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Friday, May 31, 2013

Waterworld


The premise of the film is interesting, it is set in the future where the polar ice caps have melted and Earth just becomes a big ocean.  People live in boats/floating structures.  The start of the film was absorbing, and before you know it, half an hour would have past.  You get to see the protagonist living his life in the sea, and start to learn what is required in this watery world.  Around past the one and a half hour mark, the movie seems to drag as it struggles to keep the pace going but it picks up again right near the end, where all the explosions happen.  One of the weak points is that they never explained the whole mutation thing.  The protagonist is a mutation that had developed the ability to breath underwater through the use of gills.  Apart from elevating the protagonist with abilities above the average human, no other explanation is given.  The characters Enola and Helen are quite annoying from the beginning.  Seriously, when you're on someone else's boat, you listen to them.  Plus, I'm pretty sure that they will know what to do since they have survived living as a drifter for so long.  Other things that feel weird is the antagonists' supplies of ammo, machinery and oil.  Considering that everything is below water and these are consumables (and that the world has been flooded for a while now), it's surprising to still find they have ample amounts of these (plus a lot of tin food!!).  Anyway, this was a decent film, even at such a long length, it manages to keep your attention.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Book Review: Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian


Review:  #339
Title:  Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian
Series:  Artemis Fowl - 8th and final book
Author:  Eoin Colfer
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  To be honest, The Last Guardian is a bit of a disappointment, especially as a final entry in the series.  I kept expecting Artemis to come up with a plan and execute it beautifully (maybe not perfectly but at least elegant and succeeding), however, that never happened.  That was what this book lacked, a plan.  It just had the characters improvising one thing after another, and it’s not the interesting improvisation either, more just like reflexes.  There wasn’t a true complex plan or any smart moments.  Even the climax of the book could be guessed easily.  I found it surprising what Opal did in her bid for conquest, especially after the events of Time Paradox.  The author had already gone through time travelling as something that “we have already experienced the effects of any tinkering in the past”.  The actions that Opal took seemed to have contradicted that, and it seemed like a major retcon to the series.  There were way too many obvious coincidences in the story for it to feel structured and believable.  The instances of humour have also decreased, and the same goes for the quality of the one-liners.  I felt that the author tried to be too sentimental in the ending, the death didn’t seem necessary.  Plus, it then turned way more supernatural and weird, to the point where you thinking, did that seriously just happen?  One of the weaker Artemis Fowl novels and the ending wasn’t that great.  It felt a bit more boring and uninspired but still worth a read.
Rating:  6.5/10

Monday, May 27, 2013

The Incredibles


One of the funner superheroes movies.  It's your standard high quality Disney Pixar movie.  The first forty mins passed me by in a blur because it was so absorbing.  It kept your interest, I think they presented the opening of the movie really well.  It did slow down a bit as we waited for the rest of the Incredibles to arrive on the island (and having to wait until the two kids could be confident of their powers).  The best parts were obviously once the whole family teamed up and each used their strengths to defeat their enemies.  There was a lot of good humor in various scenes and the bright cartoony world was pleasing to the eye.  There was surprisingly no major showdown between the Incredibles and the antagonist, Syndrome.  I wanted the climax of the film to be longer and more spectacular.  I'm glad they didn't dwell too much into Elastigirl suspecting and blaming her husband in having an affair (when he doesn't).  The ending was a bit abrupt with the appearance of another villain.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Book Review: Ptolemy's Gate


