tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19086157284754805472023-11-16T11:14:11.022+08:00Crasher's lifeWhat I Think about ThingsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.comBlogger354125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-5338766235977157332017-05-13T01:35:00.000+08:002017-05-13T01:35:53.961+08:00REVIEW: Gifted<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When you watch blockbuster films, do you ever wish some of the actors star in a much smaller, more emotional and character driven films? I do, and one of those actors is Chris Evans, who is the star of Captain America and Fantastic Four. I admit, I haven't seen Snowpiercer (which is one of his filmography highlights) and his only small scale film I've watched is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which he had a small role.</div>
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His latest film, Gifted, promised to have the smaller, emotional and character driven elements. Gifted, directed by Marc Webb, who directed the lovely (500) Days of Summer and the mixed The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. It stars Chris Evans, McKenna Grace (Designated Survivor), Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures), Jenny Slate (Zootopia) and Lindsay Duncan (Sherlock).</div>
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In Gifted, Frank Adler (Evans), a self-employed boat mechanic resides in Florida, taken up custody of his niece, Mary Adler (Grace) after his sister's death. Mary Adler, in simple terms, is a math genius who understands very advanced mathematics at the age of a first-grader. Frank wants his Mary to have a proper childhood without the pressure of being a child prodigy and lives next door to Roberta (Spencer). Things change when Frank sent Mary to a normal school taught by Bonnie (Slate) and got his estranged mother, Evelyn's attention, who always wanted a family legacy.</div>
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The story of Gifted is not groundbreaking or unique by any means, so it is up to the actors and director to push a little harder to stand out. I think Gifted succeeded in that. This film reminded me on Marc Webb as a good director, he is great in (500) Days of Summer and Gifted is the kind of movie he excels in. He focuses on the small little moments between the characters that makes the audiences invested in their story and their lives, and the quiet times rich of stories. For a film about child custody, which can be depressing at times, it is surprisingly full of entertainment and humour. At times, I bursted out laughing at some of the jokes shared between these characters.</div>
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The highlight of Gifted is definitely the performances. Chris Evans showed why he deserves some recognition and more as a serious actor, his chemistry with McKenna Grace is what makes the film tick. Their interaction, relationships and struggles are what made me invested in the film. Jenny Slate had a decent performance too, as Mary's caring teacher. Octavia Spencer is great in this film, made a seemingly unimportant character into a vital one. While Lindsay Duncan's character, Evelyn, is the "antagonist", there are certain scenes that makes you understand her point of view regarding the issue. While these performances are great individually, it is the interaction and talks between these people that made the film so worthwhile.</div>
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The only downside I could think of the pacing. There are certain moments in this film, that I wish Marc Webb could just leave them as it is without cutting too much, and long scenes such as the custody battle could be shorter as it is a bit distracting to the overall film.</div>
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Gifted, while neither thought-provoking nor original, is still a great film. It had a great cast and character chemistry to overcome the predictability of the premise. It doesn't have much tensions and build up to certain scenes, but the fantastic quiet moments in the film is what made it such a delightful film. I wish to see Chris Evans in more films like this and McKenna Grace's potential develop further. If you want to take some time off from blockbuster films, this is the film for you.</div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Score: 4/5</span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-34647926071645733732017-03-17T20:28:00.000+08:002017-03-17T20:28:05.744+08:00REVIEW: Kong - Skull Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzQPNXpIkY56rtoJqTm041kO4gX4GW3DY1wqTNaGdnma5tQjUNB7iXFbOqyjq3nVW4HpaQQEdnPoqYKdJdZ3Cz0AJAteAwKXoLk_2bqn63Ap8BJPz4QhY7CwuhlD1la0a7iQUMKoUbag/s1600/kong-skull-island-poster1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzQPNXpIkY56rtoJqTm041kO4gX4GW3DY1wqTNaGdnma5tQjUNB7iXFbOqyjq3nVW4HpaQQEdnPoqYKdJdZ3Cz0AJAteAwKXoLk_2bqn63Ap8BJPz4QhY7CwuhlD1la0a7iQUMKoUbag/s400/kong-skull-island-poster1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm a sucker for giant monster films. When I was younger, I was actually fascinated by how many things Ultraman and monsters are able to destroy, that's the point in all. I also immensely enjoyed 1998 Godzilla, even though it's cheesy, stupid and wrong on so many levels, the destructions laid to waste by monsters are all I need. Pacific Rim is another film I also loved, even though it's stupid. Then, Godzilla got rebooted in 2014 and we finally have monster movie with decent story, even though destruction has been kept to a minimum.</div>
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In 2017, King Kong was rebooted into Kong: Skull Island, a appetiser film prelude to Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020 (Yes, it's happening). I was eager to see it. Another monster film? SIGN ME UP! However, does Kong: Skull Island lives up to the hype? Yes, just.</div>
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Kong: Skull Island takes place in the 1970s, right after the Vietnam War. An expedition group and a squad of soldiers travelled to an undiscovered island in the South Pacific to "study" the island. Shortly after entering the island, the group is soon meet with unknown beings that are awaiting them.</div>
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In terms of action sequences, Skull Island is great. When Kong appears, he looks huge, like a towering figure looms over the island. The sequence where he appears and attacks the group of expedition looks great, it is chaotic yet easy to keep track of where the action is. The best treat is when Kong is going up against other monsters in the island, this is because Kong is placed against monsters that are almost in similar footings as Kong is. For me, this is the best action sequences from King Kong yet.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VFFdqH7foI4F2Xrc05cdCpQv8d7S20vJ1kqOAKGGdvAsPw_il17Pq5qzYZ5-KVXN23I2WodjuylAWmuur520ZdhZX5X59DUrb60vbSODNu0GzXsMQcaQOeC58Eg1bE2VncHMx7gF_TU/s1600/KONG_030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VFFdqH7foI4F2Xrc05cdCpQv8d7S20vJ1kqOAKGGdvAsPw_il17Pq5qzYZ5-KVXN23I2WodjuylAWmuur520ZdhZX5X59DUrb60vbSODNu0GzXsMQcaQOeC58Eg1bE2VncHMx7gF_TU/s400/KONG_030.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The visuals are a great treat too, capturing the 1970s flavour in vivid colours, but it fell short in certain scene, as if the film is shot in a studio, even though the crew actually took the filming to the jungle to capture the island. I'm not sure it was deliberate or it was the colour popped up too much.</div>
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However, the movie ultimately falls short in terms of storytelling. I don't mind stories at all in monster films, but Kong: Skull Island takes itself a bit too seriously. I get it, they might go with these direction to align itself with Godzilla, but it takes place in a different backdrop. Godzilla makes sense in telling a serious story, as our society just experienced the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster in 2011, so the film has to reflect the tone of our anxiety. Kong doesn't need to that at all. Not to mention, at one point of the movie, Samuel L. Jackson's character subplot almost overshadowed the main film. The worst part is, when Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), try to touch Kong, to feel the soft side of Kong (like any other King Kong movie would), that emotional feeling is completely missing!</div>
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Some of the actors are great. John C. Reilly is the best for me, who plays a missing person that ended up in the island, he is very entertaining and has a very interesting backstory to back it up as the missing person wandering around the island and survived. John Goodman is great, playing a Monarch scientist with a hidden agenda and Samuel L. Jackson is great as well, playing Colonel Packard, a leader who is losing himself during his time in the island. Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston are disappointing, they are great actor and actress, but their characters poorly written, and are bland and forgettable. Jing Tian, well, she is just there as a token Chinese actress for the film to enter the Chinese market, let's leave it that way.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She's there for China's box office</td></tr>
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Although, the story is terrible and the characters are forgettable, I still immensely enjoyed Kong: Skull Island. This could be due to my unexplainable love for giant monsters destroying objects. Despite the fact that this Kong has completely changed the message from the core of this franchise, forgettable characters (like Godzilla) and taking itself too seriously, the action sequences are enjoyable enough to watch this film. Having said that, I still can't wait for Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020!</div>
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P.S. Please watch this film in biggest screen possible. They used the scale well for Kong to create a very good size differences between Kong and the humans.</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 3/5</b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-2319548601451832362017-03-04T19:35:00.000+08:002017-03-04T19:35:25.818+08:00REVIEW: Logan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9PHsmmGmmV_zEMZRRMJzShjPiN2WjWEeb8L-XswPf8txV7kRyCCwbLWdETC3EMXk7qhO24mZ-QG1o7ZOOtd5ehijkSCiUrRxpl_VJrT2XH43xivhfRS3tW7N8LLvz11uHtU3-9MeA5o/s1600/Logan+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9PHsmmGmmV_zEMZRRMJzShjPiN2WjWEeb8L-XswPf8txV7kRyCCwbLWdETC3EMXk7qhO24mZ-QG1o7ZOOtd5ehijkSCiUrRxpl_VJrT2XH43xivhfRS3tW7N8LLvz11uHtU3-9MeA5o/s400/Logan+Poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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X-Men franchise as a whole, has not been particularly consistent. While 20th Century Fox managed to produce gems like X-Men, X2, First Class, Days of Future Past and Deadpool (Yes, he's in X-Men universe), there have been mediocre entry such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Last Stand. So, it is interesting to see how they gonna handle Logan, which is the final appearances from Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart as Wolverine and Prof. Charles Xavier.</div>
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Following the success of Deadpool, where a good R-Rated movie can sell, 20th Century Fox green-lit Logan to be a hardcore R-Rated unshackled version of the Wolverine. While not every film needs to be in R-Rated territory, Logan is the right move as Wolverine is a violent mutant. Logan also followed Deadpool style in giving a much tighter and more focused storytelling, which able to tell a much thorough story on a character, rather than an ensemble cast.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWWkrsu4kvMO-v6Q7B2UC7yHSnKplCiYeLPi2sWJEp0m0NQ_9fyN4oFFfjSOic_PSKr91iOqqGeVlpz7wVwTmAcJAm9A0uoKjLrK_QjvJnLdgBcKtLTeZb-U3lpnmwfCr5Zf4_ZGHIHA/s1600/Logan+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWWkrsu4kvMO-v6Q7B2UC7yHSnKplCiYeLPi2sWJEp0m0NQ_9fyN4oFFfjSOic_PSKr91iOqqGeVlpz7wVwTmAcJAm9A0uoKjLrK_QjvJnLdgBcKtLTeZb-U3lpnmwfCr5Zf4_ZGHIHA/s400/Logan+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In Logan, it takes place in year 2029, where mutants are on the brink of extinction. Logan a.k.a. Wolverine and Professor X, along with Caliban, living in exile across the border of Mexico. Their plan changed when a little girl, named Laura was discovered by Logan, as an evil organisation plans to hunt them all down.</div>
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Logan is a mix of both classic American films and road trip films, rather than a full on superhero action film. There are standoff between heroes and villains, the characters travelled few places to avoid the attention. It's kinda cool that James Mangold chose to do in this kind of direction, as it allows the audiences have room to feel the tension and spaces to absorb and breath with all the information the film is trying to give. This also allows audiences to feel the emotions being felt by these characters.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxpTk1BEQhcQ8I310qGsJg0pCoao_B6I_oiXyivTGvL5DSrLwPCXyiGGrdA6uTzQlxt3RsCN1gOpu_KOILXx6ye22IOju_juBy4tAYpqoeIYl3k9uzOF5uMeZe7R23tl7X0Nj16pNMdE/s1600/Logan+4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirxpTk1BEQhcQ8I310qGsJg0pCoao_B6I_oiXyivTGvL5DSrLwPCXyiGGrdA6uTzQlxt3RsCN1gOpu_KOILXx6ye22IOju_juBy4tAYpqoeIYl3k9uzOF5uMeZe7R23tl7X0Nj16pNMdE/s400/Logan+4.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The acting in Logan is great as well. Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart are awesome actors as always, but to see Hugh Jackman given an unshackled performance as the Wolverine is hugely satisfying, due to the R ratings. It is fun to see Sir Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor X, a Yoda figure in the X-Men universe, spilling out F bombs. He managed to give Professor X a wise person, yet gives out incredible amount of humour is a great job. Huge shoutout to newcomer Dafne Keen too, who plays Laura. First time seeing her act in film and the first action sequence involving Laura is brutal. Laura, in general, is volatile, hostile, unstable, mood swings, yet has the child-like behaviour throughout the movie, Dafne Keen nailed the character.</div>
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Logan has one of the best action scenes in superhero films I have seen. Not only that the action sequences did not hold back due to the R ratings, James Mangold managed to make it look realistic, restrained and brutal at the same time. Logan in 2029, is an old man, tired of fighting due to the violence he has witness throughout his lifetime, to see him take up a fight, you can see he is exhausted, vulnerable and you will feel him taking all the beatings and bone cracking, even though he is a mutant. I love it because of this direction.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdjoKi5Fw8yf9N17aJPBqC3Kt_cqa6KnRYneTLfp2fHE7IRhk9-ZclLaIR1EpSlkl-FqmK7JOPi7Yd7f6X6S2L8MDPR-lSWYlXycefR6QNH3dr9K96E-cadIpnq7pcpdgblBQBsRKGr4/s1600/Logan+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdjoKi5Fw8yf9N17aJPBqC3Kt_cqa6KnRYneTLfp2fHE7IRhk9-ZclLaIR1EpSlkl-FqmK7JOPi7Yd7f6X6S2L8MDPR-lSWYlXycefR6QNH3dr9K96E-cadIpnq7pcpdgblBQBsRKGr4/s400/Logan+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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One of thing is feel might be con for this movie is the second act. While it is important for the film to slow down to let the characters and audiences have breathing space, there are a few minutes whereby I feel that the movie could cut out. It's not bad thing, just that it needs some trimming.</div>
