantasy comedy with Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Luke Wilson, Jonah Hill and Christopher Guest) Rated * * 1/2 (2.5 stars out of 4): We get more of the same CGI stuff in this sequel that has the action shifted to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. The plot and the dialogue are pedestrian and lame. (Reviewed below)

5. I CORRUPT ALL COPS (cop drama with Eason Chan, Wong Jing, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Anthony Wong, Alex Fong, Bowie Lam, Wong Jing, Liu Yang and Kate Tsui) Rated * * 1/2 (2.5 stars): Titled with the acronym ICAC (HK's anti-corruption commission), many would regard this one as the most ambitious of Wong Jing's works. At last, Wong Jing has come out with an entertaining movie that does not insult our intelligence. (Reviewed below)