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The Killing Season 2 Finale... Coming out of Jaime's whiny bitch

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:21:13 +0100

After hours of idiotic plot points that go nowhere, red herrings, a terrible cast of characters and their perspective performances and obvious hints, The Killing finally reaches the end and left a bittersweet bait that will left idiotic audiences be impressed by it’s closure. This season should of ended where it started and should really take notes from it’s Danish counterpoint which they had been stealing. I realize, 26 episodes later that, the dialogue has worsen in Season 2 and the writing and direction just felt awkward and had left a bad taste after watching it. I just find it baffling that fans (retarded or otherwise) think this show is entertaining and does not even have the slightest clue how Rosie was murdered with how they tallied up the votes in the suspect tracker on their website.

The worst of all is the guy who played Jaime, his performance came out like shit, it felt so much like the villain in 88 minutes and it is really unbearable to hear him act specifically when he reveals himself as the killer or one of the killers. I hope that he does not get a fucking award for his performance because I had to intentionally skip that part when, it’s like the script and acting both go in sync – the fact that they both are fucking terrible.

The good part which I should not really redeem any qualities of this shitty show, is the flashbacks of Rosie and her “Super 8” film before her suicide though it is rather called a parting message that at this point, I did not care for as to every fucking character in this show. They attempt to make it so dramatic for the finale that with the awkward and bad acting and script, makes me want to kill Veena Sud. She is the reason why I did not care less after watching a few episodes from the first season and had compared this fucking show to The Sopranos.

Whoever says this show is even good is a fucking loser….

X-Men First Class Review

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:48:33 +0100

X-Men: First Class (2011) Review

The amount of comic-book movies baffles me that persist this year with successful blockbuster comic book movies such as Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America hitting in theatres this year. Ever since Dark Knight, comic book movies has become more grandeur in producing high budget films with mind-blowing CG effects, sharp-looking visual and a compelling cast of characters. It’s sickening for me as I keep constantly had to watch comic book movies due to my friends and had missed out other great non-comic book movies that are actually better. Though X-Men: First Class was yet another example of good comic book movies even though the CG and cast isn’t outstanding.

Marvel and DC Comics at cutthroat in this year though with the mediocry of Green Lantern and the rise of Marvel films being high in the box-office. Similar to the earlier X-Men movies that 21 Century Fox has distributed, First Class is also in the same box and tries to convey not only mind-blowing visuals but the emotional aspects of the characters and the world around them.

From Kick-Ass fame, Matthew Vaughn led the reins of a prequel to X-Men and surprisingly, this film is actually good or better yet a redeemable direction to his better film career. The film doesn’t fill the need to aggravate the viewer with its filmography with the likes of Kick-Ass and as much as I hate that movie, this shows much potential. Retraining this to a PG-13 rating is somewhat indifferent to other X-Men films, though the X-Men Trilogy wasn’t really subtle about their rating despite First Class having some profanity and a shed of partial nudity in such scenes. There are examples of Mystique turning back to its original form as a mutant though the CG hides the fact and portion that she’s actually naked.

Alongside Vaughn, Jane Goldman (trying her best to look like a comic book character with her red/pink hair and alarming breasts) once again is the writer of this movie and the dialogue and script derivates off she handled with Kick-Ass, delivering some goofy scenes and character to the storyline.

A reminiscent and powerful scene that will return in the X-Men Trilogy

First Class is a prequel to the X-Men trilogy and where we see the intermingling relationship between Xavier and Erik (Magneto) during the Cold War with the Communist and the foundations of the X-Men. We see how Xavier got paralyzed making him handicap, the forming of the X-Men and the eventual splinter group with Magneto leaving Xavier due to their different views on the world. It’s quite a charm to see how McAvoyand Fassbender convey such chemistry with each character and become blood-brothers rather than enemies at the end.

He does look cool in this scenes but I still hate McAvoy as an actor.

The story that Vaughn conveys isn’t hard hitting on delivering some corniness to the 60s but there are some aspects through the course of the film that proves otherwise. There are actors in this movie that I hate or feel that their performance was corny at least. James McAvoy who recently star in The Conspirator is an example of “hating to like the actor” even though his performance was somewhat shocking. I felt like McAvoy is similar to Jesse Eisenberg in which I hated him for being the same annoying and infuriating role in any movies but in enough initiative – he could show much potential in his capability to act. His role as Charles Xavier was shockingly good until he started to yell – I find him better in his (fake) British accent and his chemistry with Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender) but in such intense moments, his true acting falls apart of sounding like a whiny bitch and the reason why I hated him/or didn’t fully watched Wanted.

His performance is riveting and a worthy contender to McKellen's performance.

Fassbender’s performance however as Magneto is riveting and terrific – he just handles his character well and a worthy contender to Ian McKellen’s role. His acting just shines through in emotional moments where Xavier tries to let go of his hateful conscious and troubled past and the result is outstanding. Kevin Bacon as the antagonist Sebastian Shaw is also proves to be excellent and seemingly well for his performance – I think he shows grandeur in the shadow of the comic-book character having a lust of charisma on one hand and his vision to control the world. Though like McAvoy, his performances falls flat near the end, I just didn’t like his fate in this end; it just felt rushed.

She does look smoking hot like the comic book character.

