Why So Serious?

The Dark Knight

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, & Morgan Freeman
Genre: Action, Superhero, Crime
Director: Christopher Nolan

Script: It is absolutely brilliant how the Nolan brothers are able to weave a comic superhero adaptation into a serious crime thriller. This is not your usual superhero movie, this is worthy of an Academy Award.
4.5 / 5 stars

Acting: Christian Bale may be the Batman, but the late Heath Ledger is the reason why anyone should watch this movie. While the rest of the star-studded cast is nothing short of being spectacular themselves, this movie is all about how the Joker steals the limelight.
5 / 5 stars

FX: Like all superhero movies, there is no shortage of special effects here. It may be a serious crime drama but the filmmakers are not skimping on the budget. Add the Joker's obsession to explosives here and we have a winner.
4 / 5 stars

Tilt: A superhero action movie, with the thrilling dramatic tone of a dark crime story. An ensemble of well known veteran actors with Heath Ledger in what is undeniably his best performance. There is no losing combination here.
5 / 5 stars

Overall:
5 / 5 stars

The Good: This is possibly the best Batman movie (for now, fingers crossed for a sequel), and the best Joker incarnation ever.
The Bad: The Joker just seems to be able to plant his huge stockpile of bombs everywhere and anywhere. Or perhaps this is just a "super"villain at work.
The Ugly: We probably will not see a better villain than this Joker for a very long, long time.

Postscript: There is a text dedicating the movie to Heath Ledger and technician Conway Wickliffe (killed during a stunt scene) halfway through the end credits.
Censorship*: None noticeable.

*Malaysian viewers only.

Indiana Jones returns

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Starring: Harrison Ford, Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, & Karen Allen
Genre: Action, Adventure
Director: Steven Spielberg

Script: There are certain parts of the screenplay that seem a bit outlandish, but generally able to incorporate the Indiana Jones trademark action adventure and humour quite well.
4 / 5 stars

Acting: The casts are all veterans and need no introduction. Ford has never been more comfortable at any other role, and Blanchett as usual is fabulous at whatever role she plays. Even rising star Shia LaBeouf manages to shine here despite the presence of these megastars.
4 / 5 stars

FX: In a departure from previous Indiana Jones films, a lot of CGI are used here. Some hardcore fans may strongly oppose this blasphemous invasion of modern technology, but it is all for a good cause.
3.5 / 5 stars

Tilt: The movie uses the same old recipe that makes the Indiana Jones franchise such a huge success, and it still works for today's audience. Add in the nostalgic factor and it's a guaranteed adventure of a lifetime.
4 / 5 stars

Overall:
4 / 5 stars

The Good: A film that stars Harrison Ford, directed by Steven Spielberg, with the words Indiana Jones in its title. Good enough?
The Bad: An older looking Ford may not be able to draw female crowds like he used to.
The Ugly: The plot device may still be of archaeological origin to keep in line with the Indiana Jones theme, but a certain element of it (can't write it here due to spoiler) is bound to make some fans go "WHAT?"

Censorship*: None noticeable.

*Malaysian viewers only.

The Sun is dying...

Sunshine

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mark Strong, Benedict Wong, & Michelle Yeoh
Genre: Science Fiction
Director: Danny Boyle

Script: Don't let the posters and trailers fool you, this movie is not another clone of Armageddon ala The Core. Instead, it has the potential to become 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unfortunately, halfway through the movie, the script degrades into a slasher movie.
3 / 5 stars

Acting: There's a lot of familiar faces here, but all of them are mediocre at best, with the exception of maybe Cillian Murphy who has more screen time than the others.
3 / 5 stars

FX: Do not expect high budgeted explosions like other movies taking place in space, but overall the special effects are convincing enough and pretty much well done.
3.5 / 5 stars

Tilt: The momentum and buildup of a potential cult story sort of crashed to an irrecoverable halt midway through the movie.
2 / 5 stars

Overall:
3 / 5 stars

The Good: If you can forgive the flaws of the latter half of the movie, this movie really reminds you of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The Bad: The u-turn of the script, and some cast have too little screen time to develop a bond between them and the viewers.
The Ugly: As if a u-turn is not bad enough, the u-turn leads you straight into a ravine.