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There's also one scene regarding one of the film's villain might be contentious. I generally like it a lot, but what I find it bad many audience members might find that the sudden shift in tone in the film could be jarring, it will cause audiences to have a few minutes adjusting themselves. X-Men fans might find that particular villain to be unfaithful to the comic series in general.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNP7h8PLFeLQHwniNcJ8qgWO0trSxzD30xsGINd93hBkOmslrR4HfICoBy6jMXDMeeIyL9RHMc2_SrljyVqUpeBXPZgzopBTf2PMWriKk8XR10GiSePMLW7hZK7tG8rGj3wIym_b4Am0/s1600/Logan+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNP7h8PLFeLQHwniNcJ8qgWO0trSxzD30xsGINd93hBkOmslrR4HfICoBy6jMXDMeeIyL9RHMc2_SrljyVqUpeBXPZgzopBTf2PMWriKk8XR10GiSePMLW7hZK7tG8rGj3wIym_b4Am0/s400/Logan+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Logan. It is a much focused superhero movie focuses on a titular character on his final outing. I don't think it is a full on superhero film, it is more a drama film with superheroes. Logan is thrilling, brutal, entertaining and emotional all in one place. Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart gave remarkable performances to give their character a proper and emotional send-offs and Dafne Keen excellent performance as Laura. I think I never been so emotionally attached to a superhero film since The Dark Knight.</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 4.5/5</b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-30232718568911163382017-03-01T22:29:00.000+08:002017-03-01T22:30:34.512+08:00Brooklyn Nine-Nine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0l5ucgTO8c6G1rw1pkw6fkJUT3_X9dIaUGA5w9SvIYKyfYUDeOIcXIhKx78EYhEPzONqBuWWzrc4EkO31p5krSnUUrgo5B_zn08CcDEfMtke6oAQhH-FHURw2HxbOi4FjL7iIS9HUY4g/s1600/Brooklyn+Nine-Nine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0l5ucgTO8c6G1rw1pkw6fkJUT3_X9dIaUGA5w9SvIYKyfYUDeOIcXIhKx78EYhEPzONqBuWWzrc4EkO31p5krSnUUrgo5B_zn08CcDEfMtke6oAQhH-FHURw2HxbOi4FjL7iIS9HUY4g/s400/Brooklyn+Nine-Nine.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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Although it is not a show that I just found out recently, I just started Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a Golden Globe winning comedy after browsing several hours on Netflix. A few of my friends told me that this show was pretty good and I know it is a very well-received show, but I never go ahead and find it to watch. After seeing on Netflix trending page, I decided for a go, and boy am I hooked to this!</div>
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a cop sitcom set at a police station, Precinct 99 in New York City. It features a group of brilliant, yet childish and dysfunctional detectives in their daily work lives. The team comprises of Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), a intelligent and wisecracking detective, who also loves Die Hard, Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), a smart, hardworking but nerdy in nature, Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Trulio), a bubbly and a food critic, Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), a resilient, mysterious and emotionless tough girl, Sgt. Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) the toughest detective in the precinct, yet incredibly soft and caring, Cpt. Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), a strict and by the book captain of Precinct 99, round up the cast is Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), kleptomaniac, extreme narcissistic assistant of Captain Raymond Holt.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFpCaj_tk0Olk4hOXf3MLIz-dYweR-TQ_vy-2PAuqSFdDKQ_RNyYK6uM3aR7kI0-2-d97WZKsfxFOJ5lmnPQJHIIL4Ly-JJf3qM9d5MVzoNQVHS7jpCdfck-W-ftgNJoAFj2EV9miODs/s1600/ad_123745872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFpCaj_tk0Olk4hOXf3MLIz-dYweR-TQ_vy-2PAuqSFdDKQ_RNyYK6uM3aR7kI0-2-d97WZKsfxFOJ5lmnPQJHIIL4Ly-JJf3qM9d5MVzoNQVHS7jpCdfck-W-ftgNJoAFj2EV9miODs/s400/ad_123745872.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The show format are usually fixed. Each episode features a prologue (no relation with the rest of the episode whatsoever) of the casts doing ridiculous stuff and then pays off with big joke before going into the title card. The show then proceeds to split the cast into pairings, investigating cases or solving personal issues. Lastly, the casts usually wrap up the episodes together, celebrating or sit in the precinct talking about their story. The whole episode takes about 20 to 25 minutes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tZmsrMMJrBtWnQvlF6l56pbPZ2vKj595LlgeUQk__JdNTMtLJlaiVvYn0br3mdWo_0M2s9NA3pdWrcghvp4JdGBiSRNU4Kr0z2Q4Ze0zycMtiYBz3rSvMRWCM8Y19dcXssJg4lkZ_h0/s1600/Brooklyn-99.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tZmsrMMJrBtWnQvlF6l56pbPZ2vKj595LlgeUQk__JdNTMtLJlaiVvYn0br3mdWo_0M2s9NA3pdWrcghvp4JdGBiSRNU4Kr0z2Q4Ze0zycMtiYBz3rSvMRWCM8Y19dcXssJg4lkZ_h0/s400/Brooklyn-99.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I enjoyed watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine is definitely the cast. Cast is very important in an ensemble sitcom where the jokes need to feel natural and improvised without any stuttering between the casts. Even in weaker episodes, the show never felt stale. For Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the casts pairing usually resulting in a refreshing take of their relationships with each other, there are always new angle of story to explore with the cast dynamics. The characters are so different, yet the matchup is so good and it feels natural.</div>
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Another thing I like about the show is the jokes. The jokes in Brooklyn Nine-Nine takes its time to build up, making as much laughs as possible, yet it doesn't overstay its welcome. When the jokes deliver, they usually pay off with a big laugh out loud from me. The lack of laugh tracks is helping too, as some of the jokes need time to absorb in entirety to fully have the impact, having laugh tracks might derail the jokes as laugh tracks tend to laugh earlier than they should.</div>
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So far, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is halfway through season 4. I am currently halfway through season 3, the short length of episodes makes it very easy to binge watch and it feels like watching YouTube videos. If you're into sitcom or wanting to start a new sitcom to watch, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a great choice. It is one of the funniest comedy in recent years.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-41010239162418855112017-02-13T20:08:00.000+08:002017-02-14T00:37:07.080+08:00John Wick: Chapter 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgugnJYfVzRSfeLCsb2B1AVlzPmDR32wXvS-gbDA3dyacyIodEljG1tZRX-7NKkpGkvnBFId9PBrF0I2LT_mniL1ustfXfI5Iv29mpge51mFXuVBUwtV-NCxEA9pbTblFEU9W1Wl00zAYM/s1600/John+Wick+Chap+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgugnJYfVzRSfeLCsb2B1AVlzPmDR32wXvS-gbDA3dyacyIodEljG1tZRX-7NKkpGkvnBFId9PBrF0I2LT_mniL1ustfXfI5Iv29mpge51mFXuVBUwtV-NCxEA9pbTblFEU9W1Wl00zAYM/s400/John+Wick+Chap+2.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
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Before he is the leading face from The Matrix, Keanu Reeves made his name from top billing action films such as Point Break and Speed, two of the most iconic action films in the 1990s. Although I don't think he is a good actor, but I can't deny his dedication to his role in his films.</div>
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The first John Wick film was a sleeper hit, it did not gather much attention until late into its box office life, but it was a damn fine action flick. John Wick is one of the action films in recent times, along with Mad Max: Fury Road, to try to restrain themselves from doing too much, no bombastic explosions, physics defying stunts, unkillable protagonists and etc.</div>
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I usually don't review sequels by showing the originals as I think films need to be viewed individually, while comparing one or two aspects of the originals. However, I can't help it but to embed a clip from John Wick, as it is just to awesome! The film spent the first 30 minutes to build up John Wick's character, how he was the bona fide hitman in his heyday. John Wick is not a man to be messed around, as paraphrasing characters in the movie, "He killed three man with a fucking pencil". So the first action scene after 30 minutes is such a huge pay off for the character, that sheer ruthlessness and precision are on display, and that's just the first action sequence! However, John Wick is not invisible, he can be beaten, that's what makes the film so intense as you never know how hard he's going to take.</div>
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John Wick: Chapter 2 looked like an extension to the first one, and it delivers. It essentially begins where John Wick left off, where Mr. Wick applies his finishing touch to his previous work. He begins to meet with his former accomplice to work on a job and well, shit happened. Due to this, John Wick starts off another rampage to get to the bottom of it.</div>
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While John Wick did not contain a excellent storyline by any means, the story itself was justifiable enough to drive John Wick's reason to go for a killing spree towards his enemies. Chapter 2, however, fell short in terms of story, Wick's continuation of rampage was slightly off in terms of execution. It was not bad by any means, it just kind of bland in comparison. I felt it could be a little better, but not a big minus, just that the drive was not as strong. One thing I like about John Wick and Chapter 2 is that it is a universe filled with notorious crime lords throughout the films, yet it did not felt the movie flooded you with needless expositions and character building.</div>
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However, Chapter 2 did get the key of John Wick right, the action sequences. The film followed the previous recipe of restrained actions, realistic stunt works, steady camerawork and a match up of similarly strong henchmen and villains to go against John Wick. The action sequences are throughout this film, from start to finish. It did stutter in some parts of the film, but not anything significant once the film got back the pace again. Most of the scenes were so restrained that even film students with rules applied by their lecturers can pull off, but the execution was so good and slick, that me and the audiences got all the thrills by just watching it. One particular sequence that stood out for me was that long brawl of John Wick and fellow hitman Cassian (played by Common), seeing them made the scene so clear cut of who is fighting who and both of them going against each other is immensely satisfying, not to mention that the scene ended in quite a humorous way.</div>
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I do want to point out, however, that I felt that the film's ending was a bit unrealistic, in terms of the execution. It is regarding the world of crime lords, it did felt a bit overblown, for me at least.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neo & Morpheus reunite in John Wick: Chapter 2</td></tr>
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John Wick: Chapter 2 is a slick and fine sequel to John Wick. It is so well-made because the film did not try to outdo the first one and kept itself from doing over the tops sequences like many action films do today (Fast & Fu *COUGH* Fast & Furious). The film kept itself grounded and simple, and it resulted in one of the slickest and most entertaining action film in recent years. John Wick is the spiritual successor to Die Hard for the 21st century.</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 4.5/5</b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-24534518432262985862017-02-05T15:55:00.000+08:002017-02-05T15:55:31.325+08:00Personal Top 5 Films of 2016I finally decided to write about my personal Top 5 films of 2016. I choose to wrote it a month down 2017 is not because that I forgot to write about it, it is a lot of films that are released at the tail-end of 2016 only made it to Malaysia on the January of 2017. While personally I believe that blockbusters were not as good as 2015, but some of the smaller films have made a great showing.<div>
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Without further ado, these are my top films of the year:</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Arrival</span></u></b></div>
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Sci-fi films these days are mostly focused on the action sequences to see which films can pull of a better moves or cooler weapons. Arrivals went against the status quo, by having characters race against time to find common ground with the aliens by using critical thinking skills and intelligence, something to remind of the current social issues of action first, think later. With Arrival and Sicario, Denis Villeneuve is starting to be my favourite director.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story</u></span></b></div>
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At this pace, my list have to be a Top 6 to accommodate Star Wars in its yearly release, or else it could be unfair to other strong movies out there. Rogue One presents a great risk for Disney, as the success of this film will decide how Disney will plan its Star Wars expanded universe films in the future. Luckily for them, Gareth Edwards managed to pull off another gem in Disney library in their quest for cinema dominance in recent years. Rogue One managed to tell a tale well-known by all the fans and presented in ways that still managed to entertain both fans and casual movie-goers alike.</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. Zootopia</span></u></b></div>
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Another gem from Disney, currently Disney animation division have a stronger run compared to Pixar in the past two or three years. Zootopia is a solid entry to Disney animation library by telling a great story yet serves a very good lesson for the young audiences that it targeted, by replacing human problems with animals. Not to mention that it was full off animal puns and amusing from start to finish.</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. La La Land</span></u></b></div>
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La La Land is an old-fashioned movie, very old-fashion. It feels like it was made in 1950s and then was remastered for 2016. Yet, the film use this to its advantage. The story itself wasn't that great, the singing of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling aren't that fantastic (good but not amazing) to make the film more "realistic", but the cinematography was well-timed, the camera directions, choreography and the colours did pop out in dark scenes. La La Land is imperfectly perfect.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>5. 10 Cloverfield Lane</u></b></span></div>
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One of the major surprises of 2016. This is because Paramount and J. J. Abrams deliberately hid the release of 10 Cloverfield Lane until it was close to release, surprising the audiences and critics alike. Presented as a spinoff to Cloverfield, it has very little connection to the film. Instead of a found footage alien invasion movie, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a closeted psychological thriller focusing on unstable relationships of three people stuck in a bunker. I enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane for its simplicity and the amount of intensity throughout the short film and the small bunker space.</div>
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There are a few films that I think are great and should be shortlisted as well, but due to the fact that I plan to do only Top 5, the rest ultimately had to be cut from the initial list.</div>
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Here's the honourable mention: Deadpool, Marvel's Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Sully, The Jungle Book.</div>
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That's all for my Top 5 films of 2016. Let's hope 2017 is gonna be good.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-56081930253161685632016-12-27T18:19:00.000+08:002016-12-27T18:19:23.202+08:00What I Like/Dislike about Assassin's Creed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Assassin's Creed is the best video game film adaptation ever made, which isn't saying anything. Video game adaptations has been going through a very bad streak of mediocre productions throughout the years. (No, Resident Evil is absolute shit! It has nothing to do with the games except the names.) With Assassin's Creed, everyone was riding on hope that it would break the curse of bad film adaptations down the years, the casting was some of the best of the year (Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons lead the star-studded film), but despite the actors' best efforts, the movie still suffered.<br />
