‘Captain of Destiny’, the best TVB series of the year so far.

‘Captain of Destiny’ (張保仔, literally as Cheung Po Tsai) is a 2015 Hong Kong historical fiction sci-fi television drama of 32 episodes by TVB. The drama is a retelling of the story of 19th century Chinese pirate Cheung Po Tsai and his conflict with the Qing imperial army, meanwhile encountering a time-travelling police constable from the 21st century. The drama starred Ruco Chan, Tony Hung, Grace Chan, Ram Cheung, Elaine Yiu, Maggie Shiu, Joel Chan, Mandy Wong, Susan Tse, Lau Kong, etc. It is a grand production and is one of the four anniversary series of 2015 to mark 48th anniversary of TVB.

This series which concluded just now with its final episode also won the Most Favourite TVB Drama at the Singapore’s Starhub TVB Awards 2015 yesterday. Despite receiving average points in viewership rating at Hong Kong, the drama is being very well received and I’m one of them who have more praise to this series compared to all the other dramas released this year. It is just so good and always kept me intensely catching up to latest episode of the series every night. In the first few episodes, I came to watch the series with less expectation but then I’m surprised by the great quality of storyline and characters the series present to TV audiences as the drama develops. I still enjoyed the time-travel concept eventhough TVB had used this idea many times before in the past.

First, we were shown in the present setting of Hong Kong when a female police constable (Grace Chan) accidentally traveled back in time to Qing dynasty from a waterspout when she is on a mission to catch a criminal named Bandit King (Ruco Chan). Once back to 200 years earlier, she met the famous pirate Cheung Po Tsai (Tony Hung) and his gang. Here the story goes between the pirates’ life and the life in the palace emphasizing the 11th prince (Ruco Chan again) who is a hardworking prince in mission to eliminate pirates. Many events followed between these main characters and the story development went very well in a good pacing mixed with light fun moments as well as serious and intense situations.

Ruco Chan delivered yet another impressive performance as the 11th prince. His character here is very diverse, requiring him to deliver multitude of varying emotions and he nailed it. He conquered all the scenes he is in with powerful strength and expressions. Eventhough he is not in the titular role, but he shines over the rest in this drama. No wonder he won Most Favourite TVB Actor in Singapore last night too for his performance here. Very well deserved and I do hope his winning continues to TVB Star Awards Malaysia next month as well as the Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards in December. It’s time for him to be rewarded. Tony Hung portrayed the titular role and I’m fine with it. However, I find it weird that his character is not being given much attention throughout the series eventhough his name makes the series’ title. That has to be case when you have another lead role, the 11th prince of which I have said earlier that stood out better than the rest including this titular character of Cheung Po Tsai.

Grace Chan is a newbie artist and she should not be promoted too quickly by the TVB station by taking up this first female lead role here. The outcome is you get a performance that is poor and heavily criticized by many people. It’s not her fault mostly but I do cannot stand the overly exaggerated expressions and voice she shown in this drama. On the other hand, I also cannot stand anymore on the cute acts by the 11th prince’s lady servant, portrayed by Kelly Fu. However, her acting is far more natural than Grace. It is the veteran actors and actresses that back the series a lot too. Villains like Lee Shin Cheung (as admiral), Elaine Yiu (as concubine), and Lau Kong (as emperor) and others like Susan Tse (as concubine), Elliot Ngok (as imperial eunuch), Maggie Shiu (head pirate’s wife), and Ram Cheung (pirate’s strategist) did very well. Joel Chan and Mandy Wong also contributed very convincing performances in their respective supporting role too.

Besides that, I’m also surprised by the effort put on the visual effects of this series. The visual effects especially during the war between the imperial army and the pirates are exceptionally good if measured by TVB standard. I’m stunned and amazed by that battle scene. It looks very cool, technically brilliant, intense and exciting. However, I am actually hoping for like two or more of those battle scene to further expand the storyline on the strained relationship between the pirates and the government. So actually, I don’t mind the series to be 40 episodes long.  The effort put on production design, costume and make-up design, and editing should also be complimented for this drama. The drama’s opening theme song by Fred Cheng, closing theme song by Ruco Chan and episode’s plug song by Linda Chung are all very nice to listen to and suits well to this drama’s heart.

