The Weekend Recap - 10.23.2011: The Crow DVD Review and more Walking Dead goodness begins

This is a late post because its freaking Friday here already in the Philippines, but its better late than never right?

So this past Saturday I finally got to watch the hyped Brandon Lee cult-classic "The Crow" - a movie adaptation based on the gothic/horror comic book series from James O' Barr.

What did I think of it?

First off, let me say that the hype and legend surrounding this movie was very well deserved. I thought it was one of those stink 90s movies, but damn, Alex Proyas and the late Brandon Lee pulled it off and delivered a classic that will forever be remembered. 

Sure, Lee's death may have had a melancholic / nostalgic effect on viewers, but the movie itself - its quality, execution, fast paced action, and uber-dark setting - is something to behold and is a masterful work of cinematic art and rightly deserves its as one of the top 20 comic book movies/adaptations of all time, despite its very simple story and lack of character depth. 

Lee was perfectly cast as Eric Draven - brutally murdered with his girlfriend Shelley Webster on Devil's Night - who then eventually becomes the angel of vengeance aided by a  mysterious crow that somehow manages to bring him back from the grave, but this time, with god-like abilities that enables him to exact his own personal brand of dark, bloody, and violent justice. And all the critics were right. Lee - if he was alive today - would have been a superstar after this film because his true acting abilities showed here which surpasses of his dad, the legendary Bruce Lee. Hell, even this whole film was better than the movies Bruce has done in his lifetime.

Really enjoyed this film.  Lee's presence is such a powerful one that you get sucked in his performance and will make you wish that the man was alive today. One of the best action movies ever.

Favorite moments: 

Brandon Lee's MTV-esque transformation to the Crow (all with The Cure's "Burn" soundtrack in the background) is one of the greatest moments in cinematic history. 

And.... the final scene. Its a heartstring-tugger (at least for me).

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After that, the Fox Premiere of the first episode of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead  Season 2 titled "What Lies Ahead". 

Pretty slow build up story wise, but I can't complain because this drama series is just too damn good. Production quality, the script, writing, the tension buildup, and characterization is still phenomenal and never missed a beat.

And its unpredictability is off the charts. That's saying a lot because you see, I'm a big fan of the comic book (which is still on going right now) and I know pretty much what's going to happen. Or at least that's what I thought previously last season. There are those familiar scenes that harkens to the comic books, but then it quickly zig-zags and diverts into another scene that I have never seen/read before, and that's fucking awesome. Keep long time fans guessing and tell them:  "you think you know what's next huh? well, fuck - you're dead wrong." Add to that two AMC original characters that adds new dynamics to this series and everything is set for another compelling season.
 

Can't spoil anything about the first episode of S2 but it picks up where it left off last season, but this time there are more zombies, we see more character interaction, somebody gets lost, and the Rick-Shane-Lori dilemma is slowly unfolding just like Dale's (or Shane?) and Andrea's relationship. Finally, this episode's cliffhanger is one that would blow your mind and shock you - comic book style.

And yes, there's a lot of hiding under the cars going on in this episode. [via kitchensofa.files.wordpress.com]

Sorry, can't tell you even the slightest clue about it. That's why you gotta watch it and tune in to it every week 8:55 pm every Saturday (if you're in the Philippines).

(Hmm... Me thinks I have to review every episode I catch. We'll see).

The Weekend Recap - 08.09.2011 - Booze, The Hangover Part 3, and Running With Batman

This fucking photo says it all.

Saturday... Sunday: The past 2 days was a complete blast! I had my birthday last Friday (August 5), and then me and my friends followed it up with a cool party... filled with great laughter and of course... TONS of booze. 

Tequilas all over the place, food, more tequila, then finished it off with some 100% pure Russian vodka that had everybody going crazy sh.it all night.

The next morning most of my guys can't remember what they did, and everybody had the worst hangover in their entire drinking lives. 

I wanna do it again. 

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Monday: I don't know what hit me, but I bought a DVD collection of all the Batman movies, right from the Tim Burton classics starring Michael Keaton, to the horrible Joel Schumacher films with Val Kilmer and George Clooney with the Bat-nipples, up to the greatest superhero movie Batman Begins and the smash-hit The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan.

Up to this day, I still find the first two Batman movies (Batman and Batman Returns) really enjoyable, and will forever be two of the best Batman films ever.  I believe that those two set the standard for the "dark and gritty" trend in superhero movies today. Everybody wants to make something dark and edgy, and the aforementioned films truly symbolized that style. I guess we could all give Tim Burton the credit.

Not to mention that familiar Batman theme we all grew up with. Its one of those epic musical scores that epitomizes the character, just like John Williams' Superman theme. 

This scene still sent chills down my spine.

And you just can't beat the tandem of Keaton/Batman + Nicholson/The Joker (still one of my all time favorite portrayals, but I believe Heath's Joker was the best). Its damn unreal. I also love Danny DeVito's Penguin (he was born to play that character), and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman (who would even forget that "meow" + explosion part?). These villains we're perfectly portrayed and used in the movies.

I refuse to comment on the Joel Schumacher films. They're all forgettable. Those movies we're a disgrace to the Batman mythos. I gotta admit though, Val Kilmer was quite an interesting Batman, I think even better than George Clooney. But still, they all suck, and they will be remembered for that.

The only thing those movies got right for me we're Nicole Kidman, Alicia Silverstone, and Uma Thurman. 

And the nipples on Batgirl's costume. Lovely. 

First time I saw this as a kid, I knew I love Batgirl.

