Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

*After watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,
Andy fell ill… it was a case of seasickness.
No not really… I had symptoms of a cold, it just got worse after watching it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is the third and last of the money spinning trilogy, or so they say.
Everything has led to this, or so they say again and I kept my mind opened.
The first of the Pirates series, The Curse of the Black Pearl was good.
It was a movie out of nothing or more correctly a movie inspired by nothing more than a Disney theme park ride.
Having said that however the creation of Captain Jack Sparrow was nothing short of inspirational.
Captain Jack played by the charismatic Johnny Depp became the talisman of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Thought to be dead when we saw him charging into the jaws of monster octopus Kraken toward the end of Dead Man’s Chest (the sequel), he is to be brought back from the dead in this latest film.

I have to be honest; I hated Dead Man’s Chest.
Its various plots and subplots were terribly tangled and confusing.
It was hard to follow what sort of story or motives the movie wants to say.
I blamed my lack of understanding for not comprehending Dead Man’s Chest.
That was summer of last year but since then I have done my research, for the billion dollars making movie was to have a third installment.
Having seen one and two, I have to see three.
But if I do not understand two then how can I go ahead with three.
And so after a better understanding of two I saw three.
You should know this.
For all my efforts I was still robbed by the pirates.

I was led happily out into the open sea before being robbed.
I was enjoying the first third of the 168 minutes film.
Captain Jack’s crew arrived in Singapore to look for Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fatt), pirate lord of the South China Sea for a ship and a map, so they could sail to world’s end and rescue our favourite captain from Davy Jones’s Locker.
Davy Jones’s Locker is a ghost realm of the netherworld where the dead Captain Jack Sparrow is being kept for eternity.

There appears to be some oriental influence in At World’s End.
Firstly of course we are introduced to a Chinese pirate, Captain Sao Feng.
Secondly, the costumes and all were very well designed in an exquisite oriental fashion.
And there was Singapore, a South East Asian country where Captain Sao Feng can be found.

*Andy is from Singapore.
What is it you say? You didn’t know?
Well now you know.
And I’m absolutely furious at the Singapore set.
Singapore is nowhere near what it looks like in the movie.
I’m kidding. I’m not at all angry about it.
The Singapore set was designed in perspective of how it would look like in the era of the pirates.
Credit to the designers for a good piece of creation.
What you see on screen is not at all like what modern Singapore is now, which is a multi-cultured nation.
For your info, Singapore is not part of China. *Wink*
And Chow Yun-Fatt is from Hong Kong.

The Singapore set features a bathhouse and I couldn’t help relating it to Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.
The popular animated film, released by Disney in the west has a bathhouse theme.
The relation did not stop there, and I wondered if the scene where Captain Jack Sparrow is isolated in Davy Jones’s Locker was inspired too by Hayao Miyazaki’s work.
The part where thousands of strange and curious yet harmless rounded stone-like crab helping Jack move his ship, The Black Pearl across a desert aroused my attention to this perspective.
It was through the hands, eyes and imagination of the acclaimed animation master, Hayao Miyazaki that made famous the approach of detailing stories with thousands of mini little intriguing creatures.
And it was fun to watch.

I was enjoying At World’s End, laughing merrily at all the pirate jokes that the characters are lashing out at one another, feeling the thrill of the sword-fights and of course attracted to the sometimes witty, looney and mad character of Captain Jack Sparrow.
That scene of him engaging himself to his many different personalities while alone in the deserted Davy Jones’s Locker is a real gem.

But with all the oriental influences, the filmmakers probably did not take note of the teachings of Zen, where less is truly more.
For when after the crew rescued Captain Jack Sparrow and brought him back to the mortal world, it all happened again.
The tangling and confusing plots and subplots manifested once more and killed whatever is good about the film.
In my opinion, if At World’s End had ended after rescuing Captain Jack and had a straight approach in the gathering of forces to deal with Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) with a fitting spectacle of a finale fight, the film would have been great.

