Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars is back and it is back with a vengeance. After the recent prequels including the earlier Clone Wars cartoons, the enthusiasm that I had for all things Star Wars kinda' faded due to disappointment. Don't get me wrong, a Jedi Starfighter will take out the USS Enterprise (Star Trek) anytime... even on a bad day... (Hope I don't get flamed for this) but I had very high expectations of Star Wars. After watching the prequels, one can't help feel that instead of bringing the Star Wars legend to a higher level, all it achieved was plug in some of the holes in the whole saga. Needless to say I left the cinemas without the 'high' I was hoping to get.

But anyway, that's in the past. After watching the first three episodes of The Clone Wars (TCW), I'd have to say that it has yet to disappoint. Part of this I feel is attributed to the focus on the battles rather than the relationships between the various characters which pretty much screwed up the prequels. This in turn can probably be attributed to the lack of chemistry between the stars.

TCW pretty much follows the events of Episode II and the previous Clone Wars cartoons back in 2003. For the uninitiated, the Clone Wars is the significant event in Star Wars history that led to the rise of Emperor Palpatine ending with the outlawing and subsequent extermination of the Jedi order.

TCW pretty much picks up from the the previous cartoons and centers on the adventures of Yoda, Obi Wan, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's new padawan (Jedi disciple). Yoda was back to his former comedic self and this brought back memories of him in The Empire Strikes Back (TESB) which coincidentally is my favourite Star Wars movie of all time.

There's sufficient action to keep us on the edge of our seats and battle droids are providing much welcome comedic relief as well.

The graphics is also much better than the 2003 cartoons and this is a big relief. What I think is interesting is also the way it has embedded messages into each episode such as "Great leaders inspire greatness in others" and "Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction" which I felt was good.

The force is definitely strong in this one.

Mongol

A show worth watching if you like historically based epics. Think Braveheart, 300, Kingdom of Heaven and the like. Nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar for 2008, it's in Mongolian but the subtitles is pretty good. Mongol is a movie about the rise of Genghis Khan. The cinematography & acting was great. Some of the scenes kinda reminded me of 300 but overall, the movie stood out on its own.

Main complaint would have been that the entire story kinda felt compressed. I guess there was no way that the director could have squeezed the whole story of Genghis Khan's life into 2 hours and it kinda' focused on the main highlights of his life but probably could've stretched it a little bit more.

Considering whatever little I remembered from my primary school history which portrayed Genghis Khan as a barbarian the movie humanised him somewhat. The movie is factually thin and though the characters are accurate and most of the key characters in Genghis Khan's life are in the movie it's all very briefly covered and on occasions you get the feeling that the movie kinda skips...

Anyhow, it's still worth checking out.

You Don't Wanna Watch Zohan!!

It's been busy lately sorting out work... sheesh... How come work never gets sorted out? I'm always sorting... and sorting... and sorting...

Since The Dark Knight (TDK), I've been away from the cinemas... somehow no urge to go watch a movie cos everything seemed so boring after TDK...

But anyway, went for a movie marathon last weekend. Was strolling along Mid Valley with Bao Yi with the intention of catching a movie. Not only did I not get to watch the movie I was thinking of watching, I had to endure watching a movie that should never have been made in the first place. What movie did I want to watch that bad? Well... It wasn't exactly an irresistable urge but was hoping to catch The Clone Wars. For those of you who don't know, this will be the prelude to the Clone Wars TV Series... Anyway, they only had one show and we'd missed it so we ended up getting tickets for 2 shows back to back... Zohan (Even the mention of it sends a tingle down my spine) and Wall-E.

Anyway, Zohan in 2 words is 'brainless comedy'... It's not that it was lousy acting... Rob Schneider (The Animalistic Man Whore) is in there and Adam Sandler was okay but I was not much of a fan of this genre of comedy so... I guess it's just me. Those who love Jim Carrey, Leslie Nielsen and Stephen Chow would probably be rolling on the floor but it's just not my cup of tea. Wall-E on the other hand was nice...

