The Last Airbender

Adapted from Nickelodeon's hit cartoon series Avatar : The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan brings us The Last Airbender. Apparently, Avatar was dropped from the title to avoid confusing it with James Cameron's mega blockbuster Avatar. Hmmm ...


Earth as we know it is divided between the four great nations ... Air, Water, Earth and Fire. Everyone co-existed in harmony until the Fire nation decided to wage war against the rest for the sole purpose of world dominance.


A century has passed since the world has last seen an Avatar ... a being capable of controlling and manipulating all four elements ... earth, fire, air and water. It is believe that the Avatar is the only one with the potential to bring back peace with its powers.


We next see Aang (first time actor, Noah Ringer) blasting out of a ice sphere and as it turns out, he's the reincarnated Avatar *YAY*. Initially reluctant to accept his fate as the world's saviour, he slowly comes to term with his destiny and responsibility ... with the help of a Water bender, Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone).

Since Aang was only trained to control the element of air before he pissed in his pants and bolted upon being crowned Avatar, he has to learn to bend the water element next. So off he goes to the Northern Water Kingdom with his groupie in order to attain Water masters to train him up.


Dev Patel (from Slumdog Millionaire) is Zuko, the banished prince from the Fire Nation. His aim is to capture the Avatar and hand him back to his father, the Fire Lord Ozai in order to redeem himself for being 'too soft'.

So an epic battle between the Water and Fire Nations ensued in the Northern Water Kingdom and no prizes for guessing how things ended. The movie finished with the Fire Lord sending his exceptionally gifted Fire bender daughter out to hunt down the Avatar. We can expect a sequel in the making soon I suppose ...


The CGIs were pretty impressive but then again, one would expect no less from a USD150 million shooting budget. Since regular 2D cameras were used for the filming, an additional USD 15 million were coughed out to convert it into 3D.

If you're a fan of magic and fantasy or the cartoon series itself, then you ought to enjoy this enchanting flick. The characters pretty much stuck to the originals but don't go expecting good scripting or exceptional story plot. I dare say, not even Shyamalan would be bold enough to anticipate any Oscar nominations for his work this time around. Nevertheless, it's not a bad way to spend 2 hours of your weekend catching this. Don't forget the popcorn!

Rating : 3 / 5

Predators

Most of us have watched the 1987 original by Arnie ... the scene where the former Mr.Universe was slathered in mud and gearing up to give the alien hunter a good ol' ass whooping ... now that's a classic! From this ... other B-grade spinoffs sprung out but I must admit that Alien vs Predator was rather good.

Anyway, 23 years later, we have Predators and a couple of big names were roped in for this project. The movie kicked off with Royce (Adrien Brody), a lone mercenary finding conciousness while being parachuted down into some remote jungle. He has no recollection of how he got to where he was before that. It wasn't long before he grouped up with a few others who landed in the same manner. The rest of the bad-ass members consist of an Israelli sniper, Isabelle (Alice Braga), a Mexican drug lord's bouncer, Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), a brutish Russian soldier, Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), a freedom fighter from Africa, Mombasa (I dunno what his real name is :p), a convict on FBI's most wanted, Stans (Walton Goggins), a Yakuza enforcer in a suit, Hanzo and lastly, a nerdy doctor, Edwin (Topher Grace ... yes, the geek from That 70's Show).


Royce assumed position of group leader and they soon discovered that they weren't on Earth! *JENG JENG JENG* They're actually on another planet ... a hunting ground of sorts and suprise suprise, they're the target.


It wasn't long before they were attacked by some teeth-baring-ferocious-looking alien mutts. Cuchillo got killed. Then they stumbled upon a 'camp site' where one of em' alien predators was tied up. Other aliens appeared and both groups traded gunfires. *BANG BOOM BANG* Mombasa died.

Then Noland (Lawrence Fishburn) appeared ... literally out of no where and led the group back to his base. He briefed the group that he ... like the rest of em' was tossed into the planet and he somewhat managed to survive for the past 10 seasons. 10 minutes later, the predator blasted Noland into chopped liver.


One by one, the group members got massacred but so did the aliens. The aliens always hunt in group of 3s ... that is if u discounted the 'loser' who was tied up at camp site.


A lot of battle scenes ensued ... you even get the aliens fighting amongst themselves ... yes, the abovementioned 'loser' with the last survivor from the 3. Edwin turned out to be not who good doctor he seems to be (watch it yourself to find out) and the final combat sees a shirtless and muddied Royce facing off with the baddie. *How nostalgic* Another group of targets were parachuted down so start off the new hunting season before the ending credits started rolling out ... *crap! Not another sequel?!*


Is there something in my teeth?

Rating : 2.5 / 5

I'm toasted

I woke up with an insatiable craving for butter on toast. That’s rather weird since I’m not a bread person. I nom nom on the occasional croissant and that’s just about it.