I was trying to understand the story.
In reflection I probably should not for it amounted to nothing.
It just isn’t worth it.
It would be tiring for me just to list them all out.
So just be warned that in the film, every character have their own personal agenda.
It is “me” first and “you” later if “you” are still there.
If that is the purpose of the story-writers to represent the meaning of how pirates are, then they have succeeded.
In fact it was so successful that they lost me.

It bored me so much I no longer laughed at the jokes.
It dragged on so long I no longer felt compelled to see the ending.
I just want the film to end there and then.
Enough was enough.

“Take whatever you can and give nothing back.”
Thanks a billion, filmmakers, or is it thanks me instead?

This entire Pirate series is like a ride on a pirate ship in a theme park, it was thrilling for a start but as it swing back and forth too many times the nauseas will come and when it stops you find yourself displaced nowhere.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is a fine example of a good film gone bad because it had too many tangling tales to tell.
I maintain that it is worth watching for the first third of the film but save yourself from seasickness in the middle just so you can enjoy the spectacular fight sequence toward the end.

Stay away from my shores Pirates, don’t come back for a fourth, you’re no longer welcomed even if you mention Singapore a million times! That’s the pirate in me saying it. Arr…

Movie link: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend/

Movie Preview: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

The third installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean would fold its sails and come ashore on 24th May 2007, into our theatres.

More release dates here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449088/releaseinfo

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are back again after two hugely succesfully voyage since 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and last year's sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Dead Man's Chest became only the third film in cinema history to rack in $1billion worldwide, behind Titanic and The Lord of the Rings.

The ending of Dead Man's Chest left us with the death of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he charged into the jaws of monstrous octopus Kraken, and the vow of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), as well as with the rest of the pirate crew to bring their captain back from the dead with the help of a laughing Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End would therefore be about the attempt to bring Captain Jack Sparrow back from the dead.

To put it more precisely, the captain is now captive in ghost pirate Davy Jones's Locker awaiting his rescue.

What you should know as well is that continuing from Dead Man's Chest, Davy Jones's beating heart has fallen into the hands of evil Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company who wants the monopoly of all sea trading to himself.

With the heart of Davy Jones, who controls the sea, Lord Beckett now controls everything.

There will be a new foe in At World's End.

He is the chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fatt) of the South China Sea.

With old foe, Captain Barbossa becoming an ally, Captain Jack Sparrow and company would battle against the forces of the East India Trading Company, Davy Jones's ghost pirate crew and chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng.

At World's End have thrown away the whirlpool chase plot outline of Dead Man's Chest and gone back to straight-forward sea adventure action filled with sword fights and merry pirate humour.

It is about the pirate era coming to an end but not before one last battle in the name of pirate freedom.

Let's keep our eyes and mind wide open for another spectacle of a movie by Disney produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski.

*Andy will review Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's end when this week comes to... yes... an end.

Counting down toward "World's End" Part TWO

Captain Jack Sparrow back with the Black Pearl, Elizabeth Swann to be wedded to Will Turner, but something is not right, the sky is pouring rain and soldiers storm into the premise of Mr. Turner and had him under arrest.

Following the success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, the sequel Dead Man’s Chest of the Pirates of the Caribbean series opened in 2006.
It became only the third film in history to reach the $1billion mark worldwide.
That alone says a lot about the film.

But personally I found myself lost, just like Captain Jack Sparrow's treasured magical compass.
The compass would not point correctly if the holder does not know what he wants.
The reason being that the plot had thickened so much it no longer was that enjoyable as a straight forward fun and exciting adventure film.
But that is only my point of view.

Viewing the film as it is, Dead Man’s Chest maintained its reputation as one that is filled with stunts, actions, sword fights, stunning CGI and humorous characters.
Much like a theme park ride, which it was rightly inspired from, Pirates of the Caribbean would give its audience a spectacle of a movie worth the ride.