As for its ending just now, I’m very happy of how this series came to such a thought-provoking conclusion. It is an ending made with a lot of thoughts (and a nice twist) and I like that. I’m tired of typical non-moving yet happy ending made to most of TVB series in recent years. I’m also surprised to see Raymond Wong making a cameo appearance in the end as a pirate. Why him? It’s because he is originally cast to portray Cheung Po Tsai and not Tony Hung. So letting him to appear in the very last minute of the series’ ending would be quite interesting. In general, this drama is definitely the best TVB series of the year so far and if the next series ‘Lord of Shanghai’ isn’t as good as it is expected, then I see no problem for ‘Captain of Destiny’ to take home Most Favourite TVB Drama in both TVB Star Awards Malaysia and also in Hong Kong’s TVB Anniversary Awards. It is really very good and delivered beyond my expectation. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Captain of Destiny’ a total of 8.2. That’s the highest rating for a series I have given this year. Even Grace Chan’s bad acting here couldn’t pull the series down to below 8 points from me.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

‘King Maker’ (造王者), a wonderful and thrilling series.

I like to watch series involving scheming battles in palace during ancient China. I find series with such theme is very interesting and attention-grabbing in terms of its multi-layered and twisting plot. Previously, I admired series by Hong Kong’s TVB of this theme like ‘War and Beauty’ and ‘Beyond the Realm of Conscience’. The latest to be included in my favourite list would be the recently-concluded ‘King Maker’ drama released this year which is a historical-fiction series set in Southern Song dynasty. It’s like a spin-off to the ‘Greatness of a Hero’, a drama released few years earlier with two same main actors (Wayne and Kent) but with Wayne Lai being the main villain instead.

(Image above from http://i48.tinypic.com/nfc4i.jpg) 

‘King Maker’ starred Wayne Lai and Kent Cheng as two respective chancellors with their intriguing struggles to have their favoured prince win control of the throne of Southern Song. Wayne Lai supported the eldest prince, Kwai-Sing (Pierro Ngo) while Kent Cheng is by the side of second prince, Kwai-Wo (Chris Lai). Of course, things aren’t that simple as there are numerous intertwining sub-plots that further adds depth and strengthen the power of the storyline as it goes through the 28-episodes long series. Those are like the threats from neighbouring dynasty, revelation of certain truths and involvement of other great villains to make things worse and more complicated. In the end, it’s Kent Cheng that turns out to be the main villain of the drama. The good thing is that some twists in the story are really unpredictable (hence giving surprise) and came out very well and not illogical as seen in many other TVB series earlier. There are also many other notable supporting characters to carve a path to such a solid story.

(Image above from http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OKzNJDAUeTg/UCTFGSJNtXI/AAAAAAAAV64/G0yBjlB0PvU/s1600/000002239463_1344334535.jpg)

All that sum up to a very thrilling atmosphere in the palace, still centered on the two chancellors portrayed by the very experienced actors, Wayne Lai and Kent Cheng. At first, I didn’t expect that Kent Cheng would be the main villain in this series, and in the end, I can say that it’s quite a breakthrough and a good performance from him. However, I find that Kent forced himself to indulge into the evil character he portrayed until to the point that it seems so weird looking from his facial expression and gesture. Perhaps, he shouldn’t try to do anymore evil characters that doesn’t seems to suit him. It’s not his fault and he already did his very best, and anyway I like his character too. Without this main villain, the story wouldn’t be that interesting after all especially at the end part when he do so many bad things all together to make sure he is successful on his plans. The final confrontation between Wayne and Kent in the finale through words and tricks is impressive and intense but not epic enough.

(Image above from http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fk1M8W6eXgw/UCTFHeJ1ydI/AAAAAAAAV7A/90Bl7DBPLHM/s1600/000002239465_1344334537.jpg)

Wayne Lai is still at his usual performance of a very strict-looking man while still very capable of delivering in emotion-led scenes. And I find his younger sister in the series whom later became the concubine of first prince, Natalie Tong is a bit noisy and slightly annoying especially when she is first introduced in the series. Yeung Chi-San (Joseph Lee) and Consort Wai (Florence Kwok), two senior casts did very impressive job in their villain characters as well. One more thing, Vivien Yeo portraying as the first concubine of eldest prince is still quite poor on her acting, and her Cantonese accent didn’t really improve much. But that is quite a minor character who did a bit of silly tricks in the end and then gets punished and vanished from the series as expected. Hmm..the series also tests on value of friendship, family bond and love in a very balanced proportion (without dragging on either aspects much).

(Image above from http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm5/2012/0907/23/FEF7A2F17AEFBFC620030C70E3F331D1F982FB8D7D8E_500_281.jpg)

So, there are not only battles between the two chancellors which only heightened in the final portion of the whole drama. There are also scheming between concubines (a little), cooperation between politician with eunuch, and even tricks between father and son or daughter.  I finished watching its two heart-stopping two final episodes just now, and I’m glad that the whole series didn’t disappoint. It’s indeed an exciting drama with good script and acting overall. The storyline is intense enough with very much of climax-reaching scenes. The drama is also filled with some touching moments especially when someone important had passed away mainly due to evil plots by the main villain portrayed by Kent Cheng. The ending for the characters as shown in the finale is quite satisfying. Overall, it’s a very solid drama with thrilling plots. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘King Maker’ a total of 7.5. Conclusion of the story in one simple phrase; ‘it’s hard to be the king maker’.

