30 Days of Night (2007)

30 Days of Night. Film review. Essentially, this is a film about vampires. The difference was, the vampires in this film (yes, plural) were in their elements. They were savages, natural killers, and not just some wimpy and melodramatic prince of darkness stow away in some ancient castle far from civilization. The vampires in this film were also exists beyond reasons both religious and philosophical. It could be said that 30 Days of Night is a re-telling of Stoker's Dracula which strips everything from the story except the core fact that these vampires loves blood and would kill for it, and the humans in this story were victims and that they were bogged down to their natural stance of a much weaker human defense. Run or get killed.

In the town of Barrow, Alaska, the northern-most outpust of the U.S, there was a time when night was a month long (hence, the title). During this month, the city was completely isolated, and only the hardest souls (150 something people) could endure the month long of no sun. Eben (Josh Hartnett), a sheriff to the city was doing his initial preparation for a month-long night. He was a dedicated sheriff. But his personal life wasn't something that he likes to bragged about. His ex-girlfriend/wife, Stelle (Melissa George) was a fire marshall. She should've catch the last flight out of town but an accident befell on her during her car ride to the airport and she was trapped in the town. On a first night, a mysterious character (the amazingly creepy Ben Foster) appears in town and orchestrated some vandalism which purpose was further isolated the city from the outside world. And as the second night approaches, the people of Barrow faced with a never-ending nightmare.

The film took its time to introduces us to the characters, to let us familiarize with the characters, to an enough time for us to develop some kind of mental association with the characters. Although to be quite honest, it doesn't really worked that well to me. But, when the first night arrived and the first blood was spilled, the film turns to the right direction that it has been designated all along since we get the first glimpse of the poster. An action-thriller genre with generous amount of blood.

Taken from a comic book with the same title, the resemblance with its original comic book was lavishly less if compared to Sin City or 300, for instance. But there's a great overhead shot which provides the comic quality as the first horde of the vampires runs through the city which was coated white in a snow killing everybody in sight, splashing reds here and there. The main vampire dude (undoubtedly the leader of the packs) was effective both as a leader and as a monster. I liked the fact that the film doesn't get preachy about the nature of these killers. The film put its audience inline with the townies who doesn't really in the mood for a research about the nature of these vampire dudes, and who was too busy to stay alive to for instance, made silver bullets, look for garlics, or tried to stab them with a wooden stake through their hearts. In fact, we can't really know whether these standard operating procedures against vampire which has been last through ages would be effective to these vampire dudes in this film. The townie however, were quickly to notice that bullets won't work and the only way to stop these vampires were to separate the head from the body through any means. A precise swing of an axe, or a head-shot for an instance. They were also quickly to learn that these vampire dudes were too strong and too many for them to take out in the open.

For all its worth, the film stays true to its genre, which was a survival film against something that goes beyond their equal. We won't expect the human to win in a traditional way. But it was enough for us that some of the character would see the sun rises again. At this time of day, expecting this kind of film to end in a closed conclusion would actually ruins the experience. Questions would aroused as the film ends (i was stayed through the end-credit to see if something that could be remotely thought as a conclusion would came up. None appears, though) but, sometimes it was better to leave the film ends openly.

Saw IV (2007)

Saw IV. Film review. I'm not really a fan of this kind of film which was just recently, re-established within a new genre called a torture-porn film. And just like it's genre stated, this kind of film relies on its fan's penchant on instead of taking pleasure goggled over naked women (or men) doing whatever they do when they're naked (thus, porn in its true meaning) was taking pleasure in poring over scenes where some men (or women) strapped in various mean torture devices (thus, torture and porn combined into one). Therefore, it usually takes me a long while to actually seen this kind of film (i haven't seen Hostel part.II, or Captivity for instance, although i had these films in my possession). However, when available, i'd always seen the unrated version of the film. This holds true for Saw series.

I would say that the first Saw film was a surprise hit. A hit enough to spawn four sequels in four consecutive years (Saw V was scheduled to release this year). A hit enough that most other horror/disturbing/torture films usually stay clear of October to avoid any direct competition with Saw series which usually takes a release spot on that month. The first Saw film was actually a smart thriller in a non-average kind. Unfortunately, the sequels were gradually eroded the smart-thriller feels of the film and edged the series closer to a mere torture-porn where the story doesn't really matter anymore than its various wicked torture devices. Well, that's what i thought anyway.

The first Saw film (and the rest of its sequels) introduces us to Jigsaw, a serial killer with a proficiency in engineering and rather twisted sense of what's right and what's wrong. He has a game in which he put men (and women) in or within vicinity of various torture devices, told them to make a choice where they would die or live albeit with un-whole condition afterward. Physically or mentally. The series thus far, were repetitive since its first film. There's an opening scene where some men or women were about to get tortured, while some alleged protagonist runs around fixing clues here and there to unravel the mystery, and as the film gradually approaches its end, the mysteries were unraveled by quick flashback scenes. And guess what? Our protagonist may not live or may not look the way he was in the first place. I was actually rather marveled by the writer team behind Saw series to put up a continuity without looking entirely too stupid. However, my understanding to the stories were minimal and i'm at a point where i was ignorent to the whole fiasco and loose-ends (unlike say, Back to the Future series, in which i was at a time obsessed by piecing the pieces of Marty and Doc adventures). Despite so, after seeing this film, it's easy to believe that if this series keep making money the way it was for the last four films, you'd see more Saw films for the next couple of years. And it would be actually interesting to see how the writer team behind this series put up their ideas into an logically-acceptable sequel (not prequel, that was too easy).

