P R O M E T H E U S - Hypothesis to Questions

Finally a good movie to spur me back into reviews and thoughts. Movies nowadays are a bit too cliche and direct, so the usual reviews make no sense and sounds irrelevant, because I'm no pro. However each and everyone of us is entitled to our own points and views, so for a movie like Prometheus, it is what you think or what they make you think which is more important.

Prometheus is a movie, which you say is science fiction, maybe science (if it could be real!). Now to those who aren't familiar or knew NOTHING about the Greek myths, this movie is named Prometheus not because the ship's name is Prometheus (well partly you can say, but no one names a movie after a ship ;] ).

According to Greek myths, Prometheus is a titan (think Clash/Wrath of the Titans, but not that big bad guy). He is known as a champion of mankind, who was famously known for his theft of fire for the human use. Prometheus stole heavenly fire from Heaven and gave it to humans, enabling the progress of civilization (we didn't rub wood with stone till we made our own fire! And cooking food with fire is a symbol or proof of civilization XD).

Well that is roughly what the myths say about him. In Western classical tradition, Prometheus is a symbol of human striving, particularly for SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences (quoted from Wikipedia). This guy, basically wanted to give equal footing for humans with Gods!

Now going back to the movie (SPOILER ALERT: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCH). Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discovered similarities of star map in different civilizations, hence decided to prove that humans are not created by God, claimed by the religion, rather we could be a race faction of present aliens in other world - which they called "Engineers". This claim has been rubber stamped right at the start of the movie, where we see a humanoid alien drinking some gooey black liquid, disintegrating, leading to change of DNA, mutation, and in the end, new life forms-cells are formed and mitosis occurs.

The act, of traveling to the location designated by the star map, to prove that God never created humans, to put equal footing that it was actually man that created man, is an act of "Prometheusim". Hence, finally we now justify, why the movie is called Prometheus, where it isn't about Greek myths, nor has this guy appeared in the whole movie.

*I am an Atheist myself, so this theory or believe rather suits well with me XP.

Now questions and answers, based on my self interpretations:

1. Why did the Engineers created us and then wanted to destroy us?

Good question. In fact the one's everyone has in their minds. Even got me thinking straight away after I finished the movie. There are of course a lot of answers, since this is a very open-ended question. One of the perspectives is: Remember the beginning scene where we saw that Engineer drinking the black liquid? At that time the setting was on Earth. He sees a spaceship leaving, disrobe, drank the liquid, went into seizures, disintegrates, falls down the waterfall, his DNA destroying-but not entirely, and then live cells forming and multiplying. Theory one could be that he was indeed chosen to create us. Other theories might be a bit absurd, because they did came back and helped us in different civilizations, judging that different civilizations showed the same star map. So they couldn't be evil. So that leaves us to the next question.


2. Why would they want to destroy us?

This is an even harder question. Basically this is the question that fuels speculation of a 2nd movie. Even till the end of the first movie, even Elizabeth herself is clueless. So what is the reason, is up to your own imagination. As rich as possible. Maybe something happened back in their home planet, which could mean purging us to take over our planet. Maybe it is fun to create something just because you can, and destroying them too (what Charlie said to David). You can give a thousand reasons,  but until a possible 2nd movie comes out, everything is possible.

  
3. Why are there so many different type of aliens? Why some mutate and some don't?

Remember there were 2 scientists that got lost. One got killed by a snake like (or cobra like) alien. One got contaminated by the black liquid. Think back. When Elizabeth, David and Charlie entered the chamber with the BIG engineer head statue, after lifting their foot from the ground, there is a scene where earthworms are seen wriggling in the soil. And then black liquid starts to ooze out from the vases, possibly mutating the worms, making them into the snake alien. This could be the same black liquid drank by the engineer at the start of the movie. Which is also the one that was spiked into Charlie's drink by David, passed into Elizabeth's body, making her 3 months pregnant with an alien baby. Note that again, the baby from Elizabeth is squid like. After somehow "mating" with the Engineer at the end, then only we see the typical Alien emerging from the dead Engineer body. Perhaps it shouldn't be a question, rather the laws of mutation huh?

