Rule of Rose ~ A girl trapped in a weird fantasy

Before I begin my review, let me caution you that this review contains spoilers, so read at your own risk. ;-)

Rule of Rose is a 2006 survival horror video game for PlayStation 2 and was made by the company Punchline. In the game, we take control a young teenage girl named Jennifer who was somewhat trapped in a place where it was ruled by young underage girls known as the Red Crayon Aristocrats, with the backdrop of 1930 England. The video game was banned in several countries for child violence and sexuality.

The story began as Jennifer was given a story book by a small boy on a bus in the middle of the night. When the boy suddenly took off, Jennifer followed her and came across a creepy orphanage with a lot of mysteries. Her journey in the orphanage was cut short though as she was captured and transported to an airship. And on this airship the torture began. Jennifer was captured by the Red Crayon Aristocrats who ruled the airship and in order to survive, Jennifer had to obey all their rules. She was asked to do several tasks, all of them involving finding certain items to progress. With an airship filled with strange creatures, the tasks were not easy to complete. Lucky for Jennifer, she was accompanied by Brown, a dog that she rescued on the ship.

 The plot story is definitely one of the best aspect of Rule of Rose. Although at times we end up clueless and running around not exactly sure what to do, but as the story progress, we got more and more curious to find out where will this all end. It teases us with a bit of information here and there without fully revealed the whole agenda and that what's keep the gamers going. Although I do feel that the story can be a bit confusing and hard to follow. Personally I have to search online to fully understand it, and I encourage other players to search online too if you finished the game but not truly get what was going on with the story because you will appreciate it more when you understand what's the story about.


The gameplay, however, is not as good as the plot. The character is too weak and players can get frustrated while controlling especially during fighting enemies. Although it is believable but it gets truly annoying when fighting bosses that needed to be hit multiple times to be knocked off but can easily get us sprawling on the ground with just one swipe. That was kind of unfair. The gameplay is very repetitive too, all you got to do to progress the game is find items upon items upon items. This contribute to the game's low replay value.

The visuals for the game are beautiful, and it almost reminded me of Silent Hill video games. The characters are well rendered and the settings are creepy, dark and desolate. I also like the writing of the game menu that looks like it was written with chalks on a blackboard. The voice acting are rather good too although at times it can be a bit off.

The music of the game is another great aspect of Rule of Rose beside the plot. It is well arranged and hauntingly beautiful. Not to mention memorable. It creates a sense of loneliness that suited the game very well. In fact it was so great that I could almost hear it playing in my head even after days not playing the game. It sounded good and perfect for the game with its settings and story.

Overall, the plot and music are definitely the best part of Rule of Rose. With flawed gameplay however, you might feel frustrated playing it. But there is no doubt in my mind that this game is one of a kind, a rare game that you don't usually get in the market. Thank you Rule of Rose for a great story telling.

Images from Wikipedia and IGN.

Cloral ~ A world without land

Title: Pendragon : The Lost City of Faar
Author: D. J. MacHale
ISBN: ISBN 0-7434-3732-2

This book series is definitely one of the best series for children and adults alike. For those who are not familiar with it, the Pendragon series is about a boy who learned that he is a Traveler who can travels to different worlds, or territories, and have to save them from destruction planned by the main antagonist of the series, Saint Dane.

In the second book of the series, Bobby Pendragon heads off to the territory of Cloral with Uncle Press. And just like the territory of Denduron that Bobby had explored in Book 1, Cloral also at its crucial turning point. The problem is to find out what the turning point is and stop Saint Dane from taking advantage of it.

If the first book got me excited, I must say that the second was also quite exciting. In fact I think it is a lot better than Book 1. The plot was well-arranged and the setting of the story (which was the territory of Cloral) was very well established. The author believably brought the landless territory and lifestyle on Cloral to reality which readers can easily imagine and understand. I love the settings and falls even more in love when the underwater city of Faar was introduced. It was such a suit setting for the story in the book.

A few new characters were introduced in this book and Vo Spader, the Traveler from Cloral, was the main focus out of all these new characters. He is a good character, cheerful and full of energy with a little bad attributes to add colour to his personality, but he is not as great a character as Bobby Pendragon, our main hero of the series. The character development for Bobby was great, readers can see that he is learning to become a good Traveler and to accept his faith as the one who would defeat Saint Dane. I would love if the author could develop more the character of Wu Yenza too, I think she could become a great character if the author let readers learn more about her and involved her more in the action. I see great potential in her, hopefully she would take center stage in later books.

What about the story? In my opinion, it's well-paced, packed with action, a bit of emotional moments, and definitely fun to read. It expands what the 1st book had established and make it better. I also love the plot about a lost city that need to be discovered in order to save humanity. It was mysterious with a lot of dose of fantasy involved, which made me crave for more.

As a conclusion... yeah, you guessed it, The Lost City of Faar is definitely a worthy book. Fun and exciting. Go grab a copy now!

