nuffnang special screening: prince of persia: the sands of time

i was rather lucky though to be selected to join nuffnang special screening of prince of persia: the sands of time the other night. its all thanks to the simple-and-dunno-what-crazy slogan i posted... hiks!

alrighto. why this screening was special. that's because nuffnangers has been treated to an exclusive ‘snack & screen’ session courtesy of mister potato! andre yaa andre ya riba riba...

i already got too excited on the day i arrived kuala lumpur when i saw this on the lrt

this time i brought my cousin nivin. and as soon as we reached cathay cineplex damansara at 8.30 pm sharp, look at that people~ the line was already long enough fuhh!!!...

and as usual, we had to register before anything else. and were given 2 canisters each of the new rice crisps by mister potato. to those who still dunno, that's robb over there ;P

and as what we bloggers normally never missed to do as well... camwhoring!!! no matter what~

here's me with nicholas

with my cousin nivin

and another with nicholas, this time with rina too :))

alright, i guess let's see what i think about this movie though:

with the greasy, unkempt hair of an emo rocker and a bart simpson smirk, 'the prince' goes swinging, leaping, slashing and joking his way through 'prince of persia: the sands of time', an energetic if empty-headed adventure based on the popular video game. though set in a sea of sand that's supposed to be ancient persia, the movie features a titular hero whose anachronistic catchphrases – "that all ya got?" and "whoa", uttered in an incongruous cockney accent – makes him sound less like a middle eastern prince than an east end pothead.

the focus of prince dastan's acrobatic exertions, which careen from ninja-like moves to the wall-bouncing gymnastics of parkour, is a special dagger he has stumbled upon. when a jewel is pressed on its hilt, releasing the few thimblefuls of sand inside, it has the ability to rewind time, but only for one minute. it's like adam s's magical remote control in "click," but with a weak battery. when you run out of sand, you run out of power.

not just any sand will work, either. hidden underground is a giant glass vessel filled with the right kind. only the dagger can break the glass. once broken, the sand inside will flow through the knife's handle, giving its user virtually unlimited ability to travel backward in time. one more thing: if all the sand is used up, the world will end.

the other problem is that dastan's not the only one who knows about it. someone else wants it – most likely dastan's brother tus or his uncle nizam – and has set dastan up for the murder of his adoptive father, king sharaman. dastan, you see, is not of royal blood, so he makes a logical suspect (it might also explain the low-class accent and his aversion to shampoo). whoever really killed sharaman wants dastan out of the way so that he can find the source of the charmed sand himself and, you know, exert dominion over the blah, blah, blah.

with the assistance of the dagger's official custodian, princess tamina, dastan must stop that from happening. along the way, he and tamina – a spirited, tart-tongued women's libber in a country not known for gender equality – engage in predictable verbal sparring even as they dodge arrows, flying knives, snakes (this one: i don't like! urgghhh...) and hired assassins (called, preposterously, hassansins).

i can't compare this to the video game as i am not into it.

there are, however, a few distinct pleasures. the stunt work is consistently exciting and well filmed, by the director. and the character of seso – a sudanese knife thrower with almost no dialogue who at first appears to be a very bad guy and then turns out to be a very good one – makes a welcome presence.

i wish i could say the same about seso's boss, a bandit who befriends dastan and tamina, and aids them in their quest. played with the broadest of broad humor, he's clearly meant as comic relief. but from what? does a movie this silly really need two clowns?

every sly wink and gymnastic tumble from dastan, who already looks and acts like a refugee from cirque du soleil, seems to suggest otherwise.

now see for yourself and tell me of what you think.

prince of persia: the sands of time official website

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra pre-screening...

finally... i can sit down and write this quietly *phew*

i was very lucky enough to receive an invite to the pre-screening of g.i. joe: the rise of cobra movie by samsung malaysia electronics. and since i had other errands to do in kl, so i accepted the invitation.

when i read the email invites, i knew it that maybe other samsung innov8 run participants would be there as well. cuz in the same email, it was addressed to my former teammates bryan and cherrie too!

the movie premiere was held on last thursday; at hall 1, gsc signature, the garden, kl. dinner was served at paradiso restaurant, at gsc itself. that's to celebrate the recent launch of samsung jet in malaysia. "smarter than smartphone, jet is destined to be the jewel in the crown for samsung mobile this year".