 
4. So in the end, what is THE Alien?

Again if you don't know science, you'll get a hard time to understand. Elizabeth is sterile- meaning she can't have babies. But it wasn't clear how was she sterile. There are many reasons- failure for the fetus to adhere to the wall of the uterus, failure to produce an ovum and so on. So depending on what are the reasons that made Elizabeth sterile, what makes up the Alien varies. It can be the black liquid itself, or it could be a mutated sperm from Charlie (*snicker), it could even be the black liquid passed and combined with Elizabeth's ovum, if the reason of her sterility was due to the fetus failure to adhere to the uterus wall. Then again, it's again imagination.

So one could go on and on the speculate and think of the reasons and possible answers to the questions above. I've had enough myself though. Time to scoot off to studies.

Definitely worth watching. Not epic, but good enough. :) 3 and a half stars out of five :D

Battleship

Long time since I last did a movie review. Finally a movie spurred me back into doing one. It's none other than Battleship!

To be honest, the first time I saw the trailer, I labelled it as a no go. I labelled it as a Transformer rip-off. However, the second trailer made me changed my mind and there I was, watching it the first day it hit cinemas.

Forget about thinking of it as a rip-off from Transformers. It makes Transformer a distant memory, judging that The Dark Of The Moon wasn't really up to standards for me. I'd say absolute plot and storyline, maybe a bit negative where the transition period between where he was unemployed, nabbed and then suddenly a naval officer with tidily cropped hair.

Graphics and firepower are at their best. Again the only fake part of the graphics or lousy parts are the scene when the aliens attacked the city "Sonic the Hedgehog" style, destroying the overhead bridges and causing traffic mayhem. Other than that, I'd definitely say best movie so far.

How would it rank up against The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises? Well I have faith in Christopher Nolan for not screwing up DK3, so it should kick Avengers off my top 3 list for best movie of the year.

And who would have thought the movie was inspired by this game...

In Time - What It Taught Me

Watched In Time. And erm. Hmm. It kinda changed me, a little should I say?

I’ll cut the synopsis. It’s better for you to not know anything about a movie before watching it. Movies that don’t really featured in trailers if you’re an ardent cinema go-er. This is the type of movie where you go in blank, and come back out knowing the story. Something like Inception, where you don’t know a bloody single thing but when you come out, it’s like wham, cool story.

How does it change me? Hmm.. Well it kinda jolts me to life, where it made me realized that time can be so important. That when people do know that they have a timer ticking day by day as they pass their lives, they would be trying to do anything, whether by hook or by crook, just to prolong their lives.

Yes. That sci-fi world is kinda like our world. Only thing is the value each world place upon is different. There without time, you die. But in the real world, without money, you can still live on. That’s the difference.

The whole idea of the film is to place time as the ultimate subject, of ultimate value, and a tangible asset which has taken over what we have in this world, known as money, wealth. People work to credit time in their lives, pay for meals using their time. It’s all about time.

Funny how we people here sometimes tend to take things simple and easy. And slow. It’s always like, there is still plenty of time, why rush and so on.

But the difference is that, should time is made tangible, that would be a whole new story, where time travel is then made possible, since time in our world is not a measure of wealth, rather a measurement of longevity, and sometimes a requirement to do what we want.

But hey, to be honest, at least people in that world value time more than we do. Every seconds count. They are afraid of death, because they know it’s coming when their timer starts to whittle down to the dying seconds. What about people in our real world?

They drive like daredevils. They smoke. They overdrink. These are the kind of things that will take away a bit of your life when you do it. Maybe they don’t know it. Or maybe they just don’t know when their time will come…

I’m neither drinker nor smoker. But what this movie did taught me, was to treasure each and every single second of my life. Cause compare to them, I’ll never know when my life will end. And if it’s tomorrow, I don’t wanna regret for not doing what I want or achieved anything great before I leave this world. Or maybe cursed the time I wasted when I could have done something good.

Time… Future… Something to look forward to, or something to hide from?

Pirates Of The Caribbean IV - On Stranger's Tide Review

Finally, another movie worthy on a spot on my blog (LOL!). The forth installment of Jack Sparrow's swashbuckling antics definitely fulfill it's promises for those who yearn for a pirate's life (that will be me~!)

Ready for the synopsis? Here we go~! Don't worry about potential spoilers. The plot is straightforward. Proceed to read all about it.

Story kick starts in a scene where Spanish fishermen caught a man, who claimed to be the crew of Juan Ponce de León in their nets. The man seemed to be alive (after 200 hundred years since Juan Ponce) so they brought the man to their King. Upon meeting the king, the man saved from the sea passed a battered note book to the King, displaying the details of the ultimate location of this movie - The Fountain of Youth.