Other performances such as January Jones as Emma Frost is an ideal choice – she is just perfect for that sinister and cold role alongside the Inner Circle with Shaw. Also Jones is hot when she takes off her clothes in scenes such like when she meets the Russian emissary and mind tricks him into believing that he is sleeping with him is just a hilarious moment. Rose Byrne’s performance as Moira MacTaggart is decent for her character but I didn’t really care for her as an actress. Nicholas Hoult’s performance on the other hand felt a mixed bag for me – I also didn’t really care for his nerd stereotype at the beginning but when he transforms into The Beast, it’s truly felt reminiscent to me back to the X-Men Animated Series days where Beast was one of my favourite characters in that series with his awesome deep voice and coolness.Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique is not better than Rebecca's performance in the X-Men Trilogy to me but she provides a solid performance as a insecure mutant that wants everyone to accept her as what's she is. From her award-winning performance in Winter's Bone, Lawrence deviates into the character with emotion and touches some of the strings of Mystique's genuine personality - her performance is brilliant providing a emotional impact but Rebecca establishes that character better. From 24-fame Ray Wise and from Splinter Cell-fame, Michael Ironside – their performances is just hilarious to me, the moment I see Wise in the command room and Ironside as a US Commander; it just broke the whole seriousness part of First Class, whether its delivering one line or just staring at the screen, I just laugh at the way they are even in this movie.

There’s a cleverness of Vaughn’s direction as he plays in some scenes; such as the training montage with all the X-Men training that whimsy like flipping a comic-book through panels that sometimes irritates me to the bitter least. Though his flaw is introducing new characters even though it provides a sort of comic relief and doesn’t prove to be badass such as the introduction of certain characters in the X-Men Trilogy but the cameo with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine as surprisingly funny.

But there isn’t all to his main flaw, he provides much of the 60s and the Cold War with a dazzling direction, making it less corny in spots and attempts to make it engaging and serious with a exploding soundtrack that compliments the epic firefights to the emotional moments that is evident to be heartbreaking.

Such moments like these are epic.

The CG with the likes of Thor and Green Lantern pertains to be here as breathtaking and magnificent – it’s a cliché of saying these merits I know but these movies like First Class has a way to converse the audience inside the film experience which it proves to be exhilarating. Moments such as the mutants duking it out near the ending where Magneto is attempting to pull a submarine with his power and willingness – it’s feels like a blast seeing such moments complemented by the powerful yet cliché soundtrack. You could easily feel the impact for the characters such in those CGi Moments and it deviates from other Marvel films with emotion and gruesome immensely that alleviates in such moments of loss. Once again, it’s an easy scene to get impacted as a viewer but what’s more aggravating is how they (or Marvel) try to convey the same melodramatic emotion in other movies.

That weird-looking forehead threw me off from liking the character

To me, Mystique looks disappointedly bad with all that CG/make-up. Sure Jennifer Lawrence looks hot in her role but that plastic forehead of hers looks weird and odd when she transforms back to her original form. I feel that Rebecca Romign looks better in CG form and having Jennifer Lawrence in that form looks terrible.

First Class is overall a good movie but with the CG effects complimenting the epic soundtrack being much of the same as Marvel movies would get, some aspects of the CG and make-up with Mystique being odd-looking and my hatred of McAvoy – it just balances it out from being thoroughly enjoyable rather than an exciting and tense comic book blockbuster. It does makes up with the dazzling performance of Fassbender and his chemistry with McAvoy’s character and supercilious CG scenery which I applaud the production crew for it. This of course isn’t better than the X-Men Trilogy but it sure as hell a worthy contender of it.

Outrage MOVIE REVIEW

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:57:53 +0100

At least a decade ago, Takeshi Kitano takes on yakuza films to a whole new level with much brutal and violent ambiguity as most or Goodfellas or Godfather would make of it. From gorely and exciting death scenes, ratting out/"interrogating" with the lethal use of torture and severed fingers, other rival gangs to backstabbing other member syndicate.

The story mainly concerns a struggle of power amongst the Yakuza today especially in a recession where businesses had been bad as rival gangs tend to their hostess clubs and casinos.

Sekiuchi, the Chairman operates a huge crime syndicate in the Kanto region issues a stern warning to his two lieutenants, Kato and his right-hand man, Ikemoto played by Jun Kunimura who's head of the Ikemoto family. Kato orders Ikemoto to bring Murase into the drug-trafficking business as he is his sworn brother. But Ikemoto thinks that Sekiuchi "lost his confidence" and asks Otomo (played by Kitano himself) as he is in the Sanmo-kai clan which has a rich history of betrayal and everlasting allegiances - to "shake" down Murase played by Renji Ishibashi, ending it to a feud against on another.

The Sanmo-kai clan also try to shake down a South African embassy which is illegally trafficking drugs amongst the populace and Ishihara played by Ryo Kase plans to use that as an advantage with it threatening the ambassador to have a illegal gambling ring in another location.

That black ambassador speaking Japanese is weird... as it all foreign people speaking Japanese is weird, I often cringed at these moments but I was admit that scene with black ambassador and the cute girl was funny. And like Brother, it shows that foreign directors who use western actors to act in their movie, often falls flat in depictions whether or not they are good actors.

This is much of the case of Outrage as it establishes of a "you can't trust anyone" type of feel as rival gangs/syndicates are against one another under the chairmen's nose which all started off when one of the rival gang members encountering their rival gang due to a disguised gang member telling him that he will "pay back 1Mill yen to him at his office" but apparently working for the other side began the feud between two leaders.