The art of Flyte

Title : Septimus Heap Book 2 - Flyte
Author : Angie Sage
Illustrator : Mark Zug
ISBN : ISBN 978-0-7475-8449-0


Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Flyte is the 2nd book of the Septimus Heap series. Magyk, the 1st book in the series, is one of my favourite children novel. Let's see how much Flyte can live up to its predecessor.

The book sees the return of the main villain in book 1, Dom Daniel, in his quest to take over the Castle, which is where all our protagonists lived. But this time, he let his newest Apprentice do his dirty work for him (because he is practically just a skeleton after the event in book 1). The book also explores the new lives of our protagonists; Jenna who is now the Young Queen who lived in the Palace, and Septimus Heap who is now the Apprentice to the Extra Ordinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Since the title of the book is Flyte, the main story also involved the ancient art of flying which is thought to be lost.

In general, the story is good with a lot of humor, adventure and a bit of suspense and mystery which will have readers eager to find out what will happen next. Personally, I find the early chapters of the book quite boring but fortunately the story gets interesting as the chapters continues, especially when Septimus begins to embark on his journey to find Jenna who had been kidnapped.

The returning characters are all fun to read about with Aunt Zelda being my absolute favourite. I love reading every chapters she's in. There are also some characters, who are briefly mentioned in book 1, that got featured in more details this time like Jannit Marten, Boy 409 and the 4 Heap brothers that lived in the forest. Some new characters are also introduced like Beetle, Una Brakket, Sleuth (a former tennis ball) and Spit Fyre (Septimus's dragon pet).

I really love the idea of making Simon Heap, the eldest Heap brothers, the main antagonist for this book. I found his character to be the most human from all the other characters; his anger, frustration, self-pity and desire really shone through the pages of the book, I mean I can really relate to his emotions. He's a great character and I wish he would make a comeback in later books in the series.

To sum it up, I think Flyte is a great book but I have to say that Magyk is better. I still love the series though and hopefully book 3, Physik, would be even better.

Resident Evil 4 ~ The rescue mission

Before I begin this review, I would like to state that the game I played for this game was the PS2 version.

Resident Evil 4 is a hugely popular and highly praised video game from Capcom and was released in 2005. Considered as one of the most influential video games in the 2000's, Resident Evil 4 is a commercial and critical success.

In general, the plot centers around Leon S. Kennedy, recruited by the US Secret Service, who must travel to a remote village in Europe to rescue the US President's daughter, Ashley Graham, that had been kidnapped by a mysterious cult, Los Illuminados. Along the way, he met several key characters like the mysterious agent Ada Wong, the suave researcher Luis Sera, the former comrade Jack Krauser, the local castellan Ramon Salazar and the cult leader, Osmund Saddler.

As a horror-action video game, the plot was entertaining and engaging eventhough it was not really connected to the main storyline of the Resident Evil series which pretty much about the Umbrealla Corporation and its evil deeds. It's great to see how the main character, Leon, has grown since we last saw him in Resident Evil 2. Although the plot sometimes focus too heavily on action especially at the last half of the game, Resident Evil 4 still generally had a good horror storyline and manage to keep the tradition of the franchise in putting horror into the story.

The characters were pretty well-designed. I like how Leon was portrayed in this game, tough yet very cool. The President's daughter, Ashley, can be pretty annoying sometimes with her constant cry for help, but I like her voice actor and the way she delivered her dialogues. We had one tough girl in the game in the form of Ada Wong, who was a great addition to the game. She was just as mysterious as she was in Resident Evil 2. The primary antagonist, Saddler, was very good a character too, although I wished the developer polish him more to be a great villain, instead of just good.

A lot of the enemies that the player had to dispose however reminiscent of fantasy and action video game rather than a horror video game. The only enemies that creep me out are the generators. The breathing sound they made was really creepy. To be fair, although most enemies seem human (and some were regular animals), the game does have its scary moments like a burning enemy running out of a standing oven and enemy sneaking up on you with a chainsaw.

The visuals were, needless to say, amazing. The settings, especially the remote village and the big castle were ample in bringing in the spook feelings that associated with the previous installments. The island setting in the last half of the game however was too emphasized in action with its war-like setting which making me feel like I was playing an action or a world-war based video game rather than a horror one. The laboratories however reminded me of the previous games in the franchise, which was pretty good in keeping with the RE tradition.

The gameplay was a major shift from the previous installments of the series. The over-the-shoulder camera view was refreshing and very engaging when the characters get into action in blasting the skulls of the enemies. I read that many people criticized the fact that you can't move while in the aiming position, but for me personally, I don't really mind because I think I wouldn't use that feature anyway if its incorporated into the game (not because I'm a great player, but because I'm a novice player who can't even beat Devil May Cry chapter 3).

Overall, Resident Evil 4 was a great video game with a mixture of horror and action. Plus the bonus features you get after completing it were great too like Separate Ways and Ada Assignment. Definitely a worthy game for a Resident Evil fan.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia and IGN.

