Attack of the mummies...again!

Here we go again.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens in cinemas in Malaysia (and maybe in other Asian countries too) today, 1 day ahead of the US. You want to be one of the first to watch it? Then go watch it today!

As always, Richard "Rick" O'Connell and her lovely wife, Evelyn or Evie, have to save themselves (and the world!) from the evil mummies. Joining them are Evie's brother, Jonathan, and Rick and Evie's now-grown-up son, Alex. If in previous films they have to fight the Egyptian mummies, in this film though they have to face the Chinese mummies. There will be dragon, army mummies raised from the dead, scary white monster (Yeti maybe?) and...more mummies. How do I know all this? Well, based on the trailer of course. We'll see if Emperor Han is as good a villain as the Egyptian priest, Imhotep.

Looks like there will be a lot of actions, I just hope they didn't forget to build up a nice story too. The main reason I love The Mummy franchise (excluding The Scorpion King) is because of the Egypt tales incorporated in it. I don't mind if there are not facts (this is a MOVIE after all) as long as it makes the movie interesting. But now they move the story to China. I hope they did come out with a good story because China have a lot of great tales too.

I was kinda disappointed when I know Rachel Weisz won't reprise her role as Evie. I can't think of anyone else that can take her place. Well, I guess I just have to hope and pray that Maria Bello will do justice to Evie's character because without her, this movie is incomplete. Good luck Maria Bello! Good luck to Rob Cohen too, I hope he done his job as well as the previous director, Stephen Sommers. If he did, I'm certain there will be more movies in this franchise.

For other updates, you can check out Rob Cohen's blog. Just click here to go there. And thanx to Wikipedia for the poster.

Forgot to mention. As you may know, Michelle Yeoh will be in this movie too. So fellow Malaysians, let's go and watch this movie to support her okay.

The Dark Knight ~ review

Marvelous. Fantastic. Great. Incredible.

Those are the words that could describe The Dark Knight. It may not be like other superhero movies where the superhero with superpowers fight against villains with superpowers too, this doesn't make TDK any less superior. In fact, TDK is the best. I have never seen a movie with more than 2 hours screening time without looking at my watch. This movie is the first for me. I was so engaged with the movie that I wish it could last a little bit longer. It was that good!

What I found most interesting about this movie is the storyline. The conflicts are real, the threats are real. There is no one who is more superior than the other (because no one has superpowers). All the characters are mere humans, the differences between them are their behaviours and their actions towards the events that happen in the movie. That's what makes this movie so real and that's what makes it so interesting.

I heard and read so many people praise Heath Ledger's portrayal as The Joker. Well, he truly deserves them. He was great! But I also want to congratulate all the main casts because all of them were great. Also all the crews behind this movie for making it such a great movie experience. Even after the credits rolled, my heart was still pumping with excitement! This is the best superhero movie ever! (for me at least....)

Great casts, great story. Apart from the rotating camera movement that got me a little bit dizzy, I have no complaint. A++!!! I recommend this movie to all, fans or not, you must watch this movie!!!

More wizards....

I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm already grown up but I still love kids stuff. Most obvious are the novels and TV shows. I know it's okay to read or watch them sometimes but I'm addicted to them!

One of my favourite shows nowadays is Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place. The sitcom is really funny, especially Selena Gomez as Alex Russo, David Henrie as Justin Russo and Maria Canals Barrera as their mother, Theresa Russo. The other characters are not bad too. Although there are some episodes which I find less funny compared to the rest.

Currently reruns of WoWP are being aired every weekday nights (I'm not sure about weekends) at 9.30 pm on Disney Channel (Channel 615 Astro Malaysia).

Y'know what, I don't care what people are going to say. I'm going to watch this anyway.

The urban mermaid, Yuna Ito

Talented and cute. That's all I need to say about Yuna Ito. She was born in the US, raised in Hawaii and built her career in Japan. She has a very sweet and strong voice.

