A trip to the farthest universe with the Guardians of the Galaxy, baby!

Guardians of the Galaxy

Chris Pratt as Star Lord

Zoe Saldana as Gamora

Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer

Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot

Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon

Memorable lines:

Drax: I can't see a thing

Groot: (pops up small lights from his branches)

Drax: (amazed) When did you learn how to do that?

Star Lord: Pretty sure the answer is I am Groot.

Rocket: No Groot, you can't, you'll die! Why are you doing this?!

Groot: (wiping Rocket's tear) We are Groot!

If you haven't seen this film and are doubting whether to watch it or not, well my friends, you better watch it because I am pretty sure this marvelous piece of work will blow your minds! To be honest I told myself I would just wait for the DVD release of this but since everybody else has been buzzing about. To be honest, I completely have no freaking idea who the Guardians of the Galaxy were until I saw an announcement on World Wrestling Entertainment's website that Batista has been cast as Drax the Destroyer. For me this was like Star Wars but in a different universe, much more cooler and bad ass! Marvel did a pretty swell job with it and successfully assembling an amazing set of people to portray the characters and each one was perfect.

 Two of my favorite characters are Rocket Racoon and Groot. Well, I did like Batista's portrayal of Drax but I'll go with my picks (I love wrestling and Batista and all but I gotta pick favorites don't I?). The story was good as well as how each actor played out their respective characters. I am also glad we got a glimpse of how Thanos looks like and how he will play a major bad ass villian in the Avengers 3. Great portrayal as well by Lee Pace for the super villian Ronan the Accuser, almost unbeatable but damn he could be a good match for the Mighty Thor now wouldn't he? (^_^)

I love the fact that Rocket is the only one in the group that understands what Groot was actually saying, well he only speaks the words "I am Groot" but they are spoken in different manners and tones through out the movie. Rocket really emphasizes the term "Small but Terrible". Not only was he intelligent but he has such a good sense of humor as well as a caring heart for his companions, especially towards Groot. Groot was the true soul of this team. To be honest, I never thought he had a lot to deliver since he was "just a tree" but the big guy changed everything for me especially that scene where he protected his team mates by shielding them to survive the impact of Ronan's ship crashing over the city of Xandar. That put a small tear drop in my eye which I am not ashamed to admit. I bet "Groot" Diesel and "Rocket" Cooper are pretty happy about the results of the film's success in just a couple of days. (I'd be happy too if I was paid a huge amount of money just to say I AM GROOT!) One more good thing about Guardians is it's humor. Everytime all these five gather they would crack up everybody watching. The soundtrack for the film was sooooo great as well that it made me dance, sing and watch a movie all at the same time.

My Rating: 4.9 / 5

Over all, I would say that Marvel has given us another film that is worth remembering with memorable scenes, characters and events. CGI was very impressive and showed us the different, colorful, adventurous side of the Galaxy. The comedic antics of Star Lord were so good as well as his "sorccery" on Gamora when he was trying to give her a smacker. Batista's mideval speech pattern was awesome as well. And boy oh boy, I can't wait for them to have a cross over movie with the Avengers and have Iron Man join the Guardians so that he'd be able to put to proper use of his Space Armor. Damn! Now go, move your butts and go watch this brilliant film so that you can wear a Groot-like smile just like our big guy below. 

Your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

The Amazing Web Slingin' Kiss Stealin' Wall Crawlin' Spider Man!

Cast

Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider Man

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro

Dane Dehaan as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin

Paul Giamatti as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino

Run time: 142 minutes

Director: Marc Webb

Producers: Avi Arad

Matt Tolmach

Budget: $200-$225 million

Box office: $703,666,575

Memorable speeches and dialogues

Gwen Stacy: It's easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day like today, but there will be dark days ahead of us too. There will be days where you feel all alone, and that's when hope is needed most. No matter how buried it gets, or how lost you feel, you must promise me that you will hold on to hope. Keep it alive. We have to be greater than what we suffer. My wish for you is to become hope; people need that. And even if we fail, what better way is there to live? As we look around here today, at all of the people who helped make us who we are, I know it feels like we're saying goodbye, but we will carry a piece of each other into everything that we do next, to remind us of who we are, and of who we're meant to be.

Aunt May: What happened to your face? It's filthy!

Peter: It is?

Aunt May: Yes!

Peter: Oh, yeah, yeah. I was cleaning the chimney.

Aunt May: We have no chimney.