The Thirteenth Reality ~ Mystery letters of riddles

Title: The 13th Relity: The Journal of Curious Letters

Author: James Dashner

Illustrator: Bryan Beus

ISBN: 1416991522

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

I needed a new book to read. I was looking for a book from a series that I've never heard before; something other than Harry Potter, Septimus Heap, Bobby Pendragon, Artemis Fowl or even Arthur Penhaligon. Those characters are from series that I know, that I've read. I want something new.

The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters was the book that I picked. The reason I chose it is because I was interested about the story regarding alternate realities. It's a cool theme. So let's start my review with the plot. The story revolves around Tick @ Atticus Higginbottom who received letters with riddles he need to solve if he decide to be on an adventure to save many, many lives. If he wasn't interested, then he can just burn the letters and everything will go back to normal. But of course he'll be interested in the letters, if not this book wouldn't exist.

The main attraction of the book are the riddles in which our main character received in 12 letters. In fact, almost 3/4 of the book involve the riddles, and lucky for us the riddles are quite fun. Readers can actually participate in order to solve the mysteries of the letters. Of course there are several other chapters in between it that involve things other than the riddles but I don't mind if the author completely cover 3/4 of the book with the riddles, like I said they were fun.

The last 1/4 of the book covers their adventures (their as in Tick and his friends) into other realities. To be honest, I was quite dissapointed when Tick finally solved the mystery letters as I was certain the rest of the pages (1/4 of the book that is) wouldn't be much interesting without the riddles. Now I'm glad to say that I was wrong, the last quarter of the book was packed with adventure and action, and clearly was the climax of the story. The author not only can come up with interesting riddles, but he can also write good action stuff too.

Now we move on to the characters. Sadly I think the main character, Atticus Higginbottom, was not as strong a character as some of the main stars that I've read from different series before (a lot of them I had mentioned above). In fact the author tried too hard to make him a good role model that at times he seemed fake. One example of this is when Tick's father constantly remind readers how glad he was to have a good son like Tick.

The other characters doesn't fair well too. Master George was annoying for me instead of funny (funny was what he intended to be). Sofia was a great character but sadly a bit underdeveloped. Paul and Sato were also underdeveloped; but I think Sato will make his presence felt in the future due to his mysterious background. Mothball and Rutger were quite interesting characters but not much were told about them which made readers quite hard to love them. The only character that I think had been developed well was Mistress Jane, the villain of the book. She's a powerful character that shines in every chapter she's in. Although her apperance in the book was not much, the author manage to make her a promising villain.

Although this book was not as great as I had hoped it to be, it was still a fun read largely thanks to the fun-filled and mysterious riddles that out main character needed to solve. The high-action plot near the end of the book was also entertaining and had nicely set up the plot for the next book in the series. I am looking forward to read the 2nd book in the series and judging by the interesting ending and powerful villain, I'm hoping it will be a great sequel to the first book.

Image courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

The Amazing Race Season 4 ~ The journey so far

I completely love this season of TARA (well, I always do actually just like past seasons), and seeing the teams got eliminated one by one got me sad but somehow it also got me excited as we get closer in revealing the winner of this season.



I only posted about the 1st team eliminated from the race in my blog before, so here I'm gonna post about the rest of the teams that had been eliminated so far. First off was the 2nd team who got eliminated, in Sri Lanka, which is Alan & Wendy. Aside from constant bickering, this team just plain unlucky; they did got on the 1st bus to go to a designated place for a task, but unfortunately they were the last to arrive. That just proved that luck plays an important role in the race.



The 3rd team got eliminated was Manas & Sahil. Booted off in the Philippines, this team just...I don't know...seemed to lost their will to race. They looked tired. Maybe the race had taken a toll on them, I mean the race was pretty intense.



Next to went off the race was Ivan & Hilda. I kind of like this team, they were very entertaining. To see them packing in New Zealand was quite sad for me, since they are also Malaysian like me. I like Ivan spirit, competitiveness and over-much love for his wife. Some might labeled them as annoying (poor Hilda) but I think they just a loving, harmless couple. Very cute. ;-)



Sunaina & Dimple, the 5th to get booted off the race, was eliminated in Australia. I see them as a smart, independent, strong and very competitive team. They always try to be at the front of the pack. Unfortunately they got lost, really really lost, and this lead to their downfall in Australia.



The latest team who got eliminated from the race in this week episode of TARA was Ethan & Khairie. It was kind of shocking for me because I really see them as one of the strong team who got potential to get to the top 3. They made a bad choice in Detour, and couldn't bounce back ever since. I was quite sad to see them leave not just because they are Malaysian but also because they are one of my top 3 favourite teams. They were eliminated in Indonesia.