Takeshi Kitano returns as he plays a captain of a Yakuza crew, Otomo who is pretty much doing all of the "dirty work" for the syndicate trying to put down Murase and his syndicate to "retirement" to witnessing some great death scenes that he created. It does go into the convention of Goodfellas of the creative death scenes without the montage music, instead Kitano utilizes his main trademark of his typical silent approach of death and torture scenes creating a somber and extravagant atmosphere of Sanmo-kai clan doing all the "business". Since the inevitable terror that is Brother, Kitano's trademarks such as his wide deadpan shots of him sitting in a office, starring at Japanese dudes to endlessly torturing/killing people doesn't not mend for his acting but his deliverance is convincing throughout his years.

The cinematography didn't get plague from Kitano's previous Yakuza film but there are moments where it felt distilled and bland trying to convey a great moment. One of that huge example is the ending and how it was clearly shot and portrayed - the scene before was exciting with death scenes and twists all around but Kitano attempts to add a tad bit of dry humour resulting in a unnecessary scene that plays to the Japanese but it left out many questions of betrayal. Though the convincing argument could be that Kitano's executions works well to compensate his cinematography.

Kitano - whether or not he in the film, can make a fantastic grim and dark atmosphere in a Yakuza underground world of full of corruption and it's nice to even see details (established in other mafia films as well), where you could see the fear of innocent people as it turns violent through a well-narrative plot brimmed with richness. Outrage is a reminder that there's still great Yakuza films out there and since how Brother turned out, it's a redeemable choice that even surprises the audience how remarkable it is.

THOR MOVIE REVIEW

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:56:37 +0100

Official Poster

2011 may be considered the year that motion-picture Super Hero movies return - starting with The Green Hornet, Super, The Green Lantern,Captain America to The Avengers. We see a fair share of horrible ones in the past going from straight out corny to a horrid piece of trash. It's really hard to underestimate the risks that Marvel and DC is doing over these years whether it's spending millions to billions of dollars funding a comic book adaptation into a huge blockbuster motion picture to producing multiple ones within fews ahead of it. Now Thor is one of them produced into a blockbuster film with crowd-pleasing action sequences, glorifying visuals and CG to comedic and dramatic ties to it's script and performances.

From director Kenneth Branagh, it's hard to see such directors these days could enter a genre that he/she never done before and churned out something worth watching and surprising. Such cases are James Gunn with Super, Edgar Wright with Scott Pilgrim, Peter Jackson with theLord of the Rings to this acclaimed director who would of thought a Shakespearian director with such hits as Hamlet and Henry V could create a comic adaptation epic film.

Hemsworth is bringing the sexy back

Much of a surprise that Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor in this film - his performance, while it may be fool-hardly to me in his previous film,Star-Trek directed by J.J Abrams with his glaring charm and handsome to all the squeakily fans, had to become the size of a wrestler with his jaw-dropping physique in this film. It was much of a surprise for me that with all the arrogance, warmongering and charm, Hemsworth could easily pull off as a Thor throughout the movie despite feeling disdain for the actor, you could not help but like the character.

Odin stripping all Thor's power, his hammer Mjolnir and banishing him to Earth

Hemsworth plays an arrogant, warmongering and confident "soon-to-be" king of the Nine realms in Asgard, Thor whose father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) almost grant him to become his predecessor of the throne and the protector of the Nine realms but disaster struck as Frost Giants got into the vault where Odin had kept the secret power of the frost giants and reclaim it though failed as Odin activated his golem to destroy them. This sparks Thor and his band of friends to arrogantly enter the frost giant planet/realm to destroy them once and for all but Odin forbids him to do so. The confident Thor refuses his father's permission and him and his friends and his brother, Loki to venture forth to the Frost Realm. As they encountered the frost giants, things didn't go so well as after all the "killing spree" in the planet, Odin suddenly appears to bring them back to Asgard where he stripped Thor of his power, his great hammer, Mjolnir whose Odin "will choose this hammer worthy of using it" and had banished him into Earth.

Lost

Thor is now banished to Earth where a group of astronomers/scientists, Jane (Natalie Portman) , Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Erik (Stellan Skarsgard) discover him after "accidentally" hitting him with their truck and getting tased by Darcy and had him transfered to a hospital. As Thor is not familiar with Earth, it goes on a clichè of "super-hero/person from another realm" not applying towards a foreign customs and hilarity ensues with his misadventures of being with the group of astronomers/scientists. And also Agents of Shield came into contact with Mjolnir and Thor - first with conflict and then being allied against a deadly foe.

Loki steals the throne

But all things are revealed that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is undermining this whole plan all along as he is jealous of Thor and wanted to reclaim the throne himself and did whatever means possible to get Thor stripped by Odin to cast him away to Earth as well as having promise the Frost Giants to enter Asgard with his will and Gatekeeper Heimdall (Idris Elba) whose reluctant to submit to Loki's will as king. The group of friends also is reluctant to Loki as they venture to Earth to warn Thor about his father's condition and to help them with Loki.

This might hurt a little.

A comic-book adaptation could never go wrong with exciting action sequences as it is brimmed with many. With Hemsworth being buffed as he is, he seriously kick some ass as Thor. From hand-to hand combat with the agents of SHIELD to a magnificent eye-popping visual of one many intense and jaw-dropping scenes when Thor reclaimed his hammer with the fury of lighting, projectile throwing to endlessly bashing with feats of strengths against the frost giants to his confrontation with Loki. It's just a endless amount of intensity and destruction coming out through Mjolnir. Though the main fault is that we don't see much of the action besides Thor and his band of friends as the battles sequence with the frost giants are only aware at the beginning.

