Rapunzel...A new twist in a classic fairy tale

I'm not sure whether it will be titled Rapunzel or Tangled. I'm kind of confuse on that. But anyway, by the look of the teaser trailer, the animated film looks pretty cool. Stunning visuals, that's for sure.

Tangled is an upcoming animated feature by Walt Disney Animation Studios and scheduled to be released on 24 November 2010. The film will be loosely based on the classic fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm.

To watch the trailer, you can either click here or here (for the international trailer from Netherlands), both at SlashFilm. If last year Disney brought us The Princess and the Frog, this year we will be treated with Tangled. This should be fun.

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.

The toys are back!

I'm loving this.

Toy Story 3 is coming out in June 2010. We get to see Woody, Buzz, Rex, Mr. Potato Head and all the other toys again. Hoorrayyy!!!

Check out the trailer I've uploaded below. Buzz acts sooo funny. I think I like him better malfunctioned. Haha! Enjoy!

The trailer courtesy of IGN.

Cute dragon

Mmm...from the creators of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda eh? I thought the movie was based on a children novel? Anyway, I found the design for the dragon to be cute and cool, and it looks beautiful when it flies. Hopefully the story would be good too.

Here's the trailer for How To Train Your Dragon, scheduled to be released in March 2010 in the US, courtesy of IGN. Enjoy!

All about movies! Resident Evil: 4, Silent Hill 2 & more

I love digging news and rumors about new movies, especially regarding sequels of my favourite movie franchises. Here's what I've dug so far...

• Resident Evil: Afterlife, the 4th installment of the Resident Evil movie franchise, had been pushed back and scheduled to be release in January 2011. The original release date for the movie before the delay was August 2010.

This is not surprising to me, although it is quite disappointing. Apparently, they afraid that they will not finish the movie in time for the summer 2010 release and hence, the delay. And because this movie will be released in 3D, so they will definitely need more time to complete it.

• Silent Hill 2 will start filming after Resident Evil: Afterlife wrap production.

This is good news for me! I've been craving for a sequel for a long time. Hopefully it will be visually stunning just like the 1st film but less confusing plot-wise.

• Vulture and Vulturess (a new character) will be the new villains in Spider-Man 4.

Although it sound stupid, but this is the newest rumor circulating the new installment in the Spider-Man movie franchise. According to the rumor, Vulture will be played by John Malkovich while Anne Hathaway will play Vulturess. Mmm...I'm a bit worried if this rumor turns out to be true. I mean, having a 'bird' as a villain is bad enough and now they want to add another one. But wait, Nite Owl from Watchmen looks cool, so perhaps it wasn't a bad idea afterall.

• Magyk, a children's novel by Angie Sage and the 1st book in the Septimus Heap series, will be turned into an animation movie.

This is another good news for me. I love Magyk! Although I was expecting it to be filmed as a live-action movie but I think animation would be great too.

• Jurassic Park 4 on the way?

A lot of fans want this but it is still not confirmed whether the studio will go forward with it or not. Joe Johnston, the director of Jurassic Park III, however did mentioned in November 2009 that a script has already been done and the story will take the franchise to a whole different direction.

• Dawn Trader set to sail in December 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Trader has already started filming back in July 2009 and scheduled to be released in December 2010. Everything seems fine with no more drama about budget conflict or creative differences, hopefully the 3rd film will be as successful as the 1st film.



Hopefully all the movies that I had mentioned will have smooth production process and become successful in the box-office. That is, of course, if the studio decided to make them (yes, I'm talking about Silent Hill 2 and Jurassic Park 4, I'm tired of waiting).

Sources:
ComingSoon
Wikipedia

Who's the alien?

Another animation movie will be released in this month. Produced by Madrid-based animation studion, Ilion Animation Studios, and British film production, HandMade Films, Planet 51 tells a story about an astronaut landing on a planet and thinking he's the first to do so when in reality the planet had already been inhabited by green aliens. Some of the voice-casts include Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Jessica Biel and Justin Long.