Review:  #338
Title:  Ptolemy's Gate
Series:  The Bartimaeus Trilogy - 3rd book
Author:  Jonathan Stroud
Read Before:  yes
My Comments:  Simply put, this is one of the BEST books you’ll ever read, and I’ve only read one or two other books that have even come close to this quality.  The plot is amazing, elaborate and hugely satisfying.  It can be read as a standalone story (without requiring much knowledge from the previous two books), yet it also evolves the characters a lot.  You get to see them changing, see their growth, and this presents one of the most impacts the story has to offer.  When I first read the book, the sinister plot that was revealed really sends a shiver through your body, yet it seems so elegant and fitting, like the books was leading to this point the whole time.  More than once, situations would be so tense that you could not help but be flipping the pages to find out how the characters would have gotten out of that impossible-to-escape predicament.  The back story of Ptolemy was told in five parts, which I thought was very effective.  These events were crucial in the development of the story.  Granted, for the first hundred pages or so, the book doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, but persevere and you will be rewarded.  The humour is great, from the sarcastic remarks of Bartimaeus, to just how the author presents some things, it’s brilliant.  Perhaps the thing that must be commended most would be the climax of the book.  Seriously, it does not disappoint.  The ending is heartrending and sparks off many emotions.  It has elegance since it mirrors what had happened in the past (in the most impactful of ways), it is stirring and riveting.  That one ending makes up for everything and makes the whole process of reading worthwhile (above and beyond).  Although it doesn’t explicitly cover anything that happened afterwards, you can just imagine the scenario.  You can’t help but think how Bartimaeus feels and what he is thinking about.  You can see a huge improvement in the writing from the intricacies and beauty of the plot.  This is an amazing piece of work.  The only reason that this book didn’t get a 9.5 is because when you reread it, it lessens the enjoyment immensely as all the surprises and twists are gone.
Rating:  9/10

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Hook


Once again, I love the concept of the film.  It tells the story about when Peter Pan actually grows up.  The actual execution of the film though... was completely different to what I had in mind.  I hadn't expected that Peter would have lost his memory and that a huge portion of the film would be spent having him trying to regain his powers.  The end result is that I felt the film was quite boring and dragged out.  I didn't want to see him get his powers back and learn a life lesson about spending more time with his son.  What I wanted to to see him go on an adventure like the old times.  The result of the relationship between Peter and his son can be seen a mile away, and it's used as a major plot point here.  The interaction between Captain Hook and Peter wasn't as good as you would have expected.  However, the actor portraying Hook had done a great job.  I felt the script was very average and it lacked the genuine childhood wonder touch.  There's also my common complaint these days, and that the film felt too long, over two hours and a lot of those minutes were events that felt pointless.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Book Review: Trust No One


Review:  #337
Title:  Trust No One
Series:  Cahills vs. Vespers - 5th book
Author:  Linda Sue Park
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  A pretty good book but if you have been following the series beforehand (including the original The 39 Clues books) then this comes off as being a bit repetitive.  Its feels the same as the books before it, that the protagonists have to find clues, steal stuff (seriously?  The things they manage to steal gets more and more farfetched and outrageous each time) and they have a deadline thanks to the Vespers.  I still find it weird that with the Vespers apparently as powerful as them, how come we never saw any trace back when the clue hunt was on, and that they could have just swooped in when the Cahill family was weak and divided?  There is supposed to be a bombshell of a revelation here with the identity of Vesper One, however, it just raises more questions and problems.  It doesn’t feel right.  Amy’s mental instability has a huge role here, which kinda sucks as it’s been brought up again and again and again.  At least one of the good things about the series is that you do learn a lot, since the facts are facts, and not just some made up pretend gibberish to fit the author’s purpose.  In my opinion, with all the spinoffs and sequels in the series (as well as card packs), it really feels that they’re milking this series for all it’s worth... even when it wasn’t that great to begin with.
Rating:  6/10

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Clash of the Titans (2010)


One of the things that I prefer in this remake rather than the original is that it got rid of the backstory for Perseus.  Yes, this makes it so that it doesn't connect you with Perseus as much but that hour of boredom that was in the original was just that, boring.  This film completely skips Perseus growing up on the island, transporting to Joppa, meeting Andromeda and acquiring Pegasus.  This film dives straight into the action, where Perseus embarks upon his quest to find a way to kill the kraken.  The basic premise of the story is the same, with a small twist.  The tension between Hades and Zeus is added in as a subplot here.  As expected, this remake relies heavily upon special effects.  The animation of the monsters are well done for the most part but they obviously look fake.  However, since they're computer animated, this means that the monster fights scenes are much more exciting and dynamic.  I wished they could have kept the part about how Perseus captures Pegasus since in this film, it just appears and helps Perseus.  The original story takes a backseat since Andromeda is now regulated as a minor character, and they added in Io, which I thought was weird.  I also liked how it wasn't overly long and it was interesting enough so that the film passes by quickly.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Book Review: Just Doomed!


