Movie Review: Date Night

The other day I went to watch this movie with my cousins as I had been hoping to catch it after having seen the trailer when I went to watch the mindnumbing Clash of the Titans. This pseudo chick flick(I say pseudo chick flick as my cousin had somehow pegged it as such even after having seen the trailer and knowing the cast list) stars Steve Carell and Tina Fey of the hit comedy shows “The Office” and “30 Rock” and it’s about a married couple who are in a bit of a rut in the romance department and one night, they decide to try new things to spice things up. As one would expect with names like these involved, the movie follows the couple’s antics through Manhattan as they try to sort themselves out of a catastrophic misunderstanding with some bad men.

First of all let me point out that this is not a comedy with plot tacked on but rather plot tacked on with good bits of comedy. Were it not for the fact that the main characters played their roles with their own brand of delightful humour, I would actually consider this to be a rather serious movie that really was a look into the troubles of middle aged couples. Thankfully there was still a great deal of chemistry and good writing that kept it from being too serious. After all, I went to see Michael and Liz star in an action packed comedy so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there was more to it than just that.

I hesitate to reveal what happens in the movie exactly as the plot was actually quite well done and managed to throw in a few twists that I was impressed at having been done. However, I do not hesitate to tell you that the awesome sports car you see in there will suffer a horrible fate as anyone with half a brain should already know that movie makers just love to crash the lovely automobiles that their backers paid for(I curse the 007 movies for this). At least we do get a great action scene when the car does get smashed and it’s handled rather impressively both in the comedy and action aspects.

I’d like to praise the actors, the writers and the director for being able to flesh out the characters so well. I don’t mean just the main characters but also the supporting cast for demonstrating such great interactions between them. I especially liked the black guy for managing to look so heartbroken as he shouted about the road only going one way and adding another layer of funny to that particular scene. I would like to know about that politicians’ broom gimmick though as they never really explained the reason behind that character’s particular fixation on his broom. Hopefully someone will post up a Word Of God entry into the movie’s TvTropes page concerning the broom.

All in all, this was a pretty good movie and it works in the same vein as the “Get Smart” movie that Steve Carell also starred in. I can’t say it’s a memorable one though as the only part that really stood out was the chase scene. That being said, I still think it’s worth your ticket money and the one and a half hours or so you spend in the cinema but don’t expect it to be a gold mine of comedy like I did. It’s really more of a silver mine in the comedy department but though it didn’t quite meet my expectation there, it was still a witty ride that had far more ups than downs.

Movie Review: Clash of the Titans

Hahahahahahaha!! I can’t believe I actually paid to see this movie and on a Sunday at that, the day when the tickets are at their most expensive at the mall with so many people around with time on their hands. Frankly, I only went to watch this movie because I haven’t hung out with my friends in a while so I figured I could sit through an hour and a half of a multi-million dollar investment in CG rather than a good writer. Heck, I bet they could’ve saved more if they just hired GOOD writers for these kinds of films.

Let me get straight to the biggest disappointment of this so called “Clash of the Titans”; there was clashing, there were titans but there was one sorely missed detail – the titans never clashed with each other. I’d say there were about 2.5 titans shown in this ridiculous attempt at epicness. Those were the Kraken, Medusa, the Rock Titan and the giant scorpions. The Kraken rightly deserves to be counted as a single titan but Medusa and the Rock Titan only count as half a titan each because medusa was only a little bigger than a human and the Rock Titan was out of commission. The scorpions count as half because I think there were seven in total but since two died I might as well round down the score. Speaking of which, the scorpions themselves count as a plot hole. It was hinted that the scorpions were created from the severed hand of Hades’ hitman but the leader of the army squad they sent said that they were part of the dessert as the Djinn were used to controlling them. Either I missed something or the writers did – I choose to say that the writers did and I doubt anyone would go to the trouble of correcting me if I was wrong.

