- HOME
- TAGS
- ARCHIVES
- 12/2001
- 08/2002
- 09/2002
- 10/2002
- 11/2002
- 12/2002
- 01/2003
- 02/2003
- 03/2003
- 04/2003
- 05/2003
- 06/2003
- 08/2003
- 10/2003
- 11/2003
- 12/2003
- 01/2004
- 02/2004
- 03/2004
- 04/2004
- 05/2004
- 06/2004
- 07/2004
- 08/2004
- 09/2004
- 10/2004
- 11/2004
- 12/2004
- 01/2005
- 02/2005
- 03/2005
- 04/2005
- 05/2005
- 06/2005
- 07/2005
- 08/2005
- 09/2005
- 10/2005
- 11/2005
- 12/2005
- 01/2006
- 02/2006
- 03/2006
- 04/2006
- 05/2006
- 08/2006
- 09/2006
- 10/2006
- 11/2006
- 12/2006
- 01/2007
- 02/2007
- 03/2007
- 04/2007
- 05/2007
- 06/2007
- 07/2007
- 08/2007
- 09/2007
- 10/2007
- 11/2007
- 12/2007
- 01/2008
- 02/2008
- 03/2008
- 04/2008
- 05/2008
- 06/2008
- 07/2008
- 08/2008
- XML
- LINKS
- ETCETERA
StupidLogic.com RSS Feed
In what was befitting of a finale performance by the late Heath Ledger, his portrayal of The Joker as a madman hellbent on bringing chaos to Gotham City truly deserves the rave reviews and accolades it has received. A deranged psychopathic lunatic with anarchy on his mind, sometimes you'd forget that underneath that make up, was once an actor that played teen heartthrob roles and confused cowboys.
A performance that even rivals, surpasses at times, Jack Nicholson's screen presence and charisma, every screen time The Joker gets was used effectively in showing how crazy he is and his singular focus of bringing chaos to the established order, while bringing order to his chaos. Underneath the facade of craziness, lies a calculating, manipulative genius that, unless matched by Batman himself, would see Gotham crumble into the mess that it was before Batman's arrival. Always staying a step or two in front of the authorities and Batman himself, pushing and pulling everyone to overstep their moral boundaries and nosediving Gotham into anarchy.
The title chosen for this iteration was not coincidental, as the whole movie involves the interplay of Batman, and Harvey Dent, the 'White Knight' of the story. Both recognize their own role in cleaning up Gotham, but ultimately realizing that the other would be better suited in doing what them themselves can't, to the point that either one of the two is willing to risk themselves to protect the other's ideals. This also serves as another dimension of the love triangle set up when Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, is romantically linked with Aaron Eckhart's character.
As Batman cleans off the last few crime bosses that was left behind after Falcone's arrest, they band together to rebuild anew. But try as they might, nothing could be done while Batman still roam the night, until The Joker steps in and shakes everything up, not just the renewed control of the cleaner Gotham streets, but as well the notion of what the perfect criminal truly is.
And that is one without any qualms about killing everyone regardless of affiliation, no qualms about doing the craziest thing you can or can't think of, no qualms of even hitting where people hurt most, that is their loved ones. Because Christopher Nolan chose not to even flesh out the Joker backstory, preferring him to be "absolute", an 'unstoppable force' pitted against Batman's 'immovable object', you can sense that the two are even matches when it comes to their intelligence and tenacity, and the ingenious ways both employs, Joker in trying to pressure Batman, and Batman in trying to pursue Joker.
Then there's his other 'plans', that made everyone go batdroppings insane. These really pushed Gotham to the brink of anarchy, and the resulting chaos would be a far greater magnitude than what Ra's Al Ghul did in Batman Begins. And even if you think you know the story by now, it doesn't mean there's no twists at the end, by which point if you didn't think Joker as the psychopath that he is, you will by then.
