Movies: Star Wars The Force Awakens

Movies: Star Wars The Force Awakens

After so many years of a lull in the Star Wars franchise, it's finally back again and this time it continues from after the 3rd movie.. Wait it's actually after the 6th movie.. Errr yea... It's really quite hard to explain...

Lots of glowy lights

Basically, just to get everyone in the same understanding,  according to the time line, this would be the latest movie which actually follows after Star Wars Return of the Jedi. In fact it is about 30 years after the happenings in Star Wars Return Of the Jedi. (and just past 30 years in real life)

Eh this poster doesn't look that ancient

This allows for quite a bit of fun in the characters you will see in the movie, but will not spoil it any more then that although fans will probably already know what is going to happen in the movie

Somehow or other, every other company seems to be getting onto the Star Wars bandwagon like clothing chain uniqlo, crocs and of course many toy manufacturers. 

Even Ez-link is getting on the band wagon. Costs me 60 bucks...

Anyway back to the review proper!

Storyline 3/5

Probably not what you would wanna hear, but I have to say it.. This whole movie storyline seems to be very very very similar to a previous starwars movie storyline. Unfortunately this works badly for those who are fans of the movie in the first place as it will seem like a rehashed movie and everything becomes slightly too predictable.

But even if we look at the storyline independently, there is little twists and things to keep things intriguing during the movie itself. What is happening in the movie is introduced quite early in the beginning and basically it's just development of that one storyline. There is nothing else to attract the audience.

It's a standard meet a character who is confused what is happening.. Then searches for some understanding, then suddenly realised what is happening in the Galaxy then joins in and goes against the bad guys. Familiar? Yeah a lot of movies are using the same but this has no huge twists and what you see is what you get.

Character 3.5/5

Purely based on the facts that you will see a lot of familiar faces in this movie, you will see a fair bit of character development on both the old as well as the new characters and this may lend a bit of wow or nostalgia factor to the fans of the movie.

Obviously a new robot now takes the main stage as the cute factor in the movie that ties the initial storyline together but overall,  the characters are what you would be expecting, good being good although the bad guy has a bit of more potential to develop then the good. Don't expect anything like the first few starwars (according to time-line aka the anakin part of the story before Darth Vader)

Cinematography 3.5/5

Aye! Was there many lazers pewpewing all over the place? Was there sufficient lightsaber duels and good choreographed fights..

Unfortunately for this movie, sure there are space battles, sure there are fights, but in general there was a bit more attempt to emphasize on driving the story and hence it suffered in the action cinematography section which overall would be detrimental to those looking for epic space fights etc.

There are nice shots of planets, new planets etc but honestly, nothing really stood out as particularly cool and exciting even though this movie had plenty of potential to do so...

Here's some lightsabers, just cause.

Music 4.5/5

Music is classic Star Wars and if you followed the previous movies you know that it always has a very powerful and fitting score to fit the happenings in the movie.

Thanks to the numerous movies before this, it has reach a state whereby when you hear the music you kind of know what is going to happen soon. Even to those new to the franchise the music will add much immersion value to them.

Spectacle 3/5

The overall problem that this movie faces is different for the fans, and also for new comers. For new comers, the introduction of old faces with no background, yet expecting the audience to appreciate their presence makes it hard for the new comers to be properly drawn in. For the fans, thanks to the more action packed episode 1 to 3 (Anakin storyline) this movie would pale badly to those movies where you see tons of jedis and more Saber battles. Thanks to episode 4 to 6 (Luke storyline)  the movie's storyline will unfortunately be too familiar to be exciting.

Don't get me wrong, there are still good action scenes and the storyline in general still moves things along, but it seems more like a set up for the next few movies to bring in new characters but amongst the other movies out there that falls into the same genre this movie falls just that bit too short.

Overall

Storyline : 3 (Ordinary story, too ordinary to stand out amongst the other movie, also feels like a strange rehash)
Character : 3.5 (Expects audience to have a bit of background knowledge of the characters thus not giving enough time and opportunity to be more involved with the characters)
Cinematography : 3.5 (It's fine... it's not great though... just fine)
Music : 4.5 (Good music, one of the most fitting score that adds to the experience)
Spectacle : 3 (Did not stand out in the action section, neither did it stand out enough for storyline. It is kind of more like, just another star war movie in the end)

Overall : 3.5 (This movie had a lot going for it, a good back story, well established fan base, plenty of budget to advertise and even a cartoon. It's hyped up, and everyone should have heard about it. Unfortunately, with so much expectation, it fails to deliver even for the fans or rather, especially for the fans as it did not do anything new. Overall, you could see this movie if you wanted, and you probably would, but if you didn't see it, go ahead and wait for the next one before watching and you won't really miss out anything because this movie did not really add too much. That being said, being a 2 hour movie, if you do have time to kill, you probably won't regret seeing this movie too as it is still a very much palatable action movie in space with light sabers. Probably go ahead and lower your expectation for this movie instead and if you can, see the first 6 movies so that you got some back story to appreciate the characters more. Just remember, more lightsabers = more fun, since this movie has less light sabers, it will be okey, but just not THAT fun.)

Movies: Goosebumps

Movies: Goosebumps

Introduction

Goosebumps books, if that name doesn't ring a bell to you then you are probably from an earlier generation compared to me which is the 1980s generation. It is actually a bunch of stories written by R.L Stine starting in the 1992s onwards. There are actually nearly 150 books written from this author up to date and this is some impressive stuff. However, I will put it out there clearly that i have not read even ONE of his books, although i do vaguely remember seeing some of his books before on the shelves. Yep.. sorry that i prefer to see everything in film and seldom like to read.... that goes the same for stories like LOTR, Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner etc. In fact some of this movies I actually have the book but currently I have not even managed to go past the first book of Maze runner even though I seen the movie already.

