Review: Man of Steel

75 years since his first appearance in the media, and more than 6 years since his last appearance on the big screen, Superman, also known as the Man of Steel gets a big and fresh reboot. The reboot is what Superman needed, and it was done very well. After all, he is the first of all the superheroes.

Before you go into the theaters or waiting for home media to be released, you have to know this, you can't compare this to the old Superman franchise. It is so different from the old ones that a lot of people didn't like the change. For me, personally, Man of Steel is a good Superman movie in its own right.

If you're craving for a more action movie route, Man of Steel is definitely the movie for you. Right from the first moment the movie started, you're introduced to the fiery & crumbling world of Krypton, the birth planet of Superman. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) is directly placed into the fight with General Zod (Michael Shannon), the main villain of the movie. As far as the action sequences go, Zack Snyder nailed it, it was brilliant! But at the same time I feel that some of the action sequences have dragged far too long, a bit unnecessary to be honest.

After the opening, the movie slows down a bit. It is time to explain the theme of the movie. Since this is the reboot of the franchise, origin story is inevitable, but executed in a different way. I think the use of flashbacks to tell the origins of Superman (Henry Cavill) is a smart move, with him finding himself who he really is, then think of his past is really good. Not to mention great cast and performances by Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent) and Michael Shannon (General Zod). Henry Cavill plays the role of Superman well, but sometimes he might played the role too seriously.

In general, Man of Steel is finally a Superman film that we all need and want to see. Despite the overblown and over long action sequences, they were brilliant done. The good performances by some of the cast and a different take on Superman is a great plus to the movie. I think it deserves a sequel.

Score: 3.5/5

First 10 Days with the HTC One

I know I have been blabbering for awhile now, as you remember I also posted few months back. I have decided to get myself an HTC One, and I have to say it's a great choice!

I have been using HTC phones for quite awhile, since the HTC Desire S, my previous phone, for more than two years. Over the course of the time, HTC did not captivate me with another great phone, Sensation is okay at best, EVO 3D is pure gimmick with the 3D camera, even the One X which is a great phone, does not stand out in the crowd. Probably due to their falling market share and profit, HTC needs an amazing phone, quick!

So here it is, the brand new HTC One! Labelled as the one to save HTC, HTC One makes a wholesome change to HTC's smartphone war charge.

And it does, the first thing anyone, including me, notices is the unbelievable build quality of the phone. The unibody aluminum design definitely makes the One stands out in the crowd. I once placed it on the table in my class the other day, a lot of classmates walked passed the table and noticed the striking phone on the table, that is definitely plus. I have never seen a smartphone so well built like this, not even iPhone or the Motorola Razr came close!

The phone is designed with one thing in mind, speed. The phone features a 1.7Ghz Qualcomm S600 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, Adreno 320 GPU and 32GB of storage. I've been using the past few days and it hardly slowed down at any given moment with its quad-core processor at work. It does slow down a bit during gaming session, but that is a thing that is still plaguing the Android platform. Overall, the One is one snappy phone.

Let's talk about the screen and audio of the phone, shall we? The phone has a 4.7 inches 1080p SLCD screen with pixel density of 468ppi, it is the most beautiful screen I've seen in a smartphone, the screen is sharp and has a very good contrast. Watching YouTube videos with this phone is a pleasant experience, and added with the front stereo speakers, dubbed the "Boomsound", is an icing on the cake. Speaking of speakers, the front stereo speakers of HTC One, added with the Beats Audio enhancements, is the best Beats integration in HTC ever. The sound quality of the phone is top notch, the sound is crystal clear, even without the headset on.

The phone has a 4MP 'Ultrapixel' camera, which has lower megapixels and bigger sensors, this result in photos with terrific lighting, it perform really well in night shots. The only trouble with the 4MP camera is that, it lacks details in certain situation. Below are some of the shots I've taken (click for better picture):

 

The only mixed feeling so far is the UI, which features the HTC Blinkfeed, which allows you to customise news content, social media content in your homepage. It is definitely handy to browse through the latest information I desire, but sometimes it is a bit overwhelming with tons of information at one go. The problem with Blinkfeed is that it cannot be removed, which I would love to because I can turn off from time to time.

Nonetheless, HTC One is the best phone I've experienced in the past few years. The built-quality is second to none, excellent performance, stereo quality with Beats is great. The camera, although it is only 4 megapixels, has been made up by the better camera sensors. This is one phone I would love to recommend to anyone.

[SPOILER ALERT!] My 5 Favourite Star Wars Moments

Today is May 4th, YAAAAYYYY!!!! Some of you might be asking right now, why I'm so excited for this date. Well, May 4th is the official Star Wars day! As a Star Wars fan, I'm super excited for anything that's Star Wars. To celebrate this long lasting and unbelievable Sci-fi franchise, I'm gonna list out my five favourite Star Wars moments (not an easy one). NOTE: Not in order

Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul

The only redeeming thing in The Phantom Menace, is the war scene and lightsaber duel scenes, the final Battle of Naboo fighting against the Seperatist force with Qui-Gon and Obi Wan swinging their lightsaber towards the face-tattooed Darth Maul with his awesome dual blade lightsaber. With the prequels, they showed us how much the cinema has progressed with the no nonsense actions sequence such as this. The duel is fast paced, no jibby jabbing, and continuously moving around.

Battle over Coruscant

This is JAW-DROPPING!!!

Star Wars opening is iconic, with the logo and prelude that gives a story before the movie started, which every Star Wars fans like it a lot. But what I like about the opening of Revenge of the Sith, is what follows after the opening, with scrolling down towards a Republic Destroyer with two small starfighters swinging over it. Right after some flying, the two Jedi in the starfighters decided to swing down and join the battle, with everyone exchanging bullets and explosions at each other. It is an awesome sight!

You were the Chosen One!

You were the chosen one!

[MAJOR SPOILER] Another from Revenge of the Sith, probably because I was born in the Star Wars prequel era. This time is near the end of the movie, when Obi-Wan fighting against Darth Vader at the magma planet, Mustafar (in one way the planet's name reminds me of Lion King, "Mufasa! Mufasa!"). In this scene, Obi-Wan jumps over the hill, saying he has "the high ground" to Darth Vader, which prompted Darth Vader to challenge him by jumping over too. Obi-Wan then chopped off the arms, the legs of Darth Vader, and let him burn with the magma. Obi-Wan then said to his former friend and apprentice, saying he was the Chosen One rather than become a Sith Lord. This scene to me is the saddest scene in Star Wars saga, and also the darkest.

Darth Vader first appearance in the Original Trilogy

I watched the original trilogy way before I watched the prequel, means that I was very young back then, I always follow what my sisters watch, so I'm a Star Wars fans today is because of them. The first appearance of Vader is something mesmerizing, with the Rebel cruiser escaping from the ever growing (literally) size of the Imperial Star Destroyer, handicapped the cruiser quickly without effort. Then after boarding and killing the Rebel forces, Darth Vader made the entrance, with his iconic breathing noise and his sheer size. Then he proceeded to interrogate and kill one of the Rebel officer without using effort. The message is don't mess with this guy, he's a bada**!

I am Your Father

[ULTIMATE SPOILER ALERT] It might seems totally normal now, back then it was not! This is voted by many film critics and websites as one of the biggest film plot twist of all time! Darth Vader's biggest revelations to Luke Skywalker that he is his father. What kind of sorcery just happened??!! It was so out of the blue. This also lead to Singaporean radio's hilarious take on Hokkien version and Toy Story 2 made quite a big fun with this scene.

Now for the Toy Story version: