Pacific Rim : Review

Rating : 7.5/10

Yo ! I haven't done a movie review for a while but if you have read my other movie reviews you maybe have noticed that I like Transformers. I was critical of Transformers 3 the movie, but I do like Transformers the franchise. As an extension of that you may also gather that I like robots. Well, I've just returned from watching Pacific Rim and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Let's see... the basic premise of this movie is giant man-controlled robots fighting giants beasts. It is hard not to see the similarities between this movie and decades of japanese mecha/monster anime. Neon Genesis Evangelion immediately comes to mind. It is hard to imagine the idea coming from anywhere else. I found this from wiki though..

"While walking on the beach near Santa Monica Pier, the screenwriter imagined a giant robot and a giant monster fighting to the death. " They sort of materialized out of the fog, these vast, godlike things"

Yeah right..
Never watched Ultraman before?
* Ultraman and I go way back, I even wrote about ultraman in my GCE O-level 1119 paper and scored a 1. Thanks Ultraman!

 Remember this guy?

Anyway, in this story the monsters... or Kaiju as they are called in the movie ( meaning monsters in Japanese- I suppose this serves as an acknowledgement to their Japanese influence) arise from deep in the seas and try to destroy humanity ( remember Godzilla?). In an effort to defend themselves, humanity united to build giant mechs piloted by humans to fight the monsters. The giant mechs are called Jaegers ( German for hunter). The mechs proved very effective in fighting the kaiju in the first few years but the kaiju start to adapt and humans soon face an uphill battle to survive.

The kaijus really remind me of the monsters from ultraman. No kidding. Look at these fellows..

 Smile for the camera!

CG was well done, the kaiju were truly impressive. They are also surprisingly agile for creatures of that size. Each Kaiju was different in shape and ability.



The mechs are too difficult for one man to control so require dual-piloting, using neural-linking or "drifting". The complexity of piloting mechs is a familiar concept from the Gundam universe. Mecha are very difficult to pilot which is why the new "genetically enhanced" humans have an advantage over normal humans, some of whom require drug enhancement to pilot mechs. Another interesting note was that only first few generations  of Jaegers were nuclear powered. No mention was made of what powered the later generation Jaegers-the Mach 4 model and after. This again bears some similarities to the Gundams from Seed Destiny, where the later generation Gundams were non-nuclear due to the deployment of N-Jammers. Sorry.. too much geek talk.


Stand by for action!

Anyway this movie is the most awesome spectacular visual feast  (not even sure if this is grammatically correct) I have seen for a long time, or maybe ever. I recommend watching this on big screen to hear the sound of metal pounding carapace and vice versa. Metal pounding shell. Horns and teeth ripping metal. Collossal bodies flung around smashing up buildings. Elbow rockets!?! Elbow rockets are awesome! I loved it! You should know by now, this is very much a boy's movie, but I'm sure everyone can enjoy it.

I give this movie a 7.5/10 and not higher, mainly because the plot is too straight and linear. Not that I minded that much. If I rated it based on visuals and action alone, it would get a 9.5/10. Bottom line I would recommend this movie especially is you have a Y chromosome. If you are a mech fan, this is a must see. If you are still waiting for the Robotech/Voltron or Gundam live action movie, well.. this is the mech movie you were never promised but has arrived.

As I was leaving the cinema, I felt that this franchise would be awesome for toys/action figures. I suddenly felt the urge to buy a Jaeger and Kaiju toy and start a fight on my table top. As u can see below, there are even stats available for each Jaeger, I have no doubt action figures are on the way.

Director Guillermo del Toro pretty much nailed it when he said " Us guys... we stay kids our entire lives"


The Crimson Typhoon is one of my favourite Jaegers


Looks like a Geth from Mass Effect 3

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER BELOW!

Black Swan REVIEW

Let me start of by saying that I was really really reluctant to watch this film. Really..
In fact for most of the film I had my laptop out and was tinkering with updating my antivirus software and other inane stuff on my laptop.

Commercially this movie has done very well
With a budget of $13,000,000 , it grossed > $ 100,000,000
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for her performance.
IMDB gives it an 8.3/10 rating.

However, the premise of a ballet dancer being obssessed with ballet was not exactly my cup of tea.

Cos.. I... don't watch ballet. I can't say I dislike or hate it, it's just something I don't do or watch.

