The World and Mind of Jordan Marquez aka MaxJayJay

Mini Reviews - Rundown 15/08/2011

2011-08-15T00:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the rundown of my reviews for these movies I have seen in the past weeks.

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

I'm glad I got to know about this influential rap group that contribute heavily to the rap scene in the 1990s. The group's music is the main star of the film as it literally paints throughout the group's history. It convincingly illustrates the geniuses of the group when at the time, rap groups like Run DMC and De La Soul really took risks and made their craft into an art-form. The film presents both the high and low highlights of the group's career very well and takes it advantage in fleshing out the crew member's personality in both charming and interesting ways. Its now among the list of favorite music documentaries I ever seen like Don't Look Back and Some Kind Of Monster.

4 out of 5 stars

Being Elmo

Talk about a tearjerker. For such a small and simple premise of following a well-known puppeteer Kevin Clash, his story is so rich, interesting, colorful and whimsical just like any Muppet movie or TV show. You do feel for his passion as he seeks out this art-form and battle against obstacles and criticism for his interest. When you look through this history, it is so interesting to see the progress of his art-form when perfecting the creation of a puppet from giving it material to giving it personality. At times, the emotional parts can go overboard to where it can be a bit corny. The production behind this film is kind of obviously low, but it is a well-made and heartfelt film.

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Sucker Punch

How I describe this is that it is like watching a beautiful train wreck happening in super Zach-Synderish slow mo. While it is such an eye-candy, the film is so bad and even unappealing sometimes there is no word for it. This is the first of Synder films with an original story in which Synder himself has WRITTEN and it is like it came from his elementary school notebook (no surprise if it is). Schoolgirls fighting giant robot mini-gun wielding samurais, nazi zombies, dragons and an trainload of robots.... are cool... if they had any relevance or matterto the main story. Building on Inception's reality within reality concept, the film's layer of reality serves no real connection to each other and both the drama scenes and the action scenes are criminally boring. Not mention the film does no justice in placing lazy covers of classic songs like Eurythmic's Sweet Dream and Iggy Pop's Search and Destroy. If you like train wreck movies, this movie could be for you.

1 and a half out of 5 stars

Captain America: The First Avenger - Full Review

2011-08-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

Finally saw this after quite a long time...

Captain America was really first created as a propaganda piece during the Second World War, especially since the first thought that popped into the creator's head was to have Hitler be punched square in the jaw by someone dressed as a giant American flag. Someone like that would be only be taken seriously in the comic book and cartoon world, though many great comic writers had given this character many great stories and development throughout the time. It is understandably hard to flesh out the character into a live-action format as there were many attempts, especially the infamous 1990 low-budget movie. In a time where superhero movies are now grounded and realistically-based, bringing Captain America to the big screen in a serious way would be a not-so-easy task, when establishing his origins and selling on the Steve Roger character. How did they pull it off? Its first crucial move: setting it in the time where its not totally grounded and realistically-based - the 1940s.

In doing so, the explanation of all the origins of Captain America such as the costume, ideals and character flows very well for the casual audience and the people who knew the comic. And the film didn't rush the audience into bringing up Captain America, but it took its time in progressively illustrates the stepping stones in how he becomes that hero ala Batman Begins. Secondly and equally important was for Chris Evans to portray not Captain America the Super Solider, but Steve Rogers the human being and he did it so magnificently. He completely sold it. Man that guy came such a long way from "Not Another Teen Movie", you guys didn't know that?

During the Second World War, Steve Rogers wants nothing more than to serve his country by joining the army. The only problem is that he has only spaghetti arms rather than a full body tank the U.S Army prefer, not to mention he has all the known health problems like asthma. Only the kind Doctor Abraham Erskine (played effortlessly by Stanley Tucci) gives him a chance to serve his country by enlisting him into the Super Solider program. After a dose of the Super Soldier serum (seriously, not steroids) and some Vita-Rays, small weak Steve transforms into one perfectly-sculpted muscled solider, coined the name Captain America. There, he faces off against his equally-powered, but hideously-grotesque Red Skull as he plans to destroy the world.

The hero that is Captain America relies heavily on the humanity of Steve Rogers and the writers pulled it off so well. The character strikes such a balance in being a good nature and incredibly sharp person. There are pivotal character moments such as the flag and grenade scene of Steve are so simple, but yet illustrates his characteristics so beautifully. The supporting characters were alsso great such as the wise Dr. Erskine, the fiery Peggy Carter (played by "wolf-howl" Hayley Atwell) and Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). The action scenes in this film are ranged from top-notch to pretty average, but all are very enjoyable . Though, I really need to talk about the special effect especially how it was used for skinny Rogers that is just so seamless and much impressive.

Some of the complaints were by the middle of the film, it all went a bit rushed. It seems like the film took a good time establishing and explaining all the development of elements that they rushed through the middle without that much context. The film score isn't that memorable or doesn't give that much impact except for certain parts. However the film's ending is very heartfelt and thoughtful, concluding with such a graphic novel style instead of a comic-book movie style. That last line at the last second of the film will just hit you hard in the gut.

Captain America: The First Avenger is no Dark Knight (I mean, what movie will ever be that?), but I'm proud to have it among my favorite superhero films. It is equally as good as Thor and Spider-man and its just gave me a solid faith in the upcoming The Avengers film. That and The Dark Knight Rises and all of the other BIG films... its gonna be one hell of a year next year. But the film just succeeds in not only being a big blockbuster film, but being a genuinely character-driven good film. The film had some problems, but only by an inch, I gave so much love for this.

4 out of 5 stars by an inch...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 - Full Review

2011-07-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

Sh*t 's about to hit the fan!

Yes I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter. I love the Harry Potter series and fell in love with it when Rowling brought out book 4. From the first time I laid my eyes on the first book, it was an all-new kind of story filled with its own mythology and lore of magic and fantasy and dotted with very fun and interesting characters that soon we come to love for a long time. By the time the first film came out, it was uncertain of how the series would play out throughout as separate individual films. Yet it seem like a miracle that the film series would still keep the interest of audience and the successes in both financially and critically as well as all of the original cast holding on to the roles for all 8 films. It just makes me happy enough that a book series I hold dearly was given so much respect and care in translating to the big screen where most series/franchises won't be given a chance. Now at last the final film of Harry Potter have now been shown with all of the cast and crew be giving their last bow in the most emotional and spectacular way. How I came out of the theater would have me split in two ways, as a film-goer and a Harry Potter fan. And that is how I will be writing this review.

Knew it, you got pink eyes...

The storyline is somehow relatively simple as it continues where Part 1 left off as Voldemort (evil bad-guy number 1) is pretty much desperately wanting to kill Harry Potter by claiming the Elder Wand while the band of heroes (Harry, Ron, Hermione) are checking off one by one of the Horcruxes, which are parts of Voldemort's soul so they can finish him off once and for all. It is a fast, emotional and dangerously race against each other where many lives are in danger and lost, the stakes are highs, pasts are uncovered, courage are put to the test and many many sh*t blows up.

Stop spit-balling the castle!

Now as a Harry Potter fan, from reading the book, I could say that it translated respectfully and well enough from the book. I could understand of the many changes from the storyline and some of these changes work better than the book. Though the film still suffers from the same problem as many Harry Potter adaptations as many of fine and important details from the books are not included or that some of the events are not satisfyingly branched out/developed well enough where as the books has. It is understandable that the past films were allowed only a certain amount of time to develop these events. However at this point when they decided to split the final book into two films, they should take advantage of this and develop more of the story, events and characters, which in turn the film stop short of it. And as a fan who really loves the last Harry Potter book because of all the significant and great moments within, I would have love to see these moments to be grander and fully-scaled in film, which honestly didn't played out like that all all. As a film-goer, it is a pretty well-rounded and well-balanced film that had the appropriate amount of drama, emotions and spectacles while still retaining that epic feel. The pacing problem is still present, but not so much as the last film and the emotional and drama are consistently genuine throughout.

It is just amazing to see the three original actors who stuck on to the roles of Harry, Hermione and Ron for a decade, to have us grow up onscreen and to becoming such decent actors. Despite not being fully utilized well as in the books, the characters throughout the series have been shaped maturely physically and mentally and each have their own last hurrah in the film. Not to mention of how good-looking they have become. Daniel Radcliffe has had the weight of the entire film franchise on his shoulders for the past eight films and he is still great for each reprisal for the films. Rupert Grint have been the comedic support in the past films, but he still managed to pull serious dramatic chops in the last two. Emma Watson still pulls off being the graceful and strong Hermione and damn it is just so unbelievable that she became so hot. There are THREE times she had gotten herself wet and each time my tongue just swaggered. It was a nice change for Voldemort from being powerful and cocky to desperate and more dangerous. And hey the man of the moment is Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom. Seeing him from a short chubby goody-two-shoe geek to a complete and utter badass gives a lot of hope for the nerds out there... well not all of them. Wish there was more screen time for him because he's just a badass, but there were two extremely awesome moments of him that I was just happy to leave that.

Try to make fun of my name, b*tches!

As I said by the time I exited the theater, my opinion is split by the two sides of me, the film-goer and the Harry Potter fan. It is inevitable that they will be details left out and plot points will be changed, so I had to forced myself to see this as a film version, instead of a direct adaptation. That said I couldn't be more impressive that a studio would reach and complete all seven books of the series without any hiccups and kept their quality intact. For this being a huge movie event, the story and character elements still remained important and essential while giving the audience grand and wonderful spectacles (You hear that Michael Bay!) As a Harry Potter fan, I'm a little disappointed that some of the points weren't executed or portrayed well and they can ranged from nit-picky to problems. Other than that it is a real satisfying and grand finale to the biggest and most beloved film franchises ever existed. Thank you JK, Heyman and Radcliffe for this and good luck in the future.

As a Harry Potter fan - 4 out of 5 stars

As a film-goer - 4 and a half out of 5 stars

My Top Ten: Best Moments in Harry Potter Films

2011-07-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time and I'm back again with another Top Ten on ANYTHING!

The end is near for the one of the most beloved film franchises in movie history, expanding a straight decade and their final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will pull out all the stops with this grand epic spectacles. As a huge Harry Potter fan, it was emotional for me after I put down reading the last book and it will be the same when I go into the theaters. And as that too, I couldn't be more happy of a series of adaptation that is as faithful and respectable as it can be and I praise the filmmakers who translate the series very very well to the big screen.

So I'm going to present the list of best moments from the Harry Potter films, not the books. These moments may be the same from the books, but I'm going by how it is presented and performed on film. And plus this is a film blog site. These are the films before Part 2 of Deathly Hallows, which I know there are piles of GREAT moments in that part. But tha'ts not the case.

And without further ado...

10.
LONDON BRIDGE REALLY WENT DOWN
(Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)

In this big opening to the film, this shows that the Death Eaters (they're the badguys, noobs) really mean business for both the wizarding and human worlds. What looks like a mere field trip to abduct someone, they decided "Why don't we just kill a hundred of Muggles on our way back?". And did so in such devastating and spectacular fashion.

9.
DUMBLEDORE AND VOLDEMORT'S LIGHTSHOW
(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)

You would expect me to put down Sirius's death as part of this list, but it is one of the bad things of reading the books before the movies that you can expect whats to come. And unfortunately for me, it wasn't enough impact on screen. Fortunately, the scene afterwards where Voldemort and Dumbledore duking it out was totally spectacular. This is what I envisioned to be when two of the most powerful wizards on the planet are battling out. All full of lights, spells and motions bringing every bit of elements to use and it was just thrilling and exciting to watch.

8.
HERMIONE FLIP THE BIRDS ON RON
(Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)

Its one thing to sock your sniveling enemy in the face, but its another when you attack your friend at your most vulnerable. That is probably why I love the character Hermione so much, that she is such a strong female character. Even she had her heart broken for Ron, she still express her silence fury, launching bird missiles at the poor idiot. It was a simple, but great display of female strength from a young girl even when she's helpless and dejected.

7.
FUN BOGGART TIME
(Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

Up to this point, all of the classes Harry attends didn't seem like fun to me as I watch throughout. Lupin's lesson on boggarts was so fun to look at, I wished I was part of that class. For all you noobs, boggarts are creatures that take shapes in the form of something their prey fears. Starting off with nervous Neville getting over his fear of Severus Snape (yeah, I would be scared too) in a pretty humorous way, the class just has fun tackling the boggart set to a bouncy bebop music, each with their own fear and how they attack it. All right up to Harry's turn, where it took form of a dementor and only that could stop the fun.

6.
A "NO" FOR HARRY
(Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

Of all the moments to choose, this one was simple, but significant to me. One because it struck a chord in me and possibly every other guy who experienced this, like building up a humongous amount of courage to ask a pretty girl like Cho and just get shot with a "no" in any way. And another is that we get to relate to Harry. Even as a famous wizard, even with his good looks and even as the protagonist of the series, he has trouble asking girls out at first and doesn't always get the girls in the end. We even see him not having a great prom experience afterwards and it just seems normal for us. Unlike some protagonist who simply gets the girl no matter what *ahem* Edward *ahem*... speaking of that...

5.
A FATHER'S LOST
(Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

The stain in both literature and movie world known as Twilight would kind of loosen the impact for Cedric Diggory. Now we're just glad to see Rob Pattison in any way, shape or form. But before Twilight came to existence, this was a very sad scene when you see the anguish and despair Amo Diggory express. Not he lost a son, but brutally taken away by Voldemort. And plus, Cedric was a pretty cool guy even as Harry's competitor in the Triwizards Tournament and was pretty awful to be killed off badly. Whats really awful is what he became afterwards in the his own movie franchise. But more over, there is nothing more sad than a mother or father losing their own child, own flesh and blood. Or is the the other way around.

4.
HARRY'S DESIRES
(Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

The first Harry Potter was a full-on kids film and was filled with wonder, excitement and magic that any kid would dream of seeing. So we weren't expecting anything completely dark. Yet we do get a hint of something deep and heavy later on in the film. For Harry at a young age, seeing his dead parents in the Mirror of Erised whom he never get to see or know about them til that point was very innocent and moving indeed. Something he really longs for and proved impossible through his terrible relatives was just to have a family. It was very appreciative to have something like this in a kids film way before everything turned completely dark.

3.
LAST MOMENT OF A FREE ELF
(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1)

Before this film, Dobby was my very least favorite character of the series and even was made as a mockery for bad computer-generated characters. He annoyed the hell out of me in the second film that it nearly proved impossible for me to give him the slight respect. His last shining moment in the Deathly Hallows made me gave him all the respect he wished for. Its like he saw Gollum's performance in Lord of the Rings and said to himself, "I'll show them I can bloody act too". Dobby brought to be very heroic and yet innocent in his final act and darn well made most of the audience (I nearly did) brought to tears.

2.
HERMIONE MAKES IT SHE WAS NEVER BORN
(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1)

While it is very brief, this scene was just powerful. Throughout the films, we never get to see or know much of Hermione's parents as they are just regular muggles who are dentists and nothing more. Not dead or part of the faction or politics, just regular people who know of their daughter's uniqueness and yet loves her like any parents would. For her to erase their memories of her out of their existence just for their protection is just completely sad. It also serve as the starting point of how really dark this series was going to be as many lives are at risk and everything the heroes does are now at their up-most importance.

1.
FRED AND GEORGE GOES OUT WITH A BANG
(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)

Who really does not love Fred and George? There are the kind of brothers who annoy you, but will no crap from anyone who is giving you crap. And plus they are so cool even if they get into mischievous pranks and cause trouble to the school or their mom. We always get to see them as a comedic device. So when an uptight and totally creepy teacher, Dolores Umbridge tries to take control of the school, they became much more. Who didn't cheer when Fred and George rebelled against the system and gave Umbridge a much needed fireworks up her behind? If you're gonna leave the school, might as well give a giant finger to them till the end.

So that is my top 10 list. What's your opinion?

Sleeping Beauty - Review

2011-07-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to sleep while I was watching this, but I don't think I couldn't after seeing so many pointless, yet horrifyingly things like an old man's junk. I mean really... in order to see Emily Browning naked, you have to go through many naked, yet ugly chicks and naked old men too while nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) goes on in this film. What it all worth it? What it worth going through something that was consider to them "an art film"? This week instead of hating on something that was brainless, immature and full of douchebaggery like "Transformers", I'll go to the other extreme and hate on something that is supposed to be high-brow and pseudo-artsy. And I know it is a sensitive word to use, but I have been forced to throw down the card. This was a boring, tasteless and (dare say it) PRETENTIOUS piece of crap.

Not before you tackle me, I watch slow and art films and I do love them. Some of my favorites of all time are
Darren Aronofsky's and Michel Gondry's films like "Requiem For A Dream" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Hell recently I saw a slow film called "Win Win" and I really like it a lot. These films I like are because they have a balanced emphasis on "art" and "film". I was intrigued of what I saw in the trailer and this became a hard lesson when it is at time "trailers lie". This Australian film was an excuse to fill seemingly two hours of tacky French-influenced artistic shots with old high-class people with their noses stuck up in the air. Nothing really goes on with the film's plot or characters, including Emily Browning's leading character. The film has her playing Lucy, who is a student and a waitress who answered a job ad where she becomes a prostitute and to be drugged to sleep naked, so horny old men can have their way with her except penetration. And these characters say the word "penetration" with such emphasis as if the film tries so hard to be shocking and outrageous, yet "artistic". And there's nothing else to it. There is no interest to Lucy or anything we have sympathy or the slightest care for her and any of real importance of why she chose to go through this other than she needed the money. Other characters try to come on and have a moment on screen like a completely boring monologue, yet they brought such little and pointless impact on the film because they don't have enough development, screen presence or even charm to make us give a crap about them.

The film's greatest sin is its pacing and editing. And with the lack of any music soundtrack and score, it makes the film a whole lot worse. It is as if the film tries so hard to be different and alternative that their use of storytelling becomes such a mess. I mean somebody must have a restraint on using the "fade-to-black" transition where it is just one damn too many and again pointless. There was even a scene coming from a "fade-to-black" transition where Lucy was doing something ordinary and after 4 seconds, it ends with a "fade-to-black". I just wanted to scream out loud from that. No fucking point or meaning to that scene. They have so many wasted frames on boring editing and pacing where they could have used it wisely on plot and character development to the point I'm so convinced they didn't have a story to tell. It was a waste on potential and my fuckin time.

