Folks, I have an announcement

Folks,

I have decided that I will indeed return to this blog. Work has been crazy and a lot has happened since the last post of very early 2011, but I am gearing back to come back.

Tina will, too. She doesn't know about it yet though.

K.

Movies that I Should See in 2011 and Why

MOVIES THAT I SHOULD SEE IN 2011 AND WHY!

1. True Grit

- I know I still haven’t seen it. Will it live up to the Wayne epic-ness? I will soon find out.

2. The Tree of Life
- Terrence Malick doesn’t make too many movies. You may have heard of such movies as “Badlands” and “The Thin Red Line” which were all Terrence’s efforts. This one seems like a good addition to his body of works.

3. Your Highness
- Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder, East Bound and Down) and James Franco (127 Hours) are teaming up with director David Gordon Green once more (Pineapple Express). It will undoubtedly be one hilarious ride. But what’s that you say? They’re accompanied by Zooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman? Sign me up.

4. The Grandmasters
- I don’t know if any of you have seen “Ip Man” with Donnie Yen (there are two parts out already), but those two movies kicked ass. For those who don’t know, Ip Man is the one and only that trained the great Bruce Lee his tricks. This movie is another adaptation of the grandmaster (hence the title), but this time is directed by another legend, Wong Kar Wei. All you martial arts movie fans should be excited about that fact. Side note, Donnie Yen is doing a remake of “One armed warrior”. Should be interesting.

5. Sucker Punch
- Zack Snyder will direct Superman soon, but before that, he’s coming out with this all-girl cast movie. Having seen his past movies, I just want crazy slow-mo action with all of these girls.

6. A Dangerous Method
- The ever-so-crazy David Cronenberg (History of Violence, Eastern Promises, The Fly) is teaming up with Viggo Mortensen again for this story of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. Of course, Jung and Freud gave birth to psychoanalysis, and because of that reason, this movie is going to be trippy. You all should do some background check on these characters before watching as a caution. Not to mention Cronenberg’s past movies.

7. Captain America: The First Avenger
- I don’t care too much about Thor, which is also coming out during 2011, but man, I am ready for some Captain America kicking ass during WW2. Hugo Weaving (look him up if you really don’t know him) plays The Red Skull. Perfection. Can’t wait.

8. X-Men: First Class
- Revamp the franchise… again! When in doubt, Hollywood just goes backwards and makes the older material darker and grittier. Not so much in this case, but I think this movie has legs to really keep the X-Men franchise going for quite some time. Am I excited? Yes. It’ll be good to see Dr. X doing more than rolling around in a wheel chair.

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- The end is finally here. I would love to see Harry die and then come back to life. Oh wait, I forgot to say Spoiler Alert. Oops.

10. Moneyball
- A sports movie in the mix of high budget remakes and super hero movies. This depicts the story of Oakland A’s general Manager successfully attempting to put together a baseball club on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft players. This is a true story. Yay, Robin Wright (The Mermaid).

K.

Voldemort really should win

"No! You don't know how it feels! Your parents are dead! You have no family!"

Whoa! Since when does Ron ever say shit like that? Crazy, crazy hormones...

Yes, I watched the latest Harry Potter adventure turned into a movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part: 1. This two-parter of the last of the boy-who-lived series is finally coming to a bitter-sweet end. All of you must know by now that Snape killed Dumbledore and Potter, Granger, and Weasley must set out to collect the Hocruxes and hope to destroy the most evil and powerful wizard of all, Voldemort.

I must admit, I rather enjoy the Potter series for few reasons, but one above all. The story has no religion. Unlike the Narnia series, Harry Potter's world has politics and bureaucracy but no religion. There isn't some Christian values jammed into the viewers/readers from every angle. Not that the Christian morals are bad, just that I don't think it has a real place in a fantasy world full of wizards and witches and muggles. By doing away with religion, author JK Rowling truly broke barriers and created a story that is appealing to everyone that don't think magic is stupid.

Side note: Thanks to this decision to do the last book in two parts, not only did Warner Brothers managed to get every bit of money out of movie-goers with the Potter series, it gave way for every stupid finales to have a two parter. Most notably, that giant waste of time, Twilight. Yes, that got a f*cking two parter finale. Seriously, WHO GIVES A RAT'S ASS!?

Now then... on to the movie review...

Synopsis... Pardon me, but I didn't read the books after the first one. Mainly because I thought the books for more for kids, but mostly because I heard they were making movies for them. As soon as I heard that, the books were a history. Why would I really read something when I can just watch the damn thing? Imagination aside, I'd rather spend 120 minutes watching something than read something for 2 weeks.

