Tomorrow is my wedding, so i'll be off on a vacation for a while. However, unlike this Pointy Head Boss who off-ing for a fortnight, mine would be a mere week. We had planned to go to Shanghai for a honey moon trip, but of course since the plane ticket was sky rocketing due to a summer holiday and a Summer Olympic coming, well, let's just see how and where this trip is going to be.
The Ruins. I've read the book, now i've seen the film. The film version of Scott Smith's The Ruins is fairly faithful to its original source. Due to the nature of the media, it's obvious that some differences between the book and the film are bound to happen. In the film, although most of the characters were intact, not all of them had the same treatment as in the book, some of them had their roles altered to compensate with the running time but as psychological horror films go, this film manages to keep its tension throughout, made its viewers actually cared about the characters, and doesn't flinch away from the gore that ultimately saved this film from having a measly rating of PG-13. Therefore, if you can't stomach an R-rated gore film, this one is not for you.
Amy and Stacy were best friends, Jeff and Eric were their boyfriends respectively. On a last day of their holiday in Cancun, they met Mathias who planned to visit the Mayan ruins which is not-even-in-the-map to pick his brother, Heinrich who has been gone that way with a girl from an archaeological team that did an excavation survey on the ruins. Jeff, an established de-facto leader of this group by mutual consensus, urged his friends to a one last adventure to the unknown for their last day holiday outing. Eric, who had always seems to look up to Jeff, reluctantly agrees, Stacy, a dedicated goof-ball, a film's clown also agrees because well, she's too goofy to disagree, and Amy, even if she's initially refused to go, she's simply too weak to resist Jeff's insistence. Together, the five of them, with Dimitri, another tourist they depart to the ruins the next day.
The ruins is a pretty sight for any tourist. It looks like some sort of a Mayan pyramid with a flat top, a visible stair on its side, and green-colored vines all over. The moment our party reached the clearing that led to the pyramid, a score of Mayan sentries appeared threateningly shouting and yelling and when Amy stepped into the ruins, the sentries become more agitated that they doesn't hesitate to blow Dimitri's head off. Panicked, the party were ushered to the top of the pyramid by the Mayans and they were later found out that the Mayans intend to keep them on the pyramid until whatever fate (which the Mayans known for sure what it would be) befell upon them.
Unlike slew of many horror films that came out this year, The Ruins made its audience actually cared for its characters even if that's a little bit of over stretching if you haven't read the book. In the film, the characters were toned down, and ushered into a hasty introduction that merely scratches the surface of the real character described in the book. Since i've read the book, the hasty introduction worked although i would think that it wouldn't nearly suffice to the audiences who had never read the book.
The film was well paced, it doesn't waste too much time on introductions, and although there are few old standardized horror scare tactic (that lady with a phone in the beginning of the film, and that dog who held no significance whatsoever), once things get ugly there's turning back. This film is rated-R so it doesn't stay away from the gore, and even a seasoned horror fans would flinch in some of the scenes and it's something that once more added the plus point to this film as many of the horror films that precede it merely settles for a timid PG-13 rating and aimed at scare tactic that most of time induced by sudden-movement. When a horror film made you look away from the screen, that's how you know that it worked and if you seen this film without even squinting your eyes during the amputation scene, then i'm really sorry to say that i don't want to know you as clearly you're a freako-psycho and i wish to live for a little bit longer, thank you.
Granted, as always, the book version is always better, but aside from understandable trimming and modification here and there, there's no substantial difference between the book and the film. And it kept the dark ending (in a way) intact. This film is one of those rare novel adaptation film that complimenting the original work.
My rating: *** / **** - Easily the best horror film in 2008. Rated-R for gore, profanity, and nudity.
I may not an expert in soccer-ology but i know a good game, and love the good game when there's one and without any personal attachment to any soccer team whatsoever (discounted my national team, Indonesia, of course) i could enjoy any given good soccer game in a relatively objective manner.
1. Portugal vs Germany
When it comes to Tournament's knock-off stage, my money is always on Germany. They played a text-book standard soccer game. Tight, and very very disciplined. I don't really understand how this works, but apparently there's this gene that might be passed down over generations in Germany, and this gene is what made Germany soccer team known as they are right now. A team that played by the book and really really disciplined as a team. Great match as well.
2. Croatia vs Turkey
Arguably the best match in the QF. Who would have thought that a long pass from Rustu Recber in the 132nd minute could be translated into a goal that leveled the score with Croatia who had made a "surely winning" goal just three minutes before the buzzer, forced the match into winner takes all penalty shoot-out and sent Croatia crashing home? If i was a Croatian, i'd be very very devastated.
