Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Ironman 3

Category: Movie
Rating:

*Here be Spoilers!*

Ironman 3 started out with a backstory that has happed back in 1999 where he met in passing a brilliant scientist but he completely ignored. Back at the present time, Tony Stark has been designing suit after suit because of anxiety attacks that have happened during the Avengers Movie which also stains his relationship with Pepper Potts.

Introduce the villain who was called Mandarin.  Who have been doing   a Bin Laden to the US bombing areas that are Asian related since he is after all of Chinese descent. Stark has been keeping quiet about it until his former bodyguard, Happy, was caught in a bomb blast outside the Chinese Theatre.  He starts investigating until he uncovered who the real Mandarin was but at the cost of his home, his love and his beautiful machine.

Miles away from home with a suit that isn't functioning, Tony befriended (coerced more like it) a kid in Minnesota until he uncovers the truth of the whole situation.

Coming back to Miami to foil the plot of Mandarin, he comes back in time to uncover the half-the-truth about Mandarin, that he was just an actor named Trevor who was paid to hide the face of the true villain, save the crew of Air Force One from plummeting to their deaths, assists Rhodes in rescuing the president, finding out that Aldrich Killian was the real Mandarin and he breathes fire, and gets rescued by Pepper who with all the pent up anger that she keeps inside finally gets out with a vengeance, as well as a feature presentation of an army of remote controlled Ironmen wreaking havoc on the supposed final video recording of the fake Mandarin.

Finally, an explosion of self-destructing suits lighted the sky just in time for Christmas!

The movie in it's entirety was okay.  I was a bit disappointed and I wasn't wowed but Robert Downy Jr. really did a good job with the acting that I wouldn't say that my money wasn't worth spending to watch it.  In fairness to the whole ensemble, they were really great!  Acting wise, they were spot on and they carried their roles pretty well.

The effects were fantastic.  The suits were really good to see flying around the screen doing different flying moves and fighting formation that it was good to watch.  It was very realistic and you wouldn't know the difference between CG and real-life.

But there was no "umf" factor.  That one that will make me gasp in amazement or be wowed with a certain scene.  I jumped at my seat a couple of times, I'll admit but it was more of surprise than wow.  The story itself was really good at the beginning, with you trying to understand where the anxiety of Tony Stark is coming from and how he's trying to cope with everything.  You get that feeling of getting reeled in for something awesome to happened in the next part of the scene but then you keep looking and looking until eventually all you see are the credits rolling...then you find yourself wondering and saying, "Wait? What? That's it?"

I was discussing this with my brother after the movie because he was more disappointed than me since he knows the comic book version of Ironman.  Going in the movie, I didn't even know that Mandarin was to Ironman as the Joker was to Batman.  So he didn't get why they didn't put a relationship between Mandarin's ring and the villain that was seen at the end of Avengers.  He was hoping that the big reveal of who Mandarin really was was something that will take blow our minds but it ended up being an "eh?" to him...even to me.

All in all, it was still an okay movie for me.  I had some laughs. I jumped at my seat for the surprising parts. I gasp in the right places where the scenes where amazing effects wise...but it was still missing that something that could have made the last Ironman movie be worth something I will remember for the rest of my life.  Like what Star Wars had done for me all my life...but it wasn't there.

So 3 tumbling babies for this movie....Now I can only hope and pray that Thor would fare better.

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Rurouni Kenshin

Category: Movie
Rating:

After so many months of waiting since we have heard that there was a movie being made about our beloved wandering samurai, finally the wait was over and the long wait was really worth it.

"Rurouni Kenshin" or popularly known as "Samurai X" tells about a former assassin hired during the Meiji Era who became a wanderer helping out as much as he can throughout Japan in hopes to repent from his former life.

This movie was an adaptation of a very famous manga series of the same name as well as an anime series that is still being shown until today.  Goes to show how well loved the characters and the story itself were to everyone and it was a breath of fresh air that this movie was done very well and that they have done justice to the story  in its entirety.

Story wise, it was a compressed version of the anime and manga series (correct me if I'm wrong about the manga part since I have yet to read it), of the first story arc, introducing Kenshin to the Kamiya Kasshin-ryu instructor and owner Kamiya Kaoru and how he had decided to stay with her.  I liked the little twist in their story on how he started to don his signature red kimono.  It gave the audience the feeling of a transition from living a life of a wanderer to staying with Kaoru in the dojo. 

While the other characters like Megumi, Sanosuke, Saito and Yahiko were introduced in a very different way from the anime series, it did little to change the whole plot and it was done in a way that you would appreciate it.

