I come from a family where everyone is a James Bond fan. Dad was training on board the HMS Fearless when The Spy Who Loved Me (starring Roger Moore as Bond) was being filmed on it. He declined the part of an extra. Mum has pretty much seen every single James Bond movie. My brother and I are in agreement that Sean Connery is the best Bond, followed closely by Daniel Craig.

Having said that, I caught Quantum of Solace at GSC’s Signature at the Gardens earlier tonight. I came into the movie with comments from friend who watched it earlier; most of them being in the negative. Most of them mentioned that it wasn’t a Bond movie at all.

Thankfully, their comments are quite unfounded. Bedding a fellow agent, the cool but un-introduced (Q is still missing) gadgets, the sequence involving an old DC-10 and a fighter plane, the subsequent parachute jump into a large sinkhole, and the final fight in a boutique hotel in the middle of a BOLIVIAN desert…the movie has everything one could ask for in a typical Bond movie.

It’s just that director Marc Foster chose to film all that, and increase the level of violence and physicality (which even former body-builder Bond, Sean Connery, would find hard press to match in his heyday) and throw in a large body count for Bond…and then play back everything at 1.5 X speed for the audience. It’s no wonder some people found the movie disorientating.

And the comparisons with Jason Bourne? The Bourne movies are about a cold blooded killer who slowly regains his humanity. Bond on the other hand, is on his way to becoming a ruthless assassin.

Watching the villain Dominic Greene, I felt like he is not unlike the economic hitmen described by John Perkins in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and is probably a hundred times worse. The new Bond girl, played by Olga Kurylenko, is one of two Bond girls throughout history to look beautiful and kick ass at the same time; Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) is the other.

Yup, the movie is all good. Be sure to catch it in a cinema near you. Now I can’t wait for the third part of this rebooted Bond franchise. Bring it on…shaken, not stirred!

Bande dessinée is a French phrase for comic, cartoon, comic book or graphic novel. So it’s pretty strange to find the phrase attached to a Metal Gear Solid 2 movie DVD, titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinee.

Like the name implies, Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinee isn’t your typical collection of FMVs taken from MGS 2, but it is instead “a digital moving illustration collection, which is also voiced”.

Here’s the description of the DVD:

The legendary infitrattion mission completed by Solid Snake is made into a film. This is not an anime or a comic strip but a digital moving illustration collection drawn by Ashley Wood and is completely voiced, in Japanese, by a star studded cast of seiyuu, including the famous Ootsuka Akio who plays Snake.

The events in this DVD come from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. These two stories fill in the links between MGS to MGS4. The plot features what Solid Snake is doing during Raiden’s acts.

The package includes a fully voiced upgraded version  of Metal Gear Solid 1: Bande Dessinee. The story from Metal Gear Solid lasts for about two hours and the one from Metal Gear Solid 2 lasts for about 3 hours, totalling up to 5 hours of screen time.

Aside from the large volume of high quality illustrations, the package also comes with a special features disk to commemorate the oncoming release of Metal Gear Solid 4 and all of these are contained in a steel case drawn by Aheley Wood.

Collectors would be thrilled that so much stuff is just going for a price of USD 29.00. Interested? Click here for details.

I’ve never seen any of Marvel’s animated films (Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2 and Iron Man) being sold in Malaysia, so it was quite a surprise to see the new Doctor Strange animated movie on the store shelf of a Video Ezy outlet earlier this evening.

Quite a “catchy” cover isn’t it? The addition of Chinese words on the title and on the rest of the cover almost had me thinking that it was one of the many anime games featured on that particular shelf.

I was fortunate to watch WALL.E on Friday night at a really nice cinema hall at Cineleisure Damansara. Having had conflicting reviews from my parents (one of them fell asleep while watching the movie), I came in with mixed expectations.

The thing about American animated films is that they tend to feature a lot of dialogue. Show Toy Story to a 5 year old and he might end up speaking like Buzz Lightyear. WALL.E on the other hand takes a different approach, at least for the first half of the movie.

For starters, Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class) is a mini trash compacting robot, the last of his kind, spending his days doing among other things, compacting trash and building high-rise mounds of compacted trash in a small part of a desolate Earth.

Humans no longer inhabit the Earth, having left for the stars after consumerism has taken its toll on the planet’s resources, and leaving the planet, and its heavens a gigantic garbage yard.

Naturally, with no one to talk to, there is no dialogue as Wall-E goes about his day-to-day tasks. At the end of the day, the robot retires to a home of sorts, complete with a storage area for collectibles (my girlfriend and I exclaimed “Collector!” the first time the scene came up); knick knacks that he picks up while doing his trash-compacting duties.

The movie moves into more familiar territory with the arrival of Eve. Soon enough, Wall-E is on an intergalactic adventure, etc, etc. Depending on who you ask, WALL.E can be a movie with a unique first half, and generic ending, or a movie with a boring first half, and an action-packed ending. With such disparate views, you are better off watching the movie in order to form your opinion.