One of my most anticipated movie this Summer, I can gladly say the wait has not been for naught. Even if Ledger is robbed of an Oscar, I can say without uncertainty, he will be awarded a couple of Moonmen's, one of which should be the Best Villain. Truly a performance that was worthy of a great actor, who locked himself up in a room to study the mannerisms of a Joker of the comics transposed into a real life, flesh and breathing deranged lunatic. 9/10.
Posted by SoulJah at 9:22:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
I was drinking water when a decidedly Jack Black-ian Po the Panda gestured as he had to climb up a seemingly finiteless number of steps towards the Jade Temple, that's when I had the most terrible choking of my life. And the most rewarding!
This is one movie that everyone might enjoy. The parents who brought their wee lil demon spawns might enjoy a bit of respite watching this movie. I swear, the amount of sudden outburst of laughter might make the popcorn or water a dangerous weapon when propelled out of your nose.
In a decidedly refreshing move, Kung Fu Panda was made with a more mature audience in mind, with Jack Black as the main character Po, and a stellar cast of voice actors that includes Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan of all people, this was not a movie specifically made just for kids. The jokes and comic timing were a bit more clever, and if you loved Jack Blacks other works in the musical and theatrical arena, you might recognize his signature all over the animation.
But let me talk about the 3D animation for a bit. I really liked the stylized animation style, and the gorgeous scenery that the characters interact in. Unlike the cold and plastic looking characters in Shrek, it has The Incredibles feel to it, as in the animation fits the subject matter.
The peach tree scene was really lovely, as the leaves floated among Master Oogway.
At the outset of this post I didn't wanna ruin any of the big laughs for you, but I figured one out of many is good enough. Watch it with good natured people, and not frumpy ones, and I promise you guys will have a good time. 8/10.
Posted by SoulJah at 10:23:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This movie was quite a surprise in that it avoided the cheesy lameness of Marvel comics movie adaptations as of late, and it manages to attract stars such as Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terence Howard and Jeff Bridges! This line up of stellar stars gave character to these, uh... characters in that they have that underlying mannerism that doesn't really boil to the surface, but it's tangible and it's there. No doubt the stars drew these traits from their own personalities, so you can see parts of Robert Downey Jr. shining through Tony Stark, or even the lovely Pepper Potts has a little Gwyneth in her.
I don't know who Jeff Bridges channeled his asshole demeanor from, but man, did he play that part perfectly.
In keeping with the original storyline of the comic books, Tony Stark is a genius play boy industrialist that inherited Stark Industries from his parents. After a brief stint under Obadiah Stane's mentoring, Stark emerged from beyond the shadows and became one of the most charismatic, yet naive, merchant of death. Only after his convoy was ambushed, and he fell into enemy hands, only then he realized all the weapons he produced found creative ways reaching to the people he rather not want using his weapons.
During his captivity, his captors wanted him to replicate a weapon he designed capable of unleashing hell fire from just a single missile. Considering the state of the prison was in, you would think it absurd to recreate a sophisticated weapons system; but he managed to create a chest implanted device necessary to keep him alive from all the missiles and weapons made available to him. Knowing the tremendous available power from the chest implant device, he set out to create the first of the prototype of his infamous suit of armor.
As he made his escape, you can see the change of heart he underwent, adamant in preventing his captors from using the weapons he produced, correcting his wrongs by destroying the stockpiles of weapons bearing the mark "Stark Industries".
What's amazing is that they chose to keep the look of the suit realistic, insofar creating metal and rubber suits to be interspersed with CG sequences. The team that previously worked on Zathura under Favreau came and did the suits for this movie as well. And as that movie showed us, the final product really blurs the line between what is real and what is CG.
I'm not saying that the CG version of the suit isn't impressive, far from it. Every detail of the final Mk III suit has a specific purpose to control his flight and his life support system. Every surface animated, every flap opening and closing, controlling his flight trajectory, every function is grounded in movie based science, where it has the plausability factor of a far greater magnitude than being bitten by a spider and getting superpowers.
