The Dark Knight Rises review.

Review: 4.5 out of 5.

It is now the end of the Summer Blockbuster season and it is now time for the Bat to shed it's wings on the IMAX reel. No, this has nothing to do with vampires. Forget Twilight, its not for those fang lovers looking to either get eaten or to fulfill a dream that could only be found in erotica or soap opera and romantic novels. This is neo-noir or to put it blunt, a superhero film that blends crime, drama and thriller. High concept writer and director, Christopher Nolan, has carried the Caped Crusader in the space of nearly a decade. The first movie that rebooted the film series was Batman Begins (2005), which aimed for a more realistic tone and explored the origins of the Batman legend based on the DC comics character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Nolan came back, this time with his brother, Johnathan, who co-wrote the script for the second installment in The Dark Knight (2008). This particular movie upped the anti and won 2 Academy Awards. With Nolan to return for the third and final chapter of The Dark Knight trilogy, can he break the rule of three-reel curse?

What's the story, you ask? The Dark Knight Rises opened eight years after the previous film. After Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) took all the blame for Harvey Dent's death and Batman has been missing ever since, Wayne has reduced to a recluse with his company plunging into rock bottom. Meanwhile, Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) is struggling in keeping the true reason behind Dent's activities which led to his demise. Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) stole Wayne's fingerprints to place a trade in a fit of chance to somehow clear her criminal acts. Gordon promoted John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to detective - to persuade Batman to return as a new threat materialized in the form of powerhouse, Bane (Tom Hardy), who attempts to have the city of Gotham crumble under its own weight.

Good:

As usual Bale captured the man behind the mask and vice-versa profoundly well. It was excellent how Bale shifted through 3 faces of Bruce Wayne: the courageous, warm-blooded man who got trained by the League of Shadows, the enigmatic and irresponsible playboy and finally an incorruptible, driven, symbol that criminals now fear.

I loved the dynamic between the two characters between Batman and Bane, at first I was skeptical of the news that Nolan as the major antagonist in the film due to the treatment made to the character in the Schumacher era. However, I failed to realize how much of a wise decision it was as the character was a huge staple in Batman's history in the comics. Bane is every bit as intelligent and more than a match for The Dark Knight. Nolan envisioned a beginning of the end of a battle against crime and corruption in Gotham. Christopher, Johnathan and David S. Goyer structured a well complex, layered, story with twists and turns, foreshadowing and every device possible to wrap up the last adventure.


The cinematography by Wally Pfister maintained a surreal, urban, grimy look of this city and the choreography of the fight scenes were beautifully handled. The sound and the music by Hans Zimmer were not as great as last time, but it did carry the sequence fine and I can make that an exception. The production design from the costumes, vehicles, sets, aircraft, props, effects and designs are raw, gritty and military/black ops style as opposed to sleek, flashy and sexy. Hathaway's Catwoman has got to be one of the best interpretations of Batman's love interest and nemesis. The supporting cast including Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Oldman had less screen time but were prolific in their roles.

Bad:

Nolan's films tend not to have many flaws, for The Dark Knight Rises, it was quite a bit of technical errors such as Hardy's voice that is not clear throughout with annoying digital ringing to match. Not only that, but the music is not as captivating as the previous 2 films in the series. In addition, there were more than a few plot holes that lay across the screen like bad eggs. I don't want to spoil anything but there are some issues that happen that either aren't clear or don't make any sense e.g. how does Bane or Blake for that matter know Wayne's secret? Even the end had a knot that was quite loose.

Overall:

Apart from the back track in pacing and the fact that Wayne does not don the bat suit until the beginning of the 2nd Act, who could possibly complain? With an impressive cast, great effects work, on the ball dialogue and stunning directing and script that from all of the creative filmmakers that had input towards the final cut. If only they nailed the right pitch of Bane's voice.

- Written by Kbon

The Amazing Spider-Man 3D review.

Review: 3.5 out of 5.

I have reviewed a track record of superhero films in the past and 2 shows on TV with similar themes. In this day and age, it is cool to watch. Due to economic decline and strict guidelines, this genre may shift ever so closer to budget restraints.

Despite the lackluster Spider-Man 3 of the Sam Raimi series, there was high anticipation for a new Spider-Man film. When I heard they had restarted the franchise with another Director and completely different cast, I slipped from eagerness - curiosity as to know how Marc Webb would bring his own vision of the Web Head to the surface - as well as frustration. I mean does this story really need to be retold? After Spider-Man 4 was cancelled due to creative disputes and no commitment to fulfill the target release date for Sony, a safety measure was in place in case this happened.

Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves, directed by Webb and produced by Avi Arad, Laura Ziskin and Matt Tolmach for Columbia Pictures. The untold story followed a young Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) who is trying to find his place in life after his parents Richard and Mary Parker (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) mysteriously left him as a child. Bitten by a genetically modified spider while he searched in OsCorp Tower for Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), he now evolved and found purpose after the fall of his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) as Spider-Man and now protects New York City from danger.

Good:

First of all, the 3D is spectacular and appears very real and comes out the screen to astonishing quality. Visually and down to aesthetics, this reboot did exceed some of my expectations. Arguably, the tone was a lot darker in themes and the producers aimed for a Batman Begins feel. Garfield did a great job as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, however, I can't say I love his portrayal. I'll get more into that later. Parker and Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone, had a lot of chemistry, perhaps more than even Tobey Maguire's Parker and Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson in the Raimi Spidey trilogy. The storyline was great, but felt rehashed and was not the best interpretation of the origin story.

