Into the Darkness

I managed to finish the morning ward round pretty early, and after a quick search on the net, there was an 11.30 am Star Trek show at Pavilion. A quick text to Puan Anita - to ask for her permission of course - and then I was off. Got to Bukit Bintang well in time, popcorn and all.

If you were expecting full-on action flick, you would be disappointed. There was of course the obligatory action scene, but on the whole, it was a plot-driven movie, and the scope of the storyline on the whole was actually pretty narrow. None of this safe the universe thing - but maybe they were doing it one star system at a time.

It was clearly a franchise movie - expect a third instalment of the series coming in the next few years. The dead giveaway was the ending - the crew embarked on a 5-year mission into deep space as the closing credit rolled on. This could also set the series up for television.

Anyhow, being a Trekkie, I liked the direction JJ Abram was taking the franchise. Clearly a work in progress rather than a pure stand alone movie. Some pretty heavy scene, while the villain did not actually die - which possible appearance in future ventures. Interesting none the less.

Oblivious about Oblivion

I am sometimes guilty when it comes to selecting movies to watch. And Oblivion was definitely one of these movies which I watched for the special effects and the SciFi genre of the movie. So, I went to Gurney Plaza last night to catch one of the shows after dinner. After all, I was a bit bored in the room and fancy a bit of a drive. With low expectations, I bought the ticket.

Yes, the special effect was spectacular, but I wasn't quite prepared for the quality of the storyline. I watched Prometheus last year with high expectations and felt that I got shortchanged.

Oblivion reminded me of one of the recent classic which I watch, a film by Spike Jones called Moon. The theme being isolation seemed to resonate, and the twist which it offered were almost similar.

The scenery, and the sound effects were amazingly atmospheric. Even haunting at times.

This being a Tom Cruise flick would provide some corny storyline to some of the scene, but on the whole, I found the story intriguing. With the low expectations I had entering the cinema, I certainly got my money's worth.

For all you SciFi junky out there, do give Oblivion a go. It was certainly better then the recent GI Joe flick .......

Wreck-it Ralph

It was a lot better than we expected. We thought Rise of the Guardians was good. Wreck-it Ralph trumped it. Big time. My boys were laughing their guts out, and with plenty of cameo of characters they knew over the years, it was understandable.

Funny and fast-paced. With enough twist and sappy moments, even I was kept awake.

The story revolved around the protagonist, Ralph, a villain in an arcade video game which after a while, got fed up and decided to be the good guy for a change. It didn't go according to plan and he ended up bonding with a misfit in another video game when tried to win a car race. Ralph ended up being a father figure to the racer until the end, where another twist was revealed.

I left the theatre feeling good. The boys had been talking about the characters they saw during the movie. The one which stuck to my mind was from a video game I played in the 80s called Tapper. I used to play this with my sister on the old IBM PC, in glorious VGA graphic. How four colours used to look so good .....

A highly recommended movie for the whole family. A nice day out at the cinema guaranteed.

Enter Sandman

So, what did then boys wanted to watch? Not Wreck-it Ralph. Definitely not them vampire movies. For the last couple of months, they had been talking about Rise of the Guardians. It was towards the end of its run, so getting the tickets was not a problem. The only issue was not that many cinema was still showing it. We were lucky that eCurve was still doing it although the show started later than I hooked for - at 6pm.

My worry was that the boys may be to on tired after the bowling and the afternoon tea. But it turned out OK.

And the movie? It was better than I expected. It started at a fast pace, but dwindled in the middle. I actually fell asleep, before waking up towards the end when the story again picked up. Irfan especially was laughing at the jokes. And the jokes were quite funny. The animation was also quite spectacular. Great fun.

The storyline was also straight forward enough for the boys to understand. Very funny at times although could be quite heavy. Definitely worth the entry fee. Something which I would recommend as a Sunday matinee.

Skyfall

We managed to escape to the cinemas last night to watch the latest James Bond instalment, Skyfall. A departure from the normal plot, a more personal take on the Bond enigma. Not necessarily the best bond, but certainly different. I was sufficiently warned of the narrative to have a lightly different expectation.

This time around, there was no ravishing Bond Girl, no gadgets to dream about, and certainly the villain should I say, less demonic. But a villain there was, and it was none other than the superb Javier Bardem. He was a class act. In fact, this year, we had been blessed by some proper movie villain. Remember Batman and Loki. Bardem's character was just as good, although a lot funnier.

The opening chase was on par with the previous Bond movies, this time it was in Istanbul, and it certainly brought the pulse racing with motorcycle chase on the roof of the Grand Bazaar. Memorable. Then came the first twist in the plot, right at the end of the chase ..... and the story kicked off from there.

There were a few satisfactory revelation at the end of the movie, certainly justifying longevity of the franchise. I would definitely recommend the movie to everyone, as long they do not expect this to be their typical Bond farce. It was more dramatic and personal. Gadget freak should stay away, full stop .....