The Avengers

the Avengers. Pirated DVD lang ang atake.

Saktong-saktong-sakto na walang lang.

Genre: Adventure, War, Aliens, Super Hero

Watched it on the second day. Pero ngayon lang ako nakareact. Perfect movie adaptation of a comic book. Saktong action, saktong set-up, saktong drama. Sakto lahat ng characters. At ang nasabi ko nga sa nagtanong sa meeting kung maganda ba daw ang Avengers. Oo, pero huwag nang umasang ma-nominate as best picture sa Oscar.

Avengers talaga ang favorite kong Marvel Comics mula pa noong bata ako. Matagal ko na siguro nasabi ito. At iyun na lang. I love the movie. perfectly satisfied. I am planning to watch it again.

Ito na lang. Some AHA moments.

1. Love it when Iron Man refer to Hawkeye (howki) as Legolas and other references.

 

2. Before i read that the unnamed alien in the film was Thanos, i thought it was Kang.

3. Even Hulk cannot lift Thor’s Hammer, but he can do a Spongebob/Tom&Jerry/Looney Tune beating to the god Loki. Ansaya nung sound of pain ni Loki after that scene. ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

4. Captain America being a veteran soldier, unintentionally became the leader, but his catch phrase was not uttered. Maybe they were waiting for his leadership to be formalized. But he did say, “Hulk, SMASH!”

5. Black Widows tale of Hawkeye could be a movie.

6. Loki’s first act of brutality gave a hint of darkness in the film. But it was very much toned down after that. (Nandukot ng mata? Pambata?)

7. The A in the Avengers Building was the A in “Stark” But i’m sure that just like the X-Men, they have an Avengers Mansion.

8. Gwyneth Paltrow was not in the credits. Jane Foster was seen as a poster, i mean a picture on a screen. War Machine was not around (he is from Avengers West Coast after all). No Ant-Man or Wasp. Spider Man was rumored to have a cameo in the second Avengers movie.

9. The Alien Species that attacked were supposed to be the Skrulls, if they were not owned by Fox. The producers opted for the Redacted, instead.

10. SHIELD’s headquarters was awesome

Here are more posters

Iron Man and the Hulk

Captain America and Hawkeye

Hawkeye and the Hulk

Nick Fury and SHIELD

Thor and Black Widow

Black Widow and Captain America

and for more fun, just like in the Philippines

avengers

Battleship

Battleship

Best movie so far

Genre: Adventure, War, Aliens

Given that one they are bragging that this is one from the producers of Transformers, expect a lot of Transformers elements. More than the robot-like ships, the characterizations are simply tweaked versions of the Transformer. But after that sunk in, the movie becomes far different from Transformers. It has transformed.

1. They have played wittily on the “Battleship” brand. They seventy year old “Battleship” from the second world war in display, and was eventually used when the “Destroyers” were destroyed. Then comes the game of “Battleship” one of Hasbro’s products, which was, i believe, intelligently positioned in the film.

2. No bored moment.

3. The starts is reminiscent of the latest Star Trek.

4. The aliens, the technology, the people’s  reaction made me think that everything was possible. No overly dramatic moment. No overly campy humor.

5. The Earth was saved not solely by an American but with Asians. Okay na yun.

6. Rihanna was sexy. She was good. She was not over done. She was wearing a cap. And it was only when i went home that i felt that i would have wanted to see more of her in the film.

7. The ending ending was unnecessary but it was okay.

8. I love the film. couldn’t say more. I would want to watch it again.

more posters here

Taylor Kitsch

Alexander Skarsgard

Liam Neeson

Alien

Rihanna

Other character who should have had their own posters are

Tadaku Asano

Tadanobu Asano

and the Sports Illustrated model Brooklyn Decker. We can indulge on her for a while

Brooklyn Decker

Brooklyn Decker

Brooklyn Decker

Brooklyn Decker

Bagong Piso

Just got my first new 1 peso coin.

Front

Iyun, maliit pa rin naman siya, Pero unlike before, ang Republika ng Pilipinas at ang mga taon of existence ng concept ni Jose Rizal sa magkabilang side na ng mukha ni Doc. Medyo mas chubby si Rizal ngayon, medyo pinagsamang look nina Lapu-lapu at Tandang Sora at Apolinarion Mabini ang peg. Ganyan. Not that I’ve seen them in real life.

Back

Medyo pang Olympics or SEAGames ang atake nitong sa likod. Ang modern ng look na ito in the year 2012. Malinis at crisp ang pagkakagawa. KAtulad din ng front view, maliit pa rin siya. Singliit ng front.

Salamat nga pala kay Kemo at ibinigayniya sa akin ito kahapon. Akala, binibigyan niya ako ng token para yayain sa Worlds of Fun.

Wrath of the Titans

wrath of the titans

Some families are too powerful that their squabbles affect not just the lives of their neighbors but of the neighboring planets.

Genre: Adventure, Mythology.

Stick lang sila sa kwento nang three generations ng mga lalaki na kailangang buwagin ang pinakamatanda sa kanila, else magugulo ang universe. Yes, Universe. Hindi nakakapagod. Mabilis. Yeah!

The production design was simple and the animation was clean.

Similar to the Hunger Games, they followed the point of view of the lead. This time Perceus, at swerte naman, hindi na sila naligaw. Enough action, enough drama, enough values. Just enough. Acting-wise, wala namang expectations. So go na. Hayaan na natin ang mga bata sa ginagawa nila. Hayaan na natin ang best moments kina Ralph Fienes at Liam Neeson.