And now they are 4 teams left. I'm glad 2 of my favourite teams are still in the race, hopefully they will be in the top 3 as well. It has been a fun, exciting and entertaining race so far. Lucky for us fans there are more to come. May the best team wins!!!


Images courtesy of AXN.

Red ~ review

This movie starred Bruce Willis. That's all I know about Red when I went to see it with one of my best friend. Knowing nothing else, I expected nothing from this movie. And I was treated with a joyful, action-packed and humorous movie.

Red starred Bruce Willis alongside Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban and Brian Cox. It was loosely based on comic books by DC Comics. The movie started off rather smoothly, quiet and peaceful as the two characters chatted along and reading romance novels. But as soon as the action start, it never ends. The action sequences were sometimes a bit over-dramatic but never over-the-top like A-Team or something like that. And I prefer it that way. The characters are the best thing about Red, they are agile (even though they retired), resourceful, tough, and funny. The chemistry between characters are great too. Helen Mirren look extremely believable firing guns in a dress. That lady rocks!


The plot were nothing to shout about, but the decent story together with great acting, a bit of romance and funny lines really brings this movie up of my favourite-movie list. And the plot is easy to follow too. Therefore I think Red can really appeal to not just males but females as well because off all the mix it has in the plot.

As a conclusion, Red is a fun movie to watch. It brings a lot of laugh and have a good amount of action to keep you excited throughout the movie. With amazing casts and well-balanced plot, I give Red 3 1/2 stars out of 5.


Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Yahoo!.

The beautiful Butterfly Cloud

I do not read as much shōjo manga as I would like to because of several personal reasons but I can point out one of the mangaka of this genre that I like, and that is Ashihara Hinako. Although her drawings are somewhat similar to other shōjo mangaka, her stories however really stood out the most. And the way she complements her drawings with the emotions of the story are really what caught me the most. One of her manga that show this skills is Awan Kupu-Kupu (translated in English as Butterfly Cloud).

Awan Kupu-Kupu, or in Japanese is called Chouchou Kumo, is a love story between four childhood friends. Complications and conflicts occur when a friend loves the other one, and another one got jealous, and another one trying to fix things up. Accidents happens and they start breaking apart. Heartbreak is a must but what's more important is to let things go. It's confusing I know, but that's what one look forward to in a love story. Besides, I'm not going to spoil the story for you. Set on an island, the story revolves around the four friends during their childhood up to their teenage years. Once you read the manga, you will feel the emotions straight from the pages, and that's what I love about Ashihara Hinako's manga, you can always 'feel' her stories.

Aside from the main story, there are 3 more short stories that come together with this manga, each with new protagonists and new conflicts. While the short stories are not up to par with Buttefly Cloud, but they are still enjoyable and worth to spend time with.

Overall, Awan Kupu-Kupu is a fun read and a must have for those who love shōjo manga, and also for those who are a fan of Ashihara Hinako's work.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ~ review

Arabian music, deserts, holy city, gorgeous actors, CGI. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time sound like the perfect film for me to enjoy over the weekend. Then why did I came out of the cinema hall feeling dissatisfied?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a video game-based film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina and Ben Kingsley as Nizam. Although the plot didn't directly follow the plot of the video game, but the movie does have a lot of elements taken from the video game.


Let's first go through the things that I like about this movie. The settings; needless to say, with such a big budget, the settings for the movie are beautiful. Every little thing seems to be made with details. From the locations to the props, everything seems perfect. Next, the actors. Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton seem like a suitable couple for the movie. They have chemistry together and they both looked gorgeous on screen. Their acting were good too. Not to forget are the other actors like Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Richard Coyle and Toby Kebbell who done completely well in portraying their characters.


Now for the things that I didn't quite like about the movie. The plot; although it was not entirely bad, I find the movie to be heavy with men fighting and less on the important things like the power of the Dagger of Time, and the effects that it can have to a person or the world if it to be used for the wrong reasons. To be fair, the fighting scenes were interesting, it just that there are too many of them, and they all look kind of the same especially when it involves the army. Fortunately the film have the spike-wielding Hassansin and the knives-throwing Seso of Ngbaka to spice up the fighting scenes.

I was also quite dissatisfied with the editing of the movie. I'm sure not an expert in this, but I do noticed some scenes that didn't quite made sense or didn't go along well with one another. I'm not sure whether it's the fault of the editing team or the censorship board in my country, but it made the movie looked rushed, in my opinion at least.


Overall, I didn't quite like the movie, but I didn't hate it either. It just an average movie. But my sister kind of like it, so don't take my word for it, go see it and judge it yourself. For me, the opening was good, the middle was quite boring, and the end was awesome. I do hope they make a sequel for this movie, because it has a lot of cool elements in it and there are so many other tales to tell. And hopefully, they make it even better next time.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Yahoo! Movies.

