Hypnotic

As a big fan of Burton-Depp collaboration, Dark Shadows is a must-watch film for me. However, I do not know anything about the original TV series. The trailer actually surprised me because I do not expect the comedic tone of the film. However, it's Johnny in another pale make-up show by Tim Burton. It also has that little cute boy from Hugo and Jackie Earle Haley!

The story is about Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp), a member of the successful and wealthy Collins family from England who moved to Maine, America. There they continued their business and built a town named Collinsport. All was well until jealousy steps in. A maid named Angelique (Eva Green) was enraged by Barnabas' love refusal to her. She was in fact a witch and she cursed Barnabas to a vampire and had him locked up in a chained coffin for 196 years. Cut to 196 years later, Barnabas returns to Collinsport to find their family on the verge of bankruptcy and the witch Angelique still lives and took over the business once dominated by the Collins.

That was very much the essence of the story. However, I find the film was unfocused with too much sub-plot to tell about and sometimes it comes out of nowhere and ends with no satisfying resolution. But the film was nice. And this is what should Marvel do, a film advertisement that doesn't give away the third act. It makes us surprised when watching it. The film was greatly acted. Johnny Depp as always although I think it's time to leave the eccentric make up. Eva Green is ravishing and amazing.  I also like Bella Heathcote and I wish she would star in many films after this. But Jackie Earle Haley here is underused. He's got so much potential. Chloe Moretz is annoying, I think her best role is only Hit-Girl. Helena Bonham Carter's makeup is her make up from Alice in Wonderland, I mean, really? The score by Danny Elfman is incredibly haunting. I shivered a lot everytime the score plays. It's basically what you would expect from a Tim Burton film. The darkness feel and also the absurdity. It is also sometimes funny too. Although some jokes are a bit pointless. It's still fun to watch though. Dark Shadows: rated 3 stars out of 4

It Burns You

How desperate am I that I leave this blog in order to wait for The Avengers? I'm not going to review it but I'm going to put my thoughts about that event film here in this post. I saw it on May 4 and it took me 4 days to come with this. Okay, so what do I think about that film directed by Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

- AWESOME. You would now be in a mental asylum if you thought otherwise.
- Hulk is badass. Mark Ruffalo is--yeah okay. But his different take on Bruce Banner makes you wonder how would Edward Norton fill that role. Ruffalo may stole a few scenes but the Hulk stole the film #BannerQuote "That's my secret Cap, I'm always angry"
- Iron Man is, as always, charming. And this film makes it legit that Robert Downey Jr. wasn't acting everytime he plays Tony Stark. Because he IS Tony Stark. #StarkQuote "I'm bringing the party to you"
- Captain America is plain. Like his solo film, a bit boring. No memorable quotes from him. Sorry.
- Thor is one of my favorite Avengers. The fact that he head-slammed Iron Man makes him cooler than ever. #ThorQuote "You people are so petty, and tiny!"
- Black Widow is less cooler than she was in Iron Man 2, and her reverse interrogation skills is not that amazing because she gave a lot of personal info too. But still, sexy [It's Scarlett! What do you expect?] I prefer the long hair like in Iron Man 2 though.
- Hawkeye is useless and a bit too fake. Not seeing a target when shooting? Unrealistic. Got turned by Loki? Stupid. However it's great to see this small character has his moment.
- Coulson? Take Natasha away but not Coulson. He's just so cute and I was hoping that his death was faked by Fury up until Thanos appears. Coulson, you'd be missed!
- Maria Hill? "Kids, it was Summer 2012 when Aunt Robin decided to join The Avengers", nuff said.
- Samuel L. Jackson always plays a badass. Although I'd love to see Fury involved in action too. Not stupidly trying to aim a fighter jet with a handgun.
- Loki is underdeveloped here. He's not mighty enough to be a villain that made The Avengers assemble in the first place. I would like to see Loki win for some time. I thought he would win when he threatened Black Widow. I thought he would dodged Hawkeye's arrow, not being blown by the bomb! However, Loki is cooler than all the Avengers except for Iron Man of course. Tom Hiddleston is the man, yo!
- The only thing I complained about The Avengers is that the humors. The humors are not in place sometimes. And for a movie like The Avengers, I didn't anticipate these kinds of humor: a SHIELD staff playing game and Loki being bashed up by the Hulk! It's takes the film to a wrong pace. Worse of all, it comes from the director's vision that did not want to include a scene where Steve Rogers to meet with Peggy Carter!
- Marvel should definitely re-plan their marketing strategy. It's not good when you actually give half of the film away by releasing revealing trailers and movie clips. I thought you learnt that when you release Iron Man 2. It makes the film less surprising. For example, we know that Iron Man would be caught by the Hulk: gone is the thrill. The only thing surprising in this film is [spoiler] Agent Coulson's death, that's to be honest.
- About The Avengers breaking records overseas and domestically, Marvel and Disney successfully made this film a must-watch for everyone. In my area, the cinema has 4 screens and all four screens plays The Avengers. So, people are forced to see this film because there's no other choice! Not that I'm rooting Harry Potter to maintain their record. I'm just saying, it's kinda unfair. It takes 2 weeks to collect 600++ million for this mega film, which means it needs 300++ million dollars to get to the 1 billion club. Amazing.

