What's wrong with comfort and efficiency?

Mike: Well nothing, except no one wants to fuck it.

Now, let's see how good is the other Gerard Butler movie, THE UGLY TRUTH? Well, surprisingly good and entertaining. Well, it still has some cheesy elements (but hey, without them, this kind of genre is like eating pizza without cheese). Katherine Heigl somehow always easily connects herself with this kind of character (remember Knocked Up and 27 Dresses?). Well, in other words, it is highly possible that we'll see her again in other future romantic comedy movies (although the next project, KILLER, collaborating with Ashton Kuthcer may provide some surprises). She's hot, somehow dumb, a control freak producer, but I felt she's too good to be a girl who hasn't been dating for about a year (yessss, including the sex). I mean even before she transforms, it's almost impossible for guys to ignore her in the first place. She plays a TV show producer, Abby, who feels that she lacks of dating, and eager to find a hot hunk to accompany her. The only problem is, she's to naive and idealistic to find the perfect guy. In short, she just won't find a boyfriend with her current attitude.

Now, on the other hand, Mr. Butler gives us something really new, which makes us laugh. When I read he took a major role in this movie, I was totally skeptic, I mean, Gerard Butler, the King Leonidas himself. I thought he learns his lesson from P.S. I Love You or Nim's Island that he should avoid comedy or drama. But this time, I think it works, especially with his American accent. He's funny, outspoken, talkative but without being annoying, and being a cool charismatic guy without that over the top confidence. Now, Butler's character is a hardcore TV personality, Mike Chadway, who spills the beans about the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick. Abby's boss decides to hire Mike to have his own segment, THE UGLY TRUTH, into her morning show, which eventually attracts viewers and increase the ratings. Abby was totally despise Mike in anyway, but eventually, he made a deal with her, that he will transform Abby in order to gain interest from her neighbor, who apparently, is a hot single surgeon. And in return, he can have his job at the show.

But, it doesn't take a genius to see where this story ends, does it?

Actually, I was planning to watch Tim Burton's "9", but since the ticket was out already, and I felt like I have to give my girlfriend a break from watching 'my kind of movie', then I decide, oh well, once in a while, let's watch cheesy movie. Well, it turns out to be entertaining. Funny as it is, and hot as Heigl can be, I felt that some of the cast are underused, such as Mike's sister and her son, which I thought can be much more fruitful if they were given more portion, especially towards the end. The underwear vibrator scene was hilarious, and the ugly truth itself was damn right to the bottom. So, guys, bring your partners to watch this, I'm sure you'll learn something from it...

My Rating : 7.5/10

This is not something you can control!

Last week, I managed to watch both GAMER and THE UGLY TRUTH, which happens to have Gerard Butler. On one side, GAMER is a typical action movie with some gore and it was combined with some sci-fi as the backdrop storyline. While on the other hand, THE UGLY TRUTH is a comedy romantic genre which I thought was surprisingly good! It's kinda awkward to see Butler playing in this kind of movie, but he did well in the end. So, let's get goin' with the first one.

GAMER, in short, tells a story where the advanced technology in the future is capable to bring the online gaming into the new level, where real people actually control real people. The genius, and also psychopath behind this idea is Ken Castle, (Michael "Dexter" C. Hall), who creates 2 worlds, SOCIETY and SLAYERS. For the first world, just imagine you're playing THE SIMS with actual people being controlled under your command. And for the second one, well, basically, it's COUNTER-STRIKE with using real people get shot and blown into pieces. In Society, people are getting paid to be controlled, where as in Slayers, the death-row inmates are lining up to be brutally 'played' by teenagers. The rule for the second world is simple, those who managed to survive 30 rounds, get their freedom. Meet Kable (Butler), the Slayer superstar who somehow managed to play 27 rounds, just 3 more for his freedom and to reunite with his family. Along the way, there's a hacker named Humanz (Ludacris), whose mission is to put this virtual world into an end, because he thinks that Castle apparently has different agenda. Humanz's plan is to get Kable's cooperation to help him with his plan.

I guess, Gerard Butler is the new one-man action actor, since his killing spree in this movie can be equally compared with Stallone's RAMBO. He didn't have that many lines, and what he did was just shooting and bashing heads. Nevertheless, Kable's character was written all over him. Too bad Michael C. Hall didn't get too much screen time, since I believe he's that good to be psychopath! Amber Valetta is refreshing enough on every scenes, especially with tight latex and her stupid body language of being controlled, it was just hilarious. Ludacris, well, basically he talked too much, John Leguizamo and Kyra Sedwick were just passing through. Oh yeah, last but not least, I have no idea why on earth Milo Vagina or whatever his name (the guy from HEROES) wanted to play a such idiotic character as a super lusted guy wearing Bumblebee color latex clothes. Gosh!!!