Words then spread like fire that the Roman Catholic Spanish began their search for the fountain of youth. Meanwhile Captain Jack Sparrow came into the scene as a prisoner who was doomed for the gallows. Never thought Josahmee Gibbs appeared as a replacement while Jack imposed himself as the Head of Justice of the trial. He sentenced Gibbs to life imprisonment so that he could break Gibbs out during the journey. Never thought that the crown forces held him as captive to foil his plans.

Caught~!

Jack was then led to see King George II, who is enraged that the Spanish are actually going to seek the Fountain of Youth. So he pledge Jack help guide an expedition to the location, knowing that Jack has the map. Jack then meets his old nemesis, Barbossa, who turned into a privateer in service of the king and as the captain for the expedition.

Jack escaped from custody and began searching for an imposter that was using his name to search a crew destined for the fountain of youth (which led his location to be known and to be captured before this). He soon finds out that the imposter was actually Angelica, his old love.

The pretty Penelope Cruz as Angelica (Angel in Spanish)



Blackbeard - The pirate all pirates fear

Angelica then set Jack up and brought him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's ship. Angelica is actually the daughter of Blackbeard, the antagonist of this film. Suspecting that Angelica is lying, Jack plots a mutiny with the crew, but foiled at the moment Blackbeard stepped out of his cabin.

"I can point names and say fingers!"

It was then be known that the ritual for the fountain of youth requires the water from the fountain and a tear from a mermaid, drank from the silver chalices of Pounce De Leon. Hence the hunt for a mermaid commences. At Whitecap Bay, Blackbeard and his co managed to capture a mermaid named Syrena after a series of fight with a swarm of man eating mermaid.

Then when all was set, the search for the fountain of youth began. Blackbeard's crew were somehow later than the Spanish when Jack found that the Silver Chalices were missing. But never did he know that Barbossa had already been there waiting for the right moment.

Fountain of Youth, here we come!

Both Barbossa and Jack sneaked into the Spanish camp and stole the chalices. And then Jack led Blackbeard to the fountain of youth with some luck. While Jack surprised Blackbeard by teaming up with Barbossa, who is prophesied to kill Blackbeard, the Spanish arrived to destroy the Fountain of Youth, claiming that no one should live eternally other than God.

Stealing the chalices... SHHHH~~!!

Barbossa stabbed Blackbeard with a poisoned sword, and while Angelica tried to save her father, she accidentally cut herself with the poisoned blade. Jack however saved Angelica in time by tricking Blackbeard into drinking the water that was destined to give up one's soul.

Scene ends where Jack dumps Angelica on an island, while Gosahmee Gibbs got back The Black Pearl from Blackbeard's ship.

The best of the best, has got to be Captain Barbossa. He claims Blackbeard's ship and re-lived his pirating days once again. =)

Captain Barbossa

Plot ***
Acting ***** (Johnny Depp rocks)
Scenes **** (Cool graphics)

Overall ****

Not fantastic, but good enough. Plenty of sword fighting and cannon. Not to mention Queen Anne's flamethrower~!!!

Burlesque

Now another film that is a must watch~! Although the concept is singing and dancing, and the rise of a "farm girl" to a well-known performer, the story is much more original and entertaining.

Christina Aguilera stars as Ali, who left a bar she worked in her hometown to pursue her dreams. She arrived at LA and finds work at a club named Burlesque. However, things did not really go smoothly for her as Tess, the owner, currently did not need any recruits and was also unaware of Ali's talent. Ali's hotel was then robbed and she had to stayed in at one of the bartender's house, named Jack.

So chance finally came knocking on the door when one of the dancers have to go on maternity leave. Ali became the substitute. And it was before long that lead singer Nikki kept pissing off Tess that she sent her home and allowing Ali to take Nikki's place. Nikki tried to sabotage Ali's 1st show by shutting off the sound system, since Burlesque focus mainly on dancing and lip syncing songs. But that of course, gave Ali, who sings like a nightingale, a chance to blossom into the club's hottest property.

Ali then caught the eye of entrepreneur Marcus. Marcus was trying to buy Burlesque from Tess so that he can finish his mega construction. Luckily Ali found that out, and saved Tess from selling Burlesque to Marcus because of plunging into debts by asking another entrepreneur to buy Burlesque's air rights to foil Marcus' plan.

