Holy crap... talk about a dirty and gritty mob movie!!
This is a good one. Lots of guns, blood, and exploding heads.
And it's not gratuitious.
Didn't expect there to be such a thing as artistic violence. But this is pretty close.
Nine years ago, I watched Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco at the theatres. It was horribly butchered by the Malaysian censorship board. Every time Al Pacino said "f*ck", the film skipped a milli-second.
Since then, there was an emptiness that I never realised I had... Until it was filled by Running Scared.
Paul Walker, (Mr Fast & Furious, but more enviably the guy that rode Jessica Alba in Into The Blue), is a low level mob grunt. His boss' son shot a couple of dirty cops, and hands him the gun to be disposed of. The gun ends up back in the street, and racks up plenty of mileage.
After that it's a fun ride painting the town red.
The story and the action is gripping. The characters are nasty. Although without the powerful commentary of Brasco.
It's a good watch. But don't watch it on Malaysian theatres.
"One Nike gym bag: 60 bucks.
One Nokia cell phone: 100 bucks.
One ounce Semtex: 500 bucks.
Getting rid of a dirty cop: f*cking priceless!"
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Movie: Lucky Number Slevin
Not a bad movie.
Lots of big names: Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, etc.
Very enjoyable script. Slevin was in the wrong apartment, at the wrong time, and was mistaken for a loser who owes a bookie $96,000. And there's no way to get himself out of it... As if that wasn't enough, the rival ganglord also picks him up for a $33,000 debt. Then the police picks him up too, curious why he's been walking in and out of both mobster HQs.
"The first time somebody calls you a horse, you punch him on the nose.
The second time sombody calls you a horse, you call him a jerk.
But the third time somebody calls you a horse, well then perhaps it's time to go shopping for a saddle."
There are twists, of course, and if your eyes are sharp, you can catch what's going on before the end of the movie. The director was generous with the clues. (Hint: watch for things like watches and rings etc...)
But there's no need to think too hard. It's just a fun story to watch. Good script, good actors, good directing.
And it's cute how lucky Slevin somehow takes everything in stride, and still finds the time to fall in love. It's taking happy-go-lucky to a state of Zen-hood.
By the way, ataraxia is a bogus 'disorder'.
Lots of big names: Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, etc.
Very enjoyable script. Slevin was in the wrong apartment, at the wrong time, and was mistaken for a loser who owes a bookie $96,000. And there's no way to get himself out of it... As if that wasn't enough, the rival ganglord also picks him up for a $33,000 debt. Then the police picks him up too, curious why he's been walking in and out of both mobster HQs.
"The first time somebody calls you a horse, you punch him on the nose.
The second time sombody calls you a horse, you call him a jerk.
But the third time somebody calls you a horse, well then perhaps it's time to go shopping for a saddle."
There are twists, of course, and if your eyes are sharp, you can catch what's going on before the end of the movie. The director was generous with the clues. (Hint: watch for things like watches and rings etc...)
But there's no need to think too hard. It's just a fun story to watch. Good script, good actors, good directing.
And it's cute how lucky Slevin somehow takes everything in stride, and still finds the time to fall in love. It's taking happy-go-lucky to a state of Zen-hood.
By the way, ataraxia is a bogus 'disorder'.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Book: Magic Street by Orson Scott Card
Plenty of time to catch up on some reading back in Sibu.
Managed to get hold of O.S.Card's latest one-shot offering. This time a genre of fantasy, that I might describe as 'urban fantasy'... Where magic happens in the streets of an urban city. Kinda like Megan Lindholm's Wizard Of The Pigeons, Charles de Lint's The Ivory And The Horn, or Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
It's an interesting genre, where authors weave magic and mystery around aspects of city life that frequently goes unnoticed. All too often, there is the theme of homeless bag-men and bag-ladies as being practitioners of magic. Remember Mad Hattie in Sandman. And it's usually a rather im-potent form of magic or illusions, not the fancy fireballs and magic missiles from D&D.
I can't imagine there being much fandom for this genre. But it's nice to read something less mainstream once in a while. Particularly enjoy Charles de Lint, but he's not mainstream enough for me to get hold of his books easily, else I would have read more...