This is a clear example of how to make a bad art film. This film contains so many element of why I hate films I considered pretentious like "Waking Life" and "Across The Universe". Sorry to use that word, but I'm just fuming with anger right. Angry at something that wasted my time with boring, pointless, pseudo-intellect and artsy garbage. If you are really that eager to see this as a completely different non-mainstream art film, go right ahead. If you are really really want to see Emily Browning naked (and I do say, she has a nice body), you have been warned.... naked ugly chicks and not one, but TWO full-frontal naked old men! And that is something you have to cleanse your eyes with corrosive acid. Which is what I'm doing now...

Half a fuckin star out of 5 stars!

Spill.com... Thank You

2011-07-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't gotten around to writing this after the Spill Dot Con Party as I was still settling down here back in Australia after a long flight home.

So what is this blog post about? Well it is just a big thank you to the people of Spill. No I'm not leaving this place, why would I? I just want to express my biggest appreciation and gratitude toward this wonderful website for giving me every day of my life a little more color.

I learned about this place by random chance back around late late 2007. I was looking for movie reviews for a particular movie on Youtube and I happened upon these guys. Nothing special to the introduction, just that. Although upon discovering Spill, I watched more of their videos and I knew there was something really special about them. They weren't seen as your typical high-brow movie critics you seen on TV or read in newspapers. They were just like us, except they have a good knowledge in movies, in filmmaking and the general idea of what a good movie should be. Each of the people in the crew have a well-distinct personality and yet their chemistry, timing and all-around humor are just impeccable. You can feel something genuine and honest about them and yet you were given a lot of information about the film they were reviewing. They just became my "go-to" critics whenever a new movie comes out and I immediately became a member of the site.

From there, I saw many moments of how the site came to be as the number of members grew, the number of redesigns to the sites and the number of new contents added. Podcasts like A Couple of Cold Ones gave some nice analysis of the movie industry and The League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen introduces me more to the world of comics and geekery as they recommend me many brilliant pieces like The Walking Dead and Chew. Around 2008, I witnessed the birth of what ultimately became my all-time favorite podcast. As Carlyle dealt with his issues and was deemed "missing-in-action" for A Couple Of Cold Ones, the ever-reliable (and awesome) Co-Host 3000 swooped in and saved the day with one of the most memorable and funniest ACOCO episodes ever produced. The fans recognized something so great from this and the Comedy Duo realized they have something in their hands and so the legend was born: Let's Do This! Every week, I would listen to their random tirades based on world events, stories of their life or people's shameful foolishness, with the show always opening (however late it may be) to the energetic battle-cry and its metal tunes of "Get To The Choppa" by Austrian Death Machine. We even saw the creations of Spill's own like Goatsy, Taco Belagosi and the Bullshit train come into play, making the experience so much more. It just makes my train ride home all the more fun and awesome, through my good and bad times. When I was at a giant low, I wrote a question to Let's Do This just to get any answer, no matter how small it is and Korey and Co-Host 3000 gave a plentiful and a great sense of direction of what I should do from there. I listen to their answers on my Ipod just to get me through and it just built me up to be a better, confident and (more importantly) happy man. I would say if it weren't for them, I wouldn't know where I would be and it would be too sad just to think about it. So from there, I owe them a lot.

I have heard of their Spill parties and I have desired to go them especially with the announcement of Spill Dot Con last year. By the time I landed myself a full time job and earning my own income, Spill Dot Con 2011 was one of my priorities. And it was a huge adventure waiting to happen.

Attending Spill Dot Con 2011 was (in a way) my biggest compliment to Spill and its community. After actually listening to them for 4 years, it was leading up to this and I would be party of what it would be called the biggest and best party that the rest of Spill and I have ever attended. Starting from the unofficial Spill mixer, I would admit that I was a little intimidated when coming to meeting these people and I was worried that I wouldn't get along with them. But after a while, it would be proven wrong that all of the members of Spill were all friendly, unique and talented in their own way. We just didn't care where we were from, what we do or what is our status in life. No matter what culture, how good-looking or ugly, how cool or nerdy, class or gender, we were all the same and we just share that one passion and love in the end. We were a family of movie lovers. And for three extremely crazy nights, each of the members including myself gave such a huge impression within the community whether they rock out with Karaoke Apocalypse, dances their asses off, showed off their artistry or just being plain awesome while I have the extreme pleasure of meeting and making new friends. When it comes to meeting the people I admired the most like Leon, Cyrus, Caryle, Co Host and Korey, all I can do is just thank them non-stop because they have given so much to me. And to top off my time at Spill Dot Con and my entire vacation, just to share an extremely late dinner with Korey at favorite place, Magnolia Bar at 4am just talking about movies and everything else. It was the perfect ending to the whole experience. :)

So... to Peter, Grant, Harris, Toshi, Nick, Cat, Amanda, Kayla, Jeff, Rubio, Randy, Kevin, Caryle, Leon, Cyrus, Co-Host, Everyone else and Korey... I just want to raise my beer bottle and say Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have given so much and yet ask so little in return and just keep doing what you fuckin do best. You guys earned yourself to be among the definition of "awesome" and I keep looking forward to more from you.

Thank you...

By MaxJayJay aka Jordan Marquez

impeccable

Redesigned Muthafocka!!!!

2011-06-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

I redesigned my blog site...

What you think?

Mini Reviews - Tangled

2011-04-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

Tangled

When the kingdom's most wanted-and most charming-bandit Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi) hides out in a mysterious tower, he's taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair.

I was thankfully surprised that it didn't went the route of modern pop-culture CG animated films that Dreamworks have been guilty of, but it goes back to the classic fairy-tale narrative with princesses, magic and of course, musical showtunes. But done with a very very nice visual moments and a good choice of sense and theme. The characters were fleshed out appropriately and were given some good funny and dramatic moments, none that goes out of place or goes sappy. I just found myself chuckling really hard every time the horse comes on screen, giving that attitude of a hard-ass cop. Its just priceless. The musical numbers, granted they won't be as classical as some like Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, were at least fun, tight and very well-performed and considered as a notch improvement from Princess and The Frog. All around its a fun wacky and classical film while also being a story of a girl coming of age and heading out into the world. So glad it wasn't a pop-cultured reference-filled cool-attitude film like... most Dreamworks movies out there...

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

2011-03-19T07:20:00.001-07:00

Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

Kenji is a teenage math prodigy recruited by his secret crush Natsuki for the ultimate summer job - passing himself off as Natsuki's boyfriend for four days during her grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. But when Kenji solves a 2,056 digit math riddle sent to his cell phone, he unwittingly breaches the security barricade protecting Oz, a globe-spanning virtual world where millions of people and governments interact through their avatars, handling everything from online shopping and traffic control to national defense and nuclear launch codes. Now a malicious AI program called the Love Machine is hijacking Oz accounts, growing exponentially more powerful and sowing chaos and destruction in its wake.

Pretty high on visuals and imagination with a pretty solid human story, though only to be halted by (what I considered) some overacting and huge sentimental aspects. The tricky thing when making a movie about a large family is the pacing and time given in getting to know each of the family members, whom some have colorful personalities and the film achieved this half way. Some contribute to the flow of the story and some brought it to a halt. What I found annoying was the main character, Kenji, brought along into the family and was painted as an absurdly wimpy guy. You just want to shake him so much and tell him to be a man! In a way, its just a nice enjoyable animated film to look at.

3 out of 5 stars

Rango Full Review

2011-03-14T04:40:00.000-07:00

Kind of a long time since I did a full review.

Rango is quite possibly after such a long time the best Non-Pixar American animated film yet. And the reason why its labeled that is because the actual best Non-Pixar animated films goes to Hayao Miyazaki's films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. But hell, I'll just say it. It kicks the crap out of anything Dreamworks. Because I never seen anything outside of Pixar that puts so much into the level of detail and design and as well as keeping such a good balance of writing and references from the obvious (Clint Eastwood/Spaghetti Westerns) to the obscure (Hunter S. Thompson). Though with its many faults, the film is thoroughly entertaining and solid enough.

Starting the film off triumphantly by the group of owl mariachis, introduces a chameleon, who is really not named Rango (played amazingly as always by Johnny Depp) with his own complexity of identity crisis and loneliness, longing for any interaction and self-worth when he's only boxed in a glass pet container. Fate plays its part when his glass pet container falls off the owner's car, leaving the nameless chameleon to fend off in the scorching, unforgiving desert and wind himself in the town of Dirt, run by colorful (if you count as mud dirt brown) and ruthless civilized animals. Seeking an opportunity to blend in, he adapts the identity of a badass by the name of Rango and spread his own fictional tales of heroism and adventures to all of the townspeople. Its a matter of time before his lies doesn't last long in the wild and violent west. The story can be a tad bit formulaic, but it gets much from all the visual and referential cues from classic westerns and surreal hallucinations.

Johnny Depp has been doing voice-acting especially with his role on Corpse Bride, but this is the first time he truly act out for an animated character. Never was he a stiff board like in Corpse Bride, Depp brought out a sizable range for the character for the right moments and the right timing as well giving that much complexity and fun. Probably one of the joys of this film is hearing the voice performances for the characters and finding out the actors at the end credits that you wouldn't realize it was them playing those characters. The voice performances are just amazing and blends it so well with the western genre. I mean you wouldn't have guess who would provided the voice to the most iconic character of all of the western genre.

The character designs are so unique and impressive that they nearly cancel out the "uncanny valley" in going between realism and cartoonish. All have a quirky and detailed portrayals of western character traits and all behave and act like characters from a true western film. When it comes to cinematography and mis-en-scenes, it is just beautiful and jaw-dropping to look whether it is the harsh backdrop of the west to the macro-scale look of a flower. There are times you couldn't tell that it is an CG-animated film, more convincing than (I dare-say it) Avatar. Yes another Avatar-bashing moment for me and I won't stop (how much I hate that film). If there are few things I would have complaints for the film are that are some red herrings in the plot that can be a bit of letdown.

Despite being formulaic and flawed that stopped this film from being an animated perfection, this is still one of a kind. Being really original in not following the typical pattern from other animated studios like Dreamworks or even Pixar, this and Fantastic Mr Fox are the ones that follow their own shtick.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Due Date

2011-02-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

Due Date

High-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time.

Immediately after you saw the trailer for this, you thought of John Hughes' classic "Planes, Trains And Automobiles" The similarity is that an uptight a-hole needs to get home at a certain time and gets accompanied by a severely obnoxious a-hole. What is the difference? While Planes delivers in genuine, emotional development and naturally turns the characters around, this film makes the duo so irritating and annoying in their series of pointlessly bad setups. There is just no reason to give a crap about these characters, their plights or any glimpse of them turning around and I just hated them more and more the more time I spent with them. The humor is just Zach being a complete idiotic obnoxious man-child that you just want to stay hell away from him. Plus the gross-out and immature humor wasn't well-thought out or didn't have a hint of cleverness. The entire journey wasn't worth a crap and you just feel like you want to smack the hell out of these people.

1 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Illusionist

2011-02-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

The Illusionist

A French illusionist finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman.

As a fan of silent comedic expression films like Charlie Chaplin and especially Jacques Tati, this is very much close as seeing a Jacques Tati's film made in modern time and it is truly a gem. From I read about the production, this was essentially an unproduced script by Tati, which was a love letter to his estranged daughter and the film acts as a double statement between the end of stage entertainers and a poignant look of a father/daughter relationship. Director, Chomet, was able to get the main character to look and act like Tati and the animation are just very detailed and beautiful to look. I would come with a warning that it is a slow film with almost no dialogue, so if you're not a fan, stay away. But that is really the beauty and full realization of animation that the focus is more on the art and expression and it is such a refreshing thing to see. The amazing thing is that the film is a mix of beauty and bleakness, you really observe the slow dying change of an era for one group of people and it ends harshly, but kinda realistic. If you are a real animation lover like me, go and see this film.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - 127 Hours

2011-02-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

127 Hours

A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.

I will say that this is a superior version than a film I really really hate so much, which is Into The Wild. Both of these films present a character that gets stuck in a sticky situation because of a dumb and arrogant decision they make and that they came into a harsh environment totally unprepared. From my view that because of that, these films has to work very hard to make the protagonist likable and sympathetic. While the film "Into The Wild" made the protagonist such an unlikable egotistical d-bag throughout that made me uncaring of his demise (and frankly deserving), this film at least made this character played by James Franco go through a spiritual realization of one's self and does want the audience to really care of his survival. This is probably the first time I have seen Franco really take his acting up a notch and does a real good job for his one man performance especially in one enclosed spot. Danny Boyle's use of cinematography and editing are heavy stylized and they are at times that this element comes off as pointless and overly-done. At times, I kind of wish Danny Boyle would make a subtle film and tone down on his edgy style or strike a balance between style and substance like Black Swan. The film didn't really exactly blow my mind, but it is to me certainly better than Slumdog Millionaire. And geez if you gonna watch this film, you really better have a strong stomach.. because..... ecckkk!

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Catfish

2011-02-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

Catfish

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives.

By the end of this film, people will have a grand mixture of feelings towards the outcome. People will find it sympathetic and heartfelt or complete disgust and hate (and I'm in the latter). And people will also question whether this film is a complete truth or a complete hoax and they will have a huge debate on that. Whether it is, you really have the admire the filmmakers' techniques in keeping the audience guessing and nervous throughout the film. Even having the audience question about the morality of the digital social media such as Facebook and whether the secret was right or wrong, true or false. It is a very neat film to check out and will have you talking about it as soon as you finish it.

3 out of 5 stars

My Top Ten: Best Films of 2010

2011-01-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

You have read what films really made me cringed throughout 2010, now I'll look at the ones that really amazed me and at least gave me hope for the film industry and mankind. These are the best films of 2010.

Before the list, let's look at some honorable mentions that didn't make my Top Ten , but still recommended to watch.

Honorable Mentions

DAYBREAKERS
Its refreshing to see a vampire film that doesn't go through the typical vampire monster movie, but as a social message movie. Plus you have the typical blood and gore we horror fans crave for.

JACKASS 3D
I would go as far as saying "THIS IS THE BEST 3D of 2010!". Really, this is the one movie that uses the 3D technology so well in getting down all the movement and details for each smack and shit. And if you question my taste in movies just because I love this as well as the first two Jackass movies, two words: "F*ck" and "You".

REC 2
While not as brilliantly great as the first film, it is still an enjoyable and asskicking film to watch and certainly a good addition to the REC mythos.

PREDATORS
FINALLY, a true sequel to the Predator movie! Would have heard a good "Git To The Choppa!", but still a good film. We can just ignore the travesties that are the "Alien Vs. Predator" films for this.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
Going for The Hangover formula, this just works in having the film looked stupid but be deviously smart.

TRUE GRIT
Surprisingly just barely missed out on the Top Ten, but it is no doubt a great film. And it is one Coen Brothers' film that freakin has an ending. Well a rushed ending, but still an ending.

And now for the list!

10.
THE TOWN

Ben Affleck really knows how to direct a good engaging action film. With most of the cast giving great performances, the story being solid and the action sequences just being downright exciting, it’s nearly enough to forget most of the bad films that Ben Affleck was involved in. Nearly...

9.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1

This is probably the first of the Harry Potter films that it goes into high mature artistry. While the story rightfully gets dark and the cinematography and art direction gets the epic treatment it deserves, it’s the performances of the three main characters that shine. After 6 movies together, they’ve been placed in an isolated “small-play” scenario and are given the chance to act their asses off. And they did absolutely well.

8.
KICK-ASS

People are totally divided for this film, but it’s no doubt that it kicked ass (not so much at the box office) and left a huge bruising mark on last year. Chloe Moretz left their entire audience a huge stabbing impression as the girl with attitude, Hit Girl. She’s a little girl who swears, kills and maims and we, in a sick little way, just love her for that.

7.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

Dreamworks may be making cash-grabbing pop-culture flicks on the side, but they are learning lessons on how to make good quality animated films. This film is their evidence. Surely I have gripes with it like Jay Barachel’s ever nasal voice, but it just won me over for its sweeping wonderful flight sequences, the nice animation designs and the heartfelt relationship between a boy and his dragon. Even the relationships between a boy and his father and between other characters are very sweet to observe.

6.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK

While being a tiny bit over-dramatic and exaggerated, its quick, sniping acting by Jesse Eisenberg, a kinda haunting score by Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor, and the genius writing by Aaron Sorkin made this film such an extremely interesting and fun look at probably the most important point of the digital era. People would be surprised that their entire social lives are dramatically changed because of this one man and the little things on how this all came about. People would be EVEN MORE surprised that Justin Timberlake can really act.

5.
THE FIGHTER

Give the goddamn Oscar to the goddamn Batman, Christian Bale for his hugely extraordinary performance in this film. While the story may be going through the typical rise-to-glory boxing film, the boxing aspect doesn’t really matter than the aspect of stepping out of the shadows and becoming your own person. Mark Walhberg and Melissa Leo give out great performances, but it is really Christian Bale that stole the entire film. You will be shocked how far he goes to embody a character from getting the personality to going through so much of body transformation. Very extraordinary! You know that Darren Aronofsky was initially attached to this movie. It’s a good thing he wasn’t anymore because he wouldn’t have made this next one.

4.
BLACK SWAN

Always rely on Aronofsky to give you something so beautiful, so disturbing, so freaky and so bold. You really feel you are watching a high class ballet performance in both physically and mentally as the visuals will amazed you as well as make you cringe. It is an insane psychological descent into her madness as the main character, Natalie Portman strives to seek perfection even if it means giving in to her dark sensual side. Portman is just so amazing as the timid pure girl and the mystery of whatever her madness is real or not is just so alluring and just downright creepy.