And of course, Ali and Jack fell in love along the story, which added romance into the film. Original soundtracks with a fantastic theme, IT IS A MUST WATCH

Guys watch out for Christina. She's smokin hot!

Girls, watch out for Jack. He's the MAN!

Review: Absolutely undoubtedly 5 stars. The movie totally nailed it!

The Passion of the Christ movie review

Now this is one movie that had so many positive reviews (as in a good movie) but I quite haven't had the chance to actually watch it. But thank God I did have that chance. And it is certified to be a 5 star movie, most probably one of the best film you mustn't miss in your lifetime.

Now since I'm not very good in Christianity nor well verse in the bible, this review of synopsis is based purely on Wikipedia.

It seems that the whole story is based on the last 12 hours of Jesus' life beginning with the Agony in the Garden, where sometime after The Last Supper, Jesus took a walk in the garden and prayed to God while his followers were asleep. Never did he knew, that one of his followers, Judas, has secretly betrayed him to the temple guards and led to his arrest not long after.

As the guards move in to arrest Jesus, Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, but Jesus heals the ear. The temple guards arrested Jesus, while his followers flee. Jesus was brought and questioned by Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest. After admitting himself as the son of God, Jesus was brought to Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judea, to be demanded to be crucified by the people.

Pontius felt that it was harsh to crucify Jesus, instead he chose to chastise Jesus and to set him free. But after scourging Jesus, the crowds still wanted Jesus to be crucified. Pontius had no choice but to give in.

A lot happened along the way to the crucification, but at last when Jesus died while crucified, a drop of rain fell from the heavens, causing an earthquake and wrecking the Jewish temple and rips the cloth covering the Holy of Holies in two, to the horror of Caiaphas and the other priests. Satan is then shown screaming in defeat. The story ends with Jesus rising from the dead and exiting his tomb.

Although the film is not in English and is in reconstructed Aramic, Latin and Hebrew, with the help of subtitles, one can surely understands how the plot is going. You don't need to be a Christian to enjoy the film...

And my, the scene where Jesus was chastised... Ouch~!!!!!

Jesus being chastised

Crucified....

Be sure to watch it...

Aal Izz Well (All Is Well) 3 Idiots Song Lyrics & Translation

One of the main songs of The 3 Idiots. Very nice and meaningful...

The lyrics and word by word translation... And of course, the snippet of the film...

Na na re re ..

Jab life ho out of control honthon ko kar ke gol
When life goes out of control
Honthon ko kar ke gol seeti baja ke bol
Draw back your lips, whistle and exclaim
Life ho out of control honthon ko kar ke gol
When life goes out of control
Honthon ko kar ke gol seeti baja ke bol
Draw back your lips, whistle and exclaim
Aal izz well
All is well

Murgi kya jaane ande ka kya hoga
What does a hen know of the future of the egg?
Arrey life milegi ya tawe pe fry hoga
Will it get a life, orwill it be fried on a pen?
Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga
No one knows what our future can be
Honth ghuma seeti baja seeti baja ke bol
Draw back your lips and whistle, whistle and exclaim
Bhaiya aal izz well
Brother all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh Brother all is well
Arrey chachu aal izz well
Oh Uncle all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh Brother all is well

Confusion hi confusion hai
Confusion prevails
solution kuch pata nahi
none knows of a solution
Solution jo mila to saala
When a solution is discovered
question kya tha pata nahi
is by we've lost track of the question
Dil jo tera baat baat pe ghabraye
Console your heart when it is
Dil pe rakh le haath usse tu fusla le
restless at every juncture
Dil idiot hai pyaar se usko samjha le
The heart is an idiot, knock sense into it with kindness
Honth ghuma seeti baja seeti baja ke bol
Draw back your lips and whistle, whistle and exclaim
Bhaiya aal izz well
Brother all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh brother all is well
Arrey chachu aal izz well
Oh Uncle all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh Brother all is well

Scholarship ki pee gaya daaru
I guzzled the liquor of scholarship
ghum to phir bhi mitaa nahi
but the despair didn't lessen
Agar battiyan raakh ho gayi
The incense stick burned to ash
God to phir bhi dikha nahin
But we didn't see God

Bakra kya jaane uski jaan ka kya hoga
What does a goat knows of it's future
Seekh ghusegi ya saala keema hoga
Will it be skewered, will it be minced?
Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga
No one knows what our future will be
To honth ghuma seeti baja seeti baja ke bol
So draw back your lips, whistle
Bhaiya aal izz well
Brother all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh brother all is well
Arrey chachu aal izz well
Oh Uncle all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh Brother all is well