Potential Censorship*: There isn't any excessive scenes of any kind, so censorship should be minimal if there is going to be any.

*Malaysian viewers only.

A Tale of Nanu and Seela

Arctic Tale

Starring: Nanu & Seela
Genre: Documentary
Director: Sarah Robertson

Script: Generally the way the producers decide to focus solely on the life of the two animals, Nanu the Polar Bear and Seela the Walrus, is a well tested method of making documentaries. It's nothing new, but hey, it works.
3 / 5 stars

Acting: There's no acting here, everything is real. So I'm not going to give points here based on 'acting', but more towards how the producers shoot the animals in accordance to the 'script'.
3 / 5 stars

FX: Well, there's no need for special effects here. But the cinematography of the natural Arctic places is very well done. It's amazing how they capture all these and I cannot say anything but respect for all the time that must have been used for the perfect shots.
3.5 / 5 stars

Tilt: If you like March of the Penguins, you'll like this one. It's more of the same, really.
3 / 5 stars

Overall:
3 / 5 stars

The Good: This documentary is a must-watch especially if you are a big fan of documentaries and animals. Even if you are not, it may be worthwhile just to see how life is in the harsh frozen Arctic, and how global warming is severely affecting it.

The Bad: There aren't really much life in the Arctic, so the movie's compendium of animals is quite limited.

The Ugly: If you have seen March of the Penguins, you may feel repetitious watching this one, as are most documentaries.

Potential Censorship*: There's no human at all in the entire film, and as far as I know, our censorship board never censor anything else that's not related.

*Malaysian viewers only.

The Disks of Mishakal

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Lucy Lawless, Michael Rosenbaum, & Michelle Trachtenberg
Genre: Animation, Fantasy
Director: Will Meugniot

Script: While the producers did manage to tell the whole story of the book into a 1.5 hours movie, they did so with a lot of rush. Scenes are jumped from one to another, leaving no room for the characters to build their own attachment to the viewers.
2 / 5 stars

Acting: Voice acting are pretty average, probably just because there aren't much script to go around in the first place. Sutherland's Raistlin is a bit overdone, while Lawless fail to stand out from the crowd.
2.5 / 5 stars

FX: The decision to mix both old school animation and CGI is a disaster. The two don't merge well together, and the CGI is not up to today's standard at all.
2 / 5 stars

Tilt: Nothing new here. Just another retelling adaptation from a legendary novel into a seemingly low budgeted cartoon. (I wonder how much they paid Sutherland for this?)
2 / 5 stars

Overall:
2 / 5 stars

The Good: Well finally we have a Dragonlance movie. Good to see the companions on the screen for once.

The Bad: Like the Golden Compass, a lot of scenes are shortened considerably to make the final cut due to on-screen time constrain. Didn't LOTR teach these guys anything?

The Ugly: With the first movie below par, this does not bode well for the next two in the trilogy.

Potential Censorship*: Being a pretty mild animation despite being of fantasy nature, there probably won't be anything needing censorship.

*Malaysian viewers only.

Did you see that?!

Cloverfield

Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, & T.J. Miller
Genre: Action
Director: Matt Reeves

Script: It's a monster movie, but it's also a tale of what-if this happens to you. Putting the viewer into the perspective of just another average joe instead of some hero.
3.5 / 5 stars

Acting: Pretty much unknown actors & actresses, I guess you just have to use them to achieve the handycam effect. However, they do carry themselves pretty well.
3.5 / 5 stars

FX: Despite the fact you don't really see much of the chaos, what little you see is pretty much big budgeted and you certainly won't feel like you're missing out.
4 / 5 stars

Tilt: A fresh new approach towards what is to-be a typical monster movie.
4 / 5 stars

Overall:
4 / 5 stars

The Good: In a way the movie lives up to its viral marketing hype. The monster is pretty unique and not like anything you have seen or expecting. The handycam style puts a surreal effect into viewers, turning a supposedly 'just another monster movie' into an emotional experience of survival.

