I'm here in Bangalore, India for the next two months and I really haven't explored the place. One of my goals here is to watch a Bollywood film in a movie theater here, but I really don't know the place. :(
So, if anyone can recommend a nice cineplex or movie house here in Bangalore or a nice Bollywood movie to be released within the month, please do chime in! I'll definitely appreciate any suggestion. :D
Tags: Bollywood
We have a winner for The Great Appleseed DVD Giveaway!
Congratulations to kamewh for being the lucky person who will get the special Appleseed Ex Machina DVD from Warner Video. Please check your email for a confirmation message from me. :)
Thanks to everyone who joined, please keep on visiting this blog for more exciting giveaways. :D
Tags: Appleseed Ex Machina
I've followed a lot of superheroes from collecting comic books and I have to admit Iron Man was one superhero I never got to like. But the Iron Man movie is making me change my mind.
Not to surprisingly, the Iron man as a film hero works in almost all levels. First, viewers get to appreciate the mechanized beauty of the suit-- something the comic book can't really give total justice to. Todays computer generated graphics really make Iron Man very believable and scientifically/mechanically plausible.
Second is the alter-ego/secret identity element has been freshened up. Tony Stark is what Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins should have been-- the comics always have always wanted to show a charmed life that contrasts the burden of being a super hero. In the case of Iron Man, Tony Stark fits the contemporary billionaire who realizes he must contribute more to society, something Bill Gates and Warren Buffet did, but Stark decided to use his mechanical engineering genius to save the world.
Third and finally, the film is a very good "reset button" to everyone who knew about Iron Man before the movie. The hero's origin has been updated (instead of dealing with the Nazis, Stark faced problems with an Al-Qaeda-like group) and the corporate aspect of Stark Enterprises resembles the big corporations nowadays, from the public relations to the board room battles.
Robert Downey, Jr. gives his spin to Tony Stark as a fast-talking, wise guy that is quite different from Tony Stark in the comic books. Make no mistake, Downey is superb in this movie, but I guess I was still adjusting to the "new" Tony Stark. Director John Favreau balances the humor, action and commentary with a nice pace, and thankfully doesn't get too caught up in the "hero rescues the damsel" trap.
Iron Man is a great addition to the comic book superhero movies and a definitely a must watch this summer. Heck, you might even get to start liking Iron Man from this film.
Rating: 4.5/5
Tags: Iron Man
In line with the release of Iron Man, VH1 is running a contest called "Become Tony Stark For A Weekend" where the winner and a companion can lead the life of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) where they get a chance to:
- First class air to Los Angeles
- 3 nights stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel
- Chauffeur driven ground transportation
- $1000 shopping spree on Rodeo Drive
- A helicopter tour of Los Angeles
- Spa Treatments
- Dinner in Santa Monica
Joining is easy so drop by their site and get a chance to be Iron Man's alter ego.
Tags: Iron Man
I once read that a story could be done two ways: put ordinary characters in a very interesting situation or put interesting characters in an ordinary situation. The Savages can be classified in the latter group.
The Savage family the movie focuses on is composed Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), younger sister Wendy (Laura Linney) and their elderly father Lenny (Philip Bosco). Each were living their own separate lives until Lenny suffers from dementia brought about by old age. Siblings Jon and Wendy then come together to go through the process of looking for an adequate nursing home for their father while dealing with their own hangups-- Jon is a theater professor with a romance issues while Wendy is a struggling playwright who is in an illicit affair.
Director-writer Tamara Jenkins has created a family drama that is not as quirky as Little Miss Sunshine and not as outright weird as The Royal Tenenbaums. There is witty situational humor and a healthy dose of real issues most people face and experience great pains and deal with them beneath the surface. The strong actors' performances seal the deal for this finely written film.
From an Asian perspective, the concept of sending your elderly seems a far-fetched idea to a lot of families and the way Jon and Wendy handled their situation could be a good cultural exposition to lot of people. The movie is just a story about taking care of an aging father, but also a story of two people growing up.
