The Russian Connection

Grand Theft Auto 4 in action.

Looks promising.

The upcoming chapter of the infamous bestselling video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) adds the Russian Mafia into its canon of gangsters, after featuring the Italian, Hispanic and African-American ones in past installments. But before the game is even released or plans to adapt the game into a movie is even talked about, director David Cronenberg has shot and is about to release the Russian mob-themed movie Eastern Promises. Judging from his previous works including The Fly and A History of Violence, this could well be the most definitive (and probably the most violent and/or sexiest) Russian gangster movie to date, which will overshadow whatever film adaptation GTA producer Rockstar is planning in the future. Or these game making companies could just learn their lessons once and for all and stop throwing money at Uwe Boll, but instead hire a proper director like Cronenberg to bring justice to their game's future film adaptations.

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

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

My brother, the kickboxer

Will2k and co. in action!

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

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.

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!!!

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.

Blog blunder: apologies to all

Recently, I've sent invites to a bunch of my friends using the feature provided on Blogger.com, not realising that it's actually a feature that gives out authoring rights on this Blog, which is why you get asked to register prior to posting. Just ignore that.

Messages can be posted on my blog without needing to register or make an account.

Sorry for the inconveniences caused! I'm still very new to this blog thing. Next coffee's on me! :p

One of the best trailers of 2007

Hey guys, I don't know if you already saw this one from my site, but it's something you shouldn't miss. It's a trailer for a new yet-to-be-titled movie by the people behind hit TV series Lost. Click on the poster to watch it.

The need to be heard

Yo Freaksters,

Having managed to get myself registered, I would like to state for the record that I enjoy watching action movies.

It's the end of the world! The BMF now has his own blog!

Hello freaksters! Thanks for visiting my blog! Say whatever the heck you want. I'll try to come up with some topics soon, most likely stuff that'll contribute nothing back to society. Bring forth the end of humanity!

Review: 300

I am not really entertained

Frank Miller’s comic book 300 is a stylised re-imagining of the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Greece, where the titular 300 Spartans, led by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), stood their ground to defend their country from an invading Persian army of thousands despite objections from the Spartan councilmen. Meanwhile, Leonidas’ queen, Gorgo (Lena Headey, looking a lot like Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla from Gladiator) has to deal with the underhanded councilman Theron (Dominic West), who may be able to convince the council to revoke their decision and dispatch the rest of the Spartan army to support Leonidas’ position at Thermopylae.

Director Zack Snyder, who famously and miraculously escaped the wrath of Dawn of the Dead fans by actually doing a pretty good job with the remake, created a visual feast of a movie, similar to another Frank Miller creation, Sin City. His movie adheres to the imageries and designs from the book, but improves on them with a crisp, CG sheen over it. The director also carried over the book’s heightened sense of reality, menagerie of freaks and megalomaniacal displays of omnipotence. He was also successful in recreating Frank Miller’s trademark atmosphere of decadent sleaziness with the scenes involving Xerxes’ crib and the Ephors.

So, why is 300 only getting an Average rating from the Big Movie Freak, you say? As a picture book, or even a video game, the visual quality would have been enough to impress. But as a movie, despite all its flourishes 300 was surprisingly boring. Matching the action with equal excess were the lengthy stretches of expositions. Characters would stand in place and deliver long, dreary speeches that often stop the movie cold. They'll go on and on, and again and again with the same damn speech about strength and honour and whatnot like it wasn't clear enough the first time. It may have helped if veterans such as Sir Ian McKellen were reciting the dialogues instead of still-not-quite-there-yet David Wenham (playing narrator Dilios) and co. But really, even then the script would still be in dire need of a trim.

Speaking of David Wenham, who was Faramir in Lord of the Rings, at one point the movie did begin to look like a game of spot-that-movie, with not-so-subtle homages ranging from Rings (Giant elephants! Gollum!) to Zhang Yimou’s Hero (Arrows! Lots of them!). Even Tom Sizemore-lookalike Vincent Regan (the Captain) is playing the same second-in-command lackey role he had in Troy. This movie is more deserving of the title of Déjà Vu than that Denzel Washington picture from last year.

I have to admit: it has its moments. I liked the prologue explaining the harsh, badass Spartan culture, and I enjoyed some of the action sequences, particularly the first wave of attack, the one with the über Immortal and the final showdown. I appreciate the exaggerated, grotesque beauty of the Persian King and his minions. But overall, it’s a second-rate swords-and-sandals epic at best, no thanks to a fundamentally marring and overzealous script. - BMF

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