So, coming back to Dead Man’s Chest, Will Turner was arrested, and so was Elizabeth Swann.
They were sentenced to death on charges of conspiring with the pirates.
So too was Commodore Norrington, who has since disappeared from sight.
Lord Cutler Beckett, who leads the East India Trading Company, is now in power.
Sentencing a soon to wed couple is not his real agenda of course, and he wants Will to find Jack Sparrow for he wants the magical compass in the Captain’s possession.

This magical compass holds the key to the biggest prize, the Dead Man’s Chest.
The chest holds Captain Davy Jones’s beating heart.
He who has the heart controls Davy Jones and with that controls all of the sea.
Captain Davy Jones is a monstrous looking ghost pirate with a head that of an octopus.
His ship is the Flying Dutchman and his crew is nothing short of strange and aggressive ocean sprawling characters.
Among them is Will Turner’s father, “Boot-strap” Turner.

The adventure in Dead Man’s Chest is like a whirlpool, with the plot spunning round and round every character.
It is sometimes as confusing as it is spectacular.

Lord Beckett wants Will Turner to find Jack Sparrow in exchange for Elizabeth’s freedom.
Jack Sparrow is seeking a new treasure with his crew, the key to unlock the dead man's chest.
Davy Jones is looking for Jack Sparrow who has a debt to pay.
Jack uses Will to retrieve the key from Davy Jones and Elizabeth to find the chest with the magical compass.
Commodore Norrington wants the beating heart of Davy Jones in exchange for a deal with Lord Beckett.

Do you get the picture?

The characters would go after one another for one reason and another.
From chase after chase, the beating heart of Davy Jones fell to the hands of Lord Beckett through Commodore Norrington.
Jack Sparrow was seen swallowed by the giant monster of an octopus Kraken after being tricked and abandoned onboard a sinking Black Pearl by revengeful Elizabeth Swann.
Dead Man’s Chest ends with the remaining crew of the Black Pearl along with both Will and Elizabeth paying voodoo priestess, Tia Dalma a visit.
In remembrance of Jack Sparrow they all agreed to bring him back from the dead at world’s end.
And to do so they’ll need a captain who knows the waters.

With that you should recall in the closing scene the laughter of a certain Captain Barbossa from the first film, who was thought to be killed.

The next and last of the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was shot back to back with Dead Man’s Chest.
That is mainly the reason why we get to see the swift follow up after last year’s sequel.

What will At World’s End bring to us that is worthy of a fitting end?
We’ll take a look but that will be for another day before the film opens toward the end of this week.

Counting down toward "World's End" Part ONE

The days are nearing when the pirates sail toward the last stage of the trilogy,

the trilogy of the Pirates of the Caribbean,

one that is nearing its end; At World's End.

And you thought we'll never see Captain Jack Sparrow again...

Of course not, nobody in the right mind would think that.

He may have been swallowed by the Kraken (monster octopus) in Dead Man's Chest, but he is nowhere near dead, at least not till we bring him back for one last sail.

But before we do, let's bring back memories of the first movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

The world was introduced to Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003, and the adventure film starring the charismatic trio of Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley was an instant hit.

In fact it was so good that it grossed more than $650million worldwide.

To think that a film inspired by a Disney theme park ride can garner such success is truly amazing.

"Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)", the theme song for the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride welcomed us into the world of pirates when The Curse of the Black Pearl began.

A young Elizabeth Swann onboard a ship sailing toward Port Royal rescued a boy found floating on the sea.

The boy, Will Turner, carries with him a gold skull medallion which was promptly hidden away from the view of others by Miss Swann.

As she kept the gold, a glimpse of a ship with black sails disappears into the mist.

It was to be the legendary Black Pearl, a pirate ghost ship helmed by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

8 years had past and Miss Swann has grown into a young woman (Keira Knightley), and the time for marriage has arrived.

When Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport) proposes to Elizabeth over a cliff side, she fainted and fell into the sea.