ICO ~ The beauty and the 'beast'

I fondly remember the day when I first saw the review for ICO when I was a teenager. I didn't remember what they say about it, but what I did remember were the hauntingly good background music and a scene of a boy running up a staircase (or was it running down?) while fighting shadowy creatures. It was a fond memory indeed. I made a promise to myself to look for this game if I ever get myself a PlayStation 2 in the future. Time goes by and I didn't get a chance to buy one, and the memory of the game slowly fades away. At times I can still visualize the boy fighting the shadowy creatures but I can no longer remember the name of the game.

Fast forward to 7 or 8 years later, I finally purchased the game and completed playing it. I stumbled upon the game accidentally as I was browsing for PS2 games to buy. Although I didn't quite recognize it at first (I forgot the name of the game) but memories started flooded back to me and I immediately made my choice and bought it. The promise I made years ago was worth it because ICO is a beautiful, unique and heart-warming video game I had ever played.

ICO is about a young boy with horns who was locked away in a seemingly abandoned fortress by his village men since boys born with horns are considered as a bad omen. As he tried to find a way to escape the fortress, he met Yorda, a young girl with glowing skin, caged in one of the room. He freed her and together they explored the huge fortress to find escape while running away from mysterious shadowy creatures that relentlessly tried to abduct Yorda, and a mysterious Queen of the fortress who controlled them.


As I was playing the game, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the scenery in it. Even in a room filled with fallen rocks and ruins, I cannot help but amazed with the visuals. The lighting effect displayed in the game was spectacular. You can see that the developer are keen on the details. Although the visuals would not match the standard of today high-definition games on XBox 360 and PS3, they do have their own magic to captivate any gamers. Characters can appeared quire sharp on the edges on screens but I tend to oversee that due to the beautiful overall appearance of the surrounding environments.

Playing the game was quite simple; no health bar, no list of items, no instructions. You just go and do what you felt that needed to do. Guide Yorda through tricky places and figure out puzzles to overcome obstacles. Pick up sticks or sword and slash through the shadowy creatures once they appear. Call Yorda or take her hand and run if you must. I made it sound too simple for pleasure but ICO does give an emotional experience. The horned boy and Yorda did not speak the same language but somehow you felt their connection and bonding. They trust each other and language was not a barrier to them. It was really sweet seeing them fallen asleep next to each other on the glowing couch that act as a save point. And the cutscenes, especially towards the ending, was really heart-breaking. Story-wise, ICO is perfect.


One major complaint that I noticed from gamers around the world was the length of the game. Having played it, I must admit, it was short compared to the rest of the games that I had played. Nevertheless, the experience was priceless. There is simply no word that can accurately describe my feelings towards the game, therefore, I recommended people to buy this game and experience it yourself, if you haven't play it. It is indeed a hidden jewel among all the blockbuster games that filled the market. It is worth every single penny.

For me, ICO is a masterpiece.


Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Gamespot.

Iron Man 2 ~ review

Iron Man 2, starring Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson, is the sequel to Iron Man which opened in cinemas in 2008 with great acclaim.


To be honest, I'm not really a fan of the 1st Iron Man movie. I like Spiderman trilogy, X-men trilogy and The Dark Knight more. But Iron Man 2 really is more entertaining that the 1st movie, in my opinion at least. Set 6 months after the end of the 1st film, this movie explores more on the struggles of Tony Stark after he announced that he was indeed Iron Man. The US Government wants him to turn over his suit, his image as the peacemaker of the world, and his blood toxicity from the palladium in his arc reactor that could cause his death; all of these pressures ultimately strained his relationship with his love-interest, Pepper Potts, and his friend, Lt. Colonel James Rhodes.


Plot-wise, it was good and entertaining but at times I felt a bit overwhelmed. There's too much going on and some things were not even properly explained or explored. I think Ivan Vanko's character is underdeveloped and his vengeance to destroy Iron Man was not strong enough. He would be an even more great villain if they just spend a little more time exploring his past. But the lines, especially from Tony Stark, in this movie are brilliant. I love watching confrontation between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, they are even more entertaining than the cool gadgets and action sequences.

Speaking of action sequences, there are quite a few in this movie which are entertaining and fun to watch, and some are more extravagant than the 1st film. Watching Scarlett Johansson kick some butts was entertaining too. But honestly, I think the action sequences were like distractions to the overwhelming plot. Not to say it was bad, it just that I wish the plot could have match the quality of the action sequences.


I have no complaint for the acting in this movie. Every actor plays their parts extremely well. Although Tony Stark was supposed to be the center of attention, but I think Pepper Potts was quite stood out too. I was doubtful when Don Cheadle made his first appearance in the movie as Lt. Colonel James Rhodes, the change of actors for the role made it felt like it was a totally different character altogether. But by the end of the movie, I think he did well.

To sum it up, Iron Man 2 was fun and entertaining with a few hiccups here and there. But don't worry, if you love the 1st film, you would love this one too. 3 stars out of 5 from me.