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However, even the worst of the worst films have its moments. There are always some positives here and there in Assassin's Creed, but it never came into full package. As a big fan of the video games, I would like to offer what went wrong with the film, and what went right.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>What I Like</u></b></span><br />
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<b><u>Assassin's Creed Lore</u></b><br />
With the movie came from inputs of the developers themselves, the thing that got it right is the universe itself. The feel of the secret war of the Templars and Assassins, the leap of faith, hidden blade, Abstergo, costumes and many more are on point in this film. The period of 1400s during the Spanish Inquisition was probably the best part of the film, the colour palette was right, the setting was immersive. It makes me want to experience the Spanish Inquisition.<br />
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<b><u>Stunt Works</u></b><br />
The stunt works in the film is great, you can see obviously the choreographers put up great effort to make sure the parkour, leap of faith and the fight scenes are very well planned. It feels like the video games where the player is doing all the actions of the main character, but at a much frantic pace than the game, which is a good thing.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>What I Didn't Like</u></b></span><br />
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<u><b>Too Much Modern Day Jargon</b></u><br />
Ask any Assassin's Creed fan on what's their favourite aspects of the game series, 90% of them would say visiting the history with unique characters interacting with key historical figures. Producers of this film must be thinking, let's go learn about the present day story more. That's the part of the game where players are itching to go back to the past! Yes, the modern day sci-fi setting is worth exploring, but not 70% of the whole damn movie! The audiences don't need to be constantly reminded by Dr. Sofia Rikkin about finding the Apple of Eden and Modern Templar Order wanting to find it.<br />
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<b><u>Underdeveloped, or Never-Developed Characters</u></b><br />
The game universe has featured some great characters, Ezio Auditore, Desmond Miles, Lucy Stillman, Altair, Edward Kenway, Leonardo Da Vinci. However, the film has no good characters, almost all of the characters are basically single-layered, which is kinda sad really when you have talents of Michael Fassbender, Marion Cottilard, Jeremy Irons leading the faces of the movie. They are some of the great actors of modern cinema, but somehow their talents are underused in this movie. Not to mention the ancient Assassin Maria, barely spoke and the audience hardly knew her, kinda amazed that Ubisoft actually bothers to give her a name even though she hardly featured.<br />
<br /><b><u>Supplement to the Games Formula</u></b><br />
As this movie is set in the Assassin's Creed games universe, so this obviously meant that the audiences need to understand the whole Assassins vs Templars war. However, it is poorly executed, some of the details left some audiences in my theatre gasping "Why the hell did they do this or that?!" the whole freaking time, even though me and my friends, who played the games, have no problems with the understanding of the movie. Then, there are moments where some of the characters giving pointless full exposition of their motivations and characters regarding some of the film plot. This makes the movie unsurprising and lack of any good mysteries to explore.<br />
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I am a huge fan of Assassin's Creed, I have played almost every single Assassin's Creed games released on consoles thus far. I enjoyed moments from the movie, but as the whole package it falls apart. I was hoping Assassin's Creed would give video game franchises a proper respect. I mean, Assassin's Creed has such a big potential for film adaptation, good premise, interesting characters and good twist to human history for the audience, yet it still doesn't hold up. The film itself certainly has the recipe right, but it did not mix them well. I'm pretty sure there are some ways video game adaptation could work. I guess The Last of Us and Uncharted are the next beacon of hope.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-48130982617053226302016-12-15T21:01:00.000+08:002016-12-15T21:01:18.887+08:00Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBYeklnfeiCLUmdDPRvjG_3fCoYpWtVERFQpoPwKeOSOicIUxCuDsxXVwJ3YDI_p6SfbsJZTL2K2fs7Ed6gOmR0csziVk7iLQ36uGTYX1_w94ib_xVJpwp6CjXbSzI_s437MypHzNrN4/s1600/RogueOne-poster2-wallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBYeklnfeiCLUmdDPRvjG_3fCoYpWtVERFQpoPwKeOSOicIUxCuDsxXVwJ3YDI_p6SfbsJZTL2K2fs7Ed6gOmR0csziVk7iLQ36uGTYX1_w94ib_xVJpwp6CjXbSzI_s437MypHzNrN4/s400/RogueOne-poster2-wallpaper.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."</i></div>
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Then, the sudden appearance of a random planet without a traditional opening crawl signalled a different Star Wars from the traditional Skywalker saga. For the traditional Star Wars film, they are about heroes' journey, Anakin's fall to the dark side, Luke's path to a Jedi Knight and Rey looking for her own identity. In Rogue One, it's a war film where a criminal is entangled in a war between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, marking the Galactic Civil War.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSZ55cDsE80mvk2lU26CbunrGfsu3FxOqUoqbFO-mRhh2LkXOZfaf7dYqGPKWf95ISm2IBJe3vutMUOLqqlz8W1837QmuOOc7HT0qS-hEh3ttCLy-ZcHyCMZGbVv0TYzcglU_ci0fHi4/s1600/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-movie-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSZ55cDsE80mvk2lU26CbunrGfsu3FxOqUoqbFO-mRhh2LkXOZfaf7dYqGPKWf95ISm2IBJe3vutMUOLqqlz8W1837QmuOOc7HT0qS-hEh3ttCLy-ZcHyCMZGbVv0TYzcglU_ci0fHi4/s400/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-movie-image.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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For the premise, this movie is based of the original opening crawl, where Rebel spies going to a mission to steal the Death Star. Criminal Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones) is tasked to work with Captain Cassian Andor to retrieve the Death Star plans from Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker) and her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). Joining along the ragtag team of Rebels are reprogrammed droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), defecting Imperial pilot (Bodhi Rook), blind warrior monk Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and assassin Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1Bdkx5yJ26hf6rKjDd90fSlhrd38wvc8MaAMrGShzLBuysef4UVbEejKKrRMfJ5wbrAJ0Cg6RSnejOHAAsEyMxBkwDdWHjiTvZZDCmaN8I849Q1X-AnrH5_ZpXhdYgLpbjDyJ5_ODZc/s1600/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-death-trooper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1Bdkx5yJ26hf6rKjDd90fSlhrd38wvc8MaAMrGShzLBuysef4UVbEejKKrRMfJ5wbrAJ0Cg6RSnejOHAAsEyMxBkwDdWHjiTvZZDCmaN8I849Q1X-AnrH5_ZpXhdYgLpbjDyJ5_ODZc/s400/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-death-trooper.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
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Rogue One is a war film, but it is still Star Wars in its core. Director Gareth Edwards has injected a different feel to it. It's bleaker, dirtier and grittier than other Star Wars before it. In terms of execution, Rogue One is great. The film is able to explain its existence by showing the beginning of A New Hope is because of a big war that occurred before the film started. Before that, we only understand from the opening crawl, now we've seen how the Rebellion goes to war. It is also able to address some of the plot holes from the original trilogy, such as the exhaust port, the lack of Rebel Alliances, and etc. What is so well done about the movie is that, it is able to tell its story so well without breaking any continuity, some things the prequel not managed to do so.</div>
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Like Godzilla, Gareth Edwards excels at bringing in scale into his movies. Looking at AT-ACT from Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus ground perspectives felt huge and the odds are against them at every turn. And Death Star looming over Jedha before the weapon test is a beautiful sequence to show the menace of the Imperials. In terms of effects, the film will bring out the 70s sci-fi look of A New Hope, matching the aesthetics in the timeline. Rogue One is also able to inject the 'war' into Star Wars, with a killer final act showing the Rebels going toe to toe with the Empire in an big scale skirmish.</div>
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Rogue One, like The Force Awakens, is a nostalgia piece to Star Wars fans, but in a different way. There are so many fan service and easter eggs throughout the film, fans will be pleased to see the references towards the other characters and films. Darth Vader is the most prominent fan service in this film. His time in this film is incredibly short, but when he appears, his presence was an effective reminder of why he is one of the greatest villain in film industry.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSZ55cDsE80mvk2lU26CbunrGfsu3FxOqUoqbFO-mRhh2LkXOZfaf7dYqGPKWf95ISm2IBJe3vutMUOLqqlz8W1837QmuOOc7HT0qS-hEh3ttCLy-ZcHyCMZGbVv0TYzcglU_ci0fHi4/s1600/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-movie-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSZ55cDsE80mvk2lU26CbunrGfsu3FxOqUoqbFO-mRhh2LkXOZfaf7dYqGPKWf95ISm2IBJe3vutMUOLqqlz8W1837QmuOOc7HT0qS-hEh3ttCLy-ZcHyCMZGbVv0TYzcglU_ci0fHi4/s400/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-movie-image.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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However, Godzilla's weaknesses is also Rogue One's weaknesses. The film felt sluggish in the second act where at certain times it felt like a drag. The film also suffers from the usual movie tropes whereby the first act felt rush to introduce multiple characters at once to a point you can't relate to them. While all the characters is great, especially K-2SO, Chirrut Imwe, Cassian and Jyn are great new characters, but they are not really good while they're in a team. They don't feel like a team in this, but individually they are great.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNA-EwBn91CEvGMLaRfzNzMIO950iiL37cxKejNl4EENxB0pWmB-5gmN9RvuRA2Vw9tnIZP7hpnh57epks5pnTeFSZ5wYznmgWv2rsJf1tcQ32Oj5FeNEULzxnahVjy_gabqn2EiFQf8/s1600/rogueone-gallery-deathtroopers_a46de193.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpNA-EwBn91CEvGMLaRfzNzMIO950iiL37cxKejNl4EENxB0pWmB-5gmN9RvuRA2Vw9tnIZP7hpnh57epks5pnTeFSZ5wYznmgWv2rsJf1tcQ32Oj5FeNEULzxnahVjy_gabqn2EiFQf8/s400/rogueone-gallery-deathtroopers_a46de193.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Soundtrack is another weakness of Rogue One. Michael Giacchino's music is a test whether we can live without John Williams in Star Wars. Despite Michael Giacchino's efforts, the soundtrack of Rogue One felt underwhelming. There are still piece that reminds us that Rogue One is a Star Wars film, but the others are forgettable. The Force Awakens, was John Williams' weakest Star Wars soundtrack, but it is still better than Rogue One.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRtD3kU0uvsSEKi3H7XUx_GmyO2Tlwqvq-23O0WBZlwx2fI6GOM5QB9aBxP0X_7dEZ1LXMaAiCxS6yXcxtJziX-1LB-czFBmKqKGPj0jvSa6BtscfoLU6B0Ue5VBWzuSyLa9dxAzok_8/s1600/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-felicity-jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRtD3kU0uvsSEKi3H7XUx_GmyO2Tlwqvq-23O0WBZlwx2fI6GOM5QB9aBxP0X_7dEZ1LXMaAiCxS6yXcxtJziX-1LB-czFBmKqKGPj0jvSa6BtscfoLU6B0Ue5VBWzuSyLa9dxAzok_8/s400/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-felicity-jones.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Rogue One is a solid entry of the Star Wars saga, it proves that there are good stories outside the Skywalker family and it can be interpreted into different genres. A prequel is effective when it is able to explain the original story with care and be able to cover up the original's flaws, Rogue One did just that. For fans, it's a great way to re-explore the old stories. For non-fans, it can be treated as a standalone just fine. And as for newcomers, you can watch Rogue One as the first film, then treat A New Hope as the sequel. The Force Awakens reawakened my love for Star Wars, Rogue One made me trust the future of Star Wars.</div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Score: 4.25/5</span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-79581018262387830892016-11-20T18:25:00.000+08:002016-11-20T18:25:29.387+08:00The Grand Tour Premiere<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRx7uaYnJfCX9m_oACHhHGSDBCP5XflHtxIp5etrk58xSUTirbj-p0xJEgXHIuBqoG2eUe35WLFP2m2J1BxiGndGGYfNqb4wCU_EekJyloF80_L0a55ZbICnxeuqdRT31vfzRcEK7gWTQ/s1600/the-grand-tour-e1467987676332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRx7uaYnJfCX9m_oACHhHGSDBCP5XflHtxIp5etrk58xSUTirbj-p0xJEgXHIuBqoG2eUe35WLFP2m2J1BxiGndGGYfNqb4wCU_EekJyloF80_L0a55ZbICnxeuqdRT31vfzRcEK7gWTQ/s400/the-grand-tour-e1467987676332.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The time with Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear abruptly ended a few years ago, with the host punching one of the producers during a break, audiences around the world were shocked to see their favourite trio getting off the show. Due to the incident, Jeremy Clarkson was fired from BBC, while James May and Richard Hammond left the show soon after, followed by some of the staff (including executive producer Andy Wilman). While I think Jeremy Clarkson should get some sort of punishment following the incident, but the whole situation was poorly handled by the BBC.</div>
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Following the fracas, the trio struck a deal to bring their show to Amazon Prime Video, an online streaming platform rivalling Netflix. It has become one of the most anticipated shows in 2016, despite the limited availability of Amazon Prime Video. Amazon was hoping shows like The Grand Tour would bring their brand & services to the limelight. For me, the premiere didn't disappoint, not a bit. It's everything I hope the show would be.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDW282K9mWzy9s3ebau6X9Gb-eoKBvKeQ4vNmztS7_u5i7e_U0MWoDgRYu3nYIAw9SayTwjiWZi5yJN-URa0DEwvRj_ndARTLGSLrkd4kluZg6dIPEoXk0wQft3Wz1IUGSnZ4x65Rg26E/s1600/clarkson-the-grand-tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDW282K9mWzy9s3ebau6X9Gb-eoKBvKeQ4vNmztS7_u5i7e_U0MWoDgRYu3nYIAw9SayTwjiWZi5yJN-URa0DEwvRj_ndARTLGSLrkd4kluZg6dIPEoXk0wQft3Wz1IUGSnZ4x65Rg26E/s400/clarkson-the-grand-tour.jpg" width="400" /></a>The Grand Tour started off directly off the abrupt ending of Top Gear, with Jeremy Clarkson seemingly left an office building, suggesting the BBC office, then took a flight to California for the new show. Driving to the location with Richard Hammond & James May in modified Ford Mustangs, followed by a horde of modified vehicles driving through the desert, a la Mad Max Fury Road style. That 10 minutes is a showcase of how big the show is going to be and showing that is "Top Gear Unchained". It's really grand.</div>