Here are some of the cover of the books to share. Apparently some are already out of print but who knows what the movie can do for this book series

But anyway, back to this movie, and the first thing of interest in this movie is....... JACK BLACK?!?!?! Yep, with Jack Black, this will.. i mean can't be a serious movie. And you will see this very clearly in the movie. Jack Black cannot, and i repeat again, CANNOT be a fierce guy. His face just can't pass it off anymore. But lets go down to the movie content now!

Make no mistake, Jack Black is in this movie that is suppose to give you goosebumps

Storyline 3.5/5

Rest assured that this is a completely new storyline and not something that was written in a book (or perhaps there is a title for this special episode of goosebumps) and in this movie, you will see many many goosebumps characters which should thrill the fans of the books itself. The storyline itself does not take itself TOO seriously (again because Jack Black is here) and you will feel that this is a pretty light hearted movie in general.

Thanks to there being many goosebump characters, as a whole you will still have things to look forward to during the entire movie and it stays fresh enough, and there is a twist at some part of the movie to at least make a that little bit more entertaining then just a generic movie.

Hence a 3.5 score is what this movie deserves, nothing higher as it still follows a general movie plot, but at least it did make a tiny little twist and was somewhat entertaining while it lasted.

Character 3.5/5

There are a a lot of characters, humans and especially monsters alike. Unfortunately, much of the monster's background are not utilized to the fullest and basically in the end, all the monsters are about identical and just different forms of the bad guy.

The other human characters are fun and distinct in their own way and there is some effort of character development during the movie. But honestly, nothing totally strikes me as something on top of its class and it is just leaning completely on the huge selection of goosebump monsters to intrigue the crowd which is a waste when there is so little emphasis or effort to distinct or introduce them better.

Cinematography 3/5

Cinematography is average, nothing too epic or exciting and just some nice sunrise shots but that is about it. Not an action show of course but the lack of any good cinematography does make the movie a bit more boring.

Music 3/5

Identical to Cinematography, the music is there, but nothing of particularly unique impact to the audience experience but it does not distract from the experience either.

Spectacle 3/5

Well, I will try to look from the angle of it being a comedic movie with a unique storyline. For the comedy aspect it is passable and nothing that would cause you to laugh till your hips hurt. For the storyline, if you like goosebumps then you may OR may not have an advantage because you will be happy to see your goosebump characters, but there is really nothing that the movie does to make the presence of the monsters more felt by the audience. If you do not even read this movie, then basically you will just understand all the various monsters to just be one or the other form of a monster and it stops there. Being unable to stand out and stand tall from the other movies does cause the audience to just feel that this is one other generic movie. 

Overall

Story: 3.5 (An ok story with a twist mid way to keep things interesting, but its nothing top class)

Character: 3.5 (Many characters and monsters, characters are fairly fun, monsters are quite many, but really, a lot of wasted potential and this movie could have done much better)

Cinematography: 3 (Ordinary movie shots, nothing too amazing)

Music: 3 (Ordinary music score, nothing too amazing, but didn't detract from the experience)

Spectacle: 3 (Was not able to stand out in terms of comedic value, neither was it able to stand out in storyline DESPITE having so many monsters to work with. Its really unfortunate)

Overall: 3.2 (As can be seen from the score and it blends in well with my overall feel of the movie, its an okay movie if you are looking for something to do and to spend time of. If you have read the books and just want to see your favorite monsters in the flesh, this is where you finally have a chance. But that being said, if you are not a fan, treat this as your usual thriller and don't over expect and you should be able to somewhat enjoy the movie itself, but don't fret if you miss this movie as you did not miss anything too much in reality.)

Let me know if you enjoyed this movie yourself or whether reading the books had a positive effect to your enjoyment of the movie!

Food: Wang Dae Bak

Food: Wang Dae Bak

There are many different type of BBQ that you would experience in your time. There is the traditional BBQ where you go to the beaches and have a nice charcoal fire and cook stuff like chicken, satay, hotdogs etc. Then there is the Thai BBQ which is also known as Mookata. Then you have the Korean BBQ. Korean BBQ is distinguished from the other type of BBQ by the style. For Korean BBQ, you will see much less sauces unlike the Chinese steamboats like in Haidilao and other steamboats in Chinatown. Korean BBQ is also distinguished by the larger meat sizes and the presence of scissors. Usually for Korean BBQ you will be able to see large meat slabs like steak, and then they will give you scissors to cut it down to size.

Wang Dae Bak is one of those Korean BBQ but Ala carte style situated in Chinatown area. There are two stores under the same name pretty close to each other but for the purpose of this review we will be talking about the one along Cross Street. The other store is along Amoy Road.

So how did the food go, read on and find out.

Charcoal BBQ. NO GAS!

The two possible location, mine was Cross st.

The menu cover. Looks premium.

Food 4.5/5

We ordered two different types of meat, rice wine, a mushroom set and also a seafood pancake for a 2 person meal.

For all patrons, similar to other Korean establishment, Korean side dishes are also provided at no additional charge and are refillable. They also give some sort of water that is not your normal tap water although for all intents and purposes it did just take like water.

The side dishes choice

The side dishes tasted pretty good, in fact one of nicest bunch of side dishes I have ever eaten from a korean restaurant. It tasted authentic and didn't taste like something just out of a pre packaged container. Nonetheless the 3 side dishes at the back, I had no clue what they were and didn't touch them at all. But since none were chargable, it's all good.