So, actually GAMER is not that bad, just an okay movie, easily forgettable along the time. The concept is not new, it's like a combination of the MATRIX in a much more easier to decipher, and RAMBO, and similar with THE CONDEMNED. The action scenes are cruel enough, and quite gory, and you'll see limbs flying everywhere. But overall, the story pace is relatively fast, and through out the movie, most of the time you'll be entertained by lots of actions and fighting not forget body parts. I felt that this movie was trying to condemn commercialization of violence, but along the way, they commercialized that violence itself, funny huh? Although, it gave us message the danger of the virtual world and its advertising for escaping reality where you can become anyone you want, especially for youths and teenagers.

My Ratings : 7/10

What's the best way to go about disarming one of these things?

And Sergeant William James answers, "The way you don't die, Sir!". That's the instant reply from an US Army bomb squad stationed in Iraq, who has only 1 job to do, disarming bombs. In this movie, "The Hurt Locker", it tells a story about a group of three bomb squad, who risk their life everyday in the field to clear the roads from bombs planted by the extremists and local militants. When I watched "Speed", "Blown Away", or even "McGyver" series, disarming bombs looks kinda cool, and you can potentially become a hero afterwards. But, after watching this thing, suddenly disarming bomb should be one of the least job you would take.

Just imagine, you are wearing the heavy anti bomb suit, walking toward the bomb, in the middle on an Iraqi town, don't know that someone near can trigger the bomb, or someone will shoot your head. Bottom line, anything could happen, and suddenly, the only thing that left is just your bloody helmet. That's the intensity and the indescribable risk of becoming the bomb squad, especially within the hostile territory. Just as I quote from the IMDB wesbite, they are forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.

This is one of the Hollywood best flick, or I can even mention, 'fresh' and 'original' production of the year (actually it was released last year, mostly in film festivals, but it was not-widely released couple of months ago). Too bad the studio didn't release it widely enough on more screens to get it acknowledged. But nevertheless, the movie which is surprisingly directed by a WOMAN (Kathryn Bigelow), still gained respectable reviews from both critics and viewers. The story is good, the casts are great (notably the unknowns Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie), the action pace is just perfect where it managed to build the tension and the suspense scenes bit by bit. Well, you just don't know when the bomb will explode, do you?

The opening scene where it shows the slow-mo of the explosion was staggering, and even a realistic one. Means, NOBODY, not even James Bond, can sustain the injuries made by the bomb, even within the 100 m radius. The sniper scene is also great, and the suicide bomber in the end is intense. Other than the action scenes, the drama and the characterization of these 3 bomb squad members tells us a different story. One guy (James) can't stand to live 'normal', he always needs the adrenaline rush and the excitement and the suspense of disarming bomb. One guy (Sanborn) tries to be a good leader, but he can't stand of the fact that he may lose his life in the battle field for stupid reason. And the last guy (Eldrige), well, he's a naive soldier, not a coward, but this thing is just too much for him to take, where losing someone you know is part of the game. While the three members face their own internal issues, they have to be aware of any person at the bomb sites, some of who may be bombers themselves.

Too bad people seems unaware that this kind of movie exists, and sadly, it won't earn so much money compared with, let's say, Michael Bay's TF2 : Revenge of the Fallen (I repeat it once again...failure, and completely idiotic). Perhaps with this one as an example, and also District-9, it can set a new standard how to make GOOD MOVIE, without monstrous budget, and low profile casts, and last but not least, a good script!

My Rating : 8.5 / 10

September 09/week#2/ - England, Batman, and Wii-hacking

Well, it's confirmed, England will go to South Africa next year, after demolished the Croats 5-1. Back then, Gerrard and Lampard was just like oil and water, and now they just make England which I think has the best midfielders in the world. 2 goals each just proves to the critics that they can perform as good as in the club level. It's still a long way to go, though, and they haven't faced the upper tier teams, but nevertheless, I'm happy to see them go through the group stage, without losing and score the most goals compared to any other country. Although, the issue is that when some of the starters get injured, players like Rooney is hardly substituted, since he always provides the inspiration and the energy for attacking. But, I believe Don Capello has something in his mind to fill up the hole when it's necessary.

Batman Arkham Asylum is well made videogame afterall. It has actions, stealth, Batman's gadgets, all the main characters, and many other things. Just can't get enough of it. Although, since the game occasionally crashes out, it just annoys me...should I buy the original one, huh? (imagining Suri's looking at me with her killer stare....ooohhh...damn, pretty scary!!!)...I guess, I just have to wait for someone to upload the original copy of the game and a decent crack-fix into it.

