Tag: Movies

Movie “Marathon” – Kungfu Panda 2 + Pirates of the Caribbeans 4

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Watched Kungfu Panda 2 and Pirates of the Caribbeans 4 on Saturday evening almost back to back and this is my view.


A scene from Kungfu Panda 2

In this sequel, Po the Panda is now the acclaimed Dragon Warrior, maintaining the order and peace around the Valley of Peace. Yet his life will soon face a drastic change when he was sent across China along with his companion kungfu masters, the Furious Five, to save a city from a villain who has created an unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kungfu. In the process he will also discover his origins, and how he became the son of a goose. We will also discover a softer side of Tigress.

To advance to a higher level of kungfu mastery, Po will need to discover his inner peace. It is something that Po will need to discover on his own and cannot be taught. Po will come to face with a tragic part of his life before he can defeat the new villain and this weapon. There are also new kungfu masters, though these were resigned to defeat and did not participate in the action until the end.

Kungfu Panda 2 is a more action packed than the prequel and in my opinion is worth every minute of it, though however I would have preferred a more vicious and dark villain. The ending however, makes it almost certain that there will be a sequel.

Anyway, I would still recommend it for laughter and to loosen up.

~ * ~


A scene from
Pirates of the Caribbeans 4

Pirates of the Caribbeans: On Stranger Tides is the fourth installment of the series, and perhaps this franchise has reached the end of its usefulness and the producers have made one sequel too many. It has nothing to do with the storyline or the new cast, but I am sick of watching Captain Jack Sparrow making one narrow escape after another just like Jacky Chan in his own movies.

In this story, three groups of people were competing to find the Fountain of Youth. They are the Spaniards, the British under Captain Barbossa and the much fear pirate Blackbeard, who has a strange ship – the Queen Anne’s Revenge – that responds to the power of his sword. Jack Sparrow was a hostage on the ship as a result of his old flame Angelica Malon and Captain Barbossa was after Blackbeard to seek revenge for his lost leg.

Some of the mermaids (in particular Gemma Ward, the first mermaid which appeared) are great eye candies. Though I would say the part where the Mermaids showed their true colors could have been better done, because for a brief moment it reminded me of the “Blade” or “Underworld” movies. Why the hell does everyone think of evil beings to all come with elongated canines (or fangs) like werewolves or vampires? On top of which, I do not really understand the ending for the Priest Phillip. He seems to be in love with one of the mermaids he saved and at the end I could not tell whether she took him out of her own nature or to save him.

However, the Spaniards in the movie made up the best twist! Right from the beginning everyone was given the impression of them as competitors looking to gain the rejuvenating power of the fountain for their liege. Their intention wasn’t obvious until they made their way into the fountain site. I wouldn’t elaborate on that as it would be a terrible spoiler.

Unfortunately, in spite of all the action, the editing left much to be desired. Some parts were so draggy that is almost boring but perhaps that maybe the result of me watching this back to back with Kungfu Panda 2. Either way, it still gives the general feel that the movie makers were rushing through the entire movie and the ending seems rather abrupt. I personally don’t think this is a must watch on the big screen. Unless one is a big fan of Johnny Depp, I suggest getting this on a DVD when it becomes available.

Movie – Angels & Demons

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WARNING: SPOILERS INCLUDED!!

‘Angels and Demons’ is movie based on a Dan Brown novel of the same name, made in the wake of the success of the ‘Da Vinci Code’ – also a Dan Brown novel.

With perhaps the exception of Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon, there is no connection at all between this movie and the ‘Da Vinci Code’. The story begins with the death of a Pope, the theft of anti-matter taken from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider [LHC], the invitation of Professor Langdon to assist in the investigation of a terror threat against the Vatican, the kidnap of the Il preferiti’ (the 4 cardinals who are most likely to succeed as Pope), and return of a secret society known as the Illuminati which appears to be pursuing a age old vendetta against the Catholic Church.

For those who had already read the book, the movie was far less exciting even though I must say it has more suspense than its predecessor. However, other than the general storyline being similar to the book, the details in the movie were markedly different. I will not go into the details of those differences, as it would contain even more spoilers.

Unlike the ‘Da Vinci Code’, where it led Professor Langdon to several places in Paris and later to England, the story of ‘Angels and Demons’ happens solely in Rome and Vatican city, and take the audience across the city is a race against time to save the 4 ‘preferiti’ and to recover the anti-matter, failure of which would have dire consequences for Catholic Church and the total destruction of Vatican City.

In some ways it has showcased Rome to the world – the many churches, its long history from the ancient times, the beauty that many Renaissance artists have bequeath upon it. I am quite sure many people will want to visit Rome and see some Rome for themselves after this.