The Bad: Since the viewpoint is entirely from a handycam, you won't get to see a lot of what you'd really like to.

The Ugly: Beware if you are prone to motion sickness.

Censorship*: None noticable.

*Malaysian viewers only.

There was a barber and his wife

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, & Sacha Baron Cohen
Genre: Musical
Director: Tim Burton

Script: It's based on a myth, so there's really nothing much to tell here. Still, the way the movie intertwines the different characters together while incooperating the songs gives the script some respect.
3.5 / 5 stars

Acting: The casts are no stranger to anyone. You have the magnificento Depp, Bonham Carter, Professor Snape, and even Borat. But you will still be in for a surprise when you see them sing.
4.5 / 5 stars

FX: There isn't really much need for special effects here, just what little is required to achieve that past century look of London.
3 / 5 stars

Tilt: When is the last time you have seen a musical about a serial killer?
4 / 5 stars

Overall:
4 / 5 stars

The Good: Here I have to mention the casts again. Depp proves his flexibility of acting at another uniquely different role yet again. And who would've expected we'll ever see Professor Snape sing?

The Bad: The songs in the movie all share the same music, it's just the lyrics that change. But that's not exactly a really bad thing because they (the lyrics) are all very innovative and guaranteed to tick that sense of humour in you.

The Ugly: Well, like most musical, there is not really much space to expand on the story. It is a pretty straight forward story, in which case if this is not a musical the movie probably will only be an hour long.

Censorship*: Nothing excessive that can derail the movie. Mostly only the exact moments when Todd slits the throats of his victims. Imagine the before and after scenes of - Razor at neck - Victim bleeding compulsively from slitted throat.

*Malaysian viewers only.

The Lurker Below

Just an update from my adventures in the World of Warcraft... The Lurker Below has finally been killed! Onward!

Hong Kong

So on the early morning of the 16th of August, I prepared to hop on the plane to Macau. After a 2 hours flight delay and a rough ferry ride from Macau, I present to you...

HONG KONG!

DAY 1

Didn't do much, checked in to the hotel, ate some Wanton Mee (sorry no pics, was too famished) and received a call from Uncle Jason that he's on route to fetch us to the much promised seafood feast...

"Hoi Sin Tou" - English translation "Seafood Island". Well technically it's not really an island, but then again it was raining and too dark to really see the surrounding. But who cares... What's important is we can see...

THIS! Lots and lots of live seafood awaiting to be served for our pleasure. Sounds cruel, yea well that's life.

Our first dish is nothing really special - Prawns.

Here comes our second dish... Fried cuttlefish/squid/sotong whatever you call them. Very very crunchy to our delight.

This dish is one of the highlights of the night. Cheesed lobsters! There's also noodles underneath all those cheesy goodness that's not seen in this picture.

I don't know what's this called... Bamboo clam or something. It's pretty common in Malaysia as well but these are well, much larger.

No need for introduction here, CRABS! Cooked with ginger.

The customary vegetable dish.

The customary soup. Tastes like the soup from the usual fish head noodles, but much tastier.

What's a seafood fiesta without fish?

And what's chinese dinner without rice? (as usual in all other major chinese dinner, we are not able to finish the rice and have to 'ta pao')

Ok this is not part of the menu, but we brought along some durian for desserts.

But damn we're greedy... We still went to a dessert shop for more dessert. This here is some ice cream mixed with... Something. Gilman ordered.

This is some chocolate mousse thingy that taste like Tiramisu. It's chillin' cold and FOUR of us ordered it. (well, most of us can't read chinese and we just ordered what Uncle ordered)

Some fruits with... Again something. Danny ordered.

DAY 2

Supposed to go to some fancy restaurant for some sumptious Dim Sum, but unfortunately we woke up too early and the restaurant is not opened yet. So Hazel brought us to...

The Sphaghetti House!

Apparently a pretty popular chain of pasta restaurants, I actually think I saw more outlets than McDonald's. Anyway, onward to the food!

This is the seafood pasta me and my wifey ordered.