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Episode 1 basically covers what are they going to do in the show, a new track, new car review segment and leaderboard. All of which are pretty much the same from the old Top Gear, just that the format is twisted so they are able to avoid any legal troubles from the BBC. This episode also settled one of their previous argument about which car is better, LaFerrari (Ferrari The Ferrari), McLaren P1 and Porsche 918, "The Holy Trinity". The quality of the cinematography for "The Holy Trinity", BMW M2 review and the intros are all astounding.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZPYTE2ZZeN-Vuxi3GYa3n9L95ThTIP5sxT5ZqFwFGWUfUNVTa8u92pwX7KvXzQtaKE8Q_mPVF4yllPb1wAVFf3ZQIOQVi3C1rIZJRzZZIk2lNgd5QGMiMoLs9CdIKfp94hHPjPKINHE/s1600/Jeremy-Clarkson-Richard-Hammond-and-James-May-in-The-Grand-Tour-800x400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZPYTE2ZZeN-Vuxi3GYa3n9L95ThTIP5sxT5ZqFwFGWUfUNVTa8u92pwX7KvXzQtaKE8Q_mPVF4yllPb1wAVFf3ZQIOQVi3C1rIZJRzZZIk2lNgd5QGMiMoLs9CdIKfp94hHPjPKINHE/s400/Jeremy-Clarkson-Richard-Hammond-and-James-May-in-The-Grand-Tour-800x400.jpg" width="400" /></a>However, the key to all of the awesomeness of the show, is all down to the hosts themselves. Did the Top Gear legal issues and past controversies changed them at all. Not at all. What can we learn from all these is that, the hosts make up a lot of the points on whether a show would be good or not. You can put as many expensive cars as possible on the show, but one thing that makes Jeremy, Richard and James good bunch of mates on a TV show is themselves. The show might be scripted, but it's the banters between them that makes the old Top Gear great, and it can't be solved by just putting on several funny and car people on a show.</div>
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The Grand Tour premiere is very much a preview of the future of the show, while settling on some of the old gripes. I am pretty sure the show will still undergo some changes throughout the season. However, the first episodes is a very positive start with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond being themselves again is a joy to watch. The first episodes started off with a big band, with even bigger show still to come. It might be under a different name, but The Grand Tour is basically Top Gear on steroids, and I love it!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-71111975531948383732016-11-01T21:54:00.000+08:002016-11-01T21:54:55.307+08:00REVIEW: Doctor Strange<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We've reached a point where the film market is full of comic book/superhero movie adaptations. With DC Comics joining the fray this year full on with Batman v. Superman & Suicide Squad to compete with 20th Century Fox & Marvel franchises, not to mention Sony is planning to branch out after the collaboration with Marvel with its Spider-Man franchise, we're definitely will be bombarded by the endless amount of similar movies for the meantime.<br />
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There are discussions this year, whether audiences have starting to feel weary with the increasing frequency of comic book adaptations hitting the screen. In some ways, the audiences do feel tired with the comic book adaptations as they have been dominating cinema for a few years now. So, the next few releases has to be really, really good. Enters Doctor Strange, Marvel's latest entry to the MCU.<br />
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Before the actual review, let me state something, I am not a super comic book fan, I do read one or two comics but not at the scale of knowing all the characters. Hence, sometimes I don't mind the adaptation stray from the source material as long as the film itself is good.<br />
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Doctor Strange is a film that feels very different from other MCU movies before it, yet it feels very similar in terms of executions. The premise of the Doctor Strange is strikingly familiar with the original Iron Man, a cocky genius who is good at his work, ends up in a life threatening situation. The said genius has to learn to be humble and respect his powers. Yet, the setting is vastly different from Marvel's other entries. Heck, the journey of Strange travelling to Kamar-Taj to learn his powers feels like Batman Begins.<br />
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In its core, Doctor Strange is a superhero origin story. With Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) learns to be a sorcerer and master the power of mystic arts, under a guidance of The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and faces a villain who is a mirror image of him, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen). Doctor Strange also features a strong female lead who is also his lover (usual Marvel trope), fellow doctor, Dr. Palmer (Rachel McAdams).<br />
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What's so well executed about Doctor Strange is that Marvel did not stray much from other existing Marvel's films, yet it feels so different when viewing it in person. The subtle tweaks in terms of setting, theme and message ensures the movie feels different in its own way. If you watch Iron Man and Doctor Strange side by side. The storyline progression is almost identical.<br />
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The casts' performances are stellar, with Benedict Cumberbatch excels in his role as the Sorcerer's Supreme, I also like the performances of Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton in this movie. However, I am disappointed with Rachel McAdams portrayal of Doctor Palmer, not because she is bad, she just there for the sake of being there. Then, there's the Achilles Heel of Marvel films, the villain. Kaecilius is just forgettable, just like many Marvel movie villain. With the casting of Mads Mikkelsen, who is so good as a Bond villain and Hannibal Lecter, you'd expect the villain in this film will be so much better, you're wrong.<br />
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In all, Doctor Strange is a solid entry to the Marvel's franchise. Although it is basically the same premise, the subtle tweaks and Benedict Cumberbatch's excellent performance have ensured it feels slightly different than the others. However, the visual effects might not hold up years later and the villain is just another forgettable villain in the franchise's stable. Doctor Strange is, surprisingly, my favourite comic book movie adaptation this year.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: white;">Score: 4/5</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-8676076819804454832016-07-11T00:58:00.000+08:002016-07-11T00:58:07.372+08:00REVIEW: Independence Day - Resurgence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I actually can't believe the original Independence Day is already 20 years, and it actually took Roland Emmerich 20 years to make a sequel to a beloved sci-fi alien invasion movie. However, is it any good? Not really.<br />
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Basically, Independence Day: Resurgence take place after the event of the original, where humanity is at peace globally and alien technology influenced human innovation. However, the aliens are lurking in the dark prepare to strike back and take revenge for the second time. This is pretty much the repeat of the first Independence Day plot in premise, only bigger in scale (literally) and more technological advanced, but the execution of the sequel pales in comparison in almost every single way.<br />
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First thing, the good of the movie, Jeff Goldblum. He's an incredible actor, and well-established in the acting arena as one of the good actors in the past and he still got it in Resurgence. He is the only actor in the movie that actually showed enthusiasm and fun to be a part of the movie. His comedic timing is perfect and most of the time him being the classic Goldblum is just fantastic.<br />
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Now, the bad ones. The movie is never fun, it was complete dull throughout. The sequel tried to grittier approach compared to the original, yet tried to keep the wittiness ended up being flat and incredibly boring through the entire run time. I had some laugh with some jokes and that's it! I never feel like cheering for humanity and the characters when they are taking on the alien invasion.<br />
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It seems like the charisma of Will Smith is really lacking here, as his character is replaced by his character's forgettable and sleep-inducing son (I don't even remember his name!). Besides him, even the former president is never engaging enough. Basically, almost every damn character besides Jeff Goldblum ones felt extremely flat.<br />
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The plot, what do I say about this? As the plot of the first movie was extremely dumb, I can't really criticise Resurgence being dumb, that would counter my own argument. However, the addition of [SPOILER ALERT, highlight the words to see it] <span style="color: white;">another alien race to aid the Earth</span> is incredibly dumb. Independence Day is about the celebration of humanity's strength against foreign foes, that's the lesson, adding another alien race just dampens the mood. Not to mention the ending, of wanting to setup another sequel really makes me groan. Hollywood, please, focus one movie at a time!!!<br />
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In conclusion, the original Independence Day was dumb but it was exciting and fun to watch. The sequel, however, is just as dumb but it lacks the charm and fun, it was an incredibly boring and joyless. It was not really terrible, but not really decent either. Look at the clip below of the originals to show you what's missing.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 2/5</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-41986641547589718072016-03-26T02:24:00.000+08:002016-03-26T02:54:35.658+08:00REVIEW: Batman v. Superman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The long awaited on-screen clash of The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel is already here! This film is directed by Zack Snyder, the director of Man of Steel & 300, and it stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. It takes place 18 months after the event of Man of Steel, the world is both cheering and questioning the existence of Superman on Earth, whether he should be a hero or be restrained.<br />
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To me, the movie was okay. I was definitely excited about seeing Batman and Superman on screen together for the first time, duking it out, sounds so excited. After the movie, my feelings are mixed. Part of me love this, part of me dislike this film. This definitely feels like a Zack Snyder's films, but it is not hard to think that it is time for someone else to sit on the director's chair to take this franchise into new direction.<br />
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Let's talk about what I like about Batman v. Superman.<br />
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First of all, the castings. I think Batman v. Superman has one of the best casting lineups in recent summer blockbusters. Henry Cavill is solid as Superman, Ben Affleck proved his doubters wrong and Gal Gadot got her Wonder Woman right. Plus, there are Jeremy Irons, Laurence Fishburne & Amy Adams are great actors too.<br />
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Ben Affleck is a really great Batman, not the best, but a really great one. I was on the fence about his casting when the news was announced, but after the movie, I am impressed by his performance. Gal Gadot, despite her lack of screen time did convince me that she can be a great Wonder Woman in the future. Alfred, played by Jeremy Irons, is a different interpretation, but a amazing performance nonetheless. Jeremy Irons' Alfred is smart, knows his stuff around the tech around him and timing of his sarcasm is really spot on. All of them are spot on.<br />
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Similar with other Snyder's films, action set piece takes centre stage in Batman v. Superman. The action sequences are mightily impressive and the visual effects are dazzling. Seeing all the characters going all out is a great cinematic experience and exciting to watch. Batman facing off Superman are impressive and believable, it feels immersive.<br />
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Now, move on the things I dislike.<br />
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The film lacks cohesiveness. Throughout the movie, me and friends think that the movie doesn't know where it wants to focus more on. At one moment it feels like Man of Steel, Batman origin at another, Lex Luthor the next, Justice League movie right after. There are many scenes that felt like it should be left out so that the relevant plot points have room to grow. I wish that they focus more on the continuation of Man of Steel, where the world wants Superman to face the repercussions of destroying half of Metropolis while fighting General Zod, but this story was never mentioned again in the second half of the movie.<br />
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The movie really feels like a movie made just to introduce the audience to the Justice League world. Whilst focusing aspect of Batman v. Superman, the Justice League somehow felt like an afterthought. I'm not trying to spoil anything, the way the film trying to tie in other characters from DC Comics felt so forced and shoehorn that it felt unnecessary. I would rather remove that scene and trade for more Man of Steel and Batman moral aspects of the movie. Not to mention that the movie forgets to challenge Batman's moral code with no remorse. I don't mind the killing, but there's no justifications.<br />
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Despite its stellar castings, some of them were bit off. Jesse Eisenberg was unconvincing as Lex Luthor, his performance was constant overacting on almost every aspect of the movie, very unnatural and cringe worthy. The movie also doesn't know how to balance out Amy Adams' Lois Lane. at one moment she is a strong character, and after that she's a damsel in distress. Some of the scenes don't really need her presence really.<br />
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Overall, Batman v. Superman is a mixed movie. In one hand, it is an absolute visual treat to the audience. It was dazzling seeing these heroes duking it out! On the other, the movie itself lacks cohesiveness and consistency to tell a good story, as there are too many major plot points felt forced and rushed. It's such a shame really, this material has potential. It's really a Zack Snyder's movie, a very good visual director, but he is very inconsistent in telling stories. If DC and Warner Bros. want the Justice League movie have a great layer of depth, Zack Snyder might not be the person to bring the franchise forward. However, they have another good director right in front of them that worth considering, Ben Affleck.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;">SCORE: 2.5/5</span></b><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-30620426225176211872016-01-31T21:00:00.000+08:002016-01-31T21:58:18.016+08:0010 Favourite Movies of 2015Well, 2015 came to an end few weeks ago and it has some great films. The films shown in 2015 are generally better than 2014 as I enjoyed a lot more dramatic movies and better blockbuster offerings all round. I still couldn't be able to watch Creed, Steve Jobs, The Revenant, The Hateful Eight and The Big Short as some of them are not even released in Malaysia yet, so this now I am going to rank the movies I watched as of January 2016, with a small summary on why I put it in the list. Please do take note that this is my personal Top 10 and it does not reflect anyone else's opinions.<br />
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Here we go:<br />
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<b><u>1. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens</u></b><br />
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Is this any surprise to anyone? Probably not. Ever since 2012 when the movie was announced, I was really hoping Star Wars would be exciting again, after the inconsistencies in recent years and the abomination of Attack of the Clones, The Force Awakens really met my expectations in every way imaginable.<br />
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A good cast, entertainment, humour, and basically Star Wars going back to basics to where it mattered puts Star Wars back in the map. While there are certain parts of the movie I wished it could be better, The Force Awakens is the best cinema experience I've had in years. I watched it during first screenings, I was laughing, cheering and clapping along with every other fan in the theater. When John Williams' score kicked in and the opening crawl started scrolling, it was the biggest cheer ever in cinema, and we all stayed till the credit finished.<br />