Peter: Whaaat?

Gwen: I'm coming with you.

Spider Man: No you're not, it's too dangerous. Shut that thing.

[webs her wrist to the hood of a car]

Spider Man: [swinging away] I'm sorry, I love you, don't hate me.

Gwen : PETER!

[covers her mouth realizing that Peter is in his Spider Man suit]

As one of my most anticipated movies of 2014, The Amazing Spider Man 2 has yet again delivered another solid performance at the box office. It was a really good movie however while I was watching it I got that same old feeling of "Yay! This is supposed to be Part 2 and Part 2 movies are always better than the first ones so come on, anytime now, make me excited and jump off my seat?!" kind of thing. One good thing about this film is that we see more web swinging action here especially during one of the opening sequences where Spidey goes after robbers who stole plutonium from Oscorp. Not just swinging from building to building but the CGI effects where nicely done. 'Bout time we had the proper swingin' action for good ol' web head.

The story was good so far. The main villain Electro aka Max Dillon was portrayed by Jaime Foxx. Foxx did a magnificent job of being a genius nerdy obsessed Spider fan boy here. His character was someone who just wants to be recognized for his work and have some friends but people at Oscorp treat him as a nobody. I especially liked the scene when he was down town, already as Electro and Spidey was trying to talk him out and helping him and thought his HERO betrayed him and set him up and be made fun of. He didn't want to be evil, he didn't want to be the bad guy. Like what he said while Spidey was calming him down, "I just wanted everybody to see me." It was his birthday and such a cruel accident happened. Well, I just wished they didn't have to kill his character because I've heard rumors of a Sinister Six movie coming out and as far as I recall, Electro was part of the original group.



So as we were told, there is confirmation from reliable sources and of course a scene from the movie where the mysterious man is shown having a conversation with Harry that there will be indeed a Sinister Six movie. We get to see a quick glimpse of Doc Oc's Tentacles, The Vulture's wings and so Rhino's Armor (well mecha Rhino if you will.) Surely this is not going to be a new case in an all villian movie to me because as I recall, we will have Batman: Assault on Arkham takes on the saying, cheer for the bad guys because this time around they will save the day or something like that. Garfield said in an interview that he has signed for 3 Spiderman films but I hope they do resign him for a couple more because I'd hate to see them replace him after 3 films.

 

The death of Gwen Stacey has got to be one of the hardest things that have ever happened to Spidey or Peter. The way how Gwen died in the comics was different from the movie, (although we know freakin' hollywood always changes everything, well almost) but in this version at least we know how she died unlike again in the comics for those who don't know, Gwen was thrown over the bridge by the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn not Harry) and Spiderman catches her but finds out she is dead so he is unsure if she was dead when she was thrown or she died like what we saw in the movie. It was such a tragic death I might add and I actually shed some tears (they came pourin' when she hit the floor on impact). Their on and off relationship in the film was good especially given the fact that Peter sees Captain Stacey's ghost and finally which made it more confusing for him to whether or not continue seeing Gwen since he made a vow to keep away from her. This part here kind of reminds me that Superheroes are not made of steel, they are human beings as well. No matter how powerful they are, they weaken when a family member or loved one is taken away. Kind of reminds me of one graphic novel I read a few years back entitled Identity Crisis from DC Comics. But if he had the power to go back in time to save Gwen like what Supes did in the first Superman film which starred Christopher Reeves, that could've been nice but hey, that's just wishful thinking on my part haha. Well, bye Gwen Stacey, Hello Mary Jane Watson come 2016.





My Rating: 4/5

It was a really great film for the Spiderman franchise. Just that the same problem occured here for me, too many villians which were not really utelized properly. They could've focused on Electro more but having Harry Osborn turn into the Green Goblin here was kind of okay. Sam Rami wanted to make a 4th film so badly because he thinks that he needed to end the franchise properly but never got the green light on so I hope Webb knows where he's going with the 3rd installment.But overall the story and cinematography were brilliant. I hope I can soon get my hands on that Spiderman ring tone they used in the movie haha, that would be my ringtone but what I keep getting is a family computer sounded theme. I am definitely looking forward to the upcoming films. Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can, dududum dududum dududum dudududududum (^_^)

Your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

The Bad Ass X-Men are BACK!!!

