Back from exile

Been going through some career and location changes. You can expect some new blogs and reviews, updates, blabbers sooooooooon.

Movie Review: The Forbidden Kingdom

Movie Title: The Forbidden Kingdom
Starring: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano and Collin Chou
Genre: Action/Adventure/Martial Arts/Fantasy
Directed by: Rob Minkoff
My Rating: 7/10

I haven't blogged for a while. There weren't too many great movies over the harshly cold winter, and I just lost touch. I might start posting reviews of movies I watched on Netflix here.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a movie that had a lot of potential to be great. Too much star power, too much hype, weak script and lame direction made it just the opposite.

Michael Angarano plays a bully-magnet teen in south Boston who is a big fan of Martial Art movies (like yours truly). One evening while escaping from bullies with a Chinese staff in his hand he jumps of a building. Before he reaches the ground time travels to China in the past where magic and immortality supposedly existed. His mission is to return the staff to the statued Monkey King (Jet Li) with the help of an old drunk (Jackie Chan) and a monk (Li, again). Jackie Chan could totally do without playing a drunk martial artist here. I am a big fan of the Drunken Master movies but here it just didn't fit. He did stay comical and fought well, nonetheless. Surprisingly, Jet Li cracked a few jokes himself, a rarity.

Even the work of legendary kung-fu choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping (Once Upon a Time in China, Crouching Tiger, Matrix, Kill Bill) in this movie couldn't be put to justice. There was way too much string-held jumping/flying, unnecessary magic and cliches that ruined the movie. I still enjoyed it just a bit only because of the few fight scenes. I think I'm going to add more Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba movies to my Netflix just to make up for watching this movie. I'm sure Jet Li and Jackie Chan made good money, but I hope their agent finds them better movies with more seasoned directors.

For those who don't know, the villain in this movie is played my Collin Chou - same guy who played Seraph in the Matrix sequels. Good fighter too, also in need of good representation in Hollywood.

Teenage kids would appreciate this movie. I prefer the old Chinese movies with subtitles and fewer jumper strings. 7/10.

Bond 22 Title Revealed

The next James Bond movie will be titled......

Quantum of Solace

Well, I swear I'm being serious about it. So many sources. Valid sources. Press conferences with the stars and writers have confirmed this. Quite unorthodox for a 007 movie title, but then again it's part of the reboot started with Casino Royale in 2006. QoS stars Daniel Craig who reprises his role as a younger British super spy James Bond and the story continues from its predecessor. Judi Dench returns as "M" for the 6^th time, Jeffrey Wright returns as CIA ally Felix Leiter, and French actor Mathieu Amalric plays the villain. As far as the Bond girls go, yes they still exist, young English actress Gemma Arterton will play an MI6 field agent, while Hitman's Ukranian born actress Olga Kurylenko plays the kick-ass and bitter girl. I hope Arterton's character doesn't go stray else it'll be a similar sub-plot as Die Another Day.

Shooting for this film is taking place/will take place in the UK, Italy, Panama, Austria and Bolivia.

Like every Bond movie, I look forward to this one... despite the ...er....unusual title which almost make it sound like a Sci-Fi movie where the hero gets lost in space! However, Daniel Craig and the reboot as a whole surprised most of us in Casino Royale, thus this film should be a worthwhile entertainer too. Modest to high expectations.
Sources:

• MI6.co.uk - Official Bond Site
• BBC
  

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Movie Review: Walk Hard

Movie Title: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell and a dozen cameos.
Genre: Comedy/Musical
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
My Rating: 6.5/10

For those who don't know, this movie is nothing short of a complete parody on various musical biographical movies. This poster to the right, for starters, mocks Jim Morrison of the "Doors." Most of the story is a mockery of Walk the Line, with some random jokes off Ray and a fictional drug n' yoga experience with the Beatles. Walk Hard stars John C. Reilly, who has an Oscar nomination to his name and many praises for his supporting roles in various genres of movies. The rest of the billed actors comprise of current and former TV stars known for comedy skits and shows.