3.
INCEPTION

I just love the concept of this film. It is not really a movie per say, but a game/puzzle to challenge the movie-goers and it allows them to seek repeat viewings just to work out the entire movie. And it is a great thing that it is balanced in both intelligence and entertainment where you have the deep complex plotline and the action-packed visuals. Don't tell your jaws didn't drop to the floor when you watched Joseph Gordon-Levitt fighting a guy while the entire hotel hallway rotates round and round. And you can tell you have just watch a brilliant film when the film showed something important near the end and the entire theatre groaned when the screen cut to black.

2.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Me being a 24-year-old video-game film geek (and I strive to be THE BEST 24-YEAR OLD EVER!... Scott Pilgrim reference btw), this film is just plain heaven for me. When you have a film that has so many video-game and film references scattered throughout, head-banging rock soundtrack and some of the best visually-appealing fight scenes I have ever seen, it may have reached that epic of epicness, made possible by the geek genius of Edgar Wright. And it is cleverly backed up by a good story about love and relationship, even if its seen through the eyes of a hyped-up anime-loving geek. The film doesn't go through the typical romantic comedy route and kinda holds a real portrayal of relationships. But it is as much as about romance and fighting for love as it is very much about maturity and developing into a better person, especially for the three main characters (Scott, Ramona and Knives). Its damn funny, damn witty, damn awesome and damn epic.

And my number 1, my most favorite film of 2010 is...

1.
TOY STORY 3

Well, what do you know? Pixar tops the list again. What is the deal with those guys? Even with something that could be a throwaway cash-in sequel, that is not the nature of Pixar. This film is just full of love. The kind of love where you feel you have given a huge hug and feel so warm inside. Being the master storytellers they are, they just made us fell in love all the characters (Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Slinky. Mr and Mrs Potato Head, Hamm and my favorite Rex) all over again and created a story that is so relevant, so heartfelt, so poetic and just so genuine for everyone, young and old. It is a story for everyone, something to taken into account in their lives. A simple message of letting go and moving on and saying goodbye to a family member or a dear friend, whether it be human or a toy. You feel every emotions with this film from the exciting action-packed opening, to the powerfully tensed climax to the heartwarming teary, yet optimistic ending. Pixar has achieved so many from having one of the best superheroes movies, one of the best sci-fi movies and now having THE BEST film trilogy ever. Hell I would be completely surprised if their next film "Cars 2" would be emotionally ridden and heartwarming. Its possible because its Pixar.

So that is my top 10 list. What's your opinion?

My Top Ten: Worst Films of 2010

2011-01-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

2010 had been an interesting year in films and it is time to give both the best and worst of the year. Firstly we will be looking at the stinkers and craps that was embarrassing and excruciating to watch. These are, in my opinion, the top ten WORST films of 2010.

Before the list, let's look at some dishonorable mentions that were disappointing and underwhelming, but not exactly terrible.

Dishonorable Mentions

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Just an excuse for Tim Burton to show off his own quirky twisted version on a classic tale that has been adapted SO many times.

CLASH OF THE TITANS
Very poor use of 3D, terrible CG, meh characters and action sequences that aren't exciting... yeah no wonder people hate this.

IRON MAN 2
Not exactly up to par with the first movie. Lacks the charm, fun and wit the first film had, even lacking some strong characters and their development and also plagued with the heavy-promotion of the upcoming Avengers movie.

THE OTHER GUYS
Could have been an very very funny film if it was over-the-top and crazy. It was the one film that was allowed to be that. But no, it has to be so boring.

THE EXPENDABLES
Hey, I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane with this film and was actually looking for a fun time. But with most of the action sequences being toned down and subpar, use of CG blood and not having the entire Expendable team utilized well, its hard for me to love this.

TRON LEGACY
So after 20 years, we finally get a sequel and.... it wasn't that great. In fact, it was more boring and convoluted than the original. Not to mention that most of this film was a huge letdown for me.

And now for the list!

10.
GET HIM TO THE GREEK

The problem with this movie is that it tries so hard to have outlandish and ridiculous setups and situations and the main characters becomes progressively more hated and unsympathetic. Russell Brand becomes more of a jerky douche and Jonah Hill becomes more of a spineless douche, especially during one scene near the end where I just questions EVERYTHING about this film.

9.
RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE

This film would be fine if it wasn't called Resident Evil. Anderson claims to be a huge fan of this game series and yet gives too much slow-mo sequences and has pointless use of the characters and items from the game because they so happens to be based on it. I call bullsh*t on that one.

8.
SEX AND THE CITY 2

While not being as painful as the first film, it is still a groan-inducing experience to sit through the mis-adventure of these four unlikable and selfish characters. Not too mention for me having a "REAAALLLY?" moment when these girls starts sending the wrong message in Abu Dahbi for what its meant to be about liberation and women rights. If its to be selfish and materialistic, revoke it.

7.
SKYLINE

You have a movie.... that is about... an alien invasion. And YET, you have decided to spend most of the film... in a FREAKIN apartment room, filled with the most uncaring group of people you could come across! And the ONLY point in the film where it starts to get good... was at the very end! If you don't have the budget to make a good alien invas

6.
MARMADUKE

Dance sequence involving CG dogs = the sign of the apocalypse

5.
LITTLE FOCKERS

The first film was a classic. The second film was actually enjoyable. This one was unnecessary shit. Playing off the same tiresome jokes we have been hearing in the past two movies and have most of the outlandish setups (with an exception of one) not being remotely funny at all. And the thing is it has to be so EXCRUCIATING and PAINFUL to watch.

4.
THE BACK-UP PLAN

This was written by someone who had seen Knocked Up and thought it was sexist and disgusting, so that person writes a version that is actually A LOT MORE sexist and disgusting, but took away the funny. GEEZ you can count the number of times people puke, clearly took a shit and the constant predictable break-up/make-up between the two despised characters that you want to destroy your TV in an animalistic rage. And that birth scene..... one of the most HORRIFYING scene ever to be put on film...

3.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE

The only excuse I have to continually watch this piece of sh*t of a series is that at least it is funny as hell. There are moments in any of the Twilight movies where it is comedy gold and you just have a hilarious fun time. And thankfully this time, it is not as bad as the godawful New Moon (however it was close!). But just because a pile of crap doesn't smell as bad as the last one, it is still a pile of crap. And you still have every awful things from vampire sparkleness, shirtless Jacob and the never-ending painful affairs of Bella, the worst character EVER to be written in literature. SCREW YOU ROYALLY, Stephanie Meyers.

2.
THE LAST AIRBENDER

You know, M. Night.... Just don't direct any more movies for probably 5 years. Maybe even 10. I don't care if its ever! Even when you move away from your typical genre of horror mystery with the twist at the end, you still can't make a good movie. You have everything to make a decent kickass movie for KIDS from the source material filled with fun characters, great action and a story that is so well written. AND YET, you have to make it so boring, lame and completely awful for a freakin Nickelodeon movie! M. Night, you just suck... Just be thankful you don't suck as much as this movie that has the word "suck" in it.

1.
VAMPIRE SUCKS

These guys, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are just the brown stain of today's film industry. While I can sense that the previous films are at least trying to offer something and just fail miserably, these guys and their films have been all about taking your money with no effort, respect and care. Always taking the lazy way in writing and preying on the lowest common denominator of audience, just for a cheap way of cash. And ESPECIALLY they go for such an EASY target, which is the Twilight series in providing such lazy and obvious jokes. They are making you PAY MONEY to watch completely lame jokes on Twilight when you could find a much better and smarter joke on Youtube for FREE! Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, fuck you and die!

So thats my Top 10. Next, we go from stinkers to shiners as I will go through the Top Ten Best of 2010.

Mini Reviews - The Fighter

2011-01-04T04:04:00.001-08:00

The Fighter

A look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid '80s

Sure that the film follows a typical boxing rise-to-grace story, but what really sells this movie are the amazing performances by the cast especially Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. It is not much of a boxing film as it is more about family and being your own person, to be able to step out of the shadow. Markie Mark gave a great performance, but it is Batman himself, Christian Bale that stole the entire movie with his extraordinary performances. Never seen an actor that is so committed to the role even by exchanging body types from completely skinny to completely buffed. Certainly one of my favorites of 2010.

4 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Town

2011-01-03T01:02:00.001-08:00

The Town

"The Town" is the tale of four men -- thieves, rivals and friends -- being hunted through the streets of Boston by a tenacious FBI agent and a woman who might destroy them all

Ben Affleck may not be a great actor, but he sure is a great director. The guy knows how to make an engaging, thrilling film filled with great action. While the character are written as a bit one-dimensional, it is the cast of actors that delivers the amazing performances and not once put the film in a complete halt. Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner gave a great performance and even Blake Lively of Gossip Girl(of all places) gave her time to show her acting chops. Not really a brilliant film, but certainly one of my favorites of 2010.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Black Swan

2011-01-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

Black Swan

BLACK SWAN follows the story of Nina (Portman), a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughter,s professional ambition. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well.

Only Darren Aronofsky can make a film that is as visually crazy, devious, psychological disturbing and very beautiful that is just about ballerinas. From the guy who brought you a little depressing film called "The Wrestler" and a even more depressing film (which is one of my favs of all time) "Requiem For A Dream", this is one psychological journey of one girl striving for perfection and goes spiraling out of control literally. Portman does a magnificent performance as a timid mousey girl who is forcing herself to give into the sexual pleasures and darkness in order to be The Swan Queen of the play. And how you see her transformation from being the White Swan she's known as to becoming the seductive and fierce Black Swan is quite extraordinary and you do see her rise and downfall.

The use of practical and make-up effects gives the body horror so much cringe-worthy and it really plays with both the character's mind and our minds as well. It is something Cronenberg would be proud of. Probably the one thing I have complaints about (which this will be a great example) is when they introduce the CG in. With practical and make-up effects, you can tell its real and they enhance the mystery and horror of what the character goes through. But when CG is introduced, it takes away the mystery.

This is a roller-coaster version of the ballet Swan Lake and you feel like you are watching a classical operatic ballet with all the craziness and psychological disturbance. It is dark, unnerving and even beautiful. And plus we have to thank David in giving us one of the most hottest scenes ever filmed involving Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.... oh my god...

4 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Tron: Legacy

2010-12-19T04:27:00.000-08:00

Tron Legacy

Sam Flynn (GARRETT HEDLUND), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (JEFF BRIDGES), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant Quorra (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey of escape across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

From the first time we set our eyes on the gorgeous teaser, we were blown away that the sequel to Tron is finally happening after 20 years. Now 2 years later and the film is now here, is the wait really worth it? Probably not. The problems that were addressed in the original Tron film is still applied in this: the lack of interesting and engaging story, not many cool characters and the terribly slow pacing. And despite the film is ACTUALLY named after the hero character in the first film, that character has been brought onto the sideline and doesn't get that much screen-time. The visuals are very pleasing to the eye, the action sequences are pretty cool and the score by Daft Punk kept the film rolling, saving it from becoming that stinker of a movie. Like Avatar, its a nice and pretty firework show, but its very hallow, empty and unfortunately boring for the majority of the film.

2 and a half out of 5 stars

The Social Network Full Review

2010-10-31T02:17:00.000-07:00

Status: "Like" this movie

Nearly everyone laughed at the idea of making a movie about Facebook. As if people are running out of ideas to tell a story and come up with something ridiculous like a movie about the board games Battleships and Monopoly or about a computer simulations game, The Sims. We all thought it was going to be something wacky involving Facebook when in fact, we were all wrong. Helmed by David Fincher and written (beautifully) by Aaron Sorkin (not to mention composed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails), we later found out it was about the creation of Facebook, that extremely addictive digital time-waster that has gotten nearly everyone in the entire planet hooked into. And with this combination of talents, who knew that a movie about Facebook would be so interesting, compelling and riveting, if not a little bit exaggerated.

The Social Network (aka Getting Screwed: The True Story) begins with a breakup between young Mark Zuckerberg, soon-to-be founder of Facebook (Jesse Eisenberg) and his ex. Fueled with rage and alcohol, Mark creates a web page, along with best friend Eduardo (the new Spiderman, Andrew Garfield) that allows guys to choose between various female Harvard students in terms of hotness and thus crashing the entire Harvard’s network. This grabs the attention of high-class Harvard students, the Winklevoss twins (played by just one guy, Armie Hammer) in proposing to Mark in programming their website. Although Mark closes himself off from the twins to create his own social network venture which would become “Facebook” and thus follows the backstabbing, the screwing-overs and the courtroom dramas for this one single idea.

This is the one tiny problem I had with the film and it made the film just a shy away from being an extremely great film for me. When it comes to adapting a true event into a feature film, there is always a chance where the story will be more exaggerated, elaborate, operatic and dramatic ala A Beautiful Mind and Shine. And it’s no big deal because you have to make the story very interesting and exciting for the audience. You can’t watch a boring film, I suppose. But with all the drama the film produced throughout, to me it just lost its impact towards the end and you can realize that there was no sense of peril, risk or endangerment. That it all works out in the end, which makes all the drama the film had not pointless, but an insy winsy tiny bit. That said, it all just kinda summed by just one quote, making me realized how romanticized the film really is. Said by the female lawyer in Mark’s defence, “To you, it’s just a speeding ticket.”

Not to say the film is bad, in fact it is still amazing. What I highly praised about this film are the performances by the actors and the always sharp-witty writing of Aaron Sorkin. His writing is always that fun and sharp especially in his last project, Charlie Wilson’s War and his writings are greatly delivered by the performances of the actors especially Jesse Eisenberg as the complete assh*le you can’t help but adore. Jesse just steals the show with his nose-raising superiority ego and his ability to give such great comebacks with complete ownage. Andrew Garfield really hold it together and you really do feel sympathetic for him as the only good friend of Mark, as he is doing everything for him and to make his business work only to have him screwed. Justin Timberlake is now placing himself among the rare list of great music-artists turned great actors as he proved himself to just wow us over and over.

For a movie with a not-so-interesting subject like Facebook, this is kind of a must-see. There are great performances from the cast especially Jesse and Justin and the writing will keep you hanging for every great bits, not to mention it is also so damn funny. Though you'll find that the film is made something that is small very much exaggerated, you will be thankful that the great performances, the writing, the camera direction and the music came into play otherwise it would have such a hacked attempt. Add this to your Facebook's friends.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Last Airbender

2010-10-17T01:02:00.000-07:00

The Last Airbender

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.

Even though I'm not a fan of the animated series, I have seen some episodes of the show and it is brilliant and had so much going in it. That said, the film really did sucked. But I'll just say that the film is terrible, but it is not THE worst film this year. But boy, Shyamalan sucks really hard in this one. The problem with this film is that when the mythology and concept of the series is about martial arts with elemental bending skills (which is a badass concept), M. Night goes out of the way to make the film so much boring and dull with so little action and spectacles thus turning it into another bad Harry Potter knock-off. There is some nice story going on, but the narrative goes at a giant snail-pace and all the characters have to be melo-dramatic about everything. Not much we see Aang(the main character) get captured again and again and always slips away from badguys when they are NOT looking at the time! And there are so many pointless setups and buildups to everything that is so not rewarding to the audience. Shyamalan... maybe just stop making films for 5 years and take a loooong vacations, because your losing streak in films are getting worse and worse. But I'll give you a compliment...

Since this is not called "Avatar: The Last Airbender" like how it is originally called because James Cameron used it for his film, I'll say this:

The Last Airbender is a very terrible movie, but I don't hate it.

Avatar is a better made movie, yet I have SO MUCH hatred for it.

Shyamalan is spared from my pure fiery hatred.... for now...

1 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Charlie Wilson's War

2010-10-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His "Good Time Charlie" exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan-which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.

Its a very well written and greatly performed film about the event that will end up biting on America's ass. What is really charming about this film is that it doesn't play it too serious and overly dramatic as it is provided by the humor and dialogue that keeps the film momentum really going. Even the ending has some little humor to it. Tom, Julia and Phillip are Oscar-winners and they showed how much of great actors they really are. Check it out.

4 out of 5 stars

Great Black Swan Posters

2010-10-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Its not a movie review or a long blog post, but these came to my attention especially I'm so looking forward to Darren Aronofsky's next art film, Black Swan. And if you haven't guessed it yet, it is a movie about ballerinas. Thats right, ballerinas! How could a straight-up guy like me take interest in a movie about ballerinas? Only a genius who brought you Requiem For A Dream and The Wrestler can make me that.

Along the way, the film brought us some brilliant classic posters. And I do mean "classic", as these designs and graphic really hawks back to the operatic ballet posters you see in front of an opera house. The use of abstract shapes and simplistic design does shout out elegance and epicness. Especially the typography gives a sense you are about to see a grand scale ballet play other than a film. Check these out, my favorite is the second one.

And if you really want to know what the movie is about, check out the trailer. It is just freaky.

Mini Reviews - How to Train Your Dragon

2010-10-08T23:11:00.000-07:00

How to Train Your Dragon

Meet Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, heir of the Viking chiefdom, but a boy with one very big problem: a hero he is not. "How to Train Your Dragon" is the riotous story of Hiccup's quest to hunt down the fiercest dragon, bring it into submission, and-hopefully-pass his initiation. Instead, he ends up with the smallest, most ornery dragon - it's even toothless! Thus begins the hijinx of the world's most lovable, unlikely hero and a most reluctant "beast."

A surprisingly, sweeping and lush animated film of a boy and his pet dragon, especially coming from Dreamworks who are now learning a thing or two from Pixar. Even though I would complain about Jay Barucehl's annoying nasel voice and the not-so-subtle scene translation from humorous to sweeping epic, I still had fun with the imaginative designs on characters and dragons, the great orchestral score, good voice performance (san Jay Baruchel) and the thoughtful and well-written story. And its kinda funny that all the Viking kids sound very teen American while the adults sound stone-cold Scottish. Viking girls really do drop their balls.

4 out of 5 stars

P.S - Toy Story 3 is still better

Mini Reviews - The Other Guys

2010-09-27T04:17:00.000-07:00

The Other Guys

Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city's top cops whom they idolize -- only things don't quite go as planned.

