Category: Fantasy & Sci-fi

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

The Dark Knight – Being the Rare One Who Cannot Connect to the New Bat Franchise

Erm.  Yawn?  Zzzz.

OK.  It is hard to write something knowing that over 90% of the population will disagree with.  And if I am to continue my ‘review career’, I have some serious recalibration to do.

Cynthia loves “The Dark Knight”; I had a headache watching it.  So what happens?  I will get to that in just a bit.

Great casting, no doubt.  The acting is rock solid especially from the late Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.  Both I adore and respect a great deal.  Jack Nicholson’s Joker as far as I can remember is comical; Heath Ledger’s Joker is pure creepiness and madness.  Give Ledger his Oscar.  He deserves it.  Did Warner Bros. modify the ending to be sensitive to the circumstances?  I have no clue.  Warner Bros. did change the promotional campaign after Ledger’s death.

Just how much of the success of “The Dark Knight” is contributed by this unfortunate event?  I also have no clue.  What I do know is that I have done some serious reflection on why this film doesn’t quite work for me.

Maybe I am addicted to computer-generated imagery especially after that jaw dropping non-stop special effect of Hellboy II, “The Dark Knight” looks a bit bland to me.  I am not sure how most audience feels about the 153 minutes film.  But isn’t it a bit too, lengthy, with too many gaps of how-you-wish-there-was-more-entertainment-per-minute?

Sure I could overlook the above easily.  I love the Batman franchise.  I really do.  Probably one of my favorite superheroes.  If I close my eyes and think of Batman, I see a strong association to the flying bats, I see the bat cave, I see Batman sleeping upside down like a bat, I see a bat mobile with absolute sleekness, I see fast moving fights, I see a Gotham City so dark so thugs infested that induces fear, I see my heart leaps when Batman appears from nowhere, and I see myself living in a fantasy world captivated by its creator.  As I opened my eyes and watched “The Dark Knight” in a theater, I saw Batman making a rather unglamorous entrance, I saw Batman standing on top of the modern IFC building in my birth town Hong Kong (read: where is the fantasy when I know that the building was officially opened in 2003?) having absolutely no animalistic association to bats or whatsoever throughout the film, my heart sank.  If Batman was to stand on top of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, I would have thought of the film “Entrapment”.  In fact, I did think of that film briefly while I was watching “The Dark Knight”.

And maybe I am still an old school when it comes to comic book adaptation.  I want to see frame-by-frame scenes composition; I want to see a rather simple storyline and I want to feel with and for my hero.  Anyways …

Having said all of the above, I can understand why “The Dark Knight” has a mass appeal.  Over 90% of the population loves this film, why wouldn’t you?  Can the gross revenue of “The Dark Knight” overtake the original “Batman” (1989) by Tim Burton?  Only time can tell.

OK.  I am done.  Back to my recalibration process.

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army – It is 4,900+1 Against 4+1!

Absurd as it sounds, I have high anticipation on Hellboy II because of Pan’s Labyrinth and the rather hot Selma Blair.  Why do I think that Hellboy’s girlfriend is sexy?  I have no idea.  Perhaps because of some of the past movies she made.

When I read that in this sequel, it is Hellboy and his team meet the magical creatures of the ancient time, I know much of the good essence of Pan’s Labyrinth will surface.  And truly so, it does.  The movie watched almost like a fantasy experience and I believe the director and writer Guillermo del Toro’s unique vision and attention to details has a significant role to play in breathing life into these creatures.  I suspect in time to come, people will remember these concepts and visions rather than the storyline.

I often confuse between Hellboy franchise and the Fantastic 4 and X-Men.  Fire, checked; huge red character that punches like a tank, checked; us and them, checked.  And I think in this installment, there are more character development.  They crack jokes, troubled by emotions, get drunk, probably this human side has earned the movie a high rating along side with the beautiful created special effects.  Some of the scenes are in such a scale that mind blowing is the only way to describe.

Hellboy II has certainly raised the bar for comic book adaption.  Now, any film in the horizon is going to top this? 

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Iron Man – Quite Possibly My Favorite Superhero

For the short attention span readers of my site, if you wish to watch a tiny extra clip of the movie that most people may miss, defy the urge to leave the theatre when the end credits start rolling.  Stay till the very end for a tiny reward.  Now, that’s all you need to know.  Go book the movie and enjoy because I know you want to.