The technology and the science they use to explain and use to depict the gadgetry of the Iron Man suit and Tony Stark's house is based on real life, albeit a few more years in the future. The home automation, the 3D projection, the interconnectibility of the devices, even the Iron Man suit can theoretically be achieved given a few more years and a few more billions of dollars. No wonder the officemates I went to watch the movie with were swooning at all the gadgets.
That's about it though, that's as much as I'm willing to disclose so as to let you fine readers to go watch this action packed, well written, and well directed movie. Director Jon Favreau, which also is in this movie as one of Stark's body guard who got to race around in a Rolls Royce, hit a jackpot on this one. Combining CG effects that blends well with live action sequences, focusing on the major storyline points while letting the actors improvise their lines made for a great experience. The character of each actor shows through their silver screen counterpart, and it only made the movie that much more likeable. No wonder it's shaping up to be the most well received movie of 2008, and stands to become the highest rated superhero movie of all time.
9 out of 10. It is that good!
Image copied from ComingSoon.net
Posted by SoulJah at 3:21:00 PM
3 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
This remake of The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston sees Will Smith (Robert Neville) as the last man on earth, tasking himself with finding the cure for a virus that turns its victims into mindless killers, placing this movie along the likes of other zombie fests 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead, with the twist that these zombies, nay, more like shedding, super, gymnastic humans that can transfer their virus via touch or air, lending credence to statistical impossibility of the virus wiping out the rest of the world.
Neville is an army doctor that discovered that a retrovirus that was engineered to cure cancer turned rogue, turning all its recipients into mindless killers that ultimately loses their even basic human instinct, with the hunger for blood driving them. When he discovered that the virus has evolved the ability to jump from host to host airborne, he made all efforts to get his family off of the island of Manhattan, where this movie is based in. This airborne transfer of the virus echoes our real life fears of the human bird flu virus jumping via the same means, which will make you start to think the possibility of all the events on screen happening in real life.
Our attempts at correlating events happening in these kinds of movies usually draw us into the story far more effectively. How many times have you wondered what would you do in a zombie outbreak? What weapon would you grab first? Where would you fortify and barricade yourself in? No doubt, this is the kinds of thought provoking questions that the script is posing to the audience. What would you do if you thought that you are indeed the last man on earth? How would you keep yourself sane?
The answer is that he has the family dog that keep him company while going around doing routines to that fills out his days. Either hunting for food, or collecting supplies, or a trip to the video store, his dog is his trusty companion, giving him something to talk to. It's also a link to his past, where he tries to get his family off of the island of Manhattan. But isn't this a zombie-like movie you ask? Aren't the streets filled with screeching creatures that breaks into a run whenever they see a human?
If there were afflicted humans running around running amok all the time, it'd make a darn boring movie, what with the main protagonist huddling in his bath tub for three years. The plot of these creatures not being able to tolerate UV rays gives off a vibe of vampire movies, and has them being labeled as Darkseekers at one point later on in the movie, as these things usually seek the darkness in abandoned buildings to keep themselves out of the sun's rays during the day. This plot device allows Neville to go out during the day, while trying to occupy his time documenting his efforts of finding a cure for the virus that he himself is immune to.
His immunity leads him to believe that the burden of finding the cure at the source of the outbreak is his alone to bear, concocting various mutations of his immune blood and injecting them into various virus carriers. This means that he has to catch these things whenever he has the chance, displeasure even, of running into a pack of them. He sets elaborate traps to capture these creatures; and at one point, which was unclear if it was due to his sanity finally slipping or somehow the plot reverses unto itself and the creatures manage to think all of a sudden; he gets caught by the same kind of trap that he used to capture the creatures. And at that point, the proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan.
I think I shall refrain from typing any more, as there would be huge spoilers that will ruin the movie for you. For me, I didn't even catch a single full, official trailer before coming into the cinema, only knowing the existence of the movie from watching HBO's special on it, and as previous movies have shown, I'd rather not know even a single tidbit of information so I can reserve my judgment in the theatre.
