How To Train Your Dragon Review

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With Pixar winning 5 out of the last 7 Best Animated feature awards at the Oscars, it’s hard to take Dreamworks animated films seriously. I can name only a handful of Dreamworks films that I liked, namely Antz, Shrek, Chicken Run, The Prince of Egypt and KungFu Panda. I’m glad to add How To Train Your Dragon to that list.

This movie takes place in Viking times and is about a boy named Hiccup. Yes, I know, that’s not a very Viking name. In the process of the movie, he sees another side to the vicious dragons that terrorize his village and starts to understand them.

They waste no time jumping straight into the plot. You’re introduced to the dragons right from the get-go. The subtle narration in the opening bits of the movie helps with the introduction to the back-story and is a great starting point. Other than being thrown right into the mix in the first 10 minutes, I found myself being struck by how good the voice acting was. If I had to pick out one thing from this movie that made me like it, I would definitely say the voice acting. Big props to the casting director for getting it spot on with Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson.

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Another thing I like about the movie is how they dealt with the accents. There’s a fair balance of Scottish and American thrown in, keeping the Viking flair but at the same time making it mainstream and more understandable with the American accents.

Apart from the stand-out voice acting, the visual effects are well done but nothing mind-blowing. Everything looks very rounded, just like in other Dreamworks movies. I’m disappointed with the art design of the the supposed best and most powerful dragon of all, Night Fury aka. Toothless. I know it’s meant to be cute at times, but at times when the dragon is supposed to be vicious and frightening, it just looks lame. It’s too rounded and looks nothing like a dragon. More like a black cat with wings. The best thing about ‘Night Fury’ is that it’s like the fighter jet of the dragon. It’s fast, stealthy and shoots awesome fireballs.

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In a nutshell, the How To Train Your Dragon is a an easy-on-the-mind, feel-good movie. With plenty of cute ‘awww’ moments and decent humor, this is definitely a highly recommendable movie. Everyone should go see this movie. Bring your kids, your siblings, your parents, your grandparents, your aunts and uncles. It will be worth the money you pay. But it’s definitely nowhere close to Pixar standard. This movie barely evoked any emotions in me, something Pixar films do all the time.

I shall give How To Train Your Dragon a rating of 7 out of 10 Popcorns.

Final Robin Hood Trailer

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Here is the last trailer for Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe as the title character. The first trailer for the movie was incredibly epic (because of the heavy metal music) but now, this latest trailer tells us more about how the movie is going to look like when it gets released May 13.

Check out the full-length trailer below.

In 13th century England, Robin Hood (Russell Crowe) and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power. And whether thief or hero, one man from humble beginnings will become an eternal symbol of freedom for his people.

Robin Hood chronicles the life of an expert archer, previously interested only in self-preservation, from his service in King Richard’s army against the French. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from the corruption of a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation, where he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett), a woman skeptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and salvage the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct injustices under the sheriff.

With their country weakened from decades of war, embattled from the ineffective rule of the new king and vulnerable to insurgencies from within and threats from afar, Robin and his men heed a call to ever greater adventure. This unlikeliest of heroes and his allies set off to protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war and return glory to England once more.

Source: /Film

3rd Red-Band Kick-Ass Trailer

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With every poster and every trailer released, I get more impatient. I really, really want to watch Kick-Ass. Here’s another red-band trailer for your viewing pleasure.

Sorta NSFW and definitely NSF Kids.

Click here to check out previous posters and trailers on Kick-Ass.

Official Full Length Tron Legacy Trailer

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Disney are back with another, better trailer for Tron Legacy. Check it out. It features new Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, who was also in the original Tron.

Watch the trailer below. It is one of the better trailers I’ve seen recently.

Tron Legacy will hits cinemas at the end of the year.

Kick-Ass Character Posters

I don’t feel like writing today so I’m just gonna post up some cool posters from the upcoming superhero/comedy film, Kick-Ass, based on the graphic novel. Enjoy!

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Kick-Ass gets an April 16 release here but I won’t be surprised if it gets pulled from distribution here in Malaysia. It is, after all, an R-rated movie. Even if it does get shown here, I doubt it would be worth ten bucks to go see in the theaters.

