Friday, February 27, 2009

Watchmen early reviews!

Last night I checked, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 92% freshness rating, with only one review (out of the initial 12) that said it sucked. That doesn't seem like very bad odds.

Today, at 4.55PM Feb 27th, 8 hours past GMT (or before, I'unno, I suck at timezones), RT gives it 78%, 4 rotten out of 18. Oi.


[It would be rather anti-climactic if Alan Moore was right. AGAIN.]

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Watchmen opening Rorschach scene.

Enjoy.



[For the record, I'd always thought it was pronounced as 'Raw-SHARK'. Ya know. As per comic book.]

EXCLUSIVE! Nine differences between comic and movie!

*Many, many huge-ass spoilers in link*

An extension of the MTV article in this post:

'Watchmen director reveals key differences between graphic novel, film.'

[I'm not too sure whether the nine are the ONLY differences in the movie, though.]


The article is definitely spoiler-heavy, but in terms of deviating from the source material... not so much. I'm pretty okay with those differences, although it would've been infinitely better if the comic was strictly followed.

[Another reason to check out the Director's Cut. Sigh.]

One thing worries me, though. That last line to the first spoiler (the one about Nite Owl) states:
"But he has no chance against Adrian."

...

Oh, smeg.

What do YOU guys think about this development? Leave a comment and let us know =]

More on the The Last Airbender controversy...

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans just sent a letter to the producer of the Avatar movie. You can read it here.

[No, not the James Cameron's Avatar. I don't care he has first dibs; I shall refer to the more awesome of the two by its original name. As in, the animated series by Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.]


Here's to hoping that the casting shall be righted, including Zuko's (just 'cuz he's Asian doesn't mean you can randomly 'cast one in'), and that M Night Shyamalan won't deviate TOO much from the source material.

UPDATE: The East West Players (an Asian American theatre organization co-founded by Mako, voice of Uncle Iroh) have also sent a letter to the producers. More info on that here.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The 81st Academy Awards 2009!

[Thank goodness I did not see no Jo Bro there. But there was still Miley Cyrus, soo...]

Anyway, ceremony just finished, so I'ma start the blogging... now:

Hugh Jackman was better than I thought, although not as wild and, um, gay as he was in the Tonys. Woulda been pretty cool to see him in gold pants again. Plus, loved the "I'm WOLVERINE!!" bit at the end of his opening number.

Aforementioned gold pants. And no, this wasn't Photoshopped.

The star power was TREMENDOUS this time around. They got a LOT of famous and established actors to come and present. Loved that whole '5 past-winners for acting awards' schtick.

[Shirley MacLaine! Ben Kingsley! Robert DeNiro! Chris Walken FTW! A gilded Sophia Loren!]

Jack Black is SO right. The only time Pixar got robbed was the year Monsters, Inc. was up against Shrek. And Monsters, Inc. deserved that one WAY more. I'm not really a fan of Dreamworks cartoons. Pixar RULES! And is actually CREATIVE!

I've never really gone for Ben Stiller's brand of comedy (except Zoolander). Humor only sunk in till halfway, when I realised he was imitating Joaquin Phoenix. And I pride myself on recognising pop culture. Sigh.

The Pineapple Express bit was good! "Slumdog Millionaire = The Love Guru." HAHAHAHAHA!!

[James Franco is soooooo cute... =]]


All clips with Wall-E made me "Awwwww...". I should really watch that movie.

Seriously, what the hell is Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens doing singing on stage? Did I miss out hearing High School Musical's nomination for something? At least Mamma Mia! wasn't teenaged crap.

The music's kinda messed up. When they were bringing out the host for the post-production awards, I thought it was gonna be someone from The Dark Knight, since the music is SO reminiscent of that movie. But no. It was Will Smith. At least use music from Hancock or something, man.

Beyoncé wasn't as annoying as she usually is. At least she didn't come out and present. But then, that left us with Alicia Keys. Ugh. Thank goodness P Diddy wasn't around. Dubble-UGH.

