Who'll Be Watching The Watchmen?

Incidentally, here's the first trailer for Watchmen, which is being shown prior to the screenings of The Dark Knight. Watchmen is frequently referred to as the best graphic novel of all time. Heck, It's even included in Time Magazine's 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present... the only comic book included in that list! Plus, Zack Snyder ---the same guy who directed 300, directed the film! Certainly it won't be as good as the source material, but I'm pretty sure it's still going to be awesome.



Yup, it's already on my must see movies in 2009 list. :)

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

"Holy fuckin' shit, Batman. The Dark Knight really lived up to the hype!"

Man. I can count the number of times I've been this blown away after watching a movie with the fingers on one hand. The first time was when I saw American Beauty nine years ago. I felt the same way after watching Frailty, Memento, Batman Begins, and now--- The Dark Knight.

Fine... call me extremely BIASED. Because I'm such a huge Batman fanboy. Add the fact that I'm also a huge fan of Christopher Nolan. Alright, the film isn't perfect. The transition on some scenes doesn't flow so smoothly, and if you have short attention span you might find several scenes confusing, dull, or even boring. For action fans, the fight scenes aren't really that intense--- the camera is way too close for you to appreciate the action. For the ultra conservative, okay... the film may be too violent for a PG rated motion picture. For those with nyctophobia, yeah--- some scenes are way too dark. And for the ultra fanboys--- yeah, the movie isn't 100% faithful to the source material. But I never said the film was perfect. A movie doesn't have to be perfect for it to be considered excellent. A movie based on a comic book doesn't have to be 100% faithful to be considered spectacular. For once, a movie did live up to all that hype--- something I didn't expect since I was way too psyched to watch this film, my excitement level practically reached high heavens. I firmly believe that anyone who'll say that this movie is awful aren't capable of distinguishing great movies from crappy movies. There's so much going on onscreen, one viewing may not be enough to really appreciate it. There are a lot of symbolisms and allusions, you'd still be thinking about the things you have seen hours after watching the movie. Clearly, this in not JUST a comic book movie, it's so much more. The word EPIC seems to be an inappropriate word to describe a comic book movie, but in this case, no other word seems to be more fitting.

Definitely 5 stars out of 5!... wait a minute...

make that 10 stars out of 5! :)

Batman: Gotham Knight

Batman: Gotham Knight is the third direct to video release from Warner Premier, the first two being Superman: Doomsday and Justice League: The New Frontier. This film was heavily promoted as a bridge between Batman Begins and its impending sequel, The Dark Knight--- a transitional story of sort. Obviously, this is an attempt to cash in on the anticipation for the sequel's imminent release, very similar to The Animatrix, another direct to video animated film that was released when the Matrix fever was at its peak in 2003. But whereas The Animatrix was a genuine attempt to answer questions and tie up loose ends--- and it did accomplish those goals, Gotham Knight does none of that. The six animated shorts do not really seem to be related to the Batman universe that Christopher Nolan has created. They don't even tie up loose ends from the first movie. Another blatant example of false advertising at its finest. Bridge between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight my ass.

To really appreciate this film, one should take it for what it really is. It's not a transitional story made to bridge the gap between the two films. Granted, the events shown could have happened in the time period between the two movies, but the time line is so vague that the events could have happened at anytime during Batman's life... and since they don't actually contribute anything to enrich the storyline in the first movie, nor do they foreshadow events that would happen in the sequel, it's misleading to refer to this film as transitional. The six animated shorts are simply glimpses in the life of the title character. That doesn't make it bad. For one thing, the animation is top notch. Different teams were assigned to each chapter (featuring top anime creators from Japan!), and although each style is remarkably different from the other, not one chapter was haphazardly done. They created the perfect blend of Japanese and American styles of animation. It's pretty obvious that a lot of effort was made to deliver what we see onscreen. Top writers were recruited to create the storyline for each chapter. While this seemed like a perfect idea on paper, these writers seemed to find it difficult to tell a story that would make a lasting impression. With just 10-15 minutes allotted for each story, who could blame them? The whole film runs for only 76 minutes... it would have been better if they just made each episode longer. The short stories are self contained, and when taken individually, some are pretty boring, but the better chapters, namely chapters 4 and 6, more than make up for them. It's not perfect--- the Batman Animated series shown in the 90's featured more compelling stories, but I would say this is still an above average effort (unlike the previous animated video release from Warner Premiere). Every casual viewer would most probably find something to like. As for Batman fans, this film is enough to whet their appetites a bit before all hell breaks loose when The Dark Knight is released... and that's only 5 days away from today! WOO-HOO!!!

I Am Movie Critic

It's funny how we base our judgment on what we see initially, even before we have the opportunity to judge something in it's entirety. Nope this isn't going to be one of my incredibly pensive, overly somber and dramatic entries. I'm talking about movies! As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite past times when I'm bored is pretending to be a critic. LOL. It's that time of year again, and the Hollywood popcorn movie machine is now on overdrive.

Based on movie trailers I've seen this year, the summer movies that I said I was definitely going to see were Ironman, Hancock, and The Dark Knight. Wanted wasn't one of them. The Movie trailer just wasn't interesting enough--- it looked as boring as Wall-E. Also, the premise looked a little too similar to The Matrix. Even the title of the movie sounded very ordinary.... but because of good word of mouth, I decided to give this film a try--- and I'm very glad I did!

I haven't been blown away by the action scenes and special effects I see on screen ever since The Matrix. Yeah, there was Batman Begins--- but the action scenes in that movie were more straightforward, while the action scenes in Wanted were so slick and stylish--- for lack of a better term, that I couldn't help but stare. There are enough twists and unexpected events to keep you glued to the screen. There's even clever humor to let audiences take a breather from all that action.

There's a lot of action scenes, tons of explosions, tons of blood spilled, there are lots of casualties, and the film even has a killer soundtrack--- what more can you ask in an action movie? This is the best popcorn movie Hollywood has churned out this summer, and it's definitely the action movie to beat this year. 5 stars out of 5!

on the other hand...

I really wanted to see Hancock based on the trailers they've been showing, and I just watched the movie earlier today. Will Smith stars as a drunken, filthy, irresponsible person gifted with superpowers. That doesn't really fit the superhero profile, does it? With such a premise, Hancock had the huge potential to go beyond the usual summer blockbuster movie fare. It could have offered a glimpse inside the mind of a protagonist we're not accustomed to--- the anti-hero character, dissecting his thoughts, his aspirations, his motivations. It could have been an effective deconstruction of the superhero mythos that we've all grown familiar with--- that superheroes aren't perfect; when their powers are taken away, they're just like the rest of us, each with his own nuances, imperfections, idiosyncrasies. Heck, It could have been an in depth study into the human psyche. It did start out strong, and for the first third of the movie you'd think it would live up to that potential--- but somewhere along the way, it flounders. It seems as if the filmmakers didn't really know which direction to take, and it is very evident onscreen. In the end, instead of being extraordinary, Hancock is nothing but ordinary. 3 stars out of 5.

The Dark Knight is Upon Us

Here's the latest, and so far--- the best trailer for The Dark Knight (courtesy of Domino's Pizza! LOL). I can no longer quantify the amount of excitement I have for this movie. Early reviews describe the movie as phenomenal, and I hope my lofty expectations are met. Christopher Nolan has never let me down before, and I'm sure that once again, he's going to deliver. July 18 is almost here and I'm definitely going to be one of those people who are first in line at the IMAX theater! :D