How to Train Your Dragon ~ review

Imagine an animated movie filled with dragons. Different types, different species. Lots and lots of them. DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon is such a movie. You can find many different types of dragons in it. Don't like dragons? No problem! Because this movie has another thing to offer... a good story.

How to Train Your Dragon tells a story about a lonely young Viking, the son of the Chief of the Viking tribe, named Hiccup who befriend a Night Fury dragon, who he called Toothless. That wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that the Viking hunt and kill dragons as they see them as nothing more than pests who like to stole their stocks of sheep. As their friendship grew stronger, Hiccup begins to question who side will he be on; the Vikings or the dragons? This movie is actually loosely based on a children novel of the same name.


As I mention above, this movie has a very good story to offer other than just stunning visuals and lots of dragons variety. I find the story to be sweet, entertaining and heartwarming. But that doesn't mean that it's a drama; it has lots of action sequences too to give some energy to it. To be fair, the emotional effect and action sequences are quite balanced. I love the ending too; there is one part of it that I did not expect to happen and for me it's good and refreshing because you rarely see that type of 'twist' in an animated movie; especially one that most likely to have a sequel. The soundtrack also play a major role in the movie. I really love the sound of music during Hiccup and Toothless first meeting and also in the scene where Stoick scolded Hiccup for befriending a dragon. The music was emotional and rightly placed.


There's nothing to complain about the visuals either. The best I've seen from DreamWorks so far. The characters emotions especially for Hiccup are very life-like. And I must say the voice talents behind this movie had done a great job in expressing their characters' emotions. But there is one bad point; I found Hiccup's voice to be quite annoying at first. I really need some time to get used to it. Furthermore, I think his voice is quite unsuited compared to his physical appearance.


To sum it up, How to Train Your Dragon is definitely the best animated film so far that I had seen by DreamWorks. I highly recommended this movie to everyone, not just kids but adults too. Hopefully there's a sequel to this movie.

Images from Yahoo! Movies and Wikipedia.

Movies watched in January 2010 ~ Quick review

Film: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Director: Terry Gilliam
Casts: Christopher Plummer, Verne Troyer, Heath Ledger, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell

A strange choice of a movie for me since I rarely watch movies that I know would be difficult for me to understand, but I did watched Doctor Parnassus anyway mainly because I wanted to see Heath Ledger last performance as an actor before his untimely death. I love the setting, it's kind of like classic meets modernization, and the visualization of the mirror worlds were beautifully created. The acting were really good, not just from the A-listers but from all the major casts. But the story...hmm, I don't quite understand it.

I do understand the movie as a whole but I was totally lost for some scenes that need some deeper thoughts. Furthermore, my proficiency in English is not that high and I missed a lot of what the characters had said. The subtitles provided did not help at all, it was poorly constructed, and some of them didn't even showed up on screen. Having said all that, I did have a good time watching this movie especially because of the great performances by the casts. And me not understanding the story is purely because of my own weaknesses and has nothing to do with the movie.

Film: Avatar
Director: James Cameron
Casts: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Laz Alonso

I watched the movie after almost a month it was screened in cinemas, and yet the movie theater was still packed with people of all ages. I wondered how many people were there for a 2nd watch, or maybe even 3rd watch. Heck, who cares? What was important for me at that time was to see whether the movie was entertaining as what so many people had claimed. The verdict...yes, it was an entertaining movie. In fact, the tagline for this movie, Enter the World, was rightly used. I felt like I did went to Pandora, the setting of the movie, and everything felt so real.

I truly felt that Pandora exist somewhere, somehow. And even it was set on a moon of a distant planet, the conflict that the characters faced there felt close to home than I would have expected. The visuals were superb, the acting were great (I miss seeing Sigourney Weaver on screen), the story was good, and the action scenes were incredible. Need I say more?

The final fight of the Dark Tournament

Here's my review of the manga YuYu Hakusho Volume 12. Caution: this review has plenty of spoilers. If you hate spoilers, then better skip this post.

I will keep this review simple and short. The first chapter for this volume shows the result for the previous fight (continued from Volume 11) between Kuwabara and Elder Toguro. Elder Toguro has a unique ability with his body but Kuwabara has a few tricks up his sleeves as well. But will he be able to defeat Elder Toguro?

Then after the fight between Kuwabara and Elder Toguro, Sakio steps up on the arena and announces that he bets on his life that the younger Toguro will win in the next fight, which will be the final fight in the Dark Tournament, between younger Toguro and Yuusuke. This means that whoever win in the final round, his team would also win the Dark Tournament. After Sakio announcement, Koenma also bets on his life that Yuusuke would win in the final round.

And so the final round begins. The fight took about 3/4 out of the total pages of the volume, and it did not even finish yet! The result will only be revealed in Volume 13. There is also a flashback showing Genkai and Yuusuke at the start of their training, and what Genkai did to increase Yuusuke's strength.