The whole story-line, although compressed to a 2 and a half hour movie, was seamless that you can follow the flow of the story well even if you weren't a fan of the anime or the manga series.

The characters were spot on (except for one).  The guy who played Kenshin did a marvelous job in getting all his quirks and nuances that there were times during the movie, I find myself smiling and seeing the anime version in the actor who played him.  He did a really great job and kudos to him.  Kaoru was also portrayed well, although she wasn't as "hyper" as the anime version.  But I loved her silent strength that for me was a really good interpretation of how Kaoru should be.  My little problem although it really didn't tarnish the whole movie for me was Megumi.  They should have gotten someone who was really gorgeous.  I'm not saying that the girl who played Megumi wasn't pretty but she was just cute and not jaw dropping beautiful as how she was portrayed in the series.

I do love the fight scenes.  The choreography was done very well and the fight scenes were amazing...and there were a lot of fight scenes to be scene.  Although my favorite was the fight between Sanosuke and one of the henchmen in the final battle...it was hilarious and fun to watch.  The final battle of Kenshin and Jin'e was also great.  The creators of the movie followed the anime series very well especially when they were showing their special techniques.  Everyone in the movie house were "ooohhh-ing" and "aaahhh-ing" when they showed the special movies of Saito, Kenshin and Jin'e.

I am very happy as well that this wasn't a Hollywood movie, as they have yet to make a very good adaptation of any anime or manga series to date.  I'm sure this would have been a very different review if the Japanese weren't the ones who handled this movie.

All in all, 5 tumbling babies for me.  Even with the so-so dubbing and the only cute Megumi, the creators deserve a pat on the back and a job well done.  I had enjoyed the movie immensely and I had promised myself that I will buy the original DVD when it comes out in stores.

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Blade of Destiny

Category: MMORPG (Client Based or Dowload/Install needed)

Rating:

Note: I've only played about 2 or 3 MMORPGs with WoW not being part of that tally so this review is more or less an insight from someone not really into the genre.

Blade of Destiny or simply called B.O.D. is about 2 opposing dynasties set during the rise of the Zhou Dynasty in ancient China.  You have a choice of 3 job classes branched into 2 different specialties.  There are different quest to help you level your character and an occasional war to see who's the better dynasty.  That's about sums it all up in my opinion.

BOD, I would say would be your typical MMORPG.  I can say that it's more or less very similar to RO except for the fact that it's in 3D.  It's basically a hack-and-slash game with the occasional quest and dynasty wars.  It's the typical MMORPG you see anywhere at the moment.  There is really nothing new to it.  The game is basically old; probably 3-4 years old already being a re-hash of an old game of a different name.  But there is a following and that's what's keeping the game alive for years.

I would continue to delve on the negative before I move to the positive aspect of the game.

Aside from it being old, the game is buggy.  It was only recently that they have been actively searching for those bugs and little by little taking it all out and making the game really playable.

The maps are cloned.  They only change the entrances and exits and the monsters residing there but the maps have  more or less the same topography.  If you don't read the name properly when you go on a quest, you might find yourself going around and around a map area searching for a particular monster only to find out an hour later that you were in the wrong map.

Now we go on to the positive side.

For a 3D game, this is not heavy in the system.  You can run it with a Celeron 500 CPU, 256 MB RAM and a 16MB video card and it would run smoothly.  The game itself is only 2.4 GB and the game runs smoothly without much lag.  Graphic wise, it's good.   Movement and animation are a bit sketchy but it was done properly enough that you wouldn't complain.  Although, you still can't play it on a Netbook, any decent PC would suffice.

Installing the game is also simple.  If you have the installer, all you have to do is drag the folder to the chosen target folder in your PC.  Find the play icon inside that folder and create a shortcut on your desktop and you're all set (provided that you have the latest installer of course, since they have been fixing the bugs, they have been patching a lot lately).

This version of BOD has a more or less capable GM Team that makes sure you get a good experience playing the game.  When you send a bug report, they make sure that you know they have received it and have maintenance to fix it.  The GMs are approachable in-game. And they give you free buffs if you ask nicely.  Although, there was a bit of an argument a couple of weeks back when the Head GM decided not to give buff to players if they do not speak english in the Dynasty Chat, I think it was resolved in the end.

All in all, the game isn't all bad.  I'm just not an RPG player to really appreciate the game as well as I want.

If you want to check out the game and download the client, visit their website at http://gameyez.com

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Category: Movie

Rating:

This has been a fitting ending to a very wonderful series both in paper and in film.

I have little complaints with this movie.  Everyone has done their absolute best and you can see it as the film progressed.