3. Netherlands vs Russia
Russia deserves the win. As i've stated earlier, i'm rooting for the Dutch but clearly, there's such thing as better coach. Guus Hiddink is definitely a better coach than Marco Van Basten. His Russian boys were relentless, pursuing the ball for 120 minutes, pressuring in the middle, and tight in the defense. It is easy to see that the Dutch were so frustrated that they begin speculating by shooting from outside the box. Oh, i really hate when a soccer-team did just that. So, yeah, Russia really deserves the win.
4. Spain vs Italy
It's no secret that i disliked (almost any) Italian soccer team. They might be renowned for their catenaccio defend and stuff but i don't know, whenever i saw Italian soccer team play, it's considerably harder to stay awake. I fell asleep during the fist half, and only waking up later during the very last minutes of open play before the penalty shoot-out. At this point, you don't have to ask me how i feel when Cesc Fabregas sent Gigi Buffon to the wrong way.
I love FoxTrot comic strip, well, not as much as i love that fat and cynical orange cat, but it was a close call comparison between the two. What i love much about FoxTrot is its constant reference to the pop-cultures and a daring geek stuffs reference. Take this comic for an instance, every programmer by trade would immediately realize the nature of this comic. If you are not at least amused by it, then you're not a programmer but don't fret, not everyone of us is cut for the job, anyway.
There's a time in my childhood - and it's a time which i was very fond of, when i climb up the roof of my house on a clear night sky, stargazing (something you couldn't really did in a metropolis city such as Jakarta for its smug cloud would reflect-back the artificial light of the city and made it glowing with hue-ish orange). Once, i had a dream of being an astronomer, looking ever outward, tried to comprehended the puny nature of our Earth against the vast vast vast size of the universe. At that time, and even more so nowadays, I believe that looking upward is one of the surest way to get closer to the Ultimate Ruler of the Universe. If, of course, you're a believer. Although, here, 'upward' is merely a relative perspective of view that we, human, are suffered from. For if you're free floating in an empty vacuum of space, where's exactly "up"? Toward the Sun?
Alas, since I had suffered (or rather, blessed in disguise) from an early age myopia, I never really had a full enjoyment of stargazing that even to spot some constellations (i couldn't even spot the most familiar Crux constellation) is a hard task. Shortly, i turned my attention into books instead. Despite that the fire of my dreams of become an astronomer could be said as good as died (and not that long time ago, if i may add. In 1999, i had given a considerable thought of writing "Astronomy" as my second choice after graduating from High-School. In fact, on several cram test occasions, i had put "Astronomy" as my second choice before finally, nearly on a last minute, i put "Computer Science" as my second choice instead. And here i am, a "Computer Science" graduate), whenever i read books about exploring the wide vacuum of space, i still felt goosebumps all over.
I stumbled upon Arthur C. Clarke's tetralogy of "Space Odyssey" through Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - A Space Odyssey" during my early day as a would-be film junky. Though time and again i had ascertained that sitting through the film is practically hard (i watched the film on three different occasions, and successfully fell asleep on all three, on the very same scene, that "ray of light" scene), reading the book provides an utterly different and opposite experience.
In the book (in the film as well), the best character, probably the only character worth mentioning is HAL 9000. A super-computer that runs the Discovery's daily routine up to its very miniscule details, computing the - quite possibly - complex mathematic formulas to determine everything that could be counted to its most little details. He (if a computer could be subjected to "he") did his job flawlessly at first, until his fault prediction on unit AE-35 started the downward spiral that turns HAL from a computer with a slight inner-personality to a killer maniac. Nevertheless, as all computers go, he is still determined that all of his actions were based with a pure logic.
However, i read the book again and again not for its characters but rather for its detail depiction on the physical surrounding space around that of the Discovery as it made its flight to Jupiter and Saturn with an unimaginable velocity of several hundreds of miles per second, and later, its depiction on imagined surrounding space around that of Dave Bowman's space-pod as it floated two thousand light years away from our Solar System as we know it.
Although that the book was a work of purely fiction, it nevertheless provides some breath taking sceneries of Jupiter and Saturn along with their satellites and many space-objects in between. It never failed to tickle my imagination whenever Discovery released one of its probe toward Jupiter, when Clarke described the magnitude scale of how the eternal storms in Jupiter were moving, in fact, how EVERYTHING is moving, or its vastness of scale. Or how the enigmatic properties of many moons of Jupiter or Saturn that hinted extreme conditions unimaginable to us, puny human "trapped" in the relatively comfortable atmosphere on a third rock from the Sun but also offers many possibilities that lie in wait to get unraveled. I could very much guarantee that if one claimed to love reading and curious enough about the nature of the universe, he would easily found the book as quite a pleasant and thought-inducing read.