I found her 2nd album, Wish, in music store near my house. I was kinda surprised since she was not quite popular here unlike Ayumi Hamasaki, Tohoshinki, Utada Hikaru or BoA. But I think she's getting there. I mean, she had nice songs and nice voice. With some promotion, she could be big.

Anyway, this album contains 4 of her singles, I'm Here (my favourite!), Mahaloha (collaboration with Micro from Def Tech), Urban Mermaid and A World to Believe In (duet with Celine Dion). I saw the video clip for A World to Believe In in Animax (Channel 715 Astro Malaysia) before, it was kinda nice.

I have here the MV for Urban Mermaid. Nice song. I hope you guys will enjoy it and support Yuna Ito. Like I said, she's a talented girl.

Silent Hill: Homecoming gameplay

I know I've already post something about Silent Hill: Homecoming, but I want to post about it again! It makes me excited and since this is such a great franchise, I don't see why I wouldn't right. Plus, I have here a gameplay video. Looks wicked! Actually I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to post the video here since I had downloaded it at GameTrailers. I hope there's nothing wrong with that. If anyone knows that I'm not supposed to share it here, please inform me.

Thanx to GameSpot for the cool images, and also thanx to GameTrailers for the gameplay video.

X-Files: I Want to See!!!

It's exciting, isn't? The new X-files movie, X-Files: I Want to Believe, will be out in cinemas today! We are one day ahead from the US, I mean in Malaysia, and maybe some other ASEAN countries too (sorry, I don't know the release dates in other countries). I'm so curious to find out what's the story is about. They've been teasing us with posters, trailers but nothing on the storyline, and surprisingly nothing leak to the internet. Wow, they sure know how to keep a secret.

I'm still trying to find some time to watch The Dark Knight. If I still couldn't get hold on the tickets, maybe I'll watch X-Files first.

Thanks to MoviesOnline and Wiki for the posters. You guys should check out the X-Files movie official site too. Just click here.

I hope this movie will be great and become a blockbuster hit because if it do, they will (hopefully) make a third movie. I hope they will....

The Dark Tournament begins!

Now, the moment that I've been waiting for. The Dark Tournament begins!!! Hooray!!! Now I can see a lot of cool moves by Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and my favourite, Kurama. Oh, by the way, there's another member in their team, a mysterious woman with a mask. Let just call her Mask. The Toguro brothers and Yukina, Hiei's sister, also made their first appearance in this volume.

This volume starts off with Yuusuke and Kuwabara heading off to save Yukina from a gangster mob, wait...not gangster. More like brokers if you ask me. They are billionaires and they deal with demons. Then after defeating the Toguro brothers (or so they thought) who were hired by one of the brokers, they were invited to participate in the Dark Tournament by the Toguro brothers. They need five members in a team (a sixth member is optional for back-up), and so we have Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama and the mysterious lady, Mask. Then the 1st battle begins. It's Kuwabara Vs Rinku from the Jolly Devil Six team and it ends with a tie...or is it?

We will find out the answer in Volume 7.

Welcome back to Silent Hill

Welcome back to Silent Hill,
Vicious dogs will guide you here,
Sound of siren might hurt your ears,
Just let the nurses treat your ill.

Haha, just fooling around.

One of the most anticipated game this year, Silent Hill 5: Homecoming, will be released in the US in September. I don't know when will it reach this part of the world, but I bet it won't take long.

This time it's about a man, Alex Shepherd, who came home from war to find out that his father and younger brother are missing, while his mother is in a state of catatonia. Alex begins to search for his brother and this lead him to Silent Hill, and you know what comes after that; bloody scenes, vicious dogs, scary monsters, running, killing, et cetera.

This game is currently developed for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. So there goes my chance to play this game. PlayStation 3 is too expensive for me to buy. Anyway, that won't stop me from feeling excited about the release of this game. A lot of people had give this game high ratings just from the trailers and cutscenes. Speaking of which, you can check them out at GameTrailers. There are trailers, interviews and really cool cutscenes to see.

