9

Luv this movie. It’s an animation but not the childish type. Exciting, thrilling with interesting story. And one thing I really like from this movie is that it doesn’t have the preachy moment that every single Pixar movie seems to have. The downside is this movie is a bit short, only a little more than an hour but a pleasure to watch nonetheless. Though, keeping in mind that it’s short, I suggest you watch in weekdays since the weekend fare is a bit more expensive and may not seem worth it to some.

 

bloody monday = bloody boring

I take back what I said previously about Bloody Monday. It’s BOOORIINGG because the story’s got no substance whatsoever. The perfect example of a plot-driven manga. I groaned practically at every chapter due to the stupid plot. むかつく!!! Ughh.. Skipped to the last three chapters and I’m thankful that I did. Turned out the mangaka made another outrageous twist. Bah. I don’t think it deserves the previous 7.5. I doubt it even deserves 5 out of 10

 

Bloody Monday

A fast-paced action with plot twists coming up one after another. Contrary to what most people say about it, I don’t think it’s THAT great. Everything was too much, even the plot twists. Reading it feels like watching a big-budget Hollywood action flick. Great action, no substance, just flash-bang-boom all over (think Transformer). It used the common ingredients and formula to make an action manga a bestseller and I think that it fairly succeeded in accomplishing what it set out to do. But that’s about it. I doubt it’ll leave any impression on me by the time I finish reading it (though I have to give the mangaka props for managing to make it somewhat enjoyable despite the  overused formula). 7,5 out of 10.

 

watch out!!

When “Watchmen” was being showed here I don’t know why, but I wanted to watch it so much even though I don’t usually like that kind of movies. But I didn’t have the time (and the money ) that I only got to watch it today (courtesy of ITC kuningan). And I thanked myself for not being able to allocate the money to watch it at XXI. IT WAS AWFUL. ughhh.

The guy playing dr. manhattan was trying too hard to be the all-powerful omniscient being that he was supposed to be (and failed badly at it), that stupid long-haired girl was completely useless and the makeup was mediocre at best (Dan has flabby tummy but somehow it was gone whenever he dons his costume). And the story.. ughh don’t get me started on the story. While watching it I can’t help thinking to myself, “what kind of a joke is this?”. Basically the movie was just a parade of special effects that you get tired of halfway (or maybe not even halfway). And it’s 2.5 hours long. Can you imagine sitting in the cinema for 2.5 hours cursing yourself for wasting your money on 2.5 hour-long torture?? I shudder at the mere thought of it. >_<

4 out of 10.

 

started out good but then..

I’ve been reading many noteworthy mangas lately so I guess it’s time for another manga review This time, it’s Belmonde Le VisiteuR (ini memang dari sananya r-nya selalu huruf besar, don’t ask me why), a shounen manga published in the Weekly Shounen Jump. First of all, I should remind anyone currently reading the manga that this review contains spoiler.

The manga is set in France during the time of Cardinal Richelieu and the protagonist, Belmonde, is a man who happens to be an illegitimate son of a noble man with a witch. His mother was executed for being a witch and so he was raised by the monks in the basement of a monastery, forbidden to ever set foot outside the basement. Inheriting the witch blood from his mother (FYI, in this manga the word witch applies to both men and women), he could see through anyone with his eye hence he was appointed by Cardinal Richelieu to obtain information from prisoners. One catch though, he can only use his ability on someone who nearly loses consciousness. So Belmonde drives the prisoner to the verge of losing consciousness by “torturing” him with a special witch sword. The “torture” is the main theme from the beginning of the story almost up to the end of volume one and is actually the fun part. It’s not scary at all (to the reader, that is) being funny and very enjoyable instead. The manga was set in a light mood so I honestly can’t see the prisoners as evil cutthroats. They’re just there for the author to show us the creative and ingenious methods Belmonde uses to extract information. Belmonde along with the other characters, the royal guard Roland, the noble girl Celine, and the peasant Chloe are amusing and the interactions among them make this manga very entertaining to read.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Unfortunately the fun doesn’t last and near the end of volume one it seemed that the author decided to start a new plot that regrettably made the manga less enjoyable and even a bit annoying. To me, Georges’ motive is not sufficient enough to make his actions plausible. Add this to the ridiculous event happening to Louis XIII which leads to D’Artagnan being the good-bad-guy, and the author had succeeded in making me want to throw the manga out the window.

Bottom line, the manga was good, up to the point the five assassins came, because that’s where the new plot starts. Unfortunately I cannot tell whether it gets better or worse to the end because scanlation is only up to volume two while the manga itself ends on volume three. Maybe I should look for the third volume in Book-Off (kayak ngerti bahasa Jepang aja.. ).

 

tobaatt.. gak bakal lagi aku nonton narnia

Just finished watching Prince Caspian (I know, I know, it’s an old movie but I haven’t written a movie review for a long time so there). The first half was surprisingly good. Compared to the first movie you might even say it’s very good. But the second half.. well.. it just seemed to me as if they’ve spent all their energy for the first half and by the time of the second half they’re out of steam. I mean, Peter is a High King for God’s sake. How could a High King let himself be distracted in the middle of a battle..!! The battle was not going in their favor so he was desperately looking for Lucy to save the day…?? Come ON!! And Caspian  was getting more and more annoying up to the end of the movie.

