Why so scared about computer? -- Eagle Eye

It was the name "Shia LaBeouf" that attracted me to this film. He is hot recently, some weird thing in Hollywood, cuz he is not as handsome as Orlando Bloom, or as cute as Zac Efron, but he has been continuously appearing in some blockbusters since 2007: Transformers, and Indiana Jones IV. Is he really going to be the "Next Big Thing"?

(This version of the poster is used in Singapore also, directly shows that there will be some explosions involved)

The plot is not quite surprising: One ordinary man and one ordinary woman, got a mysterious phone call some day, respectively, and got involved in a BIG plan. They were running, being hunted, robbing some guys, and finally, saving the United States. This is not a brand new idea, so the writter gave it more "incentives" by setting the "behind-the-scene-guy" as, actually, not even a "guy" (yup, you are right, "she" is a super computer). But the thing is, Matrix had done so even longer before...

If you are still amazed by the death race and the accuracy that the super computer could remove all the "obstacles", I'm sorry to tell you that this idea has been used in a Hollywood-made Chinese movie So Close quite some years ago. And the delicated trap about bombing the US president and all other highest-rank officers, looks not quite creative after we have seen Ocean's, National Treasure, etc.

The car racing is quite exciting, but not that exciting when I just experienced the first F1 night race on the road of Singapore. And too much bombing sometimes made me feel like a bit fed up. So my favorite scenes are actually the outlook of Pantagon. Not every one got a chance to see that, you know. And the worst scene is the inner look of the super computer -- a copycat of X-Men.

(The US version poster, you can hardly tell what this movie is about after viewing this poster...)

But Shia LaBeouf is nice. The most impressive scene is when Jerry (Shia) was crying at the funeral of his twin brother, Ethan (also played by Shia). He was crying in a very touching way, quiet, by touching. Seldom young guys (he is only 22 now) in Hollywood nowadays can do that. Maybe because this is more like an oriental way. If you watched some Chinese, Japanese or Korean movies, you can see that at least half of the time, when a dude cries, he cries in such a way.

In an interview, Shia LaBeouf compared himself to Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks. He said that they all have the "defected looking", so cannot be some "idols". I think the biggest thing in common he shares with Tom Hanks is the baby face. Tom Hanks suffered quite many years before his wrinkles came out and proved that he was a mature man. Shia used mustarche to cover his baby face in this film, but still not quite convincing, especially when his "partner" was played by Michelle Monaghan. Michelle is 12 years older than him, and quite appropriate to play such a struggling single mum. (BTW, her last movie, Made of Honor http://snowscorpio.blogspot.com/2008/06/grab-bride-as-you-can-made-of-honor.html also quite nice.)

(OK, he IS a big boy now...)

As to the supporting roles, the most impressive one is the FBI agent played by Billy Bob Thornton. This role could be quite boring if he did it in a "traditional" way.

Now back to the theme of this film. People are always so scared that one day some "super computer" will take control of this world. But on the other hand, people are quite comfort with the benefits from the automatic and efficient life style brought by the modern computer techniques. Some of the terms in this film actually exist: "Eagle Eye" is a total defense system brought up by US government, to utilize the internet, GPS and all kinds of monitoring equipments to locate the suspicious targets, like Osama (but this is only a monitor-and-report system, cannot do any "auto control" stuff, nor is it controlled by some "super computer"); "Big Brother" (mentioned in a news report at the very beginning of the film) is a terminology used in Internet world, referring the "central control" of domain names, communication protocols, etc.; the "monitor every mobile phone call" technique is possible, but no one wants to do it currently, not because of any privacy problem, but the huge money needed to do that (except for the Bourne Ultimatum movie...).

As a computer and AI professional, what I can say is, the "total control" is possible, with much, much more money than that US government wants to use to save this round of the financial crisis, EVERY YEAR. And if that comes true, the possible damage to world economy by a trivial mistake in the "controal centre" will be MUCH, MUCH MORE than the money invested into it. So, not from a social, but a realistic point of view, I could not any possibility that any one is willing to invest such a huge amount to do such a highly risky thing, -- that, violates the basic rules of economics.

Now, why so scared about computer?