Thanx to GameSpot too for the cool images.

P/s: Alex Shepherd looks like a tough, cool dude but there's something wrong with his teeth. Is it just me or did anyone else notice it too??? He still looks good though.

Here comes the Dark Knight

This week we have The Dark Knight opening in cinemas. Yes, it is claimed to be the most anticipated movie of this summer. Can it break box-office record? With all the buzz, I say yeah, likely it will.

Personally, I just want to watch the highly-praised performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker in this movie. Many talks about it, and they even said he might get an Oscar nomination. Wow, that's just fabulous! I'm a fan of Heath Ledger, and to hear the news of his death was really devastated. So, what else can you give to a stunning actor as Health Ledger other than recognition for his great performance? Yes, an Oscar. I hope he will get nominated, and I really hope he will win. R.I.P Health Ledger.

Here's the trailer to the anticipated movie. Thanx to MovieWeb for the great posters. Enjoy!

Hellboy II: The Golden Army ~ review

I watched Hellboy 2 the other day. It was fun, it was funny, it was nice. Not great, but nice.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, this movie is on top of my list of must-watch summer movies this year. So I went into the cinema hall with high hope and anticipation. Fortunate for me, this movie is really good! Although there are several scenes in it that I don't like, for example when Hellboy flew out of a window and fell on top of a car (early in the movie when they battle the tooth fairies). I don't have any problem with the scene except for the soundtrack that accompany it. I don't think it's fit. Anyway, that was just one scene, so never mind. Wait, there's another one. The scene where Hellboy and Abe sing (!!!). I don't mind them singing but I wish the scene could have been cut a little bit shorter.

Apart from that, I think the movie is good! I like the soundtrack (except the one that I mentioned above) especially in the beginning of the movie. I like the acting, especially Anna Walton (Princess Nuala), Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) and Seth MacFarlane (the voice of Johann Krauss). Other cast (Ron Perlman as Hellboy; Selma Blair as Liz Sherman; Doug Jones as Abe Sapien, Angel of Death & the Chamberlain) did quite well too. And most importantly, I LOVE the story. Elves, fairies, trolls and gnomes, I mean who wouldn't love that? It was pure fantasy. LOVE IT!!!

In my personal opinion, Johann Krauss and the Angel of Death are the most outstanding character design in the movie, but my favorite...the Elemental creature, Forest God. It was beautiful, and it sadden me to see it died. The most funny...Johann Krauss! He was hilarious, and his power is amazing too. I don't read Hellboy comics so I did not expect anything like that. They also show the soft side of Abe Sapien in the movie which I didn't expect as well.

Overall, this movie is entertaining and also have moral values. It shows how greedy human can be. We replace the nature with shopping malls and parking lots. Mmm...kinda remind me of The Happening.

Thanx Yahoo! for the pics. I recommend this movie to all those fantasy movie fans out there. You will certainly enjoy this. Good job Guillermo del Toro and all crews!

Cool upcoming movies

A lot of exciting new movies are coming our way. With summer movies still going strong, it's good to know that good (or even great) movies are still around to entertain us until the end of the year.

Of course the movie that I've been waiting for in winter movies lineup is Harry Potter 6, but since there are not many news yet about the film, so I preview here 3 movies that are equally good (based on the trailer) to look forward to.

Quarantine, the remake of the Spanish hit REC, had a set release date in October. The official poster had finally come out in the net. It look kinda cheap, but I guess it's okay as long as the film is good (hopefully). I had post the teaser trailer of the movie before. Check it out okay. It's in the Movie tag. You can also check the new trailer at Yahoo! Movie page. To go to the official site, just click here.

Another remake, The Day The Earth Stood Still, will be released in December. The trailer looks really cool, and I kinda like the tone of the movie, it's dark. The film directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. You can watch the trailer at the official site, just click here.