What's my take on it? Good movie and it makes you think as well. The repercussions of genetic engineering or the possibility of a virus wiping out all humans might weigh in during your viewing. The emotional struggle to keep one's sanity during the whole ordeal is one thing that's rarely touched upon in most zombie apocalyptic movies. This is an 8/10 for me, only slightly marred by the obviously CG creatures. And what would be the first thing I'd grab in the event of a zombie apocalypse? My lawnmower, a la Dead Alive, or probably a hand attached chainsaw.
Posted by SoulJah at 1:08:00 AM
2 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
Lamb Roasted on a Spit.
A group of bloggers were invited for a session of breaking of fast with the staff of Sheraton and the new General Manager, Mr. Alex Riva. We were greeted at the lobby by... Ok, I have to confess I somehow misplaced all the Business Cards that was handed to me, even though I remembered to put it in my memory card wallet. And I'm rather terrible with names. But they did greet us at the lobby and ushered us all to our tables.
Rano invited me, Jim747 and Airbiscuit the night before for this, and we all gladly came. We met Reeda and Yeeman there. Though there was supposed to be a few more from the blogosphere, but it was in all six of us having a delightful night of great company and great food.
The Pickles and Acar spread.
Rano at the Noodles Station.I got some photography stuff out of the way first before heading to the food stations, but that lamb roast on a spit was enticing me to say the least. After some photos and some long exposure shots, I was ready for the food. On my first 'round', I had some rice, veggies with prawns, some satay, and my main target for the night, the roast lamb. Let me tell ya, the nice and tender meat was a delight. Most of the grilled lamb chops I had all this time was quite the opposite. Even the roast at Rizqun I had a hard time to bite with my old man chompers, but last night's at Sheraton was really, really, delectable. It was so enticing that I digged in without even taking a picture. It was that good.
We chatted for a bit with our two hosts that sat with us on a separate table, and found out that they have done the breaking of fast sessions with other traditional media outlets, such as Radio DJs and Newspaper reporters and editors.
Reeda from Anakbrunei.org having a chat with the staff of Sheraton.
Jim747 and Rano with Alex Riva (c.) the new General Manager of Sheraton.
I had to remind myself that I needed to take a picture of the food items for Yeeman so I got up to get a second serving, thoughtfully, but futilely arranging the items so it'd look great on a photo. Fried noodles with satay and pratas and some more roast lamb.
Playing with wireless CLS again with my food, flashing the white tent to give a nice, even, soft lighting to light up the food.
My third serving was some noodles with all the condiments dipped in what I thought was Laksa curry, but turns out it was a thick Tom Yam soup. Thank goodness I tried it, as it was the best Tom Yam I had in months.
My second serving.
My third.
There's no better way to end a good dinner than with a dessert. After Reeda exclaimed it was dessert time, we found our way inside for the dessert table, and I proceeded to snap up some pictures. But once I found the Chocolate Ice Cream Pit, and the accompanying Chocolate Rice Sprinkles beside it, off the camera went, and back to my seat I go, with Ice Cream bowl in hand.
Teh Tarik and Chocolate Ice Cream goes great hand as I've found out.
It was a great night, with great company, and not to mention to two lovely ladies with us at our table. And I find the poolside setting only manages to calm my nerves and help me relax some more. And it was not too rushed anyway, and the crowd was not all that much. Great place to have your dinner, Sungkai or not. I totally recommend it.
I totally missed this on the way in.
Dessert time.
Top of the night with a bit of ice cream and teh tarik.
The full set of pictures is here.
Labels: Food, Photography, Reviews
Posted by SoulJah at 11:12:00 AM
3 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
Man, that VR system sure is awesome. Taken with the 70-200mm f/2.8G. Without VR this woulda been blur city.