Note: Starting with my review of The Savages, I'm adding a portion in the post called "Liza's One-Liner," where my girlfriend shares her thoughts on the movie with just one or two sentences.
Liza's One-Liner: "the acting was very good but the story was sad, even if the movie ended on a good note. i never really thought of how getting old will affect me and the people around me before i saw this movie. it's scary and sad :("
Rating: 4.5/5
Tags: The Savages
We have a winner!
The person who emerged as the winner of The Ultimate Alien Nation DVD Contest is Fae from the United States. She was the last person to make a comment on the post and will be sent a copy of the premium DVD box set Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection from Fox.
If Fae doesn't confirm in the next three days, she will forfeit the DVD box set and the second to the last commenter will be the designated winner.
Thanks to everyone who joined the The Ultimate Alien Nation DVD Contest, it was a quick contest and anticipate more contests and DVD giveaways (I'm currently running The Great Appleseed DVD Giveaway, please do join!).
Tags: Alien Nation
The seventh season of television series '24' may be debuting in January 2009, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying adrenalin-pumping action. The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction could be the series that could fill your need for such a series.
Presented by Degree © for Men, The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction is a series of exclusive web episodes and is based on the '24' universe. The series' plot features American Counter Terrorism agent Jason Blaine in a rescue mission to save his boss from a drug cartel in Mexico. The series has six episodes and runs between four to six minutes each.
The digital shorts are directed by Rodney Charters, who directed past episodes of '24.' Here's the first episode of the The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction:
All episodes can be watched in the series' YouTube channel.
Tags: 24
Do you want to the new Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection DVD box set?
If you do, join my new contest: The Ultimate Alien Nation DVD Contest!
How do you join? Very easy:
- Supply an answer to what is being asked: "Name any one of the five movies based on the Alien Nation TV series." Leave a comment on this blog post with your answer plus your name and email address in this format: xxx (at) xxx.com.
- The 25th commenter will be the chosen winner. Take note that I will NOT publish the comments until the 25th commenter is found.
- For blog posts, leave a comment with the link to you blog post, and that comment counts as 3 comments.
- I shall contact the winner and if that person will not confirm in 3 days, that person forfeits the prize and the 26th commenter will be the new winner.
If you need a hint to the question, the answer can be found from this write-up from Fox:
Continuing where the television series left off, Matt Sikes and George Francisco are an unlikely team of detectives who solve crime and moderate human and alien Newcomer activity in this collection of Alien Nation movies that debuted on television. The collection features the following five films: Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994), Alien Nation: Body and Soul (1995), Alien Nation: Millennium (1996), Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996) and Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy (1997).So join now! The premium 3-disc Alien Nation: Complete Movie Collection DVD box set could be yours!
UPDATE:
In the event number of comments do not reach 25, the last person to comment shall be declared the winner.
Tags: Alien Nation
The spoof movies as of late have been generally lame, yet I still watch them hoping to catch a gem. The last one I watched was Meet the Spartans and that was lame.
Superhero Movie! is not the gem I'm looking for, but it's definitely a notch above the recent films. The film borrows its story from Spider-Man, where a teenage kid gets bitten by a radioactive dragonfly and develops super-human abilities. The movie is decent because its source material is superb-- Spider-Man as a superhero film is just near-perfect. The humor is still slapstick and there are a lot of toilet humor gags, but that's pretty much the standard for spoof films these days.
Another thing I liked about the movie is its loyalty to the campy nature of comic book characters. A good example is the villain in the movie, Hourglass (played my Christopher McDonald). His power is sucking the life out of people to survive, and he must do so periodically every 24 hours, like, well an hourglass. Another thing, notice that most of characters in the movie are aliterations or have the same first letters for their first and last names (example, Ricky Riker, Lou Landers. I remember an anecdote Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee mentioned before that they name characters that way (e.g. Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Scott Summers) so that they are easy to remember.
If Superhero Movie! is an indication of the quality of the spoof movies, then we're all in luck. The story is decent, there are funny parts (albeit slapstick) and nice pop culture references (the Tom Cruise guy is just hilarious).