But this morning ... I was salivating as I pictured the slice of toast, piping hot out of the toaster where it’s white with patches of brown ... immediately being slathered with a thick slab of rich creamy butter ... melting ... slowly caramelising it golden yellow.

The first bite ... sinking your teeth wholly into the bread ... making your way from the crispy outside *crunch* into the softer inside of the bread ... the butter juices exploding and enveloping your tongue entirely with its salty goodness. Ooh la la ...

The one where it wasn't so good ...

The past couple of days weren't nice to say the least. I wish that it'll be forgettable and that things will turn around ... sooner than later I hope.

Bogged down with personal issues which I shall not delucidate further. And work hasn't been kind either. I was roped in to 'help out' with another project and things over there are real messy. Not exactly my favourite thing to do at the moment but orders are orders. :(

What else ... oh, I'm pleased to announce that I'm recovering from the usual bout of flu, cough and sore throat. Deadly combo this one. Coupled with the heat, sand and dust ... I wonder if this is what hell really feels like. Do pardon the exxageration but ranting makes this blogger feels a tad bit better.

We're in the peak of summer and my room's air-con unit decided to take a vacation. Sweating oneself to sleep isn't pleasant ... trust me on this one. Got some guys over to fix the damn thing but now it's leaking like a faucet. Sighhh ... at any rate, it's churning out cold air and for that, I'm grateful.

Yesterday morning's breakfast gave me a very rude wake up call. Swimming in my bowl of cereal was a cockroach. Could've been worse I guess ... at least I didn't nom nom nom that bugger ... or maybe I did its cousin and just not realize it ... oh well ...

No one informed me that today was diarrhoea day (I pray that it wasn't the cockroach causing this) but at least it has stopped *fingers crossed*. That's one way of getting rid of water retention huh :p

So yea ... not exactly a good couple of days but at least I'm still in one piece. Need to stay positive *Oohmmmmmmmmm ...*

Hope you peeps had better luck than I did. Peace out!

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for all things related to magic and sorcery. I'm a mega fan of Dungeons & Dragons and yes ... even Harry Potter :p So when Disney released The Sorcerer's Apprentice, I simply knew I've gotta watch it.


This movie was actually Nicolas Cage's brainchild as he was an avid fan of Disney's original Fantasia. Hence, the story was conceived and pitched to Disney's bigwigs who happens to agree that it'll be cool to make a modern adaptation of Mickey's magic spinning antics. Even the scene of Mickey doing his chores with the aid of a li'll sorcery (pictured above) was incorporated into the film. *wink*

Ok ... so back to the story ... it tells of Merlin, yes THE Merlin and his three diciples, Balthazar Blake (Nic Cage), Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Veronica (Monica Belluci). Working together since the medieval era ... 700 A.D. to be exact, they battle the evil sorceress, Morgana who's aim is to bring an army of dead sorcerers back to life and *GASP* rule the world!!! *JENG JENG JENG!!!*

So anyways, they almost had Morgana defeated but because of Horvath's betrayal, Merlin was killed and Veronica trapped in a Grimhold (magical prison) with Morgana. The reason for Horvath's treachery was revealed later ... it seems both Balthazar and Horvath had the hots for Veronica *YAWN* and since Veronica chose Balthazar (coz Cage's a bigger star than Molina), hence, Horvath had to play the role of the spurned lover and wreck havoc. *DUH*


On the brink of death, Merlin gave Balthazar his dragon ring and says the person whom the ring chooses will be the Prime Merlinion (PM) ... the only person able to defeat Morgana for good. *OOOooo*

So for a thousand years *no kidding*, Balthazar have been trying to locate this PM and at the same time, battling and imprisoning other evil sorcerers . Oh and he doesn't age over time since Merlin previously put a spell on all 3 of his diciples so that they can search for the elusive PM without growing old and dying *Genius!*

Fast forward time to the year 2000 and we see 10 year old Dave Stutler coincidentally landed himself in Balthazar's shop, the Arcana Cabana while on a school field trip. In there, Balthazar found out that Dave is indeed the PM ... the chosen one he has been searching for millenias. *Jeng Jeng Jeng!*


Dave unknowingly released Horvath from the Grimhold and a battle ensued between the two sorcerers resulting in both of em' being trapped in an ancient urn for the next 10 years *Boo hoo*.


Tick tock tick tock ... 10 years later ... both dudes were released from the urn and tried to locate the Grimhold. Balthazar finally managed to locate and persuade Dave (Jay Baruchel) to be his reluctant apprentice while Horvath recruited a 'Morganian' to help him with his wicked cause to free Morgana. Let's get ready to RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


You'll be pleasantly entertained by a whole lot of action with rather cool special effects ... electric plasma balls, tesla coils, a Merc SLR & Ferrari car chase, big-ass steel bird, the bronze Wall Street bull coming to life, a fire breathign dragon etc.