Sebetulnya filmnya lumayan sih. Lumayan lah untuk mengisi waktu. I’d say 7 out of 10. Eh ato 6 ya?  

 

The Dark Knight

The dark knight = kereeeeennn!!! Great movie An exhilarating fast-paced action movie. Another one of those rare movies where I didn’t glance at my watch in the first 15 minutes I walked into the cinema expecting just another run-of-the-mill action movie and boy, was I in for a surprise. And a very pleasant surprise it was I didn’t expect too much since the first movie was just so-so to me. But this one exceeded my expectations and showed that Hollywood can still dish out a great movie every now and then. Christian Bale IS Bruce Wayne. You cannot picture anyone else playing that role (George Clooney, anyone?). Heath Ledger acting was superb. He made the psychotic Joker a believable real-life character. Joker is no longer just another villain from a comic.
Another thing that I love from the movie is the setting. All the previous movies were shot mostly at dark. Since Gotham has always been described kind of like a city in eternal night. But Gotham in “The Dark Knight” was different. Just like real cities, it has day and night. In short, Christopher Nolan has turned Gotham from just a fictional city in a comic into a city so realistic you’d think it actually exists in reality. That Batman lives there. And I mean he LIVES there. He doesn’t just happen to live in a city named Gotham. That the action could take place anywhere. No, with this movie you could never imagine Batman is from a city named XX (write in any name you want here).
However, one thing to keep in mind, DO NOT LET CHILDREN WATCH THE MOVIE. The violence was a bit, well, above (or below?) average. I actually grimaced at several scenes though I’m usually not disturbed by violent scenes (or is it because I’m getting old?? )
Bottom line, it’s a great movie. Even if you weren’t interested in it, give it a chance. VERY satisfying. I’d say 9 out of 10

 

Double Arts

Time for another manga review This time, the spotlight’s on Double Arts, a shounen manga. It was begun only recently, still on chapter 13.  But it looks promising. I love the arts. AND the storytelling. AND the setting. It’s set in an RPG-like setting. And the flow would actually remind you of an RPG game. You move between towns. You gather information at each town. While having enemies jumping out every now and then. (Sebetulnya ini hanya perkiraanku. Wong baru dua kota kok. )

Apalagi yaa.. Yah gitulah.. Bagus pokoknya

Summary: give it a try. I think it’s sooo much better than Psyren which has been given many positive reviews

 

Death by Chocolate (yeah, right)

Death by chocolate is a cafe in PIM 2 specializing (so they claim) in chocolate. If chocolate is what they specialize in, I shudder when I think of how the non-chocolate products might taste (brrr). I mean, do they seriously think anyone will like those so-called “food”? And what’s with the name? The food is so good that you’d die?? Not a chance. If there’s anything in that cafe that can kill you, it will be the boring, definitely not cozy nor hip, atmosphere. And it’s also very, and I repeat, very, expensive. A slice of chocolate cake costs 40K and it doesn’t even taste decent!! (Actually, I’m exaggerating here, the chocolate sauce is actually okay.) But overall, another expensive-yet-definitely-not-worth-your-money cafe. I suggest you stay away from this one.

 

Plot vs Storytelling

Dulu kalo baca a review of a book I used to not understand what the reviewer meant when he said plot and storytelling. I thought to myself, “aren’t they the same?” and thought that the reviewer was just being snobbish and that he deliberately used literature jargons just to show off (and to confuse the reader. ).

I started to realize the differences between those two things when I read a book of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. I found the plot fascinating. I was very curious as to what would happen to the characters. Unfortunately I couldn’t stand the storytelling. The storytelling, I must say, simply sucked. It was very soapy. Numerous characters (new characters keep appearing even near the end of the book) with story twists which were not unlike those of soapy tv series. In fact, it was one of those rare books which I could not stand to read that i skipped through parts of minor characters. In fact, I skipped through the part of the battle between Stark and Lannister!! Can you believe that?? I mean, how could a battle be boring?? That shows just how soapy the book was.

At that time, I could not comprehend what the boring part was. When asked about the book, I would always say, “The big story is interesting but the story unfolds in a very boring way”. I still did not realize that it was the storytelling.

And then i read Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series. and what do you know, it was the exact opposite of “A Song of Ice and Fire”!! I found ‘The Golden Compass” as an exciting, fast-paced and, at times, thrilling. But nearing the end of book 1, I thought to myself, “what a lousy story..”. Nevertheless, I bought the second book, “The Subtle Knife”, because I wanted the excitement I had when I was reading the first book. And I was not disappointed. The second book lived up to my expectation both in storytelling but unfortunately, also of another lousy plot.

The storytelling of “The Subtle Knife” was brilliant. I held my breath, cried, and basically felt involved with the story. But time and again I couldn’t help thinking to myself “the story was getting even worse..!!”.

Jadii mo ngomong apa sih aku nii?? You could stand reading a book with a lousy plot if the storytelling is good. But you would NOT, I repeat, YOU WOULD NOT read a book if the storytelling sucks even though the plot is the most original ever. And I’m going to buy the third installment of “His Dark Materials”.