Of Movies and Soccer

So I wanted to watch Harry Potter last Sunday. Unfortunately, the cinemas were swamped and most of the tickets were already sold out by the time I arrived. At the same time, Transformers and Die Hard 4.0 were sold out as well. So my friend and I decided to watch something else since we were already there. We decided to watch Dead Silence. The funny thing was that everyone else had the same mind since they couldn't buy tickets for the movie that they actually wanted to watch. Fortunately for us, we actually got tickets and it was good seats.

The movie was a great watch. Its a horror movie and the interesting part that caught my attention was that it was from the writers of the movie Saw. Saw, despite being disturbing, was a very good movie. It had an awesome twist and at the same time there was a moral message in there, behind the gore and sick tortures. Now, its not as sick as Hostel, nothing can top Hostel (Except for Hostel 2 of course). Anyway back to Dead Silence, I found the storyline and theme quite original. For people who have watched Saw, there are some easter eggs in the movie, like seeing the Saw doll in Dead Silence. So I quite enjoyed the movie.

Finally! We all knew it in our hearts but this past week, the whole world has known that Malaysian soccer is in a very sorry state! Suffering a 5-1 thrashing to China, only to be topped by getting 5-0 to Uzbekistan in the recent Asia Cup, we can only hope that we don't give that many goals for the last match for Malaysia against Iran. Since Iran drew with China, I am expecting Iran to have a goal bonanza. So what's wrong with our soccer scene? Simple, we have placed too much importance in the academic aspect of our schools. The sports scene from school is pretty sad. There is no quirks in being great in sports from schools. Without that kind of pull, are we surprised that our talent base in Malaysia is kinda stale? Unfortunately, this problem cannot be rectified in the frame of 5 to 10 years. It will be a long arduous process. If we start now, we'd only be seeing the results in a 20 years time. So for now, Malaysian soccer is dead. The ironic thing is that next month will be Malaysia's Independence.

Die Hard 4.0

John McClane is back with a new brand of ass kicking in this fourth instalment of the movie. He is older, bald, has a tired expression on most of the time but he is still the same badass that just moves forward against a wave of terror. This time though, technology has caught up to him and he has to stop a gang of terrorists from hacking the government and causing chaos to a whole nation.

Yes my friends, McClane has came out from single areas (the former die hard movies were all on single locations) and out into the whole city! This movie kept me entertained from the start to the finish. The stunts were over the top and it was spectacularly done. Some scenes are quite impossible to happen in real life but that's what movies are for.

To help McClane combat this so called cyber terrorists, Matt Farrell (Justin Long), a hacker who is unceremoniously paired with him after being targeted by the same terrorists. Both of these characters were perfect for each other and their screen time together are quite entertaining to watch. Matt Farrell is the brains with his seemingly in depth knowledge on hacking but seems fragile in the physical department. However, McClane more than makes up for it as the brawn of the pair.

Timothy Olyphant plays the leader of the terrorists and I should mention that he plays a cool villain. This should be interesting since he will also play as Agent 47 in the movie adaptation of the game Hitman which will be coming out soon.

Die Hard 4.0 bleeds action from the get go and its everything I expected from the movie. The only downside is that the action is considered a little tame after watching the Transformers movie. Even so, Die Hard 4.0 is a must watch for all movie goers.

My review on Transformers the live action movie

After watching Transformers the movie, I had to deliberate a few days to properly conform my thoughts. The movie is awesome and its perfectly one of the biggest block busters of the year. Case in point, my workmate asked me how to spell Transformers and I spelt it out for him. He said it was wrong. Transformers is spelt 'a-w-e-s-o-m-e' and for the most part, I agreed with him. Never will you see an action movie that blends detailed CGI robots with live action environments and actors so believable than in Transformers.

The robots themselves are designed specifically for detail and realism. How else can you explain bipedal robots transforming into vehicles or other objects without designing the robots to have detailed transforming parts that conform with the object? In addition to that, the CGI is so photo realistic that never once will you be thinking that the robots were not part of the scene. Starscream flying in the sky overhead, then swooping low and then transforming into robot mode and firing his cannons into the crowd in one smooth transition would make your jaw hang open in awe. Don't take my word for it, just go ahead and watch it if you haven't. This*is*the movie to die for this year.

Now that is out of the way, we move on to the cons of the movie. Yes, there are cons to the movie and it will be so apparent to the fans of Transformers the cartoon. No where in sight did I see any familiar faces except for Optimus Prime. The fact that they blatantly disregarded to design any of the robots in the live action movie to at least conform to things that make them our lovable autobots/ decepticons aren't there. The closest that they succeeded (other than Prime) was Bumblebee. His cheerful demeanour was nicely translated into the movie and also his yellow colour scheme. However, it was totally destroyed when you hear him speak for the first time at the end of the movie in perfect British accent.

Prime looked quite magnificent, if he had his visor on all the time like in the cartoon series but for some reason or other they had to design lips and it was the worst looking lips ever. To give you a mental picture on how ludicrous the lips were, try pinching your mouth from the sides with your hands ... thats exactly how they look. Ironhide looks like an ape whereas Jazz and Ratchet were quite unmemorable to me. Other than their faces, the robots looked incredible. Unfortunately it didn't suit the whole Transformers theme. If they followed the colour schemes of the robots to appeal to us fans would be ok. Heck, they should have followed the faces of all the robots to make them more appealing and identifiable. Unfortunately, because you can't properly identify the robots, the battle scenes although were rocking, appeared hectic and quite chaotic when the camera likes to take close shots and all you see is detailed wires and metal and not 'two robots bringing the pain on'.

Another rant of mine is the way the whole movie seems to revolve more on humans rather than the Transformers. I didn't know the movie was called 'Humans'. However, the human cast was quite commendable. Especially Spike who was portrayed true to his cartoon persona. The heroine (Mikaela if I'm not mistaken her name was) seems more like eye candy than anything else although she did 'lend a hand' to Bumblebee. Despite all that though, we will be seeing 2 more sequels to the movie as the actors have signed contracts for two more Transformer movies.

I conclude by saying that this movie rocks, I kid you not. This is the best movie I have seen, period. Unfortunately, its not Transformers. Transforming robots does not equate to Transformers. Oh well, I'm catching Die Hard 4.0 later and then perhaps a round of Transformers the animated movie.

Countdown to Transformers

There are great reasons to be in Malaysia and one of them is that Transformers the live action movie is shown here earlier than the States! In fact, it started playing in the cinemas here on the 28th of June! FYI, it is coming out in the States on the 4th of July. Unfortunately, due to work, I haven't watched the movie yet. Yeah, a blasphemy I know. BUT! This coming Tuesday is my off day and I will march to the nearest cinema and immerse myself in the greatness of Transformers! However, I am also interested to watch Live Free or Die Harder. I'm not sure when its out but if I can catch both on my off day, I'll do so.

In the meantime, I can just count the hours ...
T.T