For a parody, the original music in this music is above decent. I wouldn't buy the CD but if any friend of mine is playing it in the car, I won't complain. Otherwise the story as a whole is expectedly ridiculously but unexpectedly hilarious! I'll admit I laughed throughout the movie. It may not be the best comedy I've ever seen, but definitely one of the best parodies ever since the Hot Shots! movie franchise stopped at 2, and Scary Movie flicks started getting lamer and lamer. This is one of the movies that don't have Will Ferrell in there but you almost feel it's a Will Ferrell movie. Maybe because it's produced by Judd Apatow (Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad) and stars nothing but comedians all throughout. This is a totally "leave your brains at home" type of movie with absolutely no wit despite the smart references, and would make a good rental with a bunch of friends on an otherwise dull Sunday evening. After watching this movie, you will praise Reilly for making a good effort as the lead character. Jenna Fischer deserves credit too. Pam from The Office never looked so... glamorous before. Well, she did look decent in Blades of Glory too. The supporting cast of current and former SNL and NBC comedians also filled their role well, especially Tim Meadows who played the drummer with a bad drug influence on the singer.

6.5 Out of 10. Nothing exceptional.

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Movie Review: Charlie Wilson's War

Movie Title: Charlie Wilson's War
Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Om Puri.
Directed by: Mike Nichols
Genre: Drama/Biography
My Rating: 8.5/10

Based on a novel, based on a true story, edited for movie content, and viola - you have this movie called Charlie Wilson's War. However, this movie was released at a time where most people care less about how Afghan people got anti-aircraft missiles and rocket launchers to kick the Soviets out of their country. All people care about these days is kicking ass and having less sympathy for Afghan and Arab people due to the unfortunate disasters occurred in the last 6+ years. However, I will keep my political commentary off this blog.

Hanks excels as Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, a morally gray and womanizing politician with a soft spot for Afghans suffering at the hands of invading Soviets in the early 1980's. Julia Roberts, in a wonderful and exceptional return, plays a former playmate centerfold who now runs a feminist group while living a millionaire lifestyle in Houston, TX. Along with a CIA outcast in Hoffman, they find backdoor methods of assisting poor Afghans fight back the Soviet Russians. In Hollywood, there's one simple rule: if a current or former country was a baddie once, they'll always be a baddie on-screen. A touching masterpiece based on facts set in the past and shows some light side of politicians is very likely to be an Oscar contender, and that's exactly where I see this piece heading. It already has Golden Globe nominations!

Due to the political sensitivity of the movie's subject, I'll jump to the praises in production and acting. This has to be Mike Nichols' best work till date, even though Closer wasn't a bad movie, it was carried mostly by the excellent actors. In Wilson's War, too, the movie was carried superbly by the lead and supporting actors. Besides the Oscar-worthy Hanks, Roberts and always promising Hoffman, Amy Adams acted very well as Hank's administrative secretary, the most dignified and least skimpy out of the rest of his young-woman-dominated workforce. The only surprise cameo was by British actress Emily Blunt who plays a lobbying sexual decoy, an odd role after she overshadowed the lead in The Devil Wears Prada. Indian actor Om Puri too excelled as the then Pakistani dictator-president Zia Ul Haq who took over presidency after staging a coup d'etat, which is common in that unfortunate nation. Puri surely deserves more recognition in Hollywood. He is already a successful actor in the UK and one of the most respected in his native India.

8.5/10. Countdown to the Oscars. Not for the narrow minded type. Keep an open mind about politics and history, you may just enjoy this masterpiece.

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Movie Review: No Country For Old Men

Movie Title: No Country For Old Men
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Kelly MacDonald and Woody Harrelson
Directed by: Ethan Coen/Joel Coen
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Western
My Rating: 8.7/10.

I had heard a lot of rave reviews and hype about this movie before going to watch it, thus kept my expectations low. For most of the movie I could see why...

Set in the lonely countryside of southeast Texas circa 1980, welder Moss (Brolin) finds $2 million in a satchel and more than a handful of murdered drug-peddling Mexicans, during a hunt. Tired of his trailer park lifestyle and with hope to provide a good future to his wife (MacDonald) and himself, Moss decides to take away the money and run. Little did he expect an uber psychotic killer to be chasing him all over.

Enter Anton Chigurh (Bardem) at the start of the movie. A merciless killer with unorthodox weapons: cattle-gun to open up locked doors, auto-like muffler on a shotgun to reduce noise. To add to that, a very polite speaking demeanor and absurd set of principles. Chigurh is on the hunt for the money, killing anyone coming in the way, even cops.