The In Memoriam part sucked. Zooming in and out of the screens does not help the rest of us TV viewers WHO CAN'T FUCKING READ TINY PRINT!! Helloooo, some of us actually WANT to know who had passed on!! Plus, why the hell is Queen Latifah singing? She doesn't suck at it, but still. And is it me, or did I miss seeing Heath Ledger in the montage?

UPSET: I thought Mickey Rourke was gonna win. BUT... Sean Penn's first lines for his speech was awesome.

And in the 'Movies of 2009' part, where the hell be my Watchmen? Just 'cuz it's coming out in two weeks doesn't mean that it is ALREADY OUT!! And oi, Transformers 2!!
G-Force
looks friggin' adorable, though :)

EDIT: The re-run totally edited out parts of the Pineapple Express segment. 'Specially the part with the kissing and the stapling. Silly local censors.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Oh no, squiddy! *Spoilers below*

The squid really WAS cut.

According to MTV.com, Zack Snyder said, "The reason that the squid got taken out of the movie was so there'd be more Rorschach and a little bit more Manhattan. Because we did the math, and we figured it took about 15 minutes to explain [the squid's appearance] correctly; otherwise, it's pretty crazy."

[Check out the rest of that MTV article here.]


I agree that the backstories are just as important, but 15 minutes isn't long.

[Two words. Spider-man. Three.]

It's not like it's half an hour or something. Seriously, everyone will be paying attention to the "why" of the squid (which is the "why" of everything, for that matter), that they won't even notice that 15 minutes have gone by.

And since the squid is out, how different will the ending be? In fact, how different will the movie be? Some seemingly-unimportant details are crucial to the ending.

Oi vey. Let's hope the ending won't actually be as ridiculous as the version that's plastered all over the Interwebz.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

New Watchmen TV spots!





Don't worry, they don't really spoil the film. Most of the scenes have already been used in the previously-released trailers.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Transformers 2 trailer!!



Looks awesome! June 26th24th, here we come! :D

Monday, February 16, 2009

Zac Efron to be Jonny Quest?!

Apparently WB wants him, says this article here. But as of this moment, the actor hasn't signed on to the production yet, so we'll have to wait for the official announcement.

Briefly, the original sci-fi animated series chronicled the adventures of Dr Benton Quest, his 12-year-old son Jonny (yeah, Zac Efron doesn't look 12, either), pilot Race Bannon, and Quest's adopted son Hadji, as they go around and investigate strange occurances. You can read more about it in its Wiki entry.

Personally, I haven't followed the original series (I've only seen ONE episode of the revamped versions, and my friend was the one who alerted me to this), so I can't really elaborate on how blasphemous it would be to make changes in the movie. But it looks like it's going to be another example of a movie adaptation not following the source material.

Sigh. Hollywood.

Tales of the Black Freighter trailer!


[Source: MTV.com]

Tales of the Black Freighter is an anthology woven into the Watchmen universe (a 'comic within a comic' sorta thing), and was first introduced as a parallel storyline in Issue 3. Like all the other minute details in Watchmen, it is shown to be relevant to the plotline near the end of the story.

I've read somewhere that Black Freighter will be included in the Director's Cut. Hopefully they'll change their minds and release that one in theatres eventually.

Like *ahem*LordoftheRings*ahem*


[Three-plus-hours in theatre. Hel-LOOO, numbbutt! :D]

I can't believe they get fries in prison...

[Source: IMDB]

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Airplane! (1980)

Airplane! is considered a comedy classic, spawning spoof genre, plus the usual parody movie crap we get every year. I've seen many references to it; now I've finally seen the real thing.

The pilots (and numerous passengers) of a commercial jet flight come down with severe food poisoning, so it's up to an ex-fighter pilot (with his own war injuries) to fly the plane to Chicago through poor weather conditions.

This movie is pretty much the craziest I've ever seen (and I've watched Naked Gun and Hot Shots!). I loved it when the head pilot started to ask the kid all those random questions. I also love the part when the flight attendant plays the guitar to cheer the little sick girl up, gets too caught up in the moment, and proceeds to swing the guitar into the girl's IV drip, disconnecting it. Twice.

[The little girl's so cute when she's dying.]

Also, Auto-Pilot = an inflatable pilot doll. It's totally adorable. There's a scene where the A/P starts to deflate; ground control tells the air-stewardess to blow it.

[xD]

She does just that (since she can't fly the plane), and, needless to say, the air tube was exactly where it was supposed to be.

I'm also a huge fan of Leslie Nielsen, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him with his stethoscope on when the flight attendants were asking for a doctor. Love the part where his nose starts to grow longer as he's telling the passengers that everything is alright (when it actually wasn't).

9/10. Otto owns.

New Angels & Demons trailer!



I loved the book. Hope it's not another Da Vinci Code.

This is adorable...

'Nuff said.

Blades Of Glory (2007)

I was channel-surfing today and stumbled onto this. Go figure.

Blades Of Glory is about two disgraced rival ice-skaters, who bounce back together when they become partners in the Pairs championships due to a regulation loophole. Despite sabotage attempts, they win, and the lifetime ban (for Singles) is lifted.

It was an okay movie for me. Yes, it was hilarious to see two guys ice-skate together, but... meh. Also, I thought that MacElroy (Jon Heder) was the better skater at the beginning of the movie. Will Ferrell's character was overrated as usual, but at least he's not Woody Allen.

[Ugh.]

I give it 7. Partly 'cuzza the Van Waldenbergs.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Pushed BACK!?!

The Prince of Persia is coming out on May 28th 2010! NOOOOOOOO...!!!

Why, Disney, WHY??!

And this was announced last August!

[Damn, I gotta get feeds for the movies I like.]

Monday, February 9, 2009

Revisiting... L.A. Confidential (1997)




Released: September 19, 1997

Now this is simply 'The movie' back then for me. I really enjoyed the plot, especially portrays in Sergeant Exley ( Mr Pearce- Bed Time Stories)and the ever sensation Miss Bassenger. Yet again another movie with a nice twist in the end. Talented list of casts too.

7 outta 10!

Revisiting... Clueless (1995)




Released on July 19, 1995

Now this was my favourite back then when I was in my secondary school. This movie pretty much tells about the teenage life of Cher( played by the then HOT Miss Silverstone) in going through her college life and besides managing her 'As If' personel life. From shopping to guys, from gays to back stabbing girlfriends, from being extremely rich and helping those who are in a crisis, its rather funny to see how she turns such situation to become a typical happy ever after story to tell about in the future. Oh ya... and this movie turns out to be the first time I saw Tai (acted by Miss Murphy- Just Married) being an ugly duckling and rather FAT.
In the end this movie turns out to be a good time, fun loving boy and girl relationship, pop corn movie to watch if you're in the mood for being young once more.

Overall, I would say a 5 1/2 for this

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Got Cthulhu Squid? (Spoiler warning!)

**Warning: All links lead to spoilers. Massive ones.**

I just found out that the ending to the upcoming Watchmen movie may be different than that of the comic book.

[Yes, I understand it is old news, but I have a lot of time on my hands right now.]

Not to spoil too much, I never did like the comic book ending (my favourite character was friggin' KILLED, man!), but despite that, an adaptation is what it is: something closely based on another source. Just like Watchmen is. To change any part of the ending (irrespective of how I felt about it in the first place) would be a major faux pas in my book.

Rumors have been flying all over the Internet that the aforementioned 'squid' in the post's title will not be in the movie. Multiple reports stated that director Zack Snyder have made slight alterations (apparently, only ONE ending was filmed, so the 'multiple endings to trick test-screening viewers' argument is kinda null), but there were no actual 'yes' or 'no' responses.

It really doesn't make sense, though. The guy fought with the studio to get the movie to stay true to the comic book (if I'm not mistaken, they'd wanted to update Watchmen into present times), so why would he change that part of the ending?

