Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer featuring Brockley (and some other stuff)

Marvel Studios and Disney today released the first public trailer of Avengers: Age of Ultron, next year's guaranteed superhero blockbuster. I won't bore you with my analysis, except, well, you just have to watch it. If it is at least half as good as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, then I will be happy bunny - and it sure looks like it may.

More importantly, within all the shots of Ultron in its various incarnation, Iron Man's Hulkbuster and Hulk destroying half of Johannesburg and Hawkeye being Hawkeye, is a short blink it or miss it 1940s flashback sequence featuring Captain America with who I believe is Stark Senior or Bucky, and Peggy Carter. This was shot back in April at Brockley's very own art deco Rivoli Ballroom.

April 2015 can't come soon enough. Hail Hydra.

The day the Avengers came to Brockley, London

Last Friday, Marvel Studios came down to film a scene at the Rivoli Ballroom in Crofton Park, Brockley in South East London. My partner and I were walking down Brockley Road when we stumbled upon a film crew filming "After Party". The Rivoli Ballroom is no stranger to film - it has featured in Doctor Who and the Muppets Most Wanted, but this one was big. We could tell by the twenty of so trucks that were lining up on Brockley Road and Marnock Road. Curiously a couple crew members had shirts with Guardians of the Galaxy printed on it.

As the filming of the Guardians of the Galaxy has already wrapped up and is currently in post production, the only logical conclusion was that (OMG, this was when my jaws dropped when realisation hit me), they were a Marvel Studios film crew filming the next Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movie - Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron! With crews and visitors in t-shirts bearing Captain America's logo and Converse's Chuck Taylor All-Star logo (you know with the big five pointed star in the middle, you didn't need to be a genius to figure it out. The symbolism was strong. It all hinted that whatever was going on in the ballroom had something to do with Captain America.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier mini-review

Yesterday I attended an advance screening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, courtesy of Skype (thanks!). The screening was held at the Odeon Marble Arch and was shown in 3D, perhaps the only two negative things I can make about the evening (okay, three if you count the forgettable soundtrack). I visited that Odeon 14 years ago and it is still as bad as it was back then. As for 3D, well my hatred for the format is well documented. Moving on...

After a day to think about it, I can safely say that The Winter Soldier has elevated itself to perhaps my favourite movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a full rung above the Avengers. Which is pretty neat as the first Captain America movie was pretty meh. Coupled with the fact that the godawful Iron Man 3 and incredibly meh Thor 2 has me worried on whether MCU is a sustainable franchise. Good thing they got it with Captain America 2.

While CGI heavy in places, The Winter Soldier feels like a much more realistic movie thanks to some brilliant Bourne franchise-style fighting choreography and use of heavy artillery and proper weapons (lasers, who needs them?). Captain America has learned some new modern fighting movies and some of his take downs are pretty epic. I could watch Cap destroying that plane after escaping the Triskelion on repeat.

The Hobbit

So yesterday I finally got to sit down and watch Peter Jackson's first party of The Hobbit. It kinda sucked. Loosely based on Tolkein's classic short children book, the film guts whatever was fun and charming about the book and churn out a fest of mediocre CGI action epic nonsense. Curiously, Bilbo Baggins forgets that he never wanted to be part of all this dwarvish racket, but instead sets out to prove he is action hero. After all, why be the reluctant thief he was supposed to be, when you can be the warrior, John McClaine style, instead.

Almost three hours long, for what is basically 1/3rd of the book. Never mind that there is just not enough content for a nine hour 'epic', even Peter Jackson recognised that, dragging the first film with so much fillers and foreshadowing, you could churn out a new TV series "Dwarves and what they do in their fucking spare time whilst waiting to go on an adventure" and have enough for twelve episodes. In comparison, the Lord of the Ring films were nine hours long but the films were based on six books, and a tons more appendix.

