Piranha

Piranha
With so much hype going on about it, I really thought this is a must-watch blockbuster. GV even postponed the release date for a Piranha movie event. Clarence is right. This is a B-flick after all. In fact, I would classify this as "Gore" more than "Thriller". Thrillers generally focus on plot and suspense. This, more gore than anything. What you'll see is people screaming in half-skeletal bodies, bodies getting split in half, etc. It reminded me too much of Final Destination. At the very least, Kh, Yt and I agreed that its plot is better than FD. It is more realistic in a sense. Piranhas, as we all know it, do chew on human flesh. However, if this were to happen in real life, surely we won't find people screaming as they did. Most people will generally faint from the shock before they can even scream. Some shark attack survivors also claim that they don't feel any pain at all when their limbs are bitten off because the body goes into such state of shock that it doesn't know how to react anymore. Oh well, I can't say I didn't enjoy all that drama though.

3.5 stars  

Reign of Assassins, Buried, Chen Zhen

Long delayed movie reviews.. lol... Certainly, this streak of lousy movies isn't making me excited to blog about it.

Reign of Assassins
Watched this movie at GV Vivocity and there was what seemed like a 3-min delay in screening. During that time, all of us were sitting there waiting patiently in total darkness. The great thing about it is, we were all given complimentary movie passes by GV management as a form of apology. And that's good because, I didn't think it was worth it to pay $7 to watch this movie at all. All I can say is, this movie is very average by standard. There was nothing particularly appealing about it. I probably wouldn't even watch it if it's free. Time is precious!

2.5 stars

Buried
I think most of us in the audience thought there was a technical fault at the beginning of the screening. Apparently, this is how the movie starts- in total darkness. After that, you start hearing some heavy breathing. And then you see a dim light which goes on and off. And it practically stays like that for the rest of the movie. I couldn't believe how budget this is. I thought they would at least do some flashbacks to show what happen etc. Coincidentally, about a week before watching this, I was watching an old episode of CSI where one of the leads was kidnapped and buried alive 6 feet underground in a glass coffin, and I have to say it was one of the best episodes of CSI. This movie here could have turned out much better. I think one person said it best,"This movie has no head and no tail."

2 stars

Legend of the Fist: Chen Zhen
What a disappointment. I know now not to trust that every Donnie Yen movie is a good one. I was told that this is a true story. But looking at the way the story played out, I wasn't sure how much of it is actually true. Lousy script aside, too much of the action looks too similar to that in Ip Man. And in a few scenes, Donnie Yen actually made that Bruce Lee trademark shriek. I was shivering in disgust. Ew. More originality please.

2 stars

Playful Kiss

Without a doubt, my fave Taiwanese drama of all time has been "It Started With A Kiss" aka 恶作剧之吻. Fave Korean show, "My Name Is Kim Sam Soon". 

Now with the Korean version of Itazura na Kiss (original manga version)/It Started With A Kiss/恶作剧之吻, i.e., Playful Kiss/Mischievous Kiss, depending on how the story continues playing out from now (episode 12), I may have to re-think about my Korean fave. Hahaha! 

What I like about it:

- MUCH less long-winded than the Taiwanese version

- some parts follow more closely with the original manga

- lead actor and actress MUCH MUCH better looking 

- Background scenery so much nicer (very korean-ish)

- the OST! 

What I do not like about it:

- some parts of the script 

- acting not as good

- some great parts from the Taiwanese version is not included


Looking forward to Episode 13!

Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home

I went to the Crumpler shop at Raffles City last week with the intention to buy the Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home camera bag. 

As it turned out,

5 MDH- $112, no shoulder strap

6 MDH- $156, a bit bigger than 5MDH

7 MDH- $166, a lot bigger than 6MDH, can mount my tripod too

Not bad, can put quite a lot of stuff. All these above including a netbook. 

Another strike of wishlist!