Though it was very sexist, puro lalaki lang ang makapangyarihan sa mundo. Mula kay Great Grand Father Kronos. Kina Daddy Zeus at Tito Hades and Tito Poseidon. Of course, the hero Daddy Perceus,  Uncle Ares and Uncle Hephaestus and the demi god Uncle Agenor. to the apo sa tuhod, Helius. Though, ibigay na natin na they had a Queen, Queen Andromeda instead of a king.

Enough ang mga in-intorduce na characters.

Minotaur, CHimera, Makhai and Kronos

Wala sa picture ang Cyclops. Astig yung Chimera, dahil yung dragon heads niya ay medyo researched-base. May 2-headed dragons talaga dati na yung isang head ay bumubuga ng liquid while the other head provides the fire. Napatunayan yan sa movie na How to Train Your Dragon na isa din sa mga favorites ko. Kahit na ulo ng goat at lion ang chimera, mas gusto ko na itong dragons. The Makhai was new. Ang galing din.

Malungkot lang ang ending, dahil kahit mukhang okay na ang lahat, at iniwan na nila ang love story sa dulo para hindi makagulo sa kwento, namatay ang mga gods, at ang natira, naging mortal. It became hopeless. Take away the gods, and you take away the beliefs and fate. And to follow to these is hope.

This is a movie  that i will watch again if it premiere again in the cable channels or in the DVD. But it is not the kwentuhan sa kanto type. To be fair, it was so much better than the Clash of the Titans. Hindi na ito nag-try mag-broaden ng market by putting so much Disney Adventure like Prince of Persia. Or displaying unnecessary body parts because sex sells. There’s none of that. Pero sa mga gusto, ito na lang.

Rosamund Pike plays the role of Andromeda. You might cast her as White Queen sa X-Men, pero hindi siya si Emma Frost. More of Miranda Frost from one of the 90s James Bond Film.

Rosamund Pike

not emma frost, but miranda frost

And finally, ang almost hubad na sa movie na Avatar. Sam Worthington. Na patunay na “hair grows.”

dati siyang long hair, tapos nagpakalbo. Tapos sa movie ngayon, wow, nag-main and tail.

And if you want to see more of him. Ito na ang pa-goodbye photo

Mockingjay

suzanne collins' mockingjay

Book: Adventure. Romance. Post-Apocalyptic. 2nd of a Trilogy

Unfulfilled promises.

It carried the momentum of Catching Fire, however, the story dwindled down to the most boring part which, in the story framework is called the climax.

Maybe because Katniss’ character had not learned anything from the previous books. Participating in the Quarter Quell was questionable but acceptable. But when she still acted as directed in the final book, her character became weak. Yes, other than the rebellion, the books glue was it’s reality show handle. But Katniss would have been traumatized by camera’s following her. She would have despised the media which was an arm of the warring parties. The writer could have thought of better ways of catching Katniss on film/video in the story.

Speaking of weakness. She died and got resurrected twice. Talk about running out of devices. Katniss will die. Then she’ll wake up. Somehow, what happened to her will be narrated. This style closed the second book, when Katniss was rescued from the arena to the processes that followed. Doing another two of should be a crime.

Peeta. I loved what they did to Peeta, but…

Making him an unstable time bomb was a great twist. Katniss living with him will always be a danger. However, the big but, this was not properly used. His crisis could be played around in so many creative ways. Yet that was just a start. It was Katniss’ move in line with Peeta’s condition that was weak. Or less than weak, of non existence. Peeta found his way to break from his condition. The single big movement Katniss did was the kiss, when Peeta was in so much delusion. And it was predictable.

Gale, i can barely feel Gale. Other than being the devil’s advocate, or the guy who sides with the villain… i mean the other villain, he was a blah. He was as romantic as a… forget it.

There would have been more drama if the writer did not decide that Katniss would not let the death of everyone sink in. Finnick could have made it to the threesome, making the fourth player in the love affair. His friendship with Katniss could have led to that, it was set up. Fortunately, it did not reached that level of connection. Letting go of him was easy. Oh, of course, this is not a spoiler. The moment he became too close for comfort with Katniss, death started to write itself on Finnick skin. Someone has to die, someone important or gorgeous.

The third book set up a great villain for a fourth book. Sadly, this is just a trilogy. And again, the death of that villain was as predicatable as Katniss arrow on the force field.

Maybe the story needed Katniss to breakdown. Just like a phoenix, who would be torn down to ashes to reach if beauty. Katniss was not beaten enough, she kept her strong all through out the third book. It would have been interesting if it was her, not Peeta who suffered from the torture. The final fatality in her circle would have broken her, but it was too near the final pages that it was not juiced up.

In the end, it was about love in the midst of rebellion, so here’s a check on it.

The statement was clear in the three books. It was the kids who are most affected by war. They are the victims of the adults’ inhumanity/humanity. At least, i got that statement. Well, to be fair, the sounds of the explosions, and the images of war were clearly seen through Katniss. Yet that was just as far as Katniss can experience. There could be more stories like the two who tried to get to district 13. Stories that would made the war bigger than what Katniss can offer.

And finally. The love. The decision was logical. How could Katniss keep the guy who decided to stay in another district? How could he love the guy who would always give the impression of the bomb and the chutes? It was easy.

The real and unreal. Could be Italian. Too cheesy, it could be on a pizza.