Anyway, if you want to see what the purported ending for the movie is, and how it differs from the comic book, you can read the article here.

I thought Snyder did a fantastic job with 300, and I actually loved the additional subplots in the movie. Let's all hope that he doesn't prove Alan Moore right and ruin Watchmen for those of us who've read it, 'cuz the trailers and everything else released thus far look so very faithful to the graphic novel.

UPDATE: Not entirely sure whether this is a confirmation from Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons or not, but it seems that Squiddy will not be in the final cut. Sigh.

Avatar: The Last Airbender The Current Conundrum

[Just trying to spread the word, so forgive me if you've read something similar by me before.]

For the uninitiated, Avatar: The Last Airbender (later : The Legend of Aang) is a TV series set in a world where you have Element-benders, people who can manipulate specific elements at will, with the four main elements being Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. And then you have the Avatar, who has mastery of all four elements, and basically acts as mediator of the four nations. When the Fire Nation decided to launch its campaign for world domination, the Avatar disappeared. 100 years later, a young Waterbender and her brother find the new Avatar frozen in a block of ice, and thaw him out. The series chronicles 12-year-old Aang's (the reincarnated Avatar) journey along with his new friends, as he tries to master all four elements so that he can take on the Fire Lord and bring peace to the nations.

A summary of what's happened so far:

In 2007, news came out that a live-action feature film adaptation is in the works, to be directed by M Night Shyamalan.

In December 2008, the cast list for the four main leads (Aang, Katara, Sokka and villain Zuko) was announced, and the actors are white. Most of the fandom strongly disagreed, accusing the studio and production team of racism and white-washing characters who seem so Asian (proven by the settings, culture, bending techniques, and general appearance of the characters on Avatar; as GanXingba's video says around the 0:48 mark, "short of slapping a sticker on their foreheads"), especially of Sokka and Katara, brown-skinned Inuit-looking kids who will be played by white, very pale (Jackson Rathbone was a vampire in Twilight) actors. The actors would have to go through some extent of brown-/yellow-facing, offensive and unnecessary in this day and age, to look like their animated counterparts.

In response to the initial casting decision, a letter writing campaign called Saving the World with Postage was set up, where it calls for fans to write to the producers, conveying their displeasure in a polite and civilised way. Letter-writing guides and information on the movie are pooled there (including casting calls), so do go and check their blog out here. Their visual essay is a particularly excellent way to get an idea of what the show looks like without going through all three seasons' worth of episodes.

Also, recent casting calls for extras are especially looking for actors of other ethnicities, and that they should come "dress(ed) in traditional cultural ethnic attire." The same article also highlights the cultural insensitivity of the casting director when briefing the prospective extras, as she confuses kimonos for hanboks, and even asks casually-dressed actors who come with scarfs "to put it over (their) head so (they)'ll look like a Ukrainian villager or whatever."

[Seriously, man, that's what she said.]


Earlier this week, Jesse McCartney dropped out of playing Zuko (schedule conflicts), and was replaced by Dev Patel.

Out-of-the-friggin'-blue.

I won't repeat what I've typed in my other post (about Patel's casting), but I will reiterate that nothing has been righted. Yes, there is diversity in the cast now, but not the right kind. An Asian actor among the white leads doesn't make it right. It certainly doesn't change the fact that two Inuit kids are being played by very white actors. And it sure as hell isn't adhering to the source material either, since Zuko's appearance is definitely changed with Patel's casting.

[I won't even begin rantingtouching rumors that Shyamalan will be portraying Uncle Iroh. It's pointless; he's the director, he can play Fire Lord Ozai and make him win if he likes.]