Movie review: Total Recall (2012)

It’s time for me to step into the cinema again after The Dark Knight Rises last month. It’s very necessary to go to cinema at least once this Hari Raya break, and so we did so today on my last day of break at TGV in Suria KLCC. Hmm…I don’t like TGV cinema. The price of snacks on sale is so expensive, the hall is too cold and that the seating and space in between are too narrow. The film I watched today is ‘Total Recall’.

This science-fiction action film revolves on a factory worker, Douglas Quaid whom begins to realize that he is a spy after visiting Rekall – a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led – goes wrong and he finds himself on the run. The story isn’t only about all that as it also touches on political and psychological themes. You would understand what I’m saying after watching it. I didn’t watch the 1990’s film of this title on which this 2012’s film is the remake of it, and so I judge this film without comparing it to the former.

For me, the story is quite engaging and most of all, interesting. The flow of the story able to get the audiences going with the development from the beginning till the end of the film. There isn’t any draggy or slow things going on in this film. Every scenes are essential to the plot, on which mostly are filled with action-packed sequences. It’s so exciting to watch ample of chasing and attacking scenes from this film. I can assure you that this would never get your bored even for a single second. Everything turns so intense as soon as the main character, Douglas started to question on who exactly he is, and finally finding out the answer and even helped to save the Colony in the end.

Besides than the story, another aspect that I wish to highlight is the visual effect. I believe most of the scenes involved extensive computer rendering for the background as the setting of the film is at the end of 21st century taking place on a whole new advanced urban city above our present built environment. There are huge robotic-like structures appeared to be floating, a number of connecting flyovers and lifts, etc. The visuals delivered are absolutely fantastic and realistic-looking. A lot of hard work must have been put to create such a great outcome.

The performance by the casts, is no doubt brilliant and amazingly done. Colin Farrell did a very impressive job as Douglas Quaid, the main character of the story. The two other leads are his wife, Lori (Kate Beckinsale) whom go against him and his love interest, Melina (Jessica Biel) who partnered with him on his mission later on. Without both of them, I couldn’t think the movie would perform this well. With the three of them, you could already witness a number of intense chasing and attacking sequences since the rest (those robotic armies) are actually quite meaningless.

 

So, expect a thrilling, enjoyable, entertaining and exciting moment when you watch this film. Definitely worth a go and you would be amazed with its story, its casts and its visual effects like I did. Things are also generally very advanced from the setting of the story. It appears like with only using a glass, many high-tech things can be done. Those kind of ‘over-modern’ stuff would get your attention as well while watching the film besides than just concentrating on the development of the story. Overall, out of 10 points, I would rate this film a total of 7.5.

(All images from this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Starting to get back to TVB series, just finished the whole series of ‘Three Kingdoms RPG’

After several months of not watching any Hong Kong TVB’s series, I started to feel unusual on every night after work when I have no drama to catch. Then, TVB released quite an anticipating series last month, entitled ‘Three Kingdoms RPG’ starring Kenneth Ma, Raymond Lam, Tavia Yeung, Ruco Chan, Pierre Ngo, Sharon Chan and many other supporting casts. The story as clearly suggested from the title revolves on the three kingdoms back over thousand years ago, but begins with Kenneth Ma, an addicted online game player accidentally travelled back to three kingdoms era and met all those historical figures.

That is quite an interesting synopsis. TVB had not been using the idea of time travel on its series for many years already, after it had been adapted before in ‘A Step Into The Past’ and ‘The King Of Yesterday And Tomorrow’. It’s good to have the time travel idea back into its drama. ‘Three Kingdoms RPG’ also enabled me to learn a bit on the history of Three Kingdoms in ancient China, particularly introducing me to those historical figures like Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Cheung Fei, Suen Kuen, Zhou Xou and many others.

The drama isn’t all only about telling the history. I like the part when Kenneth Ma whom is brought back to the historical era had to adapt to the environment and on the same time influencing the people in the past with modern stuff particularly in modern talks. It’s quite hilarious and entertaining to watch those parts. It has never been that funnier or interesting without the presence of his character. However, I find Kenneth’s character on this series to be a little bit annoying. The issue is not on Kenneth’s performance. He did very well on his acting. It is the poor handling to his character that makes him unlikeable. And I find that he looks much better on appearance in modern world rather than giving him historical character to portray. The ending showing him in the age of sixties waiting to return to Three Kingdoms era is quite interesting. But his singing of the song ‘You Are Always On My Mind’ which linked him to Tavia in the series is quite awful.

