Movies of 2009

What movies are coming our way in 2009? Quite a lot of interesting titles I must say. Game adaption, comic adaptation, sequels, remake, you name it, they got it. So in this last day of 2008, I give you some of the movie titles (which I find interesting) that will be released in the 1st half of 2009.

January:

1) Inkheart (novel adaptation) - A lot of posters had been put up and Inkheart novel with the movie poster cover had already been released.

2) My Bloody Valentine 3D (remake) - I'm not really into 3D but I love good slasher movie, hope this one is good.

3) The Uninvited (Hollywood remake) - A Tale of Two Sisters, ring a bell? Well, this is the Hollywood remake of the Korean horror movie.

February:

4) Friday the 13th (remake) - Another slasher movie. Hope this one is good too.

5) Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (game adaptation) - Starring Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), I'm curious how this movie will turned out.

March:

6) Watchmen (comic adaptation) - The trailer looks good. I just hope I don't have to read the comic books to understand the movie, because I didn't.

April:

7) Dragonball Evolution (manga adaptation) - Although I'm kind of disappointed that they steer a bit from the original storyline, but I'm still excited to watch this movie. Just look at the posters below, aren't they amazing? You can watch the trailer and read all the news about the movie at this great website, Dragonball The Movie (thanx for the posters!). I'm a big fan of the manga so I have very high hope for this movie.






May (Summer movies! Yay!) :

8) X-Men Origins: Wolverine (comic adaptation, spin-off) - The trailer gives me goosebumps. I must see this movie!

9) Terminator Salvation (sequel) - The first movie in the franchise that were set in the future. I saw the trailer when I watched The Day The Earth Stood Still so I bet you must have watched it too. Pretty good eh?

10) Up - A Pixar movie. I don't think I have to say much because Pixar rocks!

June:

11) The Haunting in Connecticut - They say that this movie is based on a true story. I'd watched the trailer and it looks quite impressive. Only time will tell.

12) Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen (sequel) - I'm not a big fan of the 1st movie but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. I just hope the story would balance out the heavy CG effects in this movie.

There you have it, some of the movies that will be released in the 1st half of 2009. Please note that the release months might change (the film distributors would decide that) and they are based on US theatrical release, so the movies might have different release dates in other countries. Plus, some of these movies might not even be released in some countries (because they are too many of them!).

Lost Season 4 is here...it's about time!

Finally, Lost season 4 arrived in Malaysian TV. We have waited months and months for this, and finally it's here. You can watch it on 8TV every Monday nights at 9.30 pm. The show premiered last week so tonight will be the 2nd episode of season 4. Can't wait! Lost is so addictive I just can't seem to get enough of it.

Those who are not a fan of Lost, I have only 1 question for you...WHY??? This is one of the best shows on TV and believe me when I said that you would enjoy it so much you would not get enough with just 1 episode per week. And you would enjoy it even if you didn't watch it from season 1. I mean, I didn't follow this series from the start. I'd only become Lost fan from season 3 and had been digging through internet what had been happening in season 1 and 2. And it had been a fun ride.

So for Lost fans, don't forget to watch it tonight! And for those who don't watch Lost, you should try it. It's addictive!!!

Salam Maal Hijrah 1430

Salam Maal Hijrah to all Muslims!!! Hope we all can learn from the past for a better future. I hope that next year would be a better year for Muslims. Amin.

Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you enjoy the holidays. Be good and you will receive your presents, haha. Is there anyone out there wanna give me one??? I've been a good boy...I think. ;-P

The Spirit of Christmas

What movie to watch this Christmas? The Spirit of course, what else! The Spirit will open in Malaysian cinemas on 25th December 2008, the same date as in the US. I had never read the comic before so I don't know what to expect. Wait, actually I do. Based on the trailers, posters, and the fact that Frank Miller is involved in this project, the movie will definitely look like Sin City movie visually. That's not a bad thing (for me at least) but I hope the story is good because that's all that really matters.

There are also several local movies that are showing in Malaysian cinemas. They are Antoo Fighter, Los dan Faun, Cicakman 2: Planet Hitam, Kinta and Histeria. So, I hope that although there are many foreign movies to choose from, but as a Malaysian, we will still support the local movie industry. If we don't support them, then who will?

Okay, back to The Spirit. Here's the trailer for the comic-adaptation movie. By the way, Scarlett Johansson looks hot as a villian. Enjoy! And Thanx IGN for the trailer!

New trailer for Final Fantasy XIII

The new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII has been online for almost 2 weeks now! Although it is in Japanese, but I'm so excited I don't really mind! Lighting is looking hot as always and the other characters are getting more screen time too. Some of the footage had already been seen in the previous trailer but there are a few scenes that are new like the one with the coffin. I wonder what's that all about? And who's the girl? Is it Lighting? I can't see it clearly.