Contrary to what one would expect in the Texas dessert, the ranger cops are shown to be horse-riding but not so gun-slinging. Tommy Lee Jones plays a retiring and aging sheriff who dreads killing, complicated FBI/DEA style investigations and has the greatest heart of all characters in the movie. Sheriff Bell's primary interests lie in the well being of his townsfolk, no matter how badly they screwed up. This philosophy, however, takes a toll on his aging self and thus the story has such a title.

The movie is a good quasi-western with great photography/cinematography of rural Texas. The acting and direction is very praiseworthy. Jones excelled one more time as a Texas ranger with brains and a heart. Spanish actor Bardem impresses for the first time on American mainstream. Brolin shows for the first time some acting skills while not playing baddie. Scottish actress Kelly MacDonald also did a decent job, while Woody Harrelson's cameo as a humerous bounty hunter who has encountered Chigurh before.


8.7/19. Great cinematography, brilliant acting and a good novel to adapt the screenplay from. Just a weird ending, which I won't spoil for you. Not weird, just un-cliched. Not everyone may appreciate this movie. I know I did, though.

IM Integration: AiM on GMAIL chat now!

Google has invested about a billion bucks in AOL (yes, it still exists) and now has enhanced the already cool feature of chatting on GTALK via GMAIL. For those who don't know, you can chat with other GTALK contacts who are in your address book while checking your GMAIL on the same web page.

The latest innovation is integrating AOL Instant Messenger with GMAIL chat (GTALK). The simple requirements are:

• Internet Explorer 7+ or Mozilla Firefox 2+ as your browser


• Your GMAIL View set to Standard. Check the bottom of your GMAIL to ensure this.


• With the above setting, you should have your chat contact list displayed to the left-center of your GMAIL window.


• Below your name under Chat you'll find a dropdown box that'll allow you to change your status. In the same dropdown, you now have the option: Sign Into AIM.


• Obviously, you'll need an AIM account to log into that :-)

With residential high-speed Internet having crushed AOL in the ISP market, it's Instant Messaging service is probably the only viable product under the AOL umbrella. AIM has a huge proportion in the market of Internet chatters (especially teens, just like facebook and myspace), Google probably thought this was a good idea in order to counter Microsoft and Yahoo!'s collaboration earlier this year. For those who do not know, you can also chat with Yahoo! users from Windows Live (formerly MSN) Messenger and likewise. However, when it comes to download-free, web-based, non-JAVA (but JavaScript) chatting, Google wins. A lot of my friends can only chat via GMAIL/GTALK while they're at work. A lot of employers disallow downloads of AIM/Yahoo Messengers and block JAVA to disable their web-based IM clients as well.

Way to go, big G. However, I think I'm going to continue using meebo at work and at home.

Click here for more info on AIM in GMAIL.

Coming Soon: Windows XP Service Pack 3!

That's right. Microsoft has actually decided to release the third Service Pack for Windows XP. It is currently in testing phase and should release soon, in a matter of months.

This will obviously delay the majority of XP users' migration to Vista, but might be a good thing. Even XP had its faults until Service Pack 2. Vista is working on SP 1, and could improve drastically by the second release. I wouldn't be harsh enough to compare Vista to ME (Millenium Edition - a flopped Windows Operating System), I always hold hope for the second service pack of any OS. Just like XP, even Windows 98's Second Edition proved to be Microsoft's best release at that time.

Link: IT Wire: XP SP3

Movie Review: Beowulf

Movie Title: Beowulf
Starring: Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright-Penn, John Malkovich and Anthony Hopkins.
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Drama
My Rating: 7.5/10

Honestly, I had low expectations before going to see this movie. The only reason I went, was that it was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was going to stay in town, and some friends were going. Overall, it wasn't a bad experience.

However, this movie could have just been brilliant with the right screenplay and flow. Great actors, undeniably great special effects and a well-known legendary fairy tale to adapt. I even remember reading "Beowulf and Grendel" as a chapter in World Literature during my undergraduate studies.