Granted, in its core, the book and the film has a far more ambitions than merely describing the interstellar travel. All those magnificent space physics and planetary stuffs were arguably no more than just a backdrop. They proposed, or rather, imagined about the next stages of human-race's evolution. When you think about it, the conclusions of what happened next to David Bowman was thought-provoking. Clarke, a proclaimed atheist probing with the existence of intellectual occupants of the universe aeons before human even existed, acknowledging the existence of God, but providing it as a mere nod, or a homage if you will to these intellectual beings who occupies no physical appearance (thus, here, in the book, there's no such thing as a humanoid alien). When David Bowman re-emerges from his sleep, reborn as a "Star Child", an entity of powerful intellectual being encased within an immaterial, yet indestructible cocoon, it has powers beyond third dimensional based physics, beyond Space and Time that it was tempting to think that David Bowman has re-emerges as a lesser God, or one of the Gods.
The book, along with its three sequels, are among the books that i often read again and again. If anything, it enriched my knowledge (although merely an infinitesimal fraction) on space-related physics that i've always found something new every time i read the book again. For instance, in my latest visit, i spent hours studying in more details about "gravitational slingshot" Here, hours means until my head felt like it's going to explode. If in the future, should my kid shown even a little interest toward the sky, i'd helped as much as i could and this book is definitely among one of the thing i'd introduce to him/her as early as possible.
I'm a DC fanboy. Having said that, i'm also one who doesn't really understand why people fans hated Ang Lee's Hulk (2004). So much in fact to made the producers, the powers that be, refreshed the story with "The Incredible Hulk". But, i could be persuaded to understand that Ang Lee's Hulk was best be left forgotten although i would stand firm that if there's ever a superhero film SEQUEL that need to be forgotten, it's "Batman & Robin". Again, i'm a DC fanboy.
Bruce Banner is now portrayed by Ed Norton. As far as the origin story goes, he's far better than his predecessor, Eric Bana. However, i refused to made a comparison between Liv Tyler, now as Bruce's lost love, Dr. Elizabeth Ross, with her predecessor, Jennifer Connelly. The film gave us a sneak-peek of the Hulk's origin during its extended opening credit (also note in-reference to Stark Industries and Nick Fury to indicate a further proof that Marvel Studios is indeed planning something big for its superheroes. Yay, plural). Five minutes gone, and so does Ang Lee's Hulk. When the film really begins, it started in Brazil where Bruce has been hiding. But as all things hid, it screams to be found. Hot in his pursuit is Gen. Ross who supervised the project that allow Bruce turns into Hulk in the first place. It's his mistake, and he intends to make it right. Whatever the cost. His aide this time is Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) a seasoned warrior who want nothing more than a good fight. When it is clear that nothing in his armory could forestalled Hulk, Gen. Ross made his second mistake by turning Emil into Abomination. Thus, it's all come down to what we've been waiting for ever since the theater's lights get dimmed. Hulk vs Abomination.
For a yet another comic-adaptation film, i think (remember, i'm a DC fanboy) that "The Incredible Hulk" is pretty faithful to its origin story. He's all brawls and growls, and even had his signature "Hulk Smash!" move that only a comic-geek would notice with a nod of understanding. It also features a cameo from the original Hulk actor from the TV! There shouldn't be any question asked about wether this film is aiming to make an amend to its fans concerning the previous Hulk film's incarnation.
Obviously laded heavily with CGI works, "The Incredible Hulk" took a very different route than Ang Lee's Hulk four years prior. Comparing them won't give either a fair judgment. Therefore, i digress from making such comparison. "The Incredible Hulk" aimed to blow things apart, and in that respect it works. Ed Norton, as i've said before, made for a better Bruce Banner, truer to his comic pages counterpart character, at least. And in my opinion, "Tim Roth" is one way to spell "character-actor". He's a bad-ass warrior. In fact, i've felt that he's provided slightly more grit when he's Emil Blonsky as opposed to when he turns into Abomination. Liv Tyler is, well, she's there for us, guys and do you hear me complaining? The CGI wasn't perfect, it's not that bad, but it's not that good as well. All in all, it may not be as fun as "Iron Man" but as far as comic-film concerned, Marvel Studios has scored two for two, so far.
My rating: *** / **** - Two for two from Marvel Studios. And the Avengers is more of a plausibility than ever.
I'm done with copy-pasting. Head to Wired.com article's on Bill Gates instead.
I've read the book years ago, and it almost lured me into a possibility of making money through gambling using method depicted in the book, putting myself into an illusion that i actually had some qualification to pull it off albeit that arguably, i'm doing rather well on Maths. The disputable fact is, that even if the book was based on a true story, it was still a book, a work of (mostly) fiction. The film underplayed the fact part even more, that's for certainty.
Ben (Jim Sturgess) is a gifted student. He goes to MIT, working part-time in a store, and yet he couldn't afford to earn US$300,000 for his tuition fee nor could he easily earn a scholarship. Shortly, his gift in Maths attracted the eyes of Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) who has been setting up a team of gifted students but for an entirely different reason. This team is taking Vegas by the storm. Utilizing their capability in applying their Maths skill to count cards in Black Jack.
