Category: Movies

You Sunk My Battleship!

Apr
16
2012

Battleship

If you haven’t seen the previews already, Hasbro Inc. (that’s right, the board game company) is coming out with the new Battleship movie. I watched the trailer a few weeks ago in theatres, and am curious as to how it’s all going to play out.

I remember playing the board game back in grade school (remember when the electronic talking version came out?). I was always pumped up when I would correctly guess the location of my opponents ships by calling out the alpha-number pairs… especially when they’d not so strategically clump all their ships together in one quadrant of the playing board.

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The fact that Hollywood is basing a movie on a decades old board game, makes me wonder if they’re just strapped for ideas, or damn-near clever for going this creative route. What I’m really curious to see if there will be a Hungry, Hungry Hippo or Operation movie in the near future (I guess with Hollywood, you never know).

The big screen version stars Taylor Kitsch (the hottie, Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine), True Blood‘s Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd, and not-Taken-for-granted Liam Neeson. Of course Universal had to throw in the eye candy that is Brooklyn Decker (Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret anyone?) and barely-there R&B singer Rihanna. I’m sorry, could they not get at least one supporting actress (and I use that term loosely) who could actually act?

Though directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Hancock), I have a strong feeling that the majority of Battleship might be sporting some Michael Bay-type special effects. The film’s already been released overseas, and is set to come to North American audiences on Friday, May 18th, 2012.

I don’t know if I’m as pumped up about this one, like I usually am with sci-fi/action movies. With a giant alien invasion, big guns, modelesque cast and lots of explosions, this is sure going to appeal to many.

I think I’d rather stick some coloured pegs into round, plastic holes.

Get Trained at the “Kingon” Defense Academy

May
07
2009

The latest Star Trek movie hits theatres tonight. It’s time you learn the basics to defending yourself from those large-foreheaded aliens. Check out whenkingonsattack.com for the hilarious “training” video clips part of the latest Burger King campaign. My favourite was the Talaxian Limb Paralysis (a swift kick to the “low orbiting asteroids” and the “typewriter attack” :D ).

As a Trekkie since the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I’m looking forward to this new, younger cast. Hopefully this flick will rejuvenate the series of Star Trek movies, and we can look forward to many more to come! I’ll be seeing the new movie on Saturday (as much as I want to see it tonight). But now I’m really tempted to get some of those collector glasses from BK…

Check out the official Star Trek movie site here.

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Heath Ledger Found Dead in NYC Apartment

Jan
22
2008

Heath Ledger (from MTV.com)Breaking news just now about actor Heath Ledger, star of the upcoming blockbuster The Dark Knight.

This is the story from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK — Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in what authorities say is a possible drug-related death, the NYPD said. He was 28.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told The Associated Press that Mr. Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment that is believed to be his home. The housekeeper who went to let Mr. Ledger know the masseuse was there, and found him dead at 3:26 p.m, Mr. Browne said.

The Australian-born actor was nominated for an Oscar for “Brokeback Mountain,” where he met his wife, actress Michelle Williams, in 2005. Mr. Ledger and Ms. Williams had lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, until they split up last year.

Mr. Ledger’s roles include the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in “Monster’s Ball” and had starring roles in “A Knight’s Tale” and “The Patriot.” He was to appear as the Joker this year in “The Dark Night,” a sequel to 2005’s “Batman Begins.”

Sites like The New York Times mention that it may be drug related. A very unfortunate day for Hollywood and his family which includes his 2-year-old daughter Matilda.

 

 

Review: Cloverfield

Jan
19
2008

Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan and Jessica Lucas in CloverfieldI just got back from watching the highly anticipated J.J. Abrams-produced film Cloverfield. If you’re wondering if it’s worth all the hype and your $11, I think you’ll get you money’s worth. You’ll be highly entertained for 90-minutes, which just happens to be a perfect length for this type of film… any longer and you probably would’ve gotten dizzy from all the hand-held camera action.