The story follows our heros, Harry, Hermione, and Ron through their journey to destroy Voldemort and save humanity. Why humanity you ask? Voldemort apparently has a thing against the muggles. Why? Well, the movie never really reveals the real reason, but he thinks muggles and wizards/witches breeding with each other is... really really disgusting and bad. Voldemort was able to come back to life, because he created Hocruxes to sustain his soul in portions in objects hidden away with heavy protections for all of them. Only he knows where they are, so that makes it really hard for Potter and the gang to find them, since Voldemort and his deatheaters are after them like US is after Osama.

Side note: Osama is 6'6" and Diabetic. Exactly why can't we find him?!!

They experience all the emotions of going with the seemingly impossible mission by themselves: loneliness, depression, exhaustion, and anger and frustration. Sounds bad? It is. Remember what Yoda said about anger and hate. It leads to suffering. Tensions build so much that Ron leaves. What a 'tard. Honestly, is it me or does Ron remind you of a certain character from The Lord of the Rings ? Like.. Sam perhaps? Overweight, potentially useless, but has a good heart and bravery when it counts? Yeah, nice try Rowling, but Harry is Frodo with a scar and no parents. Terrible.

The movie is slow and there are some close calls, but they always seem to find small individuals and windows to crawl out of the situation. The movie itself ends on a rather solemn note, which makes the part 2, that much more exciting to wait for, since that movie better have some one-two punch scenes.

Daniel Radcliff has mentioned in the recent interviews that the build-up is totally necessary for the finale of the franchise. He told the interviewer that the part 2 will be all out bombardment of magic and shit blowing up and people dying. He said it. Not me. I can't fackin wait.

Cast... Everyone's back. Down to littlest characters. They all have a line or two. Not really worth mentioning anyone really except for Bill Nighy. Why was he necessary to be in the movie? He's in the movie all of 5 minutes and then he gets replaced by one of Voldemort's goons. Why join now? Oh well. I liked him as Davy Jones. Carved your own heart out because one woman wouldn't love you back? Pirates ARE crazy!! Hahaha. What a weirdo.

Daniel Radcliff can't act. He pretty much just got the role in the first place because he looked so much like Harry Potter. In the end though... he can't act for shit and he must accept that. Watching him get mad is like watching Nicholas Cage acting sad. It's that painful. Rupert Grint is good for Ron but I wonder what he can do after the Potter series. That kind of goes for all of the main characters that were involved with the series. What will they do after this? I don't know if anyone can take them seriously as an actor after the magic and wizardry... except for Emma Watson.

Why you ask? Simple. She played her game aside from the movies. She models for Burberry and goes to fashion shows all the time. She gets front page shots on magazines. Oh yeah, I forgot one little thing: she's pretty. She keeps getting prettier and who doesn't love a child actor growing up to be a man/woman of their own? A perfect example is Natalie Portman. She grew up fine, and is a good actress, AND she doesn't have drug problems. Unheard of? It is.

In a world of Lindsay Lohans... someone like Emma Watson comes in handy. Hollywood needs more role models like Emma to step up and show that not every child actor or actress needs to resort to drugs. Good shit.

Director... So the same director has directed three films of the Potter series, including this one I'm reviewing. I don't have much to say, since I want to see what he does for the Part 2. Until then, I liked what he's done with Potter so far. Way to make it less bright and much more darker and relatable for people like me. I guess what drew me into the movies more was the introduction of Gary Oldman. I love him. I really do.

Conclusion... Since this is a two-parter movie, and the movie reviewed is the part 1 of the series, I cannot put a conclusion to it, since it hasn't happened yet. I honestly don't even know how the story will end. I have effectively stopped myself from using the internet to find out the story's finale. No doubt the Good will win out, but the important thing for is HOW that exactly happens. I shall wait for it. I am waiting for it already. Better be good.

But wouldn't it be nice if Voldemort won and we have to have another movie that's outside of the book series?

Don't joke about that. Hollywood could do it. They have all the keys to all the doors.

K.

Status Update: Kiwon watched The Social Network

"I'm six-five, 220-pounds, and there are two of me."

Sorry for the tardiness of this post. Let's just say that I had a long month.