Review:  #336
Title:  Just Doomed!
Series:  Just! - 8th book
Author:  Andy Griffiths
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  You can tell that the author is running out of ideas when he reuses the same style/structure of stories in previous books.  The jokes are getting stale because we have all seen them before.  I was quite sick of the short story that is posed as a choose-you-own adventure (it was great the first time around but not anymore) and the list of things that indicate you’re ‘doomed’ (substitute the words inside the apostrophes with another book title and chances are, it exists as a short story).  Half of the book feels unoriginal, and the illustration quality has dropped too, reusing old concepts and not filling as much of the page as they used to.  Some of the stories are still good and fun.  It’s too bad that you can guess quite accurately the endings to all the stories.
Rating:  6/10

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Watchmen


I had expected something completely different about Watchmen than what it actually is.  The blurb at the back of the case says that the plot is about when a retired superhero is murdered, it sparks up an investigation and ultimately a band together of other superheroes in which they uncover a sinister plot.  So... the murder happened... but then the sinister plot and band together didn't happen until two hours later.  I felt the movie overall was... pointless.  Everything that pretty much happened was pointless.  It was so melodramatic and dark and apparently deep, but in the end, it felt shallow.  You can sit there, watched through an hour to an hour and a half of the film and still you don't know where it is going to go.  It just seemed to be a collection of various scenes stuck together.  The worse thing is that it's extremely long, at over 2.5 hours, what a bore and a chore it was during that whole time.  It was overly violent.  I admit it, I'm not really a big fan of massive violence when there is no need for it, and there is no need for it here.  There was also no need for all the sexually suggestive themes and that sex scene, which seemed completely out of place anyway.  One thing that felt odd to me was that the film was set in an alternate version of 1985, and yet we keep seeing these super advanced technology that looks out of place in that time period (it's not even possible using contemporary technology).  The plot lacked substance, since all that time was spent not advancing it or telling the viewers what it was about and then suddenly, things are revealed like they're supposed to shock you.  They don't work because you feel indifferent, there was no build up or empathy felt towards the characters so you don't care.  As you can see, I'm not a big fan of this film (maybe it's because I haven't read the graphic novel that this is based on?).

Monday, May 13, 2013

Toy Review: Transformers Prime Ratchet (Deluxe)


Review:  #133
Name:  Ratchet
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Prime
Year of Release:  2012
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 2)
Variations:  remolded in the Beast Hunters line as Ratchet

VEHICLE MODE:


Ratchet transforms into an emergency vehicle (probably an ambulance of some sort) with his signature color scheme of red and white.  Probably the one thing that people complain the most about this toy is that it's missing the lifeline at the back of the vehicle.


Which... speaking of the back of the vehicle, it's very plain and white.  There are some great molded details, but only the back bumper is painted silver.


There are a few panel breaks due to how Ratchet transforms, and this can ruin the look (it's nowhere near as bad as say, ROTF Ratchet).


There's this official 'attack' mode of Ratchet's, in which you plug in the robot blades to the bumper.  It looks stupid and isn't worth the two holes at the front of the vehicle.


A better way would be to store the blades inside the vehicle, they peg into the inside of the cab, a nice touch.


As mentioned, there are some great sculpted details all over the car.


One of the biggest thing working against Ratchet is his small size.  You pick him up and that's the first thing you'd notice, he's tiny.  It doesn't help that he is supposed to be big and bulky.  He pulls off the boxy vehicle look very well though.


Obviously, his wheels roll.  Another common complaint about Ratchet is his apparent lack of paint, however, approximately one third of the vehicle shell (i.e. the cab) is translucent blue plastic, meaning that all of that (and it's a pretty big area) is painted white and red.


This is a pretty cool ambulance that looks good from all angles.

TRANSFORMATION:

Fairly simple for the most part.  The way the back panels of the vehicle form his forearms is quite neat and works very well.  I was also surprised at how the shoulders were integrated (it's not super clever, but just unexpected and you don't realize it until you actually transform him).  The way his legs form was super simple.  There is a head reveal gimmick, you fold the back back of the vehicle down and the head springs up, cool, but not worth the liberties it places on the figure.  I realized what's been bothering me about the transformation and how come I feel disappointed about it.  It's due to the fact that his torso is one solid piece with no manipulation of parts.  You only twist and fiddle around with the limbs while the body is already formed right from the start.  Feels lazy and it might be partly due to the gimmick that it's like this.

ROBOT MODE:


Ratchet has fairly athletic proportions, with chunky legs and a thin-ish upper body.  He is fairly screen accurate.


There's barely any kibble, only that big panel on his back and the cab shells wrapping around his lower legs.


