Two Mediums: A Visual Comparison

Last year I wrote about the upcoming Watchmen movie to be directed by Zack Snyder. Today, I finally saw a trailer. I’ve been had by trailers before, so there’s still a chance that the actual movie might still suck. But still I’m an optimist. When I first saw the trailer in High-definition Quicktime, I knew I had to make a comparison of the shots in the trailer and panels in the actual Watchmen comics. Then I thought, why not do it here in this weblog. Enough gab. Enjoy the images, starting with Mister Blake here: [[image:watchmen_comp01a.jpg:The Comedian’s last laugh:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp01b.jpg:John Winchester himself:center:0]] Here’s the Comedian during the Vietnam War. [[image:watchmen_comp02a.jpg:Superheroes in a war:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp02b1.jpg:Burning the Viet Cong:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp02b2.jpg:Sam and Dean says, ‘Dad?’:center:0]] Jon returns, after a fashion: [[image:watchmen_comp03a.jpg:Yes. It’s a blue peener. What of it?:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp03b.jpg:No blue peener here, though:center:0]] Doctor Manhattan takes Vietnam: [[image:watchmen_comp04a.jpg:I still remember this powerful image […]

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Just Two Short Movie Reviews

Hooray for Cheap Ass Wednesday. Because of Cheap Ass Wednesday, it’s cheaper for Irfan, Ain & me to catch a movie than it is for me to buy one novel to read. That stinks to high heaven but it’s a rant for another day if I’m bothered to do it. Ain didn’t feel well enough to get to work that morning. So I picked up Irfan after classes (so he skipped daycare) we went to Cathay Cineleisure where a lot of movies await us. Some really good ones are out cause we’re smack dab in the middle of the summer movie season. I chose two movies for us to enjoy. No spoilers ahead! A Non-comic Book Comic Book Movie: A Hancock Review [[image:movie_hancock01.jpg:Aw hell naw:left:0]]Hancock is a study of the Superman-type superhero template, with a twist. John Hancock is the only super-powered human around. He has the power of flight, […]

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Not So Jolly Green Giant – An Incredible Hulk Review

[[image:hulk01.jpg:Holy crap! It’s Bill Bixby’s Zombie!:left:0]]The new movie from Marvel Studios entitled The Incredible Hulk has been released. The movie is about a man who has been altered by an overdose of gamma radiation causing him to transform into the nine feet tall, green-skinned monstrous creature known as the Hulk. The movie is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Academy Award winning actor Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, William Hurt as General “Thunderbolt” Ross, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky and Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns. Ty Burrell also makes an appearance as psychiatrist Dr. Leonard Samson. Oh, who am I kidding. This isn’t really a review for the unwashed masses. This is me hulking out comic book geek style over an awesome comic book-turned-movie, which is in my opinion, a hundred times better than the 2003 Ang Lee movie only entitled Hulk which I […]

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It’s Still The Milage – A Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull shows that Henry Jones, Junior has been busy for the last 19 years as it’s now 1957. Has it been almost 20 years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Man, I feel old. Apart from giving a straight review, this movie requires a bit of dissecting and we shall now dissect in SPOILER territory. SPOILERS! Avert your eyes, like this Russian chap below! Indy’s helping him avert his eyes, even. [[image:indy01.jpg:This seems to be an unfinished FX shot :center:0]] Indiana Jones is George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s love for pulp movie serials of the 30s redone using modern filmmaking techniques. However with the fourth installation of the series, our intrepid hero, now about the same age as him father as played by Sean Connery in The Last Crusade, has entered the B movie era of the 1950s as we will […]

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Some Good Saucer Men News

[[image:indy00.jpg:Take that, commie reviewer bastards!:left:0]]This summer will see a whole lot of nerd rage with wave after wave of nerds complaining to the tune of George Lucas screwed the pooch with the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Why? Because, yet to be released are The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, X-Files: I Want To Believe, Punisher War Zone, The Dark Knight, Star Wars Clone Wars (Yes! There’s a Star Wars movie coming out in theatres this summer and it’s not being overly marketed by a juggernaut on steroid, thank you very much! A heartfelt hurrah!) and of course next week’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Yes, a lot of nerd rage has been directed towards Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because of… well, nerd reasons. (And Speed Racer will probably tank badly because of horrible marketing strategy and bad word of mouth from people who […]