The next interesting thing about the food portion of this is that for all the hot plates, there are two sections that they will fill and refill with eggs. So depending on how cooked you like it, you can wait longer or eat them liquid. Of course just as the problem with hot plates, it will happily get stuck to the side but since its refillable its probably no issue.

Liquid egg cooking in the hot plate. Yum yum

The taste of the egg wasn't the usual also in a good sense. It tasted pretty nice as if they had added something else to it. It's a good additional touch and I didn't see this in any other korean BBQ shop.

 Before we get into the main dish proper, this was one of the other side dish that we ordered, the seafood pancake.

Note: Its more like chinese carrot cake then pan cake.

Do note, this pan cake is huge and should not be eaten by just 2 persons. Or else you will have no other room in your belly for the other dishes. That and eating too much of the same pancake also gets kinda stale in terms of the taste. This pancake size is probably meant for 4 or more people. The sauce however, was one of the nicer sauces I have eaten.

Now lets get into the main dishes. there was a good selection, from beef, pork to chicken choices with various grades and prices. The portions did seem to varies also. I honestly was surprised that the portion was so small. Take a look at the meat on the wooden holder on the top right. Yep that is one portion. The meat right one the hot pan, yep also one portion. But we will scrutinize this further later.

Ah the traditional korean BBQ meat

How it looks when it is cooked, look at the egg

Taste wise however, this would probably be one of the better tasting meat I have tasted. My general impression of korean BBQ is that the meat slabs are generally tasteless or at least are not marinated, and if I am not mistaken, these meat were not or did not seem marinated too. However, the overall taste of the meat was pleasing and I did enjoy the taste.

Rice wine and serving cup

 Let me just state clearly, I am not a wine or alcohol drinker. I think I do not have taste buds for alcohol and so far, all the alcohol that I have drunk has never tasted pleasing to me in the end. Nonetheless, at least the presentation is cute for this rice wine and all in all, I did not factor this into the rating to be fair.

 Overall, the food has a premium taste to it and it is generally better then that you get outside. Also the no fuss choices and variety that it has to cater for tastes and budget. You will probably go home thinking that this meat is indeed a step above the usual.

Atmosphere 3.5/5

Charcoal. They mean it.

Like what was said in their name card, they proudly proclaim that their food is cooked by charcoal and I am compelled to believe that cooking with charcoal does add some difference to its taste. This adds to the overall enjoyment of the food. Wait! what are you asking? Does the charcoal make you smell?

Go away charcoal smell!

Thankfully, there is this nifty device that i am sure you seen before in other restaurants to help you in this aspect. Actually, in the end, I still did smell of charcoal although I would have to say that the suction device probably did help me slightly. So if you plan to come here to eat, make sure you are prepared to go back directly after, or you concoct some way to remove the smell after.

Water???

Here was the water that  I was talking about early. Free flow, but its not transparent. With the korean words in front it would seem that this might not jsut be like water, although it tastes more or less the same thing. Nonetheless, adds to the korean experience.

Service wise, the personnel here are fine, and will respond IF you managed to get their attention. However it seems like their store might have been slightly understaffed on that day and the staff were focused on getting tasks done, so there would be some bit of effort that you will need to put in to get them. But once you get them, they will attend promptly and solve your problems

Another additional perk was towards the end of our meal, the staff (might have been boss) placed a bowl of veggie / cold dish veggie on our table. I had no clue what it was but it was not charged and I guess was just a token of appreciation from the kitchen. (or we were just guinea pigs testing out new food) Unfortunately, we were too full, (I repeat again do not buy the pancake if you are just two people) and we didn't have the stomach to try it.

Personal space is pretty good and you won't feel like you are too near other people's table during your meal. They even allow you to keep your bags in the chair you sit on! So the only way your things get stolen is OVER MY FAT BODY! Or if you just forget to take it back cause its out of sight and out of mind.

Price 3/5

This part is basically the deal breaker. This place is not a place I would consider cheap. For two pax we ate about SGD $110 for 2 types of meat, 1 mushroom set, 1 seafood pancake and 1 rice wine. If we were to factor out the rice wine which is about 20 dollars it would be 90 for 2 people which is 45 per pax. My only issue is that the meat amount is really low as you saw in the food section. For some reasons, the other meat choices that we saw were served, seemed to have a larger portion then ours but at the end, we didn't feel like we ate enough of the meat and for some reason felt like we had to ration our way through.

We did not order more meat because the seafood pancake (again) was a killer and it made us well stuffed. So you know what to do with the pancake... Nonetheless, it was good that the side dishes, water and egg were not charged which makes the place seem less greedy overall.

Accessibility 3/5

With it's location near a MRT station near the central of the country, it is safe to say that this place is quite accessible. There are a few parking lots nearby and you can always call to book places (in fact i would recommend u do that). Do note that when we ended our meal around 7, there was already a crowd building. The good point about ala carte BBQ is that people will not stay as long, but still, being a small place and even two people groups will take out their common table that can sit up to 4, it might take you awhile to get to your seat if you come too late. The waiting area is also outside and you can see other people eating so it will be hot and slightly torturous. Do plan properly and maybe just save yourself the hassle and book.