Well go on then. You would be doing us all a favour

My Netflix Christmas

A belated Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. This past Christmas holiday we discovered Netflix. To be honest, I've never been a fan of streaming services, but for only £5.99 a month, we were able to escape the dreadful fodder put out by the terrestrial television services.

The film catalogue isn't expansive, but it was still enough to get us through, but what we did find awesome was the number of TV series on it that we use to catch up. As someone who could never get past the second season of Lost, this allowed me to catch up. In fact I might just finally be able to get through the entire series after all. Newer series are missing, but big hitters like Dexter, 24, Californication, Weeds and Firefly are all on it. Also, old classics like MacGyver and Knight Rider, which will surely win us old timers.

Netflix for Windows Phone

Rather surprisingly, despite the low price, there were a number of newer films on the service as well. The Woman in Black, Warrior and the ridiculously stylish Drive appeared to be popular films on Netflix. Still, it's primary strength appears to be a mixture of quality rather than quantity. You wouldn't find big new blockbusters on Netflix, but combined with Amazon's LoveFilm, the two services together do make an effective argument against the monopoly that is Sky.

IMAX vs lieMAX

Today a friend of mine tweeted into my timeline about IMAX plans for five new theatres across Europe. IMAX claims that this will bring the total amount of IMAX screens in Europe to 132. Milton Keynes will be one of the lucky bearers to receive one of these screens at Odeon & UCI's multiplex. Lucky them, or so you might be led to believe.

Before I start ripping into IMAX, I want to address what seems to be a general confusion within the paying public on what constitutes an actual IMAX screen. There are many who believes whenever they watch a film in an IMAX branded cinema that they are actually watching an IMAX film. Let me clarify.

There's IMAX, and there's IMAX.

More specifically, there's IMAX the experience, and there's IMAX the brand. Many theaters these days contains IMAX branded screens. These may be IMAX branded, but they are certainly not IMAX in the classical sense. These screens, commonly referred to by IMAX enthusiasts as lieMAX, are essentially retrofitted theaters powered by a pair of 2K projectors system. And they costs the same as watching on a real IMAX screen.

IMAX films are shot using a format known as 15/70, meaning they use a 70mm sideways. Each frame is 70mm high and runs on 15 perforations per frame. That's massive, around ten times the surface area of academy 35mm format. Being an analog format, the amount of resolution a 15/70 IMAX film holds is difficult to calculate, but some has estimated a horizontal resolution close to 12,000 pixels. By comparison, a 2K digital format has a maximum horizontal resolution of a parltry 2048 pixels.

A Life Worth Living

Last weekend I attended a private screening of an independent film made by a friend of a friend. A Life Worth Living is about a man who suffers from an uncurable disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. More specifically, it is about a man who decided to go on a road trip around Britain and Europe and meet other people who suffers from DMD, and seeing how they cope with life in spite of the disease.

The man is John Hastie. On his 30th birthday, he would get a crazy idea, as he so aptly puts it. He would plan and indeed went on to make a film about people who suffered from Duchenne. People who, despite being crippled from the neck down and consigned to a life in a wheelchair, still led a fulfilling life. In the film, John would go and meet some of the most brilliant and independent people I have seen on celluloid, many who were told they would not live beyond twenty but with some help and determination, are living well in their 20s, 30s and 40s, doing things that were not thought possible before.

It was an inspiring film, not just for Duchenne, but for anyone born into any form of disabilities. More information about the film and the disease can be found on John's website.

The Stupidest Angel film!

The Stupidest Angel is one of my all time favourite absurdist fiction. Written by Christopher Moore, who has hardly ever written a bad book (Fool was pretty bad though). So I felt a tinge of excitement and dread when while surfing IMDB I noticed there was an entry for it.

Yes, The Stupidest Angel is being adapted into a film and they are currently in pre-production phase. All of Christopher Moore's books has been optioned for film adaptation, but this is the first to be in danger of being made into one.

