Believe it or not, he's the good guy

New movie review today folks!

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

It truly is marvelous what one can do with computers these days. From the Lord of the Rings, to Star Wars to Transformers, cinema has proven time and time again its wonderful ability to bring imagination to life. The latest movie to offer such wonders is Hellboy II: The Golden Army, a beautiful movie to behold.


The Golden Army tells the story of a centuries-old elven prince who wishes to overthrow humanity. To do this, he will need to utilize the mythical (and titular) Golden Army, but legend has it that the Golden Army should never awaken or all humanity is doomed. However, to achieve this, the prince, Nuada, needs to collect three pieces of a magical crown that grants its wearer the ability to command the army. He claims two, but one piece is held by his sister, Princess Nuala. As Nuada strives to reach his goal, the mighty demon Hellboy and friends step in his path to do what other superheroes do best: save the day!

There are many reasons that make me gladly recommend this excellent film, but if I were to state one only, it would be that the special effects and art direction. The special effects are simply spell-bounding. The computer generated characters are all realistically done and the fights are intensive and captivating. Yet special effects alone do not guarantee the beauty of a movie, as films such as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within have proven. This is where the art direction comes in, and indeed the characters and fantasy creatures all seemed to have leaped from those expensive artbooks that one loves to browse through but can seldom buy. Director Guillermo del Toro and his design team have crafted exquisite looking creatures that amaze and horrify at the same time. Prince Nuada and his sister, for example, look nothing like typical Tolkien elves, but rather have pale tattooed faces that portray nobility and terror equally well. Another fascinating creature is the Angel of Death, whose oddly positioned eyes and inhuman teeth give it a slight resemblance to a particular monster in del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Creepy and forboding, this creature was a strange beauty. The scene of the Troll market itself offers so many treats for the eyes, it would be worth buying a visual guide book to examine each monster or critter individually. Indeed, this movie's creatures are hallmarks of imagination, able to stand out in amongst a sea of other creatures offered by lesser movies.

Then there are the splendid action scenes as well. Beautifully choreographed fight scenes adorn the movie, with enough impact and momentum to keep one glued to the seats. Prince Nuada in particular somersaults and duels like a shaolin monk on steroids, slashing and killing anyone that steps in his path. The acting isn’t half-bad as well, and Ron Perlman still does an excellent job as wisecracking Hellboy. All the actors and actresses portray their respective parts well enough.

However not all is perfect, at least in my opinion. If there was a complaint about the movie, I would say that the characters and plot lines aren’t fleshed out as well as they should be. All of the characters have immense potential but they sometimes fall flat because they aren’t given enough time to develop. Take for example, Prince Nuada (again), who could potentially be a lethal murderer and noble assassin, but actually comes across as just another simple, common bad guy. The movie also explores some themes such as discrimination (against Hellboy and his peers for their freakish powers and appearances) much like the X-men series does, but it only touches the surface, without fully delving into the issues. The idea pops up but just stays there, floating on emptiness without any evolution. Besides that, some side stories such as a love story between two central characters are left hanging, lacking enough emotion or feeling.

Still, this is little to no way detracts from the movie, which at its core is still excellent and breathtaking. It is an truly an epic movie, beautiful and marvelous to watch and I cannot recommend it enough. With news that director Guillermo del Toro will be directing the upcoming Hobbit films, I say that fantasy films are far from dead.




Pictures are Copyrighted by Universal Pictures.

Look in the sky!

Check this out: http://www.superherohype.com/news/supermannews.php?id=7609.

This is really good news! It’s about time that Warner realized the potential of their massive superhero franchise and got their feet together. This reminds me of The Incredible Hulk, which was quite a refreshing reboot for the series and a great movie.