Anyways, it would be crazy for every human being to skip this film. This is the ultimate superhero team-up film guys. You should be watching this in cinemas not downloading illegal torrents with cam-quality or wait for the DVD. It's awesome and it's basically your dream comes true after 4 years of waiting. Don't forget to see the post-credits scene! The Avengers: rated 3.5 stars out of 4 stars

A tip for non-fans: Watching Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger prior to The Avengers would definitely help a lot in understanding the story and also the awesomeness.

NEXT STOP:

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

This Never Happens (bonus inside!)

As we all know, Indonesian movies has now hit a new level of quality. With The Raid still going strong in its fourth week, next week we'll going to have Modus Anomali directed by Joko Anwar on April 26. However, in every good apple, there's a bad apple. Do behold of this trailer of the film titled Amphibious or the Indonesian titled Angkara Murka below:




This film kinda erases all the goodwill of recent Indonesian cinema. Look at the effects! The monster is a rip-off from that scorpion creature from the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans. The plot feels like Anaconda. The silliness feels like your average Indosiar sinetrons [Indosiar is an Indonesian TV channel which constantly makes and airs cheaply made monster movie with warriors set in ancient times]. The trailer is horrible, I mean, I don't want to watch this film after seeing that trailer. And dude, it's Indonesia's first 3D film! It's a shame that a film titled Angkara Murka is actually that cheap. So I went on to have a research about this mess and here's what I got:

- The director, Brian Yuzna, once collaborated with a production house in Spain. nice start
- The film was English-languaged, badly scripted, badly acted, bad story.
- The creature effects are incredibly cheesy but the make-up effects are good.
- The 3D was surprisingly okay
- Not the kind of film you want to watch after you're still in awe with The Raid


I'm posting this so that people won't feel robbed after paying the tickets. I'm just giving a heads up. To be honest, I'm quite interested when I heard about the title and the film is Indo's first 3D too. But after you saw the trailer, damnnnn forget about what I said before. Which got me thinking, I once thought that the best way to watch a film is to avoid all trailers so you would be surprised (in a good way of course). Maybe it is still the best way, but you might actually want to read the premise of the story, rather than just "going commando", if you know what I mean (don't include the meme)

But you know what, throw this post away because never fear to try something new (even if you fail in the end)


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BONUS!
Since I have decided to not check out Tarsem Singh's Mirror Mirror, I took the liberty of including my friend's three-sentence-review of the film [I might squeeze something out for more though]. This is what she said about 2012's first Snow White film: "It's quite entertaining! The starting pace of the film was a bit childish and corny, but I can live with that. Julia Roberts is too angel-faced to be an evil queen and Lily Collins is soooo beautiful."
You can always check out my friend's amazing fashion blog right here -> isleofview

And my only response was: let's wait for Snow White and the Huntsman. Mentioning SWATH, look at the bloody nice new theatrical poster below compared with the best poster for Mirror Mirror

Gotta give the hats off to Mirror Mirror aka Blanche Neige sans Le Chasseur for not putting Julia Roberts in the center of the poster just because she's handsomely paid. Also for having a decent shot of Armie Hammer looking cool. But dude, Snow White and the Huntsman aka Blanche Neige et Le Chasseur is better in every way. Look at that cool poses and an actual face of a beautiful, yet evil queen! But one thing for sure, Blanche Neige is French for Snow White.

3 Weeks to Go

It's about 3 weeks to go guys and the wait is going to be over.
You all know what I'm talking about right? The first-ever mega-scale superhero team-up film?
In honor of The Avengers release, let's take a look at those superheroes in that particular universe and rank em up!

5. Iron Man 2
The weakest film in this Marvel Cinematic Universe, a disappointing follow-up to one of the most awesome superhero films. Iron Man 2 is heavily 'spoilered' with all those revealing clips and trailers. Not to mention illogical events with War Machine. Also, SHIELD's involvement makes this film too complicated and unfocused. The good part is we got to see Scarlett Johansson's first outing as Black Widow.

4. Captain America: The First Avenger
Firstly, I already despised Chris Evans' casting as the hero, mostly because of the fact that he was Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four series. The film itself was actually okay and incredibly casted with Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones, to name a few. What the film lacks was Captain America's heroic acts as Captain America, not skinny Steve Rogers. But the film did has some memorable action, although lacking.