Last but not least, a film loosely adapted from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This film, directed by David Fincher (Panic Room, Zodiac) and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, is about a person who is born aging backwards. Sound like a weird premise for a film but it's kinda cool too. And the trailer looks good. With Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in it, I bet this film will triumph. It will be released sometime in December. To go to the official site, just click here.

I'm not sure if these movies will reach Malaysia or any other part of South East Asia, but I really hope they will. Maybe Quarantine and DTESS have a higher chance, but I'm not so positive about Benjamin Button.

Don't forget to check out the cool trailers of these movies okay. Thanx to Movieweb for the Day The Earth Stood Still poster, and Joblo for the Quarantine poster.

MTV Asia Awards in Malaysia!!!

I think every music fans should know by now that MTV Asia Awards 2008 will be held in Malaysia. That's exciting! Mark the date on your calender now, it's on 2nd August.

You can also vote for your favourite artists. Just surf to the official site to learn more. Voting closes on 25 July 2008.

In my opinion, the most hard-to-decide category is Breakthrough Artist. We have Daughtry, Leona Lewis, Mika and One Republic. Wow, that's tough to choose. I think I don't really mind who'll win because they're all good. I'm also looking forward to the performances. Pussycat Dolls will open the show!!! It's gonna be a blast!!! Jared Leto and Karen Mok will host the show.

Hope everything will turn out well that night. May the best musicians win!

Finally the dragons came

Nearly a year after it was released in Korea and US, Dragon Wars finally came to our shores. Dragon Wars, or D-War, will hit cinemas this weekend together with Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Mmm...tough competition.

This film starring Jason Behr (remember him from the hit TV series, Roswell), Amanda Brooks and Robert Forster. According to Wiki, this film was Korea's largest-budgeted film as of 2007. However, there are more negative reviews for this movie than positive ones. Mmm...I wonder why. The trailer looks impressive. So how come the critics didn't like this movie? Apparently, most of them think that while the visuals look great, the storyline on the other hand is weak.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna give this movie a shot. Usually the critics and I have different taste in film. So hopefully this one will be the same. I still hadn't watch Wanted, so I'm going to watch that first, and probably Hellboy too, before I watch D-war. Hopefully it will not disappoint me. By the way, they already planned a sequel for this movie.

Here's the trailer for D-War. Enjoy!

Red Vs Golden

This is the movie I've been waiting for.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army will hit theaters this weekend, together with Journey to the Center of the Earth. Although I'm a fan of Brendan Fraser, but I have to admit, I'm more eager to watch Hellboy than Journey. But I don't think that'll matter. I'm going to watch both anyway.

The 1st Hellboy movie was so awesome. And when I watched the trailer for the 2nd movie, I was thrilled!!! It came top of my must-watch summer movies this year. And the time has finally come!!! Hooray!!! But I do have some concerns about the movie. Where's the new FBI guy, John Myers, from the 1st movie? I don't see him in the trailer. Does anyone did? I kinda like that character. I hope they didn't eliminate him for this 2nd movie, although it looks like they did. Sigh....

I have here the trailer for Hellboy II. It looks cool, and I hope the movie will live up to that. Enjoy!

P/s: Thanx to Hellboy 2 blog for the Hellboy poster & Cinemablend for the Journey poster.

New blog list

I had add a new blog list of some of my favourites. 2 of them are my personal friends. So feel free to view and give comments okay. I will add more links in the future when I find more that interest me.

With that announcement, this is officially the 100th post in my blog. Woohoo!!! Hoorraaayyyyy!!!

It’s Magyk!!!

Book- Septimus Heap : Magyk
Author- Angie Sage
Illustrator- Mark Zug

More than half of the posts in this blog are about movies and TV series, and only 2 posts are about books (not including this one). So sad. It may look like I don’t like to read books but actually I do. When I said books, I don’t only mean manga or comic but also novels.

Lately I’m so addicted to children novels. I know I’m too old for them but I can’t help myself. One of my favorite books that I just recently discovered is Septimus Heap: Magyk by Angie Sage. This is the first book in the Septimus Heap series. Currently there are already 4 books in the series with the latest being called Queste.