One thing that bugged me the most about the film was Darren Lynn Bousman, the director. He has helmed the Saw series since number two, and his way in shooting his scenes where he incorporated many quick-cuts, accelerated frame-rate (forward or backward), and too much sound effects were not among my preferences. And it gets worse as the series grew in number. With that said, it is easy to see what i had in thought about this film. It is easily the worst of the series so far, and i think it wasn't really wise to spend another effort for the fifth installment. Alas, contradictory to what i had said, had i had the money, based on its past histories and this film, i would gladly invest to another sequel (and a prequel) of this serie before calling it a day.

Enchanted (2007)

Enchanted. Film review. In reviewing this film, i would like to get back to an article i wrote two years ago about Amy Adams in Junebug after which i had continously expressed in vigor, and furious kind of ways about how i loved her and all. A beautiful actress and a great talent to match. This love had land me a 'job' as a moderator to one of the biggest online TV and Film forum in Indonesia. A responsibility which i had already given up a year ago.

Enchanted is a simple fairy-tale-ish film, a felt-good film, a film with an ending already predictable even from the minute one. And as Junebug did years ago to me, i liked the film for the simple presence of Amy Adams as Giselle, a princess in a fairy tale who wishes nothing but a happy ending forever and ever after. Ms.Adams bought the fantasy part breathing alive with excitement to this otherwise a potent boredom of a film.

Giselle, is a maiden lives in a fantasy forest in Andalasia. She constantly wishes for a prince charming trotting her doorway, swoop up her off her feet, rode to the castle, marry her, and sealed off their fate forever and ever with a true love's kiss. Well of course, in every fairy-tale there's always this witch who doesn't want it to happen. The witch doesn't even waste a momentary pause to envisioned her devious plan and immediately sent Gisella to New York. A reality New York where she believes that there's no such thing as "happily ever after". Dazed and confused, Giselle met with a New Yorker, Robert and his daughter, Morgan. Anyway, Robert was about to ask his long-time girlfriend, Nancy to marry him. Meanwhile Prince Edward and Giselle's faithful chipmunk went to search for Giselle. The evil witch doesn't want to get leave behin as well. She sent Nathaniel, her servant to marred the Prince's plan. You know how it ends. No surprises there. It was after all a Walt Disney's picture.

I will always remembered Walt Disney as once it was. The king of animation. Particularly on a hand-drawn 2D animation films. There'd be no mistaking in recognizing Walt Disney's hand-drawn 2D animated films as they always had this familiar feelings which i couldn't really begin to describe with written words. Well, you know what i means. This film begins with 2D animation scenes and for a moment there i felt nostalgic. And i really had a serious doubt about the feel of the film would changed for worse when the scene shifted from 2D to reality. I was glad that i was wrong. The cartoon characters despite their emergence as they transformed into the real-world characters didn't actually changed the cartoon persona which kept the mood in check. And did i mentioned that it was due to Ms.Adams warm performance? I believe i did. In the end, everybody's got their own happy endings. A perfect fit if not an old-fashioned idea (read: boring) for a fairy-tale.

Anyway, somebody needs to hand a bigger check to Ms.Adams next time. She is more than deserves it.

Death Sentence (2007)

Death Sentence. Film review. In order to make a film that takes revenge as a subject worked, it needs to deliver a character that undergoes the revenge to be believable and gets our sympathy. It usually goes as follows. Put some lovable ordinary Joe (or Jane) into an imaginary perfect and happy life. Take it away from him, and give him a reason to enact a revenge. Three keywords, ordinary, lovable and believable. I love Kevin Bacon. I really do. I never look into his films and finding not loving it despite anything. Heck, i like Hollow Man! Given that thought, you know that i would squeeze the juice to the last drop to made myself in a position to actually liked this film.

Nick (Kevin Bacon) a senior VP in a financial business company, led a happy life. He has a nice family, lovely wife, and two sons he could be proud of. James Wan put a various footage from a home-made Christmas video that spans several years of his life to show how he has led this perfect life. It was believable and since i know how the film would spun its tail, it gave me a pang of sadness (you need to believe in Kevin Bacon to feel so. In my case, it's love). On a faithful night, when Nick and his oldest son take a stop on an overnight gas-station, a bunch of gang collides with his path. It turns out that this gang made an initiation acceptance to one of its newest members by putting him up for a random kill to an unlucky passerby. Brendan, Nick's eldest son, is the unlucky one.