Initially, I thought of titling this post, “Best. News. Ever.”, but with much thought I realized it wouldn’t be fair. I’ll explain this in a bit, if you’ll kindly spare the time. The last Superman movie to be released was Superman Returns in 2006, directed by Bryan Singer. Many people dismissed it as boring and clichéd and it didn’t help that it didn’t scrape enough bucks for the big tycoons at Warner. So, a sequel was a no-no for the bosses, that is, until they discovered the huge gold mine they had through the immense success of The Dark Knight. (Which was really an excellent film, read my review.)

Now this is just unfair to the talented Bryan Singer, who obviously put in immense effort into “Returns”. The movie clearly had high production values, fantastic art direction and set pieces , a quality cast, beautiful special effects and a fantastic soundtrack. If it were released in the 70s, along with the Christopher Reeve films, it would have struck gold. No, I think the main problem with “Returns” was that Singer tried too hard. Superman Returns was a good film, just not in line with contemporary standards.

Take for example, Brandon Routh, who plays the titular character. I believe Routh is a good actor from the way he portrayed himself in the movie, but Singer drained of much of his potential by forcing him to emulate the late Christopher Reeve. In fact, Brandon Routh had to apply a lot of visible makeup just to make his face look more like Mr. Reeve. Face it, Mr. Singer, Christopher Reeve was a fantastic Superman, but you need to be original and step out from the shell of the previous movies.

“Returns” is riddled with jokes and homages to the old movies that would make fans laugh but puzzle many younger viewers. The movie tries too hard to fit in with the old series when in fact it should be promoted as a new film with a rebooted storyline. Director Christopher Nolan did the right thing with Batman Begins by starting anew, something Bryan Singer should have done.

Another problem was that while it tried to be old-fashioned, it threw in some very weird, supposedly “contemporary” themes into the mix. People be warned, spoilers ahead! In “Returns”, Superman has a son with Lois Lane, who is currently together with another man. While I’d appreciate some drama in superhero movies (done so excellently in Spider-man 2), one does not humanize Superman by making him an illegitimate father!

As such, I am very pleased that Warner is attempting a reboot with Superman. No doubt Returns was good movie, which I would still recommend. You can clearly see how well done and polished the whole movie was and I enjoyed it very much. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone will, because not everyone is a fan. So, I sincerely hope that Warner will prove to the world that Superman is a hero for modern times, and also one of its greatest!

That cute little town...Sibu

On Sunday, my mother told me we were going back to Sibu. I was shocked. Going for a long trip on such short notice? But what the heck, I'm always up for an adventure!

We went back to visit my grandparents and other relatives as well as to enjoy the peace and quiet of small-town life. However, Sibu isn't quite that small anymore and changes faster than a traffic light changes colors. Another (negative) example of how Sibu has changed is that some of the people, especially the younger generation, aren't as friendly as before. Although this may be generalizing, we bumped into enough unfriendly salespeople to convince us. Nevertheless, know that Sibu is still as decent a town as any and most people are still friendly, so don't think I'm badmouthing it.

Instead of describing the trip chronologically and ever so boringly, I would like to instead highlight the main points of my trip. On the first day, we went to have a walk after dinner at Taman Jubilee, this nice little park that beats most of the attempts at parks that Kuching has made. It truly was a beautiful place and the climb to the top was immensely refreshing!

We also went around Sibu town the next day, hunting for cheap bargains and prices. It was at some of the shops that we met some unfriendly "sales promoters". That night, my grandfather treated us to a nice, fancy dinner at the restaurant known as Sheraton Restaurant. It was a multi-course meal, but the dishes were great and delicious. There was seafood, yam, chicken, pork and all sorts of beautiful things to savor and behold. I must have put on a few pounds that night; time to burn it all off in Kuching!

I was never really good at describing trips, so I'll let the pictures speak for me. All in all, it was a fun and enjoyable experience going back to Sibu.

A view of Taman Jubilee

Reached the top! And...

...We can see the beautiful sunset.

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, anyone?

Now, it's Pirates of the Caribbean...ok this is lame...
People feeding the fish.

My family decided to join in.

Look at all the fishies!

