Angels & Demons… Good or Bad?

Another Dan Brown book has been adapted to movies. Unlike the first Dan Brown adaptation, The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons didn’t garner much controversies against the Catholic Church this time. Maybe there were historical and factual inconsistencies, it’s still fiction. Even if the book/movie is based on half-truth, we have to keep in mind that it’s still fiction.

One good thing of not reading the book made me not compare the movie from its origin. I can clearly focus my attention to the movie itself.

In Angels & Demons, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) tries to save Vatican City from symbols scattered around the churches of Rome against a secret organization called Illuminati. Robert Langdon has to scour Rome to find clues just to find the antimatter which CERN discovered that may lead to the Path of Illumination; destruction of Vatican and all the cardinals attending the conclave. Will Robert Langdon save and change the world with his hairdo?

Angels & Demons is a quite predictable movie. I have even predicted what may happen in the end. Though, the plot twists made me go “He isn’t? “Yes, he is.” “Oh no he’s not!” “I knew it!” “Damn”, a lot of times. In the end, I realized I was right by the very beginning, but I’m not. It’s really confusing like that.

Unlike The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons didn’t play much mind games and math problems like the Fibonacci sequence. It’s much easier to digest and mostly revolved on different statues and landmarks. Sadly, the movie didn’t highlight the beauty of Rome. It’s still thrilling to watch as the characters move around Rome and solve the clues with the sculptures.

Though predictable, it’s still entertaining to watch. It’s even better if you’re not familiar with Rome and don’t care that much with history. Just take the movie lightly.

And also, what’s with the hairdo Tom Hanks? Please explain.

Ratings:
Visuals: 3/5 stars
Intellect: 3/5 stars
Plot: 3/5 stars

Star Trek is an Awesome Movie without the Hohumm

Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Enterprise, James Kirk, Spock… I think everyone knows now what I’m talking about. It’s Star Trek, sillies! If they don’t have a basic idea what Star Trek is, then they better do their research because Star Trek is now back on track.

Casting young stars for Star Trek made me dubious on how this movie will come out. Everybody is more familiar with William Shatner as Captain James Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock. This is also a movie that no one should mess with because of its large fanbase. Nobody messes with Star Trek fans because they can pulverize the movie outfit with their blasters.

I was not THAT interested to watch Star Trek but everyone who watched the film was raving. I decided to watch the film and to my surprise, I loved the movie. Saying that the movie is good is an understatement, it is AWESOME. Almost everything I like to see in a movie, Star Trek gave it to me. Adventure, drama, wit, action and visual effects, they are all in this movie.

Star Trek didn’t even made me burn my butt for sitting too long. There has so many great movies like “The Dark Knight” but most of them are just damn too long to watch. Even those movies still have hohumm moments. In Star Trek, they have balanced the action and the drama. Just like what everyone wants in a sci-fi, a lot of space action and just right character depth in a span of two hours. Beat that.

The actors played their roles very well. Kudos to Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto for their excellent rapport and performance. I never thought that a boy-next-door type actor Chris Pine can give justice as Capt. Kirk, or Zachary Quinto be Spock and not as Sylar. It’s their typecast but they have broken it with Star Trek. I saw Kirk in Chris and Spock in Zachary (amidst the raising eyebrow of Zachary which is so Sylar). And yeah, Eric Bana and Winona Ryder is in this film too and I am not aware of that.

Star Trek is a must watch movie for this year. A fan or not, this movie is for all. And saying Star Trek is a good film is an understatement. Star Trek is so good, guess who’ll be in its sequel.

Ratings:

Visuals: 4/5 stars
Intellect: 4/5 stars
Plot: 5/5 stars

Scratching Wolverine

He has healing abilities, superhuman senses and claws coming out of his knuckles. His bones are bonded with adamantium alloy making him nearly indestructible. But what happened before Logan became one of the X-Men? That’s what the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine tries to answer.

If you are a big X-Men fan, you may already know the tale of James Howlett how he became Wolverine. The movie retold it the Hollywood way. Big budget, big stars and a lot of media hype, that’s Hollywood alright. With the hype, is it worth to watch in theaters now that almost everyone have seen the unfinished leaked version?