The week before that watched Mummy 3 although... yes yes yes... everyone pretty much told me it was horrible... But I guess I was a sucker for punishment...

My verdict? Well... It was still watchable la... If not for the acting at least for the action. Considering how well (in my opinion) Brendan Fraser was in so many other shows, I was disappointed with Mummy 3. Somehow, I just didn't feel like he was in the show. So much so that the brother in law that I found irritating in the earlier Mummies did much better. Sheesh... even the abominable snowmen acted better. And I'd rather not talk about the son and the 'new' wife.

Dato' Michelle Yeoh (DMY) & Jet Li didn't really shine in the movie as well. Although DMY started out in action movies and is more than capable of carrying herself in a fight, I kinda prefer her in dramas as she has that regal, classy air to her and she shines much much better in movies like Memoirs of a Geisha and the Children of Nanking... Jet Li? Well... still prefer his chinese movies.

That aside, special effects was ok... So far nothing has been able to surpass the joke that was The Scorpion King... I kinda liked the appearance of the abominable snowmen though.. I've always like the idea of mythical guardian creatures... :-)

Some have mentioned it was probably the lack of the Weisz factor... and you know, I'm inclined to agree. The chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in the earlier 2 mummies was amusing and nice. This I suppose underlined the importance of a good cast and chemistry between the actors & actresses...

I can name several movies that sorta' flopped because of the lack of chemistry... The Star Wars prequels would be one... I mean... I am a Star Wars fan and if there's any show I would watch regardless of what people say, it would be Star Wars but sadly, there was no chemistry whatsoever between Hayden Christensen & Natalie Portman. The Dark Knight was a great movie... but they have also yet to find an actress to really fit in there... maybe that's why you never see the same actress twice in any of the batman sequels... Now compare these with films like Superman (Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder), Classic Star Wars (Harrison Ford & Carrie Fischer), Mummy 1 & Mummy 2 (Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz), Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan & Stephanie Zimbalist)...

That aside, caught some nice movies though outside of the cinema... There's Fly Away Home (starring a young Anna Paquin & Jeff Daniels), Never Back Down (Djimon Hounsou), Felon (Val Kilmer & Stephen Dorff) and The Great Debaters. The Great Debaters deserve special mention... It's a drama based on the true story of a college professor (played by Denzel Washington) who inspired his students to form the school's first debate team that went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship so go check it out...

Let's Put A Smile On That Face!!

Ladies & Gentlemennnnn..... The Dark Knight smashes it's way into box offices and I'm putting it right beside all those shows that I consider the best movies of all time. Among the things that I look for in a movie, it has fulfilled all of them with distinctions. Entertaining, action, special effects, humour, drama, story, plot... It delivered on all levels. Soundtrack no need to say lah... As long as you get Hans Zimmer... somehow, it can't go wrong...

Since Batman Begins, Christian Bale has pretty much replaced Michael Keaton as my favourite Batman. He's still not someone I would call the perfect Batman... Not the same way Christopher Reeve is identified as the one and only Superman or Alec Guiness as Obi Wan Kenobi... But he did great.

And Heath Ledger... Man... his performance gives me chills... In my opinion, the villains in this installment pretty much stole the show. Heath Ledger was simply amazing as the Joker... His portrayal of sadism and cruelty simply puts him right up there as one of my favourite villain of all time. And it's not just that, say what you will... but he even made The Joker classy. And Aaron Eckhart pulled off Two Face satisfactorily as well. His portrayal of Harvey Dent and his eventual 'fall to the dark side' earns him brownie points in my books. It's such a pity that Ledger died such an untimely death as I felt his performance should earn him an Oscar.

Christopher Nolan has pretty much pulled off with the latest 2 installments of Batman what I felt the earlier ones failed to do... Believable villains and a believable Batman. Till today, I still shiver when I think of the nipples on George Clooney's Batman... I almost expected they were gonna use it as a weapon... perhaps to shoot poison gas...