It's a set meal, so it comes with a complimentary asparagus-scallop soup. Very nice. (insert Borat emoticon here)

Another variant of seafood pasta... I forgot who ordered.

I don't... Even remember what is this.

Same goes for this one.

Our second dish (yes the set meal actually consists of 2 main course), some Italian dumpling like thingy... Forgot what's it called. There's black and white dumplings, filled with some lobster meat and other seafood.

Some dish Kin Wah ordered.

Kin Wah's dessert.

So after our brunch, we split and went our separate ways. Hazel and Ken went to some AV (audio-video, not the other AV), Kin Wah and Gil went to Disneyland, and me and Stella went to...

TA-DA!

Nice bunch of flamingoes welcoming us to the park.

A view of the southern Hong Kong skyline on the way to the peak of Ocean Park. Unfortunately, shortly after this picture was taken...

A signal 8 typhoon basically means everyone have to "go home". Shops will be closed. Ocean Park is no exception. Well we still managed to rush through the Underwater World section although we're unable to visit the much touted Jellyfish World (or something) because the queue is still drastically long despite the typhoon warning.

Ah well, after queueing for an hour or so for the bus back to the MTR station, we met up with Kin Wah and Gil (Disneyland was also closed but at least they got their tickets refunded... I didn't /cry) and went to have a stroll along the Avenue of Stars.
Avenue of Stars is where most people view the skyline of Hong Kong city. The wind is still very strong in this part of Hong Kong although the signal 8 typhoon was supposed to have passed by 2 hours ago.

There are a lot of decorations along this avenue, like these statues here.

They even have Hollywood style stars on the pedestrian walkway, but of course only chinese entertainers are honored here.

And no homage to chinese entertainment is to be without a statue of the infamous martial artist, the one and only Bruce Lee.

More statues.

We actually strolled until the evening settled in...

Excuse the blurry pics cause I didn't have a tripod.

Ah well, somewhat a wasted day. All those walking and queueing and getting blown by the wind made us tired and we retired early.

DAY 3

Today we went to...

Okay sorry this pic is a bit blur... Let me climb up the stairs a bit.

Namo Amitabha! The Big Buddha!

A view down the hundred steps I took, from the top.

Some statues around the Big Buddha.

A view of the giant statue from the side.

Customary main sign picture.

Some giant incense pot (it's fake of course).

The 'monastery' nearby. I was expecting a more ancient type of temple... This looks like a regular temple to me.

The "free snack" that we got (as part of the ticket to see the Big Buddha). Some fried meehoon, tau foo far, and pastries. All vegetarian, duh.

No chinese temple is to be without a turtle statue (what's with chinese temples and turtles anyway?).

We went to meet up with Gil and Kin Wah afterwards who were shopping around Times Square... And I found one of my "must visit shop"...

KRISPY KREME!!!1 !!!1one!11

Simply super delicious! The original glaze is fantastic but Stella thinks it's too sweet. The doughnut at the lower right is labelled as "Simpsons Movie Doughnut", but it tastes just like regular strawberry coating.

Anyway night time came (how time flies when you're in Hong Kong!) and we went for dinner at some fancy chinese restaurant by the name of Jade Kitchen... Recommended by Danny.

I think this is beef.

Some winter melon soup (exotically double steamed using an actual winter melon as casing).

Taufu!

Prawns (again).

Egg custard or something like that.

Long beans?

Some fried rice (another "tapao" case).

Tastes like chicken.

Day 4


The next morning (this is the day of our departure back to KL) we went straight to the famous "sweetheart cake" a.k.a "lou poh peng" shop to savour some of the pastry.
Best eaten when served right out of the oven. Yummy!

Not much time to waste, a little bit of shopping and off to the ferry harbour we go!

Back to Macau!

Some "authentic" Portuguese Egg Tarts we ate at the airport food court (uber expensive food there btw).

So that's all, folks! Sorry for the very brief description of this journey (and the food and the pictures and whatever) but it's sort of 4.30pm now in office and I have to pack up and prepare to go home now... Adios!