Perhaps one of the more disappointing things is the fake vehicle kibble.  The doors on his chest is a defining feature of this iteration of Ratchet, yet one the toy, it's sculpted in and doesn't even use the real vehicle doors, lazy (that, and the sculpted doors look too small in proportion anyway).


Ratchet isn't bogged down by too much stuff but the most noticeable is how thick his lower legs is, but that's just an illusion.


Since half of that is hollow, which kinda sucks.


The head sculpt is good, but something seems a little bit off, maybe because of the grimace.


As mentioned, his torso is just one big solid block, :(.


His shoulder pads are not proportioned like the show, having a sharper bend/angle downwards, otherwise, this is a cool figure.


Ratchet unfolds a little bit and becomes taller than you'd expect, but still a small figure overall.


So, now onto the weapons, they're made of this super soft rubbery plastic understandable given the safety concerns, but they're a little bit too soft.


Ratchet can hold them like normal knives.


Or, you can fold his wrists in (it's a transformation joint) so it looks like the blades are spouting out of his arm.  This is really awesome and I loved how the designer managed to achieve this.


Ratchet looks great with his blades like this, ready to slice some Decepticons.


As you'd expect, there is some good articulation here, his arms are double jointed in addition to the standard shoulder joint.


As he's relatively kibble free, all his articulation is unhindered.  The head is fairly restricted though for some reason, turning it side to side takes some effort (as he has a tendency to look up when you try to swivel the head due to how it's attached).


I don't think I've mentioned the lightpiping, he has a great lightpiping effect...


A negative is that his blades can't store anywhere in robot mode if Ratchet's not using them, disappointing (all it takes is a peg molded on his backpack and that's that problem solved).


Surprisingly, Ratchet also possesses a waist swivel!


If you pay attention, you'd notice that there is a decent amount of paint apps here.  A nice figure overall, and one that's a definite if you want to collect the cast members.


Speaking of cast members, I've finally gotten the whole Autobot cast from Season 1 of Prime!

OVERALL:

A simple little figure, emphasis on the simple and little.  I believe he makes some compromises for the head reveal gimmick making Ratchet a little bit more boring than his true potential.  However, this is still a good solid toy that possesses a cool way to incorporate his blades as part of his arms.  The proportions may not suit everyone's taste and the blades are a really soft rubber, but all in all, it's not terrible.

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Other Transformers reviews can be found on this page.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Book Review: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator


Review:  #335
Title:  Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Series:  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 2nd book
Author:  Roald Dahl
Read Before:  yes
My Comments:  A very imaginative and excellent sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  One thing that I did find weird was how the book was cleanly split into two main sections.  The first part dwells upon Charlie and his family (along with Wonka) heading into space, while the second part speaks upon the pills that make a person younger.  As mentioned, the events that happen here are quite imaginative, I mean, the knids were cool and Minusland somehow makes sense.  There’s a lot of ‘nonsense’ here, in that things that doesn’t make sense.  Yet you can't stop reading and wanting to find out what happens next.  The illustrations are great and lend a hand to visualising the world.
Rating:  6.5/10

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Shutter Island


I swear I have seen a movie that has a similar concept before...  Anyway, the movie, for those of you who are not sure, is about an US Marshall who comes to an island, which houses criminals that are insane.  He suspects there is a conspiracy happening and that they are using the patients for experiments.  At over two hours long, we see how Teddy slowly reveals what is truly happening in this island.  While this premise is sweet, the execution, particularly in the first half of the film, was slow and can be confusing with the flashbacks.  The film seems to get lost before finding itself again and the plot slowly dawns on you.  The bombshell hits in the last part of the film where everything is explained.  You still feel there might have been a conspiracy happening and believe the main character, but apparently, he was the one in the wrong here.  It can be hard to get your head wrap around it and believe it at first.  The film requires the viewer to put some thought into it.  I'm not sure if in the end it makes the whole two hours you have to sit through worthwhile, but at least it wasn't too boring and dragged out.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Book Review: The Timekeeper