Wisma Sanyan, the tallest building in Sarawak.

The extended family gathered together at the restaurant.

Scrumptious, seafood mixed-dish.

Shark's fin with egg. No soup!

My sister and I. Cute, isn't she?

Goodbye guys, see you in USA!

How time flies in your face. Just little more than a year ago, we were busy complaining about our JPA scholarship's tough requirements and ridiculous rules. Now those days are bygone, and a few of our friends have flown to continue their studies.

It was quite sad and even a bit heartbreaking at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday. Only when they are leaving do you realize how much you care for all of them, for all the companionship they have provided, for all the fun they have shared with us. They will certainly be missed, each and everyone of them.

So goodbye to you guys, and hope to see you in the United States of A. May your upcoming years be filled with success and joy! Goodbye, Christopher, Ernest, Cunn Yong, Jason, Jessica, Bernard, Albert, Yung Terd, Kai Liang, and Ru Yun! (I don't think I missed out on anyone, but sincerest apologies if I did, for my memory is really disastrous)

Begun the Clone War has...

The exams are over at long last! Sorry for the long wait (though I actually doubt if there are any readers), but I'll make up for that with a new movie review!

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

I thought it would be bad. It just felt wrong watching a Star Wars movie, with no 20th Century Fox logo, with no opening crawl, and with no John Williams music. The fact that it was originally a TV movie, screened in cinemas just to make George Lucas' pockets overflow more than ever gave me grave doubts.

In all honesty, it really felt like a TV movie screened in cinemas. YET, this does not automatically kick the movie into "bad" category. It was immensely fun and exciting and the animation was fluid and extremely well done. Kudos to the Lucasfilm Animation people. Seeing those Jedi jump here and there kicking the droids (geek speak!) into oblivion was really something to behold. There was plenty of intense and spectacular action that drove the movie forward and I was entertained throughout. The live-action movies focus most of the their time on the melodrama, but this is the movie that really brings the "Wars" part of Star Wars to the screen and it does so extremely effectively! Armies behold!

The characters were also quite fun, and Anakin Skywalker in particular surprised me. In the live-action movies, he was this whiny kid who kept monologuing about the sorrows of his troubled life. Here, he's still admittedly a bit whiny, but the animators gave him a wisecracking sense of humor, one that actually works. Voice actor Matt Lanter actually gave more weight to his jokes than the monotonous Hayden Christensen (who I found incapable of humor in the series, maybe its the face) and he ends up pulling of a sincere genuine personality. It's no Oscar winner, but it gets the job done, which is more than I can say for some of Christensen's performances. His new apprentice, Ahsoka (voiced by Ashley Eckstein) works well with Anakin, bringing up frequent and entertaining banters between the both of them.

Another part of the movie I liked was the portrayal of the clone troopers. Here they behaved like real soldiers who duck and cover when fighting while shouting orders and the like. These soldiers felt more human than their live-action counterparts, thanks to their excellent dialog and scripted behavior. They even have their own personalities! Like Vietnam War soldiers, the clones painted pinup women on their airships and have different hairstyles to differentiate themselves. Nice attention to detail on part of the animation team.

So overall, a good job that would have been a killer Direct-to-DVD release. However, love it though I do, I must admit that it was a bit of a stretch to promote this as a theatrical release. It is good, but the standards of cinema are high and this feels like serving a Big Mac at a posh French restaurant. Still, it was great to see all those battles on the big screen. Therefore, I recommend this movie as a entertaining popcorn movie for Star Wars fans to drool over and for casual moviegoers to just have fun.

............

Besides that, I also watched the Dark Knight again. Still fantastic the second time round. Will probably watch it on DVD 8-9 times. (Just kidding!) Besides that, I saw this cool Darth Vader Lego statue at Toys R' Us. I had to sneak a shot of it past the mean counter-boy, who refused photos.

I am your father...ok, lame...

Okay, very sleepy now. Exams over and yet I'm sleeping so little. Thanks for reading!