Superman Returns

Wow. The movie was really good. Bryan Singer is really an excellent director when it comes to such comic hero movies. There were so many nice touches throughout the movie, and it basically had what X-Men 3 lacked.... heart.

Yeah, sounds mushy I know. But the truth is, you didn't really feel much for the characters in X-Men 3. It was a fun action movie. But the characters were really quite normal. In Superman Returns, Bryan Singer takes the time to show subtle scenes to really give us a little more insight into the characters and thus making us feel a little more for them.

How was Brandon Routh as Superman? Good. Very good. He definitely carried the role well and all the flying, saving, etc, were done with an air of a super man. Really. Another thing I liked was the way he gave Superman a regal air about him. There were these bits here and there that his movement was just slowed a little, to give you this feel that he is like royalty.

Another thing I liked about the movie was their restraint. There were scenes which could easily have become cheesy, but the director didn't go overboard and held back. And the scenes turn out quite well.

So, any bad things to say?

Yeah, I still don't like the way they make Lex Luthor a semi-clown. Why can't they just use a proper evil Luthor like in the comics and TV series? So, while Kevin Spacey also did a good job, the 'evil' in the movie just wasn't evil enough. Another thing, some of you will probably find the movie a little cheesy anyway. It definitely doesn't feel as down to earth as say, Spiderman. But in my opinion, you just can't do it with a super hero like Superman.

The movie was 2h 40mins short. Yeah... short. It really didn't feel like 2h 40mins had passed. To me, that's always the mark of a great movie.

Go watch it.

I'm off to see Superman Returns.... very excited!

Done to one week before the holidays are over. This is gonna be a busy week with the last two Leadership Challenge workshops which will be held from Tuesday to Friday.

I don't really know where the last week went... somehow, the time just flew past, kinda weird really. I didn't even realize that my last post was more than a week ago!

Things are gonna be even more hectic in the new term. I am scheduled to go for two trips to China, each about 2.5 weeks long. Then there is a long list of events happening.. Youth Week, Friendship day, National Day, Open House, just to name a few.

Well, many changes are in store. These are exciting times....

One of the better videogame movies. Will try to write review later. Pity it's NC16 though. But there were some really gruesome scenes...

Review: The Da Vinci Code

I finally went to watch The Da Vinci Code early this week.

After reading about all the poor reviews for the movie, I really didn't go with any high expectations. Even then, I must say this movie was quite ordinary.

Despite having big name actors like Tom Hanks & Ian MacKellen (Magneto from X-men) and a big name director like Ron Howard, the movie never really takes off. The whole thing is just one long mediocre ride.

I dunno, but I'm guessing that this could be due in no small part to the fact that Ron Howard is just not an action/thriller director. There are parts here and there where he appears to be trying real hard to make things exciting, but it just doesn't work. For example, there was this car chase scene where they were driving backwards... sounds mildly exciting? Nah, it really wasn't very.

It could also be the subject matter. It's really kinda hard to do a movie without having to explain much of the religious significance of the symbols. But once you do that, the movie is bogged dowm by long periods of conversations and this just doesn't make for a very fast-paced movie.

The book was quite the page turner. If I remember correctly, the entire novel was basically a story told over a period of 2 days. The movie, however, was quite a yawner.

If you haven't read the book, do yourself a favour and read the book rather than watch the movie. If you've read the book, save the ticket money for Superman Returns.

Review: Cars

Watched CARS, the new movie from Pixar, a couple of days ago. Was supposed to go buy something, but ended up having to wait for it to arrive so I decided to catch the sneak preview of CARS.

I was kinda disappointed in the movie. Not that it wasn't good. I guess on its own merits, it would be a decent movie. The animation was good and the story had the usual elements of a Pixar cartoon. But when I put it side by side with the recent Pixar flicks like Incredibles & Finding Nemo, Cars is a distant third.

Maybe it's the subject matter. (1) I'm not a car-type person. I can't tell the difference between a Honda & a Toyota for that matter. Don't talk about Ferraris and Porches. (Ok lar.. I guess I should be able to identify the distinct Porche car design). (2) I'm also not much into racing. Sure, I enjoyed movies like Initial D and I like games like Ridge Racer & Burnout. But this kinda race-around-the-track-300-times type of race is pretty YAWN for me. (3) I just don't find a talking car interesting. Animals? sure. Fish? yeah. Ogres? Why not. Cars? HUH???

Well, let's put it this way. Cars is the first Pixar movie where I actually fell asleep half-way through. And in all honesty, I wasn't even tired.

Euphoria destroyed

Everything was fine.

It tested good.

It charged well.

It started playing well.

Then suddenly. It appeared. A dreaded red dead pixel smack in the middle.

*sob*

UPDATE
I'm totally elated! The shop has replied that they will change my set for me! Now, that's what I call excellent service!