The ending is rather predictable and the inclusion of Dave's love interest, Becky (Teresa Palmer) into the whole equation provided the eye candy. I'd give it a 3.5 / 5. Don't expect too much and you'd be walking out of the theater a happy customer.

The One Where I Needed Vitamins ...

Everything was a blur ... I couldn't remember how I got there or what happened before that. As I scanned my surroundings, I began to grasp that I was lying on a bed made of cold metal. The icy sensation stung the receptors on my skin. Blinding my vision were a cluster of bright spotlights hanging overhead.

I hear voices of several people ... all speaking at once. I couldn't comprehend what they were talking about ... it was all just frenzied noise to me but I noted the sense of urgency in their tone. I closed my eyes ... shielding them from the annoying glare and tried to block out the mutterings ... it was then that I could perceive echoes of beepings.

It all came together like a completed puzzle. I suddenly knew where I was ... I was in an ER ... a hospital's emergency room. The doctors and nurses were busy buzzing around me ... trying to fix me up. I struggled to remember what was wrong with me in the first place but couldn't quite stick a finger to it no matter how hard I tried.

Another weird thing was that none of these people seem to realize that I was awake and aware of what's going on around me. I wondered if this was suppose to be like this.

The beepings increased in frequency and instantly resulted in a gibberish of medical jargons being spat all over the room ... reminds me of episodes I used to watch from Grey's.

Out of no where, a face appeared in front of me, probably belonging to a young female attendee ... I studied her dire expression as she tried to explain to me what's going on. I register nothing except for the continuous beeping noise.

And then I understood a few out of the hundreds of words she was attempting to jam into my drowzy state of mind. Apparently ... my body is lacking in vitamin C ... hahaha ... I kid you not and for some reason, this is a grave situation ... so serious that a team of specialist has to be present to administer the 'procedure'.

They tried every method ... double dosage of 1000mg capsules, liquid injection throught the IV (I think it's Redoxon :p) and ... using some sort of laser tech by exposing my skin to some richly vitamin C enhanced lighting. O_O

But alas ... my body seems to be rejecting everything and suddenly I go into a seizure before the beeping sound went into one long monotonous hum.

Someone shouted 'CLEAR!!!' as they tried to shock me back to life with the defibrillator (see photo above).

That was also the moment I jolted from my dream. I woke up feeling drowzy ... as if recovering from a heavy dose of GA. Oh what a rush ...

Man down ...

I was in the midst of having a dream. Not a bad one I might add ... something along the lines where I was holidaying with wifey and my family in Hong Kong. Oh and for some peculiar reason ... it also involved some bean sprouts. Hmmm ...

Anyways, the dream was shattered when I was suddenly jolted awake by a series of uncontrollable coughs ... my own to be exact. It went on for quite a while and when it finally stopped, my lungs felt sore. Not exactly sure why but those excruciating coughs prompted my nose to start leaking like a faucet. A few deep breaths later ... I drifted back to ZZZzzz ...

As I was washing up for work ... the throat felt irritated and before I could brace myself, a series of chronic coughs ensued. I'm sure the neighbours didn't appreciate such a rude wake up call.

Throughout the rest of the day, I was hacking like an old witch and the extreme heat from the summer sun didn't help either. Coupled with the dusty environment at the site ... I've got myself the perfect recipe to cook up a coughing marathon.

In the evening, the weather was more forgiving ... the heat more merciful. So I thought I'd give my body a good sweat in the hope of expelling the spells of lethargic that have been enveloping me the entire day.

I stretched and laced up. When I was ready, I started with a slow jog to warm up the gastrocnemius muscles. I steadied my breathing and controlled my pace ... so not looking forward to another series of dry coughs to interrupt the run. The music on my earphones were pumping hard to distract me from that nagging feeling that was building up from within ... one step at a time I told myself.

I was sweating more profusely than usual and I haven't even hit the 2km mark yet. Large beads of sweat were stinging my eyes and as hard as I tried to motivate myself to go on ... my body was screaming for me to stop.

When I did ... I was overcomed with sheer exhaustaion. With my palms to my knees, I could literally feel my heart banging against my rib cage and I was breathing awfully hard ... gasping for every ounce of air available.

I lugged my tired self back to the villa and peeled off my drenched attire that was clinging to my body for dear life. After a hot shower ... I hoovered down my dinner before allowing 10ml of Linctus to yuckily trickle down my throat.

I guess the meds are taking effect now as the eyelids are beginning to weigh quite a bit. Time to hit the sack and I hope tomorrow's gonna be a better day. G'nite folks ... ZZZzzz ...