I found that learning about the methods of counting card through written words is far more interesting than seeing it through moving pictures. Well, it's probably because i had read the written words before i see the moving pictures. All things considered, i had more fun and more hyped reading the book than seeing the film.
Hollywood tends to downplay half of everything and overplay the other half in their movies. I don't really mind with it. The only time i'd go through a two hours of film to see an average Joe in his most average is when i'm fully refreshed and at my sharpest moment which is a rather rare occasion. Moreover, for some certain aspect, i'd prefer to see an overplayed something than its downplayed counterpart. Smartness (or genius-ness) is one that i'd like to see it overplayed. However, in 21, all these supposedly smart people were downplayed in excess. In the book (here i am, making yet another comparison), the team members personalities were unequivocally superior in their intelligence level that it's fairly easy to believe that somehow they could pull the feat to "Bring the House Down" (it's the title of the book). In the film, not so much. Aside of the fact that i'm having trouble to make myself believe that Jim Sturgess, or Kate Bosworth is indeed a genius, their inconsistencies with the characters made me frown more often than what i would've liked. The other team members? They were just mannequins, at best. Not interesting at all.
My other problem which is more prominent and easily eclipsed my former problem with the characters, is the sluggish pace of the film. It took almost forty minutes before the film took off to Vegas, and it's running for more than two hours. I'd say cut forty minutes out of this film and it might won't be too heavy of a burden to bear. And why do we had to have a bedroom scene?
Remember my first attempt to create a video podcast a while back? And how i had promised to refined the video? Well, here it is. Still need a patch work, because i've personally seen similar video with much much more superior quality in YouTube.
Creating Ruby on Rails Project with NetBeans 6.1 from Rhama Arya Wibawa on Vimeo.
The best part is, i've actually managed to create a Part II of this video. Although for the time being, it would have to remain digressed for a little while.
Is the name "J.J. Abrams" sparked your interest? For a good reason or otherwise? If it does, then you could consider yourself as a TV series fan or an overweight 'couch-potato' whichever suits you best.
"Fringe" is the latest TV series that put his name out front and for better or worse, after "Lost", "Felicity", "Alias", and the film "Cloverfield", i wouldn't really mind to put a two-hour pilot episode of this series on a test-play.
Fifteen minutes into play got me thinking of "C.S.I" criss-crossed with "X-Files" sans the Alien thingy. Now that was pretty high expectation given that i'm quite sure that nobody's going to argue about "C.S.I" being one of the prominent TV series in recent years, and that "X-Files" is simply a legendary TV series. But, usually, for any given TV series, pilot episode is more often than not, is one of the best episode (if not THE best itself) that series is going to see for quite a while.
Fringe begins on an Transatlantic Flight 627 from Hamburg to Boston. The plane was on a rough electrical storm (whatever that means) and its passengers were anxious at best, but it's all routine, just another flight in a bad weather. Until someone, one passenger shot a syringe into himself, and staggering along the aisle toward the pilot cabin. A flight attendant rose to her feet, trying to urge the man back into his seat. The passenger puked to the flight attendant, and disintegrate his flesh in the process. The terror ensues, and by the time the plane auto-piloted landed in Boston, all of its passengers and crews were dead, their flesh were disintegrated (it's gross but great latex work nonetheless). Thus, the new terror that involves some sort of a chemical compound unfold. And it's a job for Agent Olivia of the FBI to tackle.
First of all, i don't like the main protagonist, this Agent Olivia. She seems more interested with the case through a more selfish reason that i would've liked, and i don't really respected the way she negotiate to had what she wanted. Fortunately, other than that, the pilot episode provides an intriguing piece of an episode. If mystery with a dip of an sci-fi is in your alley, this one you might liked to watch.
Kung Fu Panda. The aim for this film is fair and clear. Children. But, there's no reason that us, adults, if not by way of thinking, by age, won't like it. In fact, i was having a really good time and wish for the film NOT to end. When you see a film, if you wish for it NOT to end, it is always a good sign.
Po, is a Panda. He is a son of a duck (this is where the film put itself, "don't take me seriously" and my, it's hilarious), a noodle shop owner who wishes that his son would follow up his travail. But Po, is a geek, a kung-fu geek. And just like when a gadget geek visits Akibahara, Japan, he shown his geekiness in a great excess when he visits The Jade Castle where The Legendary Five heroes (Tigress, Mantis, Viper, Monkey, and Crane) train under Shifu. Anyone who is a geek of anything would identify themselves with Po immediately. I know i did. In this land, there's an ultra secure prison where a thousand rhinoceros held captive a ferocious warrior, Tai Lung. He used to be Shifu's disciple but run havoc when Shifu's master, Oogway claimed that he was too ambitious and thus deny him the title and secret of a Dragon Warrior. Through series of (un)fortunate events, Po, was chosen by Oogway to be the next Dragon Warrior. It was his destiny, he said. And this destiny would led him with all his fat-ness on a one-on-one showdown with Tai Lung.