Casting for certain key characters has already been announced, with Tyler Labine lined up to play Theo Crow. Somehow I can't imagine Tyler Labine as Theo, the stoner constable of Pine Cove, the California town where The Stupidest Angel is set. I know Tyler Labine looks like a stoner, but he just doesn't look like a Theo, who I always imagined as malnourished and kinda sad looking. Still, it could be worse.

The fantastic Dina Meyer will be playing Molly Michon, the former B-movie scream queen aka Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland, who we saw last hooked up with a sea monster in The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove before settling down with Theo. I haven't seen a film with Dina Meyer for years, perhaps since Starship Troopers, so it is nice to know there is at least one film I am watching in the future which will feature her.

Marvel Avengers Assemble!

Marvel has announced that the much anticipated The Avengers adaptation will be called Marvel Avengers Assemble, in the UK at least. This humorous change in title is presumably made because audiences may get confused with the campy 1960s British spy TV series of the same name. With the title change also comes a new poster, filled with action genericness, exploding stuff and Robert Downey Jr.. Are you sure this isn't Iron Man 3, Marvel?

Title change and generic Hollywood action poster aside, this is one of the few action films I am looking forward to this year. Joss Whedon may have let us down with the spectacularly mediocre Dollhouse, but let's hope this is more Firefly than that, shall we? With a new trailer out tomorrow, and a fast approaching April release date, it won't be long before we find out.

Marvel Studios presents Marvel Avengers Assemble—the superhero team-up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.  

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, Marvel Avengers Assemble is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series The Avengers, first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when Marvel Avengers Assemble hits UK cinemas on 26 April 2012.

Via SFX 

The Dark Knight Rises: Prologue and Nokia Lumia 800 Batphone

Today I attended the press screening of the first six minutes of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises at BFI IMAX in Waterloo, London. The theater is full with what appears to be proper film reviewers, as they (and I qualified this past Jay Montano, who was sitting next to me) look better than us.

After a brief scene where we see Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) speaking during the funeral of Harvey Dent, we were immediately thrusted into an airplane actions sequence somewhere over Europe. The next minutes scene involves hostages being interrogated by a bunch of military looking goons, followed by a bat-shit insane action sequence.

Here we were introduced to the new villain, (within the Nolan's Batman film franchise anyway) Bane (played by Tom Hardy) where he and his bands of mercenaries hijack the airplane in a daring airplane to airplane action sequence of what I can only describe as Inception-like. The sequence was played out to great effects, and thanks to the vertically larger IMAX format, offers viewers a more vertigo experience of the entire hijacking.

My only issue is with Bane's voice. I, and my fellow audiences, did not understand a squat of whatever he was spouting, no thanks to his breathing mask. I can only hope that the final film will fix this flaw in dialogue. Despite this, it did nothing to hamper my enthusiasm for the film.

The final minute of the film was a teaser trailer where we see Anne Hathaway brief appearance as Catwoman, what appears to be an exploding Batmobile flipping over etc.

Nokia and Warner Bros has produced 40 limited edition The Dark Knight Rises Lumia 800 phones to tie in with the film. These phones are strictly promo only and will never go on sale, so any moanings about Nokia making yet another edition of the same phone to sell are already invalid. I collected the Batphone at the Nokia Lumia Experience House in Soho, a neat pop up office that any mobile tech journalist in London should attempt to visit once.

Still, the laser etching of the Batman emblem on the back of the phone is tastefully done. While it won't make the phone better, seriously, who gives a shit when you have Batman laser etched to your fickin phone?

MCM Expo London Comic Con 2011

On Saturday I attended by first ever MCM Expo London Comic Con at London Excel. Before you asked, no, I wasn't a cosplayer - but I do admit part of my motivation for waking up at 6am in order to get to East London before 9am was largely due to wanting to photograph cosplayers.

Me and Jenni got there about 15 mins before the gates open. Half an hour later, Motoko, our twitter pal, arrived advance tickets in hand. We joined the queue at one of the North Event halls which resembles a massive hanger. It took us about 30 minutes before we got in - but not before being handed a 'swag bag'. Mine contained a .hack/SIGN DVD, complete with an action figurine of Mimiru.

