[Mini-Review] Gulliver's Travels

Being a Jack Black's movie, I more than expected that this version of an old-time classic is going to be very different. And truth behold, his modern take on this which spawned terms such as lilliput to represent anything small, simply butchered it. Yes, the storyline is the same and it preserves the most famous part but the jokes are sooo...... dumb, though funny nonetheless. So much so that I am beginning to feel this review of mine is dumb too. So if you want an hour and a half of laughter, go watch it. There's one thing I like about it and that's the use of the Bermuda Triangle to explain his travelling to the strange worlds.

Avatar (3D)

Watched it just now. Really good. Reminds me of Spanish Conquistadors vs Native Americans which exploitation and robbing of other people's resources were done in the name of conquest with the murderous deed of annihilating their cultures. Also reminds me of the Vietnam War where fighting on other people's land was simply a lost cause and unjust no matter what the reason was. The last fight scene gives me the familiarity of the fight scene in the Last Samurai.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe

Being a fan of the television series, I was exhilarated with Fox Mulder and Dana Scully finally coming back together again after so long. I had waited all this while naming my online job search agents as Agents Mulder and Scully. However, for this movie, this was also where the excitement stopped. This movie was, well..., normal. Too normal! It's not an X-Files movie to me! Gone were the dark plots and conspiracy theories. No more coverups of alien experiments or mythological experiences, let alone paranormal investigations. Instead, it had replaced the good stuff with corny dialogues and a simple plot. The directing wasn't something to toot about either, with neither enough suspense nor climax. The only good point I could bring with me out of the cinema was a glimpse of what had happened to Mulder and Scully after they exited the FBI. If you are a X-phile, you most probably will be disappointed and if you are a normal viewer, this movie is just another psycho-cum-(a bit of)supernatural thriller. All in all, a letdown to even the simplest fan.

Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Trilogy is one of the more realistically filmed spy thrillers I have seen so far. I watched the last installment of the trilogy, Bourne Ultimatum, this afternoon and a guy (think he's an American based on his accent) told me out of the blue how he liked the movie while we were waiting for the elevator.

I admit that the movie is very well-filmed with solid fighting, exciting chase sequences, and slick cat-and-mouse game moves. Everything was very basic in terms of the tactics and equipment used but yet shown in a stylish way. It's realistic in what a (former) specially trained assassin with a multitude of skills like Jason Bourne can do. The only thing rather unbelievable is the final car crash scene which ended an extended chase. Don't think anyone can simply walk away from that kind of impact.

For anyone who cannot remember or do not know the stories of the first two installments, I will recall them briefly below as well as give a little spoiler of the third.

[Bourne Identity]
This was basically about the who and the what. Who was the guy known as Jason Bourne? What had happened to him? What should he do to escape from people trying to get him?

• A man with no memory of himself was saved after he failed on an assassination.
• He subsequently found an identity whereby he was known as Jason Bourne.
• A group operating under a CIA project codename "Threadstone" had sent killers as well as the police to hunt him down all over Europe.
• He managed to evade them with the help of a girl.

[Bourne Supremacy]
This was basically about the who and the why. Who were the people from project "Threadstone"? Why did they want to kill Jason Bourne?

• A year had passed. He had married the girl but she was killed soon after.
• He was out for revenge but subsequently was turned into a quest for the truth about "Threadstone".
• The killing was ordered to lure him out of hiding as the group could not let his connection to them be exposed.
• A killer bent on bettering him was killing in Jason Bourne's name to forced him out.
• He found out that "Threadstone" was a CIA project by the group to perform assassinations internationally without protocol and the group was said to have turned renegade.
• The CIA thought Jason Bourne was going to expose their secret operations and tried to stopped him.
• Jason Bourne finally who he was and gotten the head of the group to admit to the illegal operations he was once ordered to do.

[Bourne Ultimatum]
This was basically about the how and what. How did Jason Bourne became what he was now? What is the conspiracy inside the CIA that involved him?

• "Threadstone" had been upgraded to "Blackbriar".
• More high-ranking people in the CIA were involved in the unjustified assassinations of many people.
• Someone in the CIA wanted to expose the secret and leaked information to a reporter about Jason Bourne and the project.
• Both the CIA informant and the reporter were killed before Jason Bourne could extract the information he wanted.
• Jason Bourne was the first voluntary trainee of the project to turn soldiers into assassins.
• The lady CIA agent from the previous installment decided to worked with him to expose the conspiracy.

Super (Simpsons) Saturday

Today is a good day. I watched The Simpsons Movie in the afternoon and am now watching the English Premier League. The Simpsons Movie was excellent, so hilarious. Homer's stupidity was definitely out of this world. I don't think anyone can think of doing the things he did, let alone doing it. It was a corny movie.

"Spider-pig, spider-pig..."

Shrek 3

Shrek and gang are back and they are hilarious as ever. The comedy is certainly there with the whole cinema laughing. However, the story this time round is more predictable. There is no more spoof of popular movies this time, unless I missed noticing any. Other characters got more show-time too.

Side Note: I finally got to meet Vega's girlfriend, hahaha... truly happy for him.