Every revenge film follows a pre-determined path. It's jut like a board-game of snake and ladder where you start on a square one, rolled the dice and race to the finish line. How long, and what obstacles you faced along the race is what made things interesting. You know the square one and you know the finish line. What matters is what lies in between.

It took forty minutes to get the ball rolling, and once it's rolled, there's no stopping as not only did Nick, an ordinary working Joe risked for his life, but he also risked his remaining family against a gang which doesn't shy away in the business of killing.

Or so i had thought. The fact were these, despite i could very much spare much of my sympathy with Nick (read: Kevin Bacon), the pacing to the rest of the film was uneven throughout. After the forty minutes mark i mentioned earlier, i had expected that the film's pace would be fast or at least interesting enough to keep me engaged. Rather than that, i found the film's direction was rather jumbled and confused to sit through. It would seems that James Wan wanted to put some moral thought, some kind of a legitimate justification to Nick's choices and i was really really put off with the superhero-esque gun-duel at the final climax of the film.

James Wan from Saw directed this film. Therefore, the film doesn't shy away to show some violence and red-colored liquid and latex body parts. A nice niche if you asked me. Because after all, like it or not, i believe that there's a dark side among each and everyone of us that wished a very tremendously ill and terrible shit to happen to those who responsible of what had befell to our family, friends, a stranger on the screen that we love, even in order to justify our needs for a bloody and painful revenge.

Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who. Film review. I could very much understands if you feel a sudden surge of love and admiration toward Elephants after seeing this film. A fun, light-hearted animated take on Dr Seuss' short-story. The best film adaptation of his works that i've seen by a mile. Um, make that mileS because i would eagerly seen this film more than this film or this film. The film was suitable for family, but also gave enough amusement to a more experienced viewer (it features a famous quote from Apocalypse Now which i seriously doubt any children would catch the phrase. Let alone understands about it).

In a jungle far far away where it seems that the only normal animals were elephant, monkeys, vulture and kangaroo, lives a good-hearted elephant. His name is Horton (Jim Carrey). One day, when he's doing whatever animated animals were supposedly doing in an animated jungle (i needn't tell you that the animators would feel obliged to made the sequences as ridiculously funny as possible. I could tell you that whatever they decided to do with the scenes, it works. Well, at least for me), he hears something, something from a tiny speck of dust and although he can't see it, he believed that there were actually real people, tiny people living in the dust. There's actually a town named Who-Ville and Horton was able to communicate with the Major (Steve Carell) of the town. However, a self-proclaimed Queen of the jungle, believes that Horton would causes a fuss among the younglings of the jungle by giving them a false impressions that there were actually something to imagine as she is a firm believer to notion that "if you can't see it, then it doesn't exist". The Major, the only Who-Villers who initially believes that there was actually a giant elephant in the sky talking to him, plea to Horton to bring their world, the tiny speck of dust to somewhere safe. Horton agreed to help, and he sets up for a journey to the mountain top. Meanwhile, the Queen of the jungle went every alley to separate Horton and his tiny speck of dust. And Horton would find the journey to look for a safe haven for the Who-Villers wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

The film was short, but i was very very entertained with it. I wouldn't thought that this film would have a chance to become one of the best in 2008, but for a month that was so completely deserted-out of a good excuse to waste a good money for a ticket, the film was worth a while. The theater filled with laughter for almost the entire film, children and adults alike. I found myself smiling in more than just a scarce occasion. It was fun and entertaining. The tension part, the part where Horton's need and the Queen of the jungle's intention collides, was also craftly executed and not prolonged which is a good thing, actually.

I had one quibble though. The film was clearly had two sets. The 'real' world set, where Horton is the star, and the Who-Ville set, where Major is the star. Both of these stars voiced by two magnificent comedians. But, for me at least, it is clear that the Horton part was far more entertaining. Given with the fact that Jim Carrey was free to do whatever to his character (i don't know how much of the dialogue was ad-libbed but i guess it's very plenty) rather than Steve Carell who was given less freedom with his father-figure character, and in the end, i found myself longing for Horton when the scene shifted to Who-Ville. But, other than that, it was a pleasant and relaxing experience. Added to that, the final scene with the familiar song by Chicago (if i'm not mistaken, that is) was quite hilarious.

Book Review - Velocity (2005)

Dean Koontz' Velocity. Book review. Velocity manages to keep the flow of events in the book live up to its title. It's fast-paced action, with some expected (or not) twists and turns around the way. The thriller was on a personal-level and the whole prominent events in the book were happened in no more than 48 hours time.

Meet Billy, an aspiring writer and a bartender who just did his job on a perfect monotonous routine. His wife was in her fourth year of coma, and his life is pretty much ceased when he got home either from his job or from the Nursery house where his wife laid in comatose. One day, he found a typewritten note on his windshield. It reads as follows If you don't take this note to the police... I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher... If you do... I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have six hours to decide. The chooice is yours. His first initial thought was of course that the note is no more than just a sick joke. A very very unfunny joke. But of course, as the first victim fell, and the note was only the first of many, things become serious to this one particular civilian.