It tells a story about a young girl, Jenna, who had been raised by a normal family of wizards (the Heap family) and not knowing that she was actually the daughter of the previously murdered Queen until one day when someone wanted to assassinate her, following the order from the evil Necromancer, who was longing for power. For their safety, the wizard family and the little princess had to run away. During their escape, they were joined by a young boy from the Young Army, Boy 412, who was unwillingly caught in the action. Boy 412 were raised by the Young Army and never knew his family. At first he was disgusted with the wizards as it was taught to him in the army that the wizards were the enemies. Eventually, he became close and somewhat attracted to them when he really gets to know them. Together, Boy 412, Jenna and the Heap family must find a way to defeat the evil Necromancer and return Jenna to her rightful place. Also, as they were journey together, Boy 412 finally learned the truth of who he really was.

I like this book because of the settings, the story and also the lovable characters. Boy 412 is such a cutie, his responses to the others’ behaviors sometimes made me laugh. Jenna, strong-willed and kind-hearted, can really inspire children. Marcia Overstrand, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard is just hilarious. And the other characters like Silas Heap, Nicko Heap and Stanley, the Confidential Message Rat, are also amusing. There is not a single character that I don’t like. Even DomDaniel, the evil Necromancer, and his apprentice are fun to read about. Oh, and one more thing. I also love the illustrations by Mark Zug. Nice!

Overall, this book is a must have for children, and of course adults who are into children’s novel (like me!). The story is not too complicated and the settings are just magykal, oops! I mean magical. A fun book to read.

With Harry Potter saying goodbye, Septimus Heap could be the next top wizard.

The Incredible Hulk ~ review

I won't say that The Incredible Hulk is an incredible movie but I do think it is a nice movie. I have fun watching it. It was a blast from the start till the end. But the story is too simple, and the last battle with the Abomination is not as good as I thought it would be.

Here's the summary of the story. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) hide himself in Brazil while desperately trying to find a cure for his condition, then the military ambush him, he flees to US, take a few moments to find romance with Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), meet Mr. Blue aka Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) for help, defeat the Abomination, THE END. That's pretty much how the story goes. It's not bad, but just plain simple.

For battle scenes, they are quite intense and interesting. There are 3 main battle scenes; Hulk vs Military in Brazil, Hulk vs Military & Emil Blonsky in university's field, and Hulk vs Abomination in New York City. The last battle with the Abomination should be the highlight of the movie, however I think I like the battle scenes at the university more than the one with Abomination. I don't know why. I just feel like something was not quite right in the last battle. I don't know, that's just my opinion anyway.

In the opening credit of the movie, they show us in flashback what really happened to Bruce Banner that made him become the Hulk, so for those who didn't watch the previous Hulk movie directed by Ang Lee (like me), don't worry. Besides, this movie has no relation to that 2003 movie.

Did I mention that Tony "Iron Man" Stark made a cameo appearance in the movie? Oh yes, he did. He mention something about a 'team' to General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt). There's a lot of possibilities there. I'm eager to know what they will come out with. But that will have to wait. In the meantime, I'm going to watch Wanted. I'm still planning though. Hope I can spare some time to go and watch it.

Cheap place to relax

I did mention before that I went to the beach to relax. Well, actually I didn't. I just went to a hotel NEAR the beach. I went there just for a while to visit my sisters and cousins who were passing their time there so I went swimming in the pool instead. I did plan to go to the beach but I didn't have much time.

As you can see from the pictures, it's not a grand 5-star hotel but it was quite nice. It's not as tall as other buildings but the view is kinda pretty. The last picture (the bottom one) shows the buildings that situated next to the hotel. It's a very nice place to live if you ask me. I didn't remember what the residential area is called though.

For those who don't know, Copthorne Orchid hotel is located in Penang island of Malaysia. So if you're traveling here and want to find a (kinda) cheap place to stay and with a nice view, I think this one should suit you.