Nevertheless, the performances from the rest of the supporting cast was ecstatic. Stone gave a brave, spunky, life to Gwen that can be memorable. Unlike the past female love interests on the screen in this mythology, Stone's Gwen was less of a damsel of distress and more clever and assertive than Bryce Dallas Howard's Gwen. I grew accustomed to the new suit the studio made and was impressed with the stunts and I felt the CGI animation throughout were just as fluid as the previous 2 installments of the last series. Flash Thompson, in this movie, was more brutal and Chris Zylka pulled this off well. In addition, a wise-cracking hero is what had been missing in Raimi's run-through.

Bad:

The Amazing Spider-Man had some good points but the rating only just scratched a half way point between number 3 and 4 out of 5 stars. I was ill at ease by the pacing of the story. It did not deserve the way over 2 hour running time. Garfield did well as the superhero in the leading role but not so great as the character's alter-ego, Parker. I do not like the Emo Parker, I mean you might as well call him out as a Goth. I see they were trying to aim for an Ultimate Spider-Man rendition of the character from an imprint of the comic book series that re-imagined the web-slinger in the 21st century. Good move but not a better enough product with sustenance. 

Another thing is bad about this movie is it lacked drama. Although there were excellent action scenes, there was feelings of emptiness in parts between some of the interaction of the characters. Not that it was down to them being flat, but  it was more the actor's handle of the role. In one instance (SPOILER ALERT) the scene where Uncle Ben is infamously taken down by a lone gun from the supermarket, Garfield's acting was off. The same can be said to another character who sadly (SPOILER ALERT) passed away. An idea of the Lizard being the main villain wasn't bad, with him being an only threat, not good. He would more perfectly fit the role of a henchman. It needed someone other than him from the Marvel universe to fill his shoes and do the job.

Overall:

With a crispy, hot, production thanks to Sony, a firm script, sweet quips and amazing performances from Garfield as Spider-Man, Stone's Gwen and Ifans' portrayal of the slithery Lizard; the reboot had some flaws from the decision process, but it was rigid enough to stun us with great special effects and action scenes. Webb's version neither outshined or backtracked Raimi's version. 


- Written by Kbon

Avengers Assemble (2012) 2D review.

Review: 4 out of 5.

Before I start, I would like to apologize to readers for not updating with the latest information to you, in regards to material in the entertainment industry. I have been extremely busy these past 6 months as I had work elsewhere. As well as I would love to continue doing these reviews, education and a day/night job are important. There will be some changes on this blog in order to ensure this service remains visible. These will be small changes, although I won't reveal them until we reach toward our last quarter of this year. So, I am back where I started. Now, let's take a look of my newest scribe, shall we? This 2012, it's the moment we've all been waiting for; Avengers Assemble.

Way back in April, I booked tickets at my usual view-in, eager to see the preview of Marvel's all-time motion picture, The Avengers. (From now on, I'm referring to them as this. I think viewers can distinguish a few British spies from 7; minus 4, super-powered team members of a peace-keeping organization). Written by Zak Penn and Joss Whedon, the 143 minute extravaganza was directed by Whedon himself. The film opens with the leader of an extraterrestrial race called the Chitauri, who has plans for the human race. Meanwhile, on Earth, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), head of the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division), and his deputy, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) arrive in a covert research facility where Dr. Eric Selvig (Stellen Skarsguard) led a team of scientists to conduct experiments on the Tesseract. Many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents including Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) watch as the energy source continued to radiate a strange form of rays.

It appeared that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has now arrived on Earth through a gateway from all of existence by the Tesseract. Loki retrieved the Tesseract and enslaved a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Selvig and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) using his scepter. With no choice, Fury pushed the proverbial button and activated the "Avenger Initiative" that consist of Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), all brought together by Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Coulson, Fury and co. Now it is up to this group of "remarkable people" to destroy the Tesseract and prevent the wrath of Loki in a war topped off in otherworldly proportions.

Good:

The first 25 minutes of the film were just fast paced and epic. Even though its first act had lagged a bit due to some exposition, it still found its way during the middle. I was interested to know how Whedon was going to pull this one off, but he did it and went full sail ahead. Something 5 films worth (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger) is a lot to put on any director's shoulders and especially in keeping with continuity if we're having to deal with cross pollinating each major character from their own solo movie and merge into a shared universe. The script was tight enough to do that.

I am very impressed by Whedon's take on his characters; Downey's wonder on Stark's charisma and ingeniousness were  indeed applauded. What I loved is Whedon had done the impossible and managed to grant all of the cast some equal screen time. Even the supporting cast attained a level of generous, clear, spotlight. Apart from the majority of team players, who stood out for me the most was The Hulk. As you know, there has been many actors throughout related media who portrayed Banner. On the silver screen, Eric Bana put on the purple pants in Ang Lee's Hulk in 2003, next in line was Edward Norton, who brought a more heroic lite with Louis Letterier at the helm. Ruffalo got the man and more importantly, the creature right. 

Another thing to note is the wave of humour that is ridden in parts of this spectacle. Loki was surprisingly the laugh out loud factor among other punchy antics that have been carefully sprawled around. The story does not take itself too seriously and the action between some of the characters were nothing short of awesome. I praise Seamus McGarvey for strong use of cinematography and elaborate edits by Jeffrey Ford and Lisa Lassek. The huge payoff was Whedon's contentious directing. Each actor had delivered their part well, including Mr. Jackson whose rendition of Director Fury was so well pact down, a true super spy.

