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Kong: Skull Island movie trailer

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Trailer for American monster movie Kong: Skull Island. It’s a reboot of the King Kong franchise and also the second instalment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse – a shared fictional universe centred on a series of monster films featuring Godzilla and King Kong (and perhaps more in the future.)

Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and stars Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary and John C Reilly. In cinemas next week in Malaysia and the US etc.

I’m never a fan of King Kong. The fact that he’s always in love with a “tiny” albeit beautiful woman never makes sense to me, and that alone makes it difficult for me to like the franchise. Set that aside, the Kong in the teaser looks pretty badass. There seems to be too much going on in the preview though.

Chinese actress Jing Tian appears as a main cast on movie poster but doesn’t feature in the trailer at all. Guess it’s another pointless character just to please the Chinese market. Perhaps there will be two versions like some other recent Hollywood films, one for China and another for rest of the world.

Update – It’s a stupid but entertaining film. There are so many loopholes in the plot, which is poorly pieced together to begin with. The visual effects look great though, and the fast-paced storytelling makes some of the flaws forgivable. It’s fun for two hours but an easily forgotten movie.

San Andreas movie trailer

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Official trailer for San Andreas, an upcoming American disaster movie. Directed by Brad Peyton, the film stars Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, and Paul Giamatti. In theatres May 29 in the United States.

The San Andreas Fault [wiki] is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1,200 kilometres through California. It’s a real thing, and scientists have long predicted that a huge (8.0+ magnitude) earthquake will occur in the next few decades somewhere along the fault.

The movie sets on a major earthquake caused by the San Andreas Fault that devastates Los Angeles and San Francisco. And the story focuses on a rescue helicopter pilot who tries to save his estranged wife and beautiful daughter while totally ignoring his civic duty during the crisis.

Update & verdict

I watched the movie many months later on TV. The plot is cheesy, and sometimes ridiculous, like in most other disaster films. The special effects are great though; some scenes are over the top, which again is a common thing in this genre; but it’s believable enough to see it as something probable in real life.

The tsunami scene reminded me so much of the Japanese disaster in 2011, it made me felt a bit guilty that I actually enjoyed the film. It’s easier said than done but I hope people are more ready for natural disasters these days. As the cliché goes, it’s not whether it will happen, it’s simply about when.

Godzilla (2014) movie trailer

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Official main teaser for Hollywood film Godzilla, the third American production (1956, 1998) based on the Japanese Godzilla franchise. In theatres May 2014.

The movie is directed by British filmmaker Gareth Edwards. It stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston.

It’s not obvious in the trailer but there’s another monster (or two) in the plot. The Godzilla is probably the good fella here like in some of the Japanese instalments. It’s just doing its own thing though, it’s like showing who’s the real boss instead of being a hero or trying to save the world.

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Life of Pi movie trailer

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Trailer for Hollywood film Life of Pi – latest work by Academy Award winning Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee – which is based on the novel of the same name by French-Canadian author Yann Martel. The 3D movie is opening on November 21.

Official synopsis from Fox Movies… “Life of Pi is about a young man who survives a tragic disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship’s only other survivor… a fearsome Bengal tiger.”

Not interested with the plot to be honest, but the visual effects look stunning. Suraj Sharma plays the main lead… the fact that a 19-year-old Indian teenager is making his acting debut in a huge Hollywood production is an amazing story itself.

Hollywood movie Life of Pi

Prometheus movie trailer

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Trailer for Hollywood scifi movie Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron etc. The film is scheduled for release in June 2012.

Prometheus tells the story of a team of space explorers sent to investigate a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, only to find themselves in a terrifying battle to save the future of the mankind. Seen by many as a prequel to 1979 scifi epic Alien (directed by Scott as well), but the director has said that the two are not directly connected.

Ridley Scott Prometheus movie

We Bought a Zoo movie trailer

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Trailer for We Bought A Zoo, a Hollywood film based on a true story of Benjamin Mee who moved into a dilapidated zoo with his family, and took on the challenge to reopen it to the public. The cast include Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Colin Ford and Maggie Elizabeth Jones etc.