For the look of the poster and even trailer, you'll think it'll be an all-out action-comedy especially from the likes of director Adam McKay. Sadly the only time you'll get that is when you see both Samuel L Jackson and The Rock having a crazy action scene at the beginning of the film. There are a few chuckles and laughs, though jokes do get reused by the last half of the film and it gets tiresome. And there is nothing to actually care for with any of the characters or anything and you don't get much of this film. Its not bad and Mark Wahlberg proved to be funny alongside with Will Ferrell. Eva Mendes is hot, but her whole reason to be in the film is to be hot. And its nice to see Michael Keaton after a long while. Its not terrible, but its not great either.

2 out of 5 stars

My Top Ten: Most Pretentious Films I've Ever Seen

2010-09-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

In this day and age, we all wanted a different and intelligent film from the sea of dumb-down mindless films Hollywood brings out. But sometimes the sense of intelligence can bite you in the ass by having directors making films TOO smart of their own good. Films that try TOO hard to be different and meaningful and probably can only be appreciative by the pompous and hipsters (I'm looking at you, Armond White...). So here are the top 10 list of the films that tried to be too smart and not in a very good way.

NOTE 1: I’ll give you the honorable mentions of other pretentious films that aren’t part of the Top Ten.

Rachel Getting Married
The Fountain
Shortbus
I’m Not There
Synecdoche, New York
The Gentlemen Broncos

NOTE 2: To cover about The Matrix Trilogy, I’ll say about this:

1 – While the Matrix has that pseudo-intellect philosophy, it really did have a good story and mythology. Also it makes up for great action,

And 2 – The Matrix Revolutions isn’t pretentious. It just sucks.

Lets get on it shall we?

10.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

This could have been a very nice film with nice visuals, accompanied by the soundtracks of The Beatles. Yet you can sense that its trying to be epic and more meaningful when everything else just falls flat. The story goes nowhere, characters inexplicably go in and out, sense of repetition and all that it just relies on EVERY song by the Beatles. Like the movie is saying "We don't need the important stuffs like story and character development. The Beatles = critical acclaim." Just because you have the Beatles as your soundtrack doesn't mean it'll be a good film. And its not even helping when all the singers give such lame covers for each Beatles song.

9.
DEATH PROOF

Hey, I love Quentin Tarantino and he is still highly regarded as a filmmaking icon. But he can really go off the rail when displaying his own talent and knowledge. Yes, I know you do great writing. Yes I know you know SO MUCH about movies! Get on with the freakin movie! He showed a little bit in Kill Bill Part II, but his pretentiousness went even further in this. Just disregarding the entire subject about making an exploitation film (The compilation is called GRINDHOUSE! Rodriguez had the right idea and this didn't), it was nothing more than a total display of his writing, which is only great for about ten minute before I get really bored. Sure enough the car chase at the end was great, but I had to go through so much dribble for that?!

8.
HULK

As a comic-book superhero film, this is VERY pretentious. Its VERY pretentious when you try to make an intellectual film about a superhero that does nothing but smash stuffs like The Hulk. That can work with other superheroes especially Batman, but not The Hulk. It is weird that I look for films that are ambitious and this is the one kind of film that should not try be ambitious. Well ok, it can be ambitious enough, but not TOO ambitious like this film tried to be. It was too emotional, too dramatic, even too artsy for a Hulk film. I'm a fan of Ang Lee, but this is something he should not try to have his hands on it.

7.
LADY IN THE WATER

Its pretty pretentious when you think a bedtime story you once told to your kids would turn into a good film. Even more if you have yourself in the film and present yourself as the most important character. With an added bonus that you have a "critic" character getting killed off. Surely this film is really a bedtime story... it really put me to sleep of BOREDOM! The film is way too slow and way too convoluted and ridiculous to have your head around. Sadly this is one of first signs of the M. Night Shaylaman's downfall. Poor guy...

6.
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE

The first Ghost In The Shell was truly an animated marvel, incorporating both the right amount of intelligence and action in a nice animated package. And it could have been a one-time thing, but the audience kinda wanted a sequel. So we had both the manga and the well-written TV series “Stand Alone Complex” to keep our interest in the Ghost In The Shell series. Then when the sequel came out, it was completely meh and forgettable. Inserted in are ridiculous amount of philosophy and dead air with nothing much to go for like action or visuals. The first film had the right balance, but this really tipped offside.

5.
DROWNING BY NUMBERS

I saw this in one of my film masters class and I could count the many times I rolled my eyes over. Others would see this as a work of art when I see it as a pompous waste of time. What do you have in this film: characters you don’t really care about, overly-done artsy smartsy narrative/filmmaking, too much intellectual references that are not even fun and that ONE ANNOYING thick-glassed nerdy kid that I just wanted to beat the living crap out of by myself. No wonder he is such a loner and always hang out with older people. Normal kids would get annoyed by him and want to beat him up. I don’t blame them.

4.
BABEL

In the season of Oscars, films would try to be smart by having that “multi-cultural crossing-over lives-clashing” narrative. Crash comes close, but this really takes the cake. At first sight, you’ll think it is a well-made film with a controversial subject. I certainly did so until I look back at it again and realize that it really tried too hard to be smart. As if it was trying to be daring and oh so controversial by having so much sexual and violent scenes especially with one scene involving a horny kid. That made me go “What was the point of that?”And in the end, you end up not caring about any of the characters or the story or even the message behind the film and realize that this film just wanted an Oscar.

3.
PALINDROMES

Yeaaaaaahhh, Todd Solondz is really messed up. Just by looking at him will make you understand why he makes messed up films. Even though I heard some of his films were pretty good, I picked out this film as my first film of his. Bad choice! Now I always end having that bad taste in my mouth every time I get mentioned of Todd Solondz. Including intense subjects like pedophilia, child sex, abortion and crazed religion is kinda dandy until you realize that there is no absolute point of this film. And I'm really that kind of guy that looks forward to messed up movies, but looking at these subjects without a hint of interest or fascination and just being plain disgusting made me wish I never heard of this guy, Todd.

2.
SOUTHLAND TALES

Ok, I'll say this. I LOVE Donnie Darko. Certainly not part of my all-time favorites, but I really do love the film. It was artistic, subtle and meaningful with some great performances. But some people say that the director Richard Kelly was pretentious by making Donnie Darko, to which I reply I disagree. Richard Kelly became SOOOOO pretentious when he made this insanely philosophical artsy smartsy bullsh*t of a film, Southland Tales. He really did made sure that he had all of the ingredients to make a standard pretentious film. 1. Convoluted storyline that tries to be epic, but we don't care at all. 2. Nice, but pointless visuals/images that tries too hard to be symbolic and metaphorical. 3. Too many F*CKIN WEIRD casting! I would be impressed by actors doing something completely different if it was subtle. There is NOTHING subtle for any of the actors and it was done for the sake of being weird. Am I supposed to be fascinated by every single weird and ironic characters that pops up onscreen?! 4. Tries to have a superficial intelligent story/message which really doesn't mean anything in the end. By the time this film finished, I went "Reaaallly Richard Kelly..... REALLY?!"

And my number 1 is...

1.
WAKING LIFE

Like that style of rotoscoping animation, but this film is a GIGANTIC waste of my precious time! How is this actually a film? A film, by my definition, is a series of images that interconnects through with characters, story, narrative and meaning. This doesn't have a story! Or character development! Or a hint of plot! Or any actual point besides from any bullsh*t philosophical discussion the film has. That is what this "film" was. Just a series of scenes with people discussing philosophy. Nothing more! No connection or reason to any of it. It just only use rotoscoping animation to make up for any lack of interest or actual content. PLEASE, if I want philosophy, I would wear a turtle-neck sweater and go to a university lecture class. I'm sorry, but to me, the celluloid and tape could have been used for a film with a much better story and meaning. Instead they were used on this drabble pretentious crap. If there was ANYTHING that would define pretentious, it would be this film!

So that is my top 10 list. What's your opinion?

Mini Reviews - [REC] 2

2010-09-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

[Rec] 2

The action continues from [Rec], with the medical officer and a SWAT team outfitted with video cameras are sent into the sealed off apartment to control the situation.

A well-thoughtful and tightly-expanded continuation to the revolutionary hand-held scare-fest. I would admit that the idea of supernatural leap from the first to the next film will kind of throw people off, but no matters as it still provides a damn thrilling ride. Having part of the film focus on the SWAT team can make the narrative a little terrifying as they are more protected and armed and the additional focus on a group of mischievous kids proven to be sometimes pointless in the film. Other than that, it is a worthy sequel to the REC saga.

3 and a half out of 5 stars

I'm now 24... kind of a biggie..

2010-09-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well in between last year and now, it really has been an emotional and eventful ride with so many changes and phases with many life lessons learned. I have experienced some of the lowest lows in my life while getting over so much hurdles to finally get back on my highest. The past year had forced me to actually do some heavy soul-searching and it is still ongoing. And I wouldn't have go through this with the help of my friends, old and new and good and ex. Its funny that some parts of the past year actually mimics the entire movie of 500 Days of Summer. And now I'm at that point where possibly everything will change for me.

Anyway there is not much to be said except I did have the MOST interesting birthday I had in my life... so far. Its a very funny thing and I'll probably remember this birthday more than most birthdays I had. I will hope that this coming year will be more memorable as the last one and I would like to thanks to all my friends and family who have support and encourage me throughout my life.

The Expendables Full Review

2010-08-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

Some people have waited their entire life for mix-ups or team-ups of certain action stars. The best one I could think of was The Forbidden Kingdom where Jackie Chan and Jet Li have a spectacular fight and later team up to fight against the bad-guys in an awesome way. So we were hoping to see Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger take on the epic giant massive army force in a wasteland and that idea alone will make the whole planet Earth explode. Well... that day has finally come! Its just that you'll see those three guys in one room, doing nothing and Schwarzenegger is only in the movie less than 3 minutes. That is probably the closest thing you'll get to see these three biggest action stars in one room in a movie.

So instead, you'll see other action icons like Jet Li, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke filling in on some explosive testosterone goodness. But unfortunately, they don't really do much until the huge final explosive guns-fest and it has been pretty much the Stallone/Statham show for the majority of the film. We don't really spend that much with the other characters like Crews, Couture or even Li since the entire focus and development are with Stallone and Statham. So the other guys are there and its great to see them blow up stuff, but I wouldn't care as much for what they do in the film.

We are F*CKIN MEN!!!

Here is the plotline: you have this group of bad-ass mercenaries called "The Expendables" that specialized on dangerous and crazy missions. Then Willis and Schwarzenegger ask Stallone if he can take out an evil American agent controlling a giant militarized island country. And... that's it. This movie wasn't really made to have a plot or any depth. People will come to see stuff blow up and men with giant muscles shoot machine guns (that sounds a little bit gay). And you can come to predict how the movie goes and there isn't any huge stakes or dangers for the Expendables especially for ONE that really came back from the dead! This film also goes by 80s movie action logic, but there are even some bits that were such long stretches. It just becomes too silly.

And here ya go, a cute little pink fairy... very manly

So yeah this film was kind of a let down for me especially since I'm that kid that grew up watching those classic 80s-90s films. I watched Total Recall, Terminator, Die Hard (thats more of a thinking man's action film), Rambo and Predator over and over again when I was like ten on that rusty old VHS machine. And I was kinda looking forward to this film since I have been liking what Stallone have been directing since he got back on the director's chair. Rocky Balboa was a brilliant end to the series, but the 4th Rambo movie "RAMBO" was f*ckin hardcore! To me, that film (Rambo) was really the return of 80s action movie. The plot was simple and thin, but the payoff and climax was massive and completely satisfying with enough character development.

However this film, The Expendables was pretty much a step back. I would understand if they cut down on the gore and make it accessible to a much wider audience. But there were spots of heavy gore from the beginning and a little afterward we don't get that much. So its either go all out and be f*ckin crazy or have none at all. The best example of this is Crank: High Voltage where the film knows its f*ckin crazy and stupid, doesn't give a cr*p about logic, has no shame in having violence, gore, nudity and a horse c*ck and guarantees you a great and fun time. That film has a giant pair of balls and this film isn't close to that. And the other thing in this film that really annoyed me is the amount of CG blood. It doesn't work for 300, not for Ninja Assassin and not for ANY movie especially this! It makes the entire film clean and sterile and loses any impact on violence. There were some kills that could have been awesome if it didn't have CG blood!

I TOLD YOU, I don't know how to play basketball!

Its nice to look back on the 80s action movies, but there are reasons why action movies evolved to where are they now. Die Hard could be the start of that since its about an un-expecting out-of-luck man who is risen up to the challenge. And since then, we see other people that are not of muscle-physique jocks becoming action heroes because its much more interesting and challenging. The Expendables is a nice look back at the decade that was and it gets to think of why we love it and why we're not interested in them anymore.

2 out of 5 stars

Machete will be much better...

Vampires Suck Full Review

2010-08-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Oh Dead Lord...

(If you ask me how I saw the movie, I downloaded it off the net. I didn't spend any money on this travesty of the film.)

I really don't know what possess me to do this. What makes me go in and watch really bad movies. I have checked out Troll 2, Bratz, freakin Twilight movies and even (God forbid) Disaster Movie. Maybe by watching these bad movies would give me some sense of accomplishment and credibility, which later question myself: is it worth it anymore? Am I getting tired of sacrificing my brain cells every time a crappy movie pops up on the horizon? Does it give me a sense of adventure and danger whenever I gave my eyes upon it? This movie challenges my perception. Now honestly when I heard that these two idiots had a new movie called Vampires Suck, I was about to get my guns out and go on a blind murderous rampage. But I refrained myself because I got into so much trouble from the last time I did that for Disaster Movie. And low and behold...

This movie COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY sucks...

I still ended up with the biggest migraine after watching this movie. But I will say this though... it is LESS painful than their f*cker-piece, Disaster Movie. Which doesn't mean much. Its like saying "I will only make you bleed out 60% of your blood instead of 100%", you'll still lose blood. It is appreciative that they cut a tiny bit of the pop culture references, but it is still infuriating every time the movie puts one of those. Again there was no f*ckin point, setup or reason every time they bring up something pop culture. Its just f*ckin insulting. The actors are just mimicking the acting style of their characters from the Twilight movies, but for the impersonators who impersonates the celebrities, they did an awful job. Whats worse than Lady Gaga is a crappy Lady Gaga impersonator. The writing is standard Friedberg-Seltzer piss-poor style, considering that it took TWO MONTHS to write a f*ckin script. Wouldn't be surprise if it took them two weeks! Its less crappy though, but its still crap. You know what? Don't bother! This kind of movie is a waste of space and should be completely ignored. I took the bullet to see this to tell you guys and your friends to not see this movie.

GAAAHHH!!!!

Now I'm going into..

(RANT MODE!)

AND you know what is so scary in this day and age? People going to see this more than Scott Pilgrim or The Expendables. That is right, the day where I have been reconfirmed that the majority of young society are run by complete and utter MORONS. And right now, I'm going into a rant... I know YOU people wants some laugh and there is nothing wrong with having a cheap laugh, but if you want some cheap laughs, go to Youtube! F*ckin hell, that is f*ckin FREE and you can find SO MANY Twilight parodies that are MUCH better, rather than paying freakin money to see this crap! If you, like me, hate those Twilight movies, be F*CKIN SMART and don't f*ckin see this movie! In the times where daughters of famous and respectable Hollywood movie stars becomes porn stars because so they can be "famous" (Laurence, I'm sorry, but your daughter is unbelievably retarded... who is kinda hot), it is no wonder society is dumbing down where KIDS don't appreciate the sense of hard work and creativity. Icons like Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Michael Bay have gotten where they are by taking the easy way and I'm so pissed off at them because there are creative, talented and hard working people that only gone halfway to where these IDIOTS are. Now you have the generation of young people favoring the lazy and moronic while something that was done with so much hard work, creativity, thought and care like Scott Pilgrim have been thrown aside. If that's what the world is heading, I SO do hope a meteor comes down and destroy the world really early because I wouldn't care anymore. The only reason why I don't feel like having a meteor destroying the world right now is that at least smart and creative films like Toy Story 3 and Inception are performing very well. But if you are one of those people, even IF you're my friend that is keeping the most retarded filmmakers in the film industry by going and giving money to see this pile of crap, then promise me NEVER to have children. Seriously...

In the f*ckin end, I will say: F*CK YOU, JASON FRIEDBERG! F*CK YOU, AARON SELTZER! F*CK THIS MOVIE! F*CK THE PEOPLE WHO LIKED THIS! I WISH I COULD WIPE THAT IMMATURE DOUCHEBAG SMUG OFF YOUR FACE! F*CK YOU JASON AND AARON AND I HOPE YOU DIE!

Ehem... in other words, please don't see this movie...

GTFO out of 5 stars

DIE MUTHERF*CAKAS!!!

My Top Ten: Films That Look Like And Act Like Video Games

2010-08-16T00:34:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

We have seen video-games acting more like theatrical movies nowadays, but were there any movies that act like video-games? Any movies that take on the same mannerism and elements as you would see in a video-game. And I'm not talking about adaptations of a video-game franchise/series, I'm talking about movies that the whole central theme and behavior was video-games. Whenever you see characters using power-ups or that the whole world feels pixely in the movies, you step into the world of videogames You will see what I mean when you read along. I'm listing the ten best films that behave like video-games. Remember: no video-game adaptations like Super Mario Bros. or Prince of Persia.

Lets get on it shall we?

10.
AVATAR

Don’t tell me this film doesn’t look like a video game to you. The graphics and visuals really looks like a Halo game and already puts in the concept of controlling a manufactured body with the same facial features as the controller. Hell the hint was already in the title “Avatar”, the same concept many gamers are into now with World of Warcraft and Nintendo Wii.

9.
DEATH RACE

The original already contains the film’s concept, but the remake really looks more like a video game. It is no surprise since this is directed by Paul W.S Anderson, responsible for video-game adaptations like Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. So no wonder this is treated like a video game, similar to Twisted Metal. Already you have racers with different abilities and car models and have power-ups or traps on the road that would allow them to use their weapons or have them killed in a horrible and brutal way. As a movie itself, its not bad and it is one of those "turn-your-brain-off-and-enjoy-yourself" mindset when you get into it.