Magic Street also starts with a Bag-Man, who 'be-witches' an English professor into giving him a lift, and driving him back to his neighbourhood. The professor gets home to find his wife giving birth, although she wasn't pregnant when he left home that morning. When the infant was delivered, unbreathing, the Bag-Man entered the room, took the stillborn, and put it into one of his plastic bags.
And with this sinister beginning, it segways into a story of an orphan boy growing up in a well to do black neighbourhood in LA. A boy who is influenced by magic in his life, and ultimately discovers his beginnings and his fate.
One of O.S.Card's greatest strength is his characterization. He can paint a character so real that you feel that you're living in his world, seeing everything with his eyes. And you inevitably form an emotional bond with the character. Like reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.
Card's story ideas are wonderful also. I like his short stories best.
Magic Street started out wonderful as well... But somehow, towards the end.... I begin to feel like I'm reading Robert Heinlein, a prolific sci-fi writer whose stories always start out strong, but the finish always leaves you unsatisfied. Like fake Viagra that wears off mid-coitus... But in both authors, it is their skillful characterizations that made their books most enjoyable, so I kinda forgive them for their flaccid endings.
The protagonist is an abandoned child named Mack Street. He's raised by Cecil, a boy that found Mack. I don't think it's a coincidence that the two main characters are named Mack and Ceese.
Mack grows up and meets Puck and Titania as the story builds towards a showdown with a force of great evil.
Pretty standard fantasy fare. But the characters are interesting.
"What fools these mortals be..."
-----Puck, A Midsummer Night's Dream-----
Managed to get hold of O.S.Card's latest one-shot offering. This time a genre of fantasy, that I might describe as 'urban fantasy'... Where magic happens in the streets of an urban city. Kinda like Megan Lindholm's Wizard Of The Pigeons, Charles de Lint's The Ivory And The Horn, or Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
It's an interesting genre, where authors weave magic and mystery around aspects of city life that frequently goes unnoticed. All too often, there is the theme of homeless bag-men and bag-ladies as being practitioners of magic. Remember Mad Hattie in Sandman. And it's usually a rather im-potent form of magic or illusions, not the fancy fireballs and magic missiles from D&D.
I can't imagine there being much fandom for this genre. But it's nice to read something less mainstream once in a while. Particularly enjoy Charles de Lint, but he's not mainstream enough for me to get hold of his books easily, else I would have read more...
Magic Street also starts with a Bag-Man, who 'be-witches' an English professor into giving him a lift, and driving him back to his neighbourhood. The professor gets home to find his wife giving birth, although she wasn't pregnant when he left home that morning. When the infant was delivered, unbreathing, the Bag-Man entered the room, took the stillborn, and put it into one of his plastic bags.
And with this sinister beginning, it segways into a story of an orphan boy growing up in a well to do black neighbourhood in LA. A boy who is influenced by magic in his life, and ultimately discovers his beginnings and his fate.
One of O.S.Card's greatest strength is his characterization. He can paint a character so real that you feel that you're living in his world, seeing everything with his eyes. And you inevitably form an emotional bond with the character. Like reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird.
Card's story ideas are wonderful also. I like his short stories best.
Magic Street started out wonderful as well... But somehow, towards the end.... I begin to feel like I'm reading Robert Heinlein, a prolific sci-fi writer whose stories always start out strong, but the finish always leaves you unsatisfied. Like fake Viagra that wears off mid-coitus... But in both authors, it is their skillful characterizations that made their books most enjoyable, so I kinda forgive them for their flaccid endings.
The protagonist is an abandoned child named Mack Street. He's raised by Cecil, a boy that found Mack. I don't think it's a coincidence that the two main characters are named Mack and Ceese.
Mack grows up and meets Puck and Titania as the story builds towards a showdown with a force of great evil.
Pretty standard fantasy fare. But the characters are interesting.
"What fools these mortals be..."
-----Puck, A Midsummer Night's Dream-----
AirAsia, LCC, Sibu
Just got back from a weekend in Sibu.
Used AirAsia to get the cheapest fare possible. I saved hundreds flying on a weekday, instead of the weekend. Only costs me 2 days' work leave, rm60 for airfare and rm90 in airport taxes.
Flight was on Friday morning, 7am. Had to do a fair bit of research to find the most economical way there.
I used to have a strategy of parking at the Putrajaya ERL station, and take an rm6.40 train ride to KLIA. That won't work this time around, since AirAsia moved to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in March.