Let me start out by saying this. If you haven't seen the movie, listen to the soundtrack first. It is absolutely fitting and it is absolutely great. Remember John Williams and the little movie called Star Wars? Yeah. That great. If you don't agree to that statement because you're much of a Star Wars geek as I am, then remember John Powell and the little movies called The Bourne series? Yeah. That great. Listen to the soundtrack. It is worth it.

The ever-so-finicky and totally random waters of internet and its intellectual property and idea laws baffle me to this day. I have said this a thousand times and I will gladly say it again; it's not about the idea that counts, it is the execution.

Granted, the movie does make you want to block the characters. All of them. From a super genius geek opportunist with self-esteem issues (Mark Zuckerberg), to ridiculously jealous and absolutely crazy Asian girl with more issues than I can name (Christy); the whole movie is about bunch of people that are just out to get each other and shows that MONEY is more important to my generation than friendship and loyalty.

Basically sue his ass if he broke your trust.

Written by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) and directed by cult-loved David Fincher (Fight Club, Panic Room, Se7en, etc.), the movie was almost destined to be good, if not great. David Fincher knows how to create a setting and totally immerse viewers within it, and keep you there till the end of the movie. He is, after all, notoriously known to Hollywood actors and actresses as "that director that makes you do 60 to 80 takes per scene". Which of course... is crazy.

Synopsis... Based on a book called Accidental Billionaires, this film is about the creation of Facebook; a social networking website that half billions of people enjoy today. I remember Facebook when it was first introduced to University of Wahington. The exclusivity movie talks about so much was apparent and you actually felt superior to those who did not have it.

This dramatic version of Facebook's many lawsuits and the fantasy of how it all came about is, in itself, facinating to a lot of people. But I think the real interesting thing for me about this movie is that, this movie is a portrayal of the web 2.0 generation, also known as MY GENERATION.

This brings up a lot of questions. Almost every character in this movie is out for him/herself and will do whatever is necessary to get what they want. Also, they are way too sure of themselves and is willing to step on anyone to get to the next step. Oh and the worst part? They can't seem to shut up about themselves. I gotta be honest. In real life, I wouldn't be friends with any of these people. All of them think so highly of themselves, and do no realize the possibility of co-existing in any way that involves the obvious meaning of right and wrong.

The plot is simple in its core, which is a theme in all of the movies: human emotion + the concept of right vs. wrong. This movie shows the superficiality that is the internet. Without feeling and without a soul, the movie shows the viewers that when pushed to the brink, everyone is out for themselves. A sad truth about human beings, and apparently that is very much true to my generation.

Cheap thrills and fast success in this movie cannot possibly account for the personal hurt and the damages that the lawsuits does to these egotistic people. Their whole world is upside down because not everything went the way they thought it did, and quiet frankly, the only character that admitted defeat was Mark Zuckerberg, and why not... he had the money to settle.

Cast... Whooray for Jesse Eisenberg. He was haunted by people because he looked too much like Michael Cera for all these years. No More! Eisenberg stands on his two feet and exceeded my expectations. He definitely knows how to play the socially-awkward-guy-that-wants-a-girl thing. The fact that he creates the facemash because he was dumped by a girl was understandable, but keep going with facebook in order to impress her back was kind of a stretch. With all the character flaws aside, Eisenberg definitely is an acting force to be reckoned with, and I just hope he doesn't take himself too seriously... and do more movies like Zombieland, which I love.

Justin Timberlake, everyone. He is doing it all. More platinum records than I can remember, and now a mega-hit movie playing one hell of a creep? Good going, JT. He plays Sean Parker, the business mind behind Napster and served as president of facebook for a little bit until he was caught with heroin and was fired. I hear he still has ownership of some percentage of the company though... which means that he's still rich.

Other characters worth mentioning for me are the Winklevoss twins. They were hilarious. I sorta enjoyed the fact that these gigantic rowers got totally punked by a computer geek and couldn't really do anything about it. Played by Armie Hammer, they had another body-double play his twin brother, and digitally put Hammer's face onto the body. That poor bastard.

Lastly, WTF Brenda Song. Stop that shit and get back to Disney. Playing a crazy jealous bitch doesn't help anyone's career. Ew.

Director... Have to talk about David Fincher. I admire anyone willing to put Gwyneth Paltrow's head in a box for Brad Pitt to see. He has done so many cult favorites, as well as big studio hits and flops. I like him because he knows how to paint a picture and knows how to tell a story. This may seem like an easy thing to do, but search around your group of friends for a second or two. You know the people that absolutely suck at telling stories. It's a gift.