8.
COMMANDO

Hmm, let's see... Schwarzenegger goes into the jungle to face off against a giant military army with only a vest and a mini-gun, as well as having unlimited ammo and picking off one by one without having a single scratch on him... Sounds like a video-game to me. It was

7.
SPEED RACER

This is Mario Kart if Mario was smoking on crack and LSD. I wasn't so sure if I was watching an Anime movie, but I was sure this feels like a video-game. You have bright and colorful characters and their cars with different abilities and weapons, racing through the most ridiculous and ludicrous race tracks to ever be built. Watching this, I really wish I had a controller in my hand. It is, to me, a fun film and I kinda like it. Worthy to be curious and check it out.

6.
GAMER

This film, while having an ambitious intention, tries to make a statement on isolated gaming and technology running your life. It would have been an interesting intellectual film if the story wasn’t that hokey and not frequently filled with breasts and asses. Though the clever thing about it for geek gamers is there are some spots that reference first-person-shooters multiplayer elements such as Halo and Counter-Strike as well as gamer behaviour like the good ol’ Teabagging. Another thing that is satires is the concept of simulation/society games like The Sims, Second Life and IMVU, where players actually controls real humans as their own avatars and they can do whatever they want with them.

5.
BATTLE ROYALE

I have been arguing with myself whether this looks like a video-game or not. Though I have concluded that it may be a video-game movie. These kids are pitted themselves on an Island to kill each other with machine guns till the last one stands. Not to mention they wear a neck bracelet that explodes their heads whenever one of them are in a restricted zone or when the time runs out. I don't know if you people would agree with me, but for now it is. And what a awesome film it is! If people think Kick-Ass is totally controversial, they really haven't see Battle Royale.

4.
CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE

The first Crank movie was crazy enough, but the sequel to Crank was COMPLETELY straight-up-the-wall insanity. Right from the beginning, you can tell they were so influenced by video-games and designed the character, Chelios as if he was on God-Mode. There are many behaviors of video-games such as pixels and power-ups, but other than that, its a kick-ass movie! If you are that geeky enough, you might reference this from the video-game Infamous, where the character sucks up electricity.

3.
THE MATRIX SERIES

Loading yourself up into a simulated world and hook up with all the power-ups and skills you need = video-games. You won't care so much about the philosophical stuffs this movie is jamming your throat in, you can tell this is the stuffs of video-games. And once again taking the themes of avatars and simulations as well as all the fighting and shooting games we all know of like Max Payne. Now this film series could have gone to greatness if it weren't for the colossal disappointment that was "Revolutions"... sheesh..

2.
TRON

This is the granddaddy of video-game movies. Literally zapped into the digital world full of neon and bits, Tron was filled with so many video-game elements like avatars/representations of their users, geometric-shaped environments and death-match games like holo-disks and the cool light cycles. And even the soundtrack sounds so video-gamey. And even if the movie looks outdated now, it is such a visual-pleasing film to look back on. But I'm excited for the upcoming Tron Legacy. Daft Punk for film score = MOTHAFUCKIN WIN!

And my number 1 is...

1.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

I know this is a very recent film to add in, but this is my list! So bite me. Besides this movie, to me, is the best metaphorical representation of video-games in a movie, merging with real-life situations. This is the BEST video-game movie EVER... yet. Everything about video-games is there: power-ups, exp points, health bars, leveling up, boss battles, pixel graphics and the list goes on! All to narrate a story about a guy dealing with his relationship with his new girlfriend and evaluating his own personal issues. Not to mention the giant dump of video-game references from visuals and sound clips used for sound effects like Sonic and Mario and all of this is done so clever and intelligent. And that is why I considered this the BEST! This is one movie, geek or not, you should not miss!

So that is my top 10 list. What's your opinion?

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Full Review

2010-08-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Name: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Age: 2010
Rating: AWESOME

You want Japanese Anime adaptation done right? You want video-game adaptation done right? You want to see a teen romance/date comedy done in the most hyper action-packed and awesome way? Then press start on your controller and experience the epic of epic epicness that is "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World". Never before you have seen one guy actually fighting for the heart of one girl, blended in awesome visuals, clever sight gags and sounds, the hippest soundtrack and super-ultra-hyper fight/battle sequences that reaches over 9000 on its power level! Scott Pilgrim WINS the movies, getting a 2x combo in becoming both the BEST video-game adaptation movie and the BEST Japanese-Anime movie of all time... EVER!

Squeezed and packed faithfully from Bryan Lee
O'Malley's six volume comic-opus, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a bass player in a crappy band, in between jobs and currently dating a 17-year-old Asian high-schooler, Knives (Ellen Wong). That is until new girl Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) literally skates into his dreams and immediately Scott was hypnotized. After one hook-up with Ramona, things get real complicated when Scott realizes that he has to face off and defeat SEVEN of Ramona's evil exes one by one, led by final boss Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman). It is a fact that relationships are hard and complex, just like video games.

Mr. Patel, you're trying to seduce me...

For me having read all six volumes of the comics, the filmmakers did a marvelous job in being relevant and retaining the same core messages and development it possess in the comics. The advantage that this film and the comics have is that their aspect on relationship and love is as nearly realistic and relatable to most young people and they can really identify themselves in the hero, Scott Pilgrim. Its kind of human of Scott that he makes the same mistakes most people do for his own selfish needs and comforts, especially after having his breakup from his last girlfriend, Envy Adams (played by a very sexy Brie Larson). And it takes his date with Ramona to actually mature and wise up to his attitudes and self-esteem, even to fight his own inner demons (which he actually does literally). I would say that the characters, especially Scott could have been developed a little more, but I wouldn't argue of how it ended with it.

After a long run of being a quiet, awkward, mumbling
dweeb, Michael Cera finally becomes a more animated and confident guy whilst dealing with his own issues and it is just refreshing to see him that. Not only that, but he was amazing as an action hero. And the day I see Michael Cera as a total badass, something wonderfully wonderful just happened. Winstead is great and HOOTTT as the girl of every geek's dream, Ramona Flowers and Wong is just so cute and hyper as Knives, with two of these girls have their own ass-kicking. Rest of the cast were also great with Kieran Culkin always hitting the joke button right as Scott's gay roommate, Wallace Wells and Alison Pills and Mark Webber are as supportive and deadpan as Scott's band members, Kim Pine and Stephan Stills respectively. Probably the people who looks like they are having the most fun are the 7 evil exes and when they are on, they are REALLY on. All acted devilishly and humorously maniacal and giving us something spectacular. Chris Evans (Captain America) was so different and cocky as Evil Ex #2, Lucas Lee and Brandon Routh (Superman) displayed his awesome "vegan" power and delivered awkward liners as Evil Ex #3, Todd Ingram. Even for the final boss, Schwartzman played so well as the kind of nerd we other nerds would love to hate, a pretentious, rich d*uchebag.

I can go for that MC Hammer joke, but I'm a little too old for that

The movie acts as a huge love letter to geekdom in giving off so many references to movies, music and video-games from clear visuals gags to hidden sound bites that can only be recognizable to geeks. And the fun thing about this film is that it acts like an actual video game, going from earning coins when you defeat an enemy, to health bars, to extra lifes, leveling up when you wise up, even the 7 exes acts as boss battles and all are done in a clever and fun way, which is something other video-game movies have fail to do. Uwe Boll, take lessons from Edgar Wright! For the casual audience, they won't matter if they catch all the sight and sound gags. But for hardcore nerds like us, it is such a real treat. Another thing I love is the soundtrack and theme of music that is used as a character, or even as a weapon. The soundtrack ranges from usually alternative rock bands with Beck, masquerading as the Sex Bob-Omb and even with the use of emo, country and techno, which were all a joy to listen to. AND DAMN, do I have to stress you guys about the fight scenes? The fight scenes are such a tribute to some of the Wu Sha/Kung Fu fighting movies and even of the hyper anime styles such as Dragonball and Street Fighter. Again, why can't the actual Dragonball and Street Fighter movies do something like this? Just wait till you get to the final battle where it is just... EPIC...

If a person who
has read the entire comics and ask how faithful it is to the comics, I would say it is fairly faithful and people will be nitpicky especially to some of the characters. You have to know that cramming all six volumes into one meaning alot will change. The outcome of the movie will be different from the comics, but the important thing is that it still retains the message and the journey Scott must go through. And in adapting from a 6-volume books to a 2-hour movie, all the changes they made makes sense and plays to good effects. Besides you'll still have -the comics and see how different it is to the movies. Some of the problems I'll say is that the ending is a bit rushed and the first 10-20 minutes will be getting used to. And like I said before, some of the characters or subplots weren't developed enough to what I wish for. Even some of the characters were popping in and out after a long time for an update, but these are just fair nitpicks and doesn't overshadowed my enjoyment.

Feel the power of my ARMPITS!

What I will expect is that people will get this film and some people won't. But even if you don't get it, you should still check it out as it is something original, something you have never-seen-before. Hell its freakin more original and visually-mesmerizing than Avatar (Yes, I'm still taking shots at Avatar. Bite me!) It is a guarantee action-packed fun time that also evaluates your own love life and personality. After making brilliant genre tributes like Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright is the master of his own game. Now claim your prize, my man!

4 and a half out of 5 stars

EDGAR WRIGHT HAS EARNED THE POWER OF FILMS!

Step Up 3D Full Review

2010-08-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

This was probably my first Step-Up movie I have ever seen in a theater. Hell this is my first time seeing a hip-hop dance movie in a theater. And how I got myself to actually see this... well I was invited by my friend, Vanessa, so I couldn't really say no. Of course when you think of dance movies, you think of the parade of dance battles with a flimsy plot, not much character development and that appeal toward hip-hop MTV teens... so it wasn't my cup of tea. And is that what I got out of this movie?

Yeah that's what I got.

Now I'll be straight with you. Its not intelligent or entirely creative like Inception, but what it promises on are the barrage of cool and impressive hip-hop dance sequences and that's what it delivered. Though I was expecting a large number of SPECTACULAR and AMAZING dance sequences and I only found one to be amazing. So it felt short of my expectation. But at least my time wasn't wasted at all and I thoroughly had an enjoyable time.

You get what you expect for fans of these Step Up movies: a film all about cool and creative hip-hop dance sequences, the hottest mainstream hip-hop soundtrack and a all-too predictable plot with a cast of generic hip-hop character with black and white motivations. Let's see if I can summarize the plot: a guy named Moose gets recruited by a guy named Rick into the warehouse of the Pirates with its bands of merry dancers. Their club is losing money and has their warehouse up for sale, so they need to win this dance tournament to win a huge prize money before their rivals, the Samurais takes their warehouse away. Geez I could understand why their club is losing money if they are spending nothing but STEREOS and SHOES that are worth thousands! But with the magic of movie logic, you can foresee the ending way ahead. But that is not you came to see a Step Up movie, right?

Its all about the dance. That is what sells this movie and started this whole tread of these dance movies. And I would say that the dances are indeed entertaining. Though some can be pointless at times. Like when the rivals follows one of the lead characters into a bathroom and instead of threatening him by just beating him up or knifing him, the rivals actually threatens him with dance... I really don't why they use that to demoralize him, but hey... movie logic. And with the addition of 3D gimmick, it makes all the dance sequences very surreal and cool. There is one dance sequence (that is probably my favorite and the only great dance sequence of this movie) that hawks back to the Gene Kelly and Fred Astire eras that was whimsical, cute and charming and it was good to see that in a mainstream teen-appealing film like Step Up. What really takes me out of these dance sequences is the use of sound effects used on dancers. Whenever a dancer moves their arms, it creates a WHOOSH sound. Really... these dancers are not superheroes or martial artists! Its distracting me these sequences when its supposed to be a marriage of both music and dance motion!

Thankfully for a smart movie-goer, its not for them. But you'll still have a fun time and be dazzled by the dance sequences it offered. Even if the essential things like plot, character, development, pacing and motivation are completely crap, you won't feel cheated when you see this. Its a fine film to watch.

2 and a half out of 5 stars

Now lets get onto a film I've been waiting for... SCOTT PILGRIM!!!

Mini Reviews - Across The Universe

2010-08-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

Across the Universe

A romantic musical told mainly through numerous Beatles songs performed by the characters. A young man from Liverpool comes to America during the Vietnam War to find his father. He winds up in Greenwich Village, where he falls in love with an American girl who has grown up sheltered in the suburbs. Together they experience the sweeping changes of America in the late 60's.

Wow.... that was a colossal mess. With the musical that has every potential to be visually mind-blowing, the film really suffered from the lack of character development, plot development, consistency and uninspiring singing performance. And like Moulin Rouge (another musical I HATE!), its a worthy idea to integrate some of the Beatles songs into the story/film, but there was nothing inventive and creative used in those songs and the people giving the covers were so forced and try-hard. Some of the characters were a waste of celluloid, such as Prudence which the film can really benefited without her since she really didn't bring alot to the story. The thing with musical is that it has to be an all-rounded great performances for both the singing part and the non-singing/drama part and the drama parts are so boring and un-interesting, which wasn't really enough to keep the film going. The psychedelic trip-out scenes were visually great to look at and very freaky that they are so dangerous to stoners and pot-heads. Yet it also abandons the film's story and they can come across as point-less. If you like to see Disney's teenagers doing an amateur job on covering Beatles song, then here it is.

1 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Clash of the Titans

2010-07-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

Clash of the Titans

A remake of the 1981 mythical adventure film about the myth of Perseus. To win the right to marry his love (Andromeda) and fufill his destiny, Perseus must complete various quests and battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the Princess Andromeda.

At least it doesn't go for the fantastical and campy approach the original had and go for the dark and gritty reboot. Though the actors weren't all very interesting to go with especially with Sam Worthington (hot from Avatar) still being as bland as we saw him last time. Neeson and Fiennes are both fun and knew they were having fun as bickering brothers of the Gods and Arterton was just fine. The action sequences and fights were indeed cool, but some were just rushed and built up kind of anti-climatic. It is not a bad film, but not epic either.

2 and a half out of 5 stars

Inception Full Review

2010-07-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

Moviegoers, time to exercise your brain after eating many many junk food movies by checking out a one-of-a-kind experience, Inception. Out of all the films this year where you leave your brain out and just have fun, this one requires you to have them on all the time. This is a puzzle film with the budget of a Michael Bay blockbuster and only done well and tight. Taking a break before taking on the helm of the giant follow-up to the cosmically-praised The Dark Knight and Batman Begins (I hope he is), Christopher Nolan goes back to his roots in delivering calculating and mind-riveting pieces like his previous films, Following and Memento.

Wrap this around your brain. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are the best at extracting secret and confidential information from people's dream for their clients by diving into their minds and create scenarios that allows the target to fill them with their secrets. This attracts the attention of a Japanese businessman (Ken Watanabe), who offers the team a job. In exchange for Cobb's crimes to be cleared and to be reunited with his children, Cobb has performed an act of inception on his target, a son of a rival energy business, where he doesn't steal an idea, but to plant an idea that will cause a reaction outside of the dream world. Soon the mission proved to be not so easy when the team realize the deadly stakes they are in and how the subconscious of Cobb's dead wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) keeps interfering with their mission as well as his entire life.

I will say one thing though. Whether you find yourself loving or you don't, you'll still come out the theater and think nothing but the movie for a good long day and have long discussions with your friends in wrapping around this giant puzzle of the movie. The movie is treated like a game for the audience, which is in a way, needed for the movie to work. The first 20 minutes of the film lays out the rules and glossary of the dream-world and the profession Cobb is known for, before you get on right into the game that is the Inception mission. And thankfully, the game of the film doesn't get out of hand by not having the entire concept going down too deep, meaning the film stays straight and doesn't get too complex and ridiculous. Like the layers of the dreams, the plot, the concept and even some of the characters have layers and each are executed greatly with care.

The smart thing about the film is it doesn't lack in pace and always grabs the audience's attention. There are many mind-blowing visual marvels to look at, it even rivals the visuals of Avatar. Hell I would say its better-looking. Not to mention the action-sequences are very inventive and engaging and it blows the mind of how many could happen at once. The cinematography is once again breathtaking and the soundtrack is definitely epic-feeling done by long-time collaborators of Chris Nolan: Wally Pfister and Hans Zimmer respectively.

Leonardo DiCaprio has started to look like a older man now instead of looking like a young boy as he was in most of his films and he was just amazing. Probably the actors that shined the most were Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and Tom Hardy. Jospeh was great, being the reliable and sharp partner, with Ellen being new and in awe of the new profession she has got into and Hardy being just a badass and just as witty and cool like James Bond himself. And like Nolan's last film, The Dark Knight, the entire cast has brought their A game and none brought the film down. Some may complain that there is not much development in most of the characters and it depends on how you view it. To me, the film needs to sacrifice some of the character developments in favor for the complex puzzle-like story and DiCaprio's character and emotional journey that are considered more important. The supporting characters may not get some developments and have some arcs, but at least they were left wasted and have important things to do in the storyline. The only character development that is important is Cobb's, in which the Inception mission is serves as his own moral realization/journey of his guilt and act against his wife he loves so much.

Not in any way a perfect film and certainly not his greatest masterpiece (The Dark Knight will always be perfect and his greatest masterpiece...yet), but is still considered one of the best films of the year, being on the same page as Memento and The Prestige. For some audience, it may be too smart for them and it is alot to take in. This film does require alot of thinking and alot attention. But the film doesn't insult or be pretentious for the mainstream audience and allows them to have fun in solving this puzzle game. And this is a step forward in bringing some intelligence back into the film industry that can bring casual audience to acknowledge "2001: A Space Odyssey" instead of "Marmaduke" and "Twilight"....

4 and a half out of 5 stars

Now Christopher Nolan, onto his BIGGEST and MOST AMBITIOUS of ALL.... BATMAN 3!!!