Do note that the place is not entirely easy to find and even from the MRT you will need to walk a little more then 5 minutes to get there. Chinatown MRT is generally getting a bit more messy and harder to navigate in the recent years

Overall

Food: 4.5 (Food definitely tastes premium, pricey and nice)

Atmosphere: 3.5 (Good attempt with some hiccups or places to improve, but it will not frustrate you so it is somewhat acceptable)

Price: 3 (Premium taste comes with premium price, and somewhat small portion at least to me)

Accessibility: 3 (Near the MRT, there are parking lots but there will be the queue. At least you can reserve it. Try to go only after you did reservations)

Overall: 3.5 (It's a good place to try once in your life to have an idea of how authentic korean BBQ should taste like although the price you pay is somewhat more steep. All in all a place you should go at least once in your life to try, and if you think that the price and taste is there, you can come more often. In my opinion however, this will be a place more reserved for those rare special occasions and not a place you will select to go on a whim or a craving.)

Thanks again for reading my post. Hope you guys find this place useful. If you have other recommendations please comment and I may take a look at them when I am thinking of places to go!

Food: Mitzo Restaurant & Bar (Grand Park Orchard Hotel)

Food: Mitzo Restaurant & Bar (Grand Park Orchard Hotel)

Introduction

It's been a while since I did a review, but today's review is going to be focused on something different from the usual lay man fare. Today's review is about some unique dining in hotel restaurants. Hopefully as time goes by, I am able to afford more of these hotel dining and test them for my readers so that you can decide whether or not to come and what you should be expecting!

So for my first review, its the Mitzo Restaurant &  Bar, located within Grand Park Orchard Hotel.

Menu cover

To set the expectations clearly, basically this place is supposed to be a fusion of Cantonese food with cocktail... wait.. one is food, one is drink... what's the fusion there? Ok... so basically, come to this place expecting to eat Cantonese styled food in a non Cantonese like place BUT also you can have some alcohol to drink! Also the styling of the place is hardly Cantonese/Chinese which you can see further down in this review. So I guess in the classification of restaurants this is still considered a fusion....

Food 

So overall, how did the most important aspect fare? Let's split it completely into everything possible

Tasty unique mixed nuts

 Like many chinese eating places in Singapore, the first item on the table are the nuts. Apparently these nuts are not chargable and they are actually mixed nuts if you take a close enough look. It tastes slightly more premium then your usual nuts but was slightly on the salty side if you ask me.

Interestingly, i remember that alcohol is supposed to be taken with nuts so if this is your practice, perhaps this will improve your overall experience.

Mmmmm... roasted char siew

This roated char siew is realy good. The internal portions are soft and juicy which practically melts in the mouth while hte outside skin is crispy! How is it possible to make such differing textures in one dish, this is a question only the chef can answer!

Mmmmmm dim sum, 4 different flavors

A dish possibly meant for two, this dish has 4 different flavors given, one generic prawn wrapped in skin, one siew mai with baby abalone on top, crab roe dumpling and the green version of the siew mai but i cannot really remember what meat it was at this point of time. Taste wise however, its nothing too unique, i guess the ingredients are expensive in itself but no spectacular difference over the usual fare from a dim sum restaurant.

Wagyu beef!! woohoo

Premium beef, cooked in black pepper! Some people are not really fans of this cause it will mute the taste of the meat itself but for me, black pepper makes everything taste better. The texture of the meat its there, soft and tender which is what you would expect from Wagyu itself. There is that fried net thingy at the back that unfortunately, didn't add anything besides aesthetic value to the dish itself although i would imagine some other restaurants are able to fry it and make it nicely crispy to eat with the meat. Not the case here though.

FRIED RICE?? Come Restaurant eat fried rice?

Fried rice, the carbohydrate choice of this meal. Of course it is charged at a restaurant price. That being sad, its quite filling for two persons and the texture of the rice does taste that bit more premium.

Mocktail!

This is the other highlight that yu are supposed to be enjoying over here. In fact within moments of sitting down the bartender actually came over and introduced himself and his menu. In the end, I just told him i wanted something sour, as sour as possible and this was produced, a mixture of orange, pineapple and probably some other citrus things.

Cocktail!

We also ordered a cocktail and for this order, we just requested something that is not too sweet but refreshing. This was the final product.

All in all, for mock/cock tail, as I am not really a professional at this they were pretty ok in the end, but nothing that would make it stand out from some of the other cock/mock tails that I have drunk.

Overall, the taste of both food and drinks, I would give it a 4 out of 5 points as nothing tasted bad and there were some dishes that did taste premium.

Atmosphere

Nice and clean set up, well spaced with cushions all around

As you can see from the overall decor, its very well spaced with a lot of sitting clusters but all the seats won't be too close to each other. The tables are also very wide and there is more then enough space for all your dishes and to sit very comfortably. The waiters are very eager to serve and let you know what is their best dishes are. Its also a very quite place without too much of a crowd when we were there making the place somewhat conducive for a chit chat after the meal.

Has nice light effects and your tables are well lit and big

You can even see the cushions provided at the seats that tells you how much time you should be spending here after the meal itself to just drink and chill. Just like any pub or bar though, there could have the occasional person that is talking too loudly as was our case over there but having a lot of tables helps as you can easily just move to another location and be less disturbed.

Overall, a very comfortable place to dine in giving this place 4 out of 5 points

Price

Unfortunately I forgot to record the price but off hand this is what I remember. 

Dim Sum set - SGD $48

Wagyu beef  - SGD $48

Roasted char siew - SGD $15

Egg fried rice - SGD $20

Cocktail - SGD $20

Mocktail - SGD $18

Total price was $180 nett so since the above numbers do not add up to them, I must have made a mistake in one of the dishes there.

It's quite clear cut that this is not going to be a cheap meal and the cooking method used as well as drink prep is probably top of its class. However I still can't shake off the feeling that i was paying a bit too much extra for not as a significant enough level improvement in terms of the food taste. Hence I would give this a 2 over 5. I will give some recommendations on how to make the entire thing more value for money at the conclusion of this.