I find the movie’s pace much faster and in fact, even more thrilling than ‘Da Vinci Code’ itself. Ewan McGregor did well in his role as the Camerlengo even though the movie has modified and even omitted many parts of the book to fit into a film of slightly more than 2 hours. If you like the movie, I personally suggest you should also read the book to find out the differences. The book has a lot more depth and suspense, and is far more intriguing, than the movie.

Funny Pic of the Day: Sex with a colleague at work

Movie: You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

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If you are expecting any serious stuff from this movie, then you shouldn’t watch it. It’s an Adam Sandler movie and pure comedy.

The story is about Zohan, an Israeli super-commando who can kick through walls to knock out terrorists hiding behind them, strips a terrorist’s weapon faster than he can pull the trigger, catches bullets with his noise, and kicks any terrorists ass many ways. Yet all he wanted to do was to get away from all the fighting, and be a hair stylist.

Failing to get the understanding from his parents, Zohan fakes his death in a mission to capture the terrorist known as ‘The Phantom’, and then stow away on a plane to America to seek his dreams. After failing to be employed by several hair stylists, he ends up in a neighbourhood where the Arabs and the Israelis live side by side along a common street.

This is where he met Dalia, an Arab girl, and was given a job in the her hair salon and he subsequently fell in love with her after a while. In the background were subplots on how Halim, whose goat was taken by Zohan back when they were still in Israel, trying to take revenge for that deed, and how an evil developer tried to create tension and hatred among the Israeli and Arab expatriate communities so they will move out to allow him to build a mall.

Of course in the end the man gets the girl, and the bad guy gets his just deserts. Behind all these is probably this one big ‘lecture’ on how there isn’t really much separating everyone except for the politics, while the politics also linked them together, and how everyone can put aside the hatred and live happily together. You know, that usual bs about America is the melting pot of all cultures and the land where everyone goes to live out their dreams. [I believe the Russian word for that would be Strana Mechty – Country of Dreams.]

I wondered beyond that, whether the underlying theme behind this movie is trying to tell us that Israeli super-commandos are horny and immoral to the point they don’t care who they are humping. Or is it trying to hint that the Americans – symbolised by the the white real estate developer Walbridge – is the mastermind behind all the flare ups in the Middle East. Of course, I agree entirely that it is meaningless to capture the terrorists only to exchange them after some talks.

My personal opinion is just enjoy the movie and laugh about it without looking for too much meaning. We all need some mindless humor and relaxtion once in awhile and this movie would definitely provide it if you would keep yourself from being too critical or trying to hard to be an artsy fartsy dimwit.

Movies Watched: Shôrin shôjo & Narnia – Prince Caspian

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Shôrin shôjo [少林少女]
Xinyun got free tickets from her colleagues for the prescreen of the movie and I was given the priviledged to watch it with her. My impression of the movie is this: Women’s lacrosse + Shaolin Soccer + Kungfu Hustle, and a tad of Star Wars (Dark Side?!). You can possibly even pass it as a sequel to Shaolin Soccer itself. (Hardly a surprise considering that Stephen Chow is the Executive producer, two of the original actors from Shaolin Soccer and one of actress is from CJ7!)

My feelings are rather mixed for this movie. First of all… when the heck did Shaolin take female disciples? Next, while I am rather pissed with Stephen Chow trying to pass this off as a sequel to Shaolin Soccer – a wonderful movie of its own – and the storyline was pretty much meaningless (in xinyun’s words – wtf?), there are things in the movie which make it redeemable. In fact, for those who are born in the 70s and have watched Japanese TV series on tennis (I think it was tennis) and volley ball, it would be a little nostalgic to watch the computer graphics depicting the absurd trajectory of the ball, albeit done with better quality in the movie. Personally speaking, that’s the other thing – other than the fact that the actors are speaking Japanese – that reminds me that this movie is Japanese.

Synopsis: Shaolin Girl Rin Sakurazara returned to Japan after 3000 days of training, to find her grandfather’s dojo abandoned. Her original master has quit and is now a chef running his own restaurant. She subsequently learn that simply teaching the martial techniques is not quite enough and there are other things to learn – such as the spirit of Shaolin itself, and teamwork. (Here you find a shadow of Stephen Chow in Shaolin Soccer, where he needs to learn that his ability to kick the ball hard and fast is useless if you can’t put it on target.)

Rin slowly learn as a lacrosse player that it’s not just about her and in a team one has to trust her team mates and cooperate with them. She also learn why she was sent away to Shaolin and what caused the dojo to be abandoned during her absence. Ultimately, she has to face the evil enemy and the temptation of the dark side to protect the very people who were trying to protect her, and also the people she cared about.

You are really not missing much if you give the movie a miss. But if you like to see cute Japanese girls… and could let your mind wander and think of the meaning of certain things in a movie, then there’s really no harm watching it either. There are still lighter parts of the movie which is quite entertaining in my opinion.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
I have not read CS Lewis books, and I watched these movies simply for the objective of entertainment. But before I begin, I must say Ben Barnes (who acts as Prince Caspian) has much room to improve as an actor. One Keanu Reeves is quite enough and personally I felt both are better off playing poker than acting. After all, you can’t tell if they are angry, excited, happy or sad.