The movie took place after Dobbie's burial and they need to search for the remaining horcruxes.  So, the three heroes were off again, first to Gringotts to retrieve the Hufflepuff's teacup and then to Hogwarts to find Ravenclaw's diadem.  Along the way, they were helped with their classmates and teachers who have been fighting the good fight in school while they try to protect their last hope against Voldemort.  Until finally, two horcrux remained: Nagini and Harry.  Then a final battle that where good finally triumphs over evil.  And then a little aftermath of everything in the end.

Like I said, a fitting ending to a very wonderful series that spanned for 10 years. I was teary-eyed when the final credits finally rolled, knowing that there will never be another book that will be converted to a movie (unless JK Rowling would write another series telling the story of the kids...hayz...wishful thinking for me).

Anyway, on with the review.


The CGI, was amazing and the scenes and locations were shot pretty well.  The camera angles were not crazy that even in 3D, it wasn't a roller coaster ride.  The fight scenes were amazing, the clashing of colors between green and red and when the Death Eaters where flying around in their dark cloud form was really amazing, it can take your breath away.

For 10 years, the actors have done an amazing job in playing their roles pretty well that they have really brought the book to life.  From our heroes, Harry, Ron and Hermione, to Voldemort and his death eaters.  They played their roles well that people would now have a hard time disassociating them with their characters.  One of my favorite scenes was when Hermione transformed into Bellatrix to enter Gringotts.  Helen Bonham Carter was amazing as she got Emma Watson's mannerisms as Hermione pretty well.  You could clearly see the contrast of her acting as Hermione and her as the real Bellatrix.  Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy has been portrayed brilliantly as the conflict between what is right and the love for his parents can clearly be seen on his face as he struggles to find out where he fits in.

The scene that I was most touched was the death of Snape...when on his last breath he looked at Harry and told him that he had his mother's eyes.  The was the saddest yet the most touching scene in the whole movie for me.  Alan Rickman was the perfect Severus Snape.  Thank goodness he agreed to be in the movies.

It was almost a 5 out of 5 for me.  I just have one pet peeve with this movie and it's the lack of time to put everything in.  I mean, the book was already split in two and still there wasn't enough time to put all the important elements in the movie.

It would have been great if the scenes of Snape's childhood was a bit longer showing more scenes from their teenage years.  It would be nice if they have showed how Lily's and Severus's friendship fell apart because Snape started to hang out with Death Eaters and he called her a Mudblood.  To me, the scenes of Snape's childhood were too short and too distorted.

It would have been great to have the epilogue part a bit longer too, showing all the other kids and not just focused on Albus Severus alone.  It would have been a nice view to see almost everyone there in platform Nine and three-quarters as a last hurrah for everyone concerned.

But all in all, it was a fitting ending.  Now, I am anticipating the DVD release.  I just hope the DVD would have a lot of additional scenes that they couldn't incorporate in the movie....like what they have done in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Superheroes

Yes, I know these movies have been shown for weeks now but I'm pretending that I have a wider audience that still hasn't really seen any of the films yet because there are some parts of the world that hasn't shown these films yet.  So, this is for my pretend readers in the far reaches of the globe awaiting for their screening day.

So, let's start

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: X-Men: First Class

Category: Movie

Rating:

By far the best X-Men movie ever, (yes, this includes the Wolverine origin movie).

The movie centered on the relationship between Professor X and Magneto.  How they met, how their friendship blossomed and how they parted ways.  the story was delivered with such clarity it did not leave you qustioning the "how" although the "why" was in my mind after.

Story wise, it had substance.  The delivery of the actors in the movie was just okay for me.  Although, the two actors who played Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) did an amazing job of portraying their characters that they fit perfectly with their predecessors.  Kudos to the casting director for getting them for they have excellent chemistry.  Their acting was believable and you could see that they have emulated their "older" selves very well that they had done justice to the character.

Although the other actors were just okay for me.  Some were overacting while others were under.  Though because of it, there was some sort of weird balance to the whole film.

I will not delve in the difference between the movie and the comic book because I don't really know the "lore" behind X-Men and if they followed the comic book but from the reaction of my friends, I guess they liked this interpretation.  I guess, it was a far cry from the last X-Men Movie that it was a breath of fresh air from the purist.

The effects were great.  Kudos to the CGI team for a job well done.

Yes, there were missing elements but heck, they were forgettable and didn't really destroyed the whole film.  So, 4 out of 5 tumbling babies for me.

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Green Lantern

Category: Movie

Rating:

In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with this movie.  It was my mistake to have gotten a hyped up from the trailers.

The movie focused on Hal Jordan, the first Modern day Green Lantern.  It told the story of how he became part of the Green Lantern Corps, his training, his trials and his victory.

I'll get to the good parts first.

