Saturday, May 29, 2010

Men Are From Mars ...

No wonder we couldn't find them here ... hahaha! Anyway, I was supposed to finish my entry on West Side Story up to Colours of Malaysia. However, in between takes ... between Penang-KL-Penang I got myself into the movie marathon ... starting with Robin Hood, then Shrek : The Final Chapter and yesterday Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time. The marathon was like positive comparative superlative ... good, better and best! I am still going GaGa over Jake Gyllenhaal.

Robin Hood


The main reason I wanted to watch this movie so much was Ridley Scott and Russel Crowe teaming up again after the blockbuster Gladiators in 2000. I watched Gladiators in KL during a short break before returning to KK after my commission in UKM. The cinematography, the details and elaboration of costumes and set really blew my mind away. And I was hoping they could relive it again in this reincarnation of famous English folklore. In addition to that, this movie also boast another Academy Award winner, Cate Blanchett playing Maid Marion. In overall, the movie was good. With a lot of witty and humorous line but since I didn't watched the trailer or read the preview before watching, I was a bit baffled on why there were no steallings or robbings and why was this Robin Hood met Maid Marion by pretending to be Sir Robert Loxley??? Plus suddenly at the ending it said "The Legend Begins" ... a bit anti-climax.

In my humble opinion, though there were NONE steamy or bed scenes ... both actors played the part well in showing the sexual tension between them hehehe. "Noti noti" ... Anyway, I still prefer Kevin Costner's 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett are too old for the mushy stuff hehehe. Anyway, my favourite lines from this movie.

Robin Longstride: [asking about her late husband] A good knight?
Marion Loxley: It was short but sweet.
Robin Longstride: No, I meant: he was a good knight?


Eleanor of Aquitaine: Milking a dried udder get's you nothing but kicked off the milking stool!
Prince John: Mother, spare me your farmyard memories, you have none and I don't understand them.



Shrek: Forever After The Final Chapter


I never miss any of the Shrek's movies. And I must watch it in theaters. Anyway this time I have to forget the 3D part as The Mines TGV cinema does not have the facilities. All Shrek movies will "gerenti make you laugh one" ... an entertaining one after another. I was quite afraid that this fourth installment would not live up to the expectation of Shrek fans ... quite common phenomenon for sequels ... but I have to say, this time it served different and refreshing humours. Especially Puss In Boots and Donkey. Among their most catchy lines ...

Donkey: "You are a CAThastophe"
Puss : And you are RiDonkeylous

I never thought Ogre's babies could be soooooo cute and suddenly I felt this lump in my throat when Fiona said,"I've always wanted a baby girl named Felicia". Me too Fiona ... but I prefer Fiona than Felicia.

Shrek Forever After revolved around Shrek's mid-life crisis; He's got his beautiful house, he's got his beautiful wife, he's got the kids, yet, he's not happy, because he's traded in freedom for responsibility. All he wants is to be an ogre again, not some stop on a tour bus route or a dad. Unfortunately Shrek he gave up the day of his birth. That means he never rescues Fiona never meets Donkey and Puss In Boots. In the end, he realised how meaningful these people in his life. The plot .... hmmm very much like many married men nowadays entering mid-crisis... (opppsss)

My most favourite character, Puss in Boots potrayed a different kind of cuteness in this movie. Hehehe .... something more than that cute Doe Eyes... geram. He has grown fat and Feed Him If You Dare! He still got that sexy Spanish charm though meowwwwww ....



Prince of Persia : The Sand of Time




There are many films nowadays based on famous video or computer games such as Lara Croft: The Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Super Mario Bros, Mortal Combat and Street Fighter. None of which had ever been played by me. However, I got really excited when I saw this trailer last year ... This was my first ever computer game, installed by the vendor when I bought my first PC and that was in 1998. Yes, this video game need a lot of "jumping" to collect hearts (for energy) and diamonds (for points to move to the next level), and fighting evil enemies. Plus it was in 2D. I never finished it.