Bad:

There was only a few things I had a problem with this movie. I mean you can't expect too much from a popcorn flick like this. Some of the plot points need clarity, mainly towards its final act. Loki has the most powerful object in the world, possibly the universe. Now why use it to distract only his biggest rogues gallery when he could use it to his full potential? I believe this plot device was underused. Plus, this caused Loki to be not much of an unprecedented threat. In fact, I will not reveal too much, but the actual threat is the last ditch effort in those last duration of minutes.

Sadly, although most of the characters had got their screen time, Hawkeye was not fleshed out properly due to the fact he spent most of the time out of character and therefore did not allow the viewers to dig more into his clean-cut, ask-questions-later, attitude. Apart from some dodgy visual effects in places, it is fine. There were some continuity errors but the average movie-goer would not be able to spot them.

Overall:

The Avengers managed to break many records at the box office and earned all of them one by one. With a naturally carved script, which marvelously balanced chipper laughs, fight scenes, drama and clever dialogue the cast all did their part superbly well. All were guided intricately scene by scene through great direction. Save for a few misses, the producers completed Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic  Universe. Time will tell for a next foray of men and hot women in tights, in cellular beat 'em ups.


- Written by Kbon

The Darkest Hour (2011) film review.

Review: 1.5 out of 5.

Of all the highest grossing films of 2011 I have watched, the film I reviewed is definitely the lowest, at least critically. The Darkest Hour was so bad, I almost slept throughout the entire film. That is not me exaggerating, I assure you. If any of you watched Skyline, this is a lot worse. I won't go into specifics right now, but I'll go into the background detail along the way.

Released 25th December 2011, a non-Christmas Day Special guarantee, the Russian-American production was directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmanbetav (Wanted) and ran a tedious 89 minutes. The motion picture with its tag line "Survive the Holidays" followed two young American men, Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) who travel to Moscow to sell their very own software to the company, headed by a Swedish businessman. Unfortunately, their passion project has been ripped from them (cough Social Network) and were thrown out. Sean and Ben start to woo beautiful women in the company, how convenient both the women they end up with, Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor) are also American.

Fast-forward 15 minutes later, everyone looked outside at the night sky as a sudden glow appeared just when many aurora balls of light fell down. An invasion began to ensue as invaders protected by force fields ravaged the area, vaporizing every man, woman and child who got in their way. They proceed to consume the humans electrical resources.

Good:

It was hard to note anything great about the film, what I do appreciate is the concept they were going for, which is an alien invasion from Russia's perspective and the fact these creatures are far beyond humanoid and more so another plane of existence, which is raw energy. The length of the production gone into the film was not the best and is satisfactory, but the potential, basic, premise fell very short in the actual interpretation.

Bad:

There were many things that were bad about the sci-fi that is hard to muster in one go. First of all, the script by Jon Spaihts was trite. I hardly think there was any structure at all in this film, it started off fine up until the arrival of the aliens but pacing went completely out of whack and was a drag all the way through. It was noisy, not contained and went hay-wire. Everybody went beserk including the main cast who was frighteningly 2 dimensional in personality, drive and reaction. It is like the actors who did these characters didn't even try. There is really nothing more to say here.

The film was so bad, even through the last half of the 2nd act that I couldn't watch it anymore. The direction was so apalling, by the time some of the characters teamed up with the Russian's and found a solution to their perdicament, that was it for me. If anyone saw this would damn well agree with me. It was undercooked and I grew sick of what they fed me.

Even the music was depressing, balled together with awful screams with sweet, fitting, executions. Sooner or later, you will tire of the executions and could not really invest in the characters. So much that you could hardly care if they lived or died. Most of all, I couldn't take any of the actors or director for that matter, seriously.

Overall:

The film had a descent premise, but was engrossed in trash; flat characters, lazy cast, futile script, poor direction and production that would of been great if a little more thought had gone into the movie instead of screams, overbearing slow pace and less flashing lights. Watch Kanye's music video, he'll give you tips on brightness and contrast. Don't bother watching this on 3D, your better off renting a cheap copy in your local DVD or Blu-ray store just to add to your collection. The next review will be Drake's second outing, Take Care LP.

- Written by Kbon.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes review.

Review: 4 out of 5.

When I saw that there was going to be another adaptation of Planet of the Apes, I didn't know what to think. I watched the remake in 2001 with Mark Wahlberg and I felt almost like dung was being thrown in my face. Seriously, it was that bad. I flicked through all trailers on TV and decided to go watch only after my friend did who said it was fantastic. I'm not too familiar with the franchise, only after watching it and browsing on the internet, I realized there were many other films made into adaptations of the book by Pierre Boulle in a film series. This movie is more of an origin story or you could say a prequel to the original series from the late 60's and early 70's.

Now a decade since the remake in 2001 was introduced to the general public to a new generation, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a reboot by 20th Century Fox. The film is directed by Rupert Wyatt. It followed Will Rodman (James Franco), scientist of the pharmaceutical, Gen-Sys. Rodman is trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease and is using a genetically engineered virus on chimpanzees. The virus initially repairs neurons in their brain and then mutates. Bright Eyes (Terry Notary), having given birth to a baby chimp, ran amok in the experiment and caused a ruckus in a board meeting where Rodman presented the cure and is killed. It turned out she was only protecting her baby and after Rodman is told to eradicate all test subjects by Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo), his boss; Robert Franklin (Tyler Labine), the ape handler, advised that Rodman take care of the baby chimp. Rodman took him home and his father named it Caesar (Andy Serkis).

8 years later, Caesar, inherited by his mother's genes of a high scaled intelligence; now evolved into a human pet. He can communicate with Rodman using sign language. Rodman tests a sample of the cure to his father, Charles (John Lithgow), who is struck with Alzheimer's disease. At first, he improves but his Dementia slowly returned as his immune system fought off the virus. Tortured by gate keepers, in a Primate Sanctuary, by John Landon (Brian Cox) and Dodge (Tom Felton), Caesar rose to power and led the other apes in a revolution against human society and oppression. The uprising has begun.