And I think it’s one of the better movies I’ve watched all year.

Tonight, I stared at mania projected on a white screen and came away from that experience shaken to the core. When it was first announced that he was to take on a role previously so campy the character was known as the Clown Prince of Crime, fans were skeptical on what he would bring to the table.

And what he brought on silver screen is nothing funny at all. His first “magic trick” hinted to the rest of the audience of the sheer madness he was to summon throughout the remainder of the movie. And as that madness manifested, The Dark Knight became a study on what happens, when well-meaning individuals go up against the madness (and the anarchy that comes hand in hand) and, how they are changed coming away from that experience.

Rest assured, this is no ordinary superhero movie, and it goes without saying that Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader will have to make way in the pantheons of the best movie villains of all time for the Joker.

Heath Ledger fans, and new converts, feel free to weep, mourn, or cry once you are done watching The Dark Knight; the late thespian is arguably at his best here. Even if he were living, it would not diminish the role he brought out from seemingly the dark recesses of the human mind, where no normal person would venture, lest immerse in it.

As a masterpiece of cinema that transcends a genre that is just normally taken in as popcorn fare, this magnum opus will see no encore. If there is any consolation, an Oscar would be nice for the guy who struck fear and convinced entire cinema halls around the world that he was truly insane and a sociopath. After all, Anthony Hopkins did win one as Hannibal Lecter.

I usually run in 10 KM races and friends, particularly those belonging to the couch potato class always ask me why. Simply answering that I like running isn’t enough as it would just lead to more question, but now I think I have the answer. Just ask them to watch Run Fatboy Run.

Simon Pegg is one of my favourite actors and when I heard that this movie was showing in the UK last year, I was waiting with full anticipation for it to arrive in Malaysia. The temptation to download was there, but I would much rather watch the movie on the big screen.

Unlike Hot Fuzz, where he plays a gung-ho super cop, Run Fatboy Run has Simon playing Dennis, a loser in life who leaves his pregnant girlfriend, Libby (Thandie Newton), on their wedding day (he practically jumps out the window and runs). Five years on, he is a “high level security analyst and operator at an upscale retail outlet”, putting it simply, a security guard at a women’s clothing store.

Living in the basement room and having a landlord by the name of Mr. Goshdashtidar hounding him for rent, Dennis represents the monotony and the struggle to make ends meet of the working class. He’s back in talking terms with his ex-girlfriend but after having met her seemingly perfect new boyfriend (Hank Azaria as Whit), who also happens to run in marathons on behalf of charitable organizations, Dennis too decides to take part in one.

Throw in a side bet by Dennis’ friend, Gordon, and a deal with Mr. Goshdashtidar’s daughter, Maya, there are many motivations for Dennis to join and finish the 26-mile race but the most important one is his own, which is to prove himself to Libby.

The race itself proved to be a grueling one, when Dennis decides to continue on racing with a broken ankle after Whit’s attempt at taking him out of the race. He finally hits “The Wall” but with renewed mental strength manages to make it to the finish line, many hours after the second last runner had arrived.

There are many laughs along the way, some disgusting (the one involving a huge blister, and Dennis’ attempt to run in his swimming trunks) and some laughingly painful (watch Dennis and Gordon beat each other up, or Dennis’ attempt to relieve an itch down there due to running in his trunks).

Although marathons are considered serious events by many of its participants, Run Fatboy Run doesn’t take itself seriously, which is a good thing anyways, otherwise I wouldn’t be laughing so much. In fact, you’ve got to suspend your disbelief when a totally unfit guy can be transformed into marathon running material in three weeks.

Run Fatboy Run is still screening in cinemas, in the Klang Valley at least. I would certainly recommend it to not just running enthusiasts but also anyone looking for a really good laugh, and typical Brit humour.

I managed to catch a movie based on a John Grisham novel last night on TV. Called The Chamber, it starred Gene Hackman as Sam Cayhall, a racist guy and a Klansman who killed two children (albeit accidentally) in a hate crime, and is in death row for that.

Chris O’Donnell stars as Adam Hall, a young lawyer and also Cayhall’s grandson who tries to save his grandfather despite the animosity and contempt shown by Sam towards his grandson and Adam’s late father, who had committed suicide due to Sam’s misdeeds.

With just 28 days before Sam’s execution by gas chamber, Adam exhausts every avenue of appeal but fails, despite getting evidence that Sam wasn’t the only participant in the hate crime. More interestingly is the transformation of Sam from a hateful figure to someone who finally breaks down upon realizing what kind of monster he became.

Sam meets his end in the gas chamber and the movie does have a slightly graphic depiction of that. The movie does raises questions on capital punishment, and while it’s really “eye for an eye”, can mitigating circumstances that warrant a different punishment?

In the case of Sam Cayhall, he was born and bred a Klansman and was used to hate crimes since he was a kid. Does that warrant due consideration when it comes to his actions as an adult? What do you think?