The halls were awashed with stalls selling both licensed and unlicensed merchandises. Comic books, mangas, films, plush toys, retro video games, action figures etc - it was a geek's paradise. Nintendo, Tecmo Koei, Gamespot UK, Warner Brothers Games, THQ, Capcom and Atari had booths set up to showcase upcoming new video games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Dynasty Warriors whatever, Gears of War 3, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (just how many times can Capcom re-release this game?) and a couple more. Creative Assembly also hosted a Q&A session regarding the history of the Total War series as did Square-Enix/Eidos for the upcoming Deus Ex: Human Revolution video game.

Unsurprisingly the event was awash with cosplayers. I have to admit that I found myself admiring the dedication of many of these cosplayers. The attention to detail on their costumes - most of the time home made, were simply mind blowing. Not only that, but many of the cosplayers were in character as well. The 501st Legion UK Garrison is worth a mention due to their authentic-looking Star Wars costumes. I was very impressed by the cosplay quality of Iron Man, Lenneth from Valkyrie Profile, Ghost from Call of Duty and the apes from The Planet of the Apes. Even the Duke made an appearance!

The highlight of the day was the Futurama cast panel. I have been following the Futurama series since the inception and it was a joy to see and hear Billy West (Philip J Fry, Professor Fransworth, Zapp Brannigan, Dr. Zoidberg), Phil Lamarr (Hermes Conrad, Preacherbot), Lauren Tom (Amy Wong, Inez Wong) and Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker, Morbo, Lrrr, Calculon) talk about the voice production and how some of the voices of the characters they play came to be. Richard Nixon's Head 'aroo', for example was inspired by Billy West's childhood experience from watching Nixon debate with John F. Kennedy where he (Billy West) feared Nixon would turn into a wear wolf.

We also caught the panel of Simon's Cat, where the creator of Simon Tofield explained the inspiration that led him to create this popular cartoon series. A Q&A session with Craig Busch (of  The Lion Man TV series) was followed by a preview of his new reality TV wildlife series surrounding the conservation of wildlife in Africa.

MCM Expo was a great fun first experience. I do have a number of complaints. First, the acoustics at the MCM Expo Theatre was horrible. You could hardly hear a thing, and even the cast of Futurama had trouble hearing themselves. Then there's the money spinning machinery. £15 for a ticket to obtain a single autograph from the stars? Plain ridiculous.

Check out my photographs of the day here.

The Social Network review

I have to admit that when I first heard of The Social Network, aka "the Facebook film", I was a bit skeptical. It had director David Fincher attached to it and Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter, and yet I thought - why would anyone would be interested in the story of how Facebook was founded. And despite all the hype and the flood of positive reviews, I remained unconvinced.

Then last week I was invited to a private screening of The Social Network at Sony Pictures in London on Monday. And I was glad I said yes, because the film is as good as the critics have been saying.

While The Social Network revolves around the early days of Facebook - it isn't totally about Facebook. The centerpiece of the drama is build around the relationship between the two Facebook founders Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), and how that early friendship is driven apart by legal disputes over money and intellectual property. Here's the official synopsis by Columbia Pictures:

On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history… but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.

The script is impeccably well writen by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, A Few Good Man), with great dialogue. I wouldn't be surprised if Sorkin gets nominated and wins an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It is intelligent, and is well structured, though unsurprisingly filled with Hollywood cliches (creative license). The film uses a great framing device - using two seperate lawsuit depositions. The story of how Facebook was born was instead told through multiple flashbacks.

Jesse Eisenberg was good as the easy to dislike, deadpan, geeky and social misfit Zuckerberg, while Andrew Garfield (soon to be Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot) was excellent as Zuckerberg's best friend Saverin. Saverin as CFO, provided the money needed to launch and maintain Facebook in its early days. While competent, he was undone by his lack of experience and vulnerability. Justin Timberlake gave a terrific performance as the unlikeable sleaze Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster, proving that at least he is a better actor than he is a singer.