Good:

One of the best films of 2011, this Ape feature could tussle even Peter Jackson's King Kong all the way to the top. I am pleased with the fact it delivered. It has a rich story which explained a lot of things. It really played well the angle the filmmakers were getting at; the apes high IQ being a result of genetic engineering, the fall of mankind and the ape's rebellion all fit into place. I mean, I couldn't buy extraterrestrials in monkey form, could I? All those favour of Oozaru, don't remind me.

The strengths was the stupendous work on motion capture with all the apes by Chernin Entertainment including Serkis' role of a prodigal, morbid, Caesar, who proved more than just a pet. James Franco nailed the struggling doctor pretty hard and could balance his dramatic interactivity with his relationships between the father, boss, primatologist girlfriend Caroline Aranha, played by Freida Pinto and his companion every bit as tight. His character arc was told very skilfully and Franco knew how to grow aware of something a little out of nature brought into reality. Stepping past the fact he is not speaking with a chimp is not easy to conduct. I commend the majority of the main and supporting cast for their handiwork.

Bad:

Surprisingly it did not have many flaws, if not next to nothing. I only have a problem with the pacing of this magnificent story. It was a snail pace from the beginning but that was minor. At least it wasn't talkative and it was pretty unexpected. In most origin stories, Act 1 is the slowest, but it depends on a lot of factors; the impact of the inciting event or build up towards it and how much the audience want to invest in the characters. If they have a rich background, obviously it will take a while to present it on screen. On the other hand, there are exceptions.

Although the performances from the leading roles equally on the human and chimp races, including stunning visual effects, there was something about it that was missing. I expected more on the delivery. Now, I don't get "too gassed" on movie trailers, but let's be real everyone - we bought tickets (some of us) so that we can enjoy a well spent film, ain't that right? I'm not saying this wasn't but I wanted more in terms of big scale action. Its a revolution in the making, for Christ sake. This is very big since Parallax's attack in Coast City (Green Lantern), at least make it feel like one. Reason I say this is a few scenes from the trailer was missing; one clip from a tree climbing scene was supposed to have Dodge appear looking from below who is scared of the ape plus two other scenes I won't spoil. Another thing I was most disappointed in was the ending was quite weak. Though, it did make sense which wasn't too bad.

Overall:

This review should be 3.5 out of 5, but for astounding performances from James Franco, Andy Serkis and Tom Felton made it 4 stars. Brilliant acting, script, direction; I applaud Rupert Wyatt for his vision in making this film happen. With scrupulous editing or continuity issues during post-production and a less impacted ending it could be a titchy bit more epic. Music by Patrick Doyle complimented the action scenes. The post credit sequence also fit most pieces together in store for any future sequels. If you're into sci-fi or have a love of animals, this is the movie for you. That's it, I'm taking a break from reviewing films. Next up, is Blaze Barnation's mixtape, Barnation World.

- Written by Kbon

Green Lantern (2011) review.

Review: 2.5 out of 5.

Now, to be honest, I was not into the character of Green Lantern. In fact I never got into DC characters besides Bat-Man and Superman. From trailers online, I figured this should be good, but I tried to sink everything I could get, therefore, on the day I made the most of it by eating a buffet. Plus it was for my birthday so I wasn't taking any chances. For some reason, I decided to give it a shot and before I knew it, I ordered my ticket as I had a few laughs then jumped in the hot seat. Apparently, this was very well anticipated but I blocked out any negative snaps at it and made a conclusion myself. The result, pretty disappointing, but can be quite feasible to those like me who did not invest in the character but went there for a barrel of fun. Sorry geeks, all you out there are gonna be crying your eyes out but not in awe but from having your childhood ripped away from you.

This pile of Flubber, Green Lantern, is the superhero film based on DC comics that was created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The film is directed by Martin Campbell and a collected number of writers by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg. It was released in the UK in June 22nd 2011 and distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures. Don't ask me why there's so many scriptwriters? Two of which, have written comics for big publishers. If you are not aware of the character, there are many Green Lanterns who hold the power of will - in retrospect to do anything as long as the bearer doesn't feel fear - through an incredulous ring. In this case, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), a test pilot for airlines at Ferris Aircraft. Jordan is chosen to be a Green Lantern by the ring after he visited his predecessor, extraterrestrial, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), of Sector 2814. Jordan must learn to past his jerkiness ways and leave all of his doubts and insecurities in order to face an ever present and intergalactic threat that could destroy entire worlds including Earth.

Good:

As much as the delivery was rubbish, the visuals in 3D were good but not the best. For once I want a film that stands out in 3D. For me, at this point, its either 2D or nothing. Ryan Reynolds was a good choice for the lead, but to be honest, I could not see anyone who could play Jordan. His smug, comedic, arrogant fly boy persona was done to a small degree cool to me. The problem is simple; I could not take him seriously. What I liked about this film is it used a thematic subject matter that is predominant within the entire walls of the movie, which are both fear and willpower. Unlike Bat-Man, Green Lantern does not use fear to overcome his foes as an advantage. Instead, he must use it to deal with the fear within himself. Jordan has been afraid most of his life, ever since his father, Martin Jordan (Jon Tenney) passed away in a plane crash. That is what stood out for me as humans are often terrified by things which they can't understand. Anything seen as breaking the realms of physics is a threat and must be under strict order.