On the bright side, this place does have several promotions so do take a look and see if there are any applicable promotions to you when dining there.

Accessibility

With its location being more or less along the orchard stretch and between the orchard and somerset MRT stations, this is a very easy place to organize a meet up and chit chat session with your friends.

Add to it the ability to reserve for a seat as well the lack of a queue which allows you all the way in, there is no problems getting a place to eat here.

Of course being in the orchard belt does make parking somewhat difficult for those who drives, but overall, this place has much going of it in terms of accessibility, winning it a 4 out of 5 points.

Overall

Food : 4 (Good taste in most of the food, but not everything is superb yet.)
Atmosphere : 4 (Very comfortable atmosphere with good service staff)
Price : 2 (Premium food at premium prices, i would still consider this taking a toll on the wallet)
Accessibility : 4 (Very easy to get to, and very easy to get in. Able to reserve for a peace of mind also.)

Overall:  3.5 (Overall, would say this is an interesting experience at a slightly more premium price to pay but may overall be worth it if you like cocktails and a comfortable place to sit and chit chat for a good part of the evening. Its quite a interesting mix of cantonese cuisine and alcohol which makes it unique from other standard drinking places which may be the draw that you need. All in all though, my idea for them to further improve is to market the place as a gathering and drinking spot for friends, and lower down the prices of the food slightly which will be easily made back by people ordering more then one drink while they are there. The atmosphere and seats are already nice and comfortable so they should make full use of what they have.)

That's my review for my first pricey dining spot. Do let me know if you have also visited the place and share your comments!!

http://www.mitzo.sg/

Movies: Attack on Titan

Movies: Attack on Titan

Introduction

Attack on titan. A title that does not make any sense to anyone at all... is there only one Titan? is Titan a place? Maybe a moon? if you are confused by the name... THEN THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY YOU MAY LIKE THE MOVIE!!! This movie is actually a Japanese Anime that has finished its season one quite a while ago. In fact I believe it is a 2013 anime that ended at 23 episodes in Sep 2013. The anime itself has obviously a more well developed storyline as it is more then 10 hours long as compared to this short short 1 and a half hour movie.

The problem with this movie is that the director of the movie took his own artistic direction to the movie. It will not be like the anime, but whether this is a good or bad thing, it will depend on the audience. Ok so what is a Titan in this movie? Sorry its not the roman Titan that fights with Zeus and Poseiden all that. It is merely this ugly fella

Yum yum little humans!

And what more! Like humans, they come in different shape, sizes, pose, gender, and even ugliness. Only that all those aspects, they have a much bigger range. Except gender.. They are genderless and merely look female or male or a genderless thingy. Of course this is the anime version. To whet your taste bud.. here's the movie one!

Roar! I'm so HOT! Global warming has taken a toll!

Woops! Sorry if you puked or anything... Here's some pictures of the staff to get you back on your feet

Posing! Looking good.... or relatively similar actually...

Ok! Enough of small talk. So is this movie worth seeing? Lets break it down

Storyline 2 (If you really hate people not following the canon) 3 (if you try stay neutral) /5

Lets get it out there at this point of the review. This movie is not going to follow the anime. I would say that besides the presence of the same Titans, use of same equipment, use of same names, it is a pretty different show. In fact, try to look at this movie as an ALTERNATE dimension of their world and maybe it would just be more palatable to you.

That being said, the speed of this movie is slightly too slow. It unfortunately cannot start off running like the usual action movies where at the very beginning there are already action scenes. As a result its a slow start that introduces the background and everything else but in general, it was still too slow for me. Once the action picks up however, it gets a bit more exciting and flowing but there was also quite a slow segment towards the middle of the movie and after that it is mostly action all the way.

However, the storyline as it has to be fitted into 1 hour and 30 mins, suffers from too many jumps and everything finishes a bit too quickly (if you can really consider that the movie finishes).

Character 3/5

There is some attempts at character development and there is effort put in to create a distinction between all the characters in this movie. But its short play time is back to haunt this movie as at the end of the movie, you would probably not feel too much for most of the supporting characters of the movie.

People who follow the anime will at least be able to know more clearly what the significant difference in the characters are but then again, it is still quite different from the movie itself.

Cinematography 3/5

For an action flick, this movie is just missing a bit of the more traditional shots. Sure there is some high speed shots where you can see how fast the characters are flying here and there but there are some parts of the movie that is pretty dark and it is just missing out on extra effort such as epic top down shots and more. 

There is a good feeling of speed and excitement but there is really much more this movie could have done to make every battle that bit more exciting.

Music 4/5

Actually, the movie and sound effects in this movie did do pretty well to add some elements of disgust and fear and excitement throughout the movie. It really did bring out the hopelessness of the world that they live in.

Spectacle 3.5/5

Again from a neutral stand point, this movie does introduce a pretty interesting new world that we live in where nothing is in favor of man kind. So the storyline would be fun for the newcomer. Sadly, the short movie length means everything ends just a tad bit too soon and all the action scenes are relatively short and ordinary. The whole movie could be made to have a lot more exciting action on a more large scale basis but guess that was not the direction they wanted to take overall.

