I’ve been waiting to see Serenity since last September. When I checked the schedule at the time, they said it would be shown February 2006. Yesterday, there I was on the ground floor across the brightly-lit hallway from the video store at One Utama mall, ignoring the school of people wending their way past me. There, with the rest of the new releases on the front shelf, was the Serenity DVD. Which sadly means, I wont be watching it in the theaters any time soon. Or ever./me shakes fist at local movie theaters.
Continue readingTag Archives: Movies
A Skull Island Travelogue – A Kong Review
[[image:kong.jpg:Kong is King:center:0]]Last night we finally saw Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong. Upon reading initial articles that said that the movie was too long and were boring during the beginning and had pointless scenes aboard the Venture part of the movie, I thought “I’ll take whatever you dish out.” I would enjoy what I could and get it over with. To my surprise, the movie did not bore me to tears at all. Sure there were the trademark lingering close up shots of actors’ (and one giant CG alpha male silverback’s) faces that inundated Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I did not think there were any pointless and unengaging scenes in the movies. Everything added to the storyline, and the overall atmosphere of the movie. To me everything worked. Of course to a SF and fantasy fan like myself the high point of the movie was without […]
Continue readingMini Reviews: Pulp, Supers and Lemurs
So the other day I borrowed some DVDs from [[popup:saberfight.jpg:Awie:Makashi? I think not.:inline:1]]. Why didn’t I buy them? Cause I’m a cheapskate. Here are three movies I saw over the last couple of days and some of my thoughts on it. I saw the first movie in the cinema… twice. I missed the second and the third. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Many elements from ’30s and ’40s pulp serials can be found here, and are a joy to watch. How can you not love blatant references from machinations of a villian straight off Max Fleischer’s Superman cartoons, to 1933’s King Kong, with the wreck of the Venture with Kong’s cage very visible. Even Totenkopf’s hideaway is a Skull Island of sorts. Dex’s ray gun. The robot designs. The mobile airstrip (like classic SHIELD Helicarriers). The giant rocketship. Sky Captain’s Flying Legion is a homage to the Blackhawks […]
Continue readingInto the Wardrobe: A Narnia Review
So I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last Friday, right after Friday prayers at GSC 1 Utama. I wasn’t disappointed. It was exactly as I expected it. I expected the story to be somewhat thin because the book is in fact thin compared to the other fantasy series written by author C.S. Lewis’s contemporary and peer (J. R. R. Tolkien if you don’t know). Narnia in the entire first book wasn’t quite fleshed out as Middle Earth was in the first 2 chapters of Fellowship of the Ring. I was concerned that people who aren’t familiar with Narnia would think that the ending is a copout. And judging from the reaction of a lot of people sitting around me a couple of days ago, they thought it was a copout. I prefer Voyage of the Dawn Treader, anyways. Seafaring adventures r0xx0rs, yo. 😉 […]
Continue readingSpectral Visitors And Other Matters
Irfan’s Cik Su F is here until tomorrow, and she’s sleeping in the room next to ours. Some time last night, I was told she woke Emma up, trembling with absolute fear. It seemed that she saw an apparition gliding by where she slept and disappeared out through the iron grilled window. The ghostly figure wore white and its head and face was a mass of long black hair. It might have been night terrors (though I doubt it), it might have been a dream, it might have been a fear-induced hallucination, or it might have been the real deal. But that was the story told to me this morning by Ain. Meanwhile in other news: Battlestar Galactica was renewed for a third season, and there was much rejoicing. (Just get on with “Resurrection Ship” already) It was Alan Moore‘s birthday yesterday. He wrote a bunch of excellent stories. Painting […]
Continue reading
Here’s a Moria Orc
… as designed by the cool kids at Weta Workshop, using a solid black Photoshop brush, thickness keyed to stylus pressure. So it’s my first fully digital black and white piece posted in these here parts. The reference source is a screen capture of one of the Orcs surrounding the Fellowship just before the appearance of the Balrog in Moria.
Continue reading
5 Years Ago…
… Ain & I got married. Last night, after Irfan slept early and we left him in the care of his Cik Emma, Ain & I went to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith at GCS Midvalley (where they’re replaying the summer blockbusters for half price), got something to eat in a doggie bag, went home to eat it, and then I gave her the wedding anniversary card I bought earlier. It’s been a great 5 years, with hopefully more to come.
Continue readingSerenity Appreciation Entry
[[image:serenityposter.jpg:Serenity Movie Poster:left:0]]Once upon a time, Joss Whedon created a science fiction TV show called Firefly that had great characters, a fantastic millieux and a witty script. It got cancelled by Fox Network. Then its DVD sold faster than hotcakes. Fans wrote to revive the show. So, he wrestled the rights of the show from Fox and transferred it to Universal. One thing led to another, last Friday saw the release of Serenity, the motion picture continuation of the TV series Firefly, was released to critical acclaim. I can’t wait to watch this because I was also won over by Firefly when TV3 showed it last year, on Wednesday night 12.30 am… sometimes pre-empting it for several weeks for football, or pushing it even further to 1.30 am. But the bad news is there is not a trace of Serenity appearing in Malaysian theaters any time soon. Hopefully we’ll get […]
Continue reading
Ringu As An Animated GIF
I can see this happening at a mamak stall or a university cafeteria, in full view of all the patrons going WTF?!? Thanks to Vincent “Dino” Gong, Evil Administrator of the Unofficial ACS Sitiawan Alumni Forum.
Continue readingBatman Begins – A Review
It took more than 10 years, but I have a new best feature length Batman movie to replace my old one. Among the new generation of Batman movies (by new I mean, post-Adam West) I caught the first one on video, saw the second twice in the movie theater, raised my eyebrow at the third once on the big screen, and saw the spectacular train wreck that was the fourth on TV, and even then I wasn’t too eager to watch it through to the end. So I was very cautious approaching Batman Begins earlier today. And I left the theater more than 2 hours later very, very satisfied with Christopher Nolan’s final product. Spoilers shall thrive beyond this point. The movie deals with the origin of Batman. We not only see the formulaic parts of it, the parts of the Batman myth everyone knows. An Epic Tale I saw […]
Continue reading
Revenge Of The Sith Review… Sort Of…
After having been released for exactly a week, I finally saw Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith today. Well, not me alone, I was accompanied by my cohort, Irfan! Yes, true believers. There was a 2 years 8 month old child today in the theatre watching a movie that was rated PG-13 by the MPAA, but “U” by some sleepy guy in a drab office in charge of rating English movies in Malaysia. Bite me, you over-sensitive, politically correct whiners! So, I guess it’s time of me to review this movie. Before you let out another collective “not- another- internet- review- of- ROTS” sigh, I am very much aware that almost every guy with a blog and their one-legged puppy has reviewed ROTS this past week when I was in Sitiawan, so I’m not going to review ROTS. Instead, I will review the experience of watching Irfan […]
Continue reading