  

X-Men: Days of Future Past

   

Cast

Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine

James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier/Professor X

Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto 

Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe/Storm

Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat

Director: Bryan Singer

Producers: 

• Lauren Shuler Donner
• Bryan Singer
• Simon Kinberg
• Hutch Parker

Runtime: 131 minutes

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $713,053,899

Release date: May 10, 2014 (International)

May 23, 2014, (USA)

Memorable quotes:

"You, you kleptomaniac, get to break in to the Pentagon" - Professor X to Quicksilver

"Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they're lost forever." - Professor X (future) to Professor X (past)

Ok folks, let's be honest here. This has been one of the most, if not the best, but the most brilliant film in the X-Men movie franchise to date. But on another note, I think we have too many as is TOO MANY characters here that only had a couple of minutes of screen time with one or two dialogues. It's great to have Days of Future Past to be shown in the big screen but for me, Singer could have done a little more work on the characters and their importance in the movie. I would've loved to hear Colossus speak or even Bishop and whatever happened to Lil' ol' Halle Berry's Storm character here? 

And not to mention Rogue? I mean where in the blue hell is this high flyin' power absorbin' bad ass chick? Sure she was highly promoted in the trailer but when I saw it I was like,(and I am borrowing Andrew Garfield's line in The Amazing Spider Man) You mother hubber are you serious??



Here's one photo below from Rogue's cut scenes in the film. See that girl behind Professor X, that's Rogue. Too bad Singer cut off all her scenes. They could have done the same thing to her like what they did to Halle Berry's Storm. She was there, couple of lines and some fight scenes. Would have been cool but Singer had to makes crappy excuses about cutting her out.




I'm gonna stop bad mouthing some of the misses in this film and I'm going to talk about the good parts of this wonderful film. The time traveling concept was nothing new in the movie industry but DoFP pulled it off and fitted the story very well, (I mean it was the main concept in the comics and the animated series anyway). However, one more thing that didn't suit well with was the year they had in mind, 1973. I am pretty sure that back then robotics and technology wasn't that well developed yet so I am kind of trying to digest the concept of choosing 1973 where the Sentinels were first introduced. I remember the scene where the US president and Dr. Trask were talking about how Magneto can control metal and Trask was like, try my giant mutant annihilating robots so we can destroy them and the president is like duh, robots are made out of metal and you're going to put it up against someone who you just told me controls metal?? Of course smidget, erm, Trask here says they are built out of space aged polymer with no ounce of metal in them. Again, duh, 1973? I don't get it. Probably would make me believe the concept if the year was like 1993 or 1997 right? I mean in the cartoon adaptation of DoFP, Bishop came back in time during the said assassination in the 90's which would make more sense than 1973(sorry for being such a d*%k on mentioning 1973 over and over again). The Sentinels here in the movie adaptation were more bad ass than the ones in the comic book and the cartoon. I mean in the cartoons, these anti mutant robots can be defeated unlike in the film, man they are almost android like, unbeatable. Acquiring the powers of Mystique were a great idea for the movie. Felt really sorry for the mutants here 'cause they have no chance against this kind of enemy and damn you Mystique for having that kind of power hehe (^_^)

 

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in his 199th time of portraying the character did well for the movie. Trust me, people might get tired of Wolverine gracing the front cover of DVD's or magazines and game covers but hey, they did find the right match for the character in Jackman. Here's another of my "I hope" moments. It would've been nice if he had some lines from the animated series like, "Out of my way, rookie" or that famous line he told Bishop when he was about to jump in to that time portal device, "I'm gonna remember this rookie!" I loved the expression on Hugh's face when he was back in the 70's and he showed his claws and he was like "the hell are these? my metal claws are not yet born this year?" 

The only scene, and I mean ONLY SCENE in the movie that I really loved was the break out of prison scene. They picked the right guy to play Quicksilver in Evan Peters, just didn't like them changing his name from Pietro Maximoff to Peter Maximoff. I love it especially when he was looking at Magneto from above the glass prison and he had that weird crazy smile on his face and the moment when he held Magneto's neck and was explaining that he didn't want him to get whiplash and moved and talked like a creepy doll hehe. (That made my day!) The slomo plus the song by Jim Croce made that scene really memorable and actually the only one scene I keep watching over and over and over again. 

My Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Despite my complains and all, I loved this movie a lot. The best film in the franchise so far and I am really looking forward to the next film coming out in 2016, X-Men Apocalypse but folks don't be dismayed if you see Hugh Jackman appear as Wolverine again since like Kitty said in the movie, "basically you don't age and you will look the same" so don't expect a younger version of Logan here (^_^) Now let's all sing or hum or whichever you prefer, the X-Men Animated Series Opening song! One, two, one two three....Tararararararam Dararararararam  Tararararararam Taram ram Tararararararam Dararararararam  Tararararararam Taram ram (^_^)

Your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thank you and have a wonderful day!

300: Rise of an Empire

SEIZE AND PREPARE FOR GLORY FOR TONIGHT, WE DINE IN HELL!

Release dates: March 4, 2014 (Asia)

March 5, 2014 (United States)

Sullivan Stapleton as Themistocles

Eva Green as Artemisia

Lena Headley as Queen Gorgo

Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes

Director: N

Producers: Zack Snyder (Man of Steel, 300, Watchmen)

Frank Miller (300, Sin City, Batman: The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Strikes Again)

Notable Quotes:

"If death comes for me today I am ready." - Artemisia

"You fight for freedom? I offer freedom without consequence or responsibility" - Artemisia 

"Let our final stand be recorded in the histories, that we chose to die on our feet rather than live on our knees!" - Themistocles

"It begins as a whisper... a promise... the lightest of breezes dances above the death cries of 300 men. That breeze became a wind. A wind that my brothers have sacrificed. A wind of freedom... a wind of justice... a wind of vengeance." - Queen Gorgo

This movie is neither a sequel nor a prequel but rather a film that connects to all the aspects of how things unfolded within The First and Second Greco-Persian War. It took 7 years for producer Zack Snyder (who directed the first film) to come up with the second film from his successful film 300 back in 2007.  The film is based on Frank Miller's  unpublished graphic novel "Xerxes". There are a lot of things that I considered while watching this film. Fist of, will this be as successful as the first film? Second, will it have that same strong story line like what we witnessed in 300? Thirdly, will the new protagonist Themistocles played by Sullivan Stapleton to be as eye catching and watchable as Gerard Butler's portrayal of King Leonidas? Luckily, almost everything went well with my expectations.

Let's face it, Themistocles is no Leonidas as Sullivan Stapleton is no Gerard Butler. When Butler played Leonidas he was ravishing, mighty, powerful and memorable. He had a lot of lines in the film that were memorable as well. As for Stapleton's portrayal of Themistocles, it was hard for me to focus on him as the main protagonist as he was not even close to a 100% memorable guy here. I watched the film with my wife and both of us got confused at times as who was really the hero of the film. Stapleton wasn't really that convincing and interesting but I guess his character did some good in the movie. Protagonists should all be interesting to watch and should provide a performance to remember and be talked about for a long period of time. 

 

As for the main antagonist of the film Artemisia, which was played by actress Eva Green, she was one bad ass, hot chick villainess to be reconed with. That sex scene between her and Stapleton was ravishing so to speak. It was like a cat and dog fight with growls and all that. Eva's portrayal of the character was great and she somewhat kicked out Xerxes into the sidelines and saying, "Get out of the way gay god king, I'm the bad ass villain here now not you." (^_^) A truly powerful performance but I wished she was aligned with the good guys.

 

I am a bit disappointed at some characters in the movie that mostly did short scenes like Queen Gorgo and Xerxes. Well, for Xerxes, at least we get to see how he became the self proclaimed god king. As for Gorgo, to be honest when I first heard that a sequel will be made and she was in the movie, I thought she would have more scenes and have a huge part  in the film but sadly she took over as the narrator of the film (in the first film it was Dilios who narrated the story) After seeing the film I wished Gorgo and Artemesia had clashed and that Gorgo was the one who killed Artemesia. That would've been nice if they did that but I guess they are saving her blade and furry for Xerxes in the next film since he was the one who killed the King of Sparta. The fight scenes were well choreographed and if you are a fan of gore movies, you won't mind the blood being spilled all over like hell. CGI was good as well especially with the battles at sea and all that but not as memorable as the fight scenes from the first film.

  

My Evaluation

Story: 4/5

Let's admit it, this is no 300 and the characters are not that memorable but the story played out good. Great job for the new director although I would've wanted Snyder to have directed and produced this but hey, that's how things are in life.  I wonder if I can find someone who can connect all these scenes from the two films and make it into one? (hmmm.. interesting wouldn't you say so?) Congratulations to the people behind this movie and I am looking forward to the final chapter of this great franchise. (Hoping that they'd make one and have Gorgo kill Xerxes big time.)

Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Dragon Ball Evolution (2009)

The Legend comes to life....Really? Seriously?

Dragon Ball Evolution

April 10, 2009

Justin Chatwin as Son Goku

Chow Yun-Fat as Master Roshi

Jaime Chung as Chi Chi

James Marsters as Lord Piccolo

Emmy Rossum as Bulma

I have been a huge Dragon Ball Z fan ever since I watched the series back in the early 90's from Goku's childhood up until the Majin Boo Saga even until the GT series and all of its movies including the latest installment Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. There have been several live action films of the franchise in the past but to be honest, this has got to be the worst live action film of a very famous Japanese anime ever. Why doesn't Hollywood ever learn from their previous mistakes of making a live action film of famous anime's and have western actors and actresses but please, can we stick with the original characters and story lines to be able to create a magical moment with these films?

First of, why in the blue hell is Goku even attending school here? As we know, Goku has lived in the mountain area together with his grandfather until he passed away and all he knows is fishing and martial arts. They totally messed up his character here. Secondly, his first meeting with Bulma was very much different from the original story. I mean again, Goku has lived his entire childhood in the mountains and doesn't even know what a girl looks like. 

 

The entire cast was a disgrace. How in the heck did they end up chosing these actors anyway? I don't want to be so damn harsh on the Dragon Ball franchise but James Wong and the producers ruined everything big time. Dragon Ball was full of action and comedy and that was missing in the film. No offense to Chow Yun-Fat for his portrayal of Master Roshi but he made Roshi more Chinese than Japanese. Master Roshi is a well respected master of martial arts, and a little bit of a pervert (due to his fantasies of Bulma, Chi Chi and the other women in the DBZ world). Chow tried to portray the role but seems that he was holding back a lot on being a pervert like Roshi was. It was never close to what the original looked like. 

 

Oh I almost forgot, where in the blue hell are Krillin, Woolong, and Puar? Yes we have Yamcha but again bad choice of an actor to play the role. Since when did Yamcha became Korean? It would've been nice if Joon Park's character here was a bit more like the original but it was so crazy. Yamcha here could've shown the fist of the wolf fang technique or even the sokidan technique. Would've been really nice if the characters were as they were but no. This could have been a really nice start of a franchise but I guess they thought things were much better this way. 

           

Plus, what's up with the Kame Hame Ha being able to have such a long procedure before being released into an energy wave? And it can heal a person? Since when was the Kame Hame Ha used to heal an injured person? What they adopted in the techniques and the martial arts was more on Kung Fu instead of Japanese martial arts. When Goku first learned about the Kame Hame Ha it was fantastic in the anime and here it was such an unforgivable thing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-zwM1jR_iA

What was Lord Piccolo even doing in this film? He's not even supposed to be the main villain until Goku, Yamcha and Krillin are officially Master Roshi's students and enter the World Martial Arts Tournament. The very first and probably the longest rival of Goku was The Red Ribbon Army. No doubt James Marsters gave a good portrayal of the character but again, with the costume and all that it was a mess.

                             

My Rating

Story: 0.5/5 

CGI: 2/5

Costume Design: 0.5/5

 If someone who didn't know about Dragon Ball Franchise would probably like this movie. But the majority of people now a days knows that this was a great classic that was made into a live action garbage. I hope that they've learned their lesson and have taken down notes from Rurouni Kenshin and start fresh. Get Japanese actors to portray the characters and make up a good story line. Pick up the pieces and make it magical. I am still hoping they'd reboot this and give some honor to the legendary franchise.

Comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Rurouni Kenshin (2012)

"The Hitten Mitsurugi is a style meant to fight many. As long as it is this sword, none of you will die."

Cast:

Takeru Satoh (Kamen Rider) as Himura Kenshin / Hitokiri Battōsai
Emi Takei as Kamiya Kaoru
Munetaka Aoki as Sagara Sanosuke
Yu Aoi as Takani Megumi
Koji Kikkwaka as Udō Jin-e


NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL A LIVE ACTION MOVIE OF A JAPANESE ANIME THAT WE WILL ALL LOVE AND TALK ABOUT FOR YEARS TO COME!

