Chris Evans Confirmed as Captain America

Chris Evans who played The Human Torch in Fantastic Four has accepted Marvel's offer to be Steve Rogers or better known as Captain America in the next installment in The Avengers franchise.

This means that Evans is going to be joining Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton when The Avengers movie roles out in 2012.

Personally I felt Matthew Fox would have been a better choice for Captain America but I did like Chris Evans in Sunshine, so I do look forward to see what he does with the role. The First Avenger: Captain America will premiere in 2011.

Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto The Next Bond Girl

Freida Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire fame has been casted as the next Bond girl in the 23rd installment of the James Bond series which will be directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes. And no matter how much she is denying it, MGM has said yes so suck it Freida. No seriously.. please suck it hahahahah.

Now let's all admire her BODY of work...

Alice In Wonderland: Review

Okay! So like, last week I posted up reviews from other critics saying that they hated Alice In Wonderland, and after watching the movie in 2-D and 3-D this week, sorry guys but I'm going to have to agree with the critics on this one.

One thing you have to know before watching this is that this isn't Alice in Wonderland. It's more like Alice in Wonderland 2. It takes place 13 years after the original Disney cartoon, Alice is 20 years old and has forgotten all about Wonderland, she's in this Rose Dewitt Bukater situation where every aspect of her life is run by obnoxious British men and her mom and she is forced to marry an ugly Lord. But by a chance of fate she is drawn back to Wonderland only to discover that it has been taken over by the Red Queen and needs to once again rescue Wonderland.

The art direction of the film is a huge departure from Tim Burton's previous work. Aside from Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter there wasn't anything else in the movie that would vaguely remind you of Tim Burton's usual gothic feel. Wonderland is a beautiful painting come to life. The art direction and the CGI are so gorgeous to look at.

All the animated characters here were nicely done. I loved the Cheshire Cat. You sure he's CG? Cause I thought he was more like a regular cat that smoked too much opium that's why he's grinning so much. My absolute favorite was the Red Card soldiers which were my fav from the original and they were so wonderfully made int this. Even smaller features like the frogs and the pigs looked great in this.

The girl they cast as Alice is great. Mia Wasikowska is one fine British chick. I tell you the second she puts on that tight iron armor, it wasn't a children's movie anymore.. not at least what was going on in my head hahaha. But her performance was great considering she had such huge shoes to fill. I like how they made Alice a strong female character, paying homage to Disney princesses like Pocahontas and Mulan.

And what can I say, any role that Johnny Depp does, he knocks it out of the park. The sad thing was the the Mad Hatter didn't have much to do in this movie. Matter of fact all the characters in Wonderland had little to nothing to work with. The Mad Hatter and the White Queen especially, felt more like throw away characters that served no purpose to the story and were more like comedic detours in the plot.

The sole great performance from the Wonderland characters was Helena Bonham Carter. She took a role that was so easily two dimensional and gave it a lot of depth. I loved her, every time she came on it felt like the movie finally had something interesting to watch again. And what the fuck is up with them CG-ing her head on a tiny body. Helena Bonham Carter, having a big head in real life as it is... k nevermind.

So watching this, I felt like everyone brought their A Game to making this movie except the screenplay writer, who simply did a half ass job at writing a predictable storyline, zero character development, average dialogue and an overall borefest of a movie. And let's be honest, the movie is practically Alice wondering around Wonderland saying she's not really Alice for 1 hour before finally killing a lame dragon at the climax. Woooo.. so interesting.

What saved me from walking out of the cinema the second time was everything else. I loved the CG, I loved the performances, I loved Tim Burton's direction. It's just sad that there wasn't a tissue-thin interesting story for me to get attached to.

And the final straw of the movie, the thing that ultimately made me loose my mind was that towards the end of the film.... Johnny Depp starts break dancing. Now I ain't gonna spoil it and say what happens. But in the middle of the 1800's, we get a few characters who were popping and locking and shuffling and I was like, "Okay that's it.. fuck you, fuck this movie, I'm going."

RATING: 5/10

Edge of Darkness: Review

Eh Nic! The movie not out yet lah... Yes I know but piracy very chun okay. Found a copy of the movie from my favorite DVD seller and the movie was effing clear!

Okay, so Edge of Darkness is actually based on a BBC series in the 1980's about Thomas Craven played by Melk Gibson who's this prominent homicide detective who is having a little reunion with his daughter. As they're walking out the front door of the house, his daughter is shot and killed by unknown assailants. Everyone assuams that Mel Gibson who was standing next to her was the killer's intended target but as he begins to investigate, he uncovers the secret life his daughter has been living that involves political and corporate corruption.

The movie is directed by Martin Campbell, one of the awesomest action directors alive. He did two of the best James Bond movies, Golden Eye and Casino Royale. And there were some great action scenes in this amidst it's really thick convulated story. There's a living room fight scene between Mel Gibson and his daughter's boyfriend that was shot and edited so tightly it could possibly match any fight scene from the Bourne series.