I've always wonder in amazement that somehow most thriller books which examines the thrill on a personal level always seems to evolve around writers. Check many Stephen King's books. It would seems to me that the real writers behind these thrillers felt that their life was too bland and decides to put some thrill to theirs, imagining all nasty things, and poured it to written words.

Velocity is a fun reading, well at least, to me, for two-third of its portion. It has violence, it has puzzles, and it has disturbing images (which of course, entirely up to your imagination on how disturbing the images really were). However, my only problem with the book is that i couldn't sympathize with the main character at all. And not because he has a disturbing past, no, not that at all. Even before i had suspected that he is not what he appears to be, i found little love toward him. Sure, he is a good-natured home boy, sure, he loved his wife to a point where his insistence of keeping her alive, should be saddening. I was using the word 'should' because frankly, i don't feel anything which i pretty much suspected due to my inability to sympathize with the main dude. It's just nothing really special with this Billy, nothing that could reach out from the pages toward me.

All in all, the book wasn't too shabby at all and i would think that it won't disappoint Koontz' long-time fan. It was a light reading anyway. An avid reader should be able to read it through and through in a night. I've read better, though.

Book Review - Reflex (2005)

Regarding Jumper series, i had read the first book, seen its first adaptation, and had a pretty much different opinion toward both. Thereore, my initial reluctance toward the second book was very justified. However, it's turned out that given the familiarity with both the prominent characters from the first book, i couldn't put down the book and finished it in a go until 2 a.m on a working day.

Reflex published twelve years after the first book, and the event depicted in this book happened eleven years after the conclusion in the first book. David Rice, the only teleporter known in the world was married to Millie Harrison. Millie wants a child, Davy doesn't. The book begins with the argument amongst both. After leaving Millie on their shelter (which mostly inacessible via normal means except by teleporter), David went to see his NSA handle. When Davy doesn't return for a couple of days, Millie's anger turns to fear as what force could stalled a teleporter like Davy where no prisons could contain him? For the length of the book, the chapters alternating between Davy and Millie. Davy tries to unraveled the mystery behind his containment, and Millie discovers that after being the second most frequent person to experience teleport, she was able to teleport as well. Honing her newly acquired skill, she tries to unravel the clues to search for her missing husband.

Steven Gould, as much as i shunned him for his involvement in writing the film version of Jumper manages to provide a convincing reasoning to established the turn of events in this book, and for the most part keep the book as a light and a quick action-packed story which had it turns into a film, would be a lot more easier and exciting than the first book. The only new important character to introduce in this book was the nemesis and he doesn't take a lot of space and quite frankly, not interesting enough to demand more development and therefore made the other characters, characters we know and love from the first book (given that you loved the first book, of course, if not, well, then bother) considerably had more attention. It would seems to me that Steven Gould knew that in every successfull series, the first book was merely act as an introduction, whereas the second book is where the fun really begins. Well, usually.

There's however one scene that made me frown. This scene is so peculiar, so out of context that it would seems to me that Steven was bragged about his knowledge about cults and beliefs of Central American people. When i read it for the first time, i was brimming with anticipation that somehow Davy, had his skills because he's the last of his tribe, or something with similar exotic feels like that. Alas, even after the book concludes itself, all that knowledge - if it is a real knowledge, and not some of Steven's fruit of imagination - feels more and more like a filler with almost to zero importance to overall of the story.

The story also features a highly intricate intrigue involving governmental agencies that actually more suitable to a spy-fiction novel.

For a literary work, i would recommend this book only given the premise that you liked the first book. Read it or ignore it, you won't missed a thing. Reflex would be more enjoyable if you had read Jumper first. But you don't need to read Reflex if reading it was merely for the sake of continuing the serie.

Random Shorts (10)

The idea of this post is a total rip-off from one of my favorite blog, Patrick Walsh. He is around my age, and one hell of a writer (well, because he IS a writer after all, one of Cinematical's staff, several newspaper and magazine articles about films to his credit, currently working on a television serie, had an IMDb entry, and if i'm not mistaken, had a film prepping sometime this year. Soo, in a way, i was kinda envious and kinda look up to him). Anyway, the idea was this. Fire up your iTunes (or what is it called? err... hold on... damn! i couldn't remember, it's on the tip of my tonuge.. what was it? Argh! Win.. um.. Win.. er.. Winamp! Ah, yeah, that's it! Winamp!). Soo.... it's either fire up your iTunes or that Win-thingies of yours, play it randomly, and name the first ten tracks that came out of it.

...

If anything, it should be sufficient as a filler to my usual Random Stuffs whenever i had absolutely no idea of what to write. Just like today.

1. Heart - Magic Man - These Dreams: Greatest Hits
Had i stretched my imagination thus far, i would be convinced that this song was a bluesy-twin to Crazy for You, also by Heart. However, i liked Crazy for You better.