Went to this Thai restaurant on the same block as HSBC in Jerudong. Aqil Shafiee Restaurant I believe the name was. It wasn't a buffet, more like ala carte. Certainly there were a few dishes that was quite popular, meaning there were a couple of dishes that other tables had that was the same as the dishes on our table. Cashew Nut Chicken, Tempura Prawn? Or was it just deep fried prawns. Tom Yam Prawns. Pineapple Fried Rice. Mango Fish (this deep fried fish cooked Thai style with Mango bits. My favourite of the bunch) with Kailan as the vegetable dish. Tanghoon Salad, which I gave a miss because they said it was too hot. That basically rounds off everything we had on the table. The food was great, and the atmosphere was relaxed, as there were no rush to the buffet table.
You know what? I'd rather like that format. I might try to go ala carte for all my Ramadhan dining pleasures next year. Might have to compile a list though.
Labels: Food, Photography, Reviews
Posted by SoulJah at 9:37:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
Long exposure, with pops of flashes popped for good measure to get some twinkles in the water stream.
Rizqun had the most number of tables I've seen this Ramadhan season. This table was one out of hundreds within the vicinity of the hotel lobby.
Reminded him to keep still, but as you can see, he wouldn't.
Fadil, deep in thought.
In all, I really like the variety of food they have at the buffet lines. In fact, they had two buffet lines to cater to the number of patrons. I would say the crowd at iLotus was thicker than this, but if one line's busy, you can just go to the other line anyway. The Mutton was scrumptulicious, and we have no less than two prawn dishes, and all of the stuff get refilled pretty quickly. And the thing I liked about Rizqun is that they have a Roti Canai/Murtabak station as part of their morning breakfast buffet, and now they have it as a regular station at the Ramadhan buffet. The two drinks area get frequented fairly regularly, but refills comes swiftly whenever it runs out.
One of the better dining destinations out there for your Ramadhan food fix.
Labels: Food, Photography, Reviews
Posted by SoulJah at 1:57:00 PM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
My first encounter with an unlocked 8GB iPhone. While I'm a self confessed Apple hater, this was like being lured with a forbidden golden foil wrapped candy bar. Here, we see it trying to load up my site, and it looks like it load everything up just fine, including the drop downs and everything.
I kinda shoehorned my way to the breaking fast at iLotus, but for good reason. The last time I went there for breaking of fast, the food was excellent, with a good range of buffet items indoors, and all the extra items such as the fritters, dessert, hot drinks, grill station located in the patio area, it is rather good value for money considering it costs less than what most hotel eateries are charging this season.
Baiting me with it's minimalism.
Present were myself, Ranoadidas, AnakBrunei, Jim747, Chee, and Saifullah(?), and we were entertained by the lovely host, Irene, I think it was.
Here we see Jim747 trying it for a spin.
The thing is, where there is good food, there is a good amount of people flocking there. It's more true here than anywhere I've seen. The whole place was jam packed, spilling out to the patio area where the grilled and other various items are, and they even had to set up tables to the usual driveway at the entrance of the restaurant.
For that reason alone, you might want to catch the 7.30 show, as the break fast time is too hectic, but if you're up for it, and can wiggle your way to the stations, I guarantee you will have a full plate, a full table, and a full belly. The 7.30 'show' has the same menu, mostly catering to Chinese patrons of the establishment.
Barbecue chefs preparing the items. Hectic station this was.
I would not hesitate to come here again, though. The food was great, and if you have a belly of steel as mine, you can go long into the night, snacking on other food items on display.
AnakBrunei enjoying the buffet.
Labels: Food, Photography, Reviews
Posted by SoulJah at 10:57:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
An origins storyline of sort, which is all the rage nowadays with comics to movies adaptations, it chronicles the arrival of Optimus Prime and most of his more memorable comrades from the Generation 1 TV Series. While a far departure from the real Generation 1 storyline, eschewing the storyline of the Autobots and Decepticons arriving on earth 4 million years ago, the storyline they've used here is well compressed for the average movie goer today.
The Allspark, a device that gives life to Cybertron, and sustain said life, was lost to the depths of space when a civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons erupted. The Allspark somehow lands on Earth, with Megatron following suit. He crash lands in the North Pole, and has been held in cryostasis the entire time until the events in the movie.