As she sink into the sea, the gold medallion which she carries with her suddenly emitted a strange pulse.

It was to be a signal that brought the attention of the Black Pearl.

Elizabeth was eventually saved by a witty yet sometimes looney of a character Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).

But a pirate has no place in Port Royal and he was sent behind bars.

While he mulls over his bad fortune, the Black Pearl arrived one night in rampage and took Elizabeth away.

The pirates believed that she holds the cure to their curse, a curse to be undead.

Out of love and desperation, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) seek alliance with, and freed Jack Sparrow in an attempt to rescue Elizabeth.

Jack knew that Will holds the real cure.

After gathering a crew, Jack and Will set sail to Isla De Muerta, the place where the pirates of Black Pearl would go to break their curse.

While on their voyage, the pair forged an unlikely friendship.

With Elizabeth eventually saved and the pirates of Black Pearl defeated, the ship was returned to its rightful captain, Captain Jack Sparrow.

But well... the self-proclaimed elusive captain was captured once more and sentenced to be hung by the Commodore.

With the help of new found friends, Elizabeth and Will, Jack escapes and reunite with his crew and ship, the Black Pearl.

The Curse of the Black Pearl ends but the adventure will not.

The success of Pirates of the Caribbean would lead to a sequel: Dead Man's Chest, where the adventure gets more risky and the plot gets thicker.

And that we will save for another day, well... next day, as we continue the recap before At World's End unfold its sails come end this week.

Shrek the Third reduced to a green gleam?

Shrek 3 or Shrek the Third has been released since 17th of May in Russia and 18th of May in USA and the Phillippines.
More release dates here:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0413267/releaseinfo

I have not seen it yet so let me re-direct you to RottenTomatoes.com for the reviews so far.
Shrek the Third on RottenTomatoes.com:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek_the_third/

The reviews had not been positive.
I may have to pull out my surgical scalpel for this one when I get to see it come end of this month.

Stay tune then for the autopsy report. *Belch*

*Andy is presently in the midst of investigating the Spider-Man series after re-opening case-file ONE dated 2002 and case-file TWO dated 2004, while cautiously looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, hoping that this Disney spectacle of a movie do not go down sinking.

Crazy, Mad and Psycho me

Is watching 3 movies in a day considered crazy?
If it is then I'm crazy.
Add that I watched one of the three movies for a second time, would that be madness?
How about including that the movie which I saw for a second time is 28 Weeks Later, a movie full of bloody scenes.
Does that make me psycho?

I thoroughly enjoyed 28 Weeks Later.
The impact of the scenes from the movie absolutely captured my full attention.
The soundtrack amplified the emotions of the film.
The aerial views of Britain are amazingly beautiful.
And I love the cinematography.

Be it considered violence, art, or entertainment, 28 Weeks Later left a huge impression on me.
So much so that I borrowed a book titled "Screen Violence" just to find out more about the impact and influence that violence in movies can have on us, the audience.
I've not finished reading it but what makes sense so far is this quote from one of the acclaimed director of films with plenty of violence, Quentin Tarantino, "violence is simply one of the things that you can do in cinema that's interesting to watch'.
(Quentin Tarantino's films include Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol.1 and 2 to the more recent Grindhouse.)

One thing that everyone should at least try to understand about screen violence can be described best in the words of director Jean-Luc Godard, who was voted 31st Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
When asked by a critic on why there was so much blood in Pierrot Le Fou, he replied, 'That's not blood, that's red.'

Discretion is absolutely vital.
Parental guidance is equally important to young people.
If we do not comprehend Reel and Real, the effects can be disastrous.
The killings at Virginia Tech is an example of such.
It was speculated that the teenage killer was inspired by film.
Further reading at this post from Libertas:
Virginia Tech Killer Inspired By Film?

My friend commented that 28 Weeks Later is "disturbing" to him.
I have to accept. Not everyone can stomach screen violence with a full appetite.