2. Every Little Thing - Sure (Are You Sure Mix) - Eternity
Rrrrigggghtttt, never liked the song.

3. Queen - Las Palabras De Amor - Hot Space
Not among my favorite, but also not among my oftenly-skipped song.

4. Dream Theater - The Big Medley - A Change of Seasons
Ah, the memory. I bought the album back then in 1997 right at the very evening when my second brother was born. It was also the very first Dream Theater album that i bought. And fit to its title, the song was a medley of six classic songs covered by Dream Theater. Back then, the only recognizable part of this song for me is when they did a solo from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

5. Pain of Salvation - Spirit of the Land - One Hour by the Concrete Lake
This Swedish band, as far as i know, were always made their album a concept-album. This song was a 30-seconds intro to the album. The riffs would be repeated in various parts of the album. Great band, but of course, to listen to a concept album, one need to dedicate themselves thoroughly to listen to the entire album.

6. Queen - Play the Game - The Game
I louuve this song. "All you have to do is fall in love... and play the game".

7. Helloween - Before the War - High Live
This is the very first song that introduces me to the band. This song, and this album. Not my favorite, but once in a while when i needed a head-banger, this song was one of THE perfect tools to facilitate the need.

8. Queen - Who Needs You - News of the World
This song had a beach feels to it, and i love to put myself into believing that i was actually a Freddie Mercury's reincarnation and sing-a-long with it. Loudly.

9. Megadeth - Amerikhastan - United Abominations
Not my favorite Megadeth's album, not my favorite's track. It is one of those my oftenly skipped songs.

10. Helloween - Electric Eye - The Time of the Oath
A B-side to the awesome album of The Time of the Oath. My 2nd favorite album from the band after Better than Raw. It features a very very familiar riff that reminds me of the golden age of glam metal where ripped jeans, long hair, and leather jacket was 'in'. In a momentary quick glance, the song (probably because of the familiar riff) also reminds me to one of Power Metal song which sadly, i couldn't recall at all.

Dan in Real Life (2007)

Dan in Real Life. Film Review. Never thought i'm going to say it to this kind of film. Not recently, anyway. But i actually liked it. And it's been quite a while since i saw this kind of film found its way to touch my soft-side.

Dan (Steve Carell) is a widower blessed with three daughters. His wife has been dead for four years, and he never sought replacement albeit with the encouragements from his family (not his daughters, though). And of course, as a widower, the only male in the family with three daughters, two of which has grown into an adolescence territory, he was portrayed as what his youngest daughter herself pointed out to him, as "a good father, but sometimes a bad dad". One day, on their annual fall season family gathering, he met Marie (Juliette Binoche) and he felt something he hasn't really felt after the death of his wife. However, things got rather complicated when later he found out that Marie is actually his brother, Mitch's (Dane Cook) new girlfriend, whom he took to the annual family gatering. And naturally, everyone in his family loved her good-natured persona.

For a little more than ninety minutes, this family film surprisingly touches many aspects in the family. Or at least those that surrounds Dan's. It made me think to make a special category of films in 2007 that were so unknown but clearly deserving more exposure. I was skeptical at first, because the film's poster and Steve Carell presence that seemingly at first, hinted a sell-out comedy from the comedian, one slapstick comedy that doesn't rely on much except for Steve's comic and star-status. Much like what had happened to Jim Carrey after his initial success. But, in a much lesser degree, Steve Carell did to this film as Jim Carrey did to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (of course, since the latter film by Jim Carrey easily fit into one of the best film i've seen of all time, it's real though bastard to beat). A film that didn't sell-out their comedic and star-status, a film that actually had meanings, sweet and enjoyable.

For most of the part, this film worked so well because the chemistry between Dan and Marie was very believable that they don't even have to say a single word to made us believe and rooting for them that they should be together in the end.

However, even though that this film revolves around Dan, i felt that Dan was just something in a background. Things and people that move around and in front of him catches more of my attention than him. His three daughters for instance, his mother and father, his siblings, even his brother Mitch. It would seems to me that even if the film bears his character name as its title, Steve Carell, in a sense felt like a mere supporting actor in a great ensemble of cast that albeit the film didn't really offers something new entirely, managed to keep the juicing flow in an excellent pace, keep it interesting and more importantly, keep it relevant until the end. And, to end the film in a high note, i love the soundtracks (which mostly courtesy of Sondre Lerche).

10,000 B.C. (2008)

10,000 B.C. Film review. Whilst watching this film, i can't help myself but to compare this film with Apocalypto. And whenever i started to compare things, with a clear conscience of which was superior than the other, it usually won't do justice to the film being compared. But like i said, i can't help myself to compare because simply the inevitable facts that made me started to unconsciously compared these films were prominent.

