Renzie Reviews: Jumper (2008)

I had a chance to catch Jumper on the plane, on my way to Los Angeles from Manila.

It was going to be at least 11 hours, so as soon as we hit cruising altitude, and we all settled in, I thought this would be a good time to check it out, since I missed it on its regular run when it hit theaters earlier this year.

The concept of Jumper seemed promising enough: Hayden Christiansen's character finds out that he could essentially teleport, or 'jump', from one place to another.

Seems like a neat power- instantaneously transporting yourself from place to place at a thought. Rather convenient, especially these days when gas prices are off the scale.

Rachel Bilson (yes- Summer, of "The O.C." fame) provides the obligatory romantic interest and eye-candy for the movie. And bad-ass Samuel L. Jackson's character is a paladin- like a modern-day witch-hunter, who tracks down and neutralizes jumpers (along with other paladins) whenever they pop up.

Let's keep my review of this movie spoiler-free: great premise- in fact, a potential for a really great story, but the execution has left me terribly unfulfilled. Mr. Christiansen's acting, was once again, disappointing and completely unmemorable.

You got great effects though, and the action sequences were fast-paced and entertaining, particularly when Jumpers square off against paladins, or against each other.

For me, the characters haven't been developed enough for me to really care about any of them. Do I root for Hayden's character- being the underdog in the whole story? Or do I cheer on Samuel L. Jackson and the paladins- even if the whole motivation for slaying jumpers seemed really flimsy for me?

In the end, I really didn't care much.

If you had a choice to rent the DVD, I'd say you're probably better off waiting for it to show on TV, or mooch it off for free, like borrowing it off a friend who actually bought the DVD.

Not a total waste of time, it did have some entertaining enough moments- but if you had a choice of other things to watch, you probably wouldn't want to put Jumper high up on your priority list.

Cheers, everyone.

Indiana Jones, Revisited

I've realized it's actually been a while since I last saw an Indiana Jones movie. With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull already out, I thought that it might be a good idea to watch the three previous Indy films before I watch the latest installment in the Indiana Jones series.

So I was able to round up the DVDs of the first three movies, and watched 'em all last week. Here's a quick review.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Note that the first time this movie came out, I was probably 7 or 8. No, I didn't know the entire film was actually set in the 1930s- hence the Nazi Germans and Indy's choice of handguns.

This movie set the tone for all the other Indiana Jones movies, painting us a picture of what Indy is all about- respected archeologist/professor and occasional adventurer. With the trademark fedora hat, bullwhip, leather jacket and WWI-era revolver.

In Raiders of The Lost Ark, the Nazis are scouring the world to recover the legendary Ark of the Covenant (yeah, the one in the bible), with the idea that it makes an army unstoppable. As such, we see Indy prevent them from doing so, and finding the Ark before the Nazis do.

We were also introduced to Rene Belloq, Indy's nemesis in the movie- an archeologist just like him, but in league with the Nazis. We also meet Marion Ravenwood, Indy's love interest, Sallah- an ally in Egypt, and the sinister Gestapo officer Toht.

For its time, the movie did very well: it cost US$20 million to make, but raked in US$384 million worldwide- making it one of the highest grossing films of all time. Raiders of the Lost Ark also bagged a whole lot of awards, including four of its eight nominated Academy Awards. Almost overnight, the Indiana Jones character became a pop culture icon.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

No, I didn't know that it was a prequel- set before the first Indy movie. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was set about a year before, in 1935. This time, Indy has to deal with a bloodthirsty cult, and saves the day by rescuing children and the occasional sacred artifact.

Compared to the first movie, this one had more adventure elements and is more horror-oriented. In fact, we hardly see Indy at his day job as respected archeologist/professor. Rather much more of Indiana Jones the adventurer.

Here's something I didn't know: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom actually came up with the PG-13 classification. According to Wikipedia, because of the movie's particularly gruesome scenes,

Spielberg spoke to the MPAA about creating a new rating that would cover the middle ground between a clear PG and a clear R that his films often found themselves on. This led to the creation of a new rating category: PG-13 (which you can read more about here).

Though not as huge as the first, the film was nevertheless, a success. It cost US$28 million to make, and made more than US$333 million worldwide.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

For some reason, the producers decided to go back to the original Indiana Jones formula. Not only do we see the whole Indy character (as a professor and as a globetrotting adventurer), we also get flashbacks into Indiana Jones' childhood- and explains a lot of the trademark elements: why he's scared of snakes, what's up with the fedora hat and the bullwhip, etc.

Some characters from the first movie come back for this one, and once again, Indy is up against the Nazis, who are after the Holy Grail this time.