Synopsis: One year has passed since their defeat of the White Witch, but 1300 years has passed in Narnia. At this time the wife of Miraz, uncle of Prince Caspian X of the Telmarines, has given birth to a son. Seeing that the line of succession is now secured, Miraz moved to the final step in usurping Prince Caspian’s throne and made attempt on the life of Prince Caspian. During his escape, Prince Caspian blew Susan’s magic horn and summoned the Pevensie siblings back to Narnia’s rescue. The Pevensie siblings arrived in time to assist Caspian and to unite the creatures of Old Narnia in their last stand against the Telmarines at Aslan’s How, the location of the destroyed Stone Table, now an underground fortress.

Ultimately, everything that the rest of the Pevensie siblings (except Lucy) do in their own strength was futile. In the end, Lucy has to seek Aslan to deliver the Narnians and restore the land.

I felt this sequel is less exciting and mesmerizing as the first installment of the series. There were also several distortions to the original novel that several bloggers had pointed out. I personally do not know what direction it will take if another novel of the Narnia series is taken to the big screen. I can only hope that any further sequels won’t end up either maiming or destroying CS Lewis’ masterpiece. To prevent that from happening, I will probably start reading the books myself.

Movies Watched: Kungfu Panda & The Incredible Hulk

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Kungfu Panda
This is one of the funniest animation I have watched in a long time. There are parts which are exaggerating but compared to some of the Chinese kungfu comics I am reading, it’s medium rare compared to over-cooked.

There’s also many parts of it that I would considered ‘very Zen’ . For example, Master Wugui (乌龟) saying ‘One often meets his destiny on his way to avoid it’ , and it is generally true, as many people end up facing what they tried to avoid because whatever they did inevitably resulted in it. The Dragon Scroll is the other thing that is ‘very Zen’ too. But I won’t reveal anything about that because that will be the spoiler if I did. (It makes me wonder if that’s the general view of Westerners of Oriental culture because there are parts of Forbidden Kingdom which I felt are quite Zen too.)

Anyway, the story line is about picking one among the inhabitants of the valley as the Dragon Warrior to face the greatest threat they have ever faced, and the Panda Po was chosen. (I won’t get to the part on how a Kungfu ‘moron’ got chosen as it would be yet another spoiler.) The task to train him into the legendary fighting machine fell on the master of the five kungfu experts – Tigress, Mantis, Viper, Monkey and Crane. It is a daunting task that left the master disillusioned and disheartened as Po definitely isn’t cut for the job.

Master Wugui finally convinced the master to have faith in Po and nothing happens by coincidence. After Wugui passed on, the Master finally had enough faith to put his mind into training Po. It is then he discovered Po’s hidden potential and ultimately found an ingenious way to train him – as most of you would probably have seen parts of that in the trailers. And of course in the end there would be the showdown between the villain and the hero where our hero will be triumphant. (And oh, don’t forget to sit through the credits… it will round up the story nicely, and there’s a little bit more at the end.)

The Incredible Hulk
In spite of what American audiences prefer, this is definitely a better make than the previous one made by Lee Ang. In other words you can just wipe your memories and forget that there was ever a Hulk movie made previously. (Just like the Batman Begins completely restored our faith in the series after the disaster of the previous few featuring Val Kilmer and George Clooney.)

No more picking up tanks and throwing them this time round and the story line is way better. The pace of the movie is also controlled very well as it at least keeps me captivated. I do not know how much it has deviated from the original comic series itself but when I looked up Wikipedia articles, at least some of the characters, for e.g. General Ross and Betty Ross etc are from the comic itself.

The story line revolves around how Dr Bruce Banner turned into the Incredible Hulk after a gamma radiation experiment went awry. Unknown to Banner, the experiment is a secret army program to create super soldiers. In General Ross’ own words: Instead of making the hardware better, we made you better.

After destroying the lab where the experiment is conducted, and causing harm to his beloved Betty, Banner escaped to Brazil, where he and ‘Mr. Blue’ tried to find a cure to his condition. While at the end Banner and ‘Mr. Blue’ did almost find the cure (or at least a method to suppress the creature within), Banner was forced to make the choice between living peacefully forever, or to wake the creature within him to fight the Abomination, a creature created by the remnants of the very experiment that created the Hulk, and blood samples taken from Banner himself. The story climaxed with a battle between these two creatures of immense strength and power in the streets of New York.

Spoiler: At the end of the movie, Tony Stark (Iron Man) appeared to invite General Ross into joining him in a special force. I wondered, is Marvel setting up the scene for an Avengers movie featuring all the Marvel Superheroes featured so far? (And no, this is not another ‘after credits’.)
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