While convenient to the masses and they can dive in into the story immediately, fans of the cartoon series and toy line, which I can say almost all of us, are going to be a bit miffed at the liberties taken with the story. While it would have been cool to have the original storyline, the confusing and sometimes contradictory continuity with the different seasons of the TV series would be a hard sell to the average Joe. After all, they're coming for the action sequences.
And action sequence they will have. Gone are the lasers, and in come the bullets and missiles. Gatling guns materialize out of a bot's hand, while some body parts firing off missiles, all while going through acrobatic routines that would even shame the most agile of spider monkeys. They duck and roll, run and jump, and causing general destruction to the fictional city, blasting bullets back and forth and firing off heat seeking missiles. By the one hour mark, I bet you'll have action sequence overload not seen anywhere else before.
It's this overload that takes away your amazement the fifth or sixth time you see an Autobot or a Deception transform back and forth between their two modes. The first few times you see Scorponok chasing the human characters, Bumblebee transform into a robot, or Optimus Prime transforming from a totally awesome truck to a totally awesome 20 feet tall robot, a sense of giddy excitement comes over you. It's euphoric, even teetering on arousal. Towards the end of the movie, the action picks up so much that you can't savor the robots animation anymore. It's just two hulking mass duking it out in the middle of downtown.
I'm not saying that the whole theater didn't appreciate the animation sequences, which, giving credit where credit is due, ILM did a spectacular job by the way. 38 hours to generate a single frame is mind boggling to say the least. It earned the standing ovation at the end of the showing; and I wholeheartedly agree. I yelped in glee at the first sight of Optimus Prime, that's how excited I was, and I will not retract that yelp for anything in the world.
The selection of Autobots and Decepticons portrayed in the movie are purely for the purpose of making it easier to digest, and even satisfy fan's demand for their favourite 'bot to appear. While Soundwave won't be making an appearance for instance, due to the fact that they want to explain the mass shifting in future sequels (!), Starscream is a perfect choice as he has the biggest fanbase for a Decepticon, next to Soundwave. Even updating the vehicles they all transform to seemed like a blasphemous move at first, but you can forgive them for making the vehicles much more easier on the eyes.
Shia LeBeouf is a perfect actor to fill the role of Sam Witwicky, becoming the comic relief of the movie, while Megan Fox supplies the eye candy department. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson are the military jarheads and John Voight deserves a mention as well as the US Secretary of Defense.
The best thing about the whole movie was that they've made an effort to sticking to the original material as best as they can, even to the point of getting the original voices for the original cartoon TV series to reprise their roles for the movie. They even went so far as to include Optimus' famous energy Ax in once crucial scene. It was fun picking out and pointing out what you remember from your childhood in this movie.
I'm giving this movie 8 Energon Cubes out of 10.
Posted by SoulJah at 7:23:00 AM
1 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
The main antagonist for this movie is of course, the titular character, the Silver Surfer. Played by Doug Jones, but voiced by Laurence Fishburne, a tall well built silvery being goes around the universe on his silver surf board. Once known as Norrin Radd, he's forced to serve Galactus as a Herald in order to save his own home planet from destruction. While doing Galactus' bidding all over the earth, he finally meets the wise cracking team of Fantastic Four and does the noble-change-of-heart things villains would do.
While being a badass in the earlier part of the movie, he exhibits the traits of the Silver Surfer as people know him. A confident, no nonsense, powerful being that can take on the entire Fantastic Four team all by himself, but ultimately foiled in one of those "A-ha! That's the answer!" pseudo scientific moments. But man, him surfing through the streets, tearing everything apart around him gave me goosebumps all over. It's the one time where the now obligatory flying-through-crowded-streets-scene l0oks almost realistic. Almost.
But then that's the only highlight of the movie. If you can conjure up the running time of the movie, it stands at a disappointing 1 hour 30 minutes, which to me is too damn brief to tell any meaningful story that all the older comic book readers would appreciate. I just hate the fact that they have stooped down to the lowest common denominator of the movie going crowd, satiating the segment of people that want movies to end right at the 1 hour 30 minutes mark. The kinds that complain and whine about a 2 to 3 hour long movie. I want my money's worth, and at that running time, I'm getting gipped on an extra half hour or more storyline, and the fact that they crammed a wonderful trilogy into a compressed Cliff's Notes on the events in the trilogy.