On the other hand, I’m disappointed with Raymond Lam’s performance. Luckily, this drama concentrated more on Kenneth Ma and his character’s development. Raymond Lam had been very ‘woody’ on his recent performance and I really get bored by his emotionless and ‘chok’ appearance which isn’t much suitable for the ancient time setting of the series. Zhuge Liang is a great war strategist but Raymond ruined that powerful character. Poor casting is a major issue for this series. Sharon Chan appears with not much of purpose on this series, available only in few short scenes. Selecting Pierro Ngo to act as Suen Kuen is a right decision. He gave a very impressive and solid performance as one of the influential and talented leaders in the Three Kingdoms era. Too bad, there isn’t a lot of emphasis on his character which can actually be developed further rather than having to share most of his on-screen time with Ruco Chan’s character that turned evil due to jealousy of Zhuge Liang’s knowledge.

I like the chemistry between Kenneth and Tavia after their on-screen couple presence in ‘The Hippocratic Crush’, a TVB medical-based drama released early this year. I find there isn’t anything much interesting going on between their relationship on this series and out of sudden, Szema Shun (Kenneth) had his unconditional love to Song Yau (Tavia) in the end after not having any feeling to her in most of the series. It’s disappointing that Szema Shun had not able to express his love to Song Yau after successfully travelled back to modern time while Song Yau couldn’t do so. The ending is quite touching and emotional eventhough the ending failed in a lot of other aspects, like not mentioning what’s going on to Three Kingdoms after the war. Many things are like unanswered in the end. What’s for letting Song Yau to arrive in modern world after Szema Shun had passed away? I am now guessing there must be some sort of strong response and reaction from those people in the Three Kingdoms era after Szema Shun suddenly went missing. There can be a very potential development to that point, but TVB couldn’t think of that direction to give a much better conclusion to the drama. Out of 10 points, I rate this drama 6.7. Ahh…and the visual effect is so awfully bad. Budget issue…

(The images from this post are obtained from variety of sources in world wide web)

Movie review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Christopher Nolan, a very acclaimed film director reboot the ‘Batman’ successfully with a much darker and realistic tone with the film of ‘Batman Begins’ in 2005. Then, he continued to produce marvelous sequel for it, leading to ‘The Dark Knight’ in 2008 that receives major positive reviews and gain over 1 billion grossing. That is not the end yet. On this year, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ which puts the epic franchise into trilogy is reported to be the conclusion. Hence, this film which is seen as one of the summer blockbuster is expected to gain more than its predecessors, but not in term of my review.

First of all, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is an extremely long movie, taking almost three hours with much of the time wasted on the slow pace of story development particularly in the first hour. The part that shows how Bruce Wayne (the Batman portrayed by Christian Bale) hide himself from the city of Gotham that feels that he is wrong and responsible for the death of Harvey Dent (in previous case back in The Dark Knight) is excessively long. I didn’t say its unnecessary, but that aspect is being delivered in a boring and draggy mode which is frustrating. Well, luckily there is a good interception in between, on which Selina Kyle is introduced as the Catwoman, portrayed by the gorgeous Anne Hathaway. Heavy emphasis is also given to a new character; Detective Blake portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and that is a good addition too.

Hmm…I predicted the character of the Catwoman to be a little bad in the beginning but turns out to assist Batman on saving Gotham city later on. Well, there is no surprise there for the reason of introduction of this character. The main villain this time is Bane (portrayed by Tom Hardy), a physically strong pure-evil mask-wearing man who planned for destruction of the city in the underworld beneath all the underground sewage systems running throughout the city. I like the part on how his character and his evilness is introduced in the beginning of the film at the scene involving the plane. But then, I find his physical strength isn’t enough to make him really ‘evil’ on this film. I prefer ‘The Joker’ in the previous film over Bane. ‘The Joker’ managed to sort out wonderful plans to do the tricks and damages in simple ways that gets the attention of the audiences. All Bane shows over here is only his power in combat with the Batman on which he prevails but in the end killed by a simple shot firing by Catwoman using Batpod. So, it’s actually unnecessary to show ample of not-so-thrilling combat scenes between Bane and Batman. In the end, you could just kill Bane with a shot. And that huge group of police force shown in the film is a bit useless over there in such a situation.