I've mentioned I watched three movies.
The other two that I've watched are Blades of Glory and Next.
As much as I've enjoyed the violence in 28 Weeks Later, Blades of Glory had me laughing with its provocative ice-skating humor and Next gave me intrigue and plenty of thrills.
Nicolas Cage is cool as always.
And always I'll be loving seeing Jessica Biel on screen.

Seems like I'm really crazy, mad and yes... psycho. Ha!

Movie Review: 28 Weeks Later

*My apologies for publishing this review slightly late and past the weekend. I needed to take a few days away to affirm my thoughts about this film since I felt it was really good after viewing it. It is to confirm I'm not allowing emotions left over from a slightly disappointing Spider-Man 3 to prejudice my analysis. But then Spider-Man 3 and 28 Weeks Later are different films of differing genre altogether. Hope you'll enjoy this review.

Bloody good. 28 Weeks Later that is.
The film is so much more than what can be interpreted from the trailer.
This sequel to the 2003 surprise hit British film proves to be an even bigger surprise, right from the first minute.

In a candle-lit kitchen, a woman prepares tomato sauce pasta.
Her husband takes a bottle of red from the shelves.
Their faces revealed worry and distraught.
The camera now moves to the dining table.
An old couple sits there.
There’s another man.
And there was also a younger woman.
She’s handed a plate of pasta.
She places it on the table space beside her.
The man becomes agitated.
He advises her that her boyfriend has been missing for days and will not be back.
She disagrees.
He gets more agitated.
He tells her off saying that if her boyfriend ever returns, it would be her blood he’s interested in and not the pasta.
She starts to cry.

(Tomato sauce pasta, a bottle of wine, and blood, can you see the relation?
They’re red. Blood red.)

The soft silence suddenly breaks.
There’s knocking at the door.
A boy is shouting for help.
He wants to come into the house.
Everyone starts panicking.
To open the door or not?

The man decided to open the door.
A boy rushed in.
The woman hugs him.
Where’s he from?
From a town nearby he says and he’s being chased.
How many?

The anxious younger woman looks out of the house through a gap.
Bham! Something grabs her.
Zombies break in.
Everyone starts running.
It’s a game of tag.
One by one they’re tagged.
The horror.
The last of them is the woman, Alice (Catherine McCormack), and the man, Don (Robert Carlyle).
They’re cornered in a room at the top floor of the house.
He can’t save her, he’s terrified, and through a window he breaks out of the house and runs.
Music plays, the familiar tune from 28 Days Later, the tune of hopelessness and despair.
He looks back and she’s watching from behind a window.
He looks around; he’s being chased by dozens of bloodthirsty zombies.
He keeps running toward a river.
He found a motorboat.
He escapes.

What a start to this movie I thought.
A thrilling entrance accomplished by a change of pace.
Suddenly I’m wide-awake in anticipation.

This is the sequel to 28 Days Later.
The last of the zombies have died from starvation in 28 Weeks Later.
Aerial shots of London showed a deserted city.
The country is now being reconstructed and an enclosed area under the protection of the military, known as District-1 is ready for re-inhabitation.
In comes the new residents and among them is a pair of siblings, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton).
They are the children of Don, the man who escaped earlier in the film.
He’s now one of the in-charge of District-1 with a triple A, Access-All-Area pass.
Snipers guard District-1 from rooftops, they complain of nothing to shoot at and spend their nights surveying the privacy of the residents through their riflescope.
One of them is Doyle (Jeremy Renner).

Don recaps the story of his escape to Tammy and Andy.
He tells them they are not ever going back to their house.
He tells them their mum died there, the day of his escape.

What are these zombies?
For the benefit of those who did not watch 28 Days Later, these zombies are actually humans infected by the Rage virus.
The deadly virus transforms the infected in a matter of seconds to blood thirsty and flesh hungry zombies.
The Rage virus wiped out the population of Britain.