The powers are great, but the visual effects are another story. I will talk about that later, now lets go through story-line; in the first 15 minutes or so pretty action packed. The being known as Parallax (Clancy Brown) is set free by siphoning fear and the life force of unfortunate victims of a crash site on the planet Ryut. Later, Abin Sur is mortally wounded by the creature in Sector 2814 and he crash landed on Earth. That sequence was put together, well but up to the point when Hal Jordan is recruited and he transported in a ball of energy to given the power ring and battery. He spoke the oath "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". After the 30 minutes closed the beginning, with the wary and confused Jordan sort condolence with Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), a fellow pilot. He got caught in a bar fight and his powers revealed itself. Meanwhile, Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), is summoned by his father Senator Robert Hammond (Tim Robbins) in a secret project to perform an autopsy on Abin Sur. Hector is mutated by a piece of Parallax then granted psychic abilities.

During the middle part of this plot, this is where things started to go downhill. The scenes with a training session on planet Oa between Jordan, Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush), Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan) and Sinestro (Mark Strong) were interesting, laughable and swell, especially sword-fighting using constructs. Despite this it was like irritant fly boy got a big wound, now he flies home to his mother. Jordan did just that, except the visit to clear Mum part over his own pride not being dignified after the battle. I expected a quick resolute of this, luckily he had a best friend back at Ferris Aircraft, Thomas Kalmaku (Taika Waititi), an engineer on the airlines who at least taught him how to be a "space cop" as he broke to Carol. Not much action had broke until the mysterious attack at the helicopter event. The overall premise had a brilliant concept.

Bad:

Let me start with the basics, Green Lantern had an exceptional premise for this kind of movie. I admired the character of the hero but there are instances where he was quite annoying, I mean he is a smart Alec plus a bastard. He was played a bit poorly but Reynolds is alright in some other situations. The script was terrible, one liners did not sink in well for some of the character's dialogue at their crack at in-jokes with the entire middle that had fell very flat. It made me feel that all four of the writers might of took a puff every now and then during lunch. Personally, I blame Geoff Johns, only kidding. Well someone needs a scapegoat, don't we all? The direction was pretty less warming but you could see poor Martin didn't have much to work with. So did the actors, which is not fair on them.

Another thing is visual effects of the ring's animation and energy projections were tacky. Some of them remind me of the Ki effects from one of the worst movies of 2009, Dragon Ball Evolution. We are talking about will power, get it straight people! That kind of might is infinite. Its not stunning enough and feel more like Eye-Toy flare ups. To top it off, the hero had not developed at all, okay he learnt key lessons but that was all. Even the super-villain, Dr. Hector Hammond did not accomplish much accept having successfully maimed his Dad over senseless resentment. Neither sides of the same coin had much to fulfill. It just felt empty, bitter and dreary.

Overall:

I would say to everyone, you most likely would be frankly disheartened. Go out and have a good time but make the most of it whenever you can at the rental store whether you are a comic fan or not. Visuals was quite satisfactory with music so trite you might think it was from a John Williams Superman score. Acting performances were better in the supporting cast than a few of the major casts, blamed with an out of place script and less than ideal SFX. Though nice vision, ideas, designs and sets. I got to say thank you to its promotion, very well done for an settled evening.

- Written by Kbon

Tron Legacy (2010) review

Review: 3 out of 5 stars.

The first time I watched Tron was in the late nineties and I was around six years old. At the time, it was on satellite TV and this was before Sky had been widely available to everyone. I had NTL Broadband, the company is known as Virgin Media now. From what I remember, Tron was about a computer whiz named Kevin Flynn who is an employee at ENCOM, a software company, where he used to make the best video games for.

It was a well contrived film that is known for its remarkable imagination and stunning graphics at the time in 1982. Rumours of a forthcoming sequel in production and being green-lighted had spread. I even swore I saw a small ad for Tron 2 at an old rental store where I used to get blockbuster movies and thrilling martial arts films. At last, though, Tron Legacy is here in 2010 and reached theatres in December in most of Europe. When I first saw and heard what they were doing with this movie, I felt it was going to do an appalling job at the box office, but actually, it did become a feasible hit.

Tron Legacy is directed by Joseph Kosinski who is known in the commercial television and feature world as a wizard in computer graphics and visual effects. It stars Jeff Bridges who reprised his role as Kevin Flynn from the previous film and plays the digital counterpart, Clu 2, Garrett Hedlund plays his fully grown son, Sam Flynn, Bruce Boxleitner took on the role of Alan Bradley, a stepfather of Sam ad Tron; a security program. With a screenplay written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, the film lasted 127 minutes, produced by Steven Bailey, Jeffrey Silver and writer and director of the first film, Steven Lisberger. It was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

Good:

Where the last instalment of Tron left off, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has become CEO of ENCOM International and led the industry by storm until his sudden disappearance in 1989. His son, Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), is left an orphan and heir to his father’s multi-national enterprise. Over two decades later, Sam became a rebel; he does not have any interest taking control of ENCOM and often makes fun of members in the board meeting with his skills in extreme sports. His last stunt gets him arrested by the police after he parachutes off from the ENCOM building. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) then approaches Sam about a message he received on his pager, mysteriously sent by Sam’s father, ironically, the connection was cut for years. This came from an old arcade, without hesitation, Sam began to explore the abandoned place for clues only to find a room at the other side of the arcade inside a laboratory. He finds the computer and gets digitized by a prototype machine, some kind of laser.