I had thought that Po is going to be a lazy Panda aside of flabby-Fat. But no, he was actually a hard-working Panda and his passions in kung fu, his persistence that resulted from his love delivers a message for children about persistence and hard work to achieve a goal. It's something that i respect in a great deal from this film. Aside from that, since it's an animated film about martial arts, it shouldn't be of any surprise that we wish to see "awesome-ness" and we had it. Whenever Panda involved is always hilarious, whenever Tai Lung involved is always "wow". Imagine when the two finally meet for their obligatory final battle.
Po is voiced by Jack Black, whose always provide a high energy in nearly every role he was in (High Fidelity, School of Rock, Be Kind Rewind, to name a few). As Po, we could FEEL his high energy and i couldn't help myself but put his image alongside with Po. It helps that Po and Jack Black almost shared a similar physique. Whatever the reason of picking Jack Black behind Po, it is a great choice.
Also featuring the voice of prominent talents from Dustin Hoffman (Shifu), Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Jackie Chan (Monkey), Seth Rogen (Mantis), and Lucy Liu (Viper), this is a family summer film you wouldn't want to miss.
My rating: ***1/2 / **** - Why are you still here? Go see it.
Here’s a theory. In the last couple of years, well perhaps, since The Lord of the Rings, it was seems that the best of the fantasy genre came from the little studios or those that doesn’t had much exposure to the public. How many of you have seen that little movie called “Bridge to Terabithia”? Or even had heard about it? The film was short lived in our local cinemas, but it was my precious little gem in the year 2007 as opposed to that little dud, big studio, big stars, and big exposure “The Golden Compass” which was nowhere near my top 50 of that year. And then we had this “The Spiderwick Chronicles”.
A quick search in my short-term memory reveals that this year had only seen two fantasy films. This, and that piece of crap from Disney, “The Chronicles of Narnia – The Prince Caspian”. In term of exposure, budget, and production, Narnia had all the big numbers. But, (perhaps not) surprisingly, The Spiderwick Chronicles outshone Narnia in nearly every aspect. Good directing, fluid story-telling, characters that I’m actually cared, and some little meaningful values on family.
Jared Grace is as grumpy as a kid you could imagine. He hated his mom’s decision to leave New York for a worn old house up in the nowhere. But, he and his big sister, Malloy who was old enough to know the real reason for their apparently sudden move out of New York but not old enough to not hitting him during his tantrum, and his pacifist brother, Simon doesn’t really have any choice in the matter. They quickly learnt the oddities in the house. Salt on the window sills, noises in the wall, and a book which had a warning note for not reading it attached to it. But, of course, what’d you expect from a kid who was given a warning? He’d break it for a sheer curiosity, if anything. Jared who found the book, written by his great-great ancestor, Arthur Spiderwick, eagerly read the book and “WHAM!” something mysterious happened.
The film moves quickly from that point almost relentless (i just found out that the film was adapted from five books crammed into one single 90 minutes film). And it’s something I could really appreciate. We’re quickly introduced to the nature of the book and mystical creatures that suddenly appearing around them. And one after another, our protagonists went through several ‘quests’ to defeat the malignant villain in this film, a huge powerful ogre who wishes to rule the mystical world and beyond.
Fantasy film is usually and arguably should be easy in plot. Some good guys to get the ball rolling, an uber-villain, a means to pit these opposite party engaged, and a predictable triumph. Really, it hasn’t really changed that much since, oh, the first inception of fantasy genre. The Spiderwick Chronicles, as with many fantasies that preceded it follow this basic plot. Hence, there should be of no surprise of how this film is going to wrap itself. Alas, what made this film is different and worth a word of praise from your humble reviewer here is that this film manages to keep it true to the story, providing a delicious pace and fluid story-telling as well as characters that we’re actually cared about which sadly has been lacked in a fair amount from that Narnia … thing.
My rating: *** / **** - A nice little film for children. Had I had children, I would pick this film over Narnia on any given time.
I'm probably just nitpicking here, but there has been some concern on the life of MacBook's battery. Some unlucky customers even complained that his/her battery was defective and doesn't perform as they should be. However, i could consider myself as lucky because as you could see from the image above, even after 17 months and 380+ battery cycles, my MacBook's battery health is still at 100%. It's very nice and a privilege to still have a small things that made you smile.
The Happening. I generally distrust stereotypes especially when their bloated and exaggerated manifestation was applied in film. This is why i don't like parodies. Most of them weren't smart enough and trapped in a mobious loop of 'stereotypes'. What is stereotype you ask? Well, all blondes are stupid, that's one, all arabs are terrorist, that's two, and you get the idea. Now, here's another stereotype, M. Night Shyamalan's films hid the real key to the plot and not revealing it until near the end. And for once, for me at least, he suffers the consequences of this stereotyping.