Overall

Storyline: 3 (Too short, not able to tell enough without making sacrifices to depth of story)

Character: 3 (Too short, not able to have the opportunity to build up audience empathy to characters)

Cinematography: 3 (Has some good action shots, but that's about all the shots they have and they are generally a bit short lived and quick to end)

Music: 4 (Good use of sounds and music to bring up evoke audience feelings of disgust and more)

Spectacle: 3.5 (Average on the storyline side, also average on the action side. It gets a .5 as it is a new alternate world which still helps to keep the movie new and engaging)

Overall: 3.3 (Overall, I would say that this is a fair enough action flick, for the short 1.30 hrs movie in the midst of 2 hours action flick, this movie may not be exciting enough to be a must see yet. It's a good way to spend the time if you were looking for something to do and like to see an action movie in a alternate world with some gore and quite a lot of dying. For fans of the anime, you can enjoy this movie, but you must first set aside all expectation that this is the same as the anime. It is probably not a movie that you MUST see at this juncture and you will not really be missing too much by not seeing this movie.)

Movies: Inside Out

Movies: Inside Out

Whoa whoa whoaa... wait a minute, is this movie even out yet?? Well if I have seen it, it means it must be out somewhere! And this time, for the first time, you are gonna have a review of a movie that is not even out in Singapore yet! I feel like a real movie critic/reviewer now! And here goes!

Ever wonder what is going on inside your head? Wondering where all the different feelings come from? Well Pixar/Disney have figured a way to perhaps explain what goes on inside your head and it does more then that, it even goes one step further and even explain how come someone may even lose all feeling and how your feelings change over time. Any more information will be spoilers for all so let me just get into the review and keep it as spoiler free as possible!

The 5 feelings, Fear, Anger, Joy, Sadness and Disgust... guess which is the cutest!

Will tell you all which is the cutest at the end of the review!!

Storyline 4.5/5

Admittedly, this is a pretty strong scoring. However, after you see it, its quite likely you will agree with me because the way the story is written, it not only caters to the kids (like traditional disney movies) but this one also caters very strongly to the parent and adult crowd so that you will not feel as if you are bringing your kids out for a movie that you might not enjoy yourself. It's intelligent writing makes it entertaining and self reflecting to everyone of the various ages in the family.

If you can't really get what i mean, then you can try seeing this movie and you will know what I mean!  The storyline is kept pretty personal from start to end and it also has numerous amusing portions that actually gives a disney explanation why we feel or react in certain ways.

Character 4/5

This movie may appear to only have 5 main characters but in reality, of those 5, although all have their own uniqueness, not all have equal screen time nor are all 5 impactful. There are additional characters added during the movie and some may have even more impact than these main characters. If there was a bit more emphasis on the 5 feelings it would have scored higher.

Nonetheless, the main focal characters (2 feelings) and one of the additional character not featured in the poster will bring out most of the "feels" of the movie.

Cinematography 4/5

Its not an action flick, but the way the movie is told is pretty immersing in making you identify with the human characters of the movie and the way the brain works.

Disney using pretty good panning outward shots to feature how vast the different aspects of the mind are that we all should be able to identify with and this adds quite good believabilty to the audience.

Music 3.5/5

The story is the main focus of this movie although you will notice how the music is used to evoke stronger feelings from the audience. Good or bad, that depends on how cool you want to look after the movie. (i.e. real man don't cry)

Spectacle 4.5/5

This movie gets high points based on the applicability of the story to both the adult and kid audience which is not an easy feat. Add to it the various minor effects (music, cinematography) to invoke the thought process of the older audience makes this a really immersive experience that both audience types will appreciate. Like many disney movies that focus on the importance of friends/family/love etc. this movie's focus on family is very strong, and well brought out that you may even return from the movie learning how to cherish what you have and better live your life.

Yep, its that kind of meaningful movie.

Overall

Storyline: 4.5 (Strong story that caters to adults even more then kids, its not easy to do that) 
Characters: 4 (Has potential to have included more of the characters but does above average nonetheless)
Cinematography: 4 (Smart use of perspective and high camera shots to explain the human mind)
Music: 3.5 (Its definitely there aiding the audience in feeling what the directions want them to feel, any better, this movie may get too emotion)
Spectacle: 4.5 (A movie that is quite high above the rest in terms of storyline for the family audience. The rest of the movie aspects add more audience immersiveness and personal feelings which works well for this movie. This is probably all the movie was intending to do and it did it well enough!)
Overall: 4.1(Its not an action movie so don't go there with an all guy group preferably. For those with significant others, or those with kids, this will probably be the movie for you, in fact it probability will be more thought provoking for you then your kids. Nonetheless, the kids will enjoy the color and fun of the movie, while you will enjoy the story. If you want to see a girl cry, this may be a good opportunity. Don't say I didn't warn you ah!)

And to close off, the winner of the cutie contest is....... this little blue fella! Watch the movie and see if you will agree with me!

Time to slack off and wallow in self pity...

Movies: Minions

Movies: Minions

Pixxar movies always play on the cute factor and always tend to have that character that is meant to fulfill the cuteness role in every movie! But not many movies are like Minions, whereby every other main character falls into the cute factor with one single cutest creature which is called Bob. What results is a movie that will entertain the kids and strangely, many females that would fall under the girls category.

Look at that.. Its Bob... Awwww... and he is carrying his teddy..... double awwwww..

Guys on the other hand, well, lets look through the rest of the aspects of the movie before drawing a conclusion!

And note! Don't see the wrong movie! This is the latest one! there is no word "Despicable to be found here"

Woo!! who is that shadow

Storyline 3.5/5

Realistically speaking, this storyline is quite standard for a disney/pixxar flick and you can draw some similarities for this movie with all the previous. Of course it has its unique and charming points overall but looking from the top you should realise that disney/pixxar flicks seldom have very extravagant plot twists and things that you won't expect.

That being said, thanks to its focus on the origin of the minions and what the other minions are doing while these 3 guys are out there wrecking havoc in the world, this movie is prevented from feeling like "Just another Disney/Pixxar movie" as they have slightly more new things to intrigue the audience with for a good first part of the movie.