I'm still uncertain of what to think about the movie because the trailer looks 'average' for me but I'm sure kids would love to watch it. With school holidays around the corner, I know kids would drag their parents to see this.

Here's the trailer for Planet 51 courtesy of IGN. Enjoy!

What to watch? September - December 2009_part 3

Here's the final part for this series of posts. Enjoy!




9

This animation looks really cool, plus the post-apocalyptic setting makes it stands out from the rest of your 'normal' animation from Hollywood. Well, it is from Tim Burton. I'm not going to say more, you can just click here or here to enjoy the awesome trailer. I really wish this movie will come to Malaysia because I have a bad feeling that it won't.

U.S. release date: September 9, 2009
Malaysia release date: TBA




Whiteout

This movie stars Kate Beckinsale. Enough said, I'm going to see this flick. Wait, you want more? Okay, okay...It's about a lone U.S. Deputy Marshal (Kate Beckinsale's character) who was stationed at a research base in Antarctica investigating a murder, well maybe a couple of murders (I'm not sure actually). That's enough right? What...more? Fine, click here to watch the trailer. I'm off to mark my calender.

U.S. release date: September 11, 2009
Malaysia release date: October 15, 2009




Avatar

It would be crazy to list interesting movies to watch this last few months of the year without mentioning Avatar. Avatar the cartoon, you say? Sheesh, where have you been? It's an upcoming film from James Cameron, the one who brought you Titanic, remember him? Avatar would change the way we see movies, or so he said. Anyway, I would definitely not miss this movie since the trailer looks so fantastic. You can click here to be amazed.

U.S release date: December 18, 2009
Malaysia release date: December 17, 2009




Surrogates

I discovered this movie when I randomly click on a link to watch a movie trailer. I know nothing about this movie before that. Lucky for me to have click it, because this film looks great. It's a science-fiction film based on a comic book series of the same name, and it stars one of my favourite actor, Bruce Willis. I don't really know how to explain the premise for the movie (partly because I don't read the comic books) so I would let the trailer do all the talking. Enjoy the trailer below courtesy of IGN. You can click here to go to the official site.

U.S. release date: September 25, 2009
Malaysia release date: October 8, 2009

I think that's all from me. This is the final part, part 3, for What to watch? September-December 2009 series of posts. Please check out previous posts for part 1 and part 2. Thank you for reading.

What to watch? September - December 2009_part 2

Okay, here's part 2. Check it out!



2012

Like what I'd mention in my post earlier about this movie, I'm still uncertain whether to watch this movie or not since it has that hope-deprivation theme in it. But still, it looks kinda 'fun' to watch. Mmm, I don't know what else I want to say about this movie. Oh, you can click here to watch the trailer.

U.S. release date: November 13, 2009
Malaysia release date: November 12, 2009


The Princess and the Frog

Disney is bringing back the musical theme in its animation, and it's in 2D too. Awesome! I really hope there would be beautiful songs in this movie like what they did with Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. That would definitely brings back the good memories of my childhood. You can click here to watch the trailer of The Princess and the Frog.

U.S. release date: December 11, 2009
Malaysia release date: December 11, 2009


Pandorum

I really, really can't wait for this movie. It has an Event-Horizon feel to it. I know Event Horizon was not a commercial success but it does has an interesting premise. Pandorum is about 2 astronauts who wake up on a space ship with no memory of who they are. To make it worse, there are alien-like creatures with them on the ship, and who knows what happen to the rest of the space ship crews. Together, they must united...and survive. It was produced by the people who brought you the Resident Evil movie franchise, so expect a lot of gory action. You can click here or here to watch the trailer.

U.S. release date: September 25, 2009
Malaysia release date: October 15, 2009




Sorority Row

Who would love a movie about a bunch of college girls being killed one by one in a horrific way? Sounds brutal right? But in reality, slasher films have been around for decades and as disturbing as it sound, there are very popular. So it would be no surprise that another slasher film called Sorority Row would be released later this month. It's actually a remake of a 1983 film called The House on Sorority Row. I do care about the plot when watching movies, and I do want to write the premise for this movie, but I don't think most people care. They just want to see the girls anyway. ;-P

I have here the trailer for Sorority Row courtesy of IGN. Some of the familiar faces that star in this movie are Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung and Audrina Patridge.