Singaporean viewers (or Asians in general) don’t seem to have the patience to stay for the end credits.  We are in such a hurry to go somewhere else.  Same thing happens for the concerts.  Even before the cheering is over, some will start to leave the seats.  (And dare I say same thing happens in Churches as well?)  In UK and France – where I spent quite some time there watching movies – most audience sit back and stay till the very end of the show.  I do enjoy this “unwinding” process – to listen to the theme songs, to pick up some trivia, or even to find out who sing or play a particular song, and to be reassured that no animals were harmed during the filming process.  If you have already invested 2 hours watching “Iron Man”, what’s another 5 to 10 minutes to you?

I had no clue what “Iron Man” is as I seldom read Western comic books.  Turns out that Iron Man is not as far fetched as some other superheroes nor the story is as stupid as: now I wear my spectacles so you can’t recognise me.  In fact, what I really like is that the main character Tony Stark makes no effort to hide who he is, or what he does.

Nearly all whom I talked to were (or still are?) unhappy with the casting.  Why Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow?  Gwyneth Paltrow only has a small part to play in this first installment of a trilogy so I wouldn’t want to over-analyse on “Why Gwyneth?”.  I personally think she fits quite well comic-book-wise as the blonde slender assistant who is efficient and sort of indifference to her billionaire boss’s rather colorful dating life.  I mean, I can so see her living inside a comic book.

But why Robert Downey Jr.?  As an audience, I have this love and hate relationship with Downey Jr.  I first noticed him in my favorite TV drama Ally McBeal.  Love his acting performance and that particular scene when he played the piano and sang – still lives vividly in my mind.  He did release an album that he wrote and I was tempted to buy (maybe I shall).  I hate that such a talented actor and musician’s career has to be interrupted by his lapses due to substance abuse.  This history of substance abuse, I believe, is also one of the reason why he is chosen as the Iron Man – a plot that will unfold in this trilogy.

Iron Man/Tony Stark does have a somewhat complex character mix.  A billionaire who carries himself well in front of the public media, a charmer to the ladies, a humorous geek (or technology freak, I mean genius), and a very tough guy – with or without his Iron Man suit.  To me, Robert Downey Jr. scores well in all departments.  From what I read, he has added his personal touch to carry the character well beyond the scripts given with added humors.

Special effects are stunningly and realistically beautiful.  From the holographic computer screens (reminds me of the film “Minority Report”), to that sickly detailed Iron Man suit that has equally sick animated moving parts, to the flying motion, explosion, and hand going into the human body (how?!) – all these effects and more guarantee to make you go wow.  “Iron Man” has tons of in-film advertisements as well such as Audi, LG, and even Bvlgari.  The same S$500,000 car that Tony Stark drives is the exact same model (and color I think) as the one now on display right in front of the UOB Centre in Singapore.

The world audience is raving about “Iron Man”.  You may too.  I am eager to see what the other two installments will be like.  Perhaps Tony Stark and his assistance Pepper finally falls in love in the next episode and he dies saving the world (or Pepper) in the last episode?  We shall see.

PS. Daredevil is quite possibly another superhero of my favorite.

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Diary Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Shopping, And Wedding Dinner

The Spiderwick Chronicles

“I have nothing to wear,” I screamed in desperation.  “How about that blue shirt of yours?” Cynthia suggested.  No way I was going to wear that for a wedding dinner because I have already worn that on another one.  OK, don’t panic.  Simply hit the Orchard road and pick something.  The dinner was at 7.30pm.  I have just woken up from a nap because I had to get out of my bed at 4am to send my mom to the airport.  And while I was in Orchard, why not catch a movie?  My movie partner in crime TK tried to convince me to go for the 5.30pm show, I could go to the wedding dinner directly, and he would take care of Cynthia’s dinner and send her home.  Sounded like a good plan except … I needed to return home and iron the shirt that I was going to buy right before the wedding dinner (story continues after the movie review).  So Cynthia and I went for the 3.30pm show instead.

We have no expectation for “The Spiderwick Chronicles”.  I booked it because TK suggested it.  Based on a series of children’s books written by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, the movie adopted 4 (out of 5) books from the chronicles.  Like I always say, good stories usually make good movies.  “The Spiderwick Chronicles” is quite a neat piece of work with clever plots and enough wonders to captivate.  We were so worried that it would turn out to be that children’s fantasy movie starring a nerdy boy wizard with a pair of out-of-fashion spectacles (yuck!).  It’s not.  And it does have some frightening scenes too.  More for mature kids I guess.