Mini Reviews - Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-07-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hot Tub Time Machine

Adam (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou (Rob Corddry) is a party guy who can't find the party; Nick's (Craig Robinson) wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob (Clark Duke) won't leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men wake up, heads' pounding, in the year 1986.

Another raunchy guys comedy that really require a brain to enjoy. Set up as another "Hangover", some of the humor are laugh-out clever and funny while others are resorted to toilet jokes and yet manages to work. The cast gave a good performance and were enough to not be resentful and unappealing especially with Chevy Chase giving a great cameo. It is a fun movie and worth a rental.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Shutter Island

2010-07-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Shutter Island

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are summoned to a remote and barren island off the cost of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

You know, if you're like me and see so many many movies in your life, then chances are you'll probably know the twist in the ending. I sure did with like 20 minutes into the film. No doubt that this is Martin Scorsese back to his artistic and visual self shown in previous works like the remake of Cape Fear. The cinematography is beautiful and the haunting/creepy factor has been shot up to 10. The cast has done a solid job and the plotline is done at a steady pace. As for the twist, it is one factor if the audience will actually buy into that. For me, I didn't buy it at all and allows me to see the entire film with questionable aspects. However it is a nice looking thriller that you wouldn't mind checking out.

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Rare And Buried: Flash Gordon

2010-07-09T04:57:00.000-07:00

Flash Gordon

When energy waves pull the moon out of orbit, threatening destruction of the Earth, Dr. Hans Sarkov makes a desperate rocket flight with two unwilling passengers--Flash Gordon, quarterback of the New York Jets and lovely Dale Arden. Their destination is the planet Mongo, source of the strange energy waves.

You know who is the REAL hero of this film? Flash Gordon may be the savior of the universe, but who is really the savior of this plot-holed, cheezy and campy film extravagance? F*ckin QUEEN is the hero of this film! If it weren't for their powerful, larger-than-life epic rock soundtrack, then this film would probably be unbearable to watch. Watching in this decade, the special effects and art direction is pretty decent and kinda aged well, which the entire looks like one giant acid trip. The plot-line was simple and would have been nicely written if it didn't have so many plot holes. It is a film that you have to take in for all of its cheesiness, but the plot holes does take me out of the film quite often. The characters are quite exaggerated and comical (in both literal and funny way) and the actors at least know what they are in for and you can sense they are having fun. But the BIGGEST help from this film is the use of Queen to build that entire epicness that allows this film to become that campy cult classic it is now. It is really a fun film to watch and you won't feel cheated on your first time viewing.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Road

2010-07-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Road

Academy Award-nominee Viggo Mortensen leads an all-star cast featuring Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and young newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee in this epic post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father (Mortsensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm.

It is indeed a beautiful and grim portrayal of a father and son's struggle through Earth's devastating post-apocalyptic wasteland where not much of civility and humanity remains. While the main characters' ultimate goal is simply to survive, nothing much of the character, plot or pace are fully developed and it is simply going through from scenarios to scenarios facing almost the same kind of dilemmas it presents. For a movie that is masterfully shot and told, there are spots of weak dialogues and forced emotions. Viggo did a great job portraying the protective and loving father, placed in an impossible position, but Kodi's performance, to me, doesn't quite match with Viggo's and sometimes you'll get simply annoyed by his actions and personality. It is a hard look especially with humanity turning to cannibalism and people choosing suicide, but it isn't really a hard ride down the road.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - An Education

2010-07-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

An Education

A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.

A 16-year-old school girl risk her education and her goal to get into Oxford to have a love affair with a man much MUCH older than her... What could possibly go wrong? That initial concept right there pretty much takes some people out of the movie and you wouldn't believe of how stupid and selfish most of these characters are. That is one problem I have with this movie. There is not one character in the film that is likable or mattered, even for the main character, played nicely by Carey Mulligan who presents herself as too smart and knowing for her own good that she gets her comeuppance, there is nothing to feel for her. Not only that, the plot/storyline is rather simple and the message is nothing new, especially after 1 and a half hours. The film was shot pleasantly and had great cinematography and sequences through all the beatnik's and hipster's location from England to Paris. The pacing is rater slow and one that needs to get used to. Its a sweet, but not great film.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Crazies

2010-06-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Crazies

About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.

This is a standard routine horror film featuring crazy/zombie-like obstacles where the core characters go from one area to another for scares and bloods. Though the main actors did a good enough jobs to make the audience to care for them in their plight and the first few scares were pretty intense especially when it introduces another enemies: the government and their gas-masked haz-mats drones. After a while, the plotline becomes pretty predictable and safe and less tensed.

2 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Brick

2010-06-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

Brick

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

It is what it is... a film noir detective story set in modern-day high school. At first you'll be very impressed of how it flows similarly like detective films such as Maltese Falcon and Chinatown from the cinematography and soundtrack to the behavior/personalities of each character. You wouldn't see a teenage dorky loner, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as being as suave and cool as in the league of Humphrey Bogart. Though halfway through, the concept can be tiresome and the plot can already be followed easily without being too relied on the nonsensical heavy-influenced dialogue if you know detective films. The pacing is the film's strength and weakness as it is a homage to the film-noir films and can drag the audience along. This is truly only for hardcore film-lover. Casual audience may not get into this easily.

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Toy Story 3 Full Review

2010-06-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

Firstly I'll talk about the animated short, Day and Night that was presented before the main feature and it is by far their most creative and innovative Pixar has done. The idea and concept is probably new and was executed very well as their combination of 3D and 2D animation were used to a highly clever and creative extent. Though the narrative is pretty straightforward, it is really a SURREAL experience. That is basically what you always get from Pixar and especially that is very special as the main feature.

One thing you will know if a film series is very special is if the series actually grows up with you. The first adventure may be small and simple and the characters you get to know and spend time with are straightforward and have simple ambitions. But as the series and adventures goes on, the characters you know are developed, matured and their ideals are not anymore black and white as their time together becomes more harder and challenging, even darker. One prime example is the Harry Potter series, where the characters grow up with the audience. And this series literally grows up with the audience who has seen the first film as kids, including me. The second Toy Story film could have serve as the series' ultimate ending, but Pixar seem to have one last story up their sleeves. And the timing couldn't be so right. This latest adventure of Woody and Buzz Lightyear is probably the finest and the best of the Toy Story series and even arguably the most darkest. Hell maybe of all Pixar movies.

I wonder if they have seen me in my 'freaky' phase...

The last time we see Woody and Buzz in Toy Story 2, they have
accepted that they'll be prepared when Andy grows up to the point he has outgrown them. That time has come. Andy is going to college and the toys are contemplating on what fate will been bestow upon them, either they'll be donated to a day-care center, be stored in the attic or will be thrown away to the dreaded landfill. After a huge mishap, the toys are accidentally donated to the day-care center where they are introduced to a community of new toys governed by Lotso, a stuffed, huggable teddy bear. With him offering them a place in the day-care center, which seems a happy eternal life, there is something smells awfully fishy about it. Is life in the day-care center paradise or prison?

This place seem like a wonderful, happy place to live out your life....

OR IS IT?!

Easily could have been a throwaway sequel that gives cheap rides and
flimsy plot to the audience, but Pixar, like how they saved Toy Story 2, takes its time to tell a consistent and important story and really takes advantage of the age and attachment of these characters. What I read from other reviewers and critics is that some of the important plotlines are heavily similar to the first two Toy Story. Sure it did borrowed a few elements like the "delusional Buzz Lightyear" again, but all these borrowed elements are really integral to the story instead of being a recycled gag. And unlike the Shrek movies, Toy Story 3 spares us of any throwaway modern pop-culture jokes that take two seconds of screen-time and their humor and jokes are clever, creative and very funny, even heart-felt as well. You know how funny Pixar is when you get introduced to Chuckles the Clown. There are some jokes that can be suggestive like the flamboyant lifestyle of Ken, but they are not insulting or cheap and continues on with the story.

You know I'm a

"good" person because I'm so cute and cuddly/wuddly...

The animation is a no-brainer when you consider the span between the
first two Toy Story to this. Its been 10 years through technological leaps-and-bounds and the film's animation is a huge improvement, while still retaining the classic and nostalgic feel and looks. While the core characters are greatly developed even further, there are bundles of new characters/toys that were given enough screen-time and to do their own clever shtick. None of them were lame and their part was either important or funny. Even though its a family animated film, the action was pretty outstanding and very much edge-of-your-seat. It ranges from cool blockbuster type action to down right dangerous and dark thrill-ride. And I couldn't tell enough of how much dark this film was, whether its shows characteristics of cruelty and brutality to signs of real danger and peril. It may scare the children, but not too often.

Is he or he is

not.... you know...?

But the heart of the film is the actual heart of the film.
Ultimately it is about love. About friendship. About loyalty. About life, loss and acceptance. A love between a child and its toys and the love between comrades and friends. The films are never hokey or manipulative when it comes to play these themes, they are genuine and important and taken with great care and respect. Especially to one significant scene (other than the ending) that just demonstrate how indeed these characters are not toys, but real people. It is one time in the entire Toy Story series that define them the most heroic, courageous and daresay BADASS toys you have ever met. And let's talk about the ending, which I won't spoil it for you. But I will warn you, it is damn emotional and the perfect book-end/epilogue to the series. It all comes full circle and it shows how special these characters are not just to Andy, but to everyone else who was once an innocent child in their life. It goes to show that these kinds of toys make your childhood extra special and you would have thank them for that.

It must be
getting old for Pixar, being able to make not just good movies, but great and amazing movies one at each time. And its to the point that I really want to ask them "just make a mediocre movie just this once." We all know that something is magical in that fun little studio and brew up wonderful, brilliant things from your cauldron, so maybe be fair for the other animated studios. Let them shine instead of you just this once. But for now, we have to settle for them as being the greatest and most brilliant animation studio around if not ever and we have to thank them for bringing out the child within.

5 out of 5 stars

Since you're great at sequels, I WANT
AN INCREDIBLES SEQUEL!!!

My Top Ten: Top TWENTY Favorite Animated Films (10 - 1)

2010-06-15T03:13:00.001-07:00

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

Continuing from the last Top Ten, I'll finish the countdown of my MOST favorites of animated feature films. From artistic merits to childhood, let's go down to explore. Hey, that rhymes :D

Lets get on it shall we?

10.
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO

Everybody LOVES the Totoros! This is one of those films that makes you feel like a child again and experience the imagination of a child. No matter how old you get. You just want to jump in and give that giant furry totoro one giant squeezable hug. Not only that but this is 100% kiddy safe with no absolute threat or antagonist on screen. There is possibly one tense moment, but this is one film the whole family or anyone can enjoy. Not to mention the subtle environmental message it provides in the movie. Aren't all the characters look so ADORABLE?!

9.
UP

The most recent addition to my list and rightfully so. Pixar may have some bright colorful beautiful images, but they don't shy away from the deep and heavy themes and subjects, giving the film much clever and meaningful layers and making this probably the most mature Pixar film they have ever done yet. It also has that fine balance of emotions, filled with moments of comedy and moments of sadness. The one thing most audience will remember from this movie (other than Dug) is that emotional four-minute sequence illustrating the married life of Carl and his loving wife, Ellie. That sequence defines Pixar's mastery of storytelling, as they are able to draw the audience to these characters to their love, life, problems and tragedy all under a short time. Accompanied with Michael Giacchino's beautiful score, it is one brilliant and tender piece that if you don't at least cry from this, there is something VERY wrong with you.

8.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

This was a very innocent, fun and wonderful animated film that delighted every children all over even before it was associated to emos, goths and Hot Topics. Damn those thieves! Though it had a simplistic storyline with a basic protagonist and antagonist, mostly everything else are completely surreal and totally Tim Burton in its element, despite being co-directed by another great stop-motion animator, Henry Selick. The design and look from all the inhabitants to the landscape and environment are both creepy, yet creative and imaginative that its doesn't seem scary or menacing. Plus the music and the song numbers are just terribly catchy. From the moment you hear the first song of the movie "This Is Halloween", its hard not to sing along with it.

7.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

This was Disney's animation at its artistic near perfectness. From its simple, yet majestic storytelling, mature and artistic pacing and design, wonderful characters and timeless music and songs, it was an example of a true masterful fairytale. You can tell as it was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. I really love the development and the characteristics of each of the character as Belle being a more independent and strong-minded woman than most of the female protagonists in the Disney-verse and the Beast from being a beast itself to having more human quality when Belle comes into his life. And Gaston is one of those villains who I can't help but like. He may be a giant douche, but he's a douche you love to watch.

6.
SPIRITED AWAY

Like the previous entry, this was the pinnacle of Hayao Miyazaki's art. Comparing to Lewis Carrol's Alice In Wonderland, the film takes us in a wonderful and wild, yet very tranquil journey of one supernatural and sacred world, filled with unique creatures and demons. Probably the greatest thing about this film is that it is a reflective and subtle movie. There is nothing big and loud and not many things flying around all over the place, but a much quiet movie where you have time to observe scenes that is like a painting or art. Its like a stroll through an art museum. And the music score is just a masterpiece, probably the best Joe Hisaishi has ever done.

5.
THE INCREDIBLES

When this was first announced, I thought Pixar is jumping on the superhero bandwagon and will be making a lame kiddy version of the Fantastic Four. How wrong was I? Pixar has put this in the line of work and say they have made one of the best and most awesome superhero films of all time next to Spider-man and Superman. Probably because Brad Bird, responsible for The Iron Giant, was also behind this. Pixar knows how to create layers, relevance and themes into something as simple as a movie about superheroes including nostalgia themes of classic 60s comic superheroes/espionage elements to themes of mid-life crisis and family. You do get behind Mr. Incredible as he tries to adjust to his normal non-superhero lifestyle and tries to get back his glory. Not to mention the action sequences are just awesome and brilliant for an animated film.

4.
KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE

You must wonder why I love this more than Spirited Away. Well imagine yourself through the middle of your high school years and you have to deal with responsibility, maturity, growing up and the opposite sex. And then you watch this within those years. That's why I'm more attached to this more than Spirited Away as it did helped me get through those terrible years that was high school. You really do connect with the protagonist, Kiki as upon her tradition where she has to go out into the world and start living for herself, just like everybody else. And like most of Miyazaki's works, there is no real threat or antagonist and it is mostly an coming-of-age tale, something that is essential to kids and teenagers even for today.

3.
WALL-E

Unlike most of the animated films Pixar has done, this one is most different and ambitious. One - it is the first time Pixar fused both computer animation and live-action footage together in certain scenes. Two - the first part of the film is told through visually without any constructive dialogue like a silent film. Three - other than the fact it has subtle messages about environment and corporation, the film is mainly a romantic love story between two non-humanoid robots. And you think that concept wouldn't work, but somehow Pixar made it work in an amazing way. Not only it is one of my favorite animated films, but it is also one of my favorite romantic films of all time and the best example of visually storytelling. Some of the sequences in this film are so artistic and yet very adorable at the same time.

2.
ALADDIN

Is it better than all Pixar films? No. Is it better than most Miyazaki films? No. Then why do I highly put this on my list? I just love this movie! I love it when I was child and I still love it as an adult. It is one of those timeless childhood classics that I won't ever forget. The first time I saw it when I was little, it was just so magical. Every sense of magic, wonder and adventure that every kid could ever want from that wild carpet ride through the Cave of Wonder to Aladdin's fight with Jafar as a giant snake. The animation is, like Beauty and the Beast, majestic and at times, pretty epic with the song numbers very memorable and wonderful. And Robin William really does steal the show as the shape-shifting Genie. Plus singing "A Whole New World" to your girl, works ALL THE TIME!

And my number 1 favorite animated film of all time is...

1.
THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO

This is among that few rare list of films like The Dark Knight or Schindler's List that I don't and will never ever get tired of. This film is PURE adventure. It is a simple, yet thrilling and extraordinary adventure story with a dashing adventurous hero, a beautiful damsel-in-distress and an evil count, all set in a large and looming castle with dangers and traps. Coincidentally this is also the first film ever to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki and this was very different from most of his films as it was an action film. And it is probably everything you get from a madcap thrilling adventure from the awesome car chase in the beginning, to the huge siege in the castle to the swashbuckling showdown inside the clock tower. As for its time, the animation never looks outdated and still is beautiful to watch as it was back then. If you're a lover of animation such as myself, this is one movie you cannot miss.

So that is my top 20 list. What's your opinion?

My Top Ten: Top TWENTY Favorite Animated Films (20 - 11)

2010-06-11T03:34:00.001-07:00

Its that time of the month where I give my Top Ten on ANYTHING!

I haven't been doing a lot blogging as well as the "monthly" Top Ten list, but now I'm back on the giving the traditional top ten lists. And this time I won't be doing just Top Ten, but Top TWENTY! And with the much-anticipated Toy Story 3 coming in to spark the inner child within me, its time to look back on my most favorite animated films of all time. Whether it is a childhood gem of mine or something artistic and whimsical, these are the films that truly inspire me as an animator and filmmaker.

Lets get on it shall we?

20.
FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN

I put this WAY up there in the top 20 because this film is PURE guilt pleasure. Yes, the story is nonsense. Yes, the characters are wooden as dead-wood. Yes, the character designs are between ridiculous and a little bit gay. But one thing that really makes up for it are the over-the-top giant gravity-defy epic fight scenes. At least if you are not gonna sell me on the story and characters, make the battles very entertaining to me and it surely entertained me. In fact, I was blown away by how ridiculous and yet awesome these fight scenes are the first time I saw them. This film is only for those who love anime (considering I'm not into anime anymore).

19.
SHREK

The Shrek movies have gone stale with age and they recycled every jokes they have with each movie, but you can't deny how funny and daresay "original" the first film was. The first Shrek movie causes a ruckus storm because it was nothing the mainstream audience have seen before and we are taken in of how referential and indeed clever the writing and the story was, not to mention all the great characters in the film and all the great funny moments. It was a great parody of every fairy tale animated films before it became something we now despise in the film community.