Maybe it's just different styles whereby the earlier installment by Tim Burton wanted to make the villains more comical but I guess I preferred Batman darker. Batman in another way is just not Batman... sort of like a PG-13 Predator vs Aliens movie...

Oh... And catch these few other movies of Heath Ledger... Knights Tale, Casanova, Brokeback Mountain, Brothers Grimm & The Patriot. Especially Knights Tale.

Rating... 20/10.

The Incredible Hulk

Let's see... Was kinda eager to catch a movie after I got back from Redang... Had already missed Indiana Jones and choices that I had were Kung Fu Panda (Nah... Didn't feel like watching cartoons)... Hancock... Hmm... Nolah... Not really in the mood for comedies either...

Had kinda' set my mind on watching The Incredible Hulk queue to get tickets was like soooo long... Anyways, my girlfriend and I was having dinner when Lois called me up and told me she would be dropping by the Gardens so told her to get me tickets if she could... keh keh keh... Unfortunately tickets were kinda late in the night.. 11:30 show and it was only about 10 pm... Suan liao la...

Called Lois and checked if she was having better luck as she had crossed over to Mid Valley and was supposedly queuing for Kung Fu Panda and whaddaya know, Poon was in the queue.... and she was far ahead... So... to cut the long story short, got my tickets... didn't have to wait that late for a movie... Thanks Poon!! :-)

The movie was kinda ok... It was much better than it's predecessor a few years back (The one starring Eric Bana) but overall, I guess my expectations were much higher. Off hand, Edward Norton's an amazing actor. He wasn't that impressive in Red Dragon but was simply amazing in 25th Hour and of course, American History X.

Didn't have very high expectations of Liv Tyler though... Yeah she's a pretty face to watch but I didn't have that high expectations of her as an actress. No offence to all of her fans out there cos' that's just me.

I suppose when the whole show is banking on a character that's digital it's gonna be tough getting both the real and unreal to really jive. Unless if you're Peter Jackson of course... Gollum! Gollum! Gollum! And oh yeah... King Kong!! Btw, do you know that Andy Serkis played both? :-)

Anyway, again, show wise was okaylah... entertaining if I'm not too sleepy but I guess my main grouch is The Hulk was not as menacing as what I had hoped he would be. Yeah the effects were good... But still he didn't really strike it off as a truly menacing green monster.. more like a grouchy bully...

So anyways... I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

It's Back!!!

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins and I'll bet that most of you heard it here first... keh keh keh... They have fortunately replaced Nick Stahl, the actor who played John Connor in Terminator 3 with.... *drum-roll* Christian Bale!! Who? Batman la!! The current installment will supposedly take place in the future. I've seen Christian Bale in a coupl'a movies and I'd say he makes the best Batman so hope he makes a more believable and less wimpy John Connor than the last one.

And nope... No Schwarzeneggar in the cast list. I think it's better that way. When? Early 2009.

In the meantime, go check out Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Not really that exceptional but still watchable la... Fills in the gap between T2 & T3... I'm kinda wondering if it'll eventually explain how John Connor in T2 became as wimpy as John Connor in T3... If for nothing else, go check out the babes...

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

He's small... he's hungry... he's persistent... Scrat's Back!! Pretty amazing how an acorn can last through the Ice Age followed by the great floods... and now dinosaurs!!

It's funny watching his obsession with erm... nuts... specifically acorns. I kinda' enjoyed the first one (The Ice Age)... Wasn't that particular about the previous one (The Meltdown) but I guess I'll be watching this third one. Let's see how many installments they can produce... :-)

Even if you don't stay for the whole show, you should pay the ticket just to watch this little guy in action.

Don't hold your breath though... Releasing only in July 2009.

Tribute to Drew Struzan

Went for a movie on Friday and saw the new Indiana Jones (Indy) poster and I thought to myself "Wow!" This guy is really good! Well.. I'm referring to to Drew Struzan, the poster artist and not Indy. :-)

The first time I can recall seeing his art was way back during my studies in Canada when I purchased the movie poster for Ewoks : Battle for Endor. And I've also seen the ones that he did for The Goonies and also The American Tail.