The decision to use the Winklevoss twins's litigation against Zuckerberg may come off as light comic relief but does help with the pacing of the film. Speaking of the Winklevoss twins, Armie Hammer played both characters (well sort of - amazing how far digital effects have come). This I found amazing, as I really thought there were two different actors playing two completely different characters (albeit physically similar). It wasn't until after the film when I checked the credits that realisation hit me.

The cinematography is brilliant. I am not one of those guys who are keen on the use of shallow depth of field in film, but fortunately the filmmakers used such techniques sparingly in the film. For example the use of tilt and shift lens to film the Henley Royal Regatta rowing race was a masterstroke. People have been using tilt and shift lens to create miniature effects in photography but the use of such lens in motion films has been rare.

All in all, The Social Network is great film with great actors and a screenplay, a wonderful soundtrack (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and plenty of admire about. If there ever was a film released this year worthy of plenty of Oscar accolades, this is it.

"Like"

Scott Pilgrim awesomeness

Just got back from a sold out screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World film. This is easily the best comic book to film adaptation I have seen yet, in that they respected the source material as accurate and as possible. I personally think they shouldn't have used all seven evil exes and save some for a sequel, as the second half felt rushed. But it was still ace.

There's even a possibility of me watching it again (and this coming from a guy who now rarely visits the cinema these days - heck, I haven't even watch Toy Story 3 yet!), that'show much I loved it. Go read the books, play the game and watch this genre bending film.

Shadow of the Colossus

Dear Hollywood,

Please please do not adapt Shadow of the Colossus into a movie. You know you are just going to ruin it.

Many thanks,

A Team ICO fan

Futurama - Bender's Game review

I am a massive fan of Futurama. So when it was announced that a fifth season of Futurama beacons in the form of direct to DVD films, I was filled with hope. Bender's Game is the third of said features and to be honest after viewing this, I don't see much hope left in the franchise.

Bender's Big Score was a typical Futurama episode stretched to widescreen and length that while no where near as good as the series, was pretty enjoyable. The second, The Beast with a Billion Backs was less so. I was only capable of watching it a couple of times before permanently archiving it in the back of the bookcase for spiders to gnaw at. Bender's Game on the other hand... well I barely got through half of it before turning on my PC to begin ranting about it, while the none stop pop-referencing Dungeons & Dragons meets Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars filled the background noise. I had to re-watch the second half to write this because I missed so much.


The plot is nonsensical at best. I know, Futurama has always prided itself with silly (but still cohesive) plots, but what we have here is absolutely no plot. There were a couple of jokes and gags, but these were far in between, and those that appeared are weak. It's like a couple of awful Scary Movie films rolled into one, with Teletubbies thrown in for good measure. The film has a couple of con-current storylines: Bender being accused of having no imagination after his dabble with Dungeons & Dragons, Leela being fitted with a temper checking dog collar and Hubert Farnsworth's desire for vengeance against Mom. Sounds good on paper, except it doesn't...

For an episode that supposedly explores Bender's lack of imagination, Bender's Game is surprisingly lacking. The over reliance on parodying genre favourites like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings just proves that. Gags are often unfunny and made of cheap predictable puns and seemingly random. Even the quality of the animation seems a bit off. About the only thing worth about Bender's Game is we finally get to see Leela and Amy getting it on, something I am sure many of you were wishing since The Series Has Landed (don't lie now).

The picture quality is great and you do get audio commentary by the makers of the show with your purchase. In addition to that a slew of bonus features is included such as deleted scenes, storyboard animation, bloopers by the voice casts etc. Unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that I personally think Bender's Game is an awful awful Futurama episode. Perhaps if you are a D&D nerd who takes pride in spotting mathematical references, then this film may be for you. A rent at best, but don't blame yourself if you decided to give this a miss.