Sorry for a bit of spoiler over there. It’s like inevitable not to show any spoiler over here when I’m writing down my thoughts over this film. There had been out-of-proportion character’s development to Bruce Wayne, whom is the Batman himself. That is what makes kids get bored of this film. Furthermore, the script is very good but is too hard for us to digest or absorb. I hardly understand some of the dialogues spoken which is supposed to be very meaningful but it’s hard even for me to get it. It’s just too complicated. Luckily, there is still a kind of surprise at the climax part (aah, I won’t reveal it here) which is an interesting twist to the elaborative plot. This time, there is not much intense content going on throughout the film compared to the many seen in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’. The performance by the casts who are mostly experienced are generally good.

What’s good about this film is the soundtracks produced by Hans Zimmer. Those soundtracks are so awesome to be heard during the movie and they fit into it perfectly. It provides extra dimension and intensity to the film, and helps to cover many parts which are not that interesting but is being turned into heart-stopping moments in the end. And one more thing, Batman is now equipped with much advanced tools and vehicles (now Batman has an auto-driven flying weapon machine called simply The Bat). Cool addition. Hmm…I like the ending as well. The ending is pretty intensifying, emotional, meaningful and puts the film to a very great end indeed despite going through disappointing path in the middle. It is a perfect ending to the franchise. Somehow, Christopher Nolan had successfully captured our ‘souls’ from his spectacular direction in the Batman trilogy he directed.

So overall, the movie starts off quite well but just for a while, then makes you bored for around one to two hours before getting you to a not-so-thrilling but surprising climax, and finally to an epic end. So, it’s imbalance and lengthy ride all the way. And that took me three hours which is too long for me. To be honest, it’s not that interesting or exciting for me, but I find there is a kind of substance on this work of masterpiece that would still adds up to a generally favourable review for it. Some parts should be cut off, then it should be a bit better. Anyway, it’s still a great outcome by Christopher Nolan. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ a total of 7.6. It turns out to be a a little letdown from my expectation and fails to mesmerise me, but I believe this film shall not be missed for any movie-goers.

(Images on this post are obtained from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Movie review: Ice Age 4 – Continental Drift (2012)

The first ‘Ice Age’ film is released way back a decade ago. Then comes its first sequel entitled ‘The Meltdown’ on 2006, following with second sequel; ‘Dawn of the Dinosaurs’ in 2009. On this year’s July, there came the fourth instalment, latest of the famous animated franchise entitled ‘Continental Drift’. I watched the first teaser trailer of this film long long ago, and after watching the film, the teaser trailer actually shows the actual beginning of the film as well, which marked the way for the whole story of the film, continuing from previous stories set in the first three films.

Well, all the main characters remain, and of course with addition of several new interesting characters, in approach similar with that of the previous films of the franchise. This time around, the saber-toothed squirrel does not only appears to be in parallel with the main story with no purpose. His obsession to nuts lead to the beginning of the whole story started from the continental break that separates the main protagonists; the mammoth, sloth and the tiger from the mammoth’s wife and daughter whom is now grown up but was disappointingly under strict control from her father in the beginning. The continental break that makes the world map of what it is today makes no sense, but I like that. That is awesome…haha

That brings the main protagonists to the middle of the ocean, away from the land, and from there, they began an adventure to reach back to the land after going through the rough sea, unhelpful current, tornado and particularly a group of animal pirates headed by an evil captain which is an ape. That sounds exciting. But after watching the film, I find that the story is not delivered to its best eventhough there is a strong potential on it. Comparing it with the first three films, I find ‘Dawn of the Dinosaurs’ is better in terms of the intensity of the story in reaching out to the audiences. I hardly feel anything exciting from the story of this fourth film. Anyway, it’s still a good story, but is being treated too similarly with the previous films in some aspects. It’s not that bad actually. It’s quite interesting after all.

The characters are lovely and funny. They are there for some sort of adventure in each films. Now, each main protagonists are not alone. The mammoth has his own family now, while his daughter had a group of friends of the same species. The sloth is dumped again by his family but then he had a new family member, his granny with him along the journey whom helps to save the day in the end. The tiger met a new companion, a white female tiger which at first belongs to the group of pirates, but turns over to help them as very much expected. You see…this is something not good. Many parts of the film are very much predictable after seeing similar patterns from the first three films. A bit of twist is good enough to bring a thrill to the story.

It’s still a very entertaining film. Since this is already the fourth instalment to the franchise, we couldn’t expect anymore further or fresh from it. It’s actually a good sequel that provides a bit of fun to the audiences with some laugh-provoking moments. What are the producers going to think of if they are planning to make another sequel on this franchise? Even if they had new idea, at last, the story’s development would be very much similar and predictable. That is what happened to Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. It had a good and potential start, but goes on not very well, not very thrilling until the very predictable end. Out of 10 points, I rate this film a total of 6.8.