Jab life ho out of control honthon ko kar ke gol
When life goes out of control
Honthon ko kar ke gol seeti baja ke bol
Draw back your lips, whistle and exclaim
Aal izz well
All is well

Murgi kya jaane ande ka kya hoga
What does a hen know of the future of the egg?
Arrey life milegi ya tawe pe fry hoga hoho
Will it get a life, orwill it be fried on a pen? hoho
Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga kya hoga
No one knows what our future can be can be

Honth ghuma seeti baja seeti baja ke bol
Draw back your lips and whistle, whistle and exclaim
Bhaiya aal izz well
Brother all is well
Arrey murgi aal izz well
Oh hen all is well
Arrey bakre aal izz well
Oh goat all is well
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh Brother all is well

Na na na ..
Na na na..
Arrey bhaiya aal izz well Arrey bhaiya aal izz well
Oh Brother all is well, Oh Brother all is well!

Love In Disguise + Theme Song The Things You Never Knew ( 恋爱通告 和 主题曲：你不知道的事）

Okay, I watched this like 2 weeks ago. But since Lee Hom Wang is my idol. My one and only Mandarin Idol (我的唯一 XD）I think he deserves a spot on my blog, since that I haven't been blogging anything about him!

The movie is about a pop star 杜明汉（pronounced as Du Ming Han) portrayed by Lee Hom, who saw visions of butterflies when 宋晓青（pronounced as Song Xiao Qing) played her 古筝（Gu Zheng). So weird was the scenario that he stalked her down by posing as a student to enroll in the oriental musical academy.

Not a bad 二胡（Er Hu) player himself, plus with his band guitarist as his sidekick, Ming Han succeeded in joining the team who are to perform in front of the audience. He succeeded in befriending Xiao Qing, and continue to have visions of splendor everytime Xiao Qing played the Gu Zheng.

Through a lecture he found that in Ancient China, there was a sublime Gu Zheng musician named 伯牙（Bo Ya）. Magnificent was his skills, but only one person, 子期（Zi Qi) knew the meaning he conveyed, able to see the images and pictures he sculpted using his music, known as Bo Ya's 知音（Zhi Yin) (Zhi Yin means someone who knows you very well, consider to be your other half in love, but can also be a perfect partner in other aspects). But sadly, after Zi Qi passed away, Bo Ya never played the Gu Zheng again. This led to Ming Han to think that Xiao Qing is his Zhi Yin.

As he got to know Xiao Qing, only did he realised that Xiao Qing had a crush on one of the seniors. Hiding his sadness, he sacrificed a lot for her, even motivated her to be brave and make the first move. Sacrifice as in Ming Han put his super star career on the line as he spent most of his time going AWOL from the actual life he had.

But in the end, Ming Han and Xiao Qing eventually fell in love with each other, but Xiao Qing is still not clear of Ming Han's superstar status. Aftr spending a romantic night under a tree (Yeah it's true!) too bad Ming Han's manager found out what he was up to and forced Ming Han to give up on his disguised life.

And of course, Xiao Qing was heart broken when she found out about this...

But all' well ends well. After hearinf Ming Han's story and felt his sincerity, Ming Han was allowed to rush back to do a promotion for Xiao Qing's musical school, which is owned by her father. After making a dramatic entrance by falling from onto the stage, he played a changed version of Xiao Qing's poem as in the theme of this song, 你不知道的事（Ni Bu Zhi Dao De Shi）（The Things You Never Knew)

Story ends with Ming Han and Xiao Qing in a relationship, with paparazzi snapping pictures all the way. Finally, Bo Ya and Zi Qi met each other and lived happily ever after...