Truly Breathtaking...

The visual and CG however compliments the favoured action sequences; it's just remarkable how CG looks these days and the moments you lay eyes on Asgard - it's just breathtaking with glorifying and amazing visual art that is pulled into crafting this movie. Although, the fact that it's CG and the actor/actresses had to perform in a green screen and easily seeing that they are in a green screen, sways from the epic and intense action and vibrant visuals. It's these things that was implemented greatly through the pure richness and hefty budget to produce one of the most colourful, lively and magnificent piece of work that was created in seeing Asgard, The Rainbow Bridge to the destruction harness from the action sequences that Thor encounter. However much of these types of visuals remind me of Percy Jackson of a which is brimmed with mind-blowing visuals to epic proportions.

Intimate kissing scene with Thor and Jane

While visual CG and intense action fills up the adventures of Thor on Earth, Thor gets on his "soft side" with Jane Foster who has taken into liking Thor (as well as Darcy who swoons at his physique). Firstly interested in Thor and background but later had some "not-so" intimate scenes sitting in a fire place. The fault in there is that Thor while it may contain breathtaking visuals and action scenes, also had some romantic ties within it and the script didn't mind to slipped it in - the result is cutting it loose. As a comic adaptation may be, the script (re) written by a number of people plus Stan Lee created much of Thor's character, Odin, Loki, Frost Giants, Heimdall to agents of SHIELD. But the huge problem is that it left out the other characters to even to be a character, even with Jane, Darcy and Erik as the duration of the film didn't match time for them - what worse is Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and Fandral (Joshua Dallas) as well as the Queen to Odin, Frigga (Rene Russo) is left out poorly sketched with a loose narrative and had left those who's unknown to the source material, confused.

Luckily, the source material didn't hindered much aside from the characters, the film took lengths to educate the audience whose not familiar to the comic books, having in-depth history at the starting with Odin and his army defeating the Frost Giants from invading Earth and the Nine Realms and completely removing its source of power. The film does well also do go into detail, while not elaborating further as other adaptations (whether games or comics) plague to do so.

Lady Sif and Warriors Three was unfortunately left out

The casting did to this film is a surprising one, it first starts off with Hemsworth whom I often said in times that he's not much of a great actor, redeemed himself with sheer physique and a likable character to be proven as Thor. He's really a likable character from the moment he landed on Earth, as the audience that I watched with, it proves that his charming remarks towards a custom that he is unknown to is considered to be hilarious from films like Enchanted to Percy Jackson. Anthony Hopkins whose also proven to be picked in roles he shouldn't have (The Rite) has a natural fit as Odin with his tremendous voice portraying his character. Though it is fool hardly that he doesn't appear much after Thor's banishment, receiving a "heart-attack" and having shots panned around his comatose body and also a scene where it turns from epic to a cliche scene that we always see. Portman however as she came out from an academy-award winning film, Black Swan did a multiple of movies afterwards starting with "Just Go With it", "Your Highness" and "The Other Women" portrays flustered scientist with Darcy played by Kat Denning, her perky assistant as they just look like they want Thor in bed with them. Loki played by Tom Hiddleton however, did not part with a cackling and smart villain, he is in the comic books but as professional "lier" to undermine Thor and become the King - works well only if Hiddleton didn't look short of a jackass. Idris Elba however, as his portrayal of Heimdall swaying from his real appearance being white in exchange of having "someone" to be black to compensate how less black people in this film works well as having a thunderous voice as the Gatekeeper and he seems likable to me as well.

He's like Alfred Hitchcock of Marvel films.

It's unbelievable that directors these days could do something out of the ordinary and produce something worth watching. Director Kenneth Branagh whose known for his Shakespearian films crafts a comic-book adaptation into a high budgeted blockbuster that is a crowd-pleaser with it's eye-popping visuals and action-oriented scenes to it's script of Thor being in circumstances when he landed on Earth was roared with laugher amongst the audience. As a Marvel film may be, Stan Lee also make a cameo as he did bunch of times and like Iron Man, Samuel L Jackson reprises his role as Nick Fury and a sudden twist appears at the ending credits. While it plagues with a loose narrative with supporting characters and bit of the source material, Thor deviates from that and replaces much of the exciting sequences that Asgard has to offered leading up to The Avengers.

Hanna MOVIE REVIEW

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:55:49 +0100

Skeptism is the word I use when I started watching Hanna. The premise of "cat and mouse" and a secret past can end up good or bad, whether its Bourne Identity or Salt. Hanna establishes that trend in a supernatural feel to it from director Joe Wright who directed such British flicks as Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. His career of creating highly-polished visuals and intensity of a thriller with action of the Bourne films isn't his "cup of tea". But he pulls it off like the rest of the directors, nowadays could produce - something worth watching.

"I missed it's heart" Will probably come back later on.

From Atonement, Irish actress Saoirse Ronan shines through as a fragile-esque yet deadly girl, Hanna from a remote land somewhere North (the film obviously didn't tell) who lives a quiet and "uncivilized" nomadic life with his "dad", a ex-CIA agent played Eric Bana (Hulk). While she isn't hunting for her "prey" for dinner, his father teaches her a variety of information ranging from different languages, encyclopedic spurts and of course, teaching her to defend herself with surreal fighting. She and her father pretty much lives in a isolationist life outside of civilization, unknown to her that civilization will get to her soon. As she is easily impressed by a plane that flew by her house, screaming like a banshee.