POTC3: At World's End

I had spent a fruitful Saturday afternoon. After going to the bank in the morning, I finally managed to catch the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. It was an entertaining movie though it could have been much better with more emphasize on the characters and subplots. Instead it focused a wee bit too much on the special effects. Nonetheless, it was funny in a wicked sort of way. Johnny Depp was excellent as usual with the other characters having better display. The moral of the story (yes, I always try to find a moral behind a story, and there is one even for this kind of movie) is any small fries like the pirates united can stand against a corporate monopoly, the East India Company. Think the open source community versus Microsoft :p

300

I have just watched this movie and oh boy, how unique the cinematography is! Sensual and sexual; bloody with gore; stylish yet raw. Plenty of up-close shots of the characters' faces. Fighting is very MTV-like. The use of extreme contrast: perfect human body vs deformed monsters to represent the mentality of good vs evil; freedom vs slavery; nobility vs sin. East vs West? The ending speech however is rather redundant in length, reminds me of a certain superpower's presidential speech... sounds a bit like propaganda?

If the warrior culture and fighting abilities of the Spartans are anything like those portrayed in the movie, then I can now understand why my history teacher said that Europe till even after the 2nd World War, was fearful of the rise of Macedonia, the rumored descendants of the Spartans. (If I remember my history lesson correctly that is...)

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

Just came back from watching this movie and what a movie. Definitely a blockbuster to me. Action-packed swashbuckling at its best. You still get Captain Jack Sparrow and the cursed ship The Black Pearl. And this time round, you also get the legend of the famous ghost ship The Flying Dutchman and its captain Davey Jones. If you think the special effects are excellent in the first installment, then you won't be disappointed in this installment. I simply love Johnny Depp, with his usual portrayal of strange characters. Captain Jack really comes alive because of him, giving the movie a soul. Really can't wait to see the third installment...

The Da Vinci Code

Just came back from watching The Da Vinci Code movie and I would have to say that it is a nicely done piece of filming. It stays true to the novel although some minor details and a noticeable part have been left out. I guess that this is inevitable, given the length of the story is going to be too long for a 2-hour movie. I wonder can the movie be a little longer. Nonetheless, it is a movie with good direction and in some parts, better than the book itself.

Unlike other movies, surprise surprise, the French actually speak French and the Italians speak Italian. Subtitles thus become important and some may say that it is distracting to read the subtitles but I feel that this gives the movie authenticity and realism. I also like the way the movie presents the theme of the story whereby Landon and Teabing discuss the Holy Grail as any academics will over a cup of tea nonchalantly. No heated arguments, just scholarly debate and presentation. No idea has been forced on the viewer. I especially like the part where computer graphics is used to rearrange the seating arrangement in The Last Supper. How powerful the visual impact is!

As for the actors, Tom Hanks is magnificent as usual, though his hairstyle is a tad too tawdy. He is credible as a professor from Harvard. I love how the albino monk is being portrayed. It is exactly how I have imagined while reading the book. And what else can I say about Sir Ian Mckellen. He's definitely the real knight in his own right, acting the bad one this time. As for the other actors, they suit their characters well.

The ending is rather hastily wrapped up but I like one of the changes the script has as oppose to the novel. The movie has been objective with its presentation of the central idea. It is up to the viewer to interpret the theory given. At the end, Robert Langdon gives his view that can be summarized as:

Faith is just what you believe in. As long as you have faith in your belief, no amount of history can change that. In fact, what information history is going to turn up should not affect one's faith.

And I say, "Watch the movie with an open mind while keeping your faith close to your heart."

The Bourne Identity

I loved it in the cinema the first time and now I loved it still on TV the second time. It's IMHO the best action spy movie I have ever seen.

"War of the Worlds"

Just came back from watching this latest production by Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg and I only have a three-letter word to sum it up: B-A-D. The story didn’t represent the original version whereby humans exploited the flaw in that the aliens could not breathe our air. Hence there was no war between the two worlds. The movie simply concentrated on Tom’s character hiding and running with his children. The ending was so crappy that it left me with a disgusted feel when the credits rolled. I at first thought that it was a joke on the audience by the director but hell no. It was a waste of my money as the movie is definitely a Tom Cruise showcase rather than a story-telling. And he didn’t even act! In all, I will say the the movie is worth at most two stars, one for Dakota Fanning and one for the special effects.

Fortunately I was able to reach home in time to catch the TV telecast of A.I. to restore some of my faith in Steven Spielberg;

好台词

刚才电视重播了旧电影《烈火战车》。里面有两句台词给我很大的印象。
“有些东西，失去了，即使有最快的车也追不回。”
“生命不需要有一定的回忆，但一定不要有遗憾。”
我也觉得生命就必须如此。要追求的，必须趁早。不要老来才说为什么当时没有把握时机。

"Alexander"

I watched the movie "Alexander" yesterday and all I have to say is that it's a disturbing movie about a disturbed man. However, it did nothing to strip away the greatness of one of the greatest conquerors but at the same time not showing the historical importance of him and his conquests. Oliver Stone did not do well enough for this film. This movie is of an average standard that can hardly be compared to films like "Braveheart" and "The Gladiator".