It took more than 10 years for me to finally see it on the silver screen. Furthermore it is a Jerry Bruckheimer's film, the man that produce Pirates of The Caribbean, Top Gun, Black Hawk Down, Remember The Titans and of course one of the most famous television series, CSI. What more surprising is that the lead actor is Jake Gyllenhaal of the controversial but highly acclaimed Brokeback Mountain. I never saw him in action movies before ... most of his roles are "blue-eye boy" and "kuai gitew". Anyway, seeing him as Prince Dastan totally made me went GaGa over him. Hehehe. I like these lines from the movie.

[from trailer]
Tamina: Dastan, where's the Dagger?
Prince Dastan: You're welcome to search me for it. You'll have to be very thorough.

(Note: Jake, will you let me do the honour? I promise I will be very thorough. Hahahaha)

[from trailer]
Tamina: Such a noble prince leaping to assist the fallen beauty.
Prince Dastan: Who said you are a beauty?
Tamina: There must be a reason why you can't take your eyes of me.
Prince Dastan: [stutters] You're... I...

I enjoyed the movie very,very much ... of course other that Jake's physic! I think the movie introduce new trend of martial art choreography - a bit of pole gymnastic, sword fighting, bungee jumping and long jump. Refreshing !!! After The Matrix and Mission Impossible series ... many action movies fail to impress me. Too many CGIs. Even some recent Chinese or Hong Kong movies. So not worth blogging!

By the way, the lead actress... Gemma Arterton had already few hits on her belt in 2010 - Clash of the Titans (wanted to blog about it before) and Prince of Persia, coincidentally both are action fantasy epic movies. I first saw her in James Bond: Quantum of Solace (2008) as the cute Miss Strawberry Field (what a name for a secret agent). She has another movie due to be released in September called Tamara Drewe, not much hype about it. Unfortunately, all her 3 hit movies showcase more of her as the pretty face on-screen. More lines and acting for her though in Prince of Persia.

For those who have not watch any of the movies, please start hitting the theater.

5 comments:

Cikgoo Jasz said...

When it comes to movies that based on video games i prefer "tunggu dan lihat" mode coz some of the movies just bank on the title to draw peoples' attention when actually ceritanya xbesh langsung

rambomadonna said...

Not Prince of Persia ... I give if a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Best critanya. I guess this is the best video game movie so far after Lara Croft. Mbak mummy gi nangga. Anyway, lil bro, congrats on your engagement.

norzah said...

You'd make a first class film commentator or critic, J, the way you handled Robin Hood, Shrek Forever and the Prince of Persia. I feel most satified just reading your commentary, the punchline 'noti' jokes and of course, the tongue-in-cheek aside ( Let me search you..I'll be very thorough). The jab on man's mid-creer crisis saying that it's common to all man as portrayed by Shrek, is quite provocative. But I agree that men need a change of environment sometimes, though change means different thing to different people, hehehe.

rambomadonna said...

Norzah: Hahaha ... biasalah mie oredi 30 something maa so if not "noti" must be something wrong hahaha

I couldn't help but notice that Shrek 4 plot mimicked real life facts with regards to modern married men. How responsibilties deterred them from doing things they loved to do in the past ... forgetting that "that was what settling down all about"

I watched a lot of movies Norzah ... however these past few weeks, the movies that I watched seems to get better and better and I enjoyed it so much.

There was a time that I had a movie marathon and it's all circle around Greek myth. Couldn't find time to blog it though hehehe

norzah said...

Being 'noti' is a normal human behavior. As u say kalau tak gitu baru ada something wrong. The movies are full of such portrayals, thrive on it and enable the box office to be flooded with cash, hehehe. Some say the notier the better, some whisper love u when u r noti. I guess Shrek portrayed all that and that's y people love him so much. Greek mythology goes a step further in notiness. Check Zeus and Hera.

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