The theme song, is in my playlist, plus the lyrics and of course, rough translation... =)

蝴蝶眨几次眼睛
How many times must a butterfly rub it's eyes
才学会飞行
Then only to learn how to fly
夜空洒满了星星
The night sky is laden with stars
但几颗会落地
But how many will fall down to the ground

我飞行 但你坠落之际
I'm flying, but you're on the ground
很靠近 还听见呼吸
We're so near, I can hear your breath
对不起 我却没捉紧你
I'm sorry, because I did not held you tighly

你不知道我为什么离开你
You never knew why I left you
我坚持不能说放任你哭泣
I will never tell you, no matter how hard you cry
你的泪滴像 倾盆大雨 碎了满地
Your tears are like the raindrops, falling to the earth
在心里清晰
Heard so clearly inside my heart

你不知道我为什么狠下心
You never knew why I was so cruel
盘旋在你看不见的高空里
Hovering above the sky where you can never see me
多的是 你不知道的事
So many are the things, you never knew

蝴蝶眨几次眼睛
才学会飞行
夜空洒满了星星
但几颗会落地

我飞行 但你坠落之际
很靠近 还听见呼吸
对不起 我却没捉紧你

你不知道我为什么离开你
我坚持不能说放任你哭泣
你的泪滴像 倾盆大雨 碎了满地
在心里清晰

你不知道我为什么狠下心
盘旋在你看不见的高空里
多的是 你不知道的事

我飞行 但你坠落之际

你不知道我为什么离开你
我坚持不能说放任你哭泣
你的泪滴像 倾盆大雨 碎了满地
在心里清晰

你不知道我为什么狠下心
盘旋在你看不见的高空里
多的是 你不知道的事

Toy Story 3 -The Finale- Review

Aww... I've been waiting for this for so long. Correction. I didn't know that there was even a probability that there would be a 3rd movie. Things got to a perfect ending in Toy Story 2, where little Andy is immortalized with his favourite toys forever in our minds.

Things did not turn out like that.

Andy grew up and is almost going to college. Although no more touching his toys, he still has a heart for them as he cannot bear to throw or give them away. But an accident happened when he was trying to keep his toys in the attic, only planning to take Woody to college. His mum threw his toys away, only for them to escape but ended up in a box destined to a day care centre.

Things did not go as expected at the day care. They were transferred to a room of small mischievous kids who played very roughly with them. They try to escaped, but were nearly foiled by the notorious Lotso, head of the "bad toys"

All's well end well. They managed to find a way back to Andy's house and... The ending is a sad and happy one. Look for the ending yourselves...

It's hilarious and you need to know something about Toys Story 1 and 2 to understand the jokes(well not all of them of course). Very touching and almost cried. But at least I now know that they are happy forever now. NO MORE please =D

"There's a snake in my boot!"

"TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND!!"

Prince Of Persia The Sands Of Time preview

*Screams in delight!!!

This is what I call an action-packed movie! Fighting scenes, acrobatic stunt moves, romance, humour, fresh new different plot... Feel free to read. DO NOT PROCEED AS I WILL REVEAL THE SPOILERS!!!

The story started off with the protagonist, Dastan a street urchin fending off the King's army when some controversy is stirred. Amazed by Dastan' courage, the King took Dastan back to his palace and gave him a family. Thus came to the reknowned Prince Dastan, the Lion of Persia.

In the present, the Persian army invaded the holy city of Alamut, which was suspected to be making and supplying weapons to Persia's enemy. Dastan accidentaly stumbled upon the Dagger of time, which can be used as a time travelling device.

The King came to Alamut to celebrate the victory. Prince Tus, Dastan's royal brother gave Dastan a robe to be presented to their father. Little that he know that the robe was poisoned. The King died when he put on the robe, which led to the accusation of Dastan for the killing of the King.

With the help of Princess Tamina, Alamut's princess, Dastan fled away. Then he slowly came to know about the power of the dagger. The plot then turns funny when both Dastan and Tamina started back stabbing each other to hold control of the dagger. But then slowly Dastan started to know about the truth of the dagger and vowed to help the Princess to give back the dagger to the Gods. Legend said that once upon a time the human race was so corrupted that it enraged the Gods. To punish human, a large sandstorm was whipped up to wipe out human civilization, only for one girl to stop the wrath of the Gods. Thus the sand storm was kept in a glass hidden some where beneath Alamut, and this is also the very sand to activate the time- travelling dagger.

Ah.. Princess Tamina.. <3>

The actual killer of the king was his own brother, Nizam. Nizam once saved his brother's life during a hunting trip and he intends to use the dagger to go back to the time he saved his brother, this time letting him die so that he can be king himself. After succeeding in stealing the dagger and finding the glass of magical sands he then stabs it to turn back time. Dastan managed to stop the time turning event which resulted him transported back to the time Persia breached Alamut. Now knowing that his evil uncle's scheme, he exposed his uncle's treachery, which in the end saved his father and his kingdom...