and now i figured we go on to my review. there might be some spoilers, in case you care *glurp*

i've been familiar with g.i. joe since i was a kid. i remember the cartoon, and of course, the toys owned by my lil' bro. however, i was never a die hard fan or anything like that. after seeing the trailers, and realizing it looked pretty much nothing like the g.i. joe i remember, i wasn't expecting much. so, with that said, here's the short version: it was great, but it wasn't the train wreck i expected. also, it was more enjoyable than transformers 2.

obviously the movie is flawed. it has it's share of "wtf?" moments, like when duke, baronnes and storm shadow get out of a plane, on a polar ice cap, wearing jeans and light jackets. apparently it's not quite as cold up there as i thought. must be global warming. or like when 4 nanomite warheads apparently need to weaponize, a process that involves zapping them with lasers for about 30 seconds. maybe i'm just not that knowledgeable, but i thought warheads were the weapon? no weaponizing necessary. who knows. the movie is filled will stuff like this. but, silly science aside, the real weak link in the movie is easily channing tatum. he just doesn't seem like a military badass. the way he delivers lines, he sounds more like a whiny teen sometimes. yes, i'm aware of how retarded it is to criticize the acting in a g.i. joe movie, but he's the center piece of the movie and he just can't carry it. part of the problem is his relationship with baroness in the movie. apparently 4 years ago they were engaged. then duke and her brother rex (who later turns out to be cobra commander) go off to war and rex "dies". duke and baroness just stop talking, or something. i really don't know. later then she was infected with nanomites by her believed to be dead brother which means he can control her like a robot. but eventually over the course of the movie, they make up and she miraculously overpowers the nanomite programming (wtf?) and helps duke and the joes. as dumb as that sounds, it's made worse by the fact that tatum and sienna miller simply have no chemistry whatsoever.

so, like i said, it's a fun but flawed movie. it's pretty much what you would expect an action movie to be. the biggest question, i guess, is this: "is it a g.i. joe movie?" honestly, i'd have to say "no". it's not quite the g.i. joe i remember, but it is a big, cheesy, fun and silly action movie that kept me entertained for about 2 hours.

so, just in case the talk backers decide my review looks leafy and green, as usual here i attached some pics that i have taken that night.

marcus and his beautiful sista, that at first from far, i thought she's his gf... hah! ;)

jenkin yat and i

group pic courtesy of smashpop; tq dude! ;) so basically the recent profile pic has been cropped from this one. i am saving mine for my project 365 hehee...

dinner was served at paradiso restaurant, gsc the garden

i snapped this while entering the hall

g.i. joe: the rise of cobra official website

the day i have been recommended to watch "conversations with other women"

an online friend of (+/-) 3+ years or so, ken, from l.a. (as in lebuh ampang? hehee... nah!) recommended me to watch "conversations with other women". it seems that the meetup with rizal recently really reminds him of that movie... hah! unfortunately too bad that its an explicit movies i do not think it can be released here. furthermore its actually of a 2005' production, and it has been released in cinemas in november 2006 anyway hmm... unless if ken can find a way to send me a copy of the dvd ;)

conversations with other women

synopsis

an encounter between two people with a shared past and conflicting futures is played out on a split-image screen in this offbeat drama. an unnamed man (aaron eckhart) and woman (helena bonham carter) are enjoying drinks and cigarettes in a hotel room after attending the wedding of a mutual friend. at first, the two seem to be playing a flirtatious game, as he cheerfully but confidently advances toward her, and she seems at once attracted and put off by his bravado. their pas de deux is shot and edited in split screen, with his image appearing in one half of the divided frame and hers appearing in the other. as time wears on, the man and woman begin crossing their appointed boundaries, and in some sequences one half of the frame represents the present while the other shows us events in the past. we learn that the man and woman had a tempestuous affair when they were in their late teens, and both are now committed to other people i.e. she has a husband, while he has a steady girl. how will the experiences of their past affect their present, and are they willing to betray their lovers for an evening's pleasure? 'conversations with other women' was the first feature film from director hans canosa. ~ mark deming, all movie guide

conversations with other women official site

inkheart & bedtime stories

i was in kl over the weekend to ease my mind. besides its CNY break. on the other hand, i really needed a break for myself as this new year 2009' kinda tough; hence the silence here for a while. anyhow i managed to catch up some great movies with a friend at klcc though . anyone saw us :)

hollywood filmmakers often get caught up in trends. a hot trend these days is using best-selling books aimed at young readers as the basis for their movies. "twilight," "the golden compass" and all of the "harry potter" films are just a few examples.