The earliest train will leave from the Putrajaya ERL at 5:50, that gets me to KLIA at 6:10, and I still have to take a connecting bus from the Main Terminal to the LCCT. Although both terminals are using the same air-strip, just on opposite sides, but getting from point A to point B is not a straight line. It's a 20km bus ride.
After further research around the net, I was convinced that there's a feeder bus from the Salak Tinggi ERL straight to the LCCT, first bus at 5am. That's what the AirAsia website said.
Downloaded GoogleEarth. Blew up the aerial shot of the Salak Tinggi ERL. Good. There's a good open air carpark. And no sign of those parking barriers, so the parking is free.
Plan A: Park at Salak Tinggi. Take the bus to LCCT.
To be safe, I scanned the aerial view of the LCCT too. Measured its distance to the post office. It's very near the post office where I went a few months back. There's a clearing where I parked that time, and its walking distance to the LCCT from there.
That's Plan B.
Worst case, Plan C, I can park at the LCCT carpark. The parking rate for a couple of days, will still be cheaper than 2 cab-fares to and from PJ.
Woke up at 3:30am on Fri morning, planned the route to Salak Tinggi with my GPS map, and left the house at 4am. The GPS map brought me via a rather _creative_ route... But it saved me more than rm10 in toll.
Waited more than half an hour at Salak Tinggi. The bus appears to be a myth. None of the workers at the station had ever seen such a bus. Scrap Plan A.
Found the clearing near the post office alright. But it's been cordoned off. Scrap Plan B. I could still park along the road-side there as many are doing, but decided not to take the risk. It'll be there for too many days.
Plan C, parked at the LCCT open air carpark. RM30 per 24hr period. Still not too bad. RM50 penalty for losing the parking chip token. ....hmmm....
Anyways, just barely made it to the check-in counter on time.
All this effort to drive to the airport? Cos I've an important date on Monday evening, right after I get back from Sibu. That's why I needed my car waiting for me.
Wasn't much to do in Sibu, except eat. And visit my 92yr old grandma. It's good to see that she has recovered a fair bit of strength, and was coherent enough to ask me why have I not found myself a girl at my age...
I also sinned. Again...
Used AirAsia to get the cheapest fare possible. I saved hundreds flying on a weekday, instead of the weekend. Only costs me 2 days' work leave, rm60 for airfare and rm90 in airport taxes.
Flight was on Friday morning, 7am. Had to do a fair bit of research to find the most economical way there.
I used to have a strategy of parking at the Putrajaya ERL station, and take an rm6.40 train ride to KLIA. That won't work this time around, since AirAsia moved to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in March.
The earliest train will leave from the Putrajaya ERL at 5:50, that gets me to KLIA at 6:10, and I still have to take a connecting bus from the Main Terminal to the LCCT. Although both terminals are using the same air-strip, just on opposite sides, but getting from point A to point B is not a straight line. It's a 20km bus ride.
After further research around the net, I was convinced that there's a feeder bus from the Salak Tinggi ERL straight to the LCCT, first bus at 5am. That's what the AirAsia website said.
Downloaded GoogleEarth. Blew up the aerial shot of the Salak Tinggi ERL. Good. There's a good open air carpark. And no sign of those parking barriers, so the parking is free.
Plan A: Park at Salak Tinggi. Take the bus to LCCT.
To be safe, I scanned the aerial view of the LCCT too. Measured its distance to the post office. It's very near the post office where I went a few months back. There's a clearing where I parked that time, and its walking distance to the LCCT from there.
That's Plan B.
Worst case, Plan C, I can park at the LCCT carpark. The parking rate for a couple of days, will still be cheaper than 2 cab-fares to and from PJ.
Woke up at 3:30am on Fri morning, planned the route to Salak Tinggi with my GPS map, and left the house at 4am. The GPS map brought me via a rather _creative_ route... But it saved me more than rm10 in toll.
Waited more than half an hour at Salak Tinggi. The bus appears to be a myth. None of the workers at the station had ever seen such a bus. Scrap Plan A.
Found the clearing near the post office alright. But it's been cordoned off. Scrap Plan B. I could still park along the road-side there as many are doing, but decided not to take the risk. It'll be there for too many days.
Plan C, parked at the LCCT open air carpark. RM30 per 24hr period. Still not too bad. RM50 penalty for losing the parking chip token. ....hmmm....