And, finally...I managed to crack my Wii so it can play the games directly from the external HD. I just bought a 1 TB Western Digital HD, to fill it with the movies, TV series, 3Ds max libraries, comics, songs, etc; which has already consumed 80% of my previous WD 500GB. With a bit of patience and focus, tweaking here and there, finally...I can backup all my Wii games onto the HD, and I won't have to change CDs anymore. And to spice things up, using the USB loader GX to read the HD, it also capable to use some cheat codes....niceeeeee !!!! (Mind you, don't have time to finish all the games in the 'right' way...last time I did this with metroid, I spent almost 3 months....)

Currently, I'm listening to Mat Kearney, A Fine Frenzy's and Ingrid Michaelson's new albums. Kudos to Mat Kearney, his 'Closer To Love' just nicely stuck in my head for several days. I downloaded his previous albums, and just played them randomly on my iTunes along with the other two artists. Between them, I'm listening to David Gray, Colbie Calliat, and Reba McEntire. Now, I'm not that bored any more with my iPod tracks.

During the midweek, Suri and I managed to catch 2 Al Pacino's movies, 'The Insider' and 'The Godfather'. I was quite skeptical that Suri will enjoy watching both, since they are quite 'heavy' for her standard, especially for 'the Insider'. Mind you, the movie was directed by Michael Mann, who also makes 'Heat', 'Collateral', and the latest one, 'Public Enemies'. Suri was almost sleeping during watching the latest two. But in the end, it came up that she enjoys this one. Well, apart from the 'based on true story' premise, I believe Russell Crowe's performance and the tobacco industry issue managed to grab her interest.

On the other hand, 'The Godfather', is amazingly a very good movie after all. Surprisingly, she likes it a lot also, although the movie was 3-hours long. Along the way, I told her who is Marlon Brando, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. She was quite surprised to see Al Pacino was so young compared to the other movie. Well, it has 25 years difference, I guess it explains all. I told her that in spite of so many remakes and reboot projects in Hollywood these days, I'm sure that no one has the guts to remake the Godfather trilogy again. I don't think Hollywood will have another Brando, Pacino, De Niro, and other amazing casts such as this one. Till next week then...

Notes: Someone just ask me to watch Grudge 3, and write the review...

September 09/week #1/ - Between Batman and Metroid

I can say there was nothing much happened during last week....apart from Temmy and Elis were coming to SGP, everything else was just plain. Until this week, my PR hasn't come out yet, and it's been 4 months. Gosh, tired of waiting actually, and to stay in SGP without any proper ID is just so trouble some. Hopefully, this matter can be done by this week, reallyyy hope soooo...

Fortunately, I managed to make myself busy during the day, since I got myself new games to try. Apart from struggling to finish up Metroid Prime Corruption, now I have Batman : Arkham Asylum (which is highly recommended) and Muramasa (another top notch game for Wii). Means to say, it's been a while since the last time I played good games.

No EPL matches this week, means I went out for the weekend (that should be a relief for Suri afterall). Temmy (my bro in-law) was coming to town, and he's really fortunate to come to SGP in a such good timing. Vivi was just having her b'day last Wed, and she treated us a buffet lunch at Marina Square, and Temmy was invited also. Afterwards, we took a trip to Marina Barrage, since Temmy is really fond of taking pictures, and in the end, I thought he was over enjoying himself there. He told me that he's definitely coming back again someday, and he'll bring the tripod next time =).

Another best friend of mine, Elis, spend her weekend with her hubby by buying cheap tickets to SGP. It's been a year since the last time I met her, and that time, both of us were so occupied we didn't manage to have an enjoyable chat. This time, although it was just a short meeting, we managed to grab some coffee at Border's bistro and killed the time by nice talking.

On Sunday...well it was a lazy Sunday. It was raining hard in the morning, which was just like a pill to extend your sleep. Well, Suri and I just stayed at home, she did some browsing, and I managed to reach the last boss stage for Metroid, really should wrap this thing up by next week!!! It's about time to finish up that game, and I'm eager to continue Batman. During the night, we discussed the budget for our wedding, and after we ran down the list, the number was quite huge, but it was still a considerable figure, since we've prepared a similar budget. But still, I prefer to cut down some expenses, just as a precaution to prevent the budget burst.

So, what to do for this week, huh? :

1. Finish Metroid Prime : Corruption

2. Discuss the design competition with other members

3. Finish up the master plan tracing (getting bored now)

4. I'll think something later on...

Another 'me' in different era?

Last but not least, today I'm wishing a happy birthday for my cute nephew, Arthur. He's 1-year old now, and I hope lots of good things will come to him this year. GBU always !!!