All movie goers my age must know that little ghost film called "The Sixth Sense". If you're my age, claiming yourself as a movie goer, AND never seen "The Sixth Sense", then i demand you to relinquish your title of 'movie goer' cause you don't deserve to name yourself among one. "The Sixth Sense" was a BOMB at the time. It puts Shyamalan's name on the map, and arguably sky-rocketting the stardom of a boy named Haley Joel-Osmend. His follow up to the film a brilliant, my favorite Shyamalan's film that redefines a genre was "Unbreakable". Then the questionable and debatable "Signs", the political allegory "The Village" that found small love among the crowds (i was one of the small crowd, by the way), and finally the disastrous "Lady in the Water". All this films on his resume bore one small common thing that has since become Shyamalan's stereotype. This little secret key-plot hidden and only be revealed shortly before the end.
It is entirely my personal fault that i entered the theater for "The Happening" with this stereotype of Shyamalan's in mind. Therefore, i had expected that something big, something that packed a "wow", some kind of a slap in the head toward the end. Almost during the entire film, i keep guessing and guessing and guessing and expecting. Then, finally, when it comes to a wrapping up and it turns out that the film wasn't really a "wow" i was devastated and disappointed. This film is almost a waste it won't stand a chance against The Incredible Hulk, also opening this weekend. And this is coming from a man who actually found love to "The Village".
The film opens in Central Park, New York (why does it always have to be New York?). A whisper of wind was its sign. An incoherent speech was its first symptom. And a suicidal tendency was its next and final act. The first few minutes was actually fun, to say the least, we see a woman punctured her own neck, and we see construction workers suddenly feels like they had wings and started to jump off the building on their own accord. What had happened? How does it happen? How will our brandished survivors, Mark Wahlberg and co. stayed alive? Would they stay alive until the end? All these questions immediately floats into my mind, and again, given Shyamalan's stereotype i had going through in the last couple of passages, it should come as no surprise if i expected at least a "wow" or a "gasp" from this film.
The film was going in an uneven pace throughout. Some scenes stood aloft, some "boo" moments worked very very well, but for most of the time, i had trouble to keep my interest afloat. It has too little points to make me actually attached into it. The closest sentence to describe this entire film that i could come up with was, "it feels like a B-film with uneven pace, and card-board acting. And oh, is that a boom-box visible, or am i wrong?" (it was on the scene where Elliot sits with Josh in a dining room. I thought i saw a boom-box on the top-left of the screen. Tell me if i'm wrong). If the film has high points, it was probably its scenes that involve death. They're pretty effective.
For all its worth, the film DID gave an explanation to "The Happening". And of course, i won't reveal it here, it is best if you experience it for yourself. One thing for sure though, the said explanation wasn't even close to pleased me and i'm very sure that i'm not the only one with such grudge in the theater last night.
My rating: *1/2 / **** - Even with *1/2 points, i was being generous for i love M. Night Shyamalan and wasn't quite ready just yet to banish him into the abyss.
Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief). A film that consistently revolving around many critics’ list of best film of all time, the Bicycle Thief is a very simple yet packed a powerful power for a film and should be savored by many who seek more than just an entertainment to kill a time in a film.
Arrived from my favorite era of film industry (post World War II, 1946 – 1955), this film utilizes no professional actor in the role. Lamberto Maggiorani, the front-man of this film was a factory worker. He portrays Antonio Ricci, a struggling family man who queues up every morning for a job in a grim and harsh Rome. One day, he gets a job, but there’s a problem, the job requires him to have a bicycle. He had a bicycle, only that it was currently owned by a pawn shop. In desperate need of a job to support his family, he screams, “I have a bicycle”.
Later that day, Maria, his wife, sells their linen bed-sheets in order to pawn back the bicycle. And as everybody could probably guessed correctly from the title, that the bicycle is going to be stolen, Vittorio De Sica teases us regarding “when” was the bicycle is actually stolen.
It’s a very simple premise, but yet, who couldn’t identify themselves with Ricci? He’s a struggling family man, which in the hardest of time still thought about the well being of his family. Especially with his son who for the most part of the film had their relationship maintained and well developed by De Sica.
In a way, it is a rarity nowadays for a film that maintains a simple premise yet packed it with a punch that even after sixty years still relevant despite its rugged imagery and the unmistakable sense of “old” in its presentation. Therefore, albeit I wasn’t really keen as many other critics who eagerly put “The Bicycle Thief” as one of the best film of all-time, it was one of the best films that I’ve ever seen. And finally, the film’s ending is one of the most daring, heart-wrenching scenes that I felt a significant remorse long after the film closes. It is THAT powerful of a film.