Marissa begins her mission to track down Hanna and Heller

But one day, his father has her "other life" planned for her as he plans a tracking device for her "if she's ready for it!". When she activates that tracking device, it turns this silent yet calm intro, upside down into a Salt-esque thriller as it notifies not only the CiA to track her down but a hard-ass agent, Marissa played surprisingly by Cate Blanchett. Which Hanna requires to kill her. This thriller becomes more of a unrelenting chase film when the CiA had captured Hanna and had transported him into a unknown underground CiA facility somewhere in the deserts of Africa(?). There Hanna escapes this underground facility and had walked into a small yet cute British family who Hanna befriends with from a obsessed daughter to a hippy mom played by Olivia Williams in an adventure of melancholy to Morocco.

Hanna befriending Sophie(?)

Hanna has lived away from civilization so she is unknown to the world around her such as the case of "being from another planet". This was mostly established when she had escaped the underground facility and ventured to Morocco where a Arabian person decided to rent a small room for her to stay. It clearly shows that her mysterious past was only lived in a small cabin out of nowhere and when the sights and sounds of things like television, the phone to the kettle begin to come into her mind, it's a claustrophobic and loud atmosphere that Hanna persisted into. But as much of her encounters with this small British family would be, she had developed friendship and hospitality; one that she really didn't much had outside of civilization. Plus her first encounters with a Spanish "too old for them" boy, clearly you could see her uncomfortable in that situation and the result of that date becoming violent yet less intimate.

Two psychopathic skinheads plus a sadist assassin tracking down Hanna

While Hanna is making friends and running away, Marissa is running two operations to track both Heller (Hanna's dad) and Hanna herself down with the help of a sadistic, whisting pervy played by Tom Hollander and his two psychopathic skinhead associates. Now this is where it gets ridiculous, as Hanna is transported to this underground facility in Morocco and going to Berlin - her father, Heller swam all the fucking way from their small cabin to fucking Berlin with a business attire. This wasn't really establish how he has the supernatural strength to swam and walk all the way from Finland to Berlin.

The other aspect of how this "mysterious" Bourne-esque surreal fantasy could be is Hanna's mysterious past and how the film didn't really tell you until later on with threads of flashbacks and googling her "past" with DNA to find out that she really isn't what she ought to be. The purpose of intrigue and suspense of Hanna's past goes into visuals and short dialogue is handled decently by unknown screenwriters Seth Lochhead and David Farr who decided that where the direction is going and forgets telling the audience, leaving us confused. Also the fact that the characters disappear through the course of the film, such as the British family, regardless of their fate or not in the hands of Marissa, it clearly went away.

Hanna running

The chase sequences can be sum-upped stylized visually and intensity by the acts of the Bourne-films but it's more prominently similar toTom Tykwer's Run Lola Run. There are intense moments such as scenes like the train cargo part where the skinheads are searching for Hanna as she is running across those cargo carts to parkour scenes jumping from place to place that ends appealing. It's hyperactive with its editing and frantic when those scenes occur but afterwards it goes dim and quiet. This is much of the case in this starting, where Hanna hunts "her prey" and the tone it gets and those tender moments when her "friend" who she travels to Spain hooks up some "too old for them" boys. That part was rather disgusting for those boys to flirt with underage girls.

The difference from a silent approach that persisted in the starting escalates into a visual-intensive action that compliments the chase sequences from Morocco, Spain to Germany to the unknown world surrounding Hanna consists only within the life that she had never been in. Making it a intriguing yet polished piece of inspiration that Wright decided to partake in. Such performances as Cate Blanchett surprises me as she is quite noticeable by her "goddess" voice which it clearly didn't show it in this film. Olivia Williams plays great once again as the hippy British mother and Eric Bana as Hanna "father" maybe good yet decent. Saoirse Ronan is the star of this film with her silent "quirkiness" captures and captivates the essence in her role in such a young age. Wright's career shows highly-stylized visuals and intense action thriller, chasing sequences that put Salt into shame but manages too less of information that should have been described to the audience in a manner of a conclusion. It's a shame that my skeptism could go away if it was less pacing with the chasing scenes and become more establish like what the Bourne Identity did.

3:10 To Yuma Review

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:53:55 +0100

Because I'm too lazy to even format a review in my review page:

2007 seems to be the year of western movies – from No Country For Old Men to There Will Be Blood. To my surprise, these films aren’t bad either especially with There Will Be Blood which nabbed a number of Oscars. This movie 3:10 to Yuma is one of those movies that has a strong cast and performance, great storyline and an action-packed western to satisfy your needs.

Director James Magnolia impresses us again with creating a western that didn’t fall short as a flawed movie. He created such an atmosphere in the West that isn’t drawn-out and bland like other western movies, years ago. Such western classics with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood didn’t really appeal to me, they often have these long-winded and drawn-out scenes that really puts me to sleep but it isn’t the fault of these classics – westerns tend to convey much of its long-winded scenes as we get to some the environment and atmosphere centering around these character as they progress through the story. 3:10 to Yuma has those scenes but it delivers even more.

Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade; a notorious and charismatic outlaw who along with his gang, robs and kills for a living. One day, as they ambushed an armoured bank truck accompanied by bounty hunters and the like, Wade encounters Dan Evans played by Christian Bale who he let him, and his two sons go as well as return the cattle and horses as promised. This didn’t bode well for Dan as earlier on; a person has burned down his barn and claim territory for the Railroads ‘company. In Brisbee, the Marshalls had taken Wade and Dan in desperate need of money, volunteers to help a band of people to take Wade to Contention, a prison to Yuma where he will be hanged upon the federal court.