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Despite watching it three times already in cinema, I always want to go back again, and again. Episode VIII and Rogue One, bring it on!<br />
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<b><u>2. Mad Max: Fury Road</u></b><br />
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In the age where action movies are over-complicating themselves, Mad Max: Fury Road is a breath of fresh air in the action genre. This post-apocalyptic pic starring the titular character is a fairly simple movie, yet the execution in terms of visual effects, cinematography, audio and picture quality are excellent.<br />
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Besides that, the core element of action movie, the action sequences, are top notch. It makes you grip on the edge of your seat as the brilliant set pieces really gets the adrenaline pumping from the start of till the end of the movie.<br />
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<b><u>3. The Martian</u></b><br />
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I went into cinema expecting The Martian to be good, and I am not disappointed. It is good.<br />
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What I'm surprised about The Martian though, that it was funny. "A man stranded alone on Mars while a group of scientists figuring out ways to send out rescue team" never sounds like a funny thing to me. Well, at least Golden Globes did. The Martian features a great cast, strong direction and execution that makes The Martian one of the strong films in recent years.<br />
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<u><b>4. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation</b></u><br />
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Tom Cruise + action movies = perfect<br />
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Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is another strong entry to the Mission Impossible franchise. This is probably due to Tom Cruise, who insists on doing all or almost all of the stunt works himself, which I seriously impressed and respect. It makes the film feels genuine and gets the adrenaline pumping.<br />
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<b><u>5. Inside Out</u></b><br />
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Pixar in recent years have been slow, Cars 2, Brave and Monster University by Pixar's standards, have been 'meh' at best. With Inside Out, they are back!<br />
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Inside Out looks like Pixar, sounds like Pixar, felt like Pixar. Those ingredients alone made Inside Out a fantastic film.<br />
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<u><b>6. Bridge of Spies</b></u><br />
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Like Pixar, Steven Spielberg have been slow too. He put more of his focus on being producers of other films lately and his recent film just not to my personal liking.<br />
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However, Bridge of Spies is my kind of Spielberg's film. The historical drama focus on a less talked about part of the Cold War, the prisoner exchange behind the scenes. While Bridge of Spies did elevated some of the elements that made the film more intense than the history depicted but Spielberg arranged it really well. It is a well-written and well thought out film.<br />
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<b><u>7. Marvel's Ant-Man</u></b><br />
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At first, I prefer Age of Ultron. However, after second viewings of both films, I think Ant-Man is a better superhero film.<br />
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This is due to the charm of the film. As an unknown outside Marvel's fandom, this movie could have flopped, but people flocked into cinema nonetheless because Disney did really well with the Marvel universe. In many ways, Ant-Man played out like the original Iron Man, feeling wise and script wise, where we all never expect it to be good, yet turned out really well. Plus, the casting of Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas really helps Ant-Man to develop into one of the year's proper blockbusters.<br />
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<b><u>8. Ex Machina</u></b><br />
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At first, this movie looks really, really weird. I mean, a futuristic sci-fi movie in a middle of a jungle?? The movie is, to me, pretty slow at first.<br />
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Once I get used to the pace, the movie ends up pretty great for me. The writing, pacing, acting and the theme centred around the film is top notch. The interactions between characters of Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander are top notch. This movie questions human's compassion and aggression towards artificial intelligence. After watching this, I was really looking forward to Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he was brilliant!<br />
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One of the highlights of the year.<br />
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<b><u>9. Kingsman: The Secret Service</u></b><br />
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A film that knows what it is and its intended target audience, a James Bond movie for the younger demographics.<br />
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It really has the elements from the famous British spy, the cast is British, action set pieces, high tech gadgets, exotic locales. Surprisingly, the casting was on point with the characters, who would've thought actors like Colin Firth and Mark Strong could be humourous. The movie feels a lot more playful and less intense, as it never takes itself too seriously, that's why this movie is so fun to watch.<br />
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<b><u>10. Avengers: Age of Ultron</u></b><br />
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Despite not being as good as the original Avengers, Age of Ultron is still an entertaining film on its own.<br />
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With all of the characters returning on saving the world from the evil AI Tony Stark created, the team's chemistry, interactions and banters with each other is getting better and much more natural than the first one, that was the reason the movie is so entertaining. The set pieces and visual effects are so well made, that it makes you rooting for your favourite hero to kick the villain's ass.<br />
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Despite all that, the movie's plot and the characters did not grow that much from the first Avengers. The superheroes are basically the same people from the last scene of Avengers, despite the fact that most of them have their individual adventures elsewhere.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-26156097781349642302015-12-19T19:20:00.001+08:002015-12-19T19:26:40.447+08:00REVIEW: Star Wars - The Force Awakens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."</i><br />
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The iconic opening starts with the John Williams' memorable theme song, the crowd in theaters started cheering along. To millions of us, Star Wars is back with a bang, after a decade of absence. However, is it any good?<br />
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The result? It is, really good, despite some of its problems. The Force Awakens is by far the best Star Wars since 1980's Empire Strikes Back and is the best Star Wars during my lifetime.<br />
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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens begins 30 years after the Battle of Endor, the reorganised The First Order and The Resistance continue to fight for supremacy of the galaxy despite the fall of the Emperor 30 years ago. Old heroes and new characters combine to take the fight against The First Order. The battle of good and evil has been intensified to a new level.<br />
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I kept a realistic expectations for The Force Awakens, because I know the original trilogy despite its flaws, will always be movie classics, it's almost impossible for The Force Awakens to top the trilogy. I also kept a realistic expectations because of how Attack of the Clones almost ruin Star Wars for me. Thankfully, The Force Awakens is more towards the original trilogy than the prequels.<br />
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Disney did play safe with the plot by borrowing elements from A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back (I'm not gonna mention how), but J. J. Abrams did really well by injecting a lot of energy into the movie. Unlike the prequels, the story of the movie is always progressing, every scene contains story that worth exploring and contributes to the main story. The action sequences, my god, it felt fantastic! It is intense and never felt too long or too short, J. J. Abrams allows clearer shots of the action sequences is a big plus of the movie. Despite it's higher amount of violence and darker theme compared to some of the Star Wars movies, The Force Awakens is the funniest Star Wars I have seen yet. However, there are some moments I do hope the movie slows down to let the emotions and contents to be digested by viewers, it's a bit tad too fast.<br />
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Newcomers like Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac, who portrayed Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron respectively, are great in this film. Finn by far is my favourite character in The Force Awakens as he is an outsider suddenly thrown into the world confused, he brought a lot of new elements and energy to his characters, and he is really funny throughout the movie. Rey is just as great in the movie as a lone survivor scavenging on the planet Jakku, then taking on the mantle of heroine later in the film. Poe Dameron, despite his smaller role in the film, is really likeable and being one of my instant favourite characters. Old characters like Han, Leia, Luke and Chewbacca are given much love and respect in this film, despite the initial worries.<br />
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For me, the jury is still out on the characters of the dark side. I love Kylo Ren at the beginning of the movie, somehow for me I don't really like him as he is not really as menacing towards the end of the movie. I felt General Hux and Captain Phasma, the much hyped characters in the pre-release, are way underdeveloped in this movie, something that needs to be address in the upcoming Episode VIII. The shadowy Supreme Leader Snoke is still as mysterious as ever.<br />
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Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens reinvigorates the Star Wars saga after so long. It's not as great as A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back but it's a really fantastic entry into the saga and is able to launch the new trilogy into motion. Despite the familiarity, it is able to stand on its own and brought newer characters and new worlds into its own. The Force Awakens is in the list of my favourite Star Wars, absolutely love every minute of it!<br />
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I will say like Han Solo put it, "Chewie, we're home!"<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Rating: 4.5/5</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-76434307412840016012015-08-25T19:47:00.000+08:002015-08-25T19:47:00.037+08:00REVIEW: Hitman - Agent 47<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm hired and given a target, a man with good public reputation but with shadowy ties with mobsters. He is wealthy and well protected from threats, by staying in his villa with security guards, with beefed up alarm & intrusion system. I wander outside the villa for 10/15 minutes, finding ways to exploit the security by shutting it down, or simply avoiding it altogether. When I'm inside the villa, I can either finish off the target by doing it point blank range, or finding possible options to make the assassination looks like an accident, no one would notice a killer's presence. I see the man is preparing to swim, I make wiring leak near the pool and leave the scene soon after. Mission success, no one notice me at all.</div>
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That's the joy of playing Hitman franchise's games. You are an assassin, codenamed Agent 47, who is brutal, cold and calculated at assassinate targets given. Agent 47 is able to infiltrate and assassinate targets before anyone notice what is happening, by exploiting the number of options given. The feeling of finishing a mission with the highest score possible with any detection is really satisfying. Same can't be said for its latest movie adaption, Hitman: Agent 47.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hitman: Agent 47 is adaptation of the Hitman video game franchise and is directed by Aleksander Bach. It starred Rupert Friend as the title character, Hanna Ware and Zachary Quinto. The story tells Agent 47 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">teams up with a woman to help her find her father and uncover the mysteries of her ancestry. Together, they aim to take down the leader of Syndicate International, a terrorist group based in Singapore.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the director best work yet (sarcasm, just look at IMDB, I'm not wrong). The plot tries to be smart and it fails big time, it doesn't have any good sense and it feels dumb. When the movie promotional video, features how the director and producers trying to exploit Singapore's </span>architecture<span style="font-family: inherit;"> landscape before any other Hollywood production without a slight mention to the franchise backstory, it is a red flag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed certain part of the action sequences, for example when Agent 47 and Katia trying to get out of Changi Airport undetected, it was a glimpse of Hitman. However, my God, it is a pointless, gung-ho, shoot'em up movie that has very little resemblance to the Agent 47 we know. Aleksander Bach must be given the game to try to understand the game, but he ended up getting detected by every security guards and police possible and went all shootout with the authorities, because that what the movie feels like. At one of the scene, Agent 47 teaches Katia van Dees (Hannah Ware) on how to take on a group of Syndicate forces (the antagonist's organisation), by going head on and kill everyone they see. FOR GOD'S SAKE! AGENT 47 IS A SILENT ASSASSIN! NOT A TERMINATOR!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am also very disappointed with Zachary Quinto. I am a big fan of his work since Heroes and Star Trek and his portrayal of henchman John Smith is his weakest work yet. It might be down to script issues with his characters and the possibility of him not suitable being a henchman for a villain. Not to mention that a lot of his stunts felt forced and fake-ish. Not only his stunts feel fake, a lot of the actors' action sequences are obviously done by stuntmen. The random mashup of different cuts are trying to hide the stuntmen, but it is still visible at times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then, it comes to the special effects. Sigh..., where do I start?! This could be one of the worst visual effects of 2015. The scene where Agent 47 driving down the car park, got chased by a bunch of henchmen on motorcycle is as fake as WWE's fight. When the car hits the motorcyclist, you can obviously spot the image being superimposed together without feeling natural. John Smith's Mercedes hit the barriers is worse than the games on my PlayStation. These are just two scenes of many.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the year where we have two brilliant action movie in Mad Max: Fury Road and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Hitman: Agent 47 is against the odds from the start. However, Hitman: Agent 47 not only failed on being decent enough movie, it fails to be faithful to the source material. When the first failed Hitman adaptation being better than the new ones, it is clearly an incredibly bad movie. This add up with horrible special effects, just made the movie from bad to worse. Things are not looking good for video game adaptations. I haven't watched Fantastic Four and Pixels yet, but so far, Hitman: Agent 47 is the worst movie of 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 1.5/5</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-30133134171939389772015-08-07T00:24:00.001+08:002015-08-07T00:24:54.851+08:00REVIEW: Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"You may not like a person, but you can be the admirer of his work", that's how I feel about Tom Cruise. I am not a fan of him as a person, but I really do like the movies he worked on. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation further strengthened that belief, because he worked really hard to get the movie done and the end result is quite immense.<br />