Next up are the characters. What the hell Director Someone Something(I’m not even going to bother looking up their info. It just isn’t worth the effort)!!? This is supposed to be an epic based on greek myths that came with a title that promised us an epic fantasy experience and yet they literally gave me a snorefest. My friend sat there as a witness to crossing the border back and forth over the line between the zone of wakefulness and sandman’s land along with, to his misfortune, two couples in front and behind him snogging in the dark instead of watching the movie. I can tell you that there were more than any small number of people facebooking and twittering as the movie went on. The characters were poorly established, poorly developed and poorly killed off. Well most of them anyway, the old leader of the army squad got a pretty awesome send off. The worst offenders had to be Perseus and Hades, the Hero and the Villain themselves. Perseus was an initially whiny fisherman out of water who happened to be demi-god who later became a self-contradicting rebel without a clear cause or creed who happened to be the hero and a demi-god. Hades was actually a decent character but the way he was taken care of would have the heavens rage against the human who directed this movie. All of that build up as a powerful designated enemy who was slowly becoming powerful enough to take Olympus’ head’s place gets hit by a sword struck by lightning that was thrown so hard that he was knocked backed down into the underworld right miles away just as the undersea chasm was closing. I do not want to get into the details of what was so wrong with the physics and the inclusion of that scene so I will just say that I expected a boss fight but the game master gave the player character an instant kill weapon for a nigh invincible opponent.

Here is what I really have to say about this movie – It IS a piss poor excuse of blockbuster and I’m not only recommending that you avoid it, I am advising you, the reader, with the purest intention of wanting to help you look for a good time, NOT to bother watching this movie. Save your ticket money and your preciously limited lifespan for something actually worth spending it on(I would recommend “How to Train Your Dragon” if it’s still showing in your area). If you were looking forward to eating some popcorn then just skip out on the movie and bring the popcorn home with you. I know I might seem very harsh and that I am overly eager to blast away at this film(I was in a good mood when I wrote this but know that this is my FAIR, UNBIASED impression of this movie. “Clash of the Titans” is bad but nowhere near bad enough to be “So Bad That It’s Good” meaning it’s not even worth watching just for the sake of mocking it. So my dear readers, go out and do something other than watching this movie and hope that Hollywood will learn to invest in writing rather and flashiness.

Manga Review: My Lovely Ghost Kana

Title: My Lovely Ghost Kana
Author: Tanaka Yutaka
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Ecchi, Slice of Life
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a young man who moves into a decrepit building as part of his new life and finds a ghost by the name of Kana right there in his new living place. The ghost doesn’t remember very much about her life before she died and doesn’t really care to know about it. The guy falls in love with her and the two live their daily lives together in peace as lovers. Seriously, that’s the plot. In between the slice of life bits, we get plenty of sex scenes in this one and it somehow ends being… well not exactly tasteful but they do come off sweeter and more relevant than regular smut. It’s a short and sweet story with a very likeable cast of characters and it’s worth taking a look at.

My Name Is Doof And I'll Do What You Say. WHOOP WHOOP!

Found this 10 minute loop of the song Dr. Doofensmirchz(If I spelled this right that'd be amazing) of Phineas & Ferb made so he could brainwash people. As much of a doof the guy is, the song actually stays stuck in your head if you hear it enough times so I decided to feature this here. This is the challenge - watch this entire video and try NOT to sing this out loud for the rest of day. It's quite the challenge I tell you.

Whoop Whoop!

Manga Review: Kieli

Title: Kieli
Author: Kabei Yukaku, Teshirogi Shiori
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Shoujo, Supernatural
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: A
Characters: S
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a girl who can see and interact with the spirits of the dead set on a planet with 19th century-ish technology and architecture set in the distant future. She is withdrawn around the living and her only friend happens to be a ghost of a girl that used to occupy her room while she was alive. One day, she meets this man who not only sees the dead but is also one of the immortal zombie soldiers that government made long ago but now are hunting down. It’s based on a series of light novels and if I’m not mistaken, this only covers the first two volumes of the nine in the series. I found this be quite a wonderful read with its great characterization and moving story and was terribly disappointed when I realized that there was still a lot more material from the novels that didn’t get the chance to be shown. While there are hints at a much more ambitious plot here, the story itself is driven by the characters as most of the scenes are there to flesh out the characters and their relationships with each other. I also really liked the art style here as it's perfect for the setting and also for conveying the thoughts and emotions of the character. Like I said, this is a wonderful read so I do recommend that you give this a go if you haven't. It made my top manga list last year after all.