In the opening scene, a few minutes into the film, evidence of a dysfunctional relationship is found between Kevin and Sam. Told in a fairytale or story book archetypical narrative, eight year old Sam is told by Kevin about the digital landscape hidden within a computer named “The Grid” where programs are represented as humanoid-electronic beings inside systems. This gives new audiences some closure and fills us with necessary information in order to know what it is about. Fans of the original film also are given ideas on where its source began and where it is heading. From the initial 30 minutes, we learn before Kevin was missing, he promised to change society through science, religion and medicine from his autobiographical book “The Digital Frontier”. Also, that Kevin had created a new User friendly system where programs and users can integrate. Those who are Tron fans know Kevin visited the virtual world once before.

Hedlund provided a great performance as Sam and made a convincing, heroic, protagonist in the sequel. His moments of loss, missing his Dad, can be felt by viewers but how the character deals with such aggravated emotions is quite intriguing. Any calculated or observant individual can see through his very hardened exterior and realise he is lonely. The story is not all that fantastic, considering it took at least thirty years to get a visionary project off the ground. However, its visuals and cinematography are nothing short of beautifying. The disc battles and light-cycle races are cool. This is where IMAX 3D comes in handy, it’s done in an ultraviolet fashion on a grand scale. Dark, lightning-filled, skies give the notion you are inside a videogame with futuristic cities. About forty minutes into Tron Legacy as Sam encounters the enigmatic Clu 2 (Bridges) and facing Rinzler (Anis Cheurfa), a masked warrior who fights against users or rogue programs, in a deadly battle with discs, he meets Quorra (Olivia Wilde).

Bad:

The problem with Tron Legacy is there is not much character development and the script is not that engaging to be on the level of Inception neither is the plot original. I have no qualms toward how successful this film is, on the other hand, it seems the film crew have leaned too much on the lens of 3D rigs and cameras plus various angles on the whole landscapes in the setting than actually focus upon the structure. There is an obvious style over substance here, and it did not help with two writers whose credits include television shows like One Tree Hill and Lost being under the wing of a fan boy director who only so far as done adverts. Another thing is the movie has a few holes in continuity and storyline; the positioning of characters within some medium and long shots and timeline. For example, how can a program (Clu 2) send a message to a pager? No sort of intelligence can do that. Plus how come Sam does not have the same god-like abilities as his father, I mean he is a user?

By the time Sam and Quorra locate Kevin in a wasteland off The Grid, tragedy is replaced by a need to leave which is a bit too quick. If given enough time, the dynamic between all of them should have been show more, especially from Kevin and Sam given that it is a father-son story. In the middle, Kevin reveals his gift to the real world were ISO’s (isomorphic algorithms), special beings of unknown origin who can unlock mysteries in the human condition. Clu 2 destroyed them as he believed they were a threat to the system. The message here from this meeting is hubris and perfection, which are good topics in action/adventure but more details of the purge of ISO’s and those contexts and themes should have been dealt with more. Sound was deafening including the robotic voices of programs, save for the Sirens, but was layered over by a superb music score from Daft Punk. I will not spoil Clu 2’s master plan but it’s not hard to work out.

Overall:

Tron Legacy is a fun, simple, thrilling motion picture with stunning 3D inspired CGI visuals in place of a slapdash script and faithful direction. Actors have played the characters with gravitas and energy. Although, I do feel Sam could have shown a little more resentment towards his Dad for being missing for so long but there was a sense of unsettlement, so I can’t really complain. The high point goes toward the score by Daft Punk, which is a very good choice and works extremely well along with the picture. With a lot to work with, sustenance would be the key in making us feel more satisfied. This is for people that want to be on their seat feeling energized and fans of the previous film.

- Written by Kbon

Buried film Review

Review: 2.5 out of 5.

Sorry guys, I've been slacking these past couple of months but I have got at least two reviews up there that are ready for my inspection. I am concentrating on films at the moment, but I will get back to music very soon. This year has been my luck watching so many rubbish films, I may have to call this site "Kbon Worst Reviews". Joke aside, this movie was not too bad, however, it could possibly be chucked into the gutter if not brought to the right hands - like mine.

Buried was released in September 24th 2010 in the United States and everywhere sometime in October. It is directed by Rodrigo Cortes starring Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy, a truck driver buried alive in a casket in Iraq with only his Blackberry mobile phone, torch, lighter and Zippo. It turns out he was captured by an Iraqi kidnapper (with a ridiculous Middle Eastern accent) and threatens to put the lives of his family in danger if Paul does not make a ransom video and the wire transfer of up to $5,000,000 dollars. Through Reynolds' cynical and innocent attempts at black humour, we learn about the mysterious captor from the FBI official; on another, similar, case who is called Mark Wright. Not much is known about this man, only that he is buried in a location not far from where Paul was trapped. Reynolds did very well to convey the anxiety and harshness of his character, we know he can pull off the wise-cracker as shown in films such as Blade Trinity (2004) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

Good:

Spanish director Cortes did well to provide the intensity of the drama, although he did not have much of a thorough concept to work with, he showed us how many tools he has got in his disposal to keep you watching for 94 minutes. Credit goes out to Chris Sparling with a methodical script about our most common fears in human nature: claustrophobia. There is one flaw I did not like with this, but it might just be me and this is the ending of the story. Apart from that, I give Sparling prompts for a carefully built character arc. The performance by Reynolds is what carried the film in a spiral of emotion. He nailed the persona of Paul very well and it allows us to go deep into his psyche - from anger to desperation and from sarcasm to kindness - with the Green Lantern movie coming in theatres in Summer 2011 we know he can breeze it like pulling tricks out of a bag to use his magic torch. The camera shots give us a way of reaching out to the character and tells the viewer he may not get out of here. Music is beautifully composed and sound is not overused.