Anyways, just barely made it to the check-in counter on time.
All this effort to drive to the airport? Cos I've an important date on Monday evening, right after I get back from Sibu. That's why I needed my car waiting for me.
Wasn't much to do in Sibu, except eat. And visit my 92yr old grandma. It's good to see that she has recovered a fair bit of strength, and was coherent enough to ask me why have I not found myself a girl at my age...
I also sinned. Again...
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Comic: Heart of Dorkness
WooHoo!!!
Finally got my hands on book 3 of John Kovalic's Dork Tower compilations: Heart of Dorkness.
This is the book where Matt gets back together with his ex-girlfriend Kayleigh, a woman who cannot understand Matt's passions and choice of friends.
Also, the one where Matt finally meets Gilly the Perky Goth, a heaven-made match, but they kept missing the chance to meet in previous books. Until the very second after Matt became unavailable...
The tragedy....
When oh when can I find Livin' la vida Dorka, the next book ??
Movie: Cars
This is the latest offering from Pixar. A CG animated feature featuring cars.
Rather disappointing. Not that the movie was bad in any way... Just that, I've come to expect excellence from Pixar after so many successive hits. Cars was only mediocre.
And I don't really fancy Owen Wilson's voice as Lightning McQueen. His voice has a patronizing, cocky quality, which I suppose is just perfect for the character... But after Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights, I just can't stand it.
Rookie race car works alone and fails to win. Gets himself impounded in the middle of nowhere. Discovers an old mentor, a young love, and a simple friend. Comes back stronger for the big finish.
It's like cliches have come back into fashion or something.
Rather disappointing. Not that the movie was bad in any way... Just that, I've come to expect excellence from Pixar after so many successive hits. Cars was only mediocre.
And I don't really fancy Owen Wilson's voice as Lightning McQueen. His voice has a patronizing, cocky quality, which I suppose is just perfect for the character... But after Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights, I just can't stand it.
Rookie race car works alone and fails to win. Gets himself impounded in the middle of nowhere. Discovers an old mentor, a young love, and a simple friend. Comes back stronger for the big finish.
It's like cliches have come back into fashion or something.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
New Toy
Bought a Microscope from Lelong.
Is that cool or what?
It's one of those things I wished I had when I was a boy. To be able to look at the bristles on an ant, or the probocis of a mosquito.
Every boy should have a microscope! That, and a magnifying glass, and a telescope.
And I bought mine for only RM79.
It's been more entertaining than a TV.
And when I can get my hands on a couple of glass slides and cover-slips, there's the exciting world of blood smears and worm cysts to re-discover....
Is that cool or what?
It's one of those things I wished I had when I was a boy. To be able to look at the bristles on an ant, or the probocis of a mosquito.
Every boy should have a microscope! That, and a magnifying glass, and a telescope.
And I bought mine for only RM79.
It's been more entertaining than a TV.
And when I can get my hands on a couple of glass slides and cover-slips, there's the exciting world of blood smears and worm cysts to re-discover....
Monday, June 12, 2006
Game: Twilight Imperium
Suffered a case of serious brain-fart last Saturday night... Made a social commitment that I wasn't quite ready for.Some time around 1130pm at Settler's Cafe, I agreed to a game of Twilight Imperium. 3rd Edition, no less.
I didn't leave the cafe until 7am.
TI3 is a huge boardgame of galactic conquest. A game of space exploration, diplomacy, trade, techonology research, fleet production and space combat. All the great ingredients of galactic empire building.
But OMG! It takes FOREVER to play!!
I can't even begin to get into how the gameplay works... But it takes oodles and oodles of time to play. Don't even buy the game unless you have a cadre of insane friends to play it with.
And incidentally, I have more than a passing acquaintance with insanity.
Granted this being the case... But there's no denying that this IS the best space strategy boardgame by far. And a 6-person game of TI3 is an experience that is not within the realm of possibility for many people. (Due to the inability of finding 5 other people mad enough to play with). Although Sunday became a Shaun-like haze for me, I think the experience was quite satisfying.
Movie: 杀破狼 SPL : Sha Po Lang
I hardly bother with HK movies nowadays. Too many disappointments. Too too many...
But boy, did I "drop my glasses" [lit. translation of 跌破眼镜] this time!!