I have to admit, I love Japanese Anime! Yes, yes I know, I'm a little "too old" according to some people to still be watching cartoons or anime but what the heck. (^_^) This movie is the real definition of a live action film based on an anime series. Plus, this is the only, and I mean ONLY Japanese cartoon that was made into a movie with Japanese actors, not like what they did to the legendary Dragon Ball franchise. Great job by the producers and director of the film by combining a wonderful story and cast. I couldn't have asked for any other person to play Kenshin Himura other than Takeru Satoh who, in Japan, have played the famous Kamen Rider or we so popularly know as Masked Rider. If you ask me, he is the perfect guy to play Battousai. Each of the actors have also done a fantastic job portraying their roles like Koji Kikkwaka who played the villainous Jin-e as well as Munetaka Aoki as the hard headed fighter Sagara Sanosuke. Each and everyone of the cast have researched their characters very well. 

One of the most interesting things in this film was the amazing speed and agility of Takeru. Look at that sick and wicked, super high back flip and picking up the wooden katana was really jaw dropping. He is almost like a meta human or some sort of being. I quote this by saying, "DAMN!" Most films would be using CGI or stunt doubles for these kind of action scenes but they surprisingly held up each scene very nicely.

Another interesting thing is Sanosuke's Zanbato. In the anime, it was a really large and heavy sword which, for me, was a really impossible to handle sword even for anime characters (but what the heck, everything is possible in the world of cartoons) but good job by the director for having used a much more practical sword in the movie. Although it was still big and quite impossible to handle, good thing they stuck with that idea. If they had gone with the same zanbato used in the anime, that would've probably ruin the whole thing. I mean could you imagine if they did a live action film of Final Fantasy 7 wherein Cloud Strife would also be wielding a very very large buster sword and people would go like, "How much does that thing weigh?" "Is it even possible to get a first strike if this was used in a real battle?" (^_^) It is really nice to see the same stuff used in the anime but sometimes we need to be realistic as well.

  

This was the fight sequence I was telling you guys about having a huge zanbato to fight with as a weapon. In the anime, Kenshin fought against Sanosuke to prove his point that fighting and hurting people is not the way to live our lives but instead to protect the people that matter most to us and forget the past and create a meaningful future. In the movie though, he had to run and avoid Sano which was kinda not okay for me. I know several things were changed from the original story but this was a bit odd for me. He could have at least used the Hitten Mitsurugi Ryu Son Sen like in the anime. But heck, at least he made him realize that it was not necessary to fight to please Kanryu. Still was a nice way to execute how they resolved their little conflict with one another.

Another round of applause for making the love triangle of Kenshin, Kaoru and Megumi really unforgettable. I loved the scene at the restaurant wherein Megumi was making Kauro jealous as she even kinda flirts with Kenshin a bit when Kaoru was asking questions about who Megumi was and where she came from. We all know Kaoru will marry Kenshin in the future but if this was like DC or Marvel and they had an alternate universe, Kenshin and Megumi would also work as a great couple. Don't you agree? (^_^) I really loved how the connection between these three characters developed in both the cartoon and the movie. Kudos to Takeru, Yu and Emi for portraying their roles wonderfully. Just look at the look on Kenshin's face when Megumi rested her cheeks on his shoulders, he was like, "Oh boy what am I going to do?" And Kaoru's reaction is like, "Taena ka akin sya!" hehe. 

Japanese fighting techniques have been well executed in this film. Many of the techniques from the anime were applied here and all of the main characters did a swell job. From Saito Hajime's Gotatsu to Kenshin's Hitten Mitsurugi were all but brilliant. I so loved the last battle against Jin-e when Kenshin did the Hitten Mitsurugi Battou-Jutsu. I was thinking to myself, "was it possible to execute that in a live action film?" The answer of course was a big YES!

My Evaluation
Story: 5/5
A well deserved rating I might add.

Watching this movie for 2 hours and 14 minutes is worth it. The musical score for Rurouni Kenshin was also very excellent, bone chilling, spine tingling, gives you goosebumps all over. Every single movie's musical score should in fact make the audience feel the message of the entire story. The fight coordinators have done a brilliant job in all of the fight sequences in the film. We know that in the world of cartoons heroes move fast but boy oh boy did this film not disappoint us huh. Took us all to a whole new level. It was also good that they have come up with a really nice story where it makes us realize that we can make a difference in this world for a better cause. Great story telling helps a film get positive recognition from its audience no matter if it is in Japanese, French or Italian language. In the end, no matter how dark our past is, if we are willing to seek forgiveness and start a new life, nothing is impossible. I am so looking forward to the sequels which are going to be released in August and September of 2014.

As always, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Iron Man 3 2013

Memorable quotes:

"You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys. One thing you can't take away...I am Iron Man."