Anyway, you can check out Game Trailers for the new FFXIII trailer. The game is coming out in 2009. Hope you enjoy it!

Silent Hill Homecoming: The 'worst' in the series?

Is it true that Silent Hill Homecoming, the latest game in the franchise, is the worst game so far in the series? It's a hard question to answer, for me at least. But for those who had already played this game, I bet you already have the answer. From what I've noticed, this game got quite low marks from critics, and definitely lower compared to the other games in the series.

I don't understand, is it that bad? I mean, it looks quite good in the trailer. And from the synopsis I read, the story is quite compelling too. Well, I know reading the story is totally different than playing the game but at least it should reflect on how well the plot is in adding to the mystery of the whole premise of Silent Hill background story.

I'm a regular visitor to IGN so I had made a comparison between the score for Silent Hill Homecoming and the other games in the series. As expected, Silent Hill Homecoming scored the lowest mark than the rest of the games (please note that I had only compared the games for the PlayStation platform). Why? Is it because the formerly Japanese made franchise had been Westernized by the American developer? Or is it because the story is predictable (as some of the fans claimed) and lack the horror it once had? I guess I would never know until I play the game, which is unlikely to happen in the near future (or maybe forever!). :-(

Here's the scores for Silent Hill games from IGN reviews;

Silent Hill - 9 / 10

Silent Hill 2 - 9 / 10

Silent Hill 3 - 8.8 / 10

Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8 / 10

Silent Hill: Origins - 7 / 10

Silent Hill: Homecoming - 6.7 / 10

It looks like the scores are getting lower and lower. Not a good sign. I really hope this game can survive because it's a great franchise.

Here's the intro movie of Silent Hill Homecoming. I hope you guys enjoy it because I still believe this game is good, no matter what people said. ;-P

The new generation of Prince of Persia

The new Prince of Persia game hit stores early this month and have been received well by the critics and fans alike. IGN gave the game 9.3 score out of 10 while Gamespot gave it 8 score out of 10. However, there are some negative feedback about the game. Some that I've read is about the game difficulty. While some of the gamers may appreciate the hints and commands that were given during the game, the hardcore gamers may find it annoying as they are looking for more challenge in playing the game.

The game introduced a new Prince (different than the Prince from the Sands of Time trilogy), a new character, Elika, a new story and a new world. I have yet to play this game (and you should know why if you read my profile :-P) but from the trailer, I can tell that the game has beautiful visuals. The new world looks so gorgeous and characters are drawn like painting which they said was more like cel-shaded garphics but with more details. And the soundtrack sound fabulous too! I love it very much.

Here's the trailer for the game. Thank you IGN for it and also for the pics. Enjoy!

Ayumi Hamasaki Best 2 ~White~

My favourite Japanese singer is Utada Hikaru, and coming close in 2nd is Namie Amuro. So where does Ayumi fits in? Somewhere below the list of course. Although Ayumi Hamasaki is the "Empress of Pop" in Japan, she still didn't manage to capture my heart. Don't get me wrong, I like most of her songs but I love Utada and Namie's songs better.

So why did I bought this album? Two reasons; 1, my youngest sister is an Ayumi's avid fan, and 2, I want to give Ayumi Hamasaki a chance to prove that she's worth my money. Besides, some of the singles that I love are in this album, so I gave it a shot and bought it. It's quite cheap because you get 1 CD and 2 DVDs for only RM50. It's hard to find Japanese album with that value in Malaysia.

So is this album good? For hardcore Ayumi fans, this album would be great to add to the collection. For a not-so-hardcore fan like me, it was kinda good too. There are some of the songs that I like and some that I don't. Evolution, Real Me, Inspire and Step You are some of my fave while Greatful Days and Voyage are the songs that I didn't quite like. My top 2 favourite songs in this album are Ourselves and Moments, love them!

The 2 DVDs in this album are the promotional video for the singles and another one is the Countdown Live 2006-2007 concert. For the promotional videos DVD, not all of the songs are included. Songs that are left out are Independent, Unite! (only a short clip), July 1st and A Song Is Born. I think all of the songs that are not included in the DVD do not have their own promotional videos, that's why they are excluded.

The 2nd DVD, the Countdown concert, was AWESOME!!! I think this DVD alone is worth the money that I paid for the whole set. Although I did mention that I don't like some of her songs, but seeing her performed them, it made me suddenly fall in love with the songs! She's got a strong stage presence and her performances are great. I really love this DVD. I felt like I was there in her concert, I can almost taste the excitement from the crowd.

So even if you are not an Ayu fan but you do like Japanese songs, I think you should try this album. Afterall, there must be a reason why they call her the "Empress of Pop".

The true face behind the mask

YuYu Hakusho Vol. 9 starts off with the result of Yuusuke Vs Zin the wind master. Who won it? The host announced that Yuusuke was the winner but the organizer has a dirty trick up his sleeve. He claimed that Yuusuke was out of the borders far too long and the host count was too slow. So it was a tie.