It's not a bad story per se, as the comic performance between the Fantastics can be funny at times, but man, another dancing scene in another superhero movies? Does Stan Lee have anything to do with that I wonder? And they had to have another naked Jessica Alba scene just to induce some laughs and some erections.
A good light hearted action romp, and doesn't take itself too seriously with moral quandaries and philosophical heroes spouting one line too much, you'd hate it that you paid full admission to see a brief, unsatisfying movie, and wished it was half price so you could like it more. It's like... An Episode of Heroes mixed in with Armageddon and Blue Crush (with the surfings and everything), and you're halfway there.
Posted by SoulJah at 1:04:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
One of the first must watch movies this blockbuster season!
Mighty lofty proclamation, even for me. But hear me out. There's good reason to catch another chapter of Jack Sparrow's antics with his, dare I say, beautiful crew, Elizabeth Bennet and to an extent, Will Turner.
If you've watched the two previous movies, you get an idea of the whole charm of the Pirates series, sailing the open seas, friends or foes one upping each other in their treachery and deceit, morally grey areas, that sense of rooting for the underdog, and of course being surprised by the twist and turns throughout the whole movie.
And don't forget that wit and guile that only Jack Sparrow can manage, and you got a recipe for opening weekend success.
It's status being a trilogy will of course see itself compete with Spiderman 3 in the box office, but seeing how Spidey 3 was quite a flop in the eyes of it's rabid fans, there's much more reason to expect that PotC will rake in as much, if not more, than Spidey's opening weekend earnings.
The action is much more intense, with your eyes being treated to a veritable feast of briney proportions. The death scene of the main baddie in this movie is quite a masterpiece in it's own right, slow mo effects while everything around him is being disintegrated. Just, wow.
I'm quite anal about noticing the special effects bit to be... "special effects". If I want to suspend my disbelief, I want it to be suspended without being jerked back into my cynical brain and mutter, "Ooh, polygonal fakery". Thankfully, the effects in this movie is a labor of love. The scene where the pirate ships amassing for the final battle? It looks like a fleet of rickety old ships. Opting not to focus heavily on the special effects, rather, to focus on the interaction of the characters has always been a staple of the Pirates series.
You will believe that they are a rag tag bunch of misfits, you'll love every bit of comedic interaction, which is not forced like Tobey Maguire's tabletop dancing shenanigans. You'll love the subtle in jokes, you'll love the not-so-subtle jokes, you'll love the emotions the characters are portraying to each other. You'll love this movie. Period.
p/s: Many thanks to the two lovely ladies who accompanied me to the movie.
Posted by SoulJah at 12:49:00 AM
2 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
You'd be forgiven thinking that with Spiderman 2's relatively action packed nature, you would think Spiderman 3 will be one whole, 2 and a half hour of action sequences. But the thing is, once you've seen the whole trailer, you've seen all that you needed to see, visual effect's wise. You are not getting that sense of awe seeing a huge sand person tearing down Manhattan, you are not getting that sense of anxiety when Venom finally appears, you are not getting your eyes treated to all the visual effects that you want to see. Why?
Because you've seen it in the trailers, and more importantly, the action sequences are few and far between. Sam Raimi in his infinite wisdom managed to fit three differing stories from all the different point of views, and wholly screwing it all up in the process by not giving equal importance to all the characters. Way too ambitious, but way to ham handed in execution, that you keep egging the movie to move onto the action sequences.
By trying to fit all those story in, you have moments where the movie moves really slowly, with characters lining out all the stuff that needed to be known so Joe Public would get it, so as to not let him become Clueless Halfwit Joe. In all fairness, I could live with that, but what really sets me off is the predictability of all the characters, and the predictability of the story.