At best, 10,000 B.C. is an AT BEST, a second-rate Apocalypto that albeit made more recently with i believe, a much much more budget than what Mel Gibson has choked up on his, failed miserably on every account. It was less acted, less tension, less passionate, and less violent. The only aspect that is not-less was that this film was more civilized (of course, one would only need to look for a rating of this film which is a tame PG-13) which strikes me as odd because really, in 10,000 B.C? Civilized tribe? I don't count too much on it. There should be many human-sacrifice thingies in this film, especially when we're talking about the bickering between two different tribes. I mean come on, even today, 12,000+ years after this film was supposedly sets, there still many societies whom still distinguished people by their race and lineage. The tribes in this film should be very very violent to tribes other than theirs. Hence, i found that the lack of violence on this film didn't really made the film to worked on me.

The main content of this film also responsible in making myself couldn't help but to compare this film with Apocalypto. There's 'this' tribe who speaks English, and there's 'that' tribe who speaks gibberish but apparently much much more educated-slash-civilized than 'this' tribe. 'This' tribe profess in hunting to stay alive. The idea of crop plantation hadn't really touched home. 'That' tribe roams the land, and capturing many of 'this' tribe and made them into slaves. If this story doesn't remind you of Apocalypto, then i don't know what is. And to put icing on the cake, this film has a protagonist (read: the one that is lucky enough for not being in his village when the raid happened but yet, too close to the proximity that for him to get ignored would means that the tribe doing the raid was blind, deaf, and dumb) and prophesied as "the one who speaks with spear-tooth" whereas in Apocalypto, our protagonist was prophesied as "the one who runs with Jaguar". Up to this point, i was ready to indulge the film as a mere popcorn-film, ones that Hollywood marketed through an eye-catching trailer that was translated into a mere minutes single sequence in the film, ones that the producers felt not confident enough with the film and therefore needed to put something like "From the director of " on its poster. I tell you this, i've always in an opinion that if a film was marketed as something from this director or this writer or this producer of another film, then you could safely bet that the film won't be good. Or at least, won't be as good as ones that they had put on the poster. But, of course they won't stop there. The film decided to put this super-lame final scenes where had you sit in a close proximity with me, you'd hear me mutter and probably saw my exasperated sigh and rolled eyes, "Oh, shit! They really did that!".

I had said that this film is a second-rate Apocalypto at best. But, of course, it was actually an over-statement, one that did Apocalypto unjustice by comparing it with this excuse of a film. The film was overlong, lame, with an ending sequence that screams "cheeeesyyyyy", with actors and actresses that was as cold as snowmen or robots that i was actually expecting them to melt or to speaks in mechanical voice a la C3P0, and believe me, if you had seen the trailer for this film, awed by it, and decided to go to theater to see more, then you'd be disappointed. Because if you'd seen the trailer, you'd seen everything. The overhyped CGI wasn't really that good anyway. Or at least, didn't offer anything new nor breath-taking.

Finally, an advice from me (take it or scoffs it, your choice), that if you seen a film poster that embalzoned with words "From the director of and ", or anything similar, rest assured that you'd be in for a treat that was quality-wise less than or . Consider yourself warned.

Geekpost: Watchmen Still Images

You read (superhero) comics but never read Watchmen? Go back to school, because really, you weren't that good in comics. From the director of Dawn of the Dead (remake) and 300, Zack Snyder takes Alan Moore's legendary Watchmen - the only comic book ever committed to Time Magazine's "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present". And just recently, Zack put the latest stills from the film which scheduled to hit the theater exactly one year from now.

On the stills, we see Silk Spectre (whom i don't remember being so hot in the comic), Nite Owl, Ozymandias, Rorschach, and my favorite shot, The Comedian who was inline with his character in the comic, looks so mean and wicked.

Watchmen is a dark tale about the aging of superheroes in the brink of a Nuclear War. It's an apocalyptic novel that unlike most comics out there, reading through all 12 issues of it required a patience and determination akin to reading novels. Alan Moore also wrote V for Vendetta, in which he refuted its film adaptation to get associated with him. Most believed that he would do the same with this film. Watchmen is after all, a complex story, much more than V for Vendetta, that i could even started to stretch my imagination so far to squeeze the story into some two hours film. Zack Snyder hadn't disappointed me yet. I mean, i love love love Dawn of the Dead, and 300 is certainly pretty interesting. Therefore, i would very excited with the film and would expecting it with curiosity of a cat. Would love to see how Zack Snyder pulls it through.

Run, Fat Boy, Run (2008)

Run, Fat Boy, Run. Film Review. This directoral debut of a Friend alumni, David Schwimmer, unfortunately brought too many elements from Holywood across the Atlantic that made the usual better than average tongue-in-cheek British comedy turns into your usual Holywood comedy filled with physical gags in its every other minute. I was excited for this film because of Simon Pegg, but unfrotunately, even though the script of this film was penned by Simon Pegg himself, it would seems that the Holywood touch attributed to Mr.Schwimmer was utterly obvious that in my book, it is by far, the worst Simon Pegg comedy that i've seen so far. And i considered him as my favorite comedian.