But the pacing of the movie is where I had problems with. Edge of Darkness isn't an all out action film everyone is believing it to be, this movie is more of a detective film. It's a slow burn investigative film that relies more on the suspense and writing than the actual action sequences. It took some time to get to where it wanted to go, I felt that it crammed in too many unnecessary scenes, and half of the time it's just Mel Gibson trying to talk in a lousy Boston accent.

The biggest problem with this movie is that I really didn't care much about Mel Gibson's character. See unlike Liam Neeson in Taken, they don't give you any reason why you should root for Mel Gibson to beat the bad guys. There was no development in his character, I knew absolutely nothing about him, he comes off as just another character that's only being utilized to serve the story. Plus that accent of his is really annoying. But what I will say is great about him is in the last 15 minutes when he turns into a complete bad ass and goes into a "I Kill You" mode.

The best performance in Edge of Darkness is Ray "Beowulf" Winstone who's only in this for like 4 scenes but had a huge impact on me. He's the kind of guy that is very clam, very subdued but if he wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already. He is the man who usually stops Mel Gibson from catching on to conspiracy's but circumstances in his life has made him change to side with the good guys. I liked that little twist they had with Ray Winstone and he played that character beautifully but he was so underdeveloped in the story, it felt like such a waste.

And check out that girl who's playing Mel Gibson's daughter. I got here name right here, Bojana Novakovic. Damn that girl is fine as hell and is it just me or does she look like a 20 year old version of Jodi Foster? And she wasn't just another pretty face actress, she was kind of good in the 5 minutes she's in. What we need now is a movie with her and less clothing muahaha.

I think this movie would have made more sense if it just stuck to being a television series because it makes more sense if it was told over a duration of a few episodes instead of just 2 hours. They had a lot of plot developments that had to be shoved in which ultimately made the whole film slightly boring and made the climax ineffective.

But don't get me wrong it was still an okay movie. It does get slow at most parts but it when it comes to the payoff, you really get your money's worth.

RATING: 5/10

Crazy Heart: Review

Okay a little note before I start the review, I am writing this on March 7th 2010 which means the Oscars hasn't happened yet and I don't know if Jeff Bridges won, or if this movie won anything else for that matter. So do try to bear with me on the limitations of this review.

You know... I'm watching this movie and I like it but I have no idea what the fuck the title means. What the hell does Crazy Heart relate to anything this movie is about? Aren't you sick and tired of watching movies that has some random title that makes no sense to the film? But anyway... yeah this movie was amazing!

Crazy Heart is about Bad Blake, a country singer who used to be one of the best country singer in the world but has become a washed up has been. This guy's life sucks. He has been reduced to performing in bars and howling alleys while his backstabbing protege whom he coached his making millions a day. We follow this guy's story as he takes one blow after another.

Wow was Jeff Bridges fantastic in this. Keep in mind that I'm writing this review before the Oscars so if he has won it by now, I am totally all for it. He plays a character who was at one time at the top of the world but crashed and burned and has pretty much just given up on living. There was something that was authentically pathetic about his character that resonated with me for some reason.

His character is pretty much the same as Mickey Rourke's character from The Wrestler only where Mickey Rourke shined because of he portrayed the physical abuse of his character, Jeff Bridges shines because he captures the torture of the soul of a man who is washed up, broke, alcoholic and has lost the reason to pick himself up again. And while it was hard watching his character be who he is, you can't help but root for this guy because deep down inside, he is a good man who does deserve better. He stirs hope in us by abandoning his.

The only thing more beautiful than Jeff Bridges performance is the title song of the movie, The Weary Kind. When I heard it the first time, I wasn't too crazy about it. But after watching the movie and hearing it again, it has a whole bigger impact on you once you know about Jeff Bridge's character because this song is the very definition of everything his character feels. The Weary Kind is like a powerful sonnet that says everything about struggle, patience, perseverance, heartbreak and hope in a beautifully orchestrated country song.

And the other songs in the movie is pretty good to. They are all good ole fashion country songs that might not appeal to most Malaysians but I found them to be really catchy and lighthearted. The score is fantastic, Ryan Bingham really did a great job with the music.

My God what the hell happened to Collin Farrel?! The dude used to be some ignorant asshole but I'm starting to have an uncomfortably strong liking towards him. This dude can really act! I loved him in In Bruges, I loved him in Ondine, and I love him in this. Who knew Colin Farrel could pass off as a redneck? And a good looking redneck at that! His character is suppose to be that two dimensional character that everyone hates but he added a lot of depth to it. He held a strong, believable Southern accent the whole way through and he sang pretty good to.

I really don't get why Maggie Gyllenhaal is nominated for an Oscar for this. It's not that she wasn't good, there just wasn't anything special about her character. It was like watching Maggie Gyllenhaal play Maggie Gyllenhaal. And comparing her work here with that of Jeff Bridges and Collin Farrel, she doesn't leave much of an impression.

The movie also had some fantastic cinematography. The shots of the American desert roads and the scenery shots were really gorgeous to look at. Especially the ending scene of the film that was shot under such a beautiful sunset scenery.

But do understand that Crazy Heart isn't a touching story or a trial from tribulations film. It's a well made, simple, down-to-earth movie about hope and love with phenomenal performances and a great soundtrack.

RATING: 7.5/10