District-1 is the first of a program to re-populate the country and it is under the supervision of the military, headed by General Stone (Idris Elba).
Aiding the program is Doctor Scarlet (Rose Byrne), who makes sure of the quarantine at District-1.

All is well until one day when the children, Tammy and Andy, who misses their mother, sneaked out of District-1 to return to their house for a photo of mum.
There they discovered an infected but not zombified mum, Alice.
As the military caught up with them, they too brought Alice back to District-1 where she’s quarantined.

Alice could be a valuable asset, she seems to be immune to the Rage virus.
As Stone and Scarlet discusses the fate of Alice, Don by himself went to see her.
They kissed.
He’s infected.
Can you guess the rest?

It’s another change of pace.
This time it’s Code Red.
Step 1: Eliminate the infected
Step 2: Containment
Step 3: Extermination

The lead ends here, for the action begins.

28 Weeks Later is better than 28 Days Later in many aspects.
It’s also a sci-fi, horror, thriller that is outstandingly produced.
What is apparent in the film is its military element.
It is a dimension that gave the story its shine.
The use of military vs zombies rather than the usual guns against zombies is a smart way to liven up a genre of this sort.

Much credit has to be given out.
Producers, director, cinematographer, editors…
The entire crew and creative team have done an excellent job with this film.
This is not a brainless free-for-all flick that makes entertainment out of blood spilling angry zombies attacking bewildered screaming humans.
There are lots of details painstakingly thought up and molded together for this film.
The audience are well lead by the camera, which catches plenty of details and mood.
From the plot, sub-plots, scenes, dialogues and cinematography, everything is top notch.
It is a pleasure to watch even though I really should not encourage violent and killings.
But a movie of violent and killing it really is not, at least not excessively, scenes of such is used only when emphasis is stressed.

It is more so the underlying meaning of the story and the thoughtfulness of movie-making that are compelling.
Seldom is there a genre of this kind made this way.

In a story point of view, we could substitute the effects of the Rage virus to that of an outbreak of new disease or epidemic, and even in more recent terms, terrorism.
The consequences of such can be seen in 28 Weeks Later.
The deployment of military force is almost a certainty for situations like these.
The measures used are not exaggerated for they can be very real.

Therefore I strongly urge parental guidance.
The film is enjoyable but not to be taken for granted as just entertainment.
There are no big stars here but it is for the better so as not to take the shine off its presence.
You’ll get the scares here and there and will definitely feel the pace when the characters start running.
What is most notably well done is how director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo uses silence and pauses along with darkness and camera shakes to depict some scenes.

For non-fans of the horror thriller type film, it may be hard to watch as with all horror thriller but do give 28 Weeks Later a shot.
It really is bloody good and I meant that in an expressive way, just as the film is.

This film itself is the real rage, not the virus.

Movie link: http://www.foxinternational.com/28weekslater/

Movie Preview: 28 Weeks Later

The familiar title... 28... It's 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to 2003's 28 Days Later.
Days has turned into Weeks.
If you've seen 28 Days Later, you'll know that it's a British film of the Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller genre much like a Hollywood version Resident Evil.

Let's get a recap.
It all started when an infected chimpanzee with the deadly "Rage" virus attacked an animal rights activist attempting to free the animals in an animal testing laboratory.
The attack led to an outbreak of the virus that turned all infected into mindless blood and flesh thirsty zombies.
The story revolves around Jim (Cillian Murphy), a bicycle courier who woke up from a coma in a London hospital only to find himself stranded in the near deserted city.
Jim then had to explore the city and find his way to safety while risking his life against the zombies.



And it led to 28 Weeks Later and the story is still about Jim right?
Wrong.
The sequel may still be about the "Rage" virus but it no longer has anything to do with Jim.
At the helm too is a new director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who also co-wrote the story.
Danny Boyle who was the original director moved behind the scene as co-producer.