Bad:

You are probably wondering if this is so greatly constructed why did I give it just 2 and 1/2 stars? This is the reason: now remember when I told you I felt the ending of the story was poor, well that is only partly my deduction. I won't go into specifics of the scene for the sake of spoilers but I will tell you it left me disappointed. I was expecting more from it and this let the film down. Secondly, I know that depending on the actor, movies that feature merely one character on screen can be quite difficult to gauge interest. Now the director has made up for these strict limitations of characters and locations - he is in a coffin from start to finish - with mystery and some action sequences. Despite this, the kidnapper cannot be taken seriously and I laughed to myself and nearly choked on popcorn at how stupid this guy is and his supposedly broken English does not help things. Its nearly enough as though we are witnessing a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon at the other end of the line. The next mishap is Buried is riddled with holes as deep as Paul is, maybe even more down under. It did not explain or grant any background information on what led him to be trapped? Who are his enemies? And why did they bury Wright plus what is the link between him and Paul?

Overall:

A film with a strong premise of being faced living under the earth forever, this has a rich writing style, tough visuals and stunning performance by Ryan Reynolds. On the other hand, the mystery flattens by unsatisfied answers, untied plot ends and mediocre ending that loses itself along the way. This could have been done more better if the director had pushed it a little beyond its limits. The money for tickets was not much of a waste, but its worth your bet not wasting your time and just go for the DVD or Blu-ray.

- Written by Kbon

Inception film review

Review: 4.5 out of 5

To all of you people fanatical about film,

Kbon is now at it again. It has not been long since I reviewed Prototype, but I always wanted to take a chance in going through another item that dares pass my keen judgement. I just never had time. This, in particular, is the one movie I was intending to use before I watched A-Team. Well, today folks the film I am going to review is by Christopher Nolan, Director of The Dark Knight and The Prestige. Yes, it's Inception. Nolan and his younger brother, Johnathan, are geniuses when it comes to making Hollywood blockbusters. I don't need to mention anymore credits as their status as filmmakers are more painted on cash notes and worldwide than any word on the street. Oh, what the heck, Christopher has been nominated and won many Academy, Satellite and Empire Awards, notably for winning Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and more. He now has the next Batman film in development while adapting a whole twist on the Man of Steel everyone knows, Superman.

The newest contender in the film world introduced his idea of dreams to Warner Brothers in 2001, which started with an 80-paged treatment. Christopher then decided he was not ready to produce something at this kind of scale. I understand this due to how grand a concept it can actually be once you start talking about the mind. My question is does it live up to it's expectations as does, say The Dark Knight? Well, I have little anxiety towards Nolan's works and Inception borders on an entire new level of The Matrix. In short, this guy knows exactly what he's doing. Recruited in Nolan's team of actors is Leonardo DiCaprio who did films such as Shutter Island who plays extractor, Mr. Cobb, tasked with stealing dreams. He leads a team of extractors to perform a process called inception; store an idea in a subject's mind while unconscious. A pretty insane length to rob an item, don't you think? Maybe, but you got to love the odds with this. Imagine planting a suggestion into your teacher's head and convincing them of giving you straight A's. That would be cool. So, what is the plot?

Inception has a total of 148 minutes and was made by Nolan's own studio, Syncopy Films, and Legendary Pictures. This was distributed by Warner Brothers. Mr. Cobb is first shown on the beach, waking up to find an old man who describes a symbol, a spinning top, which is the perfect indicator of whether he is sleeping or not. Cobb, with his right-hand man, Arthur, (Joseph Gordon Levitt) embark on a mission within the mind of Japanese business man, Saito (Ken Watanabe) via drug inducement methods. The mission becomes awry thanks to Mal (Marion Corillard), a formidable woman always ruining missions and who poses a threat against Cobb. It appears this was a test, forcing Cobb to help Saito convince Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) in terminating his rival's empire, father of Robert, Maurice Fishcer (Pete Postlethwaire). In return for the mission's success, Cobb will be free to visit America and see his children. He drafts in Eames (Tom Hardy), the forger who can alter his form within dreams, Ariadne (Ellen Page), the architect in charge of building dream worlds and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who specializes in sedatives that causes these mental projections to occur. With a team assembled, they face danger in every corner and death in this realm could result in the mind to enter a relapse: being lost forever in-between fantasy and reality.

The Good:

Alright, now that we sunk deep into our creators' madness, I got a few more things I got to say about Inception. The strengths is down to construction. Nolan, where have you been in my whole life? This is stupendous, not only has our writer/producer/director has got everything down to the cast, he's got an intelligent script and mesmerizing visuals courtesy of Wally Pfister. The drama creates urgency making you realize no matter how precise your skills are or how clever you can be, anything can go wrong. Brilliant acting plus a moving score by Hans Zimmer provided that unsettling build up. My favourite is the hotel scene where Arthur battles henchmen while escaping his team in a floating sequence. It will be memorable and is really breathtaking to watch. Nolan has obviously worked on this for a long time as the whole story is broken into layers split in the shape of an onion that connects like a domino effect. Of course, it does have some low points.

The Bad:

Unsurprisingly, this feature does not have many downsides. However, every watcher of Nolan's films knows his tendency to confuse audiences. Many can be a bit more than baffled at how well crafted his multi-strand plots are. It did the same to a friend and he almost slept near the bitter end of the movie. Me, being the film buff I am prevented this and I continued to watch. I got to admit though, I did pull a "What the--?", a couple times but it all made sense to me eventually. Another defect is the pacing is slow and quite daunting, it makes you lose sight of what Cobb's motive for the mission are? Finally, the main conflict against Mal as we learn in the close of the first Act that she's merely an avatar of Cobb's late wife is gotten rid of too easy. It would have been great if she had more screen time to fill her presence as someone imposing. I believe the actress, Marion, had potential and would have been more suited better as the film's villain if she was given more opportunities to be shown more of her character. At least she had enough for exposition but she felt a bit flat.