(Images from this post are not mine and are obtained from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Movie review: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?’

Snow White and the Huntsman; another film based on the fairy tale of Snow White released this year. Another one is ‘Mirror Mirror’, released few months ago which I did watch it too. I’m wondering why there are suddenly so many Snow White’s adaptation films this year. Comparing this to ‘Mirror Mirror’, it is no doubt that ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ is much more successful in many aspects. I watched it just now in Pavilion KL. I was in shock just now when a huge number of people queuing to buy movie tickets and waiting to enter are mostly for this Snow White’s film. It gains interest of a lot of people and it seems that this fairy tale is still famous after so many years. However, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ is no fairy tale as described from the movie’s tagline. It came in bigger budget and more advertising, and that is why it is better than ‘Mirror Mirror’.

The trailer for this film looks very interesting, impressive and promising to me. After watching its trailer few months ago, I had interest for it, with my eyes especially on the evil Queen Ravenna, portrayed by Charlize Theron, an Oscar-winning actress. She seems to portray the character very well, even when seen from the very few short scenes shown in the trailer itself only. And yes, her performance not only outshines the rest, but also saves the movie in the end. Without her solid and strong appearance and performance, the movie would sinks to the bottom. I can feel her evilness from her eyes and emotive expressions, and that’s a good thing. I bet many would praise her performance on this. She basically steals the show by delivering in auperb style and power on this film.

Kristen Stewart as the Snow White. Well, she is the main character and yet, Charlize Theron’s portrayal as the Queen gains more attention and interest despite with lesser amount of time on-screen. Kristen did only a fair job, not very good and not very bad. Well, she is still young and there are a lot of things she need to learn before landing on this kind of lead role. The other main character is not the prince, but is the huntsman, given order by the Queen to find Snow White in the Dark Forest whom in the end helped her instead. This character is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth who is famous as ‘Thor’. Well, he contributed a good performance but I don’t really like his existence in this film. He basically ruin the original story of the Snow White’s fairy tale by replacing the prince for the huge responsibility of saving and loving Snow White. So now on this film, the prince is only a supporting role and his kiss failed to bring back life to the Snow White. Instead, it is the huntsman’s kiss that succeeded. Ohh…too bad, now what I am expecting.

Anyway, that’s quite a good twist to the original story which I think a bit of differences to the original version are necessary for a refreshing and a different outcome. ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ adds more elaboration to the original story but fails to provide depth on some other aspects. The elaboration made which is good is on the addition of Snow White’s experience in the dark forest as well as in the so-called ‘sanctuary’ guided by the eight dwarfs (yup, eight dwarfs and not seven, but later on, one is killed and the number goes back to seven, similar to the original classic). There are some horrifying and beautiful things encountered, but that portion is a bit too excessive, leaving the middle part of the film to be quite boring and slow when there is not much of the evil Queen’s appearance anymore. But in the end, I find everything hits in a balanced proportion.

The story is extended, but not in depth disappointingly. There is no answer or background on certain parts like on the origin of the mirror that the Queen speaks too, not enough shown on the history of the Queen that contributed to her evilness, how she learnt all those black magic, and why she didn’t just kill Snow White when she was still a child as the Queen already sees her as a threat on the day of her coronation. Ahaa…so the story isn’t perfect but it’s a much better, serious, dark and epic adaptation of the famous Snow White’s fairy tale that everyone knows and remembers until these days.

The visual effects are quite stunning but the focus is not on that. Ahh, let’s not forget about the seven dwarfs too. Once the seven dwarfs appeared in the film, things started to get more interesting. They brought in laughter and ‘light’ after some unnecessary, quiet, long and huge amount of boring scenes involving the Snow White wondering in the Dark Forest with the huntsman. And finally, after almost two hours, the climax arrived and it took only about the last fifteen minutes of the film. That is certainly not enough for some exciting and thrilling clash between the evil Queen’s army with the Duke’s army in order of Snow White in the castle.

And after watching the movie, I found out that some parts shown in the trailer are actually not there in the movie itself. That is ridiculous and disappointing at the same time because I find there is some very potential or thrilling moments (the Queen screaming while mirror breaks and some others as seen from the trailer) and some memorable or strong dialogues not featured or shown in the film which is a waste. And one more thing, I find the ending to be not that good and simply sorted out without any strong consideration and thought on it. You would know what I mean once you watched it. I am expecting more actually. But it’s good enough if I didn’t come in high expectation.