I got home late Wednesday night after going through an incredible sonic bombardment known as The Incredible Hulk no thanks to the THX-certified cinema I was watching in.

The movie, or at least the cinema, was adamant in its quest to put everyone in the mood of the angry green giant even before the movie started. There was a long queue at the Internet booking counter and for some strange reason quite a number of people had their Internet bookings rejected, including mine.

Funny thing is, the booking number shows up in online, but not in the cinema’s ticketing system.

One guy managed to get through but because his friends didn’t show up, he immediately offered the seats to us. All was not lost after all.

The Hulk has its big coming out party several years back, with an Ang Lee-helmed movie and Eric Bana playing the lead character role. Despite what some people might say about the movie, I liked it alot, especially the comic book panel-like effect. The only problem I had was with the ending; it made a slow, calculated movie even more confusing.

In any case, The Incredible Hulk will have non of it. A reboot of sorts, it isn’t really an origin story. Suffice to say, what took the the better part of Ang Lee’s movie to tell was compressed into the first few minutes of The Incredible Hulk.

Edward Norton brings about a wryly, in fact a little neurotic looking Dr. Bruce Banner, on the run from the US military after an experiment involving gamma radiation causes him to go big, green and angry. Fleeing from Brazil to Guatemala and then back to the States (but not before turning into the Hulk), Banner is in search for the one person who can cure him.

Along the way, he is faced by an extremely kiasu opponent, in the form of Emil Blonsky, who is given more and more doses of a super-soldier serum in order to be able to go head to head with the Hulk. LIke drug-abuse, things start to go bad both for Emil and the Hulk.

Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner reminds me of the Ultimates version of Bruce Banner. I would say if there’s a movie adaption of The Ultimates, Edward Norton is the go-to guy to play Banner. There’s also a scene from the movie that slightly mirrors the comics, involving him, a transport helicopter and turning into the Hulk.

I really like this movie and I’m sure that comic book fans are in for a treat with The Incredible Hulk. There are cameos and hints on what this movie and that other super hero movie, Iron Man, would lead to. Go on, go watch now, or else Hulk SMASH!

The first several minutes of Kung Fu Panda wouldn’t be out of place in a feature length version of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack.

I’m actually embarrassed to say that I thought (and hoped) the rest of movie will be following that art direction (Samurai Jack is like one of my favourite cartoon).

However, once that sequence was over and CGI kicked in, I wasn’t disappointed either. Kung Fu Panda is really a piece of art, and like any museum worthy piece of art, it has to be seen to be admired. This is actually an understatement; the movie puts the AWE in AWESOMENESS.

Kung Fu Panda has Jack Black providing the voice and mannerism for Po, a panda who aspires to be a martial arts exponent (or pugilist, if you may), but is stuck working for his stork of a dad in his noodle restaurant.

When the day comes for one of the “Furious Five” martial arts exponents to chosen to be the “Dragon Warrior” of legend, Po jumps at the opportunity to see his heroes in action. One thing leads to another and he becomes the chosen one instead.

I thought the scenes depicting the pomp and extravagance of the Dragon Warrior selection were really beautiful and just goes to show how far CGI animated films have come from the cold, frigid Ice Age movies and the colourful but static picture book style of the Shrek films.

LIke many other Kung Fu movies, Kung Fu Panda has a antagonist, but I shall not spoil it for you. One thing’s for sure, the fight scenes are pretty cool, better than even than the life-action The Forbidden Kingdom.

This year’s best film might be about a Kung Fu fighting Panda. Go watch the movie at a cinema near you.

It wasn’t until the Star Wars Episode III that I felt George Lucas’ decision to make a prequel trilogy about the life and times of a younger but way emo Darth Vader, was vindicated.

But when it comes to making movies about icons that have aged, I think both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg should just stay clear. Case in point, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In a nut shell, it’s a movie by old men about old men.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull kicks off with Indy and an (old friend) commie-bashing sidekick, Mac being forcefully co-erced to retrieve some remains for a paranormal-obsessed Soviet psychic Dr. Irina Spalko (played by Cate Blanchett). The ensuing adventure involving returning a crystal skull to its rightful resting place (oopz, spoiler) introduces, yet again, old colleagues, old friends and even an old flame.

Harrison Ford is really showing his age in this movie. There’s an obvious paunch, and while the punch-out at the ant-field kinda bring back images of a younger Indy (I’m trying to avoid saying, the Indy of old), watching him getting his butt kicked is a rather unpleasant experience.

The only fresh face is probably Shia LeBeouf, who plays Indy’s son, Mutt, a.k.a Henry Jones III. Having the same name with the father is like a dead giveaway for subsequent sequels with the same title character and perhaps without Jones Sr this time.

Overall, the movie feels a little underwhelming compared to modern day adventure films, which is probably due to the two old men making a throwback to how Indiana Jones was like in the 1980s, which is probably indulgence on their part.

2-and-a-half stars (out of five) and probably for people who never watched an Indiana Jones movie their entire lives.