To be frank, I didn't really have a problem with the initial casting (except for McCartney, whom I feel can't pull off Zuko), even though appearance-wise, they weren't really suited for the roles. And now, they've made it worse by casting a dark-skinned Asian actor for a character that is originally fair-skinned, which would inadvertently lead to changes in other characters (this news brief says that they are already looking for actors of Indian descent.). To me, the source material is the most integral part of movie adaptations. If you're not going to respect or stick to it, then why bother calling it an adaptation? It'd just be The Last Airbender in name, rather than a true adaptation of the TV series. They might as well add a "loosely based on" tag in the opening credits, because at the moment, that looks like the direction they are heading.

[On a final note, I will also repeat is that I have nothing against the actors that've signed on to the movie. I guess that for them, it's one of those "wrong placemovie at the wrong time" issues.]

Anyway, for those of you like-minded individuals who also have a problem with the casting and would like to do something proactive about it, do check out the Aang Ain't White blog (I mentioned it earlier, but here's the link again for your convenience) to see how you can lend your support to these guys (nothing monetary, don't worry) in fighting the good fight.

Thank you for your time =)

Saturday, February 7, 2009

"The times they are a-changin'..."

Lookie what I got...:

CHARACTER SKETCHES! ORIGINAL CHARACTER SKETCHES!!




















[I'd put more up (FOUR more, in fact!), but they'll probably sue :P]


You can find the rest of the character sketches from DC Comics' new Watchmen mini-site (that's where I got my JPEG thumbnails; clickie on piccie for linkie), with sections on the upcoming movie as well as the graphic novel (the first issue is free for download there, so yay!). They have a lot of goodies (desktop wallpapers, trailers, etc.) so do go and check them out; hopefully DC Comics will update more as March 6th draws closer.

[Squee!~
ONE MORE MONTH LEFT!]

Friday, February 6, 2009

Revisiting... The Ten Commandments (1956)



Released date: October 5, 1956
One word: SPLENDID! Mr Heston (Ben Hur), Mr Brynner (The King and I), portrays what I'd think should be the element in all the HEROES and VILLAINS characteristic if they were start writing scripts. Call me old fashion but I seriously love this one!
I love all the water element part in this movie, from sea to blood....It's simply mesmerizing! How well equip they are even in the early 60's. Lots of hard work and planning was definitely worth while.. ' A really great master piece'
I would say the only weakness was as though there weren't any weakness at all. 9.99 I'd rate..and the other 0.01, well no one is perfect yet.

Sleuth (1972)

Finally saw the movie in its entirety (I missed the first half, first time around). It's based on the play by Anthony Shaffer.

The movie begins with hairdresser Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) visiting famous mystery novellist Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier). As the story unfolds, we find out that Milo is having an affair with Andrew's wife, and that Andrew had invited him over so that they could stage a theft of his already-insured diamonds. Milo gets the diamonds, Andrew gets the insurance money, everyone gets happier, no?

Turns out, Andrew has a much more in mind than insurance fraud.

I love this movie. As it progresses, both men resort to more devious tricks just to get the upper hand. Although a bit slow in the beginning, the pace really picks up in the second half, where it gets really intense as Milo and Andrew continue to play each other off.

I don't mind movies with a lot of dialogue, so for those of you who have little patience with verbal reparté, steer clear. I'd rave about the movie even more, but that would give away too much (which I don't want to do 'cuz it's JUST THAT AWESOME!), so without revealing too much of the ending and its mind games, let's just say there were no winners.

Leaving you that bit to ponder about, I give it a 10. Second half of the movie was especially good.

Just a small note: If you plan on watching the 2007 'reworking' (also starring Michael Caine, but now as Andrew Wyke, with Jude Law as Milo Tindle), I suggest you watch the '07 version first, then the 1972 one. You have been warned.

Revisiting... The Sound of Music (1965)




Remember the time when you had a great time enjoying yourself as a kid in musical movies? Well, I certainly had mine in this. One word: Fantastic.
Rate: Would definitely be a 9.98

Shoot Em' Up (2007)


Released on September 7, 2007, this movie directed by Mr Davis...
1) Action was nonsense
2) Sex scene was a mess
3) Hero was a total retard (but he's hot NOT in that movie though)
4) Story line was so so
5) I would say, its a crap movie to watch
By the way, its totally not funny mixing Bugs Bunny with Mr Owen's character

But some elements some how makes me wanna watch it all:
1) Baby was cute!
2) Miss Belluci was smokin!!
3) Some how though extremely beyond THE BEYOND ACTION, its somehow rather funny to see him kick ass
Over all, I will rate this 4 1/2....