Overall, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ transformed the original fairy tale into an epic experience of the Snow White and the intensifying evilness of Queen Ravenna. This production is a great masterpiece of heighten proportion and extra credit is given to Rupert Sanders as this is his first directing work. It makes ‘Mirror Mirror’ looking like a B-rated film, but I think that ‘Mirror Mirror’ is going on another direction which is much ‘lighter’ and ‘safer’ and should not be compared together. ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ is great and recommended. Out of 10 points, I rate it a total of 7.3. Ahh…I wrote a very long movie review for this one. Two hours for movie and one hour for its review.

Movie review: Man On A Ledge (2012)

Forget about majority of the reviews given to this film which are not really good. The film ‘Man on a Ledge’ receives quite a poor rating and mostly negative reviews from movie critics. At first, I don’t have the intention to watch this film looking at the poor rating it has, but after I read the plot of the film, I am interested. Well, after watching the film just now, I have nothing to say but thinking that those bad responses over this film are so wrong. This is indeed such a good film. A good film that has not been given much attention after its release early this year.

The story focuses on the man on a ledge, named Nick, ready to commit suicide on a ledge high above the city of New York. But things are more to a merely suicide attempt. Nick, who is an ex-cop is framed by a wealthy businessman (David) and was sent to jail for stealing the diamond in which he didn’t do so. It was all David’s plan to get insurance claim for the loss of his diamond which is still on his possession. Nick sorted out a plan, by stepping out on a ledge to pretend that he is going to commit suicide to divert the public’s attention to him while his brother, Joey and Joey’s girlfriend, Lydia went on their mission to steal the diamond across to prove that Nick is innocent.

Well, the story isn’t complicated and I like how the story flows throughout the whole film. There is also a substantial amount of character development (not too much and not too little, the amount is just right), especially to Nick, the main character, the one on the ledge, portrayed by Sam Worthington. I have seen him previously in ‘Wrath of the Titans’ and I think he did a pretty good job over here as well. He did show some true and realistic performance as his position in most portion of the story is on the narrow and dangerous ledge high above the ground. The other characters complement well in overall too.

I am certainly interested and impressed over the idea used for this film, focusing on the man on a ledge (hence comes the title of the film) while there is something else going on that leads up to a very intense climax and conclusion in the end. This is something new and exciting to watch. The credit is on the distraction idea used to ensure the deception task is smooth on the other hand (this is even expressed on the tagline on the movie poster shown above). The plot and the flow of the story is very engaging and I paid my full attention watching the whole film from the beginning till the end, being so curious to know what’s going to happen next. This is good actually. It draws my attention, and the climax is quite intensifying. I am thrilled over some scenes, especially the one when Nick really jumped off to the ground, falling over to the air-mattress so he can reach to the evil businessman in the end and snatch the diamond out of him and reveal it to the public and the media. Oopps…sorry for a bit of spoiler here.

Well, I can say that some parts are quite draggy in the middle. But I think that’s the intention of the story as well; to delay things so that the people across the building can do the things as planned to save Nick in the end. Well, I won’t reveal much here…if not, there would be much spoiler. That part came and went off quite fast, and attention is diverted back to the intense plan. There is also some sort of surprising twist to the story, and I like how it occurs in the story without any awkwardness in it. The ending is a good one too. So, overall, there is nothing seriously bad for this film. Of course I have to agree that this movie came with a very good idea but ended up accompanied by lazy script and not-so-good acting performance. But I’m actually okay with the weaknesses it had.

It is beyond than the level of only worth-watching, as this film even has the potential to be on Oscars if there are some little improvements over here and there. Finally, I can say ‘Man on a Ledge’ is an interesting and thrilling film not to be missed this year. This film is serious yet entertaining. There is no funny things or hilarious scenes going around, and that is not needed to make it a success anyway. This movie is not received well even in box office, but you have to give it a chance to really check out the good thing about it. It’s definitely more than just a man on a ledge. Trust me. Out of 10 points, I rate the film 7.8. A very good rating compared to the others. Well, it’s my view, and I have provided a major movie review for this film over here.

Movie review: Battleship (2012)

‘Battleship’ is one of my most anticipated films of the year after I have first watched its trailer few months ago. Finally, I get to watch it today after it has been released to the cinema many days already. ‘Battleship’ is a science-fiction naval war film, not against a particular country but on a group of extra-terrestrial robotic ships coming down to the sea from a planet far far away that the Earth is trying to communicate with. Ahh, I’m glad this movie is released earlier in Malaysia as it is supposed to be released in United States on May.

Boom…Boom…Boom! I hear a lot of gigantic explosions from this film! Those explosions and firing scenes from this film are epic! That is the single aspect throughout the entire film that worked well, and brings the movie to quite a success. It’s really very exciting seeing those ships either of the navy or of the alien ships exploding after being hit by multiple attacks. It ‘hits’ the audiences and got us concentrated on the battle once it is started.