Rating: 2.5/5
Tags: Superhero Movie!
I finally was able to catch the most recent Oscar winner for Best Picture: No Country For Old Men. I've been quite busy lately and this movie was the perfect "reward" for the stuff I've been doing.
Now on to the film: The movie won an Oscar deservingly-- The Coen Brothers were able to translate Pulitzer-winning author Cormac McCarthy's work into a tension-filled film. Although set in a rural Texas town near the U.S.-Mexico border in 1980, it's not your typical Western shoot-em-up. On the contrary, the movie lays down themes like chance, justice and fate. I find it the thinking man's action movie, if you know what I mean.
Rather than relying on big bangs and grand gun fights, the movie uses silence and makes the viewer imagine the action since a great deal of the movie shows what happened after the action. The pacing of the movie is almost perfect-- I personally didn't like the anti-climactic epilogue. The movie also has a very memorable baddie played by Javier Bardem. He's probably the villain with the worst looking set of weapons.
Over-all, the movie for me is near perfect: a gripping movie with great cast acting and memorable characters. Really a great movie to cap my week.
Rating: 4.5/5
Tags: No Country for Old Men
Dr. Seuss would be proud with this adaptation of Horton Hears a Who, a whimsical animated feature highlighted by the comic talents of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell.
Horton the Elephant (Carrey) is a determined but kind elephant in the Jungle of Nool who teaches the community's children on various biology and life lessons. One day, he hears a voice from a little speck and he soon discovers that a world exists in that speck-- the city of Who-ville. The city is inhabited by a happy race called the Who's and they are being led by a city council and a Mayor (Carell). The Mayor soon interacts with Horton and asks him to protect their city and bring them to a safe location, which Horton obliges. Horton faces ridicule from the community and the anger of their leader, Kangaroo (voiced by Carol Burnett). Horton and the Who's must convince the community of the value of "a person is a person, no matter how small" before it's too late for Who-ville.
I haven't read the children's book that first appeared in 1954, but the movie was able to flesh out lovable characters and breathe life into the supporting characters. The story is good for kids with a good and clear moral-- the value of life, perseverance and trust on other people. The ridicule Horton and The Mayor faced in their respective domains is a nice touch. The animation is also fluid and colorful. It apparent that the creators learned a lot from animating Ice Age, where a similar pachyderm character figures heavily in the story.
What makes Horton Hears a Who truly enjoyable is the work of Carrey and Carell. They bring great energy to Horton and the Mayor and they work well for over-the-top characters. A must watch for the family this summer.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: Horton Hears a Who
Thanks to Jayvee, I got an invite to Red Box Karaoke's Beer Appreciation Night last April 3 at Greenbelt 3, Makati. The evening was highlighted with a sampling of the new line of international beers being served at Red Box Karaoke.
The Philippines is a San Miguel Beer country, with the Pale Pilsen, San Mig Light and San Mig Strong Ice leading the way, so the event gave me a chance to expand my beer horizons. Red Box sampled Heineken and Beck's from Germany, Stella Artois and Hoegaarden from Belgium, Kirin from Japan and Budweiser from the United States. Food that complemented the beers were served and recommended as the best "beer matches," like having tasty fish & chips with Kirin to complement the beer's subtle taste. Chef Philip John Golding gave a short talk on each of the beers and educated the audience on what makes a beer good. (Answer: the water)
Apart from the TV and print media folks, several bloggers were also there: Annalyn, Bim of the The Man Blog, Poyt, AJ, Lauren and Arpee (Although I did not meet her, Khursten of Punked Noodle, blogged about the event) tasted the beers and were treated to the event's finale-- a taste of Le Fin Du Monde, a 15-year old Canadian fermented beer that is no longer produced. (I sampled it and it actually tastes like wine).
Thankfully, I did not get drunk during the event. :)
Tags: Red Box Karaoke
Will Ferrell continues his string of sports spoofs with Semi-Pro, a movie about a 1970's basketball team with dreams of getting absorbed into the NBA.