Overall:

Inception was a terrific film and is, believe it or not, one of the best films of this year. I can't wait until it hits DVD and Blu-ray release. My advice to anyone who goes to see a film like this, go watch it in IMAX theatres. I didn't have a chance to do that but it is worth the experience. This is by far the most fantastic use of mind blowing action since The Matrix or even Equilibrium. While those gratifying pieces built the foundations of imaginary settings, Nolan beats them by looking at the minor details that distinct them from this.

- Written by Kbon

Predators (2010) film review

Review: 2.5 out of 5.

Thank you to all who read here,

I came from my long while of watching films to review the 2010 film, which I had a fair share of little expectations for. After watching the laughing stock that was A-Team based on the famous big television series and the even more expendable mercenaries in a B-movie known as The Expendables, I had decided to review Predators. This Sci-Fi film is a remake of the Predator franchise. So, forget Alien vs Predator (2004) and Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Pretend they never happened, that is exactly what I was told by one of my friends when I was just about to buy tickets at the box office. Those crossovers stink anyway, nothing compared to the first two original films Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990). Let's get down to it.

As per usual, I will break this down into three categories. Those of you who read my past reviews know this, as for those who don't know, they are the "Good", the "Bad" and the "Overall". No, I didn't make a Clint Eastwood reference. Man, you people always spot these Easter Eggs a lot, just kidding. Anyway, Predators (not Predator, notice the "s") is directed by Nimrod Antal and is produced by Robert Rodriguez, the master behind the Spy Kids series and most recently Sin City and Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and is 107 minutes long, a bit of a drag than it needed to be. What is quite interesting is the fact that Rodriguez penned an early draft of a script for Predators more than a decade ago in 1994 before Fox invested with this. In a way, I'm kind of glad they picked the right time to show it. On with the review, I'll get to my bench mark later.

Predators had the Lost feel to it, but that does not necessarily do much for the ratings. When you are shown on the screen in the opening scene, you first meet Royce (Adrien Brody) who literally falls from the sky from only God knows where into a jungle reminiscent to an Amazon. Royce meets up with several other people who have landed in the jungle and turn out to be either hired soldiers of fortune or convicts execpt a doctor. The party includes Cuchillo; a drug lord (Danny Trejo), Nikolai; a Russian soldier (Oleg Taktarov), Isabelle; a sniper from Israel (Alice Braga), Mombasa; RUF officer (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), the skilled Yakuza member; Hanzo, (Louis Ozawa Changchien) death row inmate; Stans (Walton Goggins) and finally the doctor I was talking about, Edwin (Topher Grace). In a space of 15 minutes during the film, it becomes obvious the group is not on the planet they think they are on.

Good:

Before I get to the good bits, let me say that this movie does bring a sense of intrigue. I admit that I was surprised by the level of gore in this film since this is a certificate 15, but that does not really do much for me. There were some little good parts in it that kept me watching like the surprising appearance of our guest actor Laurence Fishburne, but even he did not do well to save this feature in being average. There were some crispy clean visuals as I would expect in a science fiction film of this day and age plus some very snappy dialogue. The Predators themselves were just how I knew of them with their gnawing split mouths and Rasta dreadlocks hidden away by their space helmet/masks. Yes, as ugly as ever. I thank everyone in the costume department for their handiwork. Another great part is the film maker's new take on the extraterrestrial hunting machines, an existence of a new specie of Predator dubbed Super Predators who are larger, more bloodthirsty and do not share that honour the original does. Among other creatures, I will talk about later, there is a feud between those large Predators and the classic ones. I do appreciate the sword fight between Hanzo and one of the Super Predators, but that is really it and was more for entertainment.

Bad:

Predators serves as only a half point between the box office failure and splendor masterpiece of Hollywood films, meaning don't bother waste your time going cinemas just rent it in your local DVD or Blu-ray market. I made a painful and reckless mistake watching this. Nevertheless, I didn't really complain, I mean I had cheap and tasty popcorn. The sweet kind, done just right. The acting was mediocre at best, although, I couldn't believe the factor of Fishburne's rendition of a crazed militant could be so bad. In my mind I was thinking along the lines of "Is he for real?!" but as I placed more popcorn in my mouth I just was shocked at the idea. Fishburne you can do better, man. I will ignore the fact that producers killed off a black man in the most terrible fashion they can think of. The irony is Mombasa (Ali) is not the first but the second target after another non-Caucasian man (Trejo). After more senseless humans getting picked off, a lame plot twist involving the doctor and some brawl with monsters I now come to my final conclusion. My rating fits the picture of another great concept gone to waste.

Overall:

The script is weak in certain places, but it beats A-Team with leaps and bounds. Though it still does not do enough to really pick me apart with their awesome plasma guns, in fact it does not even come close. The acting was okay but Fishburne felt like an extra. Good direction, but poor execution, visuals are standard blockbuster imagery and so is the sound, which sets the creepy air but it takes all of the thrills away and can get boring quite easily. They did a number on the effects budget and relied on references from previous films to catch on. My suggestion is just buy it on DVD and just wait till the ticket sales end. I got another review for you coming in a few weeks and it is [Prototype] the game, which means I have to grab my PS3 pad and start breezing through all the levels. Peace out, fans.

- Written by Kbon