Spiderman 3 @ The Electric Cinema

Patrick Movies, UK Life

Spiderman 3 The MovieOn Tuesday I saw the latest Marvel comic based movie released by director Sam Raimi, Spiderman 3. I saw it at the amazingly stylish theatre on Portobello Road, The Electric Cinema, something I’ll write about another time and highly recommend anyone the cinematic experience it offers.

The movie met most of my expectations – some good visual effects, a nice adaptation of the comic book story to introduce and link some of the characters as best could be fit into a two hour movie, the standard cameo appearance of Marvel comic book writer Stan Lee and the poor acting and cheesy scenes that always seem to make it in.

It’s easy to say that none of the actors in the film will win any Oscars, and I think Tobey Maguire wins the award for worst overall performance with too many frustrating scenes of endless cheese. The choice of Thomas Haden Church to play new villain Sandman worked out really well, and very much looked the part after donning the classic green and black striped t-shirt though I though Topher Grace, playing Peter Parker and Spiderman’s nemesis Eddie Brock and Venom turned out as a poor choice as he was far too small to fill his role.

The movie, like most comic-based ones focuses excessively on the action with some fantastic fight scenes that are very enjoyable to watch, though the viewers need to suspend a certain amount of belief and logic to make it believable. The movie certainly wasn’t produced for die-hard fans and is a film worth watching if you want some light hearted action entertainment.

TheKua.com Rating: 6 out of 10

28 Weeks Later

Patrick Movies, UK Life

28 Days Later was a pretty impressive film for me mainly for the way it managed to empty (or simulate) many parts of London (such as the ever busy area of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey).

28 Weeks Later

I stumbled across this painted sign (above) all over pathways around East London and is promoting the upcoming sequel release, 28 Weeks Later. I don’t know if they had local council or city approval, but I like way this biohazard symbol is enigmatically painted all over the pavements. This one I caught outside Old Street station on the way to Hoxton Square.

Superman on the Superscreen

Patrick Movies, UK Life

It’s always great watching a normal movie presented on an Imax screen. For those that don’t know what an Imax cinema is, think of your normal cinema but with the screen approximately three stories tall and proportionately wide. Movies specially made for the Imax are typically disappointing because the cost of filming it just for Imax is so exorbitantly expensive that the result is a very short film (i.e. not more than an hour). Movies adapted for Imax are a much better alternative.

Last night I went with a bunch of people to go see the latest instalment in the Superman series of movies, Superman Returns at the BFI Imax Cinema at Waterloo. Like many long running movies, there are so many expectations to break, but I thought they did a good job overall.

Superman

Reflecting on the movie’s many possible improvements, the movie was much longer than it could have been, the story weak, and many nagging questions remain unanswered. To be fair though, for a comic book action movie with such a long running history and hype (did you know at one stage, a balding Nicholas Cage was supposed to play superman?) I personally wasn’t expecting too much.

I thought it had just the right amount of clichéd sayings to be entertaining, a small effort to put it in line with previous movies, and some very awesome action sequences all helped along by a huge screen and with many of the scenes set in 3D! It’s rare that I would pay that much for a movie ordinarily, and though I would have resented paying to watch Superman Returns on a normal screen, for the one-off experience was well worth it.

TheKua.com Rating: 6.5 out of 10

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Patrick Movies

Last night I finally got to see the third instalment of the X-Men movies at the Camden Odean theatre. Movies in the UK seem to take a lot longer to show than they do in the US and back home in Australia. A big shout out to Simon who arranged a great turn out and welcomed us all into his very nice flat, where we watched X-Men 2 before heading to the cinemas.

Turning a comic book into a popular movie will always be a difficult task, with the expectations of comic books fans not necessarily aligned with newer fans and other crowds not even exposed. On many levels, the movie succeeds at what it probably set out to achieve – an action packed movie filled with special effects and at the same time touching on contentious issues of minority group rights and the ethical choices society and individuals have to make.

XMen 3

I personally think the movie was far too ambitious and the result is far too many characters and subplots that don’t really lead anywhere. Hugh Jackman continues to play an awesome Wolverine while I’m yet again disappointed by Halle Berry still playing a weak Storm, despite having fought for a stronger role. I did like Famke Janssen’s darker side in the movie, though her intense glares wore thin after a while.

Don’t misinterpret my view as an overall negative view on the movie – for something in this genre, there will always be plenty of special effects, inconsistencies and clichéd lines, but this one succeeds at being entertaining and visually fun for the most part.