The sequel is about 7 months or 28 weeks later after the land was finally cleared from the last zombies who died from starvation.
London is ready to be inhibited again.
A first batch of survivors would be relocated back into the city under the close supervision of the military.
The story will focus on siblings Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), who re-united with their dad, Don (Robert Carlyle) but realized that their mum, Alice (Catherine McCormack) though not dead was found to be infected.



She is immediately quarantined by Stone (Idris Elba) and Scarlet (Rose Byrne) to prevent the population from being infected again while tests can be carried out on her to find an antibody since she is the last surviving infected.
Things however made a turned for the worse when an accident caused an outbreak of the "Rage" virus yet again.
The killing, shooting and screaming would resume once more.



The first film 28 Days Later was a surprised hit that was shot with a budget of $8 million on a digital video but brought itself a respectable $45 million just on its release in USA alone.

28 Weeks Later will be released 10th May in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Russia and Singapore, and a day later on 11th May in Philippines, Taiwan, UK and USA.
More release dates here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/releaseinfo

Movie link and trailer:
http://www.foxinternational.com/28weekslater/

Watch this space for the review of the 28 Weeks Later.

Movie Review: Spider-Man 3

Would it be fair to say that 3 is not better than 2?
That is if I make a comparison between Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man 2.
But regardless of comparison, Spider-Man 3 is not a bad movie.
It just isn’t great, that’s all.

The movie began with a lengthy title intro, throwing in snippets from the movie Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, which left me with a bad feeling to how things will turn out.
The intro wasn’t well done.
It was quite shabby, even lazy if to put it more harshly.
Aesthetically speaking it wasn't impressive.

It was like as if portraying the way Peter Parker a.k.a Spider-Man is living his life after being celebrated as the city’s hero.
Life is good, so good that our hero has forgotten his place and purpose.
Spider-Man, in this latest from the franchise is missing its spunk.
It has forgotten what made it great.
I’m talking about having the audience emotionally touched by Peter Parker’s struggle, having mind-blowing actions that leaves the audience in awe, and the impact of the dialogues that inspires.

My suspect is that the filmmakers tried to put too much into this movie.
There must be something somewhere that went amiss producing it.

Let me explain.
While the main focus of the film revolves around our hero’s disposition from fighting the darkness that exists in him, there were too many sub-plots that took away and undermine it.
There was the love story between Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst).
There was the meaning of friendship between Peter Parker and Harry Osborn (James Franco).
There was Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) being linked to the murder of Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson).
And there was Venom (Topher Grace).

With so many motives to act out, it is inevitable that the film would fall short.
There are too many pieces in this puzzle too trying to piece together in one film, despite its length.
The tempo is really slow right from the start.
If not for the hilarious-ness of some scenes, with quite a few notably of James Jameson (J.K. Simmons), Peter’s boss at the Daily Bugle, the movie can be considered rather dry for a comic genre film.

Sandman and Venom, the main villains, were not well depicted.
There were supposed to be much more about them, yet in the film they were reduced to just mere bad guys with bad luck that ultimately led them to become Spider-Man’s foe.
Character play is weak.

It is agonizing to see Spider-Man 3 following X-Men 3’s path of condensing storylines and mixing in Superman Returns’s mellow love story attempt.
This is not the best formula for an inspirational Superhero movie.

The last fight sequence toward the end where Spider-Man battles Sandman and Venom though became the savior for this Superhero film.
Thank goodness for it.

All in all, “With great power comes great responsibilities” wasn’t that great.
But I’ll like to agree with this message that Spider-Man 3 brings and that is in life we are given choices, some will lead to good and some will be bad.
When confronted can you do the right thing?

Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) told Peter Parker in the film, “Do yourself a favor by first doing the most difficult thing, forgive yourself.”

All of us had made choices in our lives.
For all those that went wrong, there is no longer anything we can do about them, but we can always learn from them so we can make right choices in time to come.

At least that part in Spider-Man 3 is right.
“May” Spider-Man 4 be “right” after 3.

Movie link: http://spiderman3.sonypictures.com/