The movie is very dialogue-heavy, thanks to Aaron Sorkin. In his defense, Sorkin doesn't know how to write any other way and he is brilliant at it. What is amazing, however, is that Fincher took the scenes that Sorkin had written up and made it seem exciting and dramatic, through music and editing. Watch the process of Zuckerberg making facemesh. He has to hack into servers in order to get all the pictures and names of all the Harvard students. I was amazed, since Fincher made that whole scene look like someone was breaking into a bank.

Awesome.

Conclusion... This movie made me hate facebook for a little bit. Don't know why. If this movie is at all a portrayal of my generation, then the future is a bit more gloomy. Also this movie taught me one really important thing. When going into business with your friends, know the downfall... possible lawsuit.

In the end, there was no good guy, bad guy in this movie. They were all kind of bad and you just felt pity on them. That's life, I guess...

I will watch again on DVD.

K.

LipDubbin' It Up!

Q: What's lip dub?

A: Obviously you've been tuning into way too many of those election/initiative proposal ads to notice that in the first episode of the 6th season of The Office they did this cool new thing that everyone and their universities/high schools/etc. are doing!

They're actually pretty cool.  Click here to see the site that started this new fad!

" A lip dub is a type of video that combines lip syncing and audio dubbing to make a music video...Tom Johnson, a technical writer who blogs about Web 2.0's effect on communication, describes a good lip dub as having the characteristics, or at least the appearance, of

spontaneity: "It appears as if someone thought up the idea on the spot, pulled out their personal video camera, and said hey everyone, let’s all lip sync this Flagpole Sitta song."

authenticity: The people, production and situation appear real.

participation: "The video doesn’t consist of one person’s spectacular lip sync, but that of a group, all participating together in this one spontaneous effort, which seems to communicate the attitude and mood of the song."

fun: the people in the video are having a lot of fun. "

 
Though I haven't quite read into what the rules are for this lipdub competition; and if I were to grade their performances - some schools have it down! While others... lack a lil' flava-flave.

So, here are my thoughts, even though I don't want to do a lipdub with my alma matter, why don't WE do one!  Right?  Who's down for some good ol' fun?  I think it would be hilarious to see what we come up with.  So, who's with me (and Kiwon, he doesn't have a say, he's doing it)?!

If my plea for you to join me isn't working, I'll just have to pull out the big guns and show you what a one-woman show can do for you! 

There's no turning back now... you'll definitely want to lipdub with me after this!  Mind you, I did this in 4 hours... and yes, that was my old office, and yes it was during work hours. :)

I'm totally serious... so, let me know if you wanna.

I LOVE COMMUNITY!

A Kingdom of Concience. A Kingdom of Heaven.

Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong.

If you were thinking that I was going to do a review about the recent movies that I have seen (in the queued are The Other Guys, and The Switch), I will not be doing that tonight. Instead, I will take you a journey through time... to 2005.

Remember that year? I was a sophomore in the university, still drinking and partying away (although to SOME, I wasn't partying at ALL), and trying really hard not to be seen as a nerd, but epically failing. Bush was still president, running the country into the ground and Facebook was but a year into the launch date and was only offered to few selected colleges across the nation (UW being one of them, of course) and you had to be a college student to join (thus doing away with those pesky high schoolers and no real threat of your own mother finding out about your many blackout incidents).

Yes it was 2005 that Kingdom of Heaven graced the silver screens. Fresh off Gladiator's huge Oscar success, director Ridley Scott tackled a flimsy and possibly epic subject: The Crusades.

Don't forget, the script was written by William Monahan, whom went onto write The Departed in 2006, earning him an Oscar. You would think that this movie should not fail.... considering the talent already at hand, but it did. Terribly. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a mere 39%!! Ouch. This actually comes as no surprise since the film is led by the ever-so-delicate Orlando Bloom. This man played an Elf for the first three movies of his career, only to play a bitchy butt-pirate. His manhood in the Hollywood scene was at a devastating all-time low... until Kingdom of Heaven.

This movie is, and I will go on record saying this, the ONLY movie that makes Orlando Bloom even remotely seem like a man. Call it his greatest advantage or the greatest flaw; but the man looks and acts like a giant pussy. This movie redeems him of that manhood he lost probably during his school days "playing" with his best mates. Ew.

Synopsis... The story follows Balian of Ibelin (played by Orlando Bloom) and his journey through the heap of mess that is The Crusades. The time set is 12th Century, and if you know your history, it's around the Second Crusades. The great Egypt-Sultan Saladin conquers Jerusalem back for the Muslims. If you really know your history, Balian of Ibelin actually existed in the history books during the Second Crusades. It is also true that he was a crusader during the 12th century and was present during the siege of Jurusalem by Saladin himself. But the historical accuracy just about stops there. I'll get to that a bit later.