Well let me tell you now, this movie was not what I expected at all.. and in a good way .
Well actually in a freaky psychopathic kinda way.
This movie portrays the tale of a ballerina Nina (Portman)and her quest to be the perfect Swan Queen.
Apparently to be the Swan Queen you need to be able to dance the part of the White Swan and the Black Swan. The Swan Queen plays both the White and Black Swan from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
In her quest to become the perfect Black Swan, Nina pushes herself to the limit physically and mentally. Actually, she pushed the barriers of her sanity and appears to lose it during the course of the movie.
Enter her main competitor Lily whose wild and free persona is more in keeping with the evil Black Swan.
Lily is played by Mila Kunis from The 70's Show.
Other main characters in this movie, Nina's movie, a controlling ex-ballerina and Thomas Leroy, the playboy director.

You could say Black Swan is a cross between Psycho and "some ballet movie" ( I don't know any because I don't watch them)

Overall I felt it was quite a good movie, it had the right pace, suspense and insanity to keep you on your toes. (see what I did there?)

Conclusion : Recommended - but not for kids~!

For the medically inclined
Diagnosis: Schizophrenia
Differential: Obsessive compulsive disorder with psychotic manifestations

Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen - REVIEW (repost)

This is an old article I transferred from my old blog ( 6 ‎July ‎2009)


Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen - REVIEW

The ONE film that I had to watch this year no matter what.
Forget Terminator Salvation, forget GI JOE, this is the movie for me this year.
So when a friend asked if I wanted to go see it, the answer was pretty easy.

How was the movie?
I loved it and had a great time.
Whether you like the movie or not, depends on what your expectations are and whether you are a transformers fan.

Which category do you fit in?

1. Casual movie goer
   Good fun and action - ok

2. Movie critic
   Weak storyline, full of plot holes and parts that just dun make sense. Bummer. FAIL.

3. Romance fan
    If u must, there is a little cheesy romance in it, but hey pal, did u go to the wrong movie or what?

4 Transformers fan ( me)
   Robots fighting robots, crash, boom, bang , kaboom, transform! LUV IT

5. Die hard transformer fundamentalist
  It's not true to any transformer history that you know off. So, thumbs down

6. Boys
   Robots, Cars, Military, Megan Fox - reason enough

7. Girls
   Most girls I've talked to like it for some reason.

Well, what's the plot of this movie? Darn Decepticons are at it again. Trying to destroy earth and it's inhabitants.
Some ancient baddie called The Fallen, who tried to destroy Earth a long time ago , has returned. And he's kinda keen
to get his job done. Good work ethics I say. As always the Autobots have to stick their nose in to save the humans.
I can't remember the cheesy justification that Optimus gave, something about humans are still young and have much to learn.
Whatever.

This movie pack heaps of transformers that weren't present in the 1st movie. None of them resemble the G1 models.
The list includes Devastator, Soundwave, Ravage, Arcee, and a whole bunch of nameless bots. The old guys from the first movie are back,
Optimus, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron ( yeah, he's back), Starscream.. the lot. Soundwave, an old favourite of mine is now a satellite. Devastator is some
kinda beast thingy. Definitely not as cool as the G1 version. Arcee is a motorcycle.
The third fighting party in this movie is the US military. Bringing out an impressive display of aircraft carriers, helicopters, tanks, fighter jets and submarines.
They're generally pretty useless. Give the decepticons a bit more fodder to bash, me thinks.

The action did not disappoint me. Autobots and Decepticons really get in there and try to pummel each other to oblivion. The US military add to the fireworks display.
The scene where Optimus Prime takes on 3 decepticons in the forest reminds me again why Optimus Prime is the autobot Numero Uno. Bumblebee also demonstrates some
cool decepticon ass-kicking. The thing that frustrates me the most is the sheer incompetence of the decepticons. They had superior numbers and intel, yet they still
mess it up. Their weapons seem to have an anti-Sam , anti-Michaela ( Fox) mechanism. Anti as in, it hits ANYTHING but the target.
BTW the Fallen guy hardly does any fighting and gets owned easily at the end. Which sucks. I was expecting more from someone who's name was in the movie title.

What about Megan Fox you say?
Megan Fox is like the icing on the cake, the cream on the bun, the cheese on the pizza, the chilli on dog - a little of it is great , but too much
of it just makes you sick and vomit. This is exactly what Mr Bay did with Megan Fox. Some scenes were just obscenely oozing Fox. In fact, I even felt a
little insulted that Mr Bay had to smother us transformers fans with Fox. We have already decided to give up our money to watch this movie, purely
because it has Transformers in the title ok? No need to turn the Fox on us alrite? Oh wait, Fox is for the non- transformers fan. Oh well, you've got a point..

In summary, it's a pretty fun film to watch is you dun take it too seriously. I, for one, am not that serious of a guy, so I liked it.