Finally, if you're going to ask me who's the best Batman? I would still go with Michael Keaton anyd ay of the week. You could say that's because of the nostaglic effect, but I'll stick with it. Don't get me wrong, I like Christian Bale, but there's just something about Keaton that got the whole Bruce Wayne/ Batman dichotomy right.

Now if you'll excuse me... I've got to catch up with reality and work. No comic book reviews for i-don't-know-how-long.

The Weekend Recap - 05/31/2011

Alright, time for a quick recap of what I've done this weekend.

So what's up?

First, my brother had four free tickets to the screening of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 so we, together with my other siblings went ahead to the cinemas to watch it this past Saturday. Here's a mini-review of the film:

Its never the same without Keira Knightly.

•  Pirates was overall, a good movie with a couple of good laughs, nice action scenes, some nice titties courtesy of Penelope Cruz and that mermaid whose name I don't know and of course - the awesomeness of Johnny "Jack Sparrow" Depp. 
• But it was too frickin' long. More than two hours of adventure, pirate sailing and sword slashing, and I can't help but get bored and all sleepy at some parts of the movie. It felt like I was watching "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Pirates".
• For a movie that I didn't really understand because of its cheesiness and with an utter nonsense of a plotline that has too many holes in it, it was a passable flick, but the weakest of all the four Pirates films.
• I wish this would be the last installment though, because its getting tiring already. Johnny Depp can only appear in (and carry) this franchise for so long.

 Read a couple of graphic novels/comic books:

• Alias by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos (review to follow soon)
• Paying for It by Chester Brown
• Captain America: Man Out of Time by Mark Waid and Jorge Molina
• Batman: Gates of Gotham #1  

Watched a lot of History Channel's Pawn Stars... (the most damn entertaining show on cable TV  I swear)

"Are you gonna pawn or are you gonna sell it?"

..and handpicked a DVD from my stash: Season of the Witch starring Nic "Ghost Rider" Cage. 

Witches = Demons.

Though packed with completely lame-ness and so-so special effects, it was actually better than Pirates 4 though its the same predictable storyline. Its kind of like "Pirates Meets The Knights Templar Meets The Exorcism of Emily Rose". Witches has nothing to do with it. Funny how movie titles sometimes don't have any connection to the script/story.

I know you don't really care about these movies or TV shows that I watched, but this is my freaking blog and I will write whatever I want to write. I think you can understand that.

Just kidding. You know I love you guys. Haha. 

That's it for now folks! Hopefully next week I'll be able to do this again with my review of the much-awaited X-Men First Class. 


'Till the next Weekend Recap!


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The Weekend Recap - 03/20/11

I thought of doing this recap thing every week (that is if I had done a lot of things during my day-offs) where I would talk about the different things that I did and saw during the weekend... in short, just about anything under the sun - and I said to myself: "That would be a great idea for my blog!", since I don't have much time to write during work hours unlike before. So, without further ado, the first ever Comically Graphic Weekend Recap:

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Tantananaaaaa!!!

This is not my dvd box, but I own one. Finally.

Bought an original DVD copy  of the DC Original Animated Series All-Star Superman based on the Eisner-winning graphic novel by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely. The packaging is awesome, the dvd box art is simply stunning and its definitely worth adding to my Superman collection. Can't wait to watch it soon. The greatest story of Earth's Greatest Protector is finally in my hands. Bwahahaha! *evil smirk*


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Anyone who has played a Bioware video game RPG like Dragon Age, Mass Effect or Star Wars KOTR is aware of how amazing it is to beat game and have the final boss kneeling before you asking for mercy. And what a great feeling it was beating Mephistopheles in critcally-acclaimed old school Bioware game NeverWinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. Its like my d*ck just grew to 8 inches total. Haha. He was a piece of cake using my level 27 Fighter/Rogue/Blackguard who totally massacred him. I wish he was tougher.. But thank you Bioware for the experience. Great game. I'm gonna come back again with an arcane archer this time and hunt his ass one more time.

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Watched "I Am Number Four" with my girlfriend yesterday and we both thought that it was a nice movie. If you are the type who doesn't want any of the complicated storylines and a lot of the boring "30 minute talk" scenes in some films and just want some good 'ol fashioned "come on let's get this over with and kick-some damn ass" action scenes with a lot of cool visual effects - then this is the movie for you. 

The story is simple: John Smith is an alien from another planet (of course), his kind is being hunted down by the bad guys (three have already been killed and he is the 4th on the list - hence the movie title) who are also plotting a massive planatary- scale invasion and therefore, he has to control all of his new found powers, find his other alien friends and beat the ugly, baldheaded monsters to ashes before they kill him and the people he cares for. 

During the first minutes of the movie, I immediately realized the similarities of the plot to Smallville - and not suprisingly because during the credits it was shown that the screenplay was written by the two former producers who started the ongoing Superman-based TV series - Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. And since the movie is produced by Transformers director Michael Bay, I Am Number Four packs some bad-ass sci-fi action scenes, CGI and special effects that you will surely enjoy despite the loopholes in the plot. Not a bad film overall in my opinion. 

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Had dinner with my former online friends (former because they had become my friends in real life now) and it was a blast. A whole night of good food and laughter. Its wonderful how the internet connects the dots in your life and adds more dots connected to your life - oh the power of teh Intarwebz.  LOL. 

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And finally, Happy 13th Month to me and my cuddly bear. We almost forgot it last night because we're just so damn tired. Yep, its 1 year and a month now and still going strong. Time goes by so fast.

So that's it for this week! Back to work now.