Definitely 5 *. Great soundtracks and stunt moves. Everything in a one and a half an hour movie. WATCH IT!!!

Robin Hood

Argh! One of my anticipated films of the year. I grew up idolising Robin Hood. And it turned out, shall I say a little dissappointing?

Russell Crowe ( Yeap. He's the Maximus in Gladiator XD) portrays the skillful archer and swordsman who robs the rich and gives it to the poor. It seems that this movie is actually about how Robin Longstride ( Robin Hood is his nickname) got exiled from England.

The movie started off with King Richard The Lionheart and his army attacking a French castle, in which he got killed during the siege. Robin was the archer in the army then. Upon the king's death, he and his friends, which later are known as the "merry men" left the army after leaving England for 10 years of war. Little that they know they met upon Sir Loxley and a group of the King's loyal knights who were in charge of bringing back the king's crown back to England. Sir Loxley and the knights were ambushed by Godfrey, an English traitor who has been supplying valuable information to King Phillipe of France who yearns to conquer England.

Robin and his Merry Man

Sir Loxley was killed in the ambush, and Robin promised him that he would help deliver the crown back to England and Sir Loxley's sword back to his father, Walter Loxley.

Then comes the boring part. Robin stays at Nottingham, which is where Sir Loxley reside, taking his place as Walter Loxley's lost son and trying to learn his history. It is this part where Robin starts to fall for Sir Loxley's wife, Lady Marion played by Cate Blanchett.

Ahh... Lady Marion, one of the few reasons it's worth watching. =D

"Ask me nicely" XD

Secretly, Godfrey has been using King John's name ( King Richard's brother and King after his brother's death) to stir up the anger of the Northern Barons. ( Barons are some sort of head of villagers) to induce war upon King John from the North. And France will attack England from the south by crossing the English Channel.

But Robin learns in time of his father who was one of those who created the Magna Carta( to proclaim certain rights (pertaining to freeman), respect certain legal procedures , and accept that his will could be bound by law). He arrived just in time to stop the confrontation of King John and the Barons and they fought together as one against the French at the shores. That of course ended in defeat for the French.

After the war, King John reneges one his words to sign the Magna Carta and proclaimed Robin Hood an outlaw and hunted man. Thus came to the Robin Hood we know, the one man who robs the rich and gives the poor, who resided in Sheerwood Forest with his merry men.

The trailer wow-ed me as the battle scenes were much like the Lord Of The Rings, where riders galloped through the plains to war. But oh my, it could have been better...

3 stars out of five. Lack of humour and fighting scenes are not elaborated enough. Partly because no one on one fight between the hero and villian. Soundtracks were just normal...

P.S. I don't know whether this version of Robin Hood is true or not. What I read and saw before was some how different though...

Iron Man 2

Iron Man finally got his sidekick XD

Robert Downey Jr. is back as the playboy super hero Iron Man. And I tell you, you really gotta watch this one!!! It rocks!!

Okay, some of you may have forget what had happened in the first part of the movie. Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man ( his name in the story) got kidnapped on a trip in Afghanistan. The terrorist who kidnapped him placed an electromagnet thingy into his chest, which in the end forces him to use an arc reactor(yes, the thing he inserts in his chest and glows in the dark). So now in the second part of the movie, as in this movie, the arc reactor is powered by an element called paladium, which side effects toxify Tony's blood.

Iron man is viewed as some as a national sercurity threat and the US government wanted Stark to hand over the suits. And they are teaming up with Stark's rival company Justin Hammer to produce an army of Iron man. But in the end Stark made Senator Stern look like a fool at the conference and insisting that there will be no others with the technology to build the iron man suit.

Little that he knows that the son of a Russian Physicist, who is also former colleague of his father has blue prints to the arc reator as well. He built himself a suit of iron and is the primary antagonist of this film, Whiplash. Then you know what happened. The bad guy went to find the good guy XD.

Whiplash is going to kick someone's ass...

(I won't go on narrating on the fighting scenes as you have to watch it yourselves for the thrill =D)

Whiplash loses to Stark and was placed in jail. But Justin Hammer freed him in order to gain Whiplash team work in producing the Iron Man suit to oust Startk Enterprise. Little that Justin knew that Whiplash was double-crossing him, by taking full advantage of the resources.

As the paladium continues to poison Stark's blood, he searches for a substitute for it. Little that he knows that his father already hidden everything he wants to tell his son in original diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo.