U.S. release date: September 11, 2009
Malaysia release date: October 2, 2009

Okay people. That's all for part 2. See you again soon in part 3.

What to watch? September - December 2009_part 1

Goodbye Autobots, see you soon Harry Potter, so long Terminators. It's time for a new breed of movies to hit the silver screens. What can we expect to see in September until December 2009? Here's a list of some of the movies that I think would be interesting to watch. The movies are not listed according to their month of release, so I hope those who are reading would not be confused. Please also note that the release dates are based on many sites and were checked during the posts were written, so it might change in the future.

Are you ready? Here we go!


The Final Destination

The 4th installment in the Final Destination movie series had already been released in the US last week but had just been released in Malaysia (my home country by the way) today. I don't think I need to mention the premise of the movie here BUT for those of you who don't know (where have you been?), it's about a bunch of people who cheated death and then Mr. Death himself come hunting for them to sealed their fatal fates in a most brutal way. Confusing? Just click here or here to watch the trailer.

U.S. release date: August 28, 2009
Malaysia release date: September 4, 2009



Astro Boy

I'm really excited for this movie. The animation looks beautiful and it based on a highly popular manga/anime in Japan. It's about a journey of a robot that had been built by a scientist in the image of his deceased son. Hopefully the movie will live up to the fans' expectation. You can click here or here to watch the trailer.

U.S. release date: October 23, 2009
Malaysia release date: November 19, 2009




Tsunami

Tsunami, released as Haeundae in South Korea, is South Korea's first disaster film, at least according to Wikipedia. The movie, starring Sol Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won and Park Joong-hoon, is about tsunami (of course! see the title) that hit a popular tourist spot called Haeundae. It already received more than 9 million admissions in South Korea. The film had also been sold to be distributed in several other countries such as Germany, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and United Kingdom.

Malaysia release date: September 17, 2009




The Box

Okay, I love Cameron Diaz. She's pretty AND have good acting skills. I also love James Marsden. But I'm not curious about this movie because of the actors but because of the premise. The Box is based on a short story by Richard Matheson called Button, Button. The story is quite interesting; a couple received a box with a button, they will get $1 million if they press the button but there's a catch, one person they do not know will die. Would YOU press it??? You can click here to go to the official site. I also have the trailer here courtesy of IGN, enjoy!

U.S. release date: November 6, 2009
Malaysia release date: November 5, 2009

I think that's wrapped up part 1. See you in part 2 of upcoming movies in September - December 2009.

The return of 2D animation from Disney

This is what I've been wanting for such a long time. A new 2D animation from Disney! The Princess and the Frog would be the return of Disney's 2D animation feature film since Home on the Range in 2004. It is directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the people who brought to life the classic Disney films such as Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.

The Princess and the Frog is about a prince who had been turned into a frog by a voodoo magician. To break the spell, the prince asked a princess to kiss him. The kiss didn't break the spell, and the princess is turned into a frog instead! So in order to turned themselves back to human, they must find a good voodoo magician to help them, and along the way, they will meet new friends and have a journey of a lifetime.

I really wish this movie will be as good as the good-old-classic animated movies from Disney. I have really high hopes for this movie so hopefully it will not disappoint.

To watch the trailer, you can go to the official site by clicking here.

9

9. Yes, I know it's a little bit short to be a movie title but that is in fact the name for a new animation movie from Focus Features. Adapted from Shane Acker's short film, it is directed by Acker himself, and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov.






The film is about a group of rag dolls who are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. There are 9 rag dolls all together with each doll bearing a number on their body and it looks like rag doll no. 9 is the key for the other rag dolls' survival.

