Sunday, March 22, 2009

Movie: Twilight

I have never read any of the books of the Twilight series, but I decided to check out what the hype was all about when they relased the DVD for Twilight. Um, after watching it, I still have no idea what the hype is all about. Since it was so popular, I honestly thought that it would have a captivating story, and if not that, then at least characters that I would fall in love with. However, it was neither, so I was rather disappointed. I felt that the "romance" in the story was rather lacking, I could barely tell that Bella and Edward were in love with each other. The obsession that they should have had for each other really didn't come through for me. I thought that the dialogue was boring and simple, but then again, that probably suits the language of today.

In terms of the acting, I think that Kristen Stewart did a pretty good job or portraying Bella Swan, mind you, I haven't read the books before, but from what I see, Kristen's Bella was totally believeable. Probably the most critized is Robert Pattison as Edward Cullen. From what I hear, he should be this totally handsome, breathtaking guy, and apparently Robert Pattison does not fit that role. In my opinion, I would almost have to agree with what I hear. Somehow Robert Pattison lacks the attractiveness that I would expect from a super mysterious vampire. As for the acting, it was all right, I'm not sure if Edward in the book is supposed to have a little emotion, but the Edward in the movie sure didn't.

What I did like about the movie was the action sequences, they were pretty good, there were times where I would think "oh no! someone is going to get hurt!" However, other than the action sequences, the movie was at most okay. Am I going to look forward to the second movie? Probably not.

RainbowSnow's rating: 1/5

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Movie: Dadnapped

Hmm... where should I start with this movie? Well, first things first, it's a Disney Channel Original Movie, so you really wouldn't expect it to be absolutely amazing. I really only watched it for the cast, as it starred many of famous Disney Channel Stars such as Emily Osment, Jason Earles, David Henrie, Moises Arias and Phill Lewis. It was kinda nice to see Emily Osment do a role other than Hannah Montana's best friend. In Dadnapped, Emily Osment plays a girl named Melissa Morris who has a busy writer as a father. Throughout this movie, Melissa battles an inner antagonist, the fictional character in her dad's book, Tripp Zoome, as well as the "dadnappers", Maurice (Phill Lewis) and Skunk (Charles Halford).

Dadnapped really is a fun filled movie for younger children. As I see with recent Disney shows, having all sorts of goo slammed into the faces of celebrities seems to appeal to the younger generation, so if you like that, you'll like this movie, since there's tons of that. This movie also contained the typical smart bad guy and dumb bad guy, which seems to be common in Disney movies, or well, any movie designed for children.

Now for the things that I didn't like about the movie. The plot, well, it's not that I didn't like it, but it really wasn't outstanding. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if you think about it after you finish watching the movie, what Wheeze (David Henre), Andre (Moises Arias) and Sheldon (Denzel Whitaker) did at the carwash kind of lacked logic. Well, I dunno, maybe it's normal for crazy fans, who knows.

So all in all, it was a decent Disney Channel movie, it gets boring at times, but yeah, like I said, it's a Disney Channel movie.

RainbowSnow's rating: 2/5

Monday, August 11, 2008

Movie: Batman Begins

Due to my new love for Batman after The Dark Knight adventure, I decided I had some catching up to do, so I bought Batman Begins. I bought the Batman Begins giftset on DVD, which I thought was a really good deal. It contained the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of Batman Begins, 128MB flash drive with preloaded pictures from The Dark Knight, Batman Begins lenticular art, 5 collectible postcards and $10 movie cash to see The Dark Knight in theatres. The blu-ray version doesn't have the same contents, I'm not too sure what it has.

I thought Batman Begins was a good movie, but it definitely wasn't as good as The Dark Knight, in my opinion anyways. One of the major differences is that in The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne was already Batman, so all the action started the second the movie started. However, in Batman Begins, we, as the audience have to wait for Bruce Wayne to become Batman, hence I guess that's where the title of the movie Batman Begins comes from.

For those who are not Batman fans, like myself, watching Batman Begins will answer a lot of dying questions, such as "why made Bruce Wayne want to become Batman?", "how did James Gordon get to know Batman?" and "why bats?". It was neat to be able to make the connections between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and to be able to understand a little more about Batman. In Batman Begins, we see a lot of Christian Bale's character Bruce Wayne psychological development and his road to becoming Batman. A source of confusion may be from the fact that Rachel Dawes is played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins, but the casting was changed to Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight, however, most people should be able to tell within the first couple of times they see Rachel Dawes, as they mention her name a couple of times. Personally, I prefer Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance of Rachel Dawes more.

I have to admit that there were parts of the Batman Begins where I started to lose interest. It was a movie that was two hours and twenty minutes long, which is a long time, and I felt it didn't have enough action sequences to keep me interested. Though we must keep in mind that I am subconciously comparing this movie to The Dark Knight. Good movie though.

RainbowSnow's rating: 3/5
Links: Warner Brothers Batman Begins Site
RainbowSnow's Review of The Dark Knight
Buy this movie at yesasia.com

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Book: Supernatural Nevermore

Supernatural Nevermore (by Keith R.A. DeCandido) is very much like a suspense mystery novel. It is set between the Supernatural episodes of "Crossroad Blues" and "Croatoan" from season two, so there are some of the supporting characters from the series are mentioned. I thought that this novel kept me interested, as the Winchester brothers were not just solving one case, but two. I really liked the references to Edgar Allen Poe's stories. I have to admit, I am not very familiar with Edgar Allen Poe or his stories, so learning a thing or two about him from this story was very cool for me. A neat thing about this novel is that at the beginning of each chapter, they tell you in italics the location and time in which the chapter is set in.