Dennis (Simon Pegg) reminds me too much of myself sometimes. He was a total loser, never finishes anything, and simply runs away in the wrong direction when things go out of hand. He started the film by running away from the altar where his girlfriend waiting on a wedding ceremony with a swollen belly. Five years later, he was still a loser and apparently was happy for being one. Until one day when his supposed-to-be-wife-had-he-doesn't-run-away and now a mother to his son, Jake, starting to have a date with a well set-up gentleman, a successful financial trader, an asshole, with a passion in running (Hank 'that dude with many many voice credits in The Simpsons series' Azaria. And then there's this event, an annual London charity marathon. Of course, we all knew where this one is going. Can Dennis and his unlikely companions (another loser who never wear a pants indoor with a tendency to lose at a poker table and his weird tenant who probably the only person whose physical appearance was relevant to the title of this film with a knack with spatula) beat the odds? Oh, you know how'd it ends.

In essential, the film was yet an underdog story about the most unlikely person to beat the odds. We were too familiar with the premises, its plot won't leave you guessing in vain, and you know exactly how the film would ends. For a little less than ninety minutes, Run, Fat Boy, Run doesn't gave you anything new. Oh, it was still a felt-good film but if i compared this film to another Simon Pegg's film that i've seen, the pacing, the mood was all wrong. I could say that even if Dennis had a determination to finish something once in his life, the film doesn't share his. I would personally blame Mr.Schwimmer in ruining this film. Simon Pegg is a funny man, but his specialty was in satirical comedies not this kind of Holywood-shaped straight-out schmuckish comedy which were too often involves an overused gags every other minutes. Heck, i was hardly laugh during the film.

P.S: For some odd reasons, i couldn't upload an image for this film. Since yesterday. It keeps popping up a complain that the server was busy and my Safari ever presented me with an Error page albeit that there's nothing wrong with my internet connection as i was busy and furiously reading various articles with magnanimous frequency. Oh well, this one would have to do without images then.

Random Shorts (9)

Yep. It is inevitable. With slow months in films, expect me to post a rather frequent random shorts.

Arsenal wins! Well, i'm not exactly an Arsenal fans, i was more happy to see Milan lose on their own ground. Oh, don't get me wrong. I used to be one of the AC Milan fan, but as the time grew, i see more and more people expressed their fanatics in excessive, i stopped being their fan. Oh, sure, Kaka is a tremendous player, and so was Gattuso, but when we're talked about the team in overall, fans were always involved. And i rather stay away from these fans for the time being. Further, i had always hated any soccer game whenever the lesser team wins. And if you asked me, performance-wise Arsenal was better than Milan in both legs of the match.

Anyway, my MacBook started to show some signs of aging and extended use not by much though, considering that on the peak of the day, i'm opening iTunes, Safari, several Adobe Reader, NetBeans, Mail, Scrivener, Transmission, TextMate and DbVisualizer all at once. But still, another Gigs of memory should helped and i rarely (read: never) had a free-space of more than 2 Gigs, added to the fact that i haven't restarted it for more than five days. Anyway, Apple said that i should retain 80% of my battery life after 300 cycles. I'm at 298 cycles now, and my battery health is still clocked in at 99%. With many news about the dysfunctional battery on the MacBook line all over the world, should i felt lucky as the one who spared the defected component? I guess so. Finally, a fan-boy rant on using Mac OS X, i found that going back to Windows, even if it's a Windows XP, was a painful experience.

I still want that MacPro though, and a 30" Apple Cinematic Display for a total of US$ 5000.

Random Shorts (8)

It's March now, and it's a pretty bad month for films. I had no interest in going to cineplex for the last couple of week, and quite confident that there won't be any interest enough to lure me out of my chair and went to the local theater probably as far as until May.

On a bright side, with plenty of non-weekend holidays this month, i think i had an idea of how to spent my time. I've made a simple promise that i'm going to leave this office before 2010. The simple hard truth with this company is, the more i learned of how things worked in this company, the more i felt hatred and discomfort of working here. And probably, given the pace of how things get worsened, i won't even made it to 2010. The future looks grim to this company, every steps they made, leads this company further to an abhorred failure and a losing competition. I won't go into details further than i had to. But one thing certain, i'm keeping my ears and eyes alert to a single most biggest client that this company had. Once this client had their very own network up and running, then it's only a matter of counting days before this company was forced to reduce expenses and employees. And of course, i need to think of my exit strategy should the day is looming closer. All those free time would gone to think of this exit strategy.

Well, first thing first though. Right now, all of my energy (and especially my money) went to my marriage plan.

On the implication of the need for an exit strategy, i had thought to take a full advantage on my sleep deprivation. On a normal working days, i usually slept for 5 to 6 hours. A not so long time ago, i used to sleep after three a.m and not really waking up before noon. I had disciplined myself to waking up (and stay awake) at six a.m every working days no matter how bad my last night's sleep was. It worked so far. Even though that i still granted myself a luxury for waking up fairly late during weekends, for the last seven months, i've never arrived at the office after seven a.m.