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Mission Impossible Rogue Nation set up after the events of Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) is on the find the existence of the Syndicate. However, before anything continues, Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) from CIA shut down the IMF. The team have been disbanded and Ethan Hunt has gone into hiding and gone rouge.<br />
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It's basically a very Mission Impossible-ish plot, yet still the movie feels very fresh even after the fifth installment. This is due to Christopher McQuarrie is the fifth director of Mission Impossible as many as the number of films. So, this makes each entry feels very fresh and each movie has its own audiences and fans.</div>
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The action sequence itself is the highlight of the show, with Tom Cruise himself doing all the crazy stunts without the use of a stuntman. This makes the action sequences feel very real because the actors are feeling all the stress and tension, these feelings are directly felt by the audience because we all the action shots are all real. The scenes did feel slow and dragged out in between the action sequences, as the script doesn't seem to know how to move the story at a smoother manner. Other than that, the movie is rock solid.<br />
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Tom Cruise, say what you want about his personal life, I personally don't like his real persona, but his movies are really enjoyable. I mean, he really strapped himself onto the plane during takeoff and take a deep dive during crucial action sequences, The reason he does that because by using real actors, we all with immersed with the movie, and he's right, Mission Impossible feels a lot better than action movie these days because it felt real, not some stuntmen strap on with makeups.<br />
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Beside Cruise, Simon Pegg as Benji is as funny as ever, with himself have more action chops this time around, which is great to see. Ving Rhames is back and make it a lot better. Jeremy Renner, who is my sister's personal favourite, is back this time around once again as William Brandt, the character has given more comical relief which is weird at first, but makes sense in the end. Rebecca Ferguson as Syndicate operative, Ilsa Faust is both masculine and feminine as well, even though her character is inconsistent. Alec Baldwin's character as Alan Hunley is just an introduction, and an interesting one. It's excited to see where they will bring the character forward in the future.<br />
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However, the main problem with Rogue Nation is the villain. Once again, Rogue Nation suffers the issue of weak villains, like previous Mission Impossible and other movies. Sean Harris as Solomon Lane isn't intimidating or pose enough a threat to IMF and he is easily played by other characters in the film. I'm not sure what it is, is it today's society can't accept a proper villain, because villains usually are not suitable to the politically correct audiences.<br />
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That being said, Mission Impossible is another solid entry of the Mission Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise and co. is able to keep the franchise fresh after so many years is something worth applauding. Not many series can get consistent, let alone getting better, but Mission Impossible managed to pull it off. If you're into action movies with espionage themed, it is worth a recommendation. It is a blast!<br />
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P.S. Kuala Lumpur made a cameo!<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 4.5/5</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-8403240115018046342015-07-31T18:22:00.001+08:002015-07-31T18:22:48.777+08:00REVIEW: Holden Commodore Evoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcAW0u28QY_8rCvjjj-bTtjh0SX26OM-9stY7mgu_yV9rmGsTVReKDv8gojpLIsHlRGpFtnHO_TCKDQ2JwnHbIPsM7fIw4fv-nTLwNDtAnJ12MRT2_MARXG_1xhLfnfdd1F6ByDwuJY8A/s1600/DSC_0920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcAW0u28QY_8rCvjjj-bTtjh0SX26OM-9stY7mgu_yV9rmGsTVReKDv8gojpLIsHlRGpFtnHO_TCKDQ2JwnHbIPsM7fIw4fv-nTLwNDtAnJ12MRT2_MARXG_1xhLfnfdd1F6ByDwuJY8A/s640/DSC_0920.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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More than two months, that's how long ago from the moment I thought "Yeah, I'm gonna make this post". So, I'm gonna post it NOW! This is it, the Holden Commodore Evoke, the car my sister rented during my family's trip to Perth, Australia in May. The car cost around AU$400 for a six days trip.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zrZhq571y8fToNODa3L-Efg3ciKrLbpKi8i1_Y4dnh3qoCKSrMZ2nBcslpKN26aCtzHhVXyIz3ECzt9vttIhkUhbtRW7NIkFviIH5lv7Wqhv5gO15btwZO-IcmQo-ACl5QpAe5ovRR0/s1600/DSC_0675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1zrZhq571y8fToNODa3L-Efg3ciKrLbpKi8i1_Y4dnh3qoCKSrMZ2nBcslpKN26aCtzHhVXyIz3ECzt9vttIhkUhbtRW7NIkFviIH5lv7Wqhv5gO15btwZO-IcmQo-ACl5QpAe5ovRR0/s400/DSC_0675.JPG" width="400" /></a>The car is a basic entry level in the Holden Commodore range. It features a 3.0L SIDI direct injection V6 engine that produces 248bhp and 290Nm of torque, the engine is then paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission. That is quite a recipe for an entry level car.<br />
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Performance & Handling<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7fknP_iOxmN8tRQvYDvznJfLO_df6L__DplyAKnUCUtrqdI6PnxD8-sVig5_i_nLxDs1PUHTMdl4naXiscw7zGTZhEOYQPXd16ebJSUfJpOqt7nlCGpcjISbD4I8XNMu2RxDblSRaJw/s1600/Greater+Perth+Family+Trip+063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7fknP_iOxmN8tRQvYDvznJfLO_df6L__DplyAKnUCUtrqdI6PnxD8-sVig5_i_nLxDs1PUHTMdl4naXiscw7zGTZhEOYQPXd16ebJSUfJpOqt7nlCGpcjISbD4I8XNMu2RxDblSRaJw/s400/Greater+Perth+Family+Trip+063.JPG" width="400" /></a>With the engine, you would expect quite a performance with sporty handling and stuff. That wasn't the case, the car is design for daily drive and comfort. However, it does have a really decent acceleration under its belt, not to mention that I was carrying four other passengers in the car. I did tried out the automated sequential mode to give it a sportier push, I was had quite a smile as the car was able to give quite a big push when you got more control of the the wheel.<br />
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Handling wise, the car is given a more comfort settings as well. Rightfully so, as you are not going to take car to hoon around Mount Panorama or Nurburgring. The car's suspension is designed to tackle bumpier roads of some of Australia's outskirts, I drove through the woods once and it was really rough, but the car was able to absorb most of impacts. Still felt it, but comfy. ESP that came along with the car are able to help with some of the more slippery roads.<br />
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Comfort and Practicality<br />
Possibly one of the most comfortable car I've driven and been in. The journey covered around 800km over 6 days from Perth to Margaret River to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse back to Perth again, I've never felt any pain in the arse (pardon me) during the whole trip. Most of the time I was behind the wheel, I didn't feel any fatigue after long rides and being on the front passenger seat was a comfortable experience. My parents and my aunt sitting at the rear passenger seat have a lot of space and didn't need the adjustment of the front passenger seats.<br />
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Practicality wise, the car is large enough for a driver and four other passengers, During the trip, we are able rear boot is able to fit one large luggage, one small one and four other bags. It will also be able to fit an adult size person at the back if you wanted to do something fishy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It fits! (No humans were harmed during the photoshoot)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The startup presentation of the Evoke</i></td></tr>
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We were unable to get an accurate reading about the fuel economy during the trip as we were fiddling with the car computer system for the first two or three days. However, the computer said the car during the trip averaged around an estimated 8.6L/100km, which was not bad for a big lump executive car. The car was able to swallow anything from RON92 and above, and biofuel as well.<br />
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Extras<br />The car comes with the standard ABS and ESP for safety. Besides that, it features an infotainment system with Bluetooth, USB and AUX support and voice control, which was terrible. The system will have a hard time understanding the device plugged in and is unable to pick up my voice command, NOT EVEN ONCE!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sandy!</i></td></tr>
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Other than that, the car comes with reverse camera for park assist. It also features self park mode, which I was unable to give it a try, and by the way, parking isn't hard, at all. Automated headlamps and cruise control is available as well, which is actually really easy to use.<br />
<br />I did have complains with the seatbelt warning system. It sounds way too similar like the sound from the parking assist. Whenever my parents took off the seatbelts while I was parking, I thought I crashed which was annoying!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTphc-NjrPXJ_7RZ3lAHZVzVEenkfaqfSjL6SIQttFgqcQ5u41-JRHKflyXHSgBMDNm1pnLTWshgbqsjiKpHpJoq2poPdQ46jeWoh2p9oM_QksgkMi5XeWwEbxHF8qbPUWKnXXRcEp4w/s1600/DSC_1079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTphc-NjrPXJ_7RZ3lAHZVzVEenkfaqfSjL6SIQttFgqcQ5u41-JRHKflyXHSgBMDNm1pnLTWshgbqsjiKpHpJoq2poPdQ46jeWoh2p9oM_QksgkMi5XeWwEbxHF8qbPUWKnXXRcEp4w/s640/DSC_1079.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Toyota? Meh...</i></td></tr>
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Holden Commodore Evoke is definitely a really good car, comfortable, enough power and practicality makes it a really good car for family trip. Although these praise could be me spending a week with the car alone, without driving other cars, as people usually fall in love with the car they spent a short time with.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-82169017820052817992015-07-13T19:00:00.000+08:002015-07-13T21:41:44.872+08:00My UberX KL Experiences<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.presentmusic.org/user_images/uber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.presentmusic.org/user_images/uber.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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For those who take public transport in KL, I'm pretty sure you all have poor (terrible) experiences with taxis in KL. For those who didn't, taxis in KL are generally quite dirty, foul smelled, untidy and poorly maintained, and the taxi drivers can be really rude, harassing, jam their music very loud, don't wanna use meters, overcharging passengers. I know there are still some good taxi drivers out there but there are just too many bad ones. That's why KL is being notorious for <a href="http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/07/03/KL-cabbies-the-worlds-worst-says-UK-website-Bad-attitude-earns-Msian-taxi-drivers-top-spot-ahead-of/" target="_blank">the worst taxi services in the world.</a><br />
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Afraid not commuters, there's a new way to travel around the city, Uber. Uber is a ride sharing platform where normal users can be drivers, through proper verification and others users can request rides to travel. It's similar to one of the local's service, GrabTaxi, a variant of MyTeksi. For now, I will only cover Uber as I do not have enough rides with GrabTaxi to make a proper conclusion.<br />
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First and foremost, you must create an account (duh), which is <a href="http://www.uber.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Go through filling in the details and your card info as credit card is the primary method of making payment. After setting up and verifying your account, you are good to go!<br />
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To order a ride, simply open up Uber app from your phone like the one on my phone's screen above. The phone will show your approximate current location, the nearest drivers, the waiting time and allow you to drop the pin which the driver will pick you up. This is where you can set your destination and get the estimated fare for the ride. You can also key in promo code during promotional period or send out fare sharing to divide your fare automatically with your friends who are tagging along.<br />
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After confirming the ride, the app will send out request to drivers nearby to pick you up, usually it takes around 10 minutes for the ride to arrive. Drivers will usually call you to confirm your booking or if you have any changes with the pick up location. With UberX, the cars are usually Perodua Myvi, Toyota Vios, Honda City or Nissan Almera.<br />
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The experience I had with Uber are generally positive. The ride is ACTUALLY calculated with running rate, no more arguing about prices! The starting fare is also quite reasonable at RM2. However, the most important thing of all, the drivers. They are very friendly in general, if you start a conversation with them, they will chat with you without going overboard, I met quite some quiet ones, not because they are unfriendly, just that they are quiet.<br />
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At the end of the ride, your fare will be finalised and the receipt will be sent to your email account. You can rate your experience of the ride after you reached your destination. If you find your journey strayed too far from the route, you can request for a fare review to get a proper valuation.<br />
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Overall, my experience with UberX KL so far has been positive. It is easy to use, almost certain to get rides if there are drivers around, promotions from time to time has allowed me to save more from the rides. Lastly, the rides are generally much cleaner and friendlier. If you want to go places that rails aren't able to reach, UberX is worth the consideration.<br />
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If you are trying Uber for the first time, you can enter the promo code <b><span style="color: yellow;">"uberCRA458"</span></b> for RM40 off for your first ride. Give it a shot! Besides, throughout the whole July 2015, Uber rides will be 20% off.<br />
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<b>Current UberX rate</b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Base Fare: RM2</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Running rate: RM0.35/min + RM0.70/KM</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Minimum Fare: RM2</span><br />