Review:  #334
Title:  The Timekeeper
Series:  Finders Keepers - 2nd book
Author:  Emily Rodda
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  I actually believe that the first Finders Keepers book didn’t really need a sequel as it ended on a nice note.  The Timekeeper is okay, it doesn’t surpass the original (but then again, the original wasn’t that great either).  The plot isn’t too complex and is easy to pick up, but that also means that it’s less interesting.  As a reader, you don’t want to be in the shoes of Patrick, because what he did wasn’t anything amazing that makes you envy him.  The time pressure wasn’t much of a pressure (unlike the last book, this one takes place in the space of a few hours, and it seems too much to do in a few hours, breaking the realism a little bit).  The writing isn’t the author’s best work.
Rating:  6/10

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Clash of the Titans (1981)


This is the first time I've watched this movie, purely for getting ready and seeing the difference in it's 2010 remake.  From the title and a quick glimpse at what the plot is about, I thought it would be an action packed film.  Turns out it was a bit boring in the end (no offence to anyone, just my personal opinion).  I thought the first hour of the film was a bit weak.  I didn't really see where the film was going at that point except that I thought Perseus was going to kill some monsters for the hand of Princess Andromeda (turns out it was a little bit different from that).  The fights between Perseus and the monsters were kinda dull.  I think I am too used to the contemporary styles in that every fight has to be exaggerated with cool moves and dodges.  This was more realistic in terms of it's fighting styles.  I liked all the appearances of gods and monsters from Greek mythology.  The stop motion effects are obviously dated now, but still does it's job.  They can be a bit clunky at times since their movements are stiff and they stagger.  Furthermore, in some of the scenes, it was obvious that special effects were being used to put the people in front of the scene.  This detracted from the movie, but hey, I'm sure during its time, these effects were spectacular and state of the art.  I still think the climax didn't live up to its potential.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Iron Man 3


Ever since watching The Avengers, I've been looking forward to Iron Man 3, and even though the only trailer that I've seen of it wasn't that interesting, I was still looking forward to it.  In the end, Iron Man 3 was a solid film and I never got bored while watching it, but it does leave some to be desired.  The portrayal of Mandarin and his true form which, while funny, was just slightly disappointing considering how hyped the character was in the marketing prior to the film's release.  It felt like his character didn't fit well after that, literally just a joke (seriously though, I did not see that plot twist coming so I was a bit shocked and thinking "wtf" when it happened, kudos to them for that).  I know the whole message of the film is that Tony Stark, even without his suits, is Iron Man, BUT, it would still be preferable if his suits had more screen time.  You seen them at the start of the show (thinking, this is going to be pretty awesome since they start showing off the bad boys right from the start), then they effectively disappear until the grand finale.  The film can feel too jokey at times, although the humor was funny, it can feel like it doesn't jell that well into the overall tone.  Music is quite epic and the climax was intense.  Sure, it's not as cool as The Avengers but it was still great in it's own right, especially when Tony calls on all his backup (then again, having Pepper ultimately be the one to defeat the villain was weird and awkward).  It was surprising to see Tony Stark creating a clean slate (and there I was thinking when the fireworks were happening, what would happen if some of the bad guys didn't die and decided to strike them now...).  Overall, still a great film.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

MediEvil


A game with a fairly unique atmosphere.  Mostly, it's fairly quirky with a dash of humor but surprisingly, it can get pretty freaky or scary at times.  On a whole, MediEvil is an action hack n slash with a touch of platforming and simple puzzle solving.  There are a heap of weapons that the character, Sir Daniel Fortesque, end up obtaining, which lends a great variety in the gameplay (even though you'll end up using a few of those for most of the game).  In each level, there is a focus on exploration.  This is the fun part as you scour through the levels for any hidden areas and items, the addition of a collectible chalice which can be obtained by defeating most of the monsters in each level, extends the game time (in a good way).  If you're playing blind, then you'll be replaying levels again and again as you attempt to get all these items, which, in a way, can be annoying since the game doesn't provide any hints or tips about where to find these items (especially if the one you're missing is stopping you from progressing through the game).  It's a Playstation One game, so the graphics aren't spectacular but it gets by and it's good for it's time.  Some of the details in the levels can be impressive but mostly, it can get depressing when you see the darkness at the edge of the screens.