A popcorn movie is always good to watch on the big screen. If you expect Wolverine a movie with depth and substance like the Dark Knight, then, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not for you. It’s good to watch in theaters because audience will enjoy the explosions and visual effects better. Well, if you have a home theaters, you can wait to have it in Blu-ray or DVD. That is if you can endure the spoilers or people around you talking about it.

One of its drawback on me is that this movie focus too much on Wolverine… oh wait, no… on Hugh Jackman. Yes, I know that the movie is about Wolverine, but it doesn’t mean that most of Team X will be destroyed. It’s more of “Our Wolverine is Hugh Jackman, the sexiest man alive, let’s give other stars a shorter screen time; KILL ‘EM.”

What I like with the movie is Liev Schreiber. He is effectively gritty as Sabretooth. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool would have been the comedic relief if given a longer screen time. Lynn Collins as Silverfox is exceptionally hot on screen, I was drooling over her. And of course, the showcase of different mutants.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is nice to watch without expecting too much from it.

BTW, don’t leave your seats if the credits start rolling.

Ratings:
Visuals: 4/5
Intellect: 2/5
Plot: 3/5

Let the Right One In... it's the right one alright.

We have a lot of vampire films lately. Vampire movies have evolved in so many ways. From the goth dominatrix of Underworld to sparkling daylight vampires of Twilight. Even cable TV has its own version of vampires with True Blood. Recently, there's this new swedish bloodsuckers' movie in a fresher view; Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in).

Let the Right One In is a film adaptation of a novel with the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist under the direction of Tomas Alfredson. The author of the novel also did the screenplay of the movie. It tells a story of a frequently bullied 12-year old boy Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) who've met Eli (Lina Leandersson), a strange girl who recently transferred next door. Oskar has no idea who Eli really is.

This film proves that they can put chills and put the audiences at the edge of their seat without the flashy budget and visual effects of Hollywood nor the shimmering bodies of the cold blooded bloodsuckers,. There's also romance between Oskar and Eli without the icky cheesy feeling of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen from Twilight. The puppy love here is similar to My Girl; sweet, tragic but creepy... and better.

The cinematography fits the mood of the movie. It is subtle but haunting. Every frame is a captivating photograph.

Let the Right One In is so good, Hollywood will have a remake of it. Everybody knows that they are famous for ruining most of the remakes. Before they make a hollywood version, I suggest to watch the original first.

Is Oskar a meal to be really special to Eli or is he more than that? Watch the movie to find out.

Ratings:
Visuals: 4/5 stars
Intellect: 4/5 stars
Plot: 5/5 stars

BumpTop is Fun

Everyone who’s working in front of the computer for a lot of hours have one thing in common… a messy desktop. Be it on the actual desk or the desktop computer. So there’s this software to cleanup your computer desktop.

THE BUMPTOP

If you love to stuff all your files and downloads on your desktop, BumpTop is for you. It cleans up the mess you make. Users can pile their files on their desktop by type. It’s a cool way to pimp your desktop because it runs in 3D and make your computer looks like a house in top view. Users can also look around their “virtual house”. Pimp the walls with your picture files and gallery. There’s also a sticky note that users can hang on their walls or plainly lying on the BumpTop floor to remind them. BumpTop themes are also available to fit the users personality. Users can also toss files to print, send to email or sharing them with social networking sites.

Bumptop is fun to use. Removing desktop clutter is one of its primary features. Bumptop is a software that can help show off your computer. It’s like The Sims for desktop where you boast your house with cheated items or to tell your girlfriend “Hey girl, look how organized I am.”

Unfortunately, BumpTop only conceals how your desktop really looks like. It doesn’t organize your actual desktop. Do you remember the time when you’re sweeping the floor and hiding all the collected dust under the carpet so that your mother won’t scold you? BumpTop does it for you. It ain’t a bad thing actually. Users will only be disappointed to find out that their desktop is a mess when their BumpTop is turned off. Yes, the software can be closed and it’s a good thing too. It takes a toll in your computer’s memory for a software that runs in the background. It also takes a moment to load.

My desktop without Bumptop

Oooh… zen with Bumptop

If you want to have fun with your desktop and want to make it seemingly clear, BumpTop is for you. I won’t suggest it for heavy applications users and multitaskers. It can slow you down especially if your OS runs a lot of programs in the background.

BumpTop is not for the serious computer users.

Download BumpTop here