TheKua Rating: 7 out of 10

The Disney/Miyazaki Rort

Patrick Movies

When I read on Slashdot that Howl’s Moving Castle was being released in the USA and how well it is doing, I rushed to find out when it was going to be here in Australia (more specifically Brisbane).

Although it’s going to premiere at the 52nd Sydney Film Festival, the rest of us Aussies won’t be able to get a glance of the film until September! With broadband becoming cheaper and more accessible, and making movies that much more accessible, when will media companies raise the bar and actually compete for the consumer dollar?

So frustrating!

House of Flying Daggers

Patrick Movies

Yesterday I managed to get along to see the House Of Flying Daggers before it stopped showing at the cinemas. I had seen the preview and it definitely looked like one of those movies you have to see on the big screen. Made more in the style of the movie, Hero, and starring one of the actresses (Ziyi Zhang) from both that movie and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this movie focuses less on the martial arts action and definitely more on the storyline and cinematography.

Let me warn you now, there is no mistake that this movie is based on a love-story with most of the conflict really there to build each character before a stunningly predictable finale, so be sure to indulge in the fighting scenes you do see. Admittedly the storyline succeeds with what it tries to do and manages to throw in a number of twists which I did not see coming (but I tend to be pretty naive in these things).

Cinematically this movie exceeds in being visually stunning, with each scene filled with backgrounds and costumes indulgently rich in both detail and colour. At times I felt like some of the scenes were only there to provide yet another opportunity at showcasing more detail, but they were all entertaining nevertheless.

The House of Flying Daggers is one movie you have to see, but make sure it’s at least once in the cinemas.

Reviewing the weeks just gone

Patrick General, Movies, Work Related

The last two weeks have just flown by with so much happening that I really haven’t had a chance to update the blog. Last week we were fortunate enough to have Martin Fowler (known best for his collection of books such as Refactoring, UML Distilled, and Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture) down under participating in a number of conference/seminar events. Since I work for the same company he works in, we were even more fortunate when he found space in his busy schedule to spend time with us at a client site on one of our projects. I definitely took advantage of the numerous opportunities to dine and chat with the man, enjoying the time we spent discussing a wide variety of topics.

I also returned to Aikido for the first time since my accident, training with caution so that I avoided aggravating my leg. Upon entering the dojo, I was reminded of its great community spirit when everyone showed their concern by asking where I’d been for the last month. Last week also marked the last day of employment for another mate, Aaron (AKA DJ Anarchy) at my old workplace, which, of course, demanded some sort of celebration late into Thursday night/Friday morning.

Last Friday then saw to the start of my employer’s first “Team Hug” events for 2005. My company creates these conference-like events so that everyone in the country can share their experiences and knowledge with each other. For us working in Brisbane, it is also one of the rare occasions where we actually get to meet all of our fellow employees down south in person. Saturday is reserved for the internal conference (which I’m told tends to be much better in content and format than most other conferences) whilst Sunday is seen as the chance to relax, and get to know everyone else in a much more social atmosphere. This Team Hug was held at the Australia Noosa Lakes Resort and was a perfect location to do work related stuff without feeling like it was work related stuff. It was also my first time to present at one of these events, and despite the nerves, felt like it was well-received. Thanks to Andy for pairing with me on the entire presentation.

This week I was invited (thanks Michael and Sarah) to a pre-release screening of the movie, Ong Bak. Although it’s not going to win any academy awards, as far as action and martial arts films go, this is definitely one to go and see. I never released some of the things that you could pull off with Muay Thai kickboxing and the star of this movie manages to demonstrate them all. Although the storyline is not going to make you think very hard, the fairly decent length (for an action movie)is filled with enough humour, drama and lots and lots of action to keep you entertained throughout.

A difference in opinion about The Blind Swordsman

Patrick Movies

Last night eight of us went to go see the latest film about Zatoichi at the Dendy. I don’t think many people (including myself) had heard much about the long legacy of this blind swordsman. Including the first movie released in 1962, Zatoichi has featured in 26 films and over 100 television episodes. Needless to say the latest remake adds another to that list.

When we all emerged from the cinema, much to my surprise only four out of the eight of us actually liked the movie. Perhaps it was the weird amalgamation of action, arthouse, slapstick, and some frankly bizarre scenes made it a difficult movie for the other four to sit through. I think the quote of the night has to go to Ben who said, “The movie was like an anime film, except it was made with people instead of traditional animation”.

I definitely recommend this movie for viewing (at least for something out of the ordinary). Although the story was a little disjoint and I noticed a few errors in the minor details (such as the sheathing of a sword with blood on it – a definite no-no) I still think it offers great entertainment value.

(On a side note, I don’t recommend eating at Aurora’s although their microbrews are pretty good).