Battle Los Angeles...imo, quite boring.

Sleepless at 4am, so finished watching it. The Dark Knight prologue was pristine even with DD5.1 audio compared to the movie itself...

SALT (2010)

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. No logic to the story at all. For example the head of the Russian infiltrators went to the CIA to report Evelyn Salt as a Russian agent just to compromise her mission for the fun of it. Then he killed a few CIA agents and escaped so why should they believe him? I know its a movie but don't insult viewers' intelligence. Did not finish the movie.

It's the Director's Cut version. You mean the story is different in other version?

Transformers (2007)

I was re-watching Transformers last night and you know what, from a story point of view, it is actually pretty TIGHT.

Video transfer was Great, Sound Spectacular....

How do you get from Transformers (2007) to  Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)!!!?

The short answer, the script.

Looking at IMDB, both Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci were/part of the writing team (they also wrote Star Trek and Trek Trek into the Darkness). For some odd reason, they were not involved in the script for Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)... Go figures...

In the first movie, the story was told from the human perspective, which means, we can relate to the movie.

In the third....

I really shudder to think what the 4th installment is going to be like... because Ehren Kruger who wrote the 3rd is back...



Is it possible that Hollywood never learns...

2014 and 2015 may be transitional years... There are people in the movie industry who are concern that with the advent of personal video cameras and with the younger generation need for instant gratification (Singapore Polytechnic anyone *groan*), big budget movies can become... obsolete...

I still like the first Transformers the best, it has... heart!

Thanks for reading

Psycho (1960) (50th Anniversary)

For some odd reason, I keep watching this???!

I have watched this on TV, DVD and a couple of times on HD and now Bluray format.

The 50th Anniversary bluray is JAM PACKED with all kinds of wonderful special features!!

They'd interviewed Janet Leigh (Shower scene anyone?). They interviewed Joseph Stefano (screenwriter). They also interviewed Patricia Hitchcock who is Hitchcock's daughter, who has a small role in the movie.

Lots and LOTS of P.O.V. from them and interesting too.

For example, Hitchcock actually hired a nude model (people who poses naked for art classes) to stand in the shower so they can figure out how dense the water from the shower needs to be so Janet Leigh's naughty bits will not show up in the movie!! Also how some of the special effects were done practically (films as it happens). For example, Martin Balsam (Det. Milton Arbogast) fell down the staircase (without actually falling down the staircase) etc.

Having watched the movie Hitchcock (2012), about a month and a half to two months back, surprisingly, only heighten this viewing for me!!

I still feel that the opening credit is a little "soft" (video quality wise) but once the movie opens, everything is crystal clear. Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL black and white movie. One tidbit I learned from the special feature was, Hitchcock consciously made this movie in Black and White. There are two reason to this.

1) He had to finance this movie personally, because he contractually still owe Paramount Pictures one more picture before moving over to Universal and Paramount had out right refuse to budget the movie because of the subject matter. Filming it in Black and White would reduce the cost of production.

2) He did not believe the movie could pass the censorship board if it was filmed in color!!

(I told you, major tidbits)

I was having a conversation with an English gentleman a couple of weeks back. He is a self profess movie lover. And the conversation steer to Alfred Hitchcock where he expresses, 'Psycho?... I have watched it and it was meh...' I had to explain to this self professed movie lover how movies were like before Hitchcock and how he change the game and movie had never been the same... Forgive him, he is young (only 35 yo)

I really wonder, is there really an Alfred Hitchcock fan out there that has never seen this movie??

If there is, here is my challenge to you. Watch Hitchcock (2012) and then Psycho (1960) and then tell me honestly that Psycho had not influence cinema for the past 53 years. Think about that.

Again, as always, the above is merely my opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own.

My Two Sen

X2 (2003)

Probably my favorite X-Men movie to date!

All the set piece are there.

Patrick Steward (Professor Charles Xavier) and Ian McKelley (Eric Lensherr / Magneto) are great!

Who would have thunk that Brian Cox (William Stryker) is such an S.O.B....

The star for me in this movie is.... Alan Cumming (Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler). Very well executed and acted character! I was most disappointed when they did not include him in the 3rd installment (supposedly, Alan Cumming got greedy. That is what I heard. True/Not, I cannot say)

I do have several small peeves about this movie, I don't understand why Aaron Stanford replaced  as John Allerdyce / Pyro and that Jason 143 character is a little under developed...

PQ is much superior to X-Men

AQ is Great!!

My Two Sen

Interesting, for me here is how I'll built the X-men movie list based on preference...

1) X2 (2003)
2) X-Men (2000) /X-Men: First Class (2011)  (a tie)
3) X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

X2 opening sequence with Kurt blew me away...

It also introduced Colossus character, which is WAY under used in the trilogy....

The third was meh with the exception of Wolverine & Colossus's Fastball Special!!!

Note that I did not included any of the wolverine movies... It is a conscious decision...

Like everything, this is just my opinion

That the deepest bass scenes in that movie. Keep pressure my head around 1:04:00 to 1:05.33  until the grenade scenes my door vibrate . Really cool .Watch twice this week

sorry hulk, your bass just got beaten.
if i recall correctly, the bass got better with the next scene, just like what they did in hulk.

i don't question the logic in any movies, especially action movies. it just spoils the fun.

HT setup is back online. albeit with some major drawback.
must... endure.. sigh.