This does work for the younger audience that this movie is intended for but speaking for the older viewers, this will not and should not be the strong point that you will expect from this movie.

Character 4/5

The three main characters are well fleshed out and distinct from each other and this is emphasized throughout the movie. There are also the inclusion of many fun side characters both good and bad who are different in their own whacky ways and this does keep things fresh and entertaining all the way.

There is of course, no deep background for a show meant for the younger audience but overall, you will mostly be able to enjoy what is happening with the charming personalities that are the minions.

Cinematography 3.5/5

From the very beginning, you will enjoy the creative way of telling the story of how everything begin for the minions. The movie also jumps around from the 3 protagonists back to the whole tribe to keep things fresh and not too stale which works pretty well in preventing monotony of the movie.

However, its not an action movie and hence lacks in epic or action shots throughout the movie that generally was never the forte of Disney/Pixxar.

Music 4/5

Music is really quite a strong item in this movie with a good mix of famous songs to add flavor to what is happening during the movie itself. The sound track also adds a good level of immersion to the movie with relevant music whenever major items happen to heighten the senses and emotions.

Spectacle 3.5/5

It is definitely a cutsy show and this will seal the deal for most of the supporters for the minions but on the realistic front, this is not a totally new concept and this movie can be compared across to another previously released movie "Penguins of Madagascar" which unfortunately shares the same drawing points as this movie. It does not have as much unique characters as the penguins and is slightly toned down when comparing cinematography style.

There is action, there is good music, and there is a lot of fun in general but its not realistic to say that this movie sticks out prominently enough when compared to the other offerings present this year.

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Its above average since it focuses on the history of the minions, but the main storyline flow is not something totally new)
Character: 4 (The characters are all different in their own cutsy and fun way and are very lovable... even the side characters)
Cinematography: 3.5 (There some effort put in, and the start of the story is told in a creative way. However there is nothing else after that and the rest of the story is told normally)
Music: 4 (Good choice of music and inserted at good points throughout the movie)
Spectacle: 3.5 (It's biggest draw would be its cute characters. Other then that, it did not really do anything particularly outstanding from the current movies this year)

Overall: 3.7 (For those fans who love the cute minions, this movie is a no brainer and it will give the fans exactly what they want. However, if you belong to the group that is not accompanying your kids, nor your significant others who love the minions, you going to have to set your expectations to just try to have fun and enjoy the silly antics of a bunch of yellow minions. Otherwise, there is really nothing that will strongly entertain you. If you have not seen the previous movie, perhaps you could try to see those movies first to see if this will fit your appetite as this movie is mostly in the same vein and uses the same draw of the previous movies i.e. being cute and fun.)

Movies: Jurassic World

Movies: Jurassic World

If at first glance, you thought that this movie sounded familiar, then you must be from the same generation as me! Indeed it has actually been a cool 22 YEARS since the first Jurassic park was shown (1993). In fact, from its most recent Jurassic park it was already 14 years ago. Yep. Jurassic Park III was actually shown in 2001. After that, there's been some TV series, but no there were no serious contender to the Jurassic park series... until now! And in case you are confused at the name change, no worries, Jurassic world indeed was made to be a continuation of the Jurassic Park series.

So how did the movie go? was this a good reboot to the series? Lets break it down and take a look

Storyline 3.5/5

Well.. considering that the previous similar storyline was done nearly 22 years ago.. I would say that the storyline is somewhat refreshing. It's not totally new, but it has not been done for such a long time we can consider this a fresh start. Especially for those who didn't see the first few Jurassics, you will find this a very thought provoking and interesting storyline.

There were a few portions of the movie whereby the the characters (humans and dinos alike) did not really follow the logical path of action but it was all for the purpose of making the movie much longer and entertaining experience so don't be too critical to be expecting a movie that completely does not raise any brows in disbelief.

There is a fair bit of entertainment value and amusement in the conversations and happenings throughout the movie including the tense portions but there is also the addition of the obligatory love story blahblah thing that I would say was just slightly detracting from the movie. The pace is not fully action packed and a good part of slightly more then the first half of the movie is to introduce you to the new theme park that is Jurassic World and it was somewhat slower paced at the beginning. However, once it picks up into the action, it keeps it that way till the end.

Character 3/5

Character also runs into the similar problem as storyline, meaning that the development of the character does not really follow logical progression. It may be overthinking it a little but you probably won't feel as much connection to the characters as to the dinosaurs themselves honestly.

Nonetheless, they are playing the family stick together storyline style and I guess its passable in general although this is nothing that will steal the show.

Cinematography 4.5/5

Good cinematography and its very cool at how they make use the of the special abilities of the dinosaur in the movie itself. There are also a lot of noteworthy action shots and even first person shooter style that look like it could come out from game itself.

There are also a lot of great shots to show the overall scale of the world with dinosaurs involved and it really adds to the enjoyable experience. You will be able to appreciate the scale of the world when you have dinosaurs in the picture and like what the movie wants to do, you will learn how small we humans would have been comparatively.

Music 4/5

One major smart movie that the movie did was to make use of the all familiar sound track from the very first Jurassic park to bring about the nostalgic feeling to the audience who have last seen this movie close to 2 centuries ago.

Overall also, the music is noticeable in immersing the audience into the lull that is the Jurassic THEME park before throwing you into the real Jurassic everything goes to hell park.

Spectacle 4/5

Considering how rare a movie of this scale is nowadays, this is really a refreshing improvement and difference to the usual action movie that is merely man on man or man on monster. It also does a fine job of introducing u to a world where maybe theme parks will be different, and yet how it can go so very very wrong. Action is done pretty well in this movie with a nice climatic finish in the end that will most likely entertain u pretty well.