4/10

Bender's Game is available on DVD and Blu-Ray

The Forbidden Kingdom

We've just watched The Forbidden Kingdom, and it is one of the most awful films I've ever had to sit through. You wait two decades for a film with Jet Li and Jackie Chan, and when it finally materialise, what you get is a typical Hollywood'ed movie ruined by awful acting, ridiculous casting, predictable cliché plot and pathetic villains. In fact the cast of mismatch characters are so awful that by the end of the film I wished two of them were killed off through beheading. Gist of the story is a geeky kid gets transported into Ancient China where relevant people speaks in broken English with an American accent, then has to save the world.

The dialogues are apparently written by a ten year old, and is almost too painful to watch that several times I made excuses to raid the fridge for another pint just to numb the pain. Sorry martial art and wuxia film fans - if you are expecting Drunken Master or great fighting choreography you won't be getting it here. Instead what you get here is a shoddy interpretation and desire to have Karate Kid, Journey to the West, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Last Action Hero and Rush Hour mashed then glued together. A bloody mess of a film, one that richly deserves to be flogged and categorised in the same breath as Battlefield Earth. Even the fight scenes were woefully disappointing with CGI thrown in and a villain who rather use Harry Potter magic than fists...

Only for people who thought that both Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers were masterpieces...

1/10

-

2008 is slowly turning out to be a year of film disappointment. So far...

10,000 B.C. was equally as ridiculous. It tried too much to be a prehistoric film then attempted to emulate Stargate mid way through and failed badly. Roland Emmerich's Godzilla can be considered an Oscar worthy masterpiece compared to this mess.

Speed Racer is another huge disappointment. The effects, in my opinion, seems to have gone backwards since The Matrix almost a decade ago. You can almost feel the eight year old in me cringe as he saw his once beloved franchise plundered.

Also can we have another reboot of the Batman series again with Tim Burton back at helm? A dead actor does not suddenly make an average movie great.

About the only films released this year I've enjoyed are Mamma Mia, the fourth Indiana Jones, and maybe Cloverfield.

Resident Evil: Extinction mini-review

I finally got around to watching Resident Evil: Extinction on DVD, and to be very honest here I admit to finding myself entertained by it. I had to remind myself that this is merely a loose adaptation of Capcom's Resident Evil video games franchise, but seriously, I was genuinely pleased. As far as Mad Max style action films goes, it wasn't too over the top - but it did have balance and it didn't overuse their martial arts choreography that Hollywood loves. Gory effects were liberally edited but appears moderately - something that I do appreciate - but the pacing of the story could have been better.

I did lower my expectations, but even then I have to say it was one of the better 'do not require brain cells Friday night popcorn' films (how ironic) that I missed from last year. Despite the lower budget and restrained narrative, I found the Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) directed film far more entertaining than Michael Bay's Transformers and slightly more entertaining than the amazingly dull Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and weird Spiderman 3. Regardless Extinction is easily the better film within the trilogy and a massive improvement over Apocalypse.

Even if you are hell bent on hating Extinction, the film is still worth watching purely for Milla Jovovich alone.

Transformers review (a rant)

I don't visit the cinema as often as I used to. You see for two years I used to be a member of UGC's unlimited cinema club where for the privileged of them having my direct debit details (and dipping into it every once in a while) I got to watch as many films as often as I wanted to. But not any more (due to lack of time and lack of a cinema that provides the equivalent to the Unlimited Cinema membership around here). Because of this I tend to be more selective of any films I watch at the theatre. Besides ticket prices are getting higher and Screenselect/LoveFilm (to North American readers, these are similar to your Netflix service) has been providing a similar service to me for the past two years or so.

So when a live action film adaptation of one of my favourite franchise was announced I immediately vowed NOT to watch it. Having Steven Spielberg on board with Transformers did not change my mind. The casting of Michael Bay as the director further confirmed with my opinion that the film was heading from bad to awful. The only reason I would ever want to watch Transformers was Megan Fox, whose recurring appearance in the now canned Hope & Faith was the highlight of the short lived comedy series. And I wasn't alone. Many fans of Transformers who grew up watching the TV series and playing the toys also hated the idea.