Then came the Star Wars Special Edition back in '97 where George Lucas decided to edit his Star Wars trilogies to enhance the graphics and also to add in scenes that he felt was essential but never had the chance to do earlier. When the movie posters were released, I was blown away. Since then, I have been a fan... not to the point that I invest in his posters but this guy is way up there when it comes to art.











It's interesting to note that he has a long association with George Lucas & Steven Spielberg who gifted us with movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and many more. In tribute, this blog is dedicated to him and hope to see many more from him.

Comic Movies

Wooo Hooo.... Iron Man blasts into movie theaters everywhere... I wasn't too sure about Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark but I must say, he pulled it off. And Gwyneth Paltrow... ssssssssizzling.... The CGI and effects were really great and those of you who rushed out of the cinema after the movie... and didn't wait till after the credits... :-) Well.. you missed out on the cameo of ****... But.. I won't spoil the surprise.. go watch it again...

Anyway, to my delight, the past few years have seen an amazing onslaught of movies based on comic book characters and with the exception of the recent Superman Returns, I'd have to say I'm liking what I see so far and I can't wait for more, More, MOre, MORE!!!. So... what's coming up next??!! Read On...

The Dark Knight. The second remake of Gotham's nocturnal guardian. I used to say that Michael Keaton was the best Batman... That's until Christian Bale came along... And My God... Heath Ledger's Joker is gonna blow you all away... My only disappointment is the death of Heath Ledger cos' he should have been around to savour his masterpiece. RIP Heath!

Hellboy. Never really bought into the comics but the first movie was kinda interesting. I guess being a fan of Mike Mignola (the artist who created Hellboy) helped. From the trailers, the 2nd movie is gonna be more spectacular than the first one so... go watch it!




The Incredible Hulk. Another remake of a cult favourite. There was one in 2003 starring Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly (sayang cos JC is such a babe!!!) which I felt was a flop... sub-standard CGI and effects... This new remake starring Edward Norton, I hope, will pulverize that to gamma particles... Oooohh.. I shiver just thinking those words... "Please don't make me angry.... You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" ROOOOOAAAARRR!!!

Thor. "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy shall possess the power of Thor!!" Thor is the Norse God of Thunder, banished to live among men by his father to teach him humility within Dr Donald Blake, a frail, partially disabled doctor. He however, discovers Thor's hammer, Mjolnir and lo behold, the God of Thunder has returned as protector of mankind!!

Punisher 2. Yet another remake. Never was a fan of Punisher but oh well... Shortage of good movies nowadays so we'll see how this one turns out. Starring Ray Stevenson, last seen in HBO's Rome as Titus Pullo... Pretty decent acting I might add.

Frank Castle's family was brutally murdered and he was left for dead after witnessing a Mafia execution. Angered with the authorities in ability to bring the perpetrators to justice, he became the punisher... bringing death & destruction to organised crime.

If I'm not wrong, he's the first vigilante in comicdom... amongst all the superheroes.

Origins: Wolverine. Everyone's favourite cigar-chewin', adamantium laced canuck is BACK!! And he's gonna' be spilling more blood, eh?...

The story will reveal Wolverine's past in the Weapon X project and very likely his connection to Sabretooth & William Stryker long before the X-Men came about.

Origins: Magneto. The master of magnetism... not to be outdone by Wolverine returns in his own origin story...

















Justice League. DC Comics' answer to Marvel's Avengers. A superhero team led by Superman with a membership including Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and so many many more... Unlikely that you will see that many characters in the movie. If you watch Smallville, you would already have seen appearances by some of the characters mentioned.



Conan. The word barbarian would simply have no meaning if not for Conan. A character most people would associate to Arnold Schwarzeneggar who portrayed the Cimmerian in the earlier movies.