Some critics don’t like the film’s over reliance on special effect.  I think, until the day when magic does exist in this world and we could actually film it, special effect is the way to go.  I thought they have done a pretty good job on that (perhaps I am bias because I did study computer graphics).  The acting to me is average (compares to Bridge To Terabithia).  The storyline is not as complex – and perhaps less violence – than Pan’s Labyrinth.  “The Spiderwick Chronicles” does seem like a mix of “Jumanji”, “Panic Room”, and “King Kong” to me.  I swear, that griffin riding scene reminded me of the online game “World of Warcraft”.  My character rides that thing day in day out!

A movie that probably won’t wow you but has enough entertainment value to captivate you in this land of faeries, troll, and goblins.

Now, back to my crisis.  There aren’t that many men’s shops in Orchard as compares to the ladies and I have this path of ‘destruction’ starting from the Esprit near Cineleisure (which has been relocated), to Takashimaya, tunnel to Wisma, and ends at Topshop.  I wish I had more time for shopping!  In the end, I picked a simple, casual, and tight fit (erm … not that tight) white shirt and a skinny tie from Topshop.  We thought it would be fun to try something different and …

… OK, I think I have overdone that a bit for a wedding party.  But hey!  Who cares?!  And it is good to see so many familiar faces at my ex-colleague (now buddy of course) Anderson’s wedding dinner.  Almost like a mini reunion.  Surreal to say the least.  You see, my ex-workplace has such a high turnover rate that seeing each familiar face reminds me of a particular juncture in that shit hole of my career.  Some memories are fond, some are less so.

Anyway, it is a good party and good to catch up with some good friends whom I haven’t seen for a while.  The next wedding (from the same ex-workplace) is … a few weeks down the road.  And I think I am the MC … *gasp*!

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Jumper – Now, I Wish I Could Do That

Jumper

I am not going to deprive you the pleasure in discovering what “jumpers” are or where they come from – though I doubt if you can find all the answers from watching the film alone.  It is rare to find a film that despite having so many flaws, it is still very entertaining to the core.  Thanks to all the marketing effort, who wouldn’t be enticed by the film trailer or even that scene on TV whereby Hayden Christensen (as the main character David) took Ryan Seacrest to the Sphinx in Egypt, and then “jumped” back to the show, where Seacrest introduced the American Idol Hollywood week episode?  Besides, the director has my favorite movies “The Bourne Identity” (2002) and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)” under his belt.  TK was shocked to realize that I didn’t even do my thorough ‘homework’ before booking the tickets like I normally do.  Hey, I can be quite spontaneous too, you know! Ha ha ha … While Cynthia and I have super high expectation on “Jumper”, TK didn’t expect much from the show – which in the end the film exceeded his expectation and met ours.

The truth is, I adore the OC girl Rachel Bilson from that teen TV series with a capital A.  Never mind if she can act (as Cynthia constantly pokes fun at me). In fact, I don’t think our Anakin Skywalker Hayden Christensen can act either (as I constantly poke fun at her).  And this pair of main characters were selected to replace the original casting as the producer needed more star factor for the film.  Not only that, the screenplay was rewritten as well.  Despite all that has done to save the film, I think the biggest flaw lies in the original science fiction novel by Steven Gould.  I often think that great novel makes great movie and it is hard to make a good movie out of a bad novel.  The differences between the novel and the film, as I have later researched, can be quite interesting.  By and large, the film adaptation has made the story more entertaining except one single flaw: the ancient background history of Brian Cox (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who pursues the “jumpers” that forms the core of the film is just silly.  It opens up too many questions that cannot be answered.

Acting and stupid storyline aside, the special visual and sound effects make the rather short film (90 mins) entertaining to watch.  Even after the movie, Cynthia and I were fantasizing being able to just jump through space and skip all the walking or having our car to zoom through the traffic conditions.  The scenery shots are great.  In fact, some people whom I talked to (like the dude who washed my hair this morning at the salon after realizing that I was researching the movie with my wi-fi phone, he said to me, “Great movie!  I love seeing so many places!”) see that as a big plus.  I personally love the scenes shot in the real Colosseum that supposed to be a rare access for filming.

My favorite quote from the film is “only God should have the power to be in all places at all times – Samuel L. Jackson”.  My favorite actress?  Gosh, I adore Rachel Bilson .  Have I mentioned that already?

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Why Do Grown-ups Watch Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium?