I'm an old school boy who thought that sleeping for eight hours daily is necessary. On the contrary, i found myself more exhausted on weekend than i am on a weekdays. I had taken light off it, attributed to an imagined fact that i had a sleep deprivation in the weekend only, although it sounded ridiculous. Until yesterday, when i read my favorite online magazine, Wired, i found this article about how to cheat on the need to sleep, hence, maximizing the quality rather than the quantity of sleep. Reading through the article, i stumbled upon another article about Dymaxian Sleep. On the article, the inventor - if we could say so - said that deep sleeping two hours a day is plenty. Hm, that was an interesting theory. After reading it, i decided to try it myself. I'm gonna tell you how's it going to be.

On the other note, the Internet was as you know it, had been down for the last couple of days, therefore i had just watched the last week's top 20 in American Idol season 7 only last night. Commenting on the guys, i had no favorite. Michael Johns gets no more vote from me, i found that he never really gets to where he sings Bohemian Rhapsody instead, he goes ever down hill from there. David Cook was too cocky, and somebody destroyed my all-time favorite Queen's song, Killer Queen, and i was more annoyed to the everyone's favorite, David Archuleta. Never liked the song Imagine, anyway. Shortly, none of the guys impressed me (except probably that dude with guitar). On the girls side, my my, Carly Smithson sings my favorite Heart's song. And she sings it very very very well. I'm officially convinced now that she's indeed the best voice of the herd. Brooke White was tremendeously beautiful. I really really fell in love with her eyes. And any girls who can sing and play guitar, gets my vote. Amanda Overmyer sings another one of my favorite song from the era, Carry on My Wayward Son. And to my dismay, she overdid the song. Never liked her in the first place anyway. As with the elimination, the only regret for me was to see Alexandrea gets the boot. I would rather had her in top 12 than Asia'h, or Kady, or Amanda. I guess in this kind of show, camera time, or how much the camera spent on you still holds the key factor to gets a vote. At this point of the show, i don't care which of the guys would gets the boot next. As for the girls, as long as Carly and Brooke made it to the top 12 which i think it would be rather impossible otherwise, everybody else was fair game.

Antitrust (2001) - Not a Film Review

Antitrust. NOT a film review. I saw this film for the first time years ago when i was still a student in Computer Science. The only thing i remembered from that film was Rachael Leigh Cook. For a short time being, i was obsessed with her. But that's the only thing i remebered from the film.

When i saw the film again last night, it grows more relevant in accordance to my current knowledge shaped with my studies and experiences. As far as a computer-science related film that i've ever seen, this is as close as you could get on the geek level of our professional profile. Alas, after waking up until 3 am last night, i remembered why i hadn't remember anything from the film save for Rachael Leigh Cook. As a film, Antitrust was terrible. But, this post is meant as contemplating upon the pop culture that made a reference to our lines of work and not a film review.

The film was clearly built upon the facts and myths surrouding dot-com boom somewhere in the late 90's. We've heard - at least us, those who spent most of our time in a computer-related stuffs - too many stories about how people with a knack in Computer Science starting something in their own garage. Some made millions, but most were collapsed (thus, the term dot-com boom). I guess that even know, everyone on this field still had that dreams alive and tucked somewhere. Even now, some of my colleagues, friends i went to school with, were living the dreams, or started theirs. And i'm still waiting for my chance.

Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) had too many resemblance with Bill Gates to get ignored. He owns an enterprise, a software firm with an ambitious project. He recruited the brightest and most talented students to made sure his project didn't missed a deadline. Milo Hoffman (a terribly horrible Ryan Phillipe) was one of such talent. He and his partner-in-crime, Teddy Chan was offered by Gary to work in his project. With a persuasion from his girl-friend, he accepted the offer although he was shunned by his friend for being a sell-out. This is an interesting part of the film. Gary Winston (or i should say, Bill Gates, for the resemblance was uncanny) represents the all-powerful software megalomaniac. Smart, ambitious, successful, and socially inept which led to being too often, ruthless and reckless. On the other side of the river, we've got... um, us. At least, the distinctive us, whose determined by their achievement, their hacking skills, or their geek scale factor, or all of them. Anyway, these young bright individuals are portrayed as those myths around a BS in Computer Science during a dot-com boom. They set up a small networking gizmo in their garage, and start writing code, and eventually get noticed by the large enterprise software firm. These young 'uns in this film were further described as a supporter of an Open Source community thus making the resemblance between Gary Winston and Bill Gates more palpable that i was totally agreed with Roger Ebert when he said that he was surprised that Gary was spared from not wearing a name tag saying, 'Hi! I'm not Bill!' during the film.

Aside from that, however, despite that the film was so bad it's reeked, the film tried as close as it could gets to touch the world i've been living for the past nine years. I still couldn't bought the idea of a programmer glancing on a several lines of declaration variables code and said, "The compression is good", or that a programmer such as Milo could had an uber-hot girlfriend or that there's actually a female geek that looks like Rachael Leigh Cook. But, at the very least, it is more belieavable and lot more exciting than what Hugh Jackman did in Swordfish with all that nine (or six?) monitors and somekind of cube-thingies like visual programming which of course i haven't seen applied in the world as i knew it.

Oh, how i missed my school days.