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Keene Act: Why and How.

I love how they do the marketing for this movie.



Rorschach cameo FTW!

[Check out their special on Doc Manhattan here.]

Monday, February 2, 2009

Revisiting... Disturbia (2007)


Disturbia- All you can learn about Peeping Tom

This scene is almost the part.....Firstly, Minnie Riperton's Lovin' You was definately the right song.....Later his obsession with Ashley actually turns out to be so so cute......Ashley melted.....even i would too

Building his empire....His tower of Boredom .....This too made me feel in love with System of A Down track- Lonely Day....What I really love most is his carefree attitude during house arrest....
He thinks he's McGuiver...He thinks he's Inspector Gadget...He seems to come in handy in electronic items...Also a bit unbelievable I feel...

So 'macho' walking out after an easy killing....Like so so PREDICTABLE

It was released April 13, 2007
"Seriously, one of the best - with only 20 million budget film". Directed by Mr Caruso whom directed (movies like Two for The Money- staring hottie Matthew M, Eagle Eye- totally HOT HOT and HOT Mr Labeouf.)
Movie starts off with a Father(Mr Craven- Daniel Brecht)- Son (Mr Labeouf- Kale) bond relationship later turns bitter after the death of his dad on car crash. At first, I thought the movie was some car hijacking movie (you should have seen how the crash happen.) Since that day, Kale has turn from devoted and caring son to someone whose life is so rebellious. During his Spanish lesson in class, he punched his Spanish teacher and he was later sentence to house arrest. What's cool about his house arrest was that he TOTALLY 'live a care free and like I don't give a shit anymore about my F%^# life' And Mr Labeouf has that attitude that is so totally COOL. In that movie too I started having my FIRST CRUSH on Mr Labeouf. . So anyways, he later turned obsess with his newly invented hobby- Mr Snobby- Eying around his neighbors private life.Meet Mr Turner (the serial Killer who in the end died with Mr Labeouf's strength). He killed him with a pair of BIG grass cutter scissors. While viewing around, a new neighbor moved in. Girl next door, Ashley. Wild as she can be when she was a city gal, she is now stuck here with her ever bored time in this suburban neighborhood.Bizarre, funny and pretty, in the end she and Mr Labeouf was so cuddly, lovey mates. She too was having wonderful 'coffee and donuts' stakeouts along with Mr Yoo- Ronnie( the chicky Korean guy who's Mr Labeouf school mate) What I like most about this movie is that it does not brag much and makes it short, simple yet funny. I should say the cast in this movie is simply awesome only one mistake I felt ruined the movie: The way Mr. Turner died is way to easy!! Over all I would give a 9 1/4 rating on this movie. And a 10+++ for Mr Labeouf.
What I personally felt about this movie, honestly I totally love it! I watched it like so many times. It has all the elements that I feel is worth it. As I myself am a mild person in life. I cherish every single romantic detail in a teenage film and this one definitely has got that element. Over all, I salute him for living his life to the fullest. This movie centralize on the typical life of suburban US people. Sex, Lie, dangerous and reclusive.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

...And we're off!

Hey everyone, welcome to our movie-blog! We'll be looking at movies (ch-yeah, duh!), old and new, as well as the odd post on upcoming movies that we can't wait for. Occasionally we may talk about TV and books, but as this essentially is a movie-blog, don't worry, we won't deviate from the main topic at hand.

Feel free to leave a message at the Shoutbox to your right, or if you have a movie that you love/hate, and you want us to rave about/skewer it, drop us a line at the S/b and we'll check the movie out.

Pamela will be making the blog's first official review, so come back soon to check out her post on Disturbia! :D