those films that best capture the spirit of the books have become hits. the others end up floundering because they capture the words but not the essence of the book. you can add "inkheart" to the growing list of book-based movies that falter in their efforts.

the latest sword-and-silliness adventure for the always likable brendan fraser is based on the popular book by german author cornelia funke. fraser plays mortimer folchart, a man with an interesting ability. whatever he reads comes to life. literary guests in this world range from the flying monkeys of "the wizard of oz" to the long-locked rapunzel.

the downside is that if he reads a fictional character into the real world, a real person ends up in the fictional world. mor finds out this painful truth when his wife is sent into one of the literary worlds. this sends mor on a long quest to save his wife. the only obstacle is capricorn, an evil villain read into the world. he wants to use mor's power to rule the real world.

the director manages to construct an interesting start to his film. he wrings tension out of the attempts by capricorn to capture mor and his young daughter, meggie. the rather standard chase scenes are elevated by the beautiful european landscape that is the backdrop for the film.

fraser has played the likable reluctant hero so many times he probably qualifies for a patent on the role. the surprise is the literary character who longs to just return to the pages where he resides with his wife and family. in a film that is more about flash than substance, bettany turns in a compelling and touching performance.

all of these elements get trumped when the script takes a left turn.

the basic rule that only things read can come to life changes. it is a switch in the basic premise to make the ending happen. an audience never should be asked to embrace a well-defined concept and then be told in the final moments there are gray edges.

"inkheart" also suffers from a frugality of fictional characters. any and all literary characters can be read into the real world. but there are only a handful in the film. this leaves the movie feeling a little thin.

softley (director) never manages to capture the magic that made the book so popular.

and that means watching "inkheart" is like reading the cliffs notes of a famous novel. all of the key elements are there. there's just no real substance.

* * * * *

while on the previous sunday, i took puteri and megat to kinta city to watch bedtime stories, funniest movie ever. lots of action, keeps you woke up. we laughed our heads off.

if you look closely at bedtime stories, it is almost possible to see how the cast and crew were making up the movie as it went along. there's certainly no evidence of a script. it's just a series of nonsensical events that at times are anchored by reality and at other times are pure fantasy. they should have chosen one and stuck with it.

no one would notice this lack of direction if the movie were at least funny.

adam sandler plays the latest in his long line of lovable losers. this one is skeeter bronson, a hotel handyman (owh... how movies with hotel scene always remind me of my wonderful experiences there) who longs for the day he will be in charge. bronson discovers, when he must watch his niece and nephew for a week, that elements of his made-up bedtime stories come true the next day. he decides to use this gift to get the job he has wanted for many years.

director adam shankman should stick to musicals like hairspray. that format enables him to take the action over the top without looking stupid.

punisher: war zone

it seems as though the powers that be behind punisher: war zone (go to its official site here) have finally come to the conclusion that they need to ramp up the marketing campaign if they want people to actually go see this much-belabored film.

see for yourself:

for the rest of trailers head over to http://apple.com .

seriously though, the trailers make me very curious to see what the finished product of punisher: war zone is going to be.

but honestly, i’m tired of any and all speculation about this flick. after more than a year of the rumor mill churning, i’m going to try my luck in nuffnang's latest premiere screening contest punisher: war zone 10 days before its release date in malaysia! courtesy of buena vista columbia tristar malaysia... just so i can see what all the hubub has been about! who knows, maybe agitated curiosity was the marketing plan all along…

please find the details as follow:

date : 9 feburary 2009 (monday)
venue : cathay cineplex damansara
time : 9.30 pm
hall : 10

all you have to do is just write in an email to punisher@nuffnang.com with your full name, blog URL and complete the following slogan “if i’m the punisher, i’ll punish….” in no longer than 15 words. the best 50 slogan makers will be given a pair of invitations to the premiere screening of punisher: war zone on 9 february. terms and conditions apply.

i have already email mine earlier. so wish me luck ya people!

and are you eager to see punisher: war zone?