I think DeCandido did a good job of writing the characters Sam and Dean to be very similar to how the characters are portrayed on TV. I guess one of my biggest issue with TV Tie-ins like this one is the fact that they go inside the head of the characters. When watching the TV show, sometimes you think to yourself "what in the world was he thinking when he did that?", however in the book, they tell you what he's thinking. I guess it's a different way of understanding a character, one that I don't prefer. In conclusion, this book was pretty good, something Supernatural fans should enjoy.

RainbowSnow's rating: 3/5

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Movie: The Dark Knight

With the hype over The Dark Knight (directed by Christopher Nolan) this summer, it's almost impossible not to know of this movie. I'm personally not a Batman fan, however, I got tickets to see it, so I did. WOW! The Dark Knight was one of the best movies I have ever seen! The movie was two and a half hours long, but honestly, I was so engaged that I didn't feel the time go by. One of the reasons I was captivated by this movie is the fact that they go back and forth between story sequences, essentially, they show different scenes of all the things that are "happening at the same time". This keeps the audience wondering, oh no, what's going to happen now? The action sequences and stunts in this movie were impressive. People have said that this movie is very dark, and I would agree. I think that it's dark because if you think deep enough, it's true. The twists and turns of the characters were interesting and unexpected, thought I think part of that would be that I did not know any of the Batman stories to begin with. Heath Ledger's Joker performance was so frightening and real that I almost forgot I was watching a movie and he's only fictional. After watching it the first time, I heard some people say that this movie is great in IMAX, so I definitely had to go see it for a second time. The Dark Knight was amazing in IMAX! The sound and picture was so much better. Great movie and I would recommend it to anyone who has not seen it yet, even if you're not a Batman fan!

RainbowSnow's rating: 5/5
Links: Warner Brothers The Dark Knight Site

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

TV Series: Supernatural Season 1

Honestly, anyone who has not seen this show yet, you've got to see it! Supernatural (created by Eric Kripe in 2005) is a combination of scary, humor, suspense and action, seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen since The X Files. I've watched Season 1 of Supernatural twice already and I can't wait to watch it again!

The story centers around two brothers Sam Winchester (played by Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (played by Jensen Ackles) who have grown up learning how to hunt evil. Sam has already left this to his past and entering law school. However, Dean comes to Sam one night with news that their father John Winchester (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is missing, causing Sam and Dean to go on a cross-country road trip in Dean's 1967 Chevrolet Impala to hunt spirits, monsters and demons.

The two characters Sam and Dean in Supernatural are beautifully written, each with their own unique personalities. Sam is more emotional, he relies on his emotions to make decisions. Dean on the other hand has a cocky arrogance, he's someone who thinks he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Dean believes it's his responsibility to follow his father's footsteps, while Sam does not. The two brothers are so different, yet hunting is the one thing that will bring them together. The one thing I like about this show is the combination of Dean's smart-ass comments and Sam's sarcastic statements. Dean and Sam together make scary more enjoyable.

Supernatural consists on real urban legends and American folklore, some of which feel so close to home that it brings chills down my spine. An example would be episode 5 "Bloody Mary". We're all heard the folklore, where when her name is said three times in the mirror, she will appear. I don't know about you guys, but I've never dared to try it. This Supernatural episode gives a vivid picture of what will happen if you do try it and after watching this episode, I guarantee that you wouldn't dare try it.

Each episode of Supernatural is like a mini-movie, probably one of the bests in horror TV series, something you definitely wouldn't want to miss!

Favourite episode: Phantom Traveler
RainbowSnow's rating: 5/5
Links: CW Supernatural Site
Warner Brothers Supernatural Site
Buy this TV Series at yesasia.com



Monday, August 4, 2008

Movie: The X Files: I Want to Believe

I've waited what seemed like forever (6 years) for the release of The X Files movie. Therefore, when I first heard that it was coming out, I was really really excited. I couldn't wait to see Mulder (played by David Duchovny) and Scully (played by Gillian Anderson) together again. The fact that they kept everything so secretive prior to the release of the movie was interesting, it felt good to walk into a theatre to watch a movie without already knowing what the whole plot is. After watching the movie, I can't say that I was disappointed, but it definitely wasn't what I had expected. The X Files: I Want to Believe seemed to focus more on character development more than the actual X File, if it was an X File to begin with. There wasn't really any X Files mythology involved, so it really was a movie that anyone can go and watch, even if you're not an X Files fan.

What can be enjoyed by X Files fans is the return of the chemistry between Mulder and Scully. Although there are many changes, such as Mulder may not be as physically attractive as he one was and Mulder and Scully are no longer FBI agents, it was evident that they tried to bring back the "believer" Mulder and the "skeptical" Scully. I think this was cleverly accomplished by having Scully attempting to avoid the past and Mulder "wanting to believe". A source of disappointment for me was the fact that John Doggett wasn't included in the movie. Although many X Files fan do not consider him to be a favourite, he was one of my favourite characters.

In conclusion, I thought that The X Files: I Want to Believe wasn't great, but it was decent, it contained a little bit of everything, it was spooky, suspenseful and even inspirational.

RainbowSnow's Rating: 3/5
Links: The X Files: I Want to Believe Official Site