From there on, we see some chemistry or friendship with Wade and Evans. It’s pretty much like an Off-Road Movie, where the protagonist/main character just wants to hull the villain to jail and this villain/other dude is charismatic trying to crack wise in any situation possible. But later on, we see that they both aren’t the outlaw and the volunteer – it’s more developing into a friend that Wade didn’t have with his loyal gang of outlaws. It’s pretty much a western Off-Road movie but instead of being struck with a wise cracking companion, Evans is first accompanied by a rad-tag bunch of volunteers from the Railroad Company trying to hull him into the train to Yuma and Wade’s gang of outlaw trying to rescue him from the captives. But during their journey, Wade picks them off one by one until Evans and his son, William (Percy Jackson) is alone while he still is enjoying being captive.

It’s no surprise that Russell Crowe’s performance is outstanding – he completely owns his character as Wade and makes him a likable outlaw/character through the journey to Yuma. He doesn’t try to exaggerated on the wise cracking or the “rational/likable” outlaw in the gang, he just does both and I really didn’t mind that he’s an outlaw. It is also a surprise that Christian Bale doesn’t do his Dark Knight “impressions” as Evans, he plays it smoothly like Wade; from developing their character, talking about their past to becoming a companion or a loyal companion at the end that doesn’t break “any promises”.

Action wise, it’s janned-packed with on-horse shoot-outs, ambushes to shootouts in settlements, making it a blast to watch. Magnolia crafts these scenes more exciting with the likes of impressive shootouts. Scenes like escaping the vengeful prospectors as they want to kill Wade where the Chinese is building the railroad, the ambush scene with Wade and his gang of outlaws ambushes the bank truck as a mounted machine/Gatling gun blasts his gang to them walking into Apache territory. It’s these scenes that are out-of-the-seat exciting and a blast to watch them.

3:10 to Yuma is truly one of the contenders of best western flicks of last decade, with such brilliant performances with Crowe and Bale, action-packed scenes to the environment that they traversed in. Magnolia doesn’t disappoint with this western flick and so does other western movies during the year that this movie had released. It’s fascinating that Crowe plays the outlaw, the fact that he plays his well surprises me and it’s really a likable and charming off-road western movie.

Animated Lessons from a Fairy Tale

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:17:45 +0100

As I was watching Tangled, I cannot fathom some of the lessons that the original writers, The Grimm Brothers has written. The story of Rapunzel as she has been "kidnapped" by old crone, Gothel who wanted eternal beauty by Rapunzel's golden hair which has special powers. This is due to a golden flower earlier on which has the power to either make you beautiful or can heal you and Rapunzel's mother who was saved by this power and given birth to Rapunzel who has grown with this magical power of her hair. Sparking interest for Gothel to snatch her and taken to a tower where she and Rapunzel lived as her daughter who's hair has grown longer throughout Rapunzel's childhood abling her to use her long hair for Gothel to leave and enter her tower anytime, grappling/rope-climbing her hair. On her eighteenth birthday, she always wanted to see the stars/lights that happen every birthday and where it's originated but her "mother", Gothel refuses to take her outside due to bad things lurking outside who wants to steal her golden hair for which has powers. Long story short, a professional thief, Flynn/Eugene with a stolen tiara helped her break Gothel's promise of leaving the tower despite his plea that he will not return to the place due to his history but decided to help her find that source. It's a journey of escaping the authorities and the twins who he backstabbed and a world of which Rapunzel had never seen before.

The lesson of being a overprotective mother even though she is using her isn't really a great lesson here as other animated movies had done it before. For instance, Finding Memo is an example of having a protective mother worrying about her son who's vanished off into a perilous journey in the ocean where dangers and experiences spark in his corner of it's eyes. While as Gothel, aside from keeping/treasuring her so that she could have eternal beauty acts like a mother who is probably lonely through her life not having a sense of beauty and wanted to start this kind of life with "kidnapping" Rapunzel from her kingdom, using the power and not letting go. It's a theme of overprotectiveness as a mother "knows best" wanting her daughter to live in harmony inside the tower and is concerned and responsible of not letting her be endangered. It's not that she's using her, it's really about any other mom that doesn't want you to get "influence" or get any ideals of learning from bad/evil people out there in society like violence and drugs that can lead to various conquences in your life. It can also be from a strict family, who wanted their kids to either grow up like they did with the same goals in mind or make them become more successful in life by restricting them to things that they really don't want to do, becoming a uptight perfectionist or "the jack of all trades" prodigy. This pretty much pertains in society today, from pianoist to math.

On the other hand, what that affects in your life is isolation and misery such examples as Rapunzel occupying her time, learning professions like cooking, painting and doing other weird things similar to having a strict family forcing you to become something you don't want to be when you grow up. But what changed her life is when Eugene/Flynn comes to her life not knowing anyone but her mother's lessons, this made her become brave and "stand her for herself" or rebellious as Eugene would put it, as they go off to an adventure to find the source of that light. He pretty much sums it up with the stages of kids today; from listening to their parents to becoming rebellious against them becoming more free to yourself to "look outside of your tower/box" and see the wonders that you had never seen before. That is the case when Rapunzel had "flew" outside her tower and had touched and feel the outside world embracing her before her eyes, touch and smell. It was a consquence to her despite her mother's promise of which she had broken but it has given a opportunity to be free and roam around with joy and happiness rather than isolation and misery. That consquence is rather a exciting yet perilous journey similar to Finding Memo where he is being a danger for sharks and evil dwennings inside the ocean in a place where he had never seen before and Rapunzel and Eugene undertake the authorities that Eugene started, a dangerous horse and the two twin brothers that he backstabbed to get the tiara.