Funny Web Comic

Just visited this funny comic site on the web. Basically cracks jokes about video gaming. Here's one which I thought was pretty good. If you like this kinda humour, visit www.myextralife.com for more!

New DS Lite

I've finally purchased the Nintendo DS Lite. Gamescore at Funan was selling it at a pretty decent price. It's still not the local edition, it's actually from the US, which is totally fine (and better!) for me.

Anyway, here are some pics of the bee-yoo-tee-ful DS Lite as compared to the original DS. For the uninitiated, the DS is the big clunker on the right while the DS Lite is the smaller one on the left. If you look at the second pic, you can see that the screen on the DS Lite is also much more vibrant and bright. Very nice.



Actually, to be frank, Nintendo is quite irritating. It's barely 1.5 years since they release the DS and they are releasing the DS Lite which is pretty much the same machine except for the brighter screen. Only hardcore gamers like me will buy the DS Lite despite having the DS already. Sigh. Yeah, yeah.. quite the sucker.... But hey, it is pretty, is it not?

Level 51. :-D

I spent the whole evening building my Lego Ferrari F1 Formula 1 Racer. Really like the whole thing. I think the Lego designers really do excellent jobs of designing models of objects (both real-lfe and imaginary!). Took me almost 4 hours to build the whole thing. Now I'm quite tempted to go back Raffles City to see if I can pick up any other Lego bargains...

Here are some pics I took.



And here's the whole product! Very pleased with myself!

One week of the June Holz have passed. So fast. That's one quarter of the whole thing man..

The week was kept busy with the first two leadership challenge workshops for the sec 3s. Think they went on quite ok. Personally, I enjoy doing such stuff. Maybe should consider doing them on a long term basis. heh.

The next two weeks shouldn't be too busy. Have to work on some events but other than that, should be quite easy-going. Looking forward to much more wow-ing. Right now, I'm at a reasonably respectable lvl 49. Heh... Maybe can hit Lvl 55+ by end of holz. But I must admit that sometimes, WoW is starting to be a bit of a chore. Trying to level up at 45+ is quite draggy. Ok lar, still quite an interesting game so should be hooked for a while more.

Die lar, everywhere having sale. Kino also having their month-long 20% sale. Today, I found out that Gramaphone (DVD place) also having like storewide 15% off DVDs... Everything just clamouring for money! Must try to practice a little more self control.. just a little..

Still thinking if I want to go away for a short trip. Was thinking of either Hong Kong or Siem Reap. Hong Kong airfares not bad, but the hotels.. omg.. the hotel prices are scary. That's the result of having a Disneyland lor. Hotel rooms are in high demand, prices go sky high. Sianz.

ok, enough blogging. Precious time taken away from WoW. Hmm.. tomorrow should find time to go watch Da Vinci code. Yeah.. kinda sad rite? So long still haven watch. Sigh.

Went to Raffles City today coz I heard they were having a Lego. They were having two displays, a pirate one and the other was about the World Cup (everything seems to be about World Cup.. Yawn..). But I must say that this Lego World Cup stadium is really quite cool. Quite happy I went coz they were having a 20% sale on almost all Lego products there. Bought myself a Star Wars B-Wing bomber. Damn happy! Wanted to buy one for quite a while but dun have offer. Now just nice!


Here are pics of the cool B-wing which I built earlier tonight. It's fantastic how they make it so similar to the actual.


The B-wing can even dock with the bay in a standing position! And the wings & cockpit can open... cool lar!


Also bought a Lego Ferrari. Though I'm not into cars, this was (1) really quite cool and (2) down to $75 from an original of $139!! Maybe I'll start on the Ferrari tomorrow...

X3 ending - Warning Spoiler!

This is for 'dar' who asked about the ending. I've typed it below in white so those who dun want to noe before watching the movie can skip it. The rest can highlight the text to read it.

Basically, if those who watched the show remember, there was a scene earlier in the movie (seemingly small and meaningless) about the power of mutants. In that scene, Professor Xavier basically explained that some mutants can even transfer their consciousness from one human to the other, and they showed a scene of a person who was brain dead. In the final scene after the credits, the same brain-dead person was shown. But suddenly, he is speaking with Prof Xavier's voice... hence, the fact is, Prof Xavier wasn't killed by Phoenix (sob sob), he was able to transfer his consciousness to that brain-dead guy before Phoenix tore him apart.

If you paid attention, in that earlier scene, Prof Xavier did refer to the doctor next to the brain dead guy as Dr. Moira. She's a character in the X-men universe. Here's a snippet of some info I found on her in the net:

"Charles Xavier earned his bachelor degree in biology at Bards College and was accepted into Oxford University, where over the next few years he successful earned degrees in genetics and biophysics at the same time. While there Xavier met and fell in love with Moira MacTaggert, a fellow geneticist. The two became engaged and planned to marry upon the annulment of Moira's marriage to her first husband, Joseph MacTaggert."