I'd be the first one to admit, the action sequences are way cool, acknowledging the fact that animating individual characters of sand and even the way they rendered the symbiotes are no less masterful. And again, they've kept the effects in a realistic comic kinda way, with a believable Spidey swinging around looking like a real person. That's the reason I like the Spiderman movie franchise.
Interspersing these action sequences and inserting stupid dialog, stupid character interactions, a half assed intertwining story, and lame 'comedic' sequences getting the Joe and Jane Public laughing is a cop out in my opinion. The only part that got me to utter "Ooh! Cool!" was the part where Stan Lee appeared, when Bruce Campbell made a cameo, and when I thought I saw Denise Richards somewhere.
By all means watch this movie for the sake of not missing this movie, but don't bring high expectations into it.
Posted by SoulJah at 12:39:00 AM
0 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
Upon the recommendation by AnakBrunei, I chose the Spicy Fried Rice and Spicy Chicken Wings. And she chose Chocolate Fondue. How spicy was my food? I've always had a suspicion that the roots of my hair has scoville detectors, because as soon as spicy food gets onto my tongue, my hair roots will go on fire. And it was 'ablaze' last night, as there was nowhere my tongue can run away, as the Spicy Fried Rice and Spicy Chicken Wings did their one-two punch.
In all, I like the place, gives another alternative to the Gadong, Kiulap traffic jam conundrum. And as we will move our operations across the street from that area, I think it will become my favourite hang out place soon.
Now onto the pictures!
And Now, For Something Completely Different
Labels: Photography, Reviews
Posted by SoulJah at 4:13:00 PM
3 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
Before viewing this film, I have put myself on an embargo on all information regarding this movie, preferring to know as little of the movie as possible. I spied on trailers but quickly look away, not wanting to know every little morsel of goodness that might come out of this movie. It involves a small contingent of Spartans, 300 of them, against an army far outnumbering them in the hundreds of thousands, that far I know.
From the get go, the audience is introduced to the Spartans, a proud race of warriors in ancient Greek. The boys of Sparta are trained to fight from their early childhood, creating, in effect, a military state in ancient Greek.
Scottish born Gerard Butler played King Leonidas, the King of Sparta, a character portrayed as a gruff, battle hardened warrior king. A proud Spartan, that some might consider... well... a bit mad. Mad because he provoked Xerxes, played by Rodrigo Santoro, by throwing Xerxes' envoys into a bottomless pit. Envoys bearing the severed heads of other rulers of the Greek's states and demanded Leonidas to 'submit' his people under Xerxes' rule.
Thus began Leonidas' march towards the coast, meeting the force assembled from all four corners of Xerxes' rule, with 300 of his finely, finely sculpted men, whose sole occupation was war. Along the way, they see what the Persians can do to the Greek civilians, that the Spartans become more determined to defeat their foe. Joined by their one time enemy, the Thebans, now both groups march together to defeat a common foe.
The combat disciplined Spartans are no match for the first few waves of the attacking Persians, as there were much slash and gore played out in slow motion, the Persians clearly outclassed. They were no match for even the Thebans, as they could only watch as the Spartans make mince meat of the marauders.
The more the Persians throw at them, the more the Spartans relish the challenge, which consider dying a beautiful death in battle as the most satisfying death. Even after Xerxes unleash his hideous monsters plucked from all over his empire, the Spartans stood ground to defend their position, still disciplined and determined as before.
But, ultimately, what led to Leonidas' men's demise is betrayal. Betrayal by the council back at Sparta, and betrayal by one of his citizens which he considered unfit to join the elite 300.
A beautiful movie, which some say a true rendition of Frank Miller's graphic novel, even much more so than Sin City ever was. The film noir, the grain, the stylings of the action, the emotion, all of it contributed to the graphic novel look. Even if you're not thinking of watching this movie, I suggest that you do. The first movie event of 2007. 9 out of 10.
Posted by SoulJah at 9:42:00 AM
4 comment(s). Post your thoughts on this post.