3. The Incredible Hulk
One of the best casting decisions ever to make Ed Norton as the title role of Bruce Banner, which was unfortunately replaced by Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers. The film also has Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, the villain. The story is straight up simple without having too much or even less. Also, this film did make the Hulk caring and cool, not silly like Ang Lee's version.

2. Thor
I don't know why I love Thor, maybe because Thor is not human, and is not an alter-ego. Thor also came from a totally different universe and has mystical powers. Not to mention that the film is also funny at times which makes it not boring (yeah, you Steve Rogers). And don't forget that this film has Natalie Portman and also the amazing Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

1. Iron Man
Simply because it is awesome and badass. I don't think it is necessary to include any opinion whatsoever.

THE AVENGERS opens May 4

3 weeks guys, 3 weeks.

You Sunk My Ba..(explosion)!

It's a strange strategy, to release a major summer film outside of America first. Unless it's a Tintin film which is more renowned outside the States. Battleship, a film based on a board game starring Taylor Kitsch (John Carter), Alexander Skarsgaard of True Blood, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker and Liam Neeson opens a month before its release in United States with hopes of building momentum. I would say it's a misguided strategy unless the film's is universally acclaimed. With Battleship, we can only wish to be entertained, we're not here for substance.

The story revolves on an attempt to contact alien life with a ground-breaking satellite, and apparently it worked. That distant planet sent some of their citizens to visit Earth to break havoc and stuff. They surrounded Hawaii (thank God it's not New York or Los Angeles) and as the tagline suggest, they started at sea. And so, our 'hero' comes. He is Alex Hopper (Kitsch), a wild-behavioured (apparently) Lieutenant in the US Navy, who has a brother (Skarsgaard) and is also in a relationship with the Admiral's daughter (smokin' Brooklyn). Hopper, with some of the Navy are only the ones who is able to attack back the alien forces.

I didn't expect this to be that entertaining, I was expecting it to be quite silly. However, it is bold for me to say that Battleship is actually better than Transformers 2. The action scenes are perfect, the tech designs are good, and the destruction-level, although not in an extinction-level as said in the film, is decent. Taylor Kitsch is quite good although he's trapped in a dumb-ass-bound-to-be-a-hero-kind-of-role, and Rihanna is acceptable. She deserves at least a Golden Globe IF you compare her to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Best of all, there is an actual Battleship playing like in the board game!  In spite all of that, Battleship doesn't feel original. I think Peter Berg tried so hard to differentiate himself from Michael Bay, the actual expert on explosion-filled films but he failed. If you want cool CG scenes of destruction and explosion, go for Michael Bay. If you want cool entrance scenes from random people with sunlight or sunset behind them, go for Michael Bay. Ultimately, if you want cool lens flares to grace the screen, go for J.J. Abrams. There are too much lens flares here and it doesn't make sense at all. The characters in the films are, frankly, stupid. Take a look at the Alex Hopper character: a messed-up personality who enters the Navy and within weeks (presumably) he became a Lieutenant and is still messed-up afterwards. F*ck logic! Also, the aliens are the worst Earth invaders ever! And you may think that the Independence Day aliens were already dumb enough to not include Norton Antivirus in their system but this brings us to a whole new level of stupidity. They were good enough to put up a force field to surround Oahu and other islands but not good enough to upgrade their battleship shields? It was too easy to randomly hit their ship and there's no force field! Their communication system was already destroyed when they entered Earth! Also, what's up with the dolphin-style ship? Aliens, you're making it too easy for the humans! And there's also a human stupidity, which comes from Mike Teavee's dad that said 'we're looking at an extinction-level shit'. Well, to be honest I don't see that. I may need random cities in various countries being destroyed rather than supercuts of Obama giving an emergency speech. Okay, I think those are Michael Bay influences. Let's not forget about the old Navy reunion, which is kinda stands between the line of epic and laughable. Talk about acting, I never saw Alexander Skarsgaard in any film but damn, he takes his character's name too serious: Stone. As for Brooklyn Decker, I just enjoyed your screen presence. I know this film is PG-13, so just omit those 'mf' words because it's a bit silly ["Mahalo, mother-(explosion sound)", "Fire mother-(explosion)!"] But overall, I'm quite satisfied with this film. Just put aside all those strange things I mentioned above and this movie's gonna do just fine. Oh and more thing: do stick to the very end of the film for an after-credits scene. Battleship hints a summer full of awesomeness! Battleship: rated 2 out of 4 stars

Here's a bonus of Brooklyn Decker pic (from the film of course)

P.S. For those who visits Battleship's page on IMDB, please avoid the forum titled '31 plot holes' because more than half of them are pure stupidity. But the film's quite stupid anyway.

word of the day: stupidity