The plot is rather simple in its core: A man from nothing rises up to meet his destiny when life and God along with it threw him out of grace. This man-meets-destiny story has been told thousands of times and it is designed to be a fail-safe formula in Hollywood movies. Keep in mind that Gladiator was the same exact themed movie. People love to see good looking people go from zero to hero. This Balian goes from being a blacksmith to a knight, placing him in the pinnacle moment in history as the man who gave back Jurusalem to the Muslims in a respectable but rather peaceful manner. Whooray.

Cast... Orlando Bloom everybody. I won't go into too much with this kid, for I exhausted him earlier, but given the character, it definitely could have been someone else. Heck, I could have played the character and would have been more fitting. This is saying a lot because I would never look like a crusader from Tripoli. I mean what the hell. This movie only works because of the ensemble of great cast that aided Orlando. Liam Neeson is always great at everything he does (he was Schindler for god's sake... he saved shit-load of Jews!) and is always great at being a teacher to a lesser and unfortunate person (Orlando). The talented and underrated Eva Green plays Sibylla the Queen of Jerusalem. In the movie, she's the love interest of Balian, which is historically hella false and gives Sibylla a credit that she neither deserved or earned.

Sibylla actually teamed up with the bad guy (Guy of Lusignan) to overthrow the King of Jerusalem only to regret it later. That's about it. She was a no-good Queen the f*cked everything up.... but Eva Green was great.

Marton Csokas played Guy of Lusignan and he plays it great because he indeed is a hateful person that you wished would die already throughout the whole movie. He actually never does, but not to worry, Jason Bourne kills him (chokes the shit outta him) in the movie Bourne Supremacy. Justice is served.

Other worthy mention is King Baldwin played by the great Edward Norton. A lot of actors turned down this role simply because the character is behind a mask the whole of the movie. C'mon. Couldn't you act with your body language and the delivery of the lines enough to show the viewers that it indeed is you? Edward did.

Story... Completely fucked from the actual history. Within the history books, Balian was always a royalty, getting Ibelin from his brother. Which means, no Liam Neeson. Secondly, as mentioned above, Sibylla never had a thing to do with Balian, because Balian was happily married to a wife and had kids (unlike the movie, which states apparently Balian is a blacksmith and his wife killed herself after losing a child... WTF? That's some 180 degrees shit right there). Sure, Guy of Lusignan was a conniving and ridiculously bad man, but Sibylla was in that shit with Guy. And other knights helping Balian in the movie were actually fighting with Guy for the possession of Jerusalem the whole time the Second Crusades was going on. No wonder Saladin just waltzed right in.

Want to know a damndest thing? King Baldwin was actually Sibylla's son, not brother, like it was portrayed in the movie. Was making Sibylla old seem that bad of an idea? I genuinely think that if pressed, William Monahan can write up an interesting and compelling story line out of an existing history!

Conclusion... Overall, my negativity toward the movie was more on the historical side than the fun. I actually love movies like this, taking religion apart to make you think of it a bit more. Sure, the movie never delves into religion deeply enough for you to truly disagree or agree with anything, except for the fact that people believe in different religions and the extremists of any religious denominations have existed as long as religions themselves have been around.

Moreover, this movie, being a time-frame set around the Crusades, I would like to point your mind to those who would use religion as a weapon to vanquish all that they are not, and also all that they cannot be. Hate almost always is born out of ignorance and the fear of being unaware of something else and new of the world. It is truly sad to see that even today, religious factions spill blood over the holy land. There is a quote from the movie that I want you to read...

What is Jerusalem? Your (Christians) holy places lie over the Jewish temple that the Romans pulled down. The Muslim places of worship lie over yours. Which is more holy? The wall? The Mosque? The Sepulcher? Who has claim? No on has claim. All have claim!

I actually think that line alone makes the movie good enough to watch from time to time. What is holy? If you ask me, it's entirely up to you. One's soul is for the one to keep. It is in your heart and in your mind. Someone once told me that faith is a gift and that should you receive it, you should treasure it for all of your life. Why? Faith gives something so pure and powerful: Hope. Hope is incredibly underrated yet constantly talked and reviewed over, because it gives people an undying strength to carry on when not even a string of light is being shined upon them.

Religion should be about faith and faith alone.

K.