Sure, those darkness may be fine due to the game's dark nature but you can't escape the fact that the boundaries of each levels are so obvious.  The pre-rendered cutscenes are awesome though.  Each character's dialogue is quite funny (although voice acting isn't exactly the best) as they usually pay out Fortesque.  That's about all the positives...  There are some flaws in the design of the game that prevents it from being a stellar game and will occasionally annoy the hell out of you.  First off, the camera is awkward.  You rotate the camera using buttons, NOT the analogue stick.  It wouldn't be so much of a problem if the camera itself was good but sometimes, especially during platforming elements where you have to jump from platform to platform, it will be your enemy.  It'll be hard to gauge the distance and angle and you'll miss and fall toy our death.  Movement can also be clunky no matter whether you're using the D-pad or analogue stick.  Fighting isn't as smooth as you'd want, Fortesque isn't exactly the most graceful when using his weapons.  A strafe function would be awesome (but sadly, back in the days where 3D was just blossoming, this wasn't possible) as aiming can be awkward and it's hard to not get hit by the enemies.

The problems you get when you add all these control issues together will definitely ruin moments of the game where you die... and it's not your fault.  What makes it worse is that once you die in a level, you're sent to your last save... meaning you'll have to redo the level the whole way, sucks even more if you died at the boss at the end of the level, it feels so tedious.  Some of the level design seemed like they deliberately want you to die and get you frustrated as you try it again... and again... and again (the Ghost Ship level comes into mind).  To be honest, most of the game is easy but it's just one or two levels that gets on your nerves.  The music used is great and I love it, it suits the game so well and builds up the atmosphere.  Puzzles are usually simple but you'll be backtracking around the level to solve some of them as you try to figure out how to proceed.  The story is also surprisingly quite engrossing.  While simple, the characters are so charming that you want to keep going through the game to see what else comes up. The final bosses were disappointing.  They were similar to each other and they weren't that interesting.  The ending that you get though was great, and made the effort to get there worth it.  We get to see Fortesque finally becoming the hero that he was supposed to be.  It's a solid game but one that'll get annoying at times due to the awkward controls.

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Other game reviews can be found on this page.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Book Review: Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxer


Review:  #333
Title:  Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxer
Series:  Captain Underpants - 10th book
Author:  Dav Pilkey
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  Another long instalment in the Captain Underpants saga.  If you liked the previous one, then you’ll like this one.  It continues on the story, which I personally think went on for far too long.  The humour wasn’t as well done here, and I got bored a lot of times, things just weren’t as innovation and great as they were before.  The story is really weak, it’s basically just a set of circumstances happening one after another, and it doesn’t make sense.  There are some really stupid things that happen here, which I guess is a trademark of the series.  It feels that there is a lot of filler material, which ruins the story.
Rating:  6/10

Friday, May 3, 2013

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Movie)


Hmmm... it's seems that I might be a shallow viewer in which all it takes to amuse me during a movie is the excitement and fight scenes.  At least... that's what it seems like it is currently since a lot of films I've been watching that were good critically I thought was boring, and movies that were not as well received I thought was okay and not terrible (and maybe even better than the critically well received ones).  Prince of Persia is one of those movies.  It wasn't well received critically and while for sure it was boring at some sections, it never slowed down to a standstill and the two hours went by at a reasonable rate.  Being a video game adaptation, I've had my doubts but the movie was entertaining.  I was wondering what the Sands of Time were, and the movie suitably explains it (and it's quite cool).  As the title suggests, it the whole focus on the film and I liked how they didn't abuse the power of it (which is channeled through a dagger).  They had the main character, the titular Prince, Dastan, to be quite acrobatic.  This could have backfired but thankfully, there weren't too obvious special effects that make it fake, it was reasonable.  The plot left some to be desired.  Instantly, you can smell treachery (or have suspicions about it), and once the dagger was revealed, you'd be thinking... hmmm, this might be what the ending would be.  Then they go ahead and says that's impossible but once the ending does come, turns out it was possible after all.  However, what the ending could be keeps you watching as you can't wait to find out.  I found the deaths had the impact they needed.  Not a terrible movie and quite watchable.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Transformers Poses 15

Hmmm, the numbering is starting to get ridiculously cumbersome, I might have to change it soon before it gets too unwieldy.  Anyway, this if the first time the post has a consistent theme, and that is... variations of the same character.  You can tell that I pretty much ran out of toys after Optimus, Bumblebee and Starscream (the three characters I have the most incarnations of).  Surprisingly, the character I have most of was Optimus (and Bot Shot Optimus wasn't in there coz I forgot about him and Beast Hunters Optimus I hadn't gotten yet at the time).





















As always, feel free to check out this page for links to all the Transformers reviews in this blog.

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