Saturday, December 26, 2009

Forrest Gump (1994)



My momma always say, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get."  Forrest Gump tells the story of a slow-witted person who's led a blessed life.  With a caring and strong-willed mother, Forrest was brought up and given all the opportunities a normal child gets despite his handicap. 

Through the incidents of bullying in school, he discovered his talent in running and it was put to good use in college where he played football.  Despite being slow-witted, it did not stop him from achieving things in life.  He was a soldier that earned a medal of honour, represented the country to play table tennis, owner of a successful shrimp business, and was present in a number of historical events. such as the Vietnam war and the Watergate scandal.  Throughout his life, he made three great friends, Jenny, his childhood friend and sweetheart, Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), his buddy in the army, and Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise), his commander in the army who he saved in the Vietnam war.  He's managed to achieve a lot but the only one thing he fails to do is to keep his sweetheart Jenny by his side.

With a heart-warming story and light-hearted humour littered throughout the movie, this is definitely one of my top-rated movies.  The graphics work also deserves praise as they managed to put Forrest into the actual footages of some of the historical events that were covered in the movie.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

The Peacemaker (1997)



For an action-packed movie, TAKE THE SHOT! Look no further than The Peacemaker, starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.  Special Forces Intelligence Officer Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe (George Clooney) was tasked to assist anti-smuggling official Dr. Julia Kelly, a civilian, in investigating a train accident in Russia involving the transportation of nuclear warheads

What was initially thought of as a accidental detonation of the nuclear warhead due to the crash of the train was quickly spotted by Dr. Kelly, who believed the warheads were intentionally set off based on evidence, as being an act of terrorism.  This thinking was again being brought into question by Lt. Col. Devoe, who suspected it as a cover-up of a hijack of the nuclear warheads, and the stakes were raised tremendously.

Throughout the movie, Dr. Kelly's ability to understand the mentality of the terrorist and her expertise in bombs and Officer Devoe's quick-thinking and on-the-field experience, came in handy at different points in time that allowed them to successfully track down the hijacked warhead.  What remained uncertain until the end was the perpetrator and his intentions.  Not a bad show to watch with some twists in the story along the way, the mystery and excitement building up to a climax at the end. 3/5!