I am not against the idea of a modern iteration of classic franchise but I have always felt that if there ever was one - someone with a great insight to the history of the franchise would be better. Hollywood's performance in rebooting series like Batman and Superman, as well as Ang Lee's incredibly dumb Hulk film, has always been a concern of mine. But maybe, just maybe, Michael Bay pulled it off. But I should have known better. Plenty of people did give Christopher Nolan's Batman reboot a favourable review, but I thought it was a boring shit especially when compared to Tim Burton's classics. When Transformers finally got released, critics gave in and many gave the film the thumbs up. Some of the original TV series fans even got converted and praised the Transformers as 'realistic'.

Like the critics, I broke down and ordered LoveFilm to send the DVD over. I lowered my expectations, readied to be showered with General Motors product placements on the scale of The Island. And boy was I disappointed. Was this the same film I watched as the critics? One praised the film as "ludicrious fun". The version I watched was anything but. It was tedious at best. The human storyline was a chore to watch (and yes, there were too many, for example the "hacker" storyline - what was that about?). Shia LaBeouf came off as ineffective and unlikeable in his portrayal of a two dimensional geek, and Megan Fox's acting skills were not once put to test. And lets not start on the Transformers themselves, whom were basically whims. Sure they are flashy when they are in their automobile mode, but pinch them a little and they will drop like flies kicking and crying like babies.

As expected, Michael Bay did turn the film into a orgy of "unrealistic action porn with average visuals of everything blown off creating a cinematography mess that gives migraine to people who watch them" at the expense of genuine human interaction and emotions. I have to watch Terminator 2 again, just to stir my brain up and prove to it that enjoyable, fun and balanced action films do once exist.

James Bond 22 gets Sci-fi B-movie title

Some of you may know that I am not a fan of Casino Royale, nor Daniel Craig's demented take on Britain's most famous fictional cold war spy. But at least I can take comfort with the fact that there has been no badly named James Bond films, yet. Almost all Bond films, good or bad, had a catchy title that rolls of your tongue perfectly. Goldeneye, Die Another Day, Diamonds are Forever, License to Kill and Live and Let Die are some of the Bond titles that I consider pretty classy.

Today the next Bond film title, previously known as Bond 22, has been revealed to be Quantum of Solace and will be a direct sequel of the awful Casino Royale I wasted 5 quid on. The title is based on a lesser known short story by Ian Fleming, though I am sure that the film will have almost no reference to the story (in the book Bond only appears as a background character) which was initially published by girl bible Cosmopolitan! In the film we will find Bond seeking revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd. Doesn't sounds like James Bond to me - in fact it sounds like the plot of another film I rather like. Yes, Bourne Supremacy. I predict another hit for MGM, but with many film goers likely to just blurt out "James Bond" for their tickets.

House cleaning dood!

After much internal debating I finally halved my games and DVD film collection. As many collectors would attest, it is nice having a huge collection but sometimes these can get out of hand. I just thought that there ought to be a boundary somewhere on whether one should keep their collection for the sake of keeping. Kudos to people with huge dens where they have thousands of games and films but unfortunately I do not have the space, nor the money and patience to keep up. So I learn to let go.

It is nice having the extra space for other shits. You know, like more games and DVDs... ;)

Been replaying Disgaea much lately thanks to the Etna mode on the PSP version. Wonderful port BTW with Japanese voice acting FTW. Expect a glowing review in the near future. Speaking of Disgaea, check out the intro from Disgaea 3:



Sweet Laharl, Etna and Flonne making cameos here. I feel so justified clearing out the games that I hardly ever touched anyway, making way for a future copy of Disgaea 3. Come on SCEE, with the dollar getting hammered do you still think it is okay we pay near double the Americans do???