The Dark Knight Rises... Rises... Rises More, then Clunks Downward Spiral - A Movie Review

The end of Christopher Nolan's fantastic trilogy starts promising, gives a kick-ass plot and introduces interesting new characters(at the expense of Batman) yet it climaxes in the most conventional manner of summer blockbusters.

Eight years later, Bruce Wayne has retired as Batman (Christian Bale) and with the assistance of Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). However, with the arrival of the mysterious burglar, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), and the beautiful entrepreneur, Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), also comes the brewing danger of a masked killer Bane (Tom Hardy) and his Gotham of its true nature.

The premise of the movie deserves it's moment even though critically acclaimed The Dark Knight was a very hard movie to follow. However, it fall short of its predecessor. One of the reasons of the success of TDK was because of its central villain, a performance worthy of attention and praise, which is lacking in Rises.

Bale's performance is as stunning as his companions reprising their roles(Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine). However, the surprise performance of the movie would be Hathaway's as she brings interest and freshness to the role as Catwoman.

The cinematography, along with the visual effects, conveys perfectly the profound message that Nolan and the other writers(Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer[story]). However, it is clear that they had trouble finding a bombastic end to the franchise without loosing the quality and the grittiness. The end result was clunky, unrealistic and predictable, as all summer blockbusters usually do. Unlike in the case of The Avengers, this was unwelcome for The Dark Knight trilogy.

Howevr, even with the obvious flaws of the movie, I am happy to inform you that one can have a great time with this in the big screen. Three stars out of Five

A Love Story in The Amazing Spider-Man: Movie Review

I tweeted last friday my review of the movie in 140 characters: The Amazing Spider-Man: a romantic comedy with added action to justify its 3D format. Yet amazingly, it works!

Peter Parker (Garfield) is an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance - leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero. (via IMDB.com)

This is a reboot of a franchise that was pretty much the reason why superhero movies dominate the cinema nowadays. And since it was done just 5 years since the last movie of the original trilogy, one would not see a need for this movie so soon. That being said, many things would be compared among the two movies. The latter has the same plot lines that feels like a rehash of the former, that the first hour of the movie becomes draggy and uninteresting. However, as the "original" part of the movie starts, the movie begins to glow as its own, and the scenery and the cinematography becomes fresh and new.

The stellar performances of Garfield and Stone helps breathe life into the new take of the characters. Both display with ease the angst and anxieties, the unpredictability and the potential, and the love that only teenagers are capable to give. Their chemistry together is undeniable in the screen. In fact, most of the movie were focused on the two that one would think that the director and writers were making a romantic comedy rather than a superhero movie. And that works for our friendly neighbor!

However, with the focus on the main characters is to the expense of the villain. The lizard is a great comic book villain, however, in this movie, although still menacing and threatening, is unmotivated. He lacks reason why he exists rather that for spidey to have a villain.

I'm sure, though, that everyone would agree that the best aspect of the movie was its score! Credit goes to James Horner. IT. WAS. PERFECT. FOR. THE. MOVIE. PERIOD.

Though with many plot holes and some portions feel like a repeat, with the new take on the characters, the stellar performances of the lead, and a breathing cinematography, The Amazing Spider-Man deserves your presence in the cinema.in 3D!

The Beauty of Snow White and the Huntsman: Movie Review

It is a rare event where the beautiful set pieces and designs cover the mediocrity of a film, but that is the case for this twisted fairy tale movie.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White (Kristen Stewart) escapes the clutches of her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron), by going through the Dark Forest. Being of no power in the woods, the queen sends The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to seek Snow White and capture her.

The main idea of the film is to exploit (in its positive sense) the children's fairy tale to create a dark and twisted tale for adults. The result however as less spectacular than Guillermo del Toro's vision, director Rupert Sanders, though his talent falls short (yet), does share the same visual ambition. Even more impressive is the fact that this is his directorial debut for theatrical film. Sanders' take on the film is so powerful that it outshines the plot holes and the mediocrity of Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock, and Hossein Amini's screenplay. However, the end of the film proves the point that, rather than embrace it fully, its fairy tale source has imprisoned the lengths the movie would've achieved.

Theron and Hemsworth's acting elevated the quality of the film greatly. Theron has fully embraced her evil character, even making it greater and more beautiful than what its supposed to be with its bland backstory and development. The same is true with Hemsworth unremarkable huntsman. They were simple, yet their performances were the biggest assets of the film. The only weak link in this category is Stewart, as she has been boxed with another successful franchise. And it doesn't help that her acting is not that different from The Twilight Saga. No wonder why the marketing of the film focused more with Theron and Hemsworth

The ambitious visuals and set designs, even with mediocre script and development, makes the film worth your time. Three stars and a half stars out of five.

Start Anew with a New Blog

Blogging is in my blood and it is already a large part of my life. Yet it's been a while since I last posted a blog, so I decided to be motivated to start anew by creating a fresh blog site, The Sanity Hunter.

I know I had already spent some time talking about myself here in the Web, especially at my other blog, The Human Side of Technology. So worry no more, cause this blog would focus more on topics that matter to more people in general. Of course there will be instances wherein I will be incorporating my personal opinion and point of views.

I will also be copying few of my old posts at The Human Side of Technology which I find important or simply wanted to share again.

So, expect more fresh content in the next few days. Booyah!