It seemed like Team Urameshi had lost because Yuusuke and Kurama were defeated and Hiei and Mask were detained for so-called injuries. And all the fighters in Team Masho had lost except one, their leader Risho. So it means that Team Masho won right? Wrong! They forgot about Kuwabara! He was unconscious before but now he was awake and ready to fight. He was badly injured from the previous fights (between Team Dr. Ichigaki) but he insisted to continue the last match because he was their only hope. He can't even use his aura-infused sword and almost lost to Risho. But he didn't give up and kept on standing back after beaten to the ground. Then, something happened. He spotted Yukina (his crush!) in the crowd and hit Risho so hard he was thrown away from the fighting arena. It was indeed the power of love (the scene was funny and I had fun reading it). And so Team Urameshi will enter the semi-final of the Dark Tournament.

For those who have been reading YuYu Hakusho, you guys should know about the egg right? In the beginning of the series, Koenma, the son of the spirit realm ruler, gave an egg to Yuusuke. It fed on Yuusuke's spirit energy and will eventually hatch into a spirit beast and will take form based on the energy that it had consumed. If Yuusuke had bad evil energy, it will hatch into a monster (that what Botan was afraid of). And the egg hatched in this volume! And it turned out to be a cute bird-like creature. So Yuusuke didn't have bad spirit energy afterall. They named it Pu.

Then, back to business. Mask called Yuusuke to a secluded place and revealed herself, she was Genkai! She passed on her spirit energy to (her successor) Yuusuke but the spirit energy was too powerful and Yuusuke's body started trembling and bleeding. If Yuusuke can survive this, he will have the power but if he don't, he will die. It's more like a gamble to me. But they had no other choice, Genkai was old and she needs to pass on her power. Furthermore, in his current state, Yuusuke would never win against Toguro.

The semi-final day arrived. With Yuusuke still struggling (and suffering) with his new power, and Genkai waiting for him, the rest of the team members went to the stadium to begin the fight. This time they will face Team Otogi Ura. It's 3 Vs 5, can they win this?

Hiei fought in the first 2 fights. The 1st one against Makin Taro was quick, but he struggled in the 2nd match against Kuromomo Taro but managed to win it too. The 3rd round was between Kurama (yay!) and Urashima Ura. Urashima tricked Kurama and used an evil device to produce smog to turned him into a baby and kill him. Fortunately the smog turned Kurama into his former self (before he infused himself into a human body and became a human), the infamous thief Fox Demon Kurama!!!

Urashima Ura was in deep trouble. We will find out what happen to him in YuYu Hakusho Volume 10. Overall, this volume had a lot of good fight scenes and my favourite in this volume is the match between Hiei and Kuromomo Taro. Hiei had such great techniques! But will they survive this round? Until next review....

Smile with your eyes ladies!

This will be my last review for America's Next Top Model Cycle 11. I will wait until they announce the winner for this cycle before I resume my review. Well, I know by now they should have already crowned the winner but the latest episode aired in Malaysia was when there were Top 7. So to avoid any spoilers, I've decided that I will stop visiting their site until the last episode air in Malaysia.

This is actually my first time watching the reality show without knowing who's going to win it. In previous cycles, I always checked who'll win for that cycle first through their website. I know it's not fun that way but I was too curious. So this time I want to be in the dark. It's kinda fun not knowing who's going to be eliminated next, it's kinda bring the suspense to the show.

So let's continue from where I left off. Here are some of the photos that I like from episode 5.

Clark

Analeigh

To be honest, I didn't quite know how to judge this episode's photos. Of course the obvious one are easy like Clark (beautiful!), Isis (dead eyes) & Joslyn (same dead eyes) but the rest...mmm...I don't know. I mean, they all look nice. So I picked 2 that I think I like most, Clark & Analeigh. Although I didn't like Clark previous pics, but this one just blown me away. She can take good pics afterall! Good job girl. Analeigh was in the bottom 2 in previous episode but she step up her game and finally impressed the judges this week. I always like this girl. She's beautiful, nice, soft-spoken. I hope she can go far, I mean post-ANTM.

There are double elimination in this episode. Hannah was eliminated after the challenge while Isis was eliminated during panel judging. In this week challenge, the girls had to do a runway show blindfolded. Hannah can't really walk so it was even more difficult for her to walk blindfolded. I think her elimination was kinda cruel because it was so quick and Tyra weren't even there to console her. I hope she was alright.

Isis elimination was expected because her pics were getting bad to worse. I know she can model but it was bad luck that the first few episodes they had to shoot pics in swimsuits and pool. If not, I think she can go far. Well, you gotta be comfortable in your own skin to be a model. Maybe she's not ready yet.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Analeigh now. I like her. Really hope she can go far.