Later on, Gothel discovers that Rapunzel had escaped from the tower and desperate to find her. Like being a protective mother, she wants to find her daughter by any means possible but she had devised a plan with the brothers to lure Rapunzel away from Eugene to make her a concerned mother disappointed that her daughter had broken her promise and had become a target by bad people. It's rather a scheme but the principal is that "by any means necessary", your parents will go through lengths and struggles to find out where you are because they will not get a second chance of embracing you and a resonpible parent as themselves. But the finale destroys the moral lessons in exchange of Gothel showing her "true colours" and her fate. This lesson of becoming rebellious and adventrous in your life having your mother killed is upside down and it may be why childs these days are what they are.

Another example is Jack and The Bean Stalk of having mixed lessons that isn't appropiate for younger audiences. About a poor farming family who had sold a cow and a guilable Jack who sold the cow in exchange for some magical beans. This didn't bode well for his mom as their only chance of survival is selling the cow but one day as Jack planted to seeds, it spurted out to length up to the sky where it became a Bean Stalk. It sparked interest for Jack as he climbed the beanstalk and witness another world that is hidden in their society. With two towering monsters living in harmony, Jack found that they live up here. Now this is where it gets crazy, he becomes a "thief" and decides to steal the monster's treasure from "the golden harp", gold coins to a prized chicken. This is where they are no villains in this fairy tale but the main protagonist himself. These monsters clearly just want to live away from humans so they build their world in the skies and having a trastpasser in their territory is the reason why the monster did not like it. The moral lesson of this story is that "stealing is good" and tresspassing is good for kids and its a horrible story to read to your kids, when they grow up as thieves and thugs later on.

Such a story about Rapunzel and bad lessons to be taught is why kids are what they are today, whether or not they actually had read or heard of these stories. This doesnt neglect that I hated Tangled but that the moral lessons in this and Jack and the Bean Stalk really shouldn't be taken under consideration in your childhood. Pixar and Disney films had often given out good moral lessons to any audience but there are some to keep in mind that it's wrong. I think its a great and wonderful animated film brimmed with the singing talents of Mandy Moore and the likes of the cast albeit Brad Garett. Like I said in the review, it's pretty much a "palate-cleanser" from that other Disney blockbuster animated hit, Rio with the singing talents of Jaime Foxx and the miscast of Jesse Eisenberg and fucking George Lopez.

Last Night - The Killing Stonewalled

Mon, 16 May 2011 20:47:17 +0100

After that shocking ending to the previous episode, Vengeance as the FBI storms into the room that Sarah and Holder is in, the FBI is taken authority over this case due to the acts of terrorists and Muhammad who apparently is a terrorist. And striking off another show/movie that profiles terrorists as people named Muhammad or Muslim Also as the FBI is taken authority and police chief forcing Sarah to drop the case for the feds, a source released to the media - the pictures of Rosie's body as Mitch is shocked that they released those photos. Before that, Mitch tried to drive her two kids to school but unfortunately had left something causing her two kids to be left unattended in the car. nearly suffocating them. Though her relative quickly found them in the car. Jamie has pull some strings and had told Darren about something sinister to turn the tables around against the Mayor. It is revealed that Holder is attending a group meeting about past and her sister that he didn't tell Sarah. Sarah finds out that his son released pics of Rosie. The ending reveals that Bennett is speaking Arabic/Muslim and further revealing that he's a suspect as Holder had wire-tapped his phone-line which prompted Sarah and Holder to hasted to his home.

Aside from that "profiling" with the acts of terrorist by Muslims which is painfully annoying at this point due to it being discriminatory and racist. It's a decent episode, not as great as the other ones but it sparks an amount of tension and wanting to see what happens next. It starts off with a FBI taken over the case as many movies does that, Darren uses dirty politics due to the Larson case being connected to terrorists by the FBI, Mitch trying to take matters under her own hands, endangering her own children to Sarah and Holder getting a lead under wire-tapping. That's a lot that's going with this episode, a lot that is scrutinized through the FBI investigation and why did the writers had to have Bennett as Muslim faith and Muhammad being a terrorist as a stereotypical "this is a terrorist". I'm really pissed off of this whole profiling thing.

Game of Thrones EP4

Mon, 09 May 2011 17:28:48 +0100

It's a redeemable episode that had cleanse my palate from the previous three episodes. There are less sex scenes, more development to the story and a jousting tournament. And a fat coward, Sam whose acts like a stereotypical insecure fat person from the internet transformed into their world and Jon felt empathy for him that he became his friend and protective to him from ridicule and bullying. It's like every nerd's dream to have someone above him to protect them from bullies from the school's playground.

Daeryn also rules above his brother whose once a dragon as she "sent" a escort for him so that he would presume that she sent her to make his brother, "soft" as he proclaims it. And the jousting tournament which proven to be fatal and Tyrion sympathizes with Bran giving him the plans for a "handicapped" horse to ride upon. Also in the end, Lady Stark hiding in a tavern discovered by Tyrion who she and the entire tavern turned against him due to "proving" that he is the one who pushed Bran of the climb and had sent an assassin to finish him off.