A lot of damages, blood, and lost of lives (among the devil spectators of course) involved. Yuusuke is obviously overwhelmed by Toguro's powerful attacks. Can he beat that monster? Oh, wait, one main character is killed too (gasp!). But do not worry, all will be revealed in Volume 13.

Until the next review, take care!

Kingdom Hearts ~ Friendship across worlds

I have mixed feelings when I played this game. But before that, let me introduce it first. Kingdom Hearts is a popular and commercially successful video game developed and published by Square-Enix. The video game, a collaboration between Square-Enix and Disney, received rave reviews and sold millions of copies worldwide.



The story goes like this. Sora, the main protagonist, is a 14-year-old boy who longs to go on an adventure, travel from one place to another with his 2 best friends, Riku and Kairi. One bizarre night, he was attacked by shadow creatures, known as the Heartless, and was swept away to another world, called Traverse Town. He met Donald and Goofy there, desperately looking for a key wielder that will lead them to the missing King Mickey. Realizing that he was the key wielder, the one wielding the Keyblade, he made a pact with Donald and Goofy and travel from one world to another looking for King Mickey, Riku and Kairi.



Good things first. The plot of the game is very interesting for me and I was very excited to find out how things would turn out. The story is very engaging and sometimes can be very heartwarming. I love everytime a cutscene being played as it was beautiful visually. For me, the opening scene is definitely the best. The voice acting was good too. If you didn't know already, some of the talents behind the voices for the English version are Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), Hayden Panettiere (TV series Heroes), David Gallanger (TV series 7th Heaven), Billy Zane (Titanic) and Lance Bass ('N Sync).


The gameplay, although confusing and not-so-interesting at first (for me at least), turn out to be very addictive. Players can also play many other mini games / side quests placed throughout the game. Visually stunning, the characters from two different mediums, Final Fantasy games and Disney films, also blend beautifully together, which was very surprising to me. This makes Kingdom Hearts even more special and unique compared to other video games. Oh, I forgot to mention about the background music. They were really good and very suitable with the different worlds they were set in. My favourite music were the ones in the world of Monstro and Halloween Town.

Now for the bad things. I was very frustrated with the Gummi ships section. I didn't even bother to design my own Gummi ship and used the one I was provided with throughout the entire game. It's not like I didn't try, I did made several attempts to build one based on the blueprint but it was too confusing. I rather focus on the story than this ridiculous side quest.


I have problems with the opening section of the game too. For me, it was too childish. I felt like I was playing The Little Mermaid or Lilo & Stitch the game. Not that it wasn't interesting, but unlike those two video games that I had mentioned, Kingdom Hearts were targeted for kids AND adults alike (eerr...at least that's what I think, correct me if I'm wrong). If it was targeted only for kids, then I wouldn't have mind.

I was also very disappointed with the ending. Yes, I understand they want to build excitement for the sequel but I think they hold back too much. I need more details and longer ending scenes. I was so looking forward to find out how it would end and I got a very disappointing ending. Bummer.

Nevertheless, Kingdom Hearts is a very entertaining game. I would not say that it's one of the best that I've had played before, but it was definitely fun and addictive. I've spent more than 50 hours on it and looking forward to play the sequels. Cheers to Square-Enix and Disney!

*Images courtesy of IGN and Wikipedia.

Silent Hill 2 ~ Haunted by past sins

And so I continue my journey through this legendary video game series with Silent Hill 2. I know I was a bit left behind (Silent Hill Homecoming was already released and the remake of the first Silent Hill is currently in development) but it did not make me any less excited to finally get my hands on Silent Hill 2 since I heard and read a lot about it on the web. It is arguably the most popular and, some would say, the best game in the series.


Players will take control of James Sunderland, a lonely man desperately looking for his late wife, Mary, in the eerie town of Silent Hill after he received a letter from her stating that she will wait for him in their 'special place'. Along the way, James will meet various other characters; the depressive Angela; the naughty young girl Laura; the mysterious and seductive Maria; and the bully-victim Eddie. And of course James will also experience the surrealism and madness of the town as he stumbles upon monsters, corpses, and the mysterious and ever popular villain Pyramid Head. Players will have to navigate James through various creepy locations such as graveyard, apartments, hospital, and prison.



I'm impressed by the atmosphere present in the game as it gives me the sense of creepiness but also eagerness to explore more of the twisted locations. The foggy street, the I-don't-know-where-it-came-from noises, the decaying buildings; all that contribute to a great atmosphere for the game. Combine that with twisted-looking creatures and Pyramid Head, and you will get an awesome horror game.

The scariest place for me in the game was at the bloody underground prison. My heart almost stopped when there's a loud banging or when the monsters suddenly appeared on screen. Definitely one of the worst place to explore in the game.