Directed by Matt Reeves, Cloverfield starts out almost like a low-budget episode of Friends, with likeable characters, some comedic moments and a touch of drama thrown in. That all changes pretty soon once a loud tremor shakes New York City. What at first seems to be an earthquake is followed by a large explosion and the city’s residents, including Rob (Michael Stahl-David) and his going-away-party-goers to run for their lives. Rob and his friends end up on a mission to save a trapped Beth (Odette Yustman) in her highrise miles away, at the same time trying to beat the clock and catch the last helicopter out of the destructing city.

As for the monster, you’ll be anticipating to see what it looks like after hearing all the roars and screaming. And through the eyes of the handheld video camera held by Rob’s best friend Hud (T.J. Miller), I must admit it looks pretty darn freaky (along with it’s little “friends”). Cloverfield was amazingly shot, taking into consideration it’s Blair Witch Project-esq filming. Makes you wonder just how much post-production work actually went into adding all those special FX into a film that looks like it’s shot on a home video camera… very realistic.

If you haven’t already visited the viral marketing site take a look. And here’s the link for the film’s official site. Note to any Trekkers out there, there’s a short but sweet trailer of the upcoming Star Trek film preceding this movie. Can’t wait! :D

P.S. Stick around until after the credits. ;)

Review: Flash Point

Sep
15
2007

A scene from Flash Point - tiff07.caI managed to get tickets to the Toronto International Film Festival‘s Midnight Madness screening of Wilson Yip‘s Flash Point Thursday night, and it was well-worth the $20. Especially because Yip was present at the screening and fans in the audience got a chance to ask him questions about the film, his work as a director and collaboration with the film’s action director and star Donnie Yen.

Here’s a short synopsis of the film: Honk Kong Police Inspector Jun Ma (Donnie Yen) is one of those cops which has a no-holds-barred sense of ethic when it comes to catching criminals and putting them to justice (while beating them to a pulp if needed). His partner Wilson (Louis Koo) is working undercover trying to go after a trio of blood-thirsty Vietnamese gangsters. When his cover is busted and Wilson turns into a target all hell starts to break loose. And when that happens you know hot-headed Jun Ma is gonna flip out and put a serious throw-down on the bad guys.

Flash Point has one of the most realistic fight choreography that I’ve ever seen in a film. This is mainly due to the action direction of the film’s star, Donnie Yen, who in an email expressing his regrets of not being able to make an appearance at the film’s Toronto International Film Festival debut, clarified his role in the film and his use of mixed martial arts (a fighting system that involves a wide array of martial arts techniques including Jujitsu, wrestling and Muay Thai).

In the first part of the film the plot mainly centers around Louis Koo’s character and his work getting the goods on the bad guys. This sort of narrative isn’t anything innovative: You have the vengeful cop (Donnie Yen), the witness that needs protection (Louis Koo), the girl (Fan Bing-Bing), and the bad guys who threaten the lives of the vengeful cop, the witness and the girl (Colin Chou, Ray Lui and Xing Yu). Flash Point may seem a little light on the action-side for the first two-thirds of the movie (only 87 minutes long), but when the real action starts to take place the wait will be worth it. Especially when Inspector Jun Ma battles the lead villain Tony (Collin Chou from The Matrix Reloaded) in an intense fight sequence. It makes you want to hope that the DVD comes with an extended version.

As a team, director Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen have a most intriguing style, as is evident in their previous work of Sha Po Lang aka Killzone (which I need to get a DVD copy of). Yip’s need to build character development and Yen’s desire for action was one of the most challenging aspects of filming Flash Point according to a Q&A after the film at Toronto’s Ryerson Theatre. But the final product was worthwhile.

If you didn’t get a chance to see Flash Point, or you’re a fan of Hong Kong Cinema and martial arts flicks, make sure your buy or rent a copy when it’s released on September 27th. You’ve probably never seen more realistic action sequences than this before. This film will put all those wire-dependant, stunt-double needed, and special-effects suppressed Hollywood action films to shame.

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