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I will cover GrabTaxi and other services from Uber soon. Stay tuned.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Disclaimer: This is not endorsed by Uber in any form. It is just my personal experience that I offer to allow commuters to have more options to take rides around KL.</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-8135615204859293942015-06-12T02:51:00.002+08:002015-06-12T02:54:31.164+08:00Review: Jurassic World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Honestly, I went in the cinema with lowered expectations. This is due to the overexposure of the marketing campaign I saw everywhere, on social media, news, posters and trailers, I felt like I've seen too much of Jurassic World, and the best part are all shown in the trailers. I also lowered the expectations because the original Jurassic Park is a milestone in cinema. In the end, overexposure or not, I was entertained, Jurassic World has a decent enough plot and not be like another Jurassic Park III where dinosaurs exist just to eat humans.<br />
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Set 22 years after the events of the original Jurassic Park, the island is now a full-fledged theme park with actual attractions and is popular with the tourists. With the increasing operating cost, the park's owner, Masrani Corporation, wants to create a new dinosaur to attract a larger number of visitors, without thinking of the consequences.<br />
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Colin Trevorrow, the director of Jurassic World, did a wonderful job on recreating the spectacle of Jurassic Park. Sure, it is not as good as the original, but it is certainly better Jurassic Park III and at most times better than The Lost World. It has a pretty good story that drives the characters in the film. Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) are well written characters, they have great chemistry and have great progression in the story. Some characters' felt flat or do not move the plot at all. Claire's nephews don't feel important to the story as they and Claire do not feel like they are related, Simon Masrani is unsure he is a serious CEO or a comic relief, Dr. Wu (the only recurring character) suddenly feels so mysterious.<br />
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The dinosaurs are great on the big screen. The hybrid Indominous Rex is an imposing and terrifying figure in the film, a symbol of humanity's greed, the Mosasaurus is a great addition to the movie. I was bit worried in the trailer when Owen is controlling and taming the velociraptor, I though it was bit too much. However, due to the great acting of Chris Pratt, it is pretty convincing! If human can tame lions and tigers, why not the raptors (hehe). Lastly, it is really exciting when we are finally able to watch the original T-rex from Jurassic Park made an appearance, her appearance is what makes the last act of the movie so fantastic to watch.<br />
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Of course, 22 years later, the visuals of Jurassic Park have improved tremendously since then. Jurassic World looks great on the big screen, the dinosaurs feel lifelike and believable. Even though CGI has taken over much of the work, practical effects like animatronics are still used in close ups. There are some instance where the scenes really felt like the actors are looking into the green screen mapping or part of the CGI background, but that did not detract much from the experiences. The sound effects makes a roaring return with full spectrum of the dinosaurs' roars.<br />
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The movie did succeed in making it feels like Jurassic Park, with good amount of anticipation to the appearances of the dinosaurs and the suspense of the wait. It also brings a lot of the good memories (bad memories if you were in that world) of the Jurassic Park with the visit to the old park's site, most of the time it felt good, but in some instances it felt forced.<br />
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I also give credit to the writers' ability for refuting scientists' claims of dinosaurs that were researched post-Jurassic Park have feathers and looks slightly different in sizes. First, they use Dr. Wu to explain that these dinosaurs were bridged with genomes of modern reptiles in order to make them breed in the test tube and hence looked different. Secondly, they are not from the real world, they are in the world of Jurassic Park. It would looked weird if the velociraptors suddenly grown some feathers 22 years later.<br />
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I really liked Jurassic Park, not only because it was entertaining, it was also acknowledge what makes the first Jurassic Park so great and tried to recapture that magic. It also tried to avoid the comparisons by refusing to name it Jurassic Park IV as it would limit the storytelling because of The Lost World and the mediocre Jurassic Park III. There are some moments where the movie felt bit flat, but it was mostly a great and entertaining film. Colin Trevorrow and Steven Spielberg managed to make it work, that is to make the audience interested to see dinosaurs again.<br />
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To me, unlike The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World is a true sequel to Jurassic Park.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 4/5</b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-3547199917358555632015-04-04T03:30:00.000+08:002015-04-04T03:40:32.457+08:00REVIEW: Furious 7 (Sending Off)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"One last ride," Vin Diesel's character, Dominic Toretto has been saying this quote for the past iterations of Fast & Furious for years, even though there are sequels coming. For this time, Furious 7, it is one last ride for a character, in particular.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fastandfurious7film.com/ww/images/gallery/fast7-gallery-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.fastandfurious7film.com/ww/images/gallery/fast7-gallery-5.jpg" height="243" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Back to work</i></td></tr>
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I'll talk about that in a moment, but first let me talk about what I think of Furious 7 as a whole. It's difficult to find a franchise that grows in popularity in subsequent entry of the series. From a small budget flick to a must-watch blockbuster is no small feat.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Transporter is here!</i></td></tr>
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The new movie saw Jason Statham, the new villain for the series, as Deckard Shaw, who is out for revenge for his brother, Owen. Jason Statham fit into this movie easily, as he is one of the most recognisable action star out there, I like him after I saw the American adaptation of The Italian Job and subsequent movie. In Furious 7, Jason Statham is just being Jason Statham, and I like it.<br />
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The action sequences, visual effects and the ensemble of casts are the main draw to the series. The crew (family) is better than ever, delivering their own witty one-liners to one another and the chemistry between them is still there. Tyrese continues his usual comedic relief role, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker being the frontmen, Letty be the female version of Dom, Ludacris be the IT guy, Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones join the fray, The Rock be the cop and some familiar faces return, which is a welcome sight.<br />
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The visual effects are detailed as well, I appreciate what they have done with all the ridiculous stunts they managed to pull off by doing it practically instead of doing CGI when they have the liberty to do that. The plane drop? It's real.<br />
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However, on the action sequences side, it's a bit of overdone. I'm not saying that the action sequences sucked or whatsoever, just that the fight scenes between characters have been overdone. The face-off between Dominic Toretto and Deckard Shaw is just plain ridiculous, the cars' chassis were damaged beyond recognisable, yet both the characters exited the car unscathed from injury, WTF?! Metal bars hit on concrete, the concrete disintegrate instantly yet done absolutely no damage on their faces.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I know this movie is over the top, but this scene is bullsh*t!</i></td></tr>
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Not to mention there are some elements are unnecessary. Kurt Russell's character, Frank, doesn't seem necessary at the first place, and the military thing is not helping as well, although I might be wrong when the sequel comes to play. This resulted in the movie being bit too long.<br />
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In the end, none of these acclaims and criticisms matter as Furious 7 is all about one man, Paul Walker. His tragic death in 2013 caused the film to do some rewriting to give a proper farewell & retirement to his character. As Fast & Furious being the franchise started in my generation and continued to be successful, Paul Walker is the man I grow up watching, so it's bittersweet to watch this film, as his character, Brian O'Connor, continues to kick ass, yet towards the end, you know he will be retired. It is a "one last ride" for him.<br />
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The dialogue shared between Brian and his wife, Mia, it's touching and give so much emotion in the movie. The ending tribute and goodbye to Paul Walker, as he gave a one last drive toward the horizon is unbelievably emotional moment as well, tried to hold on to my feelings all the time while I watched it. The theater I was in, gave a respectful standing ovation, as they know it is the best way to say goodbye to the man who made this franchise at the first place.<br />
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Despite the overlong runtime and way too over the top sequences, Furious 7 managed to keep audiences engaged in its usual adrenaline pumping action sequences, stunts and the ensemble casts. Yet, none of these matter anyway, it is about Paul Walker and Brian O'Connor. It is about them giving their respective "one last ride".<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>Rating: N/A</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One Last Ride</i></td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-52933427217671141362014-05-16T22:18:00.000+08:002014-05-16T22:18:06.936+08:00Review: Godzilla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Look, I have nothing against the 1998 American Godzilla, in fact, I like it as its own movie. As a standalone monster movie, it is ridiculously silly, funny and at the same time entertaining in its own way. But when you watched the original Japanese version, or had a glimpse of it, or even watched Ultraman before, that is not an actual Godzilla, it strayed too far from the original. The 1998 adaptation felt more like Jurassic Park on steroids.<br />
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So, when Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers decided to reboot the whole Hollywood adaptation, I had some doubts whether it will succeed or not. But, Gareth Edwards' vision towards the Japanese version with his idea worked well, and rather brilliantly.<br />
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The movie is about the devastation of human abuse of the environment and the use of Nuclear based materials and its effects, which is the appearance of monsters of Godzilla. To make matters worse, Godzilla isn't the biggest trouble! Making the army had a torrid time throughout the movie. The brilliance about the new Godzilla is, it felt like Jaws. Godzilla makes the viewers felt terrified and nervous, even when Godzilla is off-screen.<br />
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The new Godzilla had some of the finest cast line-up, it has Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai), Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad).<br />
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These actors are some of the most popular and great actors around, and it is paired up with a really decent script. The movie is mostly centred around Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his family (Olsen, Cranston) and of course Godzilla. The movie surprisingly had a really strong human drama to back it up, but the character development is somewhat forgotten halfway through the movie.<br />
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The main character of the movie is still the titular character, Godzilla. Gareth Edwards made Godzilla hidden most of the time until the film climax. I like this idea, but moviegoers who prefer the movie come out gunblazing from the first second might not like this. This version of the Godzilla stays true to its Japanese roots, and bigger than the Japanese version. This makes Godzilla feels terrifying, on and off-screen. Beside Godzilla, there are MUTOs in the movie as well<br />
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The movie had a really strong visual effects as well. Many of the action set-pieces are well made and well-polished to make it feel believable and exciting. The destructions created by Godzilla are massive and the great visual effects make these destruction much scarier and realistic.<br />
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While the visual effects is great, the best part of Godzilla is definitely the audio effects. The movie is loud at the right time with all the actions going on-screen, with the roar of Godzilla the highlight of the audio effects. The audio effects is the best I've heard this year, and it is some of the best I've heard in recent years.<br />
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Godzilla is a faithful adaptation to its Japanese counterparts, highlighting the movie's values correctly. It is silly, but believable that makes the movie so entertaining to watch. Despite its strong but stalled human drama, the movie has a decent story to back it up. Gareth Edwards' Godzilla is one of the year's most entertaining movie of year.<br />
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Pros: Good visual effects, one of the best audio effects of the year, strong cast and good story, Godzilla is back!<br />
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Cons: Character development is somewhat stalled halfway, some silly moments, some viewers might not like the beginning of the film.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 4/5</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-81517815770852606352014-03-29T20:38:00.002+08:002014-03-29T20:40:08.591+08:00Review: Captain America - The Winter Soldier<b><span style="font-size: large;">Franchise Changing!</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIsz8EU_LYNcE3aYTNMf3ZV1H0WJ30GtuySqZbhwJdZiF75kbgKkyP_utNlEB1CiS4HpAH2CfSMX8PjGolC-PE002nIruhordwWl0CpnEHIx8Ig-HMkaXQVnJ9ThuqbD3vrLBnstWeslc/s1600/Captain+America.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIsz8EU_LYNcE3aYTNMf3ZV1H0WJ30GtuySqZbhwJdZiF75kbgKkyP_utNlEB1CiS4HpAH2CfSMX8PjGolC-PE002nIruhordwWl0CpnEHIx8Ig-HMkaXQVnJ9ThuqbD3vrLBnstWeslc/s1600/Captain+America.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
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Those two words came up instantly in my head after watching The Winter Soldier, as the movie offer the most impact I've seen so far to The Avengers franchise than any other heroes' individual outing thus far.<br />
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The Winter Soldier takes place two years after The Avengers, where Captain America continues to work with SHIELD even though he doesn't like it, as he has no other way to go after 70 years in cryostasis and teamed up with Black Widow.<br />
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This basis set up for a more grounded approach in comic book movies, as the story mostly heavily influenced by the state of our real world, driven by fear and heavily political. This creative and different approach makes Captain America's second solo outing one of the best Marvel's adaptation in recent years, and aside from The Avenger, this is the best Marvel Cinematic Universe movie since the first Iron Man.<br />
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As for action sequences go, The Winter Soldier has also adopted a different approach. Contrast to the heavy CGI of previous films, Marvel this time has opted to go for a more grounded approach, with CGI sequences much reduced this time around. This has resulted The Winter Soldier to have a more exciting and realistic actions compared to its siblings.<br />
