Thanks to Eyeris who managed to source a pair of extra tickets for Iron Man last night, I got to watch this show before the official release this weekend. Before you ask, the movie is awesome and totally kick ass, you have to watch it when it comes out this weekend. Now lets proceed to a bit of a “review” that might or might not contain spoilers, read at your own risk.

Tony Stark’s first armour

For those who didn’t grow up with American comics (ie: me, I was reading Chinese version of Doraemon and Lau Fu Tze), Iron Man has his super power not via genetic mutation nor being born on some other planet. Instead, somewhat like Bruce Wayne in Batman, Tony Stark is an industrialist who archive superpower-hood via his engineering brilliance. If you haven’t figured it out, he built the freaking armour that allows him to fly, shoot people, carry heavy loads, etc etc.

2nd version in the making

The story doesn’t stray very far from the typical superhero movies, with the introduction of the main character as an ordinary person to the transformation that makes him a superhero to the final fight with the super villain. The difference is, of course, Robert Downy Jr. fits the profile of Tony Stark perfectly, and Gwyneth Paltrow played a brilliant role in being Pepper Potts.

awesome or not?

Then there’s the absolutely awesome CG that blends it perfectly while bringing the awe factor not any less than Transformers. You’ll love the movie, watch it!

the enemy, iron monger

Tags:  comics,  Gwyneth Paltrow,  iron,  iron man,  ironman,  movie,  preview,  review,  Robert Downy Jr.

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

I received the invitation to the premier of Dunia Baru the Movie from the PR lady Nuradila (Thanks! Keep them coming) at Grand Brilliance about a week ago. Initially I didn’t think I would be going to the movie, cos 1st, it is a local production (many of them aren’t very entertaining), and 2nd, it is also my badminton night.

However, things in life usually turns out the way you never knew it would. Due to fact that I need to steal Suanie’s car for CNY, and that she wanted to catch the show, I ended up ditching badminton. BUT, before the movie starts, the Suan actually thought it might be a great idea if we skip the whole show and have a big dinner instead. I told her to be nice and just watch it in full.

We were both pleasantly surprised by our collective decisions at the end. Dunia Baru was just so entertaining!

Dunia Baru the Movie

The movie is actually based on a massively popular TV series by the same name on TV3 about life in college/university. In the movie, Anizah was being kidnapped by a stalker, her university friends then ganged together and traveled a long way to rescue her. 90% of the show is about their adventure, with a lot of funny bits and a few heart warming moments.

I particularly like the performance and character of the rocky chick, played by Elyana. A very strong character who also sings very well.

The stars of the movie (shot with my N82)

The movie does show a parallel to one of my favorite comedy, Eurotrip. With a lot of almost lame but very funny bits. I was laughing my butt off on so many instances it was ridiculous. The soundtrack was awesome, and sceneries very beautiful. Of course, production quality and sound quality suffers a little, but luckily they did not get into the way of me enjoying the movie.

The cool thing was, all the stars were seated just a few rows behind me during the screening!

Give this local show a try, I must say I am impressed. Much better than I am Legend that’s for sure.

Tags:  dunia baru,  gsc,  movie,  screening

Posted by KY | 11 Comments »

Death Note: The Last Name

Thanks to the young lady Reta who gave me some premier tickets to this fantastic show, I wouldn’t have gone to watch Death Note otherwise, especially after the horrid experience with the last Japanese show I watched in the cinema - Forbidden Siren.

In a nutshell, the story revolves around a brilliant student (Light) who picked up a death note that was dropped by a Shinigami (Death God). If a name is written in the book, the person will die in the next 40 seconds. Light wanted to get rid of evil and started using the book to kill off convicted criminals, gaining a reputation as Kira. But since he was taking justice solely from his own judgment, the police soon recruited the help of a famous detective, L, to stop Kira. The two then tries to outsmart each other, Light trying to kill L, and L trying to figure out who is Kira and to catch him.

The movie actually takes off from where the first one left off. If you did not watch the first Death Note (corresponding to anime series 1-7), the second (the rest of the anime) would still be very good, but might be a little confusing at first. Grab a DVD of the first Death Note, then go to the cinema for the 2nd.

This is by far the best non-anime Japanese movies I have ever watched. An interesting premise with a very smart story line full of brilliant twists. The ending might be a little dark, I get the feeling like I did while watching arguably last year’s best show - The Prestige. Go watch it, it’s awesome.

This movie currently gets 7.1/10 at imdb, and you can find a lot more information at wikipedia:Death Note.

Tags:  Death-Note,  L,  light,  shinigami,  The-Last-Name

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

Thanks to the invite by Sultan Muzaffar, I got the invite to watch Cinta the movie, a local production. Since FA and Suan wrote some lengthy reviews on this movie, I’m gonna try something else, here goes haiku.

Cinta, the movie
first Malay flick
I watched in cinema
it was a premier

five stories in one
many angles of affections
with ups and downs
an emotional roller coaster

some actings were great
some were a bit KAYUish
but overall
it was not bad at all

some shots were awesome
like postcards and pictures
but some sound and lightings
were not too impressive

I did not yawn
nor got bored
it was a flick
very much worth seeing

the movie opens
on 30th November
catch it on cinema
you will be surprised

side note:
One of the producers actually recognized yours truly and said something like “I recognize some of you but you don’t know who I am. I can see Suanie, Fireangel, and KY” before showing the movie. It was a bit awkward but I’ll take it as a vote of confidence. Thanks Tengku!

Also, Ally Iskandar is an awesome emcee. Hire him on your wedding or something.

Other reviews by Mimpi Pari & lyanna

Tags:  cinta,  haiku,  malay,  movie,  review

Posted by KY | 14 Comments »

It’s been a while since I last saw a good movie. I went to catch The Prestige at the cinemas without really knowing (refused to read it online) what the whole deal is about other than it scores rather high (currently 8.2/10) on imdb.

The movie is about the story of two magicians (well, actually more than two, but I shall not give you the spoilers) who were initially friends but ultimately became bitter rivals. They are being played by the Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Christian Bale (Batman Begins), two ex-superheros who are pretty super in their performances in this movie. There are also the always excellent Michael Caine and the easy-on-the-eyes Scarlett Johansson.

Well, you can read dozens of excellent “traditional” reviews on imdb (the link above) and many other sites, hence, to separate from the others, I will show you the graphical representation of the story line without giving you the spoilers instead.

very representative, no?

So, the above graphic basically means that the movie, as does magic, is broken into 3 parts:

The pledge, where the promise is being given (in this case, a good movie). The turn, the magician performing the trick, showing something extraordinary (some confusion and interesting plot lines seemingly leading to nowhere). And ultimately, the prestige, where everything comes together with all the twists and turns…. or something like that.

Anyway, it’s a good movie, go watch it. Here’s the trailers.

Tags:  christian-bale,  hugh-jackman,  michael-caine,  movie,  review,  Scarlett-Johansson,  the-prestige

Posted by KY | 12 Comments »