BRIEF MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CASUAL MOVIEGOERS


Thursday, August 30, 2007

A Short review on Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny


Yo Lam,

I managed to watch Tenacious D, the pitch of destiny.
As you know I am not a big fan of musicals, but I could safely say this is the musical I have enjoyed so far.
Really cool man, especially when they played my favourite piece from 'The WHO',when the 2 heroes were escaping from the rock and roll museum.
Some big names were in the movies, for example, Meatloaf, not to mention Kyle Gass and Jack Black.
It is a nice comedy that showcase some really cool guitar music, not to mention promotion of the use of grass.
In short, great musical and I do hope I could get to watch musicals as well.



SPOOVANS

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Alien Vs Predator 2: Redemption?

Alien Vs Predator, the original comic book mini-series, was supposed to be a mindless commercial cash-in on two popular monster franchises, but turned out to be one of the best and most inspired of such endeavours. The terrible 2004 movie of the same name, though, has almost nothing in common with the comic book, except that the Predators are still using Earth as a training ground to battle Aliens. And, unlike Die Hard 4.0, they failed to pull off a PG-13 version (depends on whether you consider a US Number One Box Office Movie despite a universal critical mauling to be a success or failure.) The human characters were unmemorable, the story was lacklustre, the effects were shoddy, and the PG-13 rating guaranteed a diminished amount of thrill, excitement and blood.

With Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, the producers seem determine to set things right. Looking at its "red band" trailer (meaning a promo clip with mature content), AVP:R is definitely not going to be PG-13-rated, with its abundance of violent scenes involving humans being disposed off in various creative fashions. They've finally got at least half of it right, so let's hope they've also got a decent-enough story to go with all the gloriously gory action. Or why not just adapt the already-good storyline from the comic?

Click on the picture or the link below to see the trailer. Warning! Contains violent scenes, not for the young or squeamish!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avp2/trailers.php

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Coincidences?

As further proof of creative bankruptcy, Hollywood has finally resorted to stealing ideas from even a bottom-rung armchair film critic like myself!




(Top: Poster of 3:10 to Yuma. Bottom: Wallpaper of Once upon a Time at a Well.)

Then again, what are the odds that a Western would use a motif consisting of monochromatic illustrations and cursive patterns on brown, worn paper?

A more genuine coincidence: Scroll down to the Wii article below, and you'll notice that that article was posted at 3:10pm! :P

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Jet Vs. Jase!

I doubt this could beat SPL, which was as good as martial arts movies get nowadays. Still, there's potential pitting J against J. Opening in the US next week, but 13 September in Singapore.

Shiny!

Currently my most anticipated DVD is the Collector's Edition of Serenity, a great sci-fi movie based on a great sci-fi television series that I just can't seem to stop gushing about. Luckily, I didn't buy the first edition DVD that came out earlier with the godawful cover design (see below).

At least the theatrical poster wasn't too bad (see below).

Serenity Collector's Edition DVD is out on August 21.



Friday, August 17, 2007

Remake of Bullet in the Head?


This one went totally under my radar! LoveHKFilm.com reported that this John Woo-produced film is a reimagining of Bullet in the Head, and even has a character named Mark, played by Silk badass Chang Chen! Click on the picture to access the official site, or go to http://www.bloodbrothersthemovie.com/. The movie is out on August 23, next week!

NERD ALERT!!!



Thursday, August 2, 2007

Wii need more, better games


It's a little weird that I start my first rant on a non-movie-related topic, but please bear with me.


Although I've more or less quitted gaming due to budgetary reasons, I still follow the gaming news, play some Zelda, read people's rantings, etc. One of the big developments recently was Sony finally losing the number one mantle to Nintendo, because of one little white box everybody underestimated called Wii.


Firstly, I'd like to clarify that I'm not an ardent supporter of everything Ninten... ok, ok I'm a total Nintendo whore, but it's hard not to be after being so smitten by the two epic Nintendo classics, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario 64, that memories of playing those games still resonate after all these years. It's no surprise then that I was way excited over the revelation of the Wii's unique motion-sensitive controller last year. The new controller suggests a million new ways to play video games, especially first-person shooters. Instead of wrestling two short sticks (and your sanity) only to aim at something, you're finally able to just simply and instinctively point and shoot with the Wii controller.



Weeks passed since the launch, and Nintendo released a slew of innovative but cutesy and family-friendly games, putting the special controller to good use. Months go by, still the same type of reflex-orientated games like Warioware and Wii Sports. If not, then it would be ports of existing games from other platforms such as The Godfather and Resident Evil 4. Yeah, there was the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which was probably responsible for most of last year's huge Wii sales, but that one's really a Gamecube game and not entirely designed with the Wii in mind (although it would be mindblowing if they did). But, still nothing particularly Wii-centrically mind-blowing.


Elsewhere, Sony's starting to clean up its act by showing off impressive upcoming games like Call of Duty 4, Burnout Paradise, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Little Big Planet, a puzzle-like game that ironically looks like it belongs on a Nintendo console. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is aggressively vying for the top spot (and looking like they really might) with games such as Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto 4, Project Gotham Racing 4, Mass Effect, BioShock, and of course, Halo 3. But for Nintendo, apart from the next Super Mario and Metroid installments, what's the next best thing we have to look forward to?


Wii Fit, a game that makes you exercise or do yoga. For real.



Okay, we know your in-house games are awesome, and that I'd buy the next Zelda game on the Wii even if I'm forced to eat US-Customs-rejected toxic China-made food to save the money for it. But really, how many times do you think you could get away with just announcing the next Marios, Zeldas and Metroids every single year? No doubt Zelda's still an amazing game, but even a die-hard fan like myself is beginning to notice a slight, stale stench around the fringes. Is it really that difficult to get third party developers to come up with an awesome first-person shooter, instead of yet another generic mini-game collection or kiddie sports/platformer? I still remember how Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and other developers lauded the Wii's innovation in the last E3. So what happened with that then? Are the third party developers shunning the Wii like they did with the N64?


Because of my recent cashless state, I have yet to "choose" my "side" in the next-gen gaming wars. But if Nintendo doesn't buck up by the time the money starts rolling in, I might just invest my money elsewhere, or start appreciating regular, not-made-in-China food. And I doubt I'll be the only Nintendo game fan feeling that way.