This episode is overall, good there's more development less Jaime and Cersei and things that I wanted from Game of Thrones. Though that Jon being protective of his fat friend is quite cliche and we will probably see in the future episodes that Sam will finally have the courage to wield a blade and to actually fight when "Winter" falls.

From The Bomb - Gemini Rue

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:26:20 +0100

Apparently, it's indie/adventure game week having a plethora of games shown in recent Quicklooks from The Next Big Thing, Fancy Pants, Hector to Gemini Rue. It goes about saying that it's a great two weeks full of games that you actually want to play, having said that Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 (Conduit 2 also) came out the same day/week. I rarely played a indie game, much less an adventure game before really and from what I gathered through these indie games is that two of them; Hector and Gemini Rue plays on the fact that they are emulating the SCUMM engine, making it look more like the LucasArts games back then. The main difference between those two is that Gemini Rue won 2010 winner of the Independent Game Festival Student Showcase.

Created by Wadjet Eye Games which was first creating flash/browser based games now turned into PC game, Gemini Rue is a cross between Blade Runner (having that 40s era detective mixed into the future) and old LucasArts adventure games like Fate of Atlantis. Which reminds me of how annoying people continue try to reference Blade Runner in some way - I get it, it's cool having a no-nonsense detective in the future being like Blade-Runner but I think it's getting too overused and old in video games. This first impression of making it like Blade Runner was disappointing to me and having a moody and film noir over the game gives mixed thoughts about how the direction is going. Vinny and Ryan showed off the game for the Quick Look.

Anyways, it's basically a old point and click adventure game featured in the SCUM engine and even the graphical detail looked retro like those old LucasArts games. From the interface, control wise to even the interaction with the NPCs but being retro to old adventure games has its faults - control wise, from what I understand in the Quick Look it seems like you have to toggle what sort of action to interact with the environment/npcs making it a hassle if you use want to talk to the NPC and not kick him. The toggle menu to interact with things seems unnecessary, it does do the previous action that you had toggled earlier but backing back to this sort of menu and choosing the action that you want to interact with is a pain; the menu has its usual look/eye, interact, use and a kick/boot option that's hilarious in scenarios.

An adventure game had to go with a great story and Gemini Rue has a decent storyline. It seems like the Boryokudan (say that name three times!) crime syndicate is the main conflict of interest in this game, you playing as a ex-assassin turned cop, Azriel who is trying to find his brother and constantly fighting to regain his memory and interconnect with proceed into the bigger picture. You start off as Delta-Six (not COD), trapped in a stellar prison where people get their memory erased or something then flashed to Azriel where he is trying to find Matthias. This sort of storyline been done before and it felt derivative to make a concept like finding your long lost brother in a bleak future. The story doesn't impress me of having something unique like most adventure games have.

Puzzle wise, it's a redeeming factor for this game - playing in the LucasArts convention of interacting with something and that item can be used to interact with that other thing as every item is useful for something in this game... something. What really interested me is the terminals found in the game - in a bleak future, you have to have an ID to activate a terminal and this feature seems impressive. What really impressed me is how it looks basic but utilizes a drag-and drop for key words that you can drag to the search engine/bar and get your results, in some adventures games you have to go through a rigorous task of typing the thing that you need to know but in this game, you just drag and drop the word into the search engine and you just get the results. It wonders why in the future that they finally possess that sort of wonderful technology! The puzzle solving from what I seemed in the Quick Look is the main difference for retro adventure games, it doesn't look like it's difficult to solve puzzles in this game, you just find a random object that can be useful later on. Items such as the ID card that the vendor gave you earlier for the terminal is temporarily (though optional) so that the vendor would not get into trouble.

The voice acting is also crucial in adventure games and from what I gathered in the Quick Look. The voice acting is disappointedly bad in some cases, it feels like they had gather people from the Voice Acting Alliance to voice the characters in the game. Sure there's some voice actors that are good like the main character Azriel, your friend, Kane and the female robotic/computer voice but the background characters are mediocre and terrible with trying to voice act. It surprises me why this game won an award because having a dedicated voice cast is integral to adventure games and this felt like they are either overdoing those lines in the dialogue or lacking in giving emotional and life to the characters.

The environment had a sort of FFVII backdrop though pixelated more

The environments and graphical fidelity is hand-drawn to generated pixel-art making it feel retro to point-and-click. The hand-drawn background constantly reminds me of both Grim Fandango and Final Fantasy VII but instead of 3D models in a 2D backdrop, it's 2D models/spites in a 2D realistic-looking backdrop. It's a constant reminder of "hey remember how games look like this" and how it goes with the whole cool trend of "film-noir" stylized in a bleak future. With the dark and dirty places you go to and the fact that it's constantly raining all the time.

I'm a tad skeptical about this game, it's a neat indie project that mostly favours me into the puzzle portion of the game but story and specifically voice acting wise, it's not selling me much on that. I just wish the voice cast wasn't comprised of mediocre to bad voice actors gathered from the Voice Acting Alliance that seriously lingered in flash/browser on the internet. And the storyline leaves to be something, undesired for having a stereotypical setting with a derivative plot of loss identify and finding a long-lost brother. This is probably the reason why it doesn't get the praise, it deserves. Hopefully their next project won't be fulled with these issues and problems of Gemini Rue that I could probably purchase a game that considered my first indie game.