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Nonja-busting Action – A Speed Racer Review

[[image:speedracer01_copy1.jpg:Mach 5 vs the Shooting Star:left:0]]I never saw a lot of the Speed Racer toon (Japanese title: Mach! Go! Go! Go!) on TV while growing up, but I did promise Irfan to take him to watch the new movie adaptation, directed by the Wachowski brothers. I saw the trailer weeks earlier and went in with Irfan and Ain expected a dumb storyline with epilepsy-inducing special effects. I mean, how can you make a meaningful story with the protagonist’s younger brother who was always climbing into the trunk of his car (with a monkey for a best friend) and getting into screwball adventures, as his elder brother races in dangerous car races. And “Speed Racer” was his actual name, not just his job? I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there is a solid, entertaining storyline with twists embedded satisfactorily within the movie, with just the right amount of drama […]

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The Mark III suit

Wait! WHO Wears Ten Rings? – An Iron Man Review

I don’t monitor Iron Man as close as say Spider-Man or the X-Men growing up. However, I do know what he’s all about. I’ve checked Armor Wars out of Perth Library (again, that’s Scotland and not Australia) and read it entirely. Two of the most iconic Iron Man cover for me is the “Demon in the Bottle” cover and the one where “Stark” in the Stark Enterprises logo is replaced with “Stane”. Earlier tonight, we went to catch Iron Man (on opening day) at Cineleisure. I’m not going to talk about the plot of the movie. It’s a basic origins movie with a battle with a bad guy. It’s not high literature, but it’s a great action movie with lots of fun moments throughout. The Iron Man origin in the movie is transplanted from the original comic book location of Vietnam to Afghanistan. So, I’m just going to list out […]

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Finally! Transformers: The Score!

One of the things that I looked for immediately after watching Transformers was the soundtrack CD. I was disappointed that there was only Transformers: The Album released which had, you know – a bunch of songs. The Linkin Park song What I’ve Done wasn’t too bad. So were the songs from Goo Goo Dolls and Smashing Pumpkins. But there was not one track released that had the movie’s orchestral score as composed by Steve Jablonsky. In fact there was no score soundtrack album at all. I’ve been monitoring the online news about the status of the score soundtrack. On or off? There was an online petition, but would it work? Sifting through a ton of information in the internet I found only an mp3 of Jablonsky’s Decepticon theme on the web. And there was nothing on Amazon.com… until last month or so. And as of last week, it’s been released. […]

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Can you see all five of the robots in hiding?

No Sacrifice, No Victory – A Transformers Review

First of all, I along with a couple of other pals, were the dudes who taped the Transformers episodes when the first aired (long before they were known as G1), to try to identify all of them. So yeah, even after more than 20 years later I can still name all 18 of the original Autobots who crash-landed on Earth on the Ark. So this movie is a big deal for me. The idea of seeing photorealistic giant robots prance on the screen, firing missiles at and beating the crap out of each other, transforming into cars and burning rubber on the highway…. is sort of a holy grail. Walking up the hallway to the escalator in Cineleisure that will take me to the Cathay Cineplex (with Irfan in tow), Remembering the first time I heard they were going to produce the Transformers movie, I told Awie, “I’ve been waiting […]

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Sea Turtles, Mate – At World’s End Review

[[image:awe00.jpg:Jack Sparrow vs Davy Jones:center:0]] Spoilers ahoy! Cast away your eyes if you haven’t seen Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End. Based on the reviews I’ve read thus far, this movie is something that you either enjoy or you don’t. Do you like adventures and treachery in the high seas? Do you like pirates of the olden days of sailing ships? Do you like boardings and broadsides? Do you like tall tales of swordfights, sorcery and magic of the ocean? Davy Jones’ Locker? Pieces of eights? Shrunken heads? Parrots? Monkeys? Cannons? Monkeys shot out of cannons? [[image:awe01.jpg:Leaving Singapore for World’s End:left:0]]Well, if you like all of the above, human nature being human nature, you might still not like the movie. But I enjoyed it! At the end of the last movie, Captain Jack Sparrow and his ship the Black Pearl, was consumed Davey Jones’ pet squid the Kraken. […]