Noticed the DVD of 杀破狼 (Saat Po Long in Cantonese, Sha Po Lang in Mandarin) many months ago. A few glances at pirated wares. Only noting the title of this movie with a pic of 洪金宝 (Sammo Hong) on the cover.
Noted the title, only because 杀破狼 was the name of a 'power move' by a memorable character in the 风云 universe. That's the HK comic by 马荣成, which got made into a so-so movie a few years ago. Followed this comic for a while, cos after 金庸 retired from writing, the only sword-fighting stories worth reading are 马荣成's comics.
Anyway, I just happened to find this movie in my housemate's harddisk, and I copied it over for a watch.
It's a cop movie. Sammo Hong is the evil gang lord. A team of bad-good cops have become obsessed with bringing Sammo to justice, to the extent that they were wiling to frame Sammo for the murder of an undercover cop, the death of whom Sammo was innocent of, since he only 4-Iron-ed the undercover half to death.
The bulk of the action happens on one Father's Day. There is some sort of a plot somewhere. An assassin under Sammo's employ kills a few cops. Donnie Yen, the good-good cop kills the assassin and Sammo.
The acting was OK. The plot was OK. The directing was OK.
The martial arts choreography was STUNNING!!
I was floored by the penultimate battle between Donnie wielding a telescopic baton, and Wu Jing with a Yakuza tanto. It was a vicious, go for the throat battle... fast and furious. It's like watching Bruce Lee, if he went full throttle and didn't have to slow down his punches for the sake of the limitations of the slow cameras of yore.
Donnie's baton fighting is as deadly as a viper, and Wu Jing's knife fighting has the fatal grace of a tiger. This battle even overshadowed the final show-down with Sammo.
There's no wire-fu. No fantasy, like fighting on bamboo. No flying shadow kick. No stylish Jackie Chan fighting with props. No Bollywood brawl where no less than 500 punches are thrown before somebody stays down. No Matrix's style over substance. And don't even compare it to VanDamme or Seagal flicks!
It's like a sword-fighting flick, but grounded in reality. Real martial arts masters going away at each others' jugulars.
I've really paid too little attention to HK films. But I'm grateful for this opportunity to find out more about Donnie. I didn't recognise him from the history-making fight against Jet Li in Once Upon A Time In China 2, nor as the evil eunuch from Dragon Inn (新龙门客栈), nor as 长空 (another name derived from 马荣成's creations) the spear-wielding assassin in Hero, nor in Tsui Hark's pathetic 七剑 (Seven Swords). And apparently in Blade 2, Highlander: Endgame and Shanghai Knights too. He'll be coming again in 龙虎门 (lit translation: Dragon Tiger Gate), which will be based on an ancient HK comic, from the time when Adam West was still Batman. Wasn't going to give two hoots for this movie, but I may have changed my mind now, though I still have to find a way to deal with my revulsion of Nicholas Tse....
Wu Jing had the misfortune of being obscured in disastrous films, like Tsui Hark's (again) embarassing Legend of Zu. But here's hoping that SPL will bring him better roles in future.
But boy, did I "drop my glasses" [lit. translation of 跌破眼镜] this time!!
Noticed the DVD of 杀破狼 (Saat Po Long in Cantonese, Sha Po Lang in Mandarin) many months ago. A few glances at pirated wares. Only noting the title of this movie with a pic of 洪金宝 (Sammo Hong) on the cover.
Noted the title, only because 杀破狼 was the name of a 'power move' by a memorable character in the 风云 universe. That's the HK comic by 马荣成, which got made into a so-so movie a few years ago. Followed this comic for a while, cos after 金庸 retired from writing, the only sword-fighting stories worth reading are 马荣成's comics.
Anyway, I just happened to find this movie in my housemate's harddisk, and I copied it over for a watch.
It's a cop movie. Sammo Hong is the evil gang lord. A team of bad-good cops have become obsessed with bringing Sammo to justice, to the extent that they were wiling to frame Sammo for the murder of an undercover cop, the death of whom Sammo was innocent of, since he only 4-Iron-ed the undercover half to death.
The bulk of the action happens on one Father's Day. There is some sort of a plot somewhere. An assassin under Sammo's employ kills a few cops. Donnie Yen, the good-good cop kills the assassin and Sammo.
The acting was OK. The plot was OK. The directing was OK.
The martial arts choreography was STUNNING!!