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Character-wise, The Winter Soldier is also brilliantly done. Chris Evans is Captain America, just like Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man, he really portrayed the character well, Samuel L. Jackson is back as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson is back as the super duper sexy femme fatale secret spy, Black Widow, and Falcon is really really cool! The Winter Soldier himself is a really good character, he really makes the movie feel terrifying in many ways and exciting as well. Cobie Smulders is also back as Agent Maria Hill, whom has a more expanded role than The Avengers, but I still can't get over the Robin Scherbatsky of How I Met Your Mother, whom she also portrayed. Captain America: The Winter Soldiers features an actual and great character development that is interesting to watch.<br />
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a fine and smart entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It serves up with a smarter script, interesting character developments, terrifying villain and a more grounded and realistic approach to the action sequences. It is definitely worth a watch!<br />
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Pros: Smart and interesting script, heavy impact to the overall franchise, great character development, terrifying and well-matched villain, realistic action sequences<br />
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Cons: That Robin thing, although it is smart, the plot could be bit better.<br />
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<b><span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">SCORE: 4.5/5 (Watch)</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7SlILk2WMTI" width="640"></iframe></span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-64153167332768246652014-03-17T01:39:00.000+08:002014-03-17T02:13:14.719+08:00Review: Need For Speed (film)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1EyItBE0wyfrq_9-0zhZy3keTjXdzZ0Aa7QBe3p3pOQ-flmwEfpO9ThOcYHYu2zu2JB1uwuTONJHEhBAcEZ1HlqlxDvrriDjPZ2FG-FLB2ZE4Ggy4gQHQQGR1xztg3NW3bwjV7wVBpf0/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Poster_Large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1EyItBE0wyfrq_9-0zhZy3keTjXdzZ0Aa7QBe3p3pOQ-flmwEfpO9ThOcYHYu2zu2JB1uwuTONJHEhBAcEZ1HlqlxDvrriDjPZ2FG-FLB2ZE4Ggy4gQHQQGR1xztg3NW3bwjV7wVBpf0/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Poster_Large.jpg" height="400" width="270" /></a></div>
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Trailers ended, the lights started to dim, Touchstone Pictures & Dreamworks Studios logo going through they standard splash screen. Then, some chuckles in the cinema (myself included) when EA logo appeared, probably because it is unusual to see it in theatres, and it feels like we are booting up a video game.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRKbWO_S5eBM58fqXNfLQXD6Tl4oM_tr5xtDZlc9Tbkkp-APyptCLouIGMWWaCE_WM7VCC9C4rFa3xVNOa5fR6jsBL2nSuaWn2oyBIntCaNAAvHlNPZVuI5DXh__E4gB-C5Gfqe180cJU/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRKbWO_S5eBM58fqXNfLQXD6Tl4oM_tr5xtDZlc9Tbkkp-APyptCLouIGMWWaCE_WM7VCC9C4rFa3xVNOa5fR6jsBL2nSuaWn2oyBIntCaNAAvHlNPZVuI5DXh__E4gB-C5Gfqe180cJU/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_05.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Introducing, HOWARD STARK!</td></tr>
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This is normal as the movie I'm talking about is <i>Need For Speed</i>, a loose movie adaptation of the video game of the same name. At first glance, it feels like a Fast & Furious wannabe, fast cars, good looking dudes and babes and racing set pieces, but that's where the similarity ends.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVf1HZbZoQ_P4fc8a0nUfmSfg0Udxj2CP3moLJZLWsYn0m-SCq90L8xNUQg9wN2fmCTPgkDFMHOV0TTPveEqHI842YstTCNn4q0GZM5A-x_tlQH6hwbOnEn0DfSq35pTPNihgAJTPaJ5M/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVf1HZbZoQ_P4fc8a0nUfmSfg0Udxj2CP3moLJZLWsYn0m-SCq90L8xNUQg9wN2fmCTPgkDFMHOV0TTPveEqHI842YstTCNn4q0GZM5A-x_tlQH6hwbOnEn0DfSq35pTPNihgAJTPaJ5M/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_04.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait, I'm not coming with you? WHAT??!!</td></tr>
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The movie features a bare bone storyline and backstory of characters, which is disappointing because of the loose adaptation of this vast franchise. The writers could almost write anything, but instead they make it feel like it was written in a matter of hours while distracted by some other stuffs. Some unneeded plot twist here and there, it feels like a total mess.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ-0-7Q5eES7iRRsLQwsirm9zDtEpHk_AMTZ5sn3Mu-4tkg8b3DhPTzn0e-Z8CwPQMIukshmCWK4WIhOFqKoNw6gf3yzlePV75QwlImUQ45hNJOwEmXv9n3HJTZNXVBZd_aTh3Xd8qkU/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ-0-7Q5eES7iRRsLQwsirm9zDtEpHk_AMTZ5sn3Mu-4tkg8b3DhPTzn0e-Z8CwPQMIukshmCWK4WIhOFqKoNw6gf3yzlePV75QwlImUQ45hNJOwEmXv9n3HJTZNXVBZd_aTh3Xd8qkU/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_01.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This can be a very good fitting for Caption Contest</td></tr>
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Aaron Paul (Tobey Marshall) and Michael Keaton (Monarch) could only done so much because of the bad script, they are the characters worth exploring, and while not as good, Imogen Poots (Julia) also felt limited. Other characters, well, they felt flat all the way that we could even see the whole movie without noticing them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw20UaN0-vbqOTBoHzMOTAY9vRk-PSqAiQAe_rl0K_PwVArA8G5CN4hG8c3FKOL7OxaQYbahrjkXFpZqgUfUEUupGUJSmz4tDlej9C26rUNG8s-Pjih_Kzm-FG5Yljs9Yw5ZTtxlnbYRc/s1600/NFS_07.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw20UaN0-vbqOTBoHzMOTAY9vRk-PSqAiQAe_rl0K_PwVArA8G5CN4hG8c3FKOL7OxaQYbahrjkXFpZqgUfUEUupGUJSmz4tDlej9C26rUNG8s-Pjih_Kzm-FG5Yljs9Yw5ZTtxlnbYRc/s1600/NFS_07.gif" height="255" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burn Baby! BURN!!!</td></tr>
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But luckily, the action sequences shine when they mattered the most in the movie like this. Director Scott Waugh clearly knows how to handle the actions stuff well, as I love the action sequences in Act of Valor (he directed) as well. He chose the use of first person view of the racing sequence, which I really like it as it added the thrill into the movie. Final race sequence, the first race and swerving around Detroit are particularly exciting. Some of the action sequences felt better because there's no music interrupting the action, which is sometimes essential for racing sequences.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_pvf1BLujm5FrVqUfPWksUEmWTw3aLMTuV89ZFenUvPeKoIdY3t_XqUGe3um86gPHr19kqOcy1T-UyWvh3KPEec0YK2byB31gaVcq_tZ8xcs-N4OAteotjwvsonxO7AEay54Gj354Xg/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_pvf1BLujm5FrVqUfPWksUEmWTw3aLMTuV89ZFenUvPeKoIdY3t_XqUGe3um86gPHr19kqOcy1T-UyWvh3KPEec0YK2byB31gaVcq_tZ8xcs-N4OAteotjwvsonxO7AEay54Gj354Xg/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_06.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look ma!</td></tr>
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What I'm really so impressed about the movie is the low to no usage of CGI in the movie, so the end result is it felt realistic. This also meant that a lot of the stunt driving by the actors and stunt drivers are actually real, which is really impressive as most of the actors nowadays rely on green screen or body double.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrG4fJOBk6nPXHP6B8pokpAbQv7cr6oJk_Xc_p0rAeX9CXZYjSUTSTc_h-Q2Q9le2JaAijQNxTlpPN2Rh8aOi-J9lSyxzfD-cj-LlSBGt3uKw95GNAlMXIojgEXmHNO5G-1Rprw5RCNo/s1600/NeedForSpeed_1600x597_Images_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrG4fJOBk6nPXHP6B8pokpAbQv7cr6oJk_Xc_p0rAeX9CXZYjSUTSTc_h-Q2Q9le2JaAijQNxTlpPN2Rh8aOi-J9lSyxzfD-cj-LlSBGt3uKw95GNAlMXIojgEXmHNO5G-1Rprw5RCNo/s1600/NeedForSpeed_1600x597_Images_15.jpg" height="148" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Played too much Burnout perhaps?</td></tr>
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As a car nut, watching the movie first time around, I noticed a few errors that really caught my eyes. The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (which I think it is) was not particularly well replicated, the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento features a freaking power window and the McLaren P1 doesn't raise its spoiler at high speed. With EA and its partners involved, I'm pretty sure they can at least have a look at some of these issues before they get the green light eh?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLGl0bk0ZArQNGfrSbwbdNr4QaTvlV557D06GEUFwfYhaDXZwptWiJLqr4le_vMqX4gajgVRp456f7GFLYgsRJYWQwdXfps6UK9j3eo2ccKYBycGBhSPjoHBACF9TOXSYE6Bez3JhTSI/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLGl0bk0ZArQNGfrSbwbdNr4QaTvlV557D06GEUFwfYhaDXZwptWiJLqr4le_vMqX4gajgVRp456f7GFLYgsRJYWQwdXfps6UK9j3eo2ccKYBycGBhSPjoHBACF9TOXSYE6Bez3JhTSI/s1600/NeedForSpeed_Downloads_Wallpaper1920x1200_03.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
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All and all, Need For Speed is a good, entertaining, adrenaline pumping popcorn movie. Its action sequences managed to overcome its dreadful story, but only just. More work is needed if they want a sequel.<br />
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<b>Pros: </b>Well-made action sequences, audio effects, realistic driving is a big welcome<br />
<b>Cons:</b> Abysmal storyline, some sketchy dialogue, worrying looking replicas<br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Score: 3/5</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-35422102448080696502013-12-22T22:37:00.002+08:002013-12-22T22:40:12.037+08:00Opinion: Why I'm Holding off Buying a PS4 (For Now)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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PS4 is here in Malaysia, and many other countries, right now. It's definitely one of the gadgets I'm having in my wishlist. It packs a 8-core AMD Jaguar architecture CPU, Radeon GPU, 8GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, secondary processor to handle background and OS tasks. So, it's a ridiculously more beefy specs over the PS3, which definitely need to be, considering the PS3 is on its 7th year.<br />
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I'm certain that PS4 is my next console instead of the Xbox One, as my gaming habit and collections are built around the PlayStation, I'm not willing to start all over on the Xbox. But I'm not buying a PS4, at least within the first year, as I considered certain things I believe it's not worth it right now.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Malaysian PS4 is expensive</u></b></span><br />
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Economically speaking, this is the killer blow, Malaysian PS4 are ridiculously priced at launch. The US is retailed around $299 (RM1,200++) and Hong Kong is around the RM1,300++ range. However in Malaysia, PS4 is priced at a whopping RM1,799 for standalone and RM1,899 for the bundle! This makes the local PS4 not worth it, even with the beefy specs. I would hope that I can ask my relative who travel to other countries frequently to help me to look out for it, or wait for the local price drop.<br />
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<u><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hardware Issues could be around</span></b></u><br />
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As a frequent gadgets follower, I know that a lot of tech gadgets suffer from hardware issues earlier in their life cycle, game consoles are no different. PS2 suffered from disc reading errors, Xbox 360 suffers from the infamous Red Ring of Death until the Xbox 360 S revision and PS3 also has a poor and half-baked software and OS earlier in the life cycle. There are some reports of PS4 not starting up properly and loose HDMI port while Xbox One suffers from discs reading issues as well. So advice is, if you're not eager to put your money on PS4 early, it's better you wait.<br />
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<b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Launch Games are not that great</span></u></b><br />
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Killzone Shadow Fall, NBA 2K14, Battlefield 4 and Resogun looks and plays like a next-gen game, but the rest, CoD, Need For Speed Rivals, InJustice, Assassin's Creed Black Flag feel more like a port from PS3. And with games like inFamous Second Son, Watch_Dogs, DriveClub and many other good games are not coming to PS4 until sometime in 2014, holding off buying a PS4 until more great games comes along is a no-brainer.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908615728475480547.post-35473230855418153402013-07-14T11:49:00.000+08:002013-07-14T11:49:46.850+08:00Review: My Childhood Memory Can Sleep Well Now<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Michael Bay, stand aside, Guillermo Del Toro (writer of The Hobbit movie, director of Hellboy) just showed how robot movie should be done! As for me growing up watching robots and monsters movie, Ultraman, Gundam, Jurassic Park and Godzilla, I was hoping I can watch a made in Hollywood monsters vs. robots movie, Pacific Rim is that movie. Giant mechs? Check. Giant robots? Check. And boy, it delivers!<br />
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In the near future, giant alien monsters, known as Kaiju (Japanese for monsters) have risen from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean through a portal, which took a heavy toll on the human race. The world decided new solution is needed, hence the creation of giant humanoid robots, know as Jaegers (German for hunter), pilot by two pilots in neural link, to fight these Kaiju.<br />
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The plot is not bright, but is serviceable to this movie. Not all movie needs great storyline, but Pacific Rim is definitely better than those visual effect fest movies in recent years. It makes you at least believe that is "Oh shit! We need robots!" The acting of the movie is just normal, not particularly bright, but one got my attention, the no non-sense Jaeger program leader, Stacker Pentecost, played by Idris Elba, luckily they chose him over Tom Cruise, whom I think is not suitable at all. The only problem with it is one or two of the subplot is not necessary.<br />
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Now let's talk about the spectacle, for that, this movie is absolutely pitch perfect. Well probably, because it just channeled out some of my nerdiness. The robots vs. monsters is something to behold, Guillermo Del Toro made the sequences believable, the Kaijus are something fearsome and scary, Jaegers are fearsome and powerful as well. They made it fit at least to some extent of the laws of physics, which the Jaegers are big and powerful, but due to size, are not fast and agile. Once the talking and explaining has settled, the movie is in full on attack mode, endless wave of Kaiju attacks, with different weapons variations.<br />
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It's amazing how in just these few years that the visual effects has evolved significantly, it's just two years since the last Transformers film, we though last time, "Wow, how are they going to beat that?" They did that with Pacific Rim. What's sets it apart from others is that the movie takes place primarily at the ocean, which gives audience a different take of these kind of movie.<br />
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In a nutshell, Pacific Rim is one heck of a movie for the summer, it set out on doing what it needed to accomplish, and it did, by creating grand spectacles of giant robots fighting monsters. It is the entertainment spectacle of the year, a movie my childhood memory deserves. I felt good watching this.<br />
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<b><span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Score: 5/5</span></b><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707051417538224964noreply@blogger.com0