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A reader of books

Irfan’s One Utama Walkabout

One fine day, Irfan Shafiq went a-walking about the hallways of the mall known as One Utama. Movie Carnival 2007 weekend was just around the corner. So there were plenty of well-known characters loitering about the concourse of the new wing of the mall. One of the most remarkable things there would be this here thing in the following photo. A Transformers movie Optimus Prime! It’s not on sale yet for another two more days. Apparently the guy bought it off eBay. A stellar looking toy! Not too far away, Irfan got his photo taken with some famous Cybertronians in their latest guises, Optimus Prime and Megatron… ….as well as the gang from Far, Far Away Land… … and the family from the Evergreen Terrace in Springfield, USA. All the way from Zenn-La is the former astronomer turned Herald of Galactus, Norrin Radd. Because he was positioned at a high […]

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Optimus starts dancing to "Born To Be Stupid"

This Will Be The Awesomest Movie Of 2007

Ironhide twists and jumps away from the path of the incoming missile, and as he falls in slow mo he fires off a missile of his own. Holy shit! This will be for me THE movie of 2007. The recent Transformers trailer than was released last week dropped a couple of jaws. It had a close-up of Bumblebee transforming, Optimus Prime transforming with the classic cartoon sound effect, Starscream jumping up and transforming into an F-22 in mid-flight, Megatron about to stomp on Jazz in mid-flight, and Bonecrusher expressing his distaste for the public transport system on a bus. As a fan of the cartoon series and the awesome 1986 animated movie, I have no expectations of this live-action movie being a faithful adaptation of them. In fact how can one be a faithful adaptation of Transformers cartoon when you have Generation 1, Generation 2, the Marvel series, Energon, Armada, […]

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Villain-o-rama – A Spider-Man 3 Review

[[image:dualityspidey01.jpg:The black costume:center:0]] As previously reported, we caught Spider-Man 3 at Digi IMAX theatre on opening night. But first a non-spoilery rundown of the movie based on early press releases and trailers. Peter will be asking MJ to marry him, but before that there are a few small problem. First, of course, is continuing the tale across the last two movies is Harry Osborn’s desire for revenge against Spider-Man for his father Norman Osborn’s (a.k.a. the Green Goblin) death. Then there’s Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who will stoop to nasty methods to frame Spider-Man for a position as the Daily Bugle’s staff photographer. His character starts out as a nice guy but a series of unfortunate circumstances slowly strip away the guise and finally reveal himself for what he truly is. In the midst of it, Flint Marko an escaped convict on the run who unwittingly finds himself in […]

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Irfan had cake

Irfan Webs An IMAX Theatre

It’s May 1st. Some might say it’s Labor Dabor Day. Others would say it’s the first day of the general release of Spider-Man 3, beginning 2007’s run of monumental summer movies which will eventually bring us At Worlds End, Shrek the Third, Order of the Phoenix, Rise of the Silver Surfer and Transformers. We just got back from Sitiawan after spending 3 days with Irfan’s grandparents there (and having the sotong celup tepung as well). Irfan made a new friend in the form of Opah Irfan’s friend’s grandson – one Amir from Melaka who was also on vacation in Sitiawan. Today, we got home, grabbed Ain’s two aunts and headed right for Berjaya Times Square where we would be watching the IMAX presentation of Spider-Man 3. There was another reason for the excursion to Berjaya Times Square, and that was Irfan’s Cik Su’s birthday. Labour Day for her is literally […]

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Sunburn Is The Least Of Your Worries: A Sunshine Review

[[image:sunshine01.jpg:The shieldship with the bomb:left:0]]I just saw this movie on a THX screen and it was quite a ride. I liked it very much. Absolutely no spoilers ahead. Danny Boyle directs this movie and what he did was create an atmosphere that doesn’t not really accentuate claustrophobia or xenophobia. What Sunshine has instead is a layer of despair and hopelessness which barely registers but hangs over the proceedings like a thin film. You can almost feel the despair being radiated by the characters and the situation mounting as the movie progresses. Sunshine gets right to the point with Cilian Murphy’s voiceover. It’s 50 years in the future and the sun is dying, and with it the slowly-freezing Earth. The crew of the Icarus II (a shieldship right out of the pages of Dark Force Rising, heh!) has been tasked with the delivery of a Manhattan Island-massed bomb which would theoretically […]

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