In terms of plot / story of the game, it didn't continue on with the storyline from the previous Silent Hill game but present a whole new story for the gamers. But I must admit, the story is a bit confusing for my obviously-slow-than-your-average brain. I get the part that James is looking for his dead wife, and the background stories of the minor characters, but there are parts that I got confused especially when it involved the psychological twists. Maybe I need to get all the endings and the guide book to understand more of the game (I currently only achieved 1 ending; there are all about 4 to 5 different endings). I do appreciate more of the game and the psychological twists once I read more about it on the web. But if you do not like spoilers, than I suggest you play the game and get at least 2 to 3 different endings before you search the web about it.

Overall, Silent Hill 2 is a satisfying game for me. Like what I wrote before, although I was a bit confused, but I still get the whole picture of what had happened in the game. I found the story to be sad since it revolves around the themes of loneliness and the sense to belong. The story was well-written and very well played-out in the game. Silent Hill 2 was highly praised by critics and was a commercial success, so it's worth a game to own.



Images courtesy of IGN.

Pandorum ~ review

This movie has all the elements that I like. Stranded spaceship, check. Zombie-like creatures, check. Creepy atmosphere, check. Ben Foster, check. I went into the cinema hall expecting something good and I got more than I paid for.

Pandorum follows Bower and Payton who had awaken from their hyper-sleep and found themselves with no memory of who they are and what they are doing. Furthermore they are trapped within their room on the spaceship Elysium (nice name) and there seem to be nobody else around. When Bower got out from the room through the ventilator (I guess its the ventilator) and further explore the spaceship, he found creepy and cannibalistic humanoid creatures, lots of dead bodies and a few survivors. The power is running out and in order for them to survive, they must reset the system. And so Bower and the other survivors make their way to the spaceship reactor with Payton's guidance in the control room to restart it while at the same time fighting their way through these humanoid creatures.

Pandorum is actually a fictional psycological condition caused by extended periods of hyper sleep (suspended animation) and its symptoms and effects include severe paranoia, vivid hallucinations and homicidal instincts.


To be honest, I really, really love Pandorum. I fall in love with it! I love the story, I love the characters, I love the settings, I love everything about it. The acting, especially from Ben Foster, is just fabulous. Ben Foster is truly amazing in this movie. And the other two characters that I like are Nadia played by Antje Traue in her first ever English-language role, and Manh, played by Viatnamese American kickboxer, actor and mixed martial artist Cung Lee. However, I think Dennis Quaid's Payton character is a bit underdeveloped. Other actors include Cam Gigandet as Gallo, Norman Reedus as Shepard, and Andre Hennicke as the Hunter Leader.

What about the plot? Being a sci-fi movie, I think Pandorum do have problems in explaining the complicated background and concept that were featured in it. Audience needs to fully concentrate on what the actors are saying to fully understand it. Plus, there are several things that I think did not seem right. However, I think the story about human survival in Pandorum is very interesting and this in effect tend to make me overlook all the negative things about the movie.


To sum it up, I LOVE Pandorum! It's obvious from my review right? 4 and a half stars out of 5 for the incredible Pandorum.

Oops! I forgot. I do have several other things that I don't understand about Pandorum. Two of them are; why most critics hate it? Another one is, why did it failed in the US box-office? Two big questions there.

Surrogates ~ review

Surrogates takes us into a near possible future where people don't necessarily have to go out anymore. Instead, we have surrogates, robots that we control with our mind, to run our chores. To be more precise, the surrogates run our lives for us. Neat isn't it? Well, apparently not. Although it brings a lot of benefits, but it also degrades human connection and mentality.



The story focuses on Tom Greer, an FBI Agent, who's investigating a murder case. This is truly shocking in a society where murder does not happen thanks to the use of surrogates. To prevent it from happening again (and also to prevent panic among uninformed civilians), Greer together with his partner Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) investigate the murder that leads them to an even bigger conspiracy.



Surrogates is one of those films that I found to have an interesting trailer but not so on the movie itself. Set in a world with robots but not too elaborated like the one in I,Robot or even A.I., I find the concept of life in Surrogates to be fresh and fascinating. So obviously I did not have problem with the whole concept of the movie. What was disappointing for me is the lack of drive in the story. Take out the beautiful surrogates and explosive actions, and all you have left is a normal investigation story. Of course there are twists here and there in the plot but they do not seem to be enough to leveled up the mediocrity of the story. I think Surrogates could have been a better film if they could come up with a better plot.



But not all is bad for the film. For starters, it starred Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell. I really love both actors so seeing them being 'surrogated' is very interesting for me. And of course no complaints for their acting, I think they did good. All the other actors did pretty well too on their part, and that includes Ving Rhames as the Prophet, Rosamund Pike as Mrs Greer and James Cromwell as Dr. Lionel Canter.



Another prospect that I love about this movie is the make-up effects (yup, you read that right). You can really see the difference between the smooth-skinned-and-beautiful surrogates and the old-with-wrinkle-lines-and-imperfect-skins of their counterpart. It's very real and believable.

In general, Surrogates is just an okay movie. It's not so bad but not that good either. It could have been better. It was still an enjoyable watch and so I give 3 stars for the efforts.