I was floored by the penultimate battle between Donnie wielding a telescopic baton, and Wu Jing with a Yakuza tanto. It was a vicious, go for the throat battle... fast and furious. It's like watching Bruce Lee, if he went full throttle and didn't have to slow down his punches for the sake of the limitations of the slow cameras of yore.
Donnie's baton fighting is as deadly as a viper, and Wu Jing's knife fighting has the fatal grace of a tiger. This battle even overshadowed the final show-down with Sammo.
There's no wire-fu. No fantasy, like fighting on bamboo. No flying shadow kick. No stylish Jackie Chan fighting with props. No Bollywood brawl where no less than 500 punches are thrown before somebody stays down. No Matrix's style over substance. And don't even compare it to VanDamme or Seagal flicks!
It's like a sword-fighting flick, but grounded in reality. Real martial arts masters going away at each others' jugulars.
I've really paid too little attention to HK films. But I'm grateful for this opportunity to find out more about Donnie. I didn't recognise him from the history-making fight against Jet Li in Once Upon A Time In China 2, nor as the evil eunuch from Dragon Inn (新龙门客栈), nor as 长空 (another name derived from 马荣成's creations) the spear-wielding assassin in Hero, nor in Tsui Hark's pathetic 七剑 (Seven Swords). And apparently in Blade 2, Highlander: Endgame and Shanghai Knights too. He'll be coming again in 龙虎门 (lit translation: Dragon Tiger Gate), which will be based on an ancient HK comic, from the time when Adam West was still Batman. Wasn't going to give two hoots for this movie, but I may have changed my mind now, though I still have to find a way to deal with my revulsion of Nicholas Tse....
Wu Jing had the misfortune of being obscured in disastrous films, like Tsui Hark's (again) embarassing Legend of Zu. But here's hoping that SPL will bring him better roles in future.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Malaysia: Don't Discriminate Against People Who Don't Speak Mandarin
Our Deputy PM is pissed at employers who have put up advertisements for job openings asking for candidates who are proficient in Mandarin.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/5/31/nation/14399649&sec=nation
Quote of the day, "It is discriminatory. Such a practice should stop."
The irony just blows my mind.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/5/31/nation/14399649&sec=nation
Quote of the day, "It is discriminatory. Such a practice should stop."
The irony just blows my mind.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Movie: The Da Vinci Code
Crappier than the book.
Dan Brown is an over-hyped and undeserving second-rate storyteller.
Dan Brown is an over-hyped and undeserving second-rate storyteller.
News: Mystery of the Crooked Bridge
Finally, the mystery is explained.
After all the speculation and the debating, finally I read one take on the story that is reasonably believable. Although I have always had strong faith in Einstein's wisdom, even this faith was somewhat stretched when I hear stories of the bridge in our local papers.
But now, a story that makes sense and restored my faith in Einstein.
After all the speculation and the debating, finally I read one take on the story that is reasonably believable. Although I have always had strong faith in Einstein's wisdom, even this faith was somewhat stretched when I hear stories of the bridge in our local papers.
But now, a story that makes sense and restored my faith in Einstein.
Movie: The Hollow Man II
It's a piece of shit.
Don't bother. You've seen all the invisible man special effects in the first Hollow Man already, especially the part where the guinea pig turns invisible fleshy layer by fleshy layer.
This time, you just get to see a lot of people getting shoved about by an invisible force. Or rather, you just see actors slamming themselves against the wall, to act like they've been shoved by an invisible force.
Pathetic.
Don't bother. You've seen all the invisible man special effects in the first Hollow Man already, especially the part where the guinea pig turns invisible fleshy layer by fleshy layer.
This time, you just get to see a lot of people getting shoved about by an invisible force. Or rather, you just see actors slamming themselves against the wall, to act like they've been shoved by an invisible force.
Pathetic.
Movie: 16 Blocks
16 Blocks. New movie from Bruce Willis.
A tired, aging, alcoholic cop fights impossible odds to deliver a witness from police custody to a courthouse.
Almost sounds like Die Hard, Die Harder, Die Hard3 all over again. But a lot less John Wayne. And Bruce doesn't do as much running with his character's gimp leg. And no C4's were employed in the production of this movie.
Still, the suspense is pretty good. A few interesting plot turns.
Bruce plays the part of the tired cop perfectly. The slouchy, apathetic demeanor...