2010 Oscar Winners

Here is the full list of Oscar nominees and winners of each category:

Best Supporting Actor:

  • Matt Damon - Invictus
  • Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
  • Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
  • Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
  • Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Animated Feature Film:

  • Coraline
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox
  • The Princess and the Frog
  • The Secret of the Kells
  • Up

Best Original Song:

  • “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog
  • “Down in New Orleans” from The Princess and the Frog
  • “Loin de Paname” from Paris 36
  • “Take It All” from Nine
  • “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart

Best Original Screenplay:

  • Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
  • Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
  • Oren Moverman and - The Messenger
  • Joel and Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
  • Pete Docter and Bob Peterson - Up

Best Animated Short:

  • French Roast
  • Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
  • The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
  • Logorama
  • A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Documentary Short:

  • China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
  • The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
  • The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
  • Music by Prudence
  • Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Live-Action Short:

  • The Door
  • Instead of Abracadabra
  • Kavi
  • Miracle Fish
  • The New Tenants

Best Make-up:

  • Il Divo
  • Star Trek
  • The Young Victoria

Best Adapted Screenplay:

  • Neill Blomkamp and - District 9
  • Nick Hornby - An Education
  • Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche - In the Loop
  • Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
  • Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air

Best Supporting Actress:

  • Penelope Cruz - Nine
  • Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal - Crazy Heart
  • Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
  • Mo’Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

Best Art Direction

  • Avatar
  • The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
  • Nine
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • The Young Victoria

Best Costume Design:

  • Bright Star
  • Coco Before Chanel
  • The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
  • Nine
  • The Young Victoria

Best Sound Editing:

  • Avatar
  • The Hurt Locker
  • Inglourious Basterds
  • Star Trek
  • Pixar’s Up

Best Sound Mixing:

  • Avatar
  • The Hurt Locker
  • Inglourious Basterds
  • Star Trek
  • Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Cinematography:

  • Maurio Fiore - Avatar
  • Bruno Delbonnel - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  • Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
  • Robert Richardson - Inglourious Basterds
  • Christian Berger - The White Ribbon

Best Original Score:

  • James Horner - Avatar
  • Alexandre Desplat - Fantastic Mr. Fox
  • Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders - The Hurt Locker
  • Hans Zimmer - Sherlock Holmes
  • Michael Giacchino - Pixar’s Up

Best Visual Effects:

  • Avatar
  • District 9
  • Star Trek

Best Documentary Feature:

  • Burma VJ
  • The Cove
  • Food, Inc.
  • The Most Dangerous Man in America
  • Which Way Home

Best Film Editing:

  • Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron - Avatar
  • Julian Clarke - District 9
  • Bob Murawski and Chris Innis - The Hurt Locker
  • Sally Menke - Inglourious Basterds
  • Joe Klotz - Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Best Foreign Language Film:

  • Ajami - Israel
  • El Secreto de sus Ojos - Argentina
  • The Milk of Sorrow - Peru
  • Un Prophéte - France
  • The White Ribbon - Germany

Best Actor:

  • Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
  • George Clooney - Up in the Air
  • Colin Firth - A Single Man
  • Morgan Freeman - Invictus
  • Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker

Best Actress:

  • Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
  • Helen Mirren - The Last Station
  • Carey Mulligan - An Education
  • Gabourey Sidibe - Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
  • Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Best Director:

  • Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
  • James Cameron - Avatar
  • Lee Daniels - Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
  • Jason Reitman - Up in the Air
  • Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Best Picture:

  • Avatar
  • The Blind Side
  • District 9
  • An Education
  • The Hurt Locker
  • Inglourious Basterds
  • Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
  • A Serious Man
  • Up
  • Up in the Air

What I'm happy with:

Best Supporting Actor: Cristoph Waltz
I thought he thoroughly deserved the win for that excellent performance in Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'nique
Again, Mo'nique thoroughly deserves this Oscar. She will never play another role this well again in her life. You have to watch Precious just for her performance in the film.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Although this movie may seem small and insignificant in comparison to Avatar, it takes nothing away from the quality of this movie, which ultimately gave it this win. I have always liked The Hurt Locker, ever since I saw it and reviewed it- here.


What I'm not happy with:

Best Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker
Sure The Hurt Locker had an excellent screenplay and would deserve this win any other year. But it was in the same category as Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece Inglourious Basterds. I just think Basterds had a far more superior story than The Hurt Locker and I'm just a little disappointed it didn't win.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Precious
I just think Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell did a better job with District 9 and should have take this award home for their efforts.

Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Yeah, yeah. Stop gasping. I wasn't blown away by Avatar's visual effects. Not that I'm saying it wasn't anywhere near game-changing for cinema, because it was. I'm just saying I connected more and got more out of the effects in District 9. And when we talk about bang for buck, District 9 (budget: $30 million) blows Avatar (budget: $250-300 million) out of the water.



Well, congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker people for racking up a total of six out of a possible six Academy Awards. I thought they really deserved each and every one of them. I am, after all, team Hurt Locker, no matter what people say about Avatar.


Source: /Film

Iron Man 2 Trailer #2

The first Iron Man 2 trailer premiered almost three months ago and it's about time the second one came out. Here it is on YouTube after it premiered on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

In this one, there a lot less humor but we see a lot more action with the suit. Whiplash gets more screen time in this trailer and we see Nick Fury once again. Also, we get to see more of James 'Rhodey' Rhodes/War Machine, played by Don Cheadle.

The end sequence of the trailer is the best part, so watch til the end! Enjoy!




Iron Man 2 hits our screens April 30, a whole week before the USA. Woohoo!

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