Sadly, its story is not as intriguing and merely serves just as a medium to get the story across due to the many inconsistencies in the usual logical paths or action that characters will take. Nonetheless, the shots and action part makes up for it leading to a very enjoyable dinosaur movie.

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Good enough storyline, has some inconsistencies but overall flowing.)
Character: 3 (Not easy to relate to character story lines and somewhat cliché. Ironically, the dinosaurs may attract more emotional connection then the humans)
Cinematography: 4 (Good epic and action shots, even better then some action movies out there)
Music: 4 (Good usage of music to bring out nostalgic effects, also helps audience immerse)
Spectacle: 4 (Been too long since there was a dinosaur movie and that alone helped it score high. Only let down was the overall story direction)

Overall: 3.7 (I would say that this is definite a good action show and a way to spend about 2 hours of the day if you have nothing superb to do. You will probably enjoy this movie even more if you saw the first 3 movies and can appreciate how times have changed and the movie pretext has advanced through the years. In fact, if you plan to see this, take a few days and watch the first 3 movies with your pals and friends first and you should be able to enjoy this movie even more. Just don't expect too much or a too spectacular kind of storyline and you should be all set for this movie)

Next movie on the list is Minions and hopefully I can get the review up ASAP! Thanks all for reading and comment if there is anything!!

Movies: Avengers 2 - Age of Ultron

Movies: Avengers 2 - Age of Ultron

It's here again. The yearly installment of the marvel franchise and this time it's the everything all together super hero mash up of almost every other marvel franchise together. There is still room to really mash up other heroes like the x-men and spiderman but this is not the movie. Yet this movie easily has about 10 prominent superheroes of which many have appeared in their own split off movies and for fans of any of these individual side movies, there is no reason why you will not want to catch this one.

Storyline 3.5/5

The storyline in this movie is pretty fine, keeps the movie going and has a pretty good pace of slow and quick moments.

It actually has some specific focus on some characters particularly those who will not be getting a standalone movie in the near future. I will leave you to guess who these few characters  are but overall the story is fine with some overall development and flows well enough.

There is also the injection of quite a few comedic scenes making use of the uniqueness of many of the character backgrounds and personality which is a important touch. After all, even for us mere mortals, there are moments where we have our own humor too so this makes the movie feel more real and entertaining.

Don't expect a storyline that is unique or  fresh as it merely follows the usual marvel style. You will see the gathering of heroes, them having some internal conflicts, then they team up and with all their powers combined they do a lot of killing and destroying.

Character 4.5/5

This is pretty much the whole draw of the movie in that they add a few more new superheroes or villains and introduce their powers and show how they interact and do things in this alternate world they live on. But with the inclusion of so many characters many of whom are from the previous marvel movies making some cameos, there is more then enough heroes to satisfy you as long as you are interested in this kind of thing but you may get lost in trying to recognize who are some of the people and what they are doing there.

All heroes do have their back stories and like I said above, this movie does put some emphasis on a few characters that won't have their own movie in the future so there is a fair bit of character development here and there. But for those who have not seen the previous movies, you will have no clue who 30 percent of the heroes are especially in the meet up scene of the movie and this does hinder some form of enjoyment as what they say might not make sense to you unless you follow more the franchise closely enough.

I also like the idea that the movie is fleshing out the more normal, more human-like heroes in this movie as compared to those who already have an excess of screen time. Also it is sweet that the movie gives each character their chance during battle scenes so you can be awed by their abilities and see how it is used to its potential.

Cinematography 4/5

As per usual action marvel movie this one has plenty of action shots and loads of slow motion scenes where you can slowly enjoy what each character does during battle and see what powers they have.

You get to see a lot of good special effects and even some first person views that gives you quite good entertainment and immersion value.

Also has its fair share of epic shots from the sky and fast movement shots all around the place.

It never gets too messy during the Battle scenes as the director is conscious to not make too many things happen at the same time and this allows the audience to follow the movie much better

Music 3.5/5

Music in this movie is fine and adds alot to the atmosphere and over all immersion feel. It is not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination but it really does it job well enough. Anyway marvel movies are not musicals. They are action movies.

Spectacle 4/5

If you want a movie where you can see tons of action, special power,  see your favorite marvel super hero besides the characters from the x-men etc. This is your go to movie. The pacing is good enough and the battles are always exciting although a bit one sided most of the time.  I personally feel that this detracts a bit as you will feel that your heroic characters are never going to lose at any point and thus the end results of every battle are more or less expected.

Although there is some twist at the end of the movie, overall, this is a great action movie with a good storyline to boot. Definitely something the fans will enjoy tremendously cause they give the fans what they really want.

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Good flowing story with good pacing, but from the bird's eye view, still a cliche, safe generic storyline)

Character: 4.5 (You get tons and tons of heroes in this movie including many cameos)

Cinematography: 4 (Good shots all around, makes the action scenes much more exciting)

Music: 3.5 (Fine music for an action flick, nothing too spectacular though)

Spectacle: 4 (This is the action movie that marvel fans must see, and it does well in the action genre with good slow mo shots, epic shots etc. Storyline is also pretty flowing)

Overall: 3.9 (Overall, this is a show that will appeal to many people as a pure action show with tons of special effects and power. It does get a bit heavy at a point of time when it seems like everyone and their grandma seems to be having super powers. It does help to see the previous movies before catching this and for action genres, it is more fun to see it on the big screen. With future similar and related movies linked together, if you feel that you will see those movies someday, then you might as well just go ahead and spend 2 hours having fun with the Avengers.)