"Life's too long. And people like you makes it longer."
Quite an OK watch.
A tired, aging, alcoholic cop fights impossible odds to deliver a witness from police custody to a courthouse.
Almost sounds like Die Hard, Die Harder, Die Hard3 all over again. But a lot less John Wayne. And Bruce doesn't do as much running with his character's gimp leg. And no C4's were employed in the production of this movie.
Still, the suspense is pretty good. A few interesting plot turns.
Bruce plays the part of the tired cop perfectly. The slouchy, apathetic demeanor...
"Life's too long. And people like you makes it longer."
Quite an OK watch.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Movie: Shaun of the Dead
Never liked zombie movies.
But Shaun of the Dead is one of a kind. It's hilarious.
It plays on that delightful stereotype that Brits are calm & polite, and more deathly afraid of making a fuss, than death itself. Versus the stereotype that Americans turn into selfish, twitchy schizophrenics in a life & death crisis, that we see so often in slasher flicks.
Here's a protagonist that's so slow on the uptake, that he practically blends in with the walking dead.
It's a story of the bond of brotherhood, filial responsibility, and love. After Shaun has an epiphany (in the form of a zombie with a hole in her gut), he rises to the occassion with heroic resolve as he saves his friend, his mother, and his ex-girlfriend. All the while, maintaining his British cool, and never forgetting to make the necessary introductions as good manners dictates.
Very funny. Must watch.
But Shaun of the Dead is one of a kind. It's hilarious.
It plays on that delightful stereotype that Brits are calm & polite, and more deathly afraid of making a fuss, than death itself. Versus the stereotype that Americans turn into selfish, twitchy schizophrenics in a life & death crisis, that we see so often in slasher flicks.
Here's a protagonist that's so slow on the uptake, that he practically blends in with the walking dead.
It's a story of the bond of brotherhood, filial responsibility, and love. After Shaun has an epiphany (in the form of a zombie with a hole in her gut), he rises to the occassion with heroic resolve as he saves his friend, his mother, and his ex-girlfriend. All the while, maintaining his British cool, and never forgetting to make the necessary introductions as good manners dictates.
Very funny. Must watch.
Comics: Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a new 7 part story from DC.
Apparently, it's spring cleaning. So DC started an ambitious story arc, bringing hundreds of the DC universe's characters together, and prune off a great number of them.
A society is organising all the villians together, methodically kidnapping and killing heroes.
A telepath, powered up just for the sake of this story arc (beyond the limits of the abilities he previously demonstrated in continuity), made Superman hallucinate that he is fighting bad guys when he's fighting the good guys.
Wonder Woman, was forced to kill the telepath because that was the only way to save Supe.
This act of violence destroyed WW's credibility as a hero. And triggers Batman's Brother Eye satellite to activate protocols to enforce justice. [OMG!! I can't believe that there's a wikipedia entry on Brother Eye!]
Batman's paranoia and trust issues had made him develop a satellite system to spy and keep track of all the superhuman on earth. He has always had trust issues, but this paranoia was exacerbated by the events in Identity Crisis, where he discovered that he had been mind-wiped by his own comrades in the JLA. Incidentally, Identity Crisis was a far, far better book than this one.
Brother Eye evolved into an AI, and became independent of Batman's controls. It launched attacks against several characters. Particularly WW.
Some kind of giant cosmic battle is taking place at the centre of the universe.
An aged Superman, a good Lex Luthor, Superboy Prime, a dying Lois Lane are introduced as being survivors of an alternate multiverse from Crisis of Infinite Earths. These penetrate some kind of space-time barrier to try to rally this foul and corrupted Earth, and convince the players to abandon it and recreate the other, better alternate Earth.
A few characters make their peace and unite again to face the crisis.
Superboy Prime goes nuts and kills some heroes. A couple of Flash-es grabs him and brings him to another time and place. He comes back stronger. It takes two Supermen and the sacrifice of a great number of Green Lanterns to subdue him.
Meanwhile Alexander Luthor is mixing and matching all the multiverses in a petri-dish in an attempt to create the PERFECT world.
Ever wondered how thin you can spread a plot? Well, here you go.
The heroes in DC comics' universe is just over-powered. Thus, they have to fight in these grand plot-lines. It makes the characters impossible to identify with, after a while. Then every once in a while, they tear too many holes in their continuity that they have to push a reset button to alter reality and start over.