The story starts in 7th Century,A.D., when Christianity was still in the process of spreading to Scandinavia. Ray Winstone (Mr. French from The Departed, Sexy Beast) plays the title character, a fearless Saxon warrior/freelancer who travels to Denmark in pursuit of killing a monster for a reward. The monster, Grendel, harasses the town folk of the local kingdom every time there is any merry-making. Grendel is horrific with an incomplete body structure yet huge and strong, and enjoys breaking people into halves. Anthony Hopkins plays the local drunk-king Hrothgar, speaking with his natural Welsh accent and portraying his role exceptionally well. Robin Wright-Penn acts as his younger, dignified and unhappy queen whom Beowulf has an eye for.

The real villain in this story is not Grendel, but his mother - the sea-serpent, played by Angelia Jolie, a gold-coated seductress with unbeatable magical powers and a long hair-tail. Jolie's really learning to play a bad mother very well, remember Alexander? John Malkovich was wasted as the king's chancellor-equivalent.

Another good performance in this film which could probably go under-appreciated is of Brendan Gleeson's. He plays Beowulf's second in command, a red-bearded bulky believer in his leader - very similar to his role in Braveheart, actually.

Contrary to what one may conclude based on the posters and trailer, this movie is not exactly an animation. Well, it is animation in parts. Real actors acted in front of a blue-screen in a studio, more than just lend their voices. Similar to the movie 300, with much of CGI. They were just all digitally "enhanced." 50 year old and bulky Ray Winstone was made to look at least 20 years younger and way fitter. Hopkins was given 50 pounds more. Robin Wright-Penn looked younger than in her current 40's. Jolie was just given just the golden touch and the hair-tail.

Even with the uber praiseworthy graphics/CGI/animation/SFX in general, this movie lacked a brilliant enough screenplay! If you like fantasy movies with monsters, brave slayers, dragons and curses that are supposed to have a moral ending hidden somewhere if you're too bored to figure it out, check out this movie on DVD. Watch it in the theater only if you're an SFX freak. I'm shocked this movie got a PG-13 rating rather than an "R".

7.5/10. Entertaining, keeps you awake throughout. Quite a winter movie.

Movie Review: American Gangster

Movie Title: American Gangster
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ted Levine, Carla Gugino, Josh Brolin, Cuba Gooding Jr., Armand Assante.
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Genre: Drama/Thriller
My Rating: 9/10

Based on a true story, Gangster stars Washington as a New York drug kingpin Frank Lucas. In the 1970's Lucas took advantage of the Vietnam War in progress by having drugs smuggled from southeast Asia to the US via military carriers. The protagonist started off as a driver to one of NY's top mob bosses, and built his own empire steadily after his boss died of a heart attack. Sporting a well-dressed, businessman-like demeanor, Lucas would kill in cold blood anyone who came in his way or his family's. Yet Lucas was a good family man and supported his entire extended kin from North Carolina.

Crowe, on the other hand, plays a no-nonsense New Jersey cop always equipped with a handyman's tools when investigating. A wrench one time, an ax another. Richie Roberts is "untouchable" - can not be bought over or bribed. Yet, he's no angel; putting his marriage, son and even ongoing divorce at the bottom of his priorities. Roberts is made head of an investigative team probing into the increasing drug traffic caused by Lucas' superior quality + half priced product called "Blue Magic."

Both these lead actors carried their roles and the movie as a whole just as brilliantly as they could. Their parallel stories were shared very well, even though they don't come face each other until the last 45 minutes of this long-yet-fast-paced movie. The supporting cast did their job decently as well. Carla Gugino looked good as Roberts' to-be ex-wife, Ted Levine fit his cameo as Crowe's boss, and Cuba Gooding Jr. looked old as Lucas' contemporary. The rappers did a decent job, it was just funny to see T.I. as Common's son in the movie. RZA played an undercover operative from Roberts' team. Armand Assante showed experience playing a mafia boss who befriends Lucas, and Josh Brolin played another crooked role of a corrupt NY cop who nobody really lied on either side of the law.

The direction was done with expertise, the pace makes you forget how time flew by, and the movie overall makes for a great Fall movie and one of the best released this year. I definitely see a few Oscar nods coming this way. Great job again, Ridley Scott. Bravo, Washington and Crowe!

9/10. Definitely a theater watch, definitely a keeper.