18.
TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE

This is ANIMATED right? Animation is labeled for 2D, 3D, stop-motion or puppetry, so this is considered an animated film. Anyway, whats better than a parody of fairy-tale animated movies? A parody of Michael Bay movies. This film was VERY under-appreciated by the mass and people have missed out on how VERY clever, innovative and just downright awesome it was. Of course, this is from the creators of South Park, the guys who made paper-cut animation awesome. Not only that, but it is a funny and clever parody on police-dominating America and the dreams of red-neck Americans if they can save the world by just nuking a country. Not to mention they invented one of the greatest one-liners consisting of two words: "Matt... Damon...".

17.
COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE

Considering this is just a much longer episode of my MOST favorite Japanese anime series of all time, this film consist everything that makes the show awesome as it is from the funky/jazz soundtrack, the cool moments from the characters to the great space battles and fight scenes and it works. What I can say about the misadventures of the all-time cool cat, Spike and his band of bounty hunters that I haven't praised about. If you're new to anime, watch the brilliant anime series first and then this movie.

16.
FANTASIA

This marriage of classical orchestral music with wonderful Disney animation is one of the art students such as myself. Enabling for the Disney artists to create their vision/storytelling through the music of some of the greatest composers in history such as Tchaikovsky and Beethoven was just a breathtaking and wonderful visual experience to me. There were great moments of storytelling such as The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Night on Bald Mountain that you can't help but be mesmerized. Its a shame we don't have something like this in today's industry.

15.
PERSEPOLIS

This film turned out to be a surprise to me as I thought I would be one of those pretentious art films when it is kinda only half of that. I ended up loving the story of a young Iranian girl growing up in Iran during the Revolutions only to become intelligent, strong and independent despite her treatment and discrimination of her own gender. You really do root for her as she kinda represents the modern Middle-Eastern woman as she shakes the harsh tradition of the female upbringing in Iran and she has a very unique personality from worshiping Bruce Lee to listening to punk and heavy metal such as Slayers. Not to mention I love the simplistic and whimsical animation of the film.

14.
PINOCCHIO

You know the first time I saw this when I was little, it freaked me out. Seems harmless in the beginning, but talk about a cruel puppet-master, boys turning into donkeys and a giant monstrous whale. But that said this film is just magical. Not only it is an example of animated artistry, but this is considered a true childhood gem of mine and it was an introduction to the world of Disney. Way before its magic is spent on Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. Probably it is very relatable to me and every other boys today as Pinocchio is the one example of an innocent naive child, exploring the vast dangerous world and getting into sorts of trouble. And who could ever forget the ever-classic song of "When You Wish Upon A Star"? That song is pure magic.

13.
TOY STORY/TOY STORY 2

I have to put these two together because they serve perfectly well together as one movie. Probably the great thing about this movie is that we instantly fall in love with all the characters as each of them has their own lively bubbly personalities. The fact that it was the first 3D-Animated film in theater we ever saw that we truly believe that the toys really are alive and they are out there in their grand adventure that is much bigger than them. It serves as the same kind of imagination that we had as a little kid when we all started playing with toys and these films always spark our inner child.

12.
NINJA SCROLL

One of the few anime films that introduced me to the world of Japanese anime in my teenage years. Though it is a true samurai tale of one ordinary, yet highly skillful samurai ninja taking on one opponent at a time each with their own brand of skills and theme. Not to mention the fight scenes were incredible and some of the best I have seen. If there's one word I can describe this film, it's BADASS!

11.
FANTASTIC MR. FOX

This is another film that took me by surprise. Some people won't get into hipster films like Wes Anderson and some people are huge fans of that. I'm one that belongs to the latter. I'm a fan of Wes Anderson's film and even when he's adapting a simple children's book by Roald Dahl, you'll still get a Wes Anderson's film. What I dig (no pun intended) about this film is that they apply certain adult themes such as mid-life crisis, fatherhood and responsibilities that appeals to a much older audience. Not to mention the awkward dialogue that is standard Wes Anderson and the wonderful, yet simplistic old style stop motion animation that is just a visual feast. And who to have provide the voice of the cool Mr. Fox than Mr. Cool himself, George Clooney.

So that is 20 to 11. The top 10 to 1 will be next. What's your opinion?

Mini Reviews - Whatever Works

2010-06-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Whatever Works

An eccentric New Yorker (Larry David) abandons his upper class life to lead a more bohemian existence. He meets a young girl from the south and her family, and no two people seem to get along in the entanglements that follow.

As much as I was excited to see Woody Allen, the brilliant writer and filmmaker and Larry David, one of the great comedy legends coming together for Woody's next film, you would think that combining the two will resulted in something brilliant. It just ended up in something pretty much mediocre and safe. Much of the wittiness and cleverness of Woody's writing was kind of not there and most of the characters are not of people you would care, only having Larry's character being slightly interesting. It is a good analysis and observation in the development on the characters as they go from bad to good such as Evan Rachel Wood's character from being an air-headed and dumb girl to someone more wiser and insightful. However with most of the characters going in the one improving direction, it makes the film a tad predictable and for a Woody Allen film, its pretty much safe. Harmless and safe. Its pretty much fine, it works, but not brilliant.

3 out of 5 stars

Lost: The End Review

2010-05-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

Whether you love the hell out of it (which is me) or you never caught on and never fully understand, you can't deny that Lost has made a giant smashing impact in pop culture and is considered one of television's most beloved phenomenons. Its fair that the mysteries of the show have become bigger and bigger and at time, lucrative and ridiculous, but we all accepted it as the show's narrative progress and it is a very clever techniques to draw us in and to explore the themes and mythologies it presented. The show gave us a wild and fantastical, yet an intellectual and analytical roller-coaster ride for 6 years and now like a novel, it comes to the final chapter. For a show that is very huge on its stories and mysteries, its understandable that not all questions will be answered and the ending won't make some of the audiences satisfied. What matters about the finale is that the important questions will be answered and resolved and it is for the fans who have stuck with the show, theorizing and analyzing for all these years. And I tell you that these fans won't be left insulted and bamboozled from this. The finale was handled and crafted very well, never used any cheap ploys or surprises and, in true Lost fashion, really does confuse you in the end and requires some re-watching before you fully understand. It is a very fitting, emotional and downright-worthy ending that is perfect for a kind of show like Lost.

*WARNING MAJOR SPOILER ALERT*

The finale is a 2 and half hour episode that wraps up most loose ends and resolve the matter of the Island while giving us emotional tie-in with these characters. It is until the final 15 minute of the episode that we find out what the entire show is REALLY about. And what it is really about is nothing that is convoluted, elaborate or set on a giant conspiracy scheme, but something much more simpler and somewhat general. It is about inevitability. It is about life. It is about love. It is about the journey any person take and the memories we take along with it. No, it is not a ploy where everyone on the plane dies and the Island is in fact purgatory. What established and happened on the Island is certainly real and certainly not wasted. The introduction of the "flash-sideways" able us to view the characters in their alternate lives, where they are able to live off much-more happier and content. We never got to know what was this alternate universe and assume that it is an epilogue to the show, until now. What this alternate universe really is makes more sense and natural when Jack finally finds the coffin that contains his father's body, only to find it empty. His father, looking alive and well stands behinds Jack and it all sums up from the few words exchange from both Jack and his presumed-dead father, Christian:

Jack: You died?
Christian: Yes, yes I did...
Jack: Then... how are you here right now?
Christian: How are YOU here?

At first, I was taken aback that the show would come up with this plotline, that everyone on the plane is dead. But Christian's further explanation reassures and everything makes sense. The Island is real and the flash-sideways is really a purgatory for every characters, a place "where they all made together, so they can find one another". They have been through the most important time of their lives and need one another to move on, to never do it alone. How these characters died are variable whether they died on the Island before Jack, or they died LONG after the Island. "Everyone dies sometime kiddo" as Christian puts it. Once they were able to remember one another, they are able to be with each other and move on to a far better place. Thus making the reunion of the core characters more natural and understandable and it makes it ever more bittersweet and emotional. It is about the people you spend your time with, whether it is with the people from Lost or from your own lives. How are we able to observe them growing from what they use to be to far someone better and spending our time with them through good and bad, even you spend it on crazy dangerous island. It is what the finale is about and it comes full circle at the end.

On the Island, we can't also forget that matter where Jack has to stop Smokey from destroying the Island and possibly the world. Its a simpler plot, but makes up with many great performances, lots of tension and many awesome moments especially the showdown between Jack and Smokey. But how I knew that this series was ended with great respect and craftsmanship was how the episode visually and finally end. It all comes back to full circles and inevitability. Jack, having to kill Smokey and stop the Island from destroying the world only to sport a fatal wound in the liver, walks himself into the bamboo forest where we first found him ever in the series while inter-cutting with the flash-sideways/purgatory reality where we see that emotional reunion between the cast inside a church before they move on. Jack lies on the ground while Vincent the dog comes in to keep him company and he sees the plane containing the last remaining survivors flying away safely, giving him a sigh of relief. A huge blanket of light envelopes all the lost souls. Then the final shot is, in the same manner of the first shot we ever see in Lost, Jack's eye closing. That is the end of the show. Full circle and perfect.

It is a series finale that not everyone will be happy about or will not understand. It will get fans to re-watch the episode again, contents will be interpreted differently by some people and audiences will be divided. However for the true fan of Lost who have been watching since season 1, it will be rewarding to obtain every pieces of the puzzle and to put them together to gain this golden knowledge. And as I said, this finale is for the fans and the fans will be satisfied in the end. And as a huge Lost fan, I came out of it VERY satisfied.

Now I'll pick out five favorite moments of the Lost series finale:

Every Memory Sparks From Each Of The Characters

Seems cliched that the element of love will prevail upon these characters, but if you have been sticking around with these characters for many years, it is hard not to get gooey once they have been reunited and discover true love for each other. Couples like Charlie and Claire and James and Juliet will have your hearts beating once their memory sparks starts to fly.

Jack and Smokey's Showdown On The Cliffs

Though the fight was kinda brief, the setting is just perfect. Jack, the newly-appointed Jacob duking out against the evil Smoke Monster using the body of Locke on top of a rocky cliffs in a middle of a stormy weather...Oh F*ck Yeah! Classic good-vs.-evil battle and it is one we have been waiting for. Ironically Jack is saving Locke through spinal surgery in the flash-sideways while Jack is beating the crap out of Locke on the Island.

Hurley Becomes New Leader Of The Island With Ben As His Assistant

Everybody LOVES Hurley and if you don't, you have no soul. That's why when Jack appointed Hurley as the new leader, it felt so right. Feeling that the job may be too big, he sought help to the one person who has immense amount of experience, Ben. Seeing Ben light up so bright when he felt so needed is just a joyful thing to see. Plus that would make an odd couple to actually take over the Island. I smell a spinoff!

Ben's Conclusion

Ben has been, throughout the entire series, a complex manipulative side-switching villain of a bastard... and that's why we love him. In purgatory world where most of the characters are inside ready to move on, Ben decides to stay a bit longer as he has alot of repenting to do. Even though he has done the one good thing in the end, he has done many bad things in his lifetime and will not get over them until he's ready.

The Ending

From the huge revelation to the emotional silent reunion to the final shot of the series, these sequence of events prove to be a beautiful and poetic send-off of the series. Inter-cutting with the joyful reunion of the characters with Jack struggling through the bamboo forest before he dies accompanied with the music scored by the ever-talented Michael Giacchino, it is one joyful, teary-eyed perfect way to say goodbye to the characters we journeyed together on that crazy Island. The fact it ends on the same place we found Jack in the very beginning of the series and closes with the series with Jack's eye closing just comes full circle and makes the series... whats the word.. complete.

All I can say now is that I want to thank the creators, the cast, the people behind the show and the people supporting the show for bringing such an extraordinary series to the TV screen. I tell you it'll be a very very long time before we come across as unique and brilliant as Lost.

Mini Reviews - Persepolis

2010-05-10T02:14:00.000-07:00

Persepolis

Marjane is precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl who was nine years old during the Islamic Revolution when the fundamentalists first take power--forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. She cleverly outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk, ABBA and Iron Maiden, while living with the terror of government persecution and the Iran/Iraq war. Then Marjane's journey moves on to Austria where, as a teenager, her parents send her to school in fear for her safety and, she has to combat being equated with the religious fundamentalism and extremism she fled her country to escape.

An intriguing and wistfully coming-of-age autobiographical tale of a girl growing up in war-torn social-provocative Iran, told with simple, yet beautiful animation. The film plays so innocently as Marjane, the girl finds her identity and views in Iran and outside of Iran. Marjane is a very interesting and layered character as being a girl raised in Iran where she is independent and clever and thinks beyond the religious aspects and standards. It may look dull on the outside, but it never is and the film is consistent in having a good flow of the story. Its a real witty and charming film and a must-see for animation lovers.

4 out of 5 stars

Rare And Buried: The Toxic Avenger

2010-05-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

The Toxic Avenger

This is the story of Melvin, the Tromaville Health Club mop boy, who inadvertently and naively trusts the hedonistic, contemptuous and vain health club members, to the point of accidentally ending up in a vat of toxic waste. The devastating results then have a transmogrification effect, his alter ego is released, and the Toxic Avenger is born, to deadly and comical results. The local mop boy is now the local Superhero, the saviour of corruption, thuggish bullies and indifference.

The legendary flagship series of the Troma Films and it took me a long time before I actually sat down and watch this. I'll say this... I could have really love it. The first half of this film was awesome at its best with its great kills, ridiculous characters and a simple superhero mythology. However by the last act, the craziness and violence kind of died down and becomes less of what the film establish itself to be. I still like it and two of the kills were some of the best I have seen, especially the use of its effects. If you're not familiar this series and you want gory fun goodness, go find this!

3 out of 5 stars

Iron Man 2 Full Review

2010-05-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

As I said about the comic-book character, Iron Man, I was never entirely a huge fan of the character as I was more into Batman, Spider-man, Superman, etc. Iron Man seems like Marvel's version of Batman (which he kinda is) and the fact that alter ego, Tony Stark fully relies on the "robo" suit to fight, was some way off-putting for me. Which is why I didn't go into the first Iron Man movie with great interest. However it ended up being one of the great and fresh movies of that year, only to be shadowed by a little movie called "The Dark Knight". This year, no giant competitions stand in its way (except for maybe Kick-Ass) and it has that chance to be the legendary monster hit The Dark Knight was. And this time, I went into the theater with excitement. How it turned out....

.... It turned
out ok...

Wasn't great, wasn't horrible... it was good. I
wouldn't say (in my opinion) not quite better than the first one.

I black out after a few Tequilas and somehow I got into this...

Let's get into what this is about. After Tony reveals to the world
he's Iron Man, everybody loves him as he does service to provide peace. All except for the government who wants his Iron Man suit for military purposes, rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer who wants to beat him, a Russian named Ivan Vanko who wants him dead and himself who wants to live life with dares and parties because he finds out he's dying from overuse of his power arc. Meanwhile (in what actually took major grounds of this film), Tony and Nick Fury sets up this kind of Avenger-like team. Oh and James Rhodes becomes War Machine, played by Don Cheadle, who STILL does not look like James Rhodes. God you had the perfect guy for that and his name was Terrance Howard. Its simple and popcorn-ish, yet doesn't really add much.

Did I expect too much?
Did I hype it alot before I went in? I don't know, but I expect much from Kick-Ass and I ended up loving it. I still like it and pretty much enjoyed it. It probably that the second film ran into the same problems that first one had and it had every chance to improve on it. What I love about the first one is its fresh and interesting character arc of Tony Stark, played brilliantly by Robert Downey Jr. and his journey of one traumatic experience that gives him that realization in improving his legacy while still being able to screw and party. In this film, this goes through that same arc again except replacing the problem with another that is not far from the first. What I'm trying to say is that I felt it was missing the freshness the first movie possessed and that nothing entirely new rises from Iron Man's previous journey. Robert is still as charming and dare-say damn cool as ever as Tony Stark, but (for me) it wasn't enough.

You better be worth replacing Terrance Howard, you know...

Another problem that still exist are the villains. When it comes to
Iron Man, he doesn't have a good roster of recognizable and interesting villains to the casual audience and I know its hard to find one (Try bringing The Mandarin to the big screen!). This comes to the inclusion of Whiplash (a combination of Blacklash and Crimson Dynamo) played by Mickey Rourke and Justin Hammer played by Sam Rockwell. Whiplash was (sorry to say this) pretty much underused in this movie and is placed way in the background to the whole Tony Stark's problem and Nick Fury's antics that is kinda pointless to have him in. Mickey Rourke actually performed well, but he was so underused. Justin Hammer was Spider-Man 3's Eddie Brock of this film. He's an annoying unpopular copy of the main character who is threatened by his competition and would become even more lame by stooping low in order to get rid of him or kill him. He, including Eddie, are not villains, but lame annoying rivals and doesn't make any of them interesting.

The supporting actors such
as Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and even director Jon Favreau did a well done performance, though none of them stood out. There are alot of expectation hinted on Don Cheadle as he replaced Terrance Howard to take up the mantle of War Machine, yet he still doesn't look like the part and was kind of mis-casted. He looks not built enough to wear the iron suit, nor he looks tough enough. The writing is typical-Favreau as the characters are competing of who can over each other the most with snappy remarks, which even though works in the first film, doesn't mean it can entirely work again in this. As the action pieces are kind of amped up in this, the amount is still not enough and it only has the big final battle as the movie's payoff, which is very cool to look at. Though the references of the upcoming Avengers movie can bring up the anticipation and excitement (the appearance of a certain iconic item and how it was used in this film was hilarious), it does keep banging your head and you have to remind yourself that you're watching an Iron Man movie, not an Avengers movie.

I'm sorry, am I too slimy enough for you...

We all hyped up for it to be one of the greatest comic book films
of all time, next to The Dark Knight and I wanted it to be after watching the first Iron Man movie. Unfortunately, unlike The Dark Knight where it stood as a major progression of the series journey and built the anticipation for the next chapter, this seems like fluff as a standard, even forgettable comic book sequel and built the anticipation for another franchise, not Iron Man itself. Which is not a bad thing anyway. This is still an enjoyable and fun movie and you will end up liking it. Its just that it wasn't bigger. Fun, but not bigger.

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Kick-Ass Full Review

2010-04-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

A movie that lived up to its name eh?

What can I say? This movie really did Kicked Ass. Its hard not to describe this without resorting to its pun. Granted its initial concept for the big screen adaptation can go either way, either becomes really great or completely and utterly fail. When you have a movie (or a comic book) that is called "Kick-Ass", it has to have attitude, balls and no-nonsense humor and action or else that name would be meaningless. Fortunately this movie delivered on those things. But I should warn to the people who aren't familiar about the comics. Don't be fooled by its colorful and cutesy exterior. As funny and action-packed it is, it is very bloody, sexual-oriented and kinda controversial, something that is not really for kids. Especially when you're seeing a 11 year girl killing and maiming so many people in extreme fashion. It is one of the reasons I love the Crank movies, it doesn't give a crap from anyone and becomes a movie of its own. Anyway... with its awesome and (daresay again) ass-kicking action and its witty, subtle and even visual humor, this movie is the most fun you'll ever have this month.

It seems cool to walk outside in that costume.

Based on the comic books by Mark Millar, who also is responsible for Wanted (the graphic novel, not the movie based on the graphic novel... that movie is indeed crap), the film follows hormone-driven teenage boy, Dave who like every boy that grew up on comic books, wants to be a super hero. Thus fashion himself a suit and a baton and goes out into the city to fight crime under his superhero alias "Kick Ass". After some SERIOUS major hiccups, his performances are captured by teens on camera and gets uploaded on Youtube, thus turning him into an Internet phenomenon. This leads him into a dark and dangerous, yet funny game involving the crime mob and two highly skilled costume-wearing deadly vigilantes, Big Daddy and his 11-year-old daughter, Hit Girl.

Going for the same approach that is done with The Dark Knight and Watchmen as it takes superhero elements and grounded them in real world setting, addressing any nerdy hyped-up teenage boy's dream and fantasy of donning a cape and fight crime for real. For least, for realism, its action doesn't get away scott-free and gives out plenty of dire and deadly consequences from being almost dead at first attempt to bringing innocent people in the line of fire. With its dark element makes up with clever and dark humor, ranged from subtlety (the bazooka jokes are brilliant) to extreme visuals (bodies exploding and etc.). Violent humor that come off as cartoony and Tarantino-esque that you may feel guilty of laughing. I certainly don't.

The film however doesn't get away from the controversy it surrounds and this will indeed test the viewer's taste and perception in film. Having kids and teens killing people in bloody and brutal fashion while swearing like a sailor is enough for parents to be upset over. What I could say that all of these controversial elements would be meaningless if the acting, writing, action sequences and humor weren't done well. The great thing about Kick-Ass is that it doesn't heavily rely on the controversial shock values and offers so much, which is what some films fail on. Its writing, acting and direction are great enough to be something more decent and high class than an immature preteen boy's fantasy just like its bast*rd brother, Wanted.

This is one girl you better not f*ck with...

Aaron Johnson, (who was John Lennon in Nowhere Boy... interesting eh?) plays geeky Dave aka Kick-Ass and really holds his own as being likable and relatable for every other teenage boy and gives us enough to care for him when he's in dangerous and life-threatening situations. For Nicholas Cage, after being in many sucky films such as Bangkok Dangerous and Knowing, he has finally got himself in a good role, playing as the equally-crazy Big Daddy, who is very dangerous and yet "the kindest daddy in the whole world". Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who is forever known as McLovin, has some great scenes as Red-Mist and got some laughs out of it. Then there's Hit Girl, played by Chloe Moretz who came off from the brilliant 500 Days Of Summer and will appear in the Let The Right One In remake. You will fall in love with her, you'll solemnly vow to save yourself for her. For a tiny girl, you better not f*ck with her. And thankfully the film doesn't tone her down that much from the comic adaptation, which shows her even more sadistic than on film. She has shown herself to be strong female character with attitude and is completely refreshing from all of the other female characters in cinema. Oh and not forgetting Mark Strong, who is playing the baddy in the film and yet managed to deliver very funny lines.

I'm sorry, but you're still McLovin in my eyes...

The cinematography are nice and the soundtrack is carefully and cleverly selected. For Hit Girl's introduction, having the Banana Split Song by the Dickies played while she kills and maims a lot of drug dealers is pure gold. If I have to pick a few things I didn't like the movie, there are moments where things don't happen and the ending was kinda mediocre. It really did had a chance to establish great things about the world and mythology of superheroes, but they wrap it short and rush it out. That didn't actually remove any of my love for this film. That said, if you're one of those people who are really sensitive to violence and swearing and don't like the image of young kids killing, this movie is absolutely not for you. However does the controversy really demerits the quality and goal of the movie? No, not really. This is actually a fun, hilarious, energetic and (once again) ass-kicking film and comic book/superhero lovers or those who really like comedy will have a hell of a time. While not in the same caliber as the all-time brilliant The Dark Knight, it is among one of the great superhero movies out there. This movie is.... you know...

4 out of 5 stars

For more article and reviews by MaxJayJay:
check out http://maxjayjay.blogspot.com/

Mini Reviews - Paranormal Activity

2010-04-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Paranormal Activity

Katie and Micah are enjoying a happy and carefree existence. Their future looks promising until bizarre events begin to occur at night. In order to get to the bottom of things, Katie and Micah purchase a video camera to find out what happens at night while they sleep.

In Cloverfield, there is something going on. In REC, there are A LOT of things going on. In this one.... there isn't really much. In fact it is downright boring. Am I supposed to be scared of flying sheets and slamming doors? The premise/concept sounds kinda interesting. Yet the execution in storytelling and narrative is just not there. The entire thing feels formulaic as the scares, terrors and the action are just isolated in that certain one setting and one angle, which is that bedroom shot. Outside of that, you have the couple standing or sitting there bickering or deciding what to do next. And you'll have to wait a long long time before you find them back in bed again. We can appreciate that we don't have big name stars to carry the movie, yet their performances are ranged from convincing to not-so-convincing. There are one or two moments that were impressive in bringing out something spooky, but two out of the entire movie is a cocktease. And you'll have to wait for a long time before anything interesting happening. And really they find this scary? This is not scary at all! Like the Blair Witch Project.... yeah you heard me...

2 out of 5 stars

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland Full Review

2010-03-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Back in the 90s, Tim Burton can never go wrong. He was the fresh new visionary filmmaker that brought many things not many people have seen. It was quirky, dark and twisted, completely different to the eyes of the contemporary audience. As the world entered the next decade, the audience have already gotten to anything quirky and twisted. And yet Tim Burton is still riding along his own styles throughout his recent movies. It can work to some and it can go horribly wrong to others. Like for one example, his film adaptation of Sweeney Todd really works along with his own trademark styles. His adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his new film, Alice In Wonderland... not so much...

Frankly this is a what if scenario on what if the story of Alice In Wonderland is all "Tim-Burtony". Why if thats the case, lets have Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts (or Red Queen in this case), lots of spirals and twisted shapes here and there, Danny Elfman's boys choir echoing throughout, be it as freakishly as possible. Predictable and nothing new. You already got a classic story that is already freaky and insane and you're adding someone who make something freaky and insane, so you'll have something that looks more freaky and insane. If we see David Lynch's adaptation of Alice In Wonderland, it would be overkill.

The plot hole of this film is THIS big!

In order to be a little bit different from the rest of the adaptations, the story goes in the whole Narnia direction while taking some bits from American McGee's version. After many years, teenage Alice (Mia Wasikowska) runs out of a marriage proposal and chase after the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) down the rabbit hole and back into Wonderland, which is somehow corrected as "Underland". It turns out that Underland has been conquered and ruled with an iron fist by the big headed Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and it has been prophesied (really... Tim Burton went onto that angle for something like Alice In Wonderland?...) that the Alice, along with the help of resistance fighters: The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and The Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), will defeat the Red Queen and her pet, The Jabberwocky and restore the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) back to the throne of Underland. Yeah, you saw this from Narnia, Eragon, Wizard of Oz, hell even from Star Wars and this is no different. Its predictable and formulaic, you'll know what happens throughout the film.

That "special" medicine made my hangover EVEN worse

It is somehow an excuse for Tim Burton to have his own vision of Wonderland to the big screen and instead of giving a proper sequel to the actual classic literature, they'll give you a ripoff of every other fantasy films out there. Ok so, they didn't work on the story, so they'll give a whole lot of range for the characters. Sadly almost all of the characters in the film, including Alice, was very much wasted and unused. You'll think that with the mix of Wonderland's inhabitants and the visionary of Burton that you'll see so much potential in what Burton can do with these characters other than how it looks. His design of Tweedledee and Tweedledum was kinda unique, but they weren't used to full effect. They just stand there, talk for a little and left. That is what its like for most characters.

The character, Alice became nothing more than a device that acts like a tour guide and brings the audience to one quirky scene to another. Even being the title character herself, its a shame that she was a tad bit boring. It is the same apply for Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter which is by far his most wasted and bland character in a Tim Burton film. Gone are his insane, colorful and wild personality seen in other adaptations as he was dark, moody and brooding like Batman... ugh.. And his "futterwacken" performance at the end (you'll find out and you'll be surprised) was very very pointless. Anne Hathaway's White Queen is the Glinda of Wonderland. She's entirely sweet and kind, one-dimensional. But really if she had her crown stolen and was in hiding from The Red Queen while her people have been slain under her rule, she's pretty comfortable and safe living in a giant pristine White Castle while others are pretty much fending for their own lives... What an assh*le she is! Probably the character that has been used to full extent is the Red Queen. You can tell that Helena is actually having fun.

I would look like this if I ever saw that Planet of the Apes remake again...

Tim Burton did have some time making Wonderland looking twisted and murky, but the world wasn't all imaginative. It seems that instead of seeing an entirely new creation of Wonderland, Tim Burton borrowed many elements from his other films and applied them in that world. You can expect that Danny Elfman will have a spot and produce the same composition you hear in other Burton movies. And I didn't see this in 3D, but I can see it won't do much for me. This is again another misstep for Tim Burton as he applies his vision to existing classics and he can put this mistake on the shelf including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Planet of the Apes. I want to say this to Tim Burton: "NO MORE JOHNNY DEPP IN YOUR NEXT MOVIE!"

2 and a half out of 5 stars

My Pick for the Winners for The Academy Awards 2010

2010-03-06T00:14:00.000-08:00

Well its that time of the year where this Sunday, movie-geeks draws their attention to this big event: The Academy Awards, where it celebrates what Hollywood deems to be the "best". And if you are a huge movie geek like me, you should know that the Academy Award show are not as credible as it used to be in the past. Thats what you read. With only a few films from the past awards that deserved "best" picture, most of the films nominated have been a bit underwhelming, at least according to my eyes. But it doesn't stop me from having fun by picking out my winners among the nominees, picking out which really deserves the title of being the "best". So here are my picks for this year's Academy Award winners...

Best Animated Feature Film Of The Year

The Nominees are:

Coraline (2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
The Princess And The Frog (2009)
The Secret of Kells (2009)
Up (2009)

Surprisingly there have been alot of wonderful and greatly-made animated films in the past year (and I'm surprised Cloudly With A Chance Of Meatballs didn't make the cut), with a few that was disappointing (Ponyo) and very atrocious (Planet 51 and Avatar... Ha, kidding! Not kidding for Planet 51). Coraline was pretty creepy and The Princess And The Frog was an excellent return to the traditional Disney nostalgia. I haven't seen Secret of Kells and I would like to see it, as it looks pretty gorgeous to look at. Fantastic Mr. Fox is downright Wes Anderson: his style, his characters, his cinematography, with only a group of people including me can only love this film. But of course, come on.. Up is brilliant. Even if its becoming like a broken record, you can't deny the brilliance and wistfulness of Pixar. Even though most animated films are now getting close to Pixar quality, this is still Pixar's year.

My pick: Up

Best Achievements in Visual Effects

The Nominees are:

Avatar (2009)
District 9 (2009)
Star Trek (2009)

I'm very surprised that Star Trek is up there and it is deserving of that spot. Though Avatar does bring out very impressive visuals with a giant budget, I'm more impressed of the visuals of District 9 as they were able to create such great designs, characters and exterior with such a low budget. The Prawns have much better and sympathetic character designs than the Na'vis. Though I would have to give Avatar that much slack. I don't know which to choose so...

My pick: Either District 9 or Avatar

Best Achievements in Music Written For Motion Pictures, Original Score

The Nominees are:

Avatar (2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Up (2009)

Only four out of five nominees (including Avatar) have music scores that isn't overwhelming or considered important to enhance the movie. James Horner have been making great scores for James Cameron's film like Aliens and Titanic, which proved to be great, but this one film, Avatar, is where his music didn't shine through. The only film out of these that has the music so greatly complement the film is Up. You have to think about that four minute sequence where the story is told with only the visuals and the music.

My pick: Up

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

The Nominees are:
Penelope Cruz for Nine (2009)
Vera Farmiga for Up In The Air (2009)
Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart (2009)
Anna Kendrick for Up In The Air (2009)
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Penelope Cruz was the most impressive among the cast in the disappointingly Nine and damn... is she so ever hot and gorgeous. Famiga and Kendrick from Up In The Air were also gorgeous and they both did a wonderful performance, while Gyllenhaal just did a fine job. Now for Mo'Nique... I never liked her and any of her comedic acts. She was never a good comedian, nor being good at being funny. But she's very good at being scary. And to be someone to be completely despised and hateful, going the opposite of what she was before, is REALLY impressive.

My pick: Mo'Nique

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

The Nominees are:
Matt Damon for Invictus (2009)
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (2009)
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (2009)
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Matt Damon (Mattt DAY-MON... sorry can't help it) was pretty standard in Invictus, while both Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci gave such great performances in their own movies, especially for Tucci being so damn creepy. But Christoph Waltz is the landslide winner. His role in Inglourious Basterds is just so deliciously evil. You despise him yet you can't look away from him.

My pick: Christoph Waltz

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

The Nominees are:
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)
Helen Mirren for The Last Station (2009)
Carey Mulligan for An Education (2009)
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)

I'll tell you I haven't seen The Last Station or An Education, so I wouldn't know from the perfromance from Mirren and Mulligan. Though I have heard that Mulligan's performance is something to look out. But I can say that Sandra Bullock's was not entirely special. I wouldn't know if the blandness of the film, The Blind Side also affected her performance or its just that really is nothing special except she did a poor man's version of Erin Brockovich. Gabourey was a little short of giving an outstanding and inspiring performance, but was indeed impressive. Meryl is always there in the nominees every year and you can always see why. She is just outstanding as the wistful Julia Child.

My pick: Either Meryl Streep or Gabourey Sidibe

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

The Nominees are:
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
George Clooney for Up In The Air (2009)
Colin Firth for A Single Man (2009)
Morgan Freeman for Invictus (2009)
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker (2008)

Like the lineup for Best Leading Actress, there is not one that was totally outstanding and most were just fine. George Clooney, while he was actually great, (admittedly) was just being George Clooney and Morgan Freeman was pretty much ok in the film. The two that were kind of impressive by me were Jeff Bridges and Jeremy Renner, as they made me believe that one is really a struggling country singer and the other is an uncontrollable bomb expert respectfully. So again...

My pick: Either Jeff Bridges or Jeremy Renner

Best Achievements in Directing

The Nominees are:

Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008)
James Cameron for Avatar (2009)
Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Jason Reitman for Up In The Air (2009)
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

The Academy Awards are now about the battle between an ex-wife and an ex-husband, Bigelow and Cameron as they are the frontrunners for most of the award categories. Reitman did also an outstanding job too, while Daniels and Tarantino(unexpectedly) did a passable job. One can argue that Cameron brought the biggest high-end technology to create the best visuals to the screen only to enhance a story that is not only predictable, but written downright piss-poor. While Bigelow gave us a wild ride through the eyes of three soldiers who's occupation can kill them any moment. So I ask which is the best director, the one that heavily relies on technology to get his best results or the one that made an entirely great film without relying any form of CG technology?

My pick: Kathryn Bigelow

Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Nominees are:

Avatar (2009)
The Blind Side (2009)
District 9 (2009)
An Education (2009)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
A Serious Man (2009)
Up (2009)
Up In The Air (2009)

This year is different because there are now ten nominees for Best Pictures. Geez I wonder what would cause to make such change... (*cough* Dark Knight *cough*). So this would make a hard decision for me. Two films that don't really deserves those spots are The Blind Side and A Serious Man. I mean The Blind Side was just bland and completely trite and A Serious Man was just boring. Inglourious Basterds and Precious were just average and Up In The Air was good, close to great. The films that really blew me away were Up, District 9 and The Hurt Locker. And no, Avatar didn't blow me away, not even with all of its CG visuals. I'm not the kind of guy that gets sway by just CG visuals. If the story was just passable and provide decent performances, then this film would be deserved the nominated spot. But no, the story was badly written and the performances were ranged from poor to embarrassing. While I would like to see Up or District 9 winning, I would have to think like the Academy and have to choose The Hurt Locker for Best Picture. Either of those three and I would have my faith on the Academy restored. But my single choice is...

My pick: The Hurt Locker

And those are my choices. What would be yours?

Mini Reviews - Daybreakers

2010-03-04T02:14:00.001-08:00

Daybreakers

Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world's population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.

Don't expect this to be a total action blood gore romp. It is a slow and pretty nice observation on a what-if scenario in the vampire world: what if vampires do rule the world and how would they function as a society? It includes nice little niches on many modern culture niches with vampires acting like normal people, but walking on the tightrope of human and animalistic behavior. Unlike the directors' previous film, Undead, the film gives a serious tone and it is a worthy attempt, but not entirely a strong one. The writing is decent and the performances are pretty standard, with Mr. Creepy Face, Willem Dafoe sticking out from the rest. Of course, the Spierig Brothers wouldn't come in without giving a good dose of blood and gore and the amount is fairly enough, but less than what we expect. Though it is a worth checking out if you need reminder what real vampires are and an escape from the gay Twilight ones.

3 out of 5 stars