Good thing I didn't spend any money on this series...
Apparently, it's spring cleaning. So DC started an ambitious story arc, bringing hundreds of the DC universe's characters together, and prune off a great number of them.
A society is organising all the villians together, methodically kidnapping and killing heroes.
A telepath, powered up just for the sake of this story arc (beyond the limits of the abilities he previously demonstrated in continuity), made Superman hallucinate that he is fighting bad guys when he's fighting the good guys.
Wonder Woman, was forced to kill the telepath because that was the only way to save Supe.
This act of violence destroyed WW's credibility as a hero. And triggers Batman's Brother Eye satellite to activate protocols to enforce justice. [OMG!! I can't believe that there's a wikipedia entry on Brother Eye!]
Batman's paranoia and trust issues had made him develop a satellite system to spy and keep track of all the superhuman on earth. He has always had trust issues, but this paranoia was exacerbated by the events in Identity Crisis, where he discovered that he had been mind-wiped by his own comrades in the JLA. Incidentally, Identity Crisis was a far, far better book than this one.
Brother Eye evolved into an AI, and became independent of Batman's controls. It launched attacks against several characters. Particularly WW.
Some kind of giant cosmic battle is taking place at the centre of the universe.
An aged Superman, a good Lex Luthor, Superboy Prime, a dying Lois Lane are introduced as being survivors of an alternate multiverse from Crisis of Infinite Earths. These penetrate some kind of space-time barrier to try to rally this foul and corrupted Earth, and convince the players to abandon it and recreate the other, better alternate Earth.
A few characters make their peace and unite again to face the crisis.
Superboy Prime goes nuts and kills some heroes. A couple of Flash-es grabs him and brings him to another time and place. He comes back stronger. It takes two Supermen and the sacrifice of a great number of Green Lanterns to subdue him.
Meanwhile Alexander Luthor is mixing and matching all the multiverses in a petri-dish in an attempt to create the PERFECT world.
Ever wondered how thin you can spread a plot? Well, here you go.
The heroes in DC comics' universe is just over-powered. Thus, they have to fight in these grand plot-lines. It makes the characters impossible to identify with, after a while. Then every once in a while, they tear too many holes in their continuity that they have to push a reset button to alter reality and start over.
Good thing I didn't spend any money on this series...
Movie: Final Destination
Just watched parts 2 & 3 of this franchise.
The movies have an idiotic plot: someone had a premonition of death, a half dozen people cheated Death as a result, Death comes hunting down the survivors in a series of bizarre accidents.
The acting is of the calibre of Dawn of the Dead. Actually, the zombies were a fair bit better. But I've only watched 10minutes of the classic, so I shan't comment too much on that.
But yet, there's a perverse thrill to watching Final Destination. You know who's gonna die. And you know that it's gonna be gory. And yet, the film still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat, and surprise you with Death's machinations.
Everyone who has seen FD2 will agree with me that the air-bag death was the most ironic, and the most memorable.
And the gore is like watching Fear Factor in one of those events where the participants have to bob in a barrel of chum. Seeing heads beheaded, impaled, squished, nailed; bodies impaled, sliced, smushed, toasted etc... It's a perverse and guilty thrill.
Quite a bit of SFX effort had been put into the highway pile-up and roller-coaster disaster. The movies deserve some credit for that too.
The movies have an idiotic plot: someone had a premonition of death, a half dozen people cheated Death as a result, Death comes hunting down the survivors in a series of bizarre accidents.
The acting is of the calibre of Dawn of the Dead. Actually, the zombies were a fair bit better. But I've only watched 10minutes of the classic, so I shan't comment too much on that.
But yet, there's a perverse thrill to watching Final Destination. You know who's gonna die. And you know that it's gonna be gory. And yet, the film still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat, and surprise you with Death's machinations.
Everyone who has seen FD2 will agree with me that the air-bag death was the most ironic, and the most memorable.
And the gore is like watching Fear Factor in one of those events where the participants have to bob in a barrel of chum. Seeing heads beheaded, impaled, squished, nailed; bodies impaled, sliced, smushed, toasted etc... It's a perverse and guilty thrill.
Quite a bit of SFX effort had been put into the highway pile-up and roller-coaster disaster. The movies deserve some credit for that too.
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