I leave you with a proper review done by a true transformer geek, my friend Oliver.

That's just prime!

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Transformers 3 : Dark of The Moon - REVIEW (repost)

Transformers 3 is the 3rd Transformers movie directed the infamous Michael Bay.
I, as a transformers FAN decided to go see it when it came out at the cinemas. ( did I have a choice).
First of all, let me tell you what I dislike. I dislike people going to watch movies like Hulk and Transformers and then complaining that it's just action and no plot/story line. Why would you watch these movies for a deep plot, it beats me. I suggest going to watch Eat, Pray ,Love or Atonement instead. Ok, with that of my chest, I will admit, I didn't really have high expectations for Transformers 3. Cos being intelligent, I knew the story/plot would probably be weak and senseless.

Okay, let us get into the movie itself. First, lets start with the title,  Dark of the Moon. The dark side of the moon basically refers to the side of the moon not illuminated by the Sun, hence, it's dark. This is actually different from "the far side of the moon", which is the side not visible Earthlings as the moon's orbit and rotation just happens to keep this side permanently facing away from us. This, Michael, is your first mistake!
The story starts of with the "Arc", the autobot mothership, crashing on the far side of the moon after escaping Cybertron. This triggered of a space race that sent the first man to the moon. The first Lunar mission was apparently a secret mission to investigate this alien spacecraft. So far.... so good.

Next scene, Michael is back with shots of a super hot girl who has replaced Fox. I could look up her name but i can't be bothered. She is undeniably good looking and the director undeniably enforced a few eye candy shots that had no relevance to the movie whatsoever. The real question is, why would  a rich successful hot woman go out with the "shorter" unemployed, grumpy, insecure man that Sam Witwicky had become. Again, nonsensical.

The first half of the movie was very slow and dare I say boring. I found myself looking around the cinema and wondering when things would pick up. And when the action arrived it arrived in quantity. Senseless, disorganised, illogical but in the bucketloads.  Again, we pit the decepticons numbering 200 vs the autobots, numbering 9 and the United States military, which somehow had dwindled to a handful of soldiers .
Before I went to see the movie, I wondered which new transformers would be brought in for this instalment. Could it be the the Combaticons? Bruticus? The Aerialbots and Superion? Predaking? Devastator? Metroplex? Skylink? I was so full of hope. Unfortunately most of the new transformers were nameless and generic. The only few prominent ones were of course Sentinel Prime, Soundwave and Shockwave.
I won't go into detail the action scene. What I want to talk about is what happened to the autobots?!?! They have dropped their standards. No longer were they the heros who stand for "good", they seemed to have laxed a bit in their code of honor. {warning:spoilers}

1st of all, we see them working with the US military, fighting in the interests of the United States. Fighting wars in other countries! Funny how superior intellectual being decide to join in petty earthling squabbles but, whatever.
2nd. Sentinel Prime. THE Sentinel Prime, previous leader of the autobots betrayed the autobots. Huh?!?! That is like saying Goku betrayed the Z team. Yoda betraying the Jedi. Mr Bay, that is sacriledge! Just because they made Jim a traitor in mission impossible doesn't mean u can do what u like in Transformers.
3rd. The extent of autobot brutality was shameful. In one scene a few autobots rip an injured decepticon limb by limb after telling it " this is gonna hurt". Even the decepticons followed some kinda war code as they detained the autobots in the battlefield and did not attempt execute them until ordered to do so.
4th Optimus Prime ripped Megatron's head and spine out after Megatron saved his life. Megatron even offered to co-exist with the autobots saying "what would  you be without me". Shame on you Optimus Prime! How about when u shot your own ex-leader in the back when he was down, when all he tried to do was save the WHOLE Transformers race.

I can't go spotting every mistake in this movie but I was actually annoyed that Tomahawk missiles hit air targets. They don't , they are long range cruise missiles for bombardment not for air-interception. Also, if 9 autobots can beat 200 decepticons, why did you still lose the war?!?!
Ok, I need to wrap up before this goes on for too long. Looking at the general opinion, most critics have given this film the thumbs down. Rottentomatoes' critic rating was 20% but the user rating was 76%. Most people feel that T3 is better than T2.
To conclude, Transformers 3 disappointed me somewhat EVEN with my low expectations. Sadly I have to agree with critics who say that its plot and story suck. Even the acting is bad. I would only recommend this to Transformers or mech fans aka nerds. The other group who may like this is pure action/eyecandy fans. If u are a normal person who is not a transformers fan looking for a good movie ( or have 2X chromosomes ), you have been warned.