Hannah

Isis

Klaatu & Gort are here

The remake of the 1951 film, The Day The Earth Stood Still, will open in Malaysian cinemas and several Asian countries on 11 December 2008 (that's tomorrow!). And I think there are several cinemas that are showing the movie today, so if you want to be one of the first to watch this movie, please check the time lists of the show and rush to the cinema okay.

This movie tells a story about an alien, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), and a robot, Gort, who land on Earth to make a crucial decision; whether or not to wipe out the human race from the surface of planet Earth (!!!). Well, they have a good reason to do so, it's because human have done a lot of damage to Earth and with humans gone, the Earth will survive. As simple as that! So it's up to the humans especially Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) to convince Klaatu that humans are worth saving.

Here's the trailer to the movie. I really like the soundtrack that accompany the trailer. I hope it will be featured a lot in the movie coz I think it really suits with it. Initially I want to share with you the international trailer which was really cool but it was stated at the end of the trailer that it cannot be shared and it was meant for personal use only. So I post here a different trailer. However, you can check the international trailer at IGN and you can download it too.

To know more about the movie, please visit the official site, just click here. And thanx to Movieweb for the posters.

Enjoy the trailer!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha to all Muslims!!! This festive is all about sacrifices so I hope we all had made all the sacrifices we need for all the right reasons. And don't forget to enjoy the food. Peace all!

Quarantine ~ review

Honestly, this movie creeps me out. I mean, I was scared watching this. Seriously. The story is good, the acting is good (although my sister said that Jennifer Carpenter was a bit overacting which is fine by me looking at the situations her character was put into) and the suspense is real. I was really sad for all the occupants of the apartment building. They didn't deserve this. At least send a rescue team.

Quarantine, a Hollywood remake of the Spanish movie REC, tells a story about a reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott Percival (Steve Harris) who were filming a show featuring firemen at night shift. They followed 2 firemen, Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech) and Jake (Jay Hernandez), to an apartment complex after an emergency call. In one of the apartment room, they found Mrs. Espinoza covered in blood and look kinda sick with heavy breathing and angst. Then, chaos. One by one got bitten and turned into this angry blood-sucking human. They tried to escape but they can't because the building had been sealed by the authorities and they had been put under quarantine.

Although it was suggested that the virus that were infecting them were some kind of rabies, but they behave more like a zombie if u ask me, which is what this movie is about, zombies! You have to come up with your conclusion by the way because the movie doesn't really explain much about what was going on.

There are several things I like about this movie. First, the apartment. Some shots in this movie really reminded me of the first Resident Evil game, which I love. While the characters exploring different rooms of the building, I felt like I was playing the game, which was really cool. Second, the acting. It felt real and I was in a panic mode too, just like the characters. They really did a good job. And third, the suspense. There are a lot of scary scenes in this movie that might just make you jump-off your seat. I know I did...well, actually I'm not too sure whether it was me or the guy next to me. Haha!

However, there is one bad point. This movie is shot like the Blair Witch Project style so it would be more real if the actors are not well-known. Of course the actors did well with their acting, but since this is like reality TV, so I would prefer unknown actors, with acting skills as good as the well-known actors of course. I honestly feel like the events in Cloverfield are more real since I didn't know the actors, so I felt like watching 'real' people fighting through disaster.

But, that aside, this movie is a must-watch for a horror fan. Really creepy, really scary, suspenful, awesome. A minus for almost perfect...for me at least.

I want Nobody but the Wonder Girls

Aaaahhhh... I'm feeling much better now. Thanx to Panadol, now I'm not sick anymore. Although my nose still feel a bit sore from all those scrubbing and squishing...eeuuww!

Anyway, let's get back to business. I've already posted a music video of Wonder Girls before called Tell Me. What a wonderful pop song, no wonder they are such a huge hit in Korea, and other part of the world of course. Here is their latest single called Nobody released back in September 2008. Nice song, even nicer music video, this girls just make me wanna dance! I want nobody nobody but you!

Circus is in town!

Today is a big day for Britney's fans. It's the release of her new album, Circus. Hooraayyy!!!
So fans, don't forget to buy her album. Now, tomorrow, next week, next month, soon...I don't care when but if you are a TRUE fan, you should buy it. I know I would.

For more Britney news, head on to her official website or simply click here.

Oh, I almost forgot. Happy birthday Britney!!!

Feeling sick!

Not feeling very well lately. I had headaches, sore throat and running nose. Perfect. This could only mean one thing; less post for this month (again!).

I'm so sorry for this unfortunate event. It's raining at night and then burning hot in the afternoon, that's just not good for health. Anyway, I hope you guys are fine.

FYI, tomorrow post had been written earlier on, so I hope you guys would not think that I made this whole I'm-not-feeling-well thing up.

Till then. Take care guys. (Hachiu!)