"I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without, that's you Pepper."

Now how do I begin with this one? Hmm, oh yeah. I paid to see this in the cinema, even had a little "tampuhan" with my wife about watching it on the big screen and over all I wasn't really that impressed with how this film turned out. I mean come on, who wouldn't want to see it, this is freaking Robert Downey Jr as IRON MAN baby, so I was really excited to watch it. However, sorry to say Robert or Tony, this movie did not live up to my expectations at all. Some people say that this might be the last Iron Man film in the franchise (which I hope is not)This film was the first of what was called Phase 2 of  Marvel's story line for the up coming Avengers: Age of Ultron which is scheduled for release on May 1, 2015. The reason I got hooked up with the first 2 films was because no one has ever tried to make a live action film of the character since its introduction to the comic book world. Maybe there's a reason they had to wait this long because if they did Iron Man in the 80's or 90's, oh boy I couldn't imagine how it would look like especially the suits. Most people say that if the first film is successful, a sequel might be a disaster or could be more successful that the first one (which for some films worked pretty well). 

Things that made me think while watching IM3

1. How did Tony get a hold of his little giger counter thingy like the ones they have in Dragon Ball Z (of course Stark's was way cooler and more advanced) to operate the Mark 42 when he was rescuing those passengers from Air Force One, when he left it in his house and got destroyed during the attack? Did it transport itself from the house? 

2. Why was War Machine (I know, I know, he's been re branded here as Iron Patriot but I like War Machine better) not involved in the last battle? His suit was made useless as well as his character. There are 41 other suits built and the best line that Stark can tell Rhodes when he asked for a suit is "Oh I'm sorry they're only coded to me, which means I got you covered." 

3. Let me just quote The Rock for this next one regarding The Mandarin, "What in the blue hell is wrong with you?" I mean come on people, you decided to go back in the past with Stark dealing with his mistakes and all that so why did they have to change the way The Mandarin was played out here? In the comic books, The Mandarin was the leader of The Ten Rings, which was of course the group of assassins that kidnapped Tony in the first film. They could have probably had him take revenge on Stark on this one since his group was defeated by Iron Man. Ben Kingsley had the look, the costume but damn, I hated it when Tony broke into his layer and would hear this guy start speaking in an English accent, then says he is an actor, then in the end to find out that Killian was The Mandarin. That was a not good for the story I'm telling you. Why can't movie makers just stick with the original story sometimes. 

4. I had no problem when Stark issued an open challenge to The Mandarin by giving out his home address. But come on dude, he spent almost 72 hours awake tinkering and building new suits which in the last battle scene were all combat ready except for Mark 42 which he used to protect Pepper, fend off the bad guys and unfortunately was not mission capable because it was a freaking prototype?!?! Seriously?!?!

My favorite scenes from IM3

1. In the so called "birthing room" were Stark was testing out his newly built Mark 42. I loved it when he danced and called for his suit to come to him and everything got messy when he got a little cocky over how he can handle things.

2. The scene where he was making a deal with Harley and after he gave the kid a protection from bullies to cover up his ass, the next line was a killer; "You know what keeps going thru my head? Where's my sandwich?" Haha! Battered, bruised, homeless, Stark still acts as if he owns the place.

3. After getting rid of the extremis soldiers, I liked how he and Harley dissed each other.

Harley: So you're just gonna leave me here like my Dad?
Stark: Yeah. Wait you're guilt tripping me are you?
Harley: I'm cold.
Stark: I can tell. You know how I can tell? Because we're connected :) (smiles with a grin and drives away)


My evaluation 
Story: 3/5
Visual effects: 5/5

Over all, Iron Man 3 was indeed one of the top grossing films and best films of the past year. I was just really hoping that after The Avengers they would come up with even more bad ass sequels with bad ass stories. I really hate that feeling when I watch a movie, expecting a lot and ending up being 60% unsatisfied because of bad decisions from the producers. I mean I even heard rumors for a post credit scene of IM3 that Tony has rebuilt his Gemini Mark 39 Space Armor and was travelling in space where he would meet the Guardian's of the Galaxy which for me, was a far more better choice of a post credits scene rather than the one they had where Tony was telling his story to Dr. Banner. What was the sense of that? Anyways, enough badgering here. Tony Stark is Tony Stark and I would love Robert to continue to play the hero we have all come to like. 

Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Thank you and have a wonderful day.