Jackie Moon (Ferrell) is a one hit wonder who scored his best single in 1970 with "Love Me Sexy." He used his earnings to buy the Flint Michigan Tropics, a hapless franchise in the (noe defunct) American Basketball Association. As owner, he designated himself as the coach and the starting power forward of the team. He was satisfied with being a league sideshow until the news of a merger with the NBA was confirmed and the top winning teams with decent attendance numbers were agreed to be the ones to move up to the NBA. The events prompt Jackie to hire a former Boston Celtic Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson) to improve the team and implement very creative promotional stunts to keep the interest on the Tropics high.
The movie could be the weakest in Will Ferrell's pool of sports spoofs, with Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Blades of Glory being the other movies. The movie does have its moments, but the humor gets spotty in the latter half of the film. Some of Ferrell's usual co-stars are there, but Outkast frontman Andre Benjamin is not that bad as the kid with prodigious basketball talents.
Expect more of the same from Will Ferrell-- physical comedy with lost of goofiness while wearing "short" basketball shorts. The movie doesn't go for a slam dunk-- that's why it ends up as an airball.
Rating: 2/5
Tags: Semi-Pro
A special edition DVD of Appleseed Ex Machina is up for grabs for the next Great DVD Giveaway.
Appleseed Ex Machina is the latest CG animated movie from Warner Video that combines the anime-style art and detail and grandeur of computer generated images seamlessly. The movie is produced by John Woo (Face/Off, Mission Impossible 2).
Three easy stems to join the DVD giveaway:
- Answer this question: "Who are the two top members of the ESWAT's Special Ops in the animated movie Appleseed Ex Machina?"
- Post a comment on this post with your answer, along with your name and email address. (Your email should be in the format xxx (at) xyz.com to protect you from spam.) Your comment with the correct answer will represent your entry in the electronic raffle. One comment per person will be allowed.
- If you are a blogger, creating a link to this blog post with the link text "Appleseed DVD Giveaway" will earn you 5 electronic raffle entries (That's 5 entries per link). You can earn a maximum of 10 electronic raffle entries via this method. Note: Use the "Create a Link" link below to include posts from your blog.
Here's an assist for you-- the answer to the question can be found from Warner Video's description of Appleseed Ex Machina:
In the year 2133, a war killed off half the population of Earth, plunging the world into chaos and despair. In OLYMPUS, a utopian city-state and the last true bastion of culture and civilization, the ESWAT police force holds the peace. The two star members of this Special Ops team are Deunan Knute and her cyborg partner Briareos. Their relationship is threatened when the government reveals a prototype combat clone, named Tereus, who is a clone of Briareos. However, a strange electronic virus begins turning citizens into violent zombies and the trio must team up to track down the terrorists behind this brutal attack before it tears the peaceful utopia apart.Good luck and I'm looking forward to your entry to The Great Appleseed DVD Giveaway.
Tags: Appleseed Ex Mahina
I previewed Walk Hard last December and I got the impression that the movie was going to be a funny one. My senses didn't fail me -- I watched Walk Hard in the theater and came out laughing.
The movie is a combination of two things I'm very in to: music and parodies. Walk Hard obviously draws a lot from Walk The Line, the biopic of country legend Johnny Cash. Director Jake Kasdan's treatment of the movie is a mix between the over-the-top spoofs like Scary Movie to the Will Ferrell parodies like Talladega Nights. John C. Reilly is OK at the titular role of Dewey Cox, although I honestly feel Will Ferrell could have been a better choice.
The R-rating for the film is also justified. The depiction of the rock n' roll lifestyle of groupie sex and drugs are explicit (some frontal nudity), but done with humor. The music Dewey Cox plays have playful lyrics and could even have double meaning. The music sequences with Darlene Madison (played by The Office's Jenna Fischer) are filled with sexual tension of "friends."
If you like a movie with a good sense of humor and a good ear for music, Walk Hard is defintely for you. It's nice musical journey from the rock 'n roll era all the way to the hip-hop mashup era. Watch out for cameos of Judd Apatow regulars such as Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: Walk Hard
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