Today (21st) was TK’s birthday so I gratefully let him choose what he wished to watch. “Can you choose for me? I have a Christmas party to attend,” said TK over MSN. I looked at the list of movies available and we have almost covered all of them. “Erm …,” I replied, “We can have National Treasure, a Thai comedy, or that Natalie Portman movie.” Turned out that TK has watched National Treasure the day before (and according to him, that wasn’t good). “Good, we have two choices then. Hang on, I am sending the trailer of the Thai movie over. Personally I think the Thai movie may be a better choice,” I said. The beauty of Internet technology, the beauty of YouTube.

“Let’s support Natalie,” said the birthday boy. “Let’s support Natelie then,” I concurred. TK and I are both big time Natalie Portman fan. I have literally followed Natalie’s career from her debut as Mathilda in Léon (aka The Professional) to Evey of V for Vendetta. My personal favorite is Closer. What is yours?

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is a straightforward fantasy movie with Portman as the toy store manager and Dustin Hoffman as the … 243 years old boss. Okay, there is suppose to be a lot of magic inside the store and the computer graphics is top notch. The kids may enjoy the movie. Not for the grown-ups, I suppose. There are other better fantasy movies out there such as Enchanted and The Golden Compass.  Unless you are like us who have covered most of what are out there …

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

The Golden Compass – A Promising Beginning Of A Potential Trilogy

When Nicole Kidman first made an appearance in the movie, the dinning hall scene struck a certain sense of familiarity. I whispered to Cynthia, “That dinning hall reminds me of my University days.” Turns out that some scenes were filmed in Oxford, UK (not sure if that particular scene was). As far as I can remember, the dinning halls of the colleges in Oxford look somewhat the same (note: I admit I have not been to all 39 colleges) as I did receive invites from friends of different collages for dinner once in a blue moon. Two long rows of tables along the longer side of the rectangular hall with the “high table” at the short end furthest away from the entrance. Usually the guests of honour and the college fellows take up the high table while the rest of the students dine at the long tables.

But familiarity is certainly not enough for me to like the movie. I admit that I chose “The Golden Compass” because I am impressed by the trailer and I am a big fan of Nicole Kidman. Her airtime in “The Golden Compass” is much less than Michelle Pfeiffer in “Stardust”. Naturally, I would be disappointed. Even Daniel Craig (the latest James Bond) and the Bond girl Eva Green don’t get too much airtime either. The main star of the movie turns out to be a teenage actress from UK – Dakota Blue Richards. She has beaten 10,000 others for the role.

Dakota Blue Richards can easily be one of my favorite child actresses (my favorite being Dakota Fanning). It is hard not to feel her emotions as she journeys from the collage she resides in, and into the land of the ice bears, flying witches with arrows and bows, and different factions of humans that wield guns.

“The Golden Compass” is based on the children novel “Northern Lights” (1995) written by Philip Pullman. That book has won the Carnegie Medal for children’s fiction and yet, has generated a share of controversy with claims that the book attempts to sell atheism to kids. The world of the religious skeptic Philip Pullman is dark and individualistic and religion is evil. Fans of the book are disappointed with “The Golden Compass” as the religion aspect is being washed down in order to perhaps gain a wider audience. For example, the evil organization that dominates the world is renamed to “Magisterium” while in the book, it is referred to as “the church”.

To me, it doesn’t matter. “The Golden Compass” may as well be the extreme opposite end of “The Chronicles of Narnia” and I would say, it is perhaps closer to a scaled down version of the “Lord of the Ring”. I am certainly looking forward to what the next two installments will bring, that is if the filmmaker has decided to carry on producing them.

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

“Beowulf” – Now, What Have They Done To The Epic Poem?

Why do I watch that many movies lately, I do not know. It may be the sign of work starting to get into me and watching movies seems like an easy way out for lack of a more creative way to spend my spare time. Perhaps what Michael Watkins wrote in his book “The First 90 Days” is true: we spend the first 3 months learning and not adding much value to the organization, only thereafter do we start to contribute. No wonder the past one month has been rather busy, even when we officially cut our working hours by 10% (it was more than some of you guys to start with so don’t envy me!).

Actually, I wanted to title this review as “This Year Warrior Has A New Name, NOT!”. Inside the shower, I was pondering who are the great warriors on a movie screen. Perhaps King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans in “300: March To Glory” are good candidates. Somehow, the image of Brad Pitt from “Troy” got stuck in my mind. The character Achilles certainly has my number one vote as the greatest warrior on screen.

