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Movie Review

Review: Hansel and Gretel Go Witch Hunting

Posted on February 3, 2013

Hansel and Gretel grew up nice and strapped in leather.

I needed a quick recap on the Hansel and Gretel story as the movie rolled in. All I remembered was the gingerbread house and the story from there, forgetting the first parts that explain why the red-cheeked little children were in that shady part of the woods in the first place. Apparently, there is no need for the recollection, as the Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters movie writes its own back story for the requisite twist.

I came into the theater as a Jeremy Renner fan with an anxious heart, not wanting to see him in a movie that gave me that distinct feeling of corniness. No hurt locker and no Hawk Eye deserves that burden in my eyes. As the 88 minutes went by, my movie critic instincts proved right on, but it was good 88 minutes of Renner nonetheless. I explain:

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Movie Review

Google ‘Modern Poetry to Impress Girls’

Posted on January 13, 2013

I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world.

I Googled, but this poem did not exactly appear. But that’s what Hunter said to his blind tutor Will Fratalli in the Beastly movie anyway. The scene can come out a bit cheesy to rom-com cynics, but the poem is a good fun read. That should be enough for salvage value.

Having a Coke with You

Having a Coke with you

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne

or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona

partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian

partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt

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Review: BECK Movie. Rockeoke with Koyuki

Posted on December 22, 2012

BECK Live Action Movie 2010

It’s perfectly normal to be curious about an actor who played one of your favorite characters of all time. When you hit his name on Google and it comes out that he stars as another awesome anime hero–well, that’s when you hit play again.

I had nothing but praise to the heavens for Takeru Sato‘s transformation as wandering samurai Kenshin Himura in this year’s live action adaptation of the Samurai X manga. In hindsight, it is better for relatively unknown actors (at least to me) to put on these well-loved manga shoes. It gives viewers a blank slate. Now I no longer hold this advantage when I sat back to watch Sato turn into BECK‘s awkward guitar hero Koyuki. But once again, both the movie and the young thespian did not disappoint.

Movie Review

Review: Samurai X Marks the Spot

Posted on December 16, 2012

Rurouni Kenshin Live Action

If after more than 10 years and your heart still spikes at news of a favorite story coming to life in the big screen, you know it is love. The strategically scarred samurai was part of a childhood marked by the first Asian wave—together with Ghost Fighter, Hana Yori Dango, Oguri Shun and Arashi. Kenshin’s shojo-shonen mix story though was a special kind of personal obsession, so it was with a special kind of anxiety too that I held my breath for the film.

Showing exclusively in SM Cinemas for a limited run, the Rurouni Kenshin live action movie brings to the big screen one of the most beloved stories in all of manga-dom. Warner Brothers Japan gives comic book geeks a movie they have forgotten they wanted, and I see no good gained in stalling the announcement that it was a virtually perfect transition.

Kenshin Meets Kaoru’s Sword

Movie Review

Review: The End of Twilight (Fan Version)

Posted on November 25, 2012

The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2

A reaction to The Twilight Saga and Breaking Dawn Part 2. Spoilers abound.

I think it is best to start with introductions. I am a girl in my dying twenties with a little piece of my heart still pinned to adolescence, which should explain my predilection to pick up something from the chic-lit side of the bookstore. Now Twihards will be hell bent to dispel the branding of Stephenie Meyer‘s work as chic-lit, but as most people would not be bothered to specifically categorize, I will drop that argument from the get go.

My literary BFF introduced me to the first book, and we both were in love with Edward and imagining we were Bella long before it became a joke. The prose was not perfect, yes. At times, it was long, dragging and self-indulging. The characters have their moments being one-dimensional, but for all these faults it was the dynamics that worked, and that unique take on the vampire romance. I guess we’ve all been well exposed to how vampires are romanticized, it was easy to take a huge bite at the first offering that showed the most heart and the least gore.

Movie Review

Review: Deathly Hallows 2, and Happy Birthday Harry!

Posted on July 31, 2011

I have no idea how old you are in your fictional life, but I wish you blessings and warm tidings. You don’t look very happy in the picture above though…

I spent the day with you by the way (again! cue the eye-rolling of people who will not understand). Watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie 2 today with family. Yours is the ONLY movie franchise we watch together, and that’s saying something, as we are a dysfunctional lot and do not really like spending that much time together as a unit. Makes me even sadder that with the ultimate end of the telling of your life story in movie magic, comes the end of one excuse for genuine family bonding as well. I divert, but I guess that is part of the point I am making.

I’ve seen the movie three times, and if time and money permit that I see it a few more times, I am certain it will not grow old. Not just yet. The film was properly dark and subtle in places, properly dark and exciting where it matters. It will still beg patience of movie-goers who only rely on the films to follow your story, but that is a given, with two-inches thick of words to go through. I still lose it on that final scene of Severus Snape, and I do not stop crying until the credits roll, by which time even my Coke has gone salty with my tears. That last two images before the close–and I quote a fellow geek–were poignant.

This is turning out to be the saddest birthday greeting ever. Sorry! Happy birthday Harry Potter! And JK Rowling too!