As we all know, River Phoenix plays the young Indiana Jones (during the backstory elements) and Sean Connery plays Indy's father.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had a production pricetag of about US$48 million. It turned out to be the biggest movie in 1989, and came back with US$474 million in worldwide box-office sales.


So there you have it. Without a doubt, Indiana Jones does have a reputation to live up to. And personally, I wonder if the latest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull can hold up its own and achieve that sort of legendary status that the previous three films had managed to accomplish.

Cheers, everyone!

Gotta Have a Copy of Batman: Gotham Knight

You remember The Animatrix from 2003? When Warner Brothers and the same team that gave us The Matrix came up with a collection of nine animated short films set in The Matrix universe, and set in between the first 2 Matrix movies? That was totally kick-ass.

Now, what if you had the Animatrix all over again, but this time, it's all about Batman? Should be pretty awesome, I say.

Batman: Gotham Knight is due out on July 8 this year, just before The Dark Knight hits cinemas. It features six animated short stories set in between 2005's Batman Begins and this summer's highly-anticipated Batman movie.

Just like The Animatrix, the powers-that-be behind Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have collaborated once again with top anime directors and animators to come up with yet more Gotham City action and kickassery.

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for "Batman: The Animated Series", "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited" comes back to reprise his role as the Dark Knight.

Check out this video posted by WarnerBrothersOnline on YouTube:

Now check out the trailer posted by Georgem2789, and a preview/sneak peek shared by Lowekinder, both also shared over YouTube.

Batman: Gotham Knight is the third animated direct-to-DVD project of Warner Premiere and Warner Brothers Animation, the first two releases being Superman: Doomsday and Justice League: The New Frontier. A fourth project, this one on Wonder Woman, is due out either later this year or early next- another DVD worth watching out for.

Picture of The Dark Knight courtesy of Wikipedia.

Cheers, everyone!

The Latest Dark Knight Trailer

Just thought you'd like to check out the new Dark Knight trailer here, which came out just this week, and shared by Xxjalaldevilxx on YouTube. Enjoy.

I've also put the other two trailers here, this one was played right before the I Am Legend screenings. Shared by wmdeez on YouTube.

And here's the very first teaser that came out, shared by aprupp, also on YouTube.

Looking forward to catching The Dark Knight on the big screen this summer. The sequel to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) comes out in late July, this one based on the storyline of Batman: The Long Halloween- which you should grab a copy of, if you haven't yet.

Cheers, everyone!

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 1.

No doubt about it, it's one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Iron Man is Marvel Entertainment's latest blockbuster offering. The movie has enjoyed a stupendous amount of buzz, and fans only hope that Iron Man lives up to the hype.

I've seen the Iron Man earlier today. And it was awesome. Oh, and don't forget to stick around until after the end credits- a lot of people left the theater without seeing the kick-ass Samuel L. Jackson epilogue.

In any case, just like any good motion picture, it had spurred a lot of post-movie discussions. So I've been asked several questions about it- usually along the lines of: "Was that how it really happened in the comics?"

I must confess, I am no comic book geek, but I do know enough about Iron Man (I am a RPG geek though, and we did play a lot of Marvel Superheroes back in high school and college). So for everyone who needs a little brushing up on Marvel's Golden Avenger, here we go:

Iron Man the Marvel Comic

The idea of Iron Man first came about in 1963, and it was the brainchild of Stan Lee, together with Jack Kirby, along with writers Larry Leiber and Don Heck. It was Stan Lee who fleshed out the Tony Stark character, apparently drawing inspiration from Howard Hughes- a real-life multi-billionaire, inventor, adventurer and ladies' man.

Iron Man didn't have his own comic at first; his first appearance was on Tales of Suspense #39- a sci-fi and supernatural anthology title.

Interestingly enough, he started out with the clunky dull grey armor. By the next issue, his armor was now golden, and then another redesign happened by issue #48- this time with the more familiar red-and-gold body armor.

He finally had his own comic in May 1968 with The Invincible Iron Man #1.

Origins of Iron Man

Unlike many of the superheroes at the time, Tony Stark wasn't bombarded with radiation. Instead, he's a natural when it comes to machines, supposedly a boy genius of sorts. Plus he's independently wealthy, having inherited his father's multi-billion dollar company, upon his parents' untimely and accidental death (they died in a car crash).

The circumstances regarding the creation of Iron Man has been generally the same: Stark, as head of Stark Industries, goes off to check out the American war effort (in Vietnam in the original 1963 story, and then in Afghanistan in the 90's, and finally in the Middle East in the 2008 movie). He gets injured in an explosion, and the enemy captures him, ordering him to design weapons for them.