I know we are all busy with summer movies right now but I think it's fun to see what Hollywood have to offer after the summer ended. Apparently the excitement does not end with the summer because from the looks of the trailer, 9 would be a fun movie. It will be released on 9 Sept. 2009 so don't forget to bookmark your calender now in case you'll forget it later.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Summer movies 2009!

I bet all moviegoers are gearing up for the summer movies frenzy. A lot of interesting titles are coming up. Here are some of the big titles that will invade movie theaters in May 2009 (based on release dates in the US).

X-men Origins: Wolverine

This movie had already been released on 29th April 2009 on certain territories. A month before its release, it had been hurt badly by Internet leaked. I hope it can still gain momentum to smash box-office records. I don't understand why people would want to watch unfinished product anyway.

Official release date: 1 May 2009
Official website: here

Star Trek

I'm not a Star Trek fan but I'm definitely going to watch this movie. I'd say that this movie is timely made because in this Hannah Montana and High School Musical era, not a lot of young people know about this successful franchise. With this movie, hopefully it's going to attract new fans.

Official release date: 8 May 2009
Official website: here

Angels and Demons

A sequel to The Da Vinci Code, this movie will bring back Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon to investigate a murder associated with Illuminati. This movie brings less controversy unlike its predecessor. Hopefully, all is well.

Official release date: 15 May 2009
Official website: here

Terminator Salvation

Arguably the most promoted summer movie of the year (in my country at least), this is the 4th movie in the Terminator franchise. With new robots, cyborgs, and casts, this movie would be a big hit this summer.

Official release date: 21 May 2009
Official website: Warner Bros., Sony

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian

One of the big comedy title this summer, NatM:BotS brings back Ben Stiller as the museum caretaker who lives the night with historical people and creatures. A must see to those who love comedy and Ben Stiller (?).

Official release date: 22 May 2009
Official website: here

Up

Another flick from Disney / PIXAR. With a series of success from their previous efforts, I don't see why this one should fail. Fun characters, great story and stunning graphics are some of the things I expect to see from this movie. PIXAR is the expert when it comes to computer-generated animation so I expect nothing less from them.

Official release date: 29 May 2009
Official website: here


So are you guys excited? I know I am!

Astro Boy flying into cinemas this October!

Wow, the animation looks incredible. Imagi Animation Studios did a great work. If they get the story right, this could be the best animation movie of the year. But it's still too early to tell. This movie is based on a popular and successful franchise so I do have high hopes for this movie and so far it looks great. All the best!

Here's the teaser trailer for Astro Boy which comes out in cinemas in October 2009. You can check out IGN for another teaser trailer for the movie, the one I posted below is actually the 2nd teaser trailer. You can also check out the awesome official site of the movie. Click here to go there. But before you go, enjoy this trailer first!

Monsters Vs Aliens...okay, this one looks cool.

When it comes to CG / 3D animation, I always prefer movies from PIXAR / Walt Disney. I never really enjoy Shrek except for Puss, never watch Kung Fu Panda, and never really like Bee Movie. I do have movies from studios other than PIXAR / Walt Disney that I like for example Antz and Robots but there are not many of them. But Monsters vs Aliens looks kinda cool, to me at least. The characters look funny and memorable, and the premise of the movie looks promising. I don't know, I can't really judge a movie before I see one but based on the trailer, I can tell that this movie will be a hit...well, hopefully.

Here's a trailer of Monsters vs Aliens, this one is a lot funny than the trailer that I watched recently in a cinema. Hope you guys agree with me. Enjoy! (Source: IGN)

Claire Redfield & Leon S. Kennedy back in action

Yes, Claire and Leon are back together again to fight zombies. Aahh...so romantic.

Resident Evil Degeneration is another movie in the Resident Evil franchise. To stay true to the original storyline, this movie will follow plot from the video games instead of the Resident Evil movie trilogy which starred Milla Jovovich. That would be brilliant! Since it's an animation, so it would be logic for them to follow the original story.

The movie had been released in the US in December 2008 and will be release in UK this January. I'm not sure when will it arrive in other countries. Last time I checked in video stores there's no RE Degeneration in line. But I think it will arrive soon...if not later.