The CGI was amazing.  It was flawlessly done.  Oa seemed so real that you would actually think that it was a real planet.  The Guardians were created well the same with Parallax.  You can see the contrast between green and yellow so well that it can clearly be seen as two opposing colors colliding in an epic battle.

The music was done right.  The background music really fit the scene that it adds to the ambiance of the whole movie.

Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern would have been okay.  He was really right for the part.  He's gotten that cockiness about right but at teh same time the soft side of him that made him a real hero.  It was just the general interpretation of Hal Jordan that I didn't get.

And so I segue to the negative aspects of the movie.

I had perceived Hal Jordan to be a natural in everything he does.  He should have easily controlled the ring and its powers.  His will is really strong that anything he creates are really great and hard to dissolve.  He was cocky but has every right to be because he was a good at what he does.  He was the embodiment of what a Green Lantern Corps should be.  Ryan Reynolds was missing the "umf".  Like I said, he would have been great but you would feel that there was something nagging at the back of your head telling you something is off.

There was no chemistry between Reynolds and co-star Blake Lively.  You'll keep looking for a spark that's just wasn't there.

The story itself was all over the place.  You really couldn't place what's going on the whole time.  It felt like they were trying so hard to put a puzzle together but the pieces of that puzzle just doesn't fit into each other.  One minute it was this scene, the next minute it's different.  I was left confused the whole time.

One of my main concern in this movie is that the Lantern Corps wasn't really seen much.  And if they were seen, there would only be a handful of them.  I felt like their CGI creation of the planet Oa was wasted because of it.  There were just there for a quick seen and then revert back to earth.  And I had always associated Green Lantern with a team (whichever incarnation of Green Lantern it was).  He always worked with a team, whether it be with the Justice League or the Green Lantern Corps but in the movie, he was always flying solo.  Which personally for me shouldn't have been the case even if the movie was all about Hal Jordan.  For me it wasn't really a Green Lantern Movie without the Lantern Corps.

Which brings me to the destruction of Parallax.  An army of Green Lanterns couldn't destroy him and it all took one man to do what an army could not.  The essence of Green Lantern wasn't really there.

So, I would have given this a two out of five.  But I was wowed by the effects.  It actually left me breathless with excitement.  The shock factor was there and they really gave you a lot of it in the whole movie but unfortunately, that's all there was to it...shock.

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

Category: Movie

Rating:

(Yeah, I know. It shouldn't be categorized as Superheroes but come one, they're the good bots and they've saved the planet one too many times that they deserve to be called "superheroes")
 
Well, all I can say is that it was better than Revenge of the Fallen but still pales to comparison with the First Movie.

Set a few years after "Revenge", the Autobots have began a partnership with the US military to protect the world from the Deceptecons and of course against other humans as well.  Sam Witwicky was having trouble looking for work being forgotten by the world he saved twice.  But an Autobot techonology was found in the moon during the Space Race brought the whole team back together, in another action packed sequences that would eventually lead to the Deceptecons defeat.

The CGI was great!  Although there was not question in my mind that they have done a superb job since ILM took the helm of the CG.  The robots seemed so real that you would think that they were there standing in front of you.

Music in the background was just right.  They placed it just right for a scene that gave it such a dramatic effect.

Story wise, it was confusing.  There were a lot of things happening all at once and it was everywhere.  There was no balance in the storyline and the way they merged the different plot lines to make it one leaves you with different questions that starts with "What the..." and "How the..."

The actors were okay.  I guess working in three films together would make working with each better.  Even Patrick Dempsey as the bad guy was done okay.  He had made you wonder until the end whether he was a good guy or a bad guy.  Shia Lebeouf to me was a bit over acting to the point that he was irritating.  There were parts in the movie that I was actually praying for his characters death.  But if that was the effect that he was gunning for then kudos to him for a job well done. 

I never got the point of the female trophy.  She's pretty. She can't act.  She's pretty.  She's forgettable.  Oh...did I mention that she was pretty?  For a movie with a lot of kick ass robots, I don't really think that the token female was needed.  Guys would gawk at her for a few seconds but in the end they would forget her because the fight sequence of Optimus Prime was awesome!

But like I said, the fight scenes were marvelously done!  Optimus Prime was kick ass yet again!  And when the military guys sky dived and glided around Chicago dodging bullets was for me the highlight of the movie (Optimus Prime kicking ass was a close second).

But yeah, aside from the fantastic CG, music and fight scenes, there was really no story.  So, that's a 3 out of 5 for me.

Sometimes I wonder if the movies nowadays are just being done to promote the 3D effects of it and not really done to create a fantastic movie with a good story backed up by excellent effects.