His injuries are pretty bad though, with shrapnel bits threatening to tear up his heart. A fellow prisoner (Yin Sen) constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from moving, thereby saving Stark's life. They then design a suit of powered armor in an effort to escape their captors. Stark uses the armor to escape, but Yin Sen dies in the attempt. So Stark uses the Mark I armor to blow up the enemy encampment, and flies off to rejoin the US forces, where he meets pilot James "Rhodey" Rhodes along the way.

The Iron Man Armor

Tony Stark has a workshop full of power suits, variants of the original Iron Man Armor as he constantly upgrades them, or creates one to fulfill a particular mission.

By default though, the Iron Man Armor gives Tony Stark protection against physical attack (i.e. most small arms fire) and energy attacks (via a force field), enhanced strength, the power of flight, life support, and an array of sensors and high-tech weaponry.

His main weapons are his repulsor rays (coming from his gloves), and the chestplate-mounted unibeam (which was originally just a spotlight, but in time has become a light-based weapon).

If you want more information on all the Iron Man armors, you can read up on Wikipedia here.

We continue our discussions on our favorite armored superhero with "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man, Part 2", which you can read all about right here.

Cheers, everyone!

Denny Duquette is The Comedian!

Forgive me for not getting the connection so much earlier, even if the photos had been out for almost a month already.

If you're a fan of Grey's Anatomy, you probably remember Denny Duquette, right? The dude who managed to snag Dr. Stevens' heart and left her with eight million dollars in Season Two/Three?

Well that dude is Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who incidentally, also plays John Winchester, demon-hunting dad of our two leads- Sam and Dean- on Supernatural. Yep, that's him on the right.

Right after I read Alan Moore's graphic novel all over again, I felt compelled to do some research about it online, and thus made the connection. Morgan plays the role of The Comedian in Zack Snyder's (same dude who directed "300") take on "The Watchmen". The movie is coming out about a year from now (in March 2009), but from what we heard, most of the footage has been shot, and the project is on post-production right now.

Now, as far as I know, The Comedian (the dude with the cigar in the pic to the left) doesn't really have super-powers- he's really a down-to-earth badass, almost like Marvel's Nick Fury. Even as superheroes had been outlawed in an alternate reality, The Comedian had continued to serve the US Government as a commando/special ops guy, touring global hot spots like Vietnam, Iran and pretty much wherever there was conflict- even helping quell some civilian riots at home.

Check out Morgan as The Comedian right here:

Now doesn't he look totally badass? Even if that just looks like regular Kevlar armor (I'm assuming) with a bandoleer of grenades + a standard army-issue grenade launcher, he looks rather menacing enough. Definitely worth watching out for.

According to FirstShowing.net, the movie arrives in theaters everywhere on March 6th, 2009. Stay tuned for even more Watchmen coverage, photos, and more exclusives on First Showing's official website.

Cheers, everyone!

This post originally came out in another blog of mine, "Renzie's Rants and Raves". I moved it to this blog shortly after creating it in March 2008.

Renzie Reviews: Serenity (2005)

I don't think this movie ever made regular screening in the Philippines. But at the time, I remember all they hype online across bulletin boards and fansites.

Serenity is a movie set in Joss Whedon's Firefly 'verse, written and directed by the man himself (excellent job, mate!). His pitch: it's a western- just so happens it's set in the future. Firefly also never saw airtime here (at least not on its regular run), and TV.com actually reported it as one of the best sci-fi TV series ever.

So naturally, when I had the chance to pick up a copy of said movie, I told myself that I just had to check this one out.

I wasn't disappointed at all- in fact, it's thoroughly entertaining: witty dialog, great story, excellent character development, good shots and camera work. It was sci-fi, alright, but not cheesy sci-fi (some DO tend to go overboard). It has, in many ways, set the benchmark on how science fiction movies should be done.

The movie was all about Mal and his ragtag crew- the movie had done an excellent job building up the characters in a relatively short time, so that you can't help but root for them, even if you haven't seen Firefly ever before.

I find out later on that the story played out in Serenity happens after all the Firefly episodes. Note to self: gotta pick up the Firefly DVDs. Watch more of the crew of the Serenity.

By the time the movie's done, you would definitely want to get to know the crew of Serenity a little more- a lot more. And chances are, you'll be checking out their entry on Wikipedia, Firefly sites and download wallpapers and images and stuff. At least, that's what I did.

Yes, Serenity made me an instant Firefly fan. Once I had the chance, I got the DVDs to watch them over and over again. On top of the Serenity DVD to end the unfortunately short-lived TV series just nicely.

Thanks, Joss, for a really good story. I'm personally looking forward to your next project.