Yes, the climax started once the battle began. The beginning part that emphasizes on characters’ development was quite boring. I keep waiting for the battle to comes which looks very promising even from its trailer already. Ahh, I am not disappointed. The battle which covers almost three quarters of the whole film really impressed me. The state-of-the-art stunning visual and seamless CGI effects are very amazing and made everything looks very realistic eventhough I believe some explosions are a bit too exaggerated, but I like it. The volume is very high, but it actually adds to the excitement further.

The actor who portrayed as the main character, Alex Hooper in this film performed quite well in the film. Same goes to others. Ahh, wait..the lead actor is Taylor Kitsch…he looks better in short hair on this film than his previous appearance in long hair on ‘John Carter’. However, as for Rihanna, a famous singer nowadays whom made her debut into film appearance on this, I finds she could not fit well into the whole thing. She would be better if remained only in singing career. I finds the movie goes weird whenever she was there in the midst of many breathtaking scenes. Well, the plot is quite straightforward which made the whole story easy to understand, but I detected some plotholes…but I’m sure people going in there for this movie with their mind mostly on the extreme firing and exploding scenes only.

Sorry to Michael Bay. There is someone out there who could challenge you easily on producing this kind of robotic battle in film. Out of 10 points, I rate this movie a total of 7.6. An extreme and explosive movie of 2 hours long that would certainly satisfies people who like this sort of theme. You would certainly be overwhelmed once the battle begins! This movie reminded me of ‘Pearl Harbour’, another movie many years ago, but this one is far better when comparing on the quality of the battle shown. Now, I wish to watch the battle from this ‘Battleship’ again!

Movie review: The Hunger Games (2012)

‘The world will be watching…’

That’s the tagline for the famous ‘The Hunger Games’ film released today, and yes, I watched it on its first day of release. I didn’t read the novel which the film is based on, and so I would review this movie solely from what I have watched today. And I have to tell you that this is a kind of movie that might gets a place in Oscars next year, and is no doubt a great movie!

The story set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match, while for male, Peeta Mellark whom have had a crush on her is selected. The Hunger Games are a yearly reminder to the 12 districts of the Capitol’s authority, and punishment for their rebellion over 70 years ago, in which the 13th district was supposedly destroyed.

Basically, the attention of this movie is on Jennifer Lawrence portraying the main character of Katniss whom had the courage to volunteer for this deadly game for her sister. From his determination to volunteer herself in front of the crowds, to her pace of adaptation to the new people and the Capitol’s environment, to her performance to gain sponsor for the games which she is not used to, and finally to her participation and great show in the games itself to succeed, Jennifer Lawrence portrays all that incredibly well. Well, I remembered her once being nominated in last year’s Oscars in best actress but she lost, so I think next year’s Oscars would be the right time for her from this extremely well performance in ‘The Hunger Games’ which is obviously topping her performance to the best.

The story development went well in this pretty long 2 hours and 15 minutes movie. But I didn’t feel boring all the way from the beginning till the end, because every parts of the story are nice to watch and are essential to the whole flow of the plot adapted from the novel. From the introduction of the games and the people-in-charge, to the parade introducing the tributes (contestants), to the training, and finally to the hunger games, things just went off pretty clearly understood without complicated and hectic storyline. However, things started to be a bit draggy, which suddenly turned into an awesome moment watching the games finally begins.

There is a bit of criticism over the shaky camera style used in parts of the film, and I don’t like that really much. However, I think that style adds depth to what the film intends to show us, because it is actually showing the human perspective from the characters themselves, so that we could truly feel what does the particular character sees and probably how she or he feels too at that moment. So, I’m not against that shaky camera style in the end.

Maybe because I didn’t read the novel, and so I couldn’t understand certain little parts, but that doesn’t ruin my reputation towards this incredibly great movie, and is certainly one of the best of the year at the moment. The cinematography is great, and the performance by Jennifer Lawrence as well as Josh Hutcherson as Peeta are amazing. I just saw him not long ago in ‘Journey to the Mysterious Island’ and he is now back in a whole new different character, and he nailed it as well. This movie is great, but I wish more portion of the film is given to the games itself, as we look forward more towards that deadly game which must be really exciting. Anyway, I’m not disappointed in that point too. I don’t mind if this movie took 3 hours. Out of 10 points, I have to rate ‘The Hunger Games’ a total of 8.0.

‘Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favour!’ This phrase sounds familiar right? I have heard it numerous times from this film. Now, I’m hoping for the two sequels to this film according to the novel’s trilogy (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay) coming out soon!