Some may praise “Beowulf” because the hero is portrayed as a flawed human being. Some may appreciate the filming technique of motion capture much like the director’s previous work “Polar Express”. I personally am puzzled with characters fading in and out of the animation. One moment I swear I see the real face of Angelina Jolie and another moment, her face looks like a piece of computer generated graphic that doesn’t look like Angelina Jolie at all. I have been thinking hard if there is some kind of significance to all these scenes of fading in and out of reality and I can think of none. (Perhaps the further it is, the more unreal it becomes?)

From what I read in the Internet, the movie deviates from the epic poem written in year 700 for quite a bit. My humble opinion is that after reading the summary, the original story makes more sense while the movie adaptation leaves many question marks in my head.

Having said all that I dislike, some scenes are really worth mentioning. I in particularly like the battle with the dragon. It was intense and thrillingly heroic. There are some emotional moments before Beowulf heading to an epic battle. And there are some rather hilarious moments too. But other than that, I think it is for the fans of English animated films by and large.

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Stardust – What Are You Waiting For?

It is not easy to find something bad to say about “Stardust” though some critics have tried. If you subscribe to the feel-good-romance kind of movie set in a fantasy background, I think you can easily fall in love with this. The converse can be true too. Therefore there are always movies that some enjoy watching and other don’t.

I always feel that if a storyline is well crafted (in this case, a novel written by Neil Gaiman back in 1998), the movie adaptation can’t go that wrong. The casting of “Stardust” includes power-house stars such as Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro – the acting of both are marvelous – and many others. I enjoyed watching Claire Danes in “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet” and I certainly enjoy her performance in “Startdust”. Some question the chemistry between Claire Danes and Charlie Cox which I sort of agree (Charlie Cox in animal form doesn’t count! … those glittering eyes …). All in all, the 130 minutes movie is engaging and entertaining. Cynthia loves it. TK and I both enjoyed it. So you get three “yes” from the Movie Review Squad, what are you waiting for? … unless you are not thrilled by the feel good type of movie.

PS. An afterthought: I guess some audience may be engrossed with how different parties pursued the star for different reasons. I particularly enjoy watching from the star’s perspective on what she wants. The romantic hopeless me, I know … sigh.

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Resident Evil: Extinction – Expect The Worst Seems To Work For Me

I am almost sure that by the time Lora reads this post, she will raise her fists high in the air and protest that it is yet another writeup on a zombie movie, which she sort of did after reading Planet Terror. One fine day, knowing that Cynthia is out of town, TK messaged me: Feeling bored today? The truth is, life is never boring when Cynthia is out of town …

… not!

Just kidding! Anyway, we ran through the choices we have and to anticipate what we will watch when Cynthia is back in town, TK picked “Resident Evil”. Or rather, given the limited choices, I picked “Resident Evil”.

The general review of “Resident Evil” is not that fantastic (in the region of 4 out of 10). Moreover, one colleague of mine who has watched it the day before declared that “Resident Evil” is not worth watching. Since my job is to help you decide if you may or may not wish to watch this movie, here is my take in point form.

You may wish to check out “Resident Evil” if you satisfy one or more of the following criteria.

  1. You are in love with Milla Jovovich
  2. You have enjoyed the previous episodes of Resident Evil
  3. You love zombies, lots of zombies
  4. You love to see girls kicking ass
  5. You love to see girls kicking zombie ass
  6. … with guns and blades
  7. You are a computer gaming geek
  8. … who especially love the genre of first person shooter
  9. You enjoy watching sci-fi horror movie
  10. You have no better movie to watch
  11. And last but not the least, you are in love with Milla Jovovich

Since all of the above points except 3, 5 and 6 (I am a normal dude after all) are valid for me, I naturally enjoy watching “Resident Evil”. One thing to highlight is the awesome sound effect. TK and I jumped off our seats in numerous occasions.

Damn zombies …

From an avid gamer perspective, I think the movie producer has done a great job in creating a movie out of a computer game concept. I can almost picture myself watching all the cut scenes of a game. If you judge “Resident Evil” in a traditional way, I can imagine the split rating. However, if you judge this movie from a gaming perspective – the same way you would judge a comic book adaptation – “Resident Evil” is a pretty good watch. I am a big fan of Milla Jovovich, love her since “The Fifth Element” (1997). Perhaps that’s one of the major reasons why I enjoy the movie. For you, perhaps zombies are the last thing on earth you wish to see on a big screen?