The Bicycle Thief also serves as a solid proof of why the particular era (post World War II) remains one of my most favorite eras of film. Especially more if the film in question came from countries who suffered the most during the war such as Japan, or Italy. There’s no denying the feeling of “lost”, “despair” and “hope” from the filmmakers bleed through the screen. Therefore, in my opinion, even if the film portrays such a simple theme of a man and his bicycle, or a family theme (such as Yasujiro Ozu’s “Tokyo Story”), it serves incredibly well as an anti-war film. Even more than those pretentious films such as Roberto Benigni’s “Life is Beautiful”. Yeah, I loathe that film, and please let it be like that.
Note: There has been a discussion wether Ladri di Biciclette translated as "The Bicycle Thief" or as "The Bicycle Thieves". Whatever, if you like films, and black-and-white film doesn't made you wince, this is a film worthy of your time.
My rating: **** / **** - Need to see it several more times to test it against the time. But for the time being, it is one of the great films that i've ever seen.
"Controversies" aside, the score-board doesn't lie. It's a solid three goals to nil victory for the Netherlands. Or as one of our local commenter put it, "Oranje van Italy" pointing to the very fact that last night, the Marco van Basten's squad performing a football game which the Italy was best known for.
It may sound as seemingly a mere afterthought, for unlike many couples and soon-to-be-couples we've met who had actively engaged in the blogosphere, we decide to foreclose our journey and keeping it to ourselves. It is ours and even if it may sound selfish (well, it IS selfish), we intended to keep it that way. We might only share it to our grandchildren on our old days. Most of the stories out there on the net about their wedding? Pffttt.. They're joke and far less exciting than ours, anyway. Reading them is a painful experience. Had i shared my experience, you won't stop reading about it. In fact, you might think that i ripped off the story from a pop bestselling novel. Pompous? Maybe, but it's simply the plain vanilla's truth. One of my friend, one of the few whom i shared only a mere tip of an iceberg of my story and this girl i met said that my story is like an exciting fairy-tale. This is two years ago. He said to me - and this is coming from a man whose knowledge on movies is well above average - at the time, "If you managed to marrying her in the end, man, that is a fairy-tale, like in movies". And yep, i ended marrying her. In less than three weeks, anyway.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army arrives in theater on July 11, 2008 and i'm not going to stop by informing you for the n-th time yet again, that Hellboy (the first film) is one of my favorite superhero film, and beside The Dark Knight, is one of my most anticipated summer film this year.
Guillermo del Toro is back for the second film, and as a director with a knack for creating a fantastic creature in film (one only need to look the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth), it's exciting (at least for me) to wait for the sequel as it is said that the sequel will heavily loaded with more fantastic creatures. Here's some example taken from the sketch book, Hellboy II: The Art of the Movie.
It should be worth to note as well, for those who hasn't heard (well, who hasn't?), Guillermo del Toro also appointed to direct The Hobbit, adapted from JRR Tolkien's classic and a prequel to the legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Images taken from Wired.com
As usual, the very last thing i did before head out from my room to go to work was strapping my iPod to my belt, plugged an earphone into my ear, and start playing music at random. This morning, i sense something wasn't entirely right with my right ear. It significantly quieter than the left one. I ignored the fact by attributing to the, most probably, increase of my right ear's wax amount. Yeah, gross, i know. So, i went to work anyway.
This noon, however, when i had a time to examine my Sennheiser MX160 (pictured), i noticed the cause of why my right ear hear less through the earphone. I've lost one of the earphone sleeve (circled in red in the picture). A couple of minutes Googling, i don't find any helpful info of wether they sell the spare earphone sleeve or not. Is anybody had any idea on where i should buy the earphone sleeve? Or is there any such thing as spare earphone sleeve?
I hereby declared my alignment to the Dutch squad in Euro 2008 which would kicked-off in two days' time.
Image courtesy of UEFA's Euro 2008 official website
Finally, some good news for all those DC fans! Producer Donald DeLine talked to the boys of CHUD about the long languishing Green Lantern film. While nothing has kicked into high-gear yet, the future is bright for Hal Jordan.
DeLine confirmed that Jack Black is no longer attached to the lead role, which should make all fans sigh with relief. And it is no longer being touted as a comedic movie. Isn't it nice when Hollywood wakes up and realizes they've wasted time on a really dumb idea?
They are currently awaiting the first draft of a script by Greg Berlanti, which DeLine was hopeful would be on his desk very soon. They are looking to make it a sensible origin story of Hal Jordan, with all the heroics and aliens the story requires. Okay, I'm guessing on the alien part, but I don't really see them changing that.
From my previous Fan Rant, it should be easy to see that this news about Green Lantern possible development in progress is a very good news indeed. With Supermax - Green Arrow film also in probably more-or-less maybe in progress as well (ignore the grammatical error, it's deliberate), DC are right on track on Marvel's Marvelous success' heel (albeit a little bit late, if you asked me).
Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, isn't particularly my favorite superhero. I'd probably go with Kyle Rayner as my favorite Guardians of the Universe. Hal Jordan has had a pretty .. colorful .. experience as Green Lantern. At one time of his career, he has become a Parallax, a supervillain, re-igniting the Sun (yep, the Sun, that big yellow ball thing in the sky?) by sacrificing his life, reborn as The Spectre, and eventually rebirth as Hal Jordan the Green Lantern. Anyway, Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, or whomever the producer choose to start the Green Lantern film doesn't really matter to me as long as they could keep the ball rolling and doesn't let the fans waiting for more than we already had.
Guitar Hero for PS2 is a game that i consistently played for the last several months. I had all four titles, and even bought a Guitar controller for it. And even if i'm not nearly good enough to take out "Dragonforce's Through Fire and Flame" in Expert mode like this dude on this video (attached to this post), i could play almost all songs in the games in Expert mode.
Anyway, the next Guitar Hero game was confirmed, and it's Guitar Hero - Aerosmith which as the title suggests, features song selection from Aerosmith's songbook. I'm not particularly hyped with the news. Sure, Aerosmith is one of the prominent rock band for the last couple of decades, but as with any rock band that has been going through several decades, there's a high time and there's a low time. For me, Aerosmith's high time was sometime in 90's. And if you asked me, they has been on a decline ever since. But of course, it won't stop me from buying the game once it's released.
Rumor has it, that Guitar Hero would also released a Guitar Hero - Metallica. Now, THIS is a rumor that made me squeamish with anticipation. Even if Metallica hasn't really bounce back from the ridiculous success of the Black Album (1995? 1994?), i grew up with the band, having introduced to the Black Album, had had a period when i named Master of Puppets as my favorite album of all time, and having all these goosebumps when i saw James Hetfield with his goatee performing The Unforgiven live. Their hard time was well documented in Some Kind of Monster. You, Metallica fans should see the film. Short version, it should be of no surprise that i'm far more eager to anticipate the release of Guitar Hero - Metallica.
YouTube video of a dude kicking Through Fire and Flame in Expert mode, something i hadn't bothered to attempt, yet. :D
Update: It's not a rumor, though we'd only see Guitar Hero - Metallica in 2009.
A wee bit late, but i'm going to write about it anyway. You know how i feel about Awards, awkward and proceed with caution, as always, because to let others tell you what's good and deserved the award and what's not is really not my cup of tea. Especially one from MTV which i personally chose to detached myself from, sometime in 1997-1998. I mean, with ridiculous award such as "Best Summer Movies So Far" and all, it's rather hard to take MTV Movie Awards more seriously than it should be. It's a joke anyway, and should be treated as such.
Anyway, the main interest of the MTV Movie Awards, at least for me, is always the sketches between the awards announcement. Anne Hathaway is so Oh-My-God-Beautiful. How could a woman be so very captivating? I mean, look at that skin! *inhales-exhales*. And Jhonny Depp! A scene stealer! Just wow! 21 Jump Street all over again? Wow! No wonder those girls couldn't stop from screaming. And then there's Wayne's World reunion for the first time (perhaps) since 1994, Coldplay performing their next single, and Ellen Page who looked very small and innocent amidst Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman and Will Smith. But boy, for a girl who just turns 20 she nailed the acceptance speech way better than her peers. And then my favorite sketch of the night, Adam Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black promoting Tropic Thunder (the best part, "It'll do until The Dark Knight comes out"). And that comprised all the best moments in the ceremony for me. Roughly a third of duration.
As an afterthought, it might be a bit too early, but i'm gonna be bold as to say that Robert Downey Jr. would had a very memorable year. I might going as far as to name him as my personal best Entertainer of the year. His Iron Man was clearly a phenomenal, and he'd be back later this year with Tropic Thunder with Ben Stiller, and everybody who seen his sketch with Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the last American Idol finale a couple of weeks ago should agreed that he could be hilarious without doing much. And if his sketch to promote Tropic Thunder with Jack Black and Ben Stiller in the show is of any indication, he looked very comfortable in the role, and more importantly, clearly having fun with it.
As for the award winner itself? It's comprehensive list should be easily obtainable elsewhere.
This is my very first ever attempt to create a video podcast! A Podcast! A Video! I'm using Jing, a free Screencast app for Mac OS X, if you knew any free Screencast app for Mac OS X that you feel better than one i use, do let me know. Meanwhile, a first attempt is always, well... first. Therefore, i expect that the result will be far less than stellar, mediocre at best, ugly to say the least. But anyway, as with any other masterpieces, persistence is the key. Rome is, after all, doesn't built in a day.
Anyway, as the video captured my entire desktop, the file is fairly large. A staggering 3 MB for a mere minute video and as this was my FIRST attempt, i hadn't bothered to optimize the video for blog. But i promised, i'd get into it later this week as i create more podcast in various programming subject (not just Ruby in Rails, that is). Meanwhile, if you're interested enough, this link will bring you to screencast.com where you could download the video. OR you could straight as an arrow download the file through this link. Wait, allow me to rephrase. MY video. Wow, that actually feels good.