Check out these cool images from the movie. Fantastic right? You can check more if you visit their website, just click here to go there. Want more? Guess what, you can even watch the first 8 minutes of the movie there, plus some other things to check out. Cool!







Here's the trailer for you to enjoy. It looks awesome. I bet you don't even need to be the video games fan to enjoy this. I'm in a very tight budget this couple of months but I think I will still buy this movie once I get my hands on it. :-p

Bolt the superdog

Bolt is opening in Malaysia cinemas this week. This movie is so suitable during this school holiday, so why not take your kids/little brothers/little sisters/nephews/nieces/etc to watch this movie. I bet the adults would also enjoy it. It also received many positive reviews from critics. So there's no reason to not watch this movie.

To those teenagers, Twilight is opening in Malaysia cinemas too this week. I had posted the movie trailer before so please search for it in Movie labels to view.

To know more about this movie, please visit the official Disney site, or simply click here to go there.

I also have here the trailer to Bolt. Hope you guys enjoy it. And thanx IGN for the trailer.

Journey to the past

Last Saturday I watched Anastasia, the 1997 animated film by Fox Animation Studios in Star Movies (Channel 413 Astro Malaysia). I miss those days when animation were 2D and filled with lovely songs. I love this movie a lot so it's kinda reminds me of my sweet childhood memories when I watched it. I love all of the songs too. I wonder if I can still get the soundtrack in music stores?

Anyway, just for your information, this is a fiction story and Anastasia never survived the Russian Revolution. She was murdered along with her family by forces of Bolshevik secret police. You can read all about her in the Wiki page, simply click here.

I wonder if they would make this kind of movie nowadays. I think not.

Wall E ~ review

Seriously, there's nothing much to say about this movie. Great visuals, great soundtrack, great story, great movie. I'm not going to give away the synopsis because it will just ruin the fun. You guys better watch this movie for yourself because in my opinion, it's really worth it. I'm not wasting my energy eagerly waiting to watch this movie since the beginning of summer movie frenzy. It was really WORTH IT!

It's about loneliness, friendship and loyalty. These robots look more human than the people I see in the news. The last few scenes nearly bring me to tears. Marvellous, fantastic, awesome flick. Great job PIXAR!!!

Top animated movies

Yahoo! give us the top 30 animation movies from their users reviews today.

Here are the top 5:

1- Finding Nemo
2- Kung Fu Panda
3- The Incredibles
4- Spirited Away
5- The Lion King

Finding Nemo tops the chart, no surprise there. It is one of my fave movies. Surprisingly Kung Fu Panda landed at no. 2 despite just been screened early in June this year. It must have got a lot of positive reviews. The Incredibles is just great, so no argue there.

Spirited Away at no. 4. Wow, I was surprised. I didn't think Japanese anime could ended up so high in the chart. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE anime! I didn't watch Spirited Away though. But I did watched Princess Mononoke and what a superb anime it was. So I bet Spirited Away is just as good too. And at no. 5 is The Lion King which is one of the best drawn animation I had ever watched. Actually, I like 2D animation. Sadly there didn't make much anymore. Kids these days aren't into 2D. Well, maybe except for anime.

From Madagascar to Africa

So, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa will be in cinemas end of this year. I don't know what to expect. I didn't watch the trailer but my sisters did and they said it was funny. I guess it should be good.

The ones that made me laugh really hard in this movie are the psychotic penguins. They are really fun to watch at. I'm glad they're back for this movie.

Anyway, if you watch Kung Fu Panda, you'll be able to watch the trailer for this movie. The same cast return to lend their voice for this movie such as Ben Stiller (Alex the lion), Chris Rock (Marty the zebra), Jada Pinkett-Smith (Gloria the hyppo) and David Schwimmer (Melman the giraffe).

You can get the full info and also watch the trailer at the Yahoo! Movie page for this movie. Just click here to go there. Or you can just visit DreamWorks website to learn more about these crazy animals.