To synthesize the new element, Stark builds an accelerator that channels protons to another element. And pretty much drama occurs here and there until the final fight between Whiplash and Stark happens again. But the fight did not lasted very long though...

The story ends with Stark kissing his personal assistant Pepper Potts on the roof.

The end

(Actually I find it quite hard to write this movie critic. Maybe the scene shifts too fast, I don't know. And I left out Scarlett Johansson and Don Cheadle)

Deserves 5/5 star, especially for a super hero movie. Great soundtracks, cool fighting scenes. Awesome technology( don't know whether it exists today or not) and definitely one of the best movie of ther year, I predict ;=)

AVATAR

Well well well, finally a blockbuster. A screamer. A MUST-WATCH!! James Cameron made another spectacular movie that hopfully, breaks Titanic's record.

Sam Worthington, the Terminator hunk, portrays Jake Sully, an ex-marine, is paralzyed waist down from wounds sustained in combat. He is selected to participate in the Avatar program as his identical twin brother Tom was killed. Arriving from Earth to Pandora in a six year journey, Jake awakes from cryosleep to the planet which is rich in unobtainium.

Jake Sully in Avatar mode

Avatar, is defined as a character, or someone you portrayed in another world or dimension, be it a game or etc. So the Avatar program is some sort like a creation of a character which resembles the natives in the Pandora, which is known as the Na'vi and combining it with human genome that enables a human to control it by channeling their thoughts. He however, must be asleep in his real body. Another reason of the usage of the Avatar is human race are unable to breathe in the planet of Pandora.

The floating mountains in Pandora

Originally used as a device to hold diplomatic resolves with the Na'vis, as their village is sitting on top of the planet's richest Unobtainium source, Jake however was being told to infiltrate the Na'vis by gaining their trust and finding their weakness, so that the Colonel will know where to strike the natives hard. However in the process, Jake realise that he had fallen in love in the greenery of the planet(and also Neytiri) and in the end switch sides to lead the whole Na'vi against his own race.

Ikran(the blue flying beasts) battling the choppers

Neytiri

Great plot, great linkages, owesome 3-D effects. You can't ask for more. Everything in Pandora, even the blades of grass, are works of 3-D.

1st, break the gross record. Then, it's on to the Oscars!!!

Letters From Iwo Jima

It has been a long time since I watched a good movie. This is a 2006 film. It's about a story of Japanese civilians conscripted to defend the island of Iwo Jima. That time it was WW2

Iwo Jima is just a small barren island, but as you can see here, it lies directly between Japan and the Philippine. If the US managed to gain control of the island, the US would used it as their base to attack Japan. So containing the island was vital.


But as Japan had earlier suffered losses, the mainland was unable to lend in support to defend Iwo Jima. So it's up to the soldiers there to defend for their lives. Although they were no match for the US, but it was the sheer fighting spirit that overwhelmed me...

Ken Watanabe as Army Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi

But on the other hand, there was one scene where they were lectured to identify US medics and told to bring them down. It's kinda cruel and I somehow reject this thinking.

This film is definitely worth watching. Although it's in Japanese, but it was directed by Clint Eastwood and Spielberg was one of the producer. So it's definitely Hollywood-class...

By the way, it's way better then 2012... XD

2012

First of all, I would like to say that, this movie, is not to be hyped. It does not deserve such attention. All I can say is the effects are awesome, but the plot, it's too slipshod. Not flowing. Why? Cos in the end, after watching, you'd think back, hey, this started in 2009? Why suddenly jump so fast?

But other then the plot, the characters, those portrayed, are the people who we see today. Those who are selfish, those who fear death so much. And the frantic actions men take when disaster strikes, as they get ready to defy God, defy Judgement Day.

It is not the main characters that teaches us lessons, rather the minor characters. The Lama, Charlie the nutcrack...

Carl Anheuser, the President's Chief of Staff

Charlie

When is it the time to care for each other, to understand each other, if not now? For when disasters really strike, humans cowardly flee and forget the true meaning of humanity, the day we stop fighting and caring for each other, the day civilisation lost it's true meaning.

And for Charlie, who died in a volcano eruption in Yellowstone, at least he got a chance to witness Earth's fury and beauty, right before his very eyes, but for those who viewed from the universe, it's just a speck of smoke.

Die with pride and honour, rather then live by carrying thousands of sins that haunt you the rest of your lives...

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