(Read the Chinese version: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_540d06ba0100azs1.html)

A Love Story under a Horror Skin -- "Painted Skin"

This Chinese movie is based on an ancient ghost story recorded in the famous Chinese short novel collection "Liao Zhai Zhi Yi" (basically this is a collection of traditional Chinese ghost and demon stories, which was written over 200 years ago). The original story tells about a demon that maintains the outlook of a young beauty by eating human hearts every day. And the most horrible scene is when the demon "takes off" the skin and does make-up on it! (That's the origin of the name "Painted Skin")

The movie uses this plot, but don't mistake it with any other horror or ghost movies, or expect quite many bloody scenes or zombies in it. Down to the earth, this is about a love story.

Two men fell for one same girl, and she chose one, so the other one left in sorrow. Years later, the husband took back a mysterious girl, who obviously had this kind of crush in him. Wife found out that the girl was not just a girl, so she asked the other man that loved her to come back and investigate it. But they lost to the girl again and again, finally the wife had to turn herself into a "demon", to get the promise from the girl that she would not kill anybody any more, including the husband. But the husband did not give up his wife, even he believed that she was a demon. His choice was to kill her and himself. End of the day, the real demon was destroyed, and before she died, she regretted and used her power to bring back to life the couple in love.

Not quite a fascinating plot, I know. But you should watch this movie, even if you don't understand Chinese, because true love does not prefer any language.

True love, is not exclusion, but sacriface. You can enjoy this movie more if you can understand this point. Or, you will understand more about this point after you watch this movie.

Most girls, especially Eastern ones, would prefer those sensitive man, instead of those strong and tough guys. But the thing is, when a man is too sensitive, he will almost always hurt you some day, when the timing is right. A tough guy could hardly hurt you by any way, once he has chosen you as the one, but you might hardly feel his sensitive side for all the time. So you need to choose. Unfortunately, most girls will make one or several wrong choices for them during their lifetime.

The director is brilliant, for he managed to make a movie that so much like a whole. You can say that many parts of this movie, like the roles, are not the best one among the alternatives, but when you make the puzzle up, you could not find anything more appropriate than that. A great movie does not need one single brilliant component, but a brilliant combination.
Perhaps the only fallback of this movie is the voice of one leading role, Zhou Xin (as the demon Xiao Wei). She is a famous Chinese actress and has won quite some domestic and international awards. But her voice is rough and discomfortable, which she insisted to stick to it all these years long. She might have her insist, but the audience should have their choices also.

Read the Chinese version: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_540d06ba0100ayjp.html

Artificial Messiah -- Babylon A.D.

When the show ended, friend asked me, "It this the end?" Not because that we did not want it to end, but we COULD NOT UNDERSTAND how it could possibly end like THIS?!

The inspiration seems to root in "Children of Men". Damaged and pollted earth, ex-USSR countries are all in a mess, and the only paradise is the two countried in North America (you know who they are). Sounds like Cold War? Come on, even James Bond has aged since then!

There's a mysterious and genius girl, mysterically pregnant like Maria, but her intelligence was from some super computer, just like a perfect (or perfectly awful?) mixture of modern science and ancient religion. I just feel like that the director is trying to find a way out, but he did not understand that there are two ways, via different directions, while he just tried to make them one, which was doomed to fail.

It's like a personal show time for Vin Diesel. After all those crazy things in "xXx", in this movie you can expect snow motorcycle, racing, shooting, fighting, you name it. But what else?
At first I was hoping to see him and Michelle Yeoh, because of that classic quote "You are not a gentleman" from "Gone with the Wind". Unfortunately, Vin Diesel might look a bit like Rhett Butler, but Michelle is not a single piece of Scarlett. Finally she left earlier than I expected.
And it's actually quite interesting to see the chemistry between Vin Diesel and Mélanie Thierry, like "Beauty & Beast". This young lady just looks like a new Mila Jovovic, and her role is just like Mila in "The Fifth Element". (And, actually Vin Diesel looks like Bruce Willis sometimes...) Although they look more like a father-daughter pair, the scenes in the bathroom did bring some sparks. Pity that Michelle Yeoh came back too early...
Besides these, we have to say that we know too little about this Diesel...

The ending is in a rush. If they were running out of budget, then why not just leave this topic to someone else?

Chinese version: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_540d06ba0100at5p.html

Re-create Jules Verne -- Journey to the Centre of the Earth

I was there for Jules Verne. Previously I expected a remake of this all-time classic novel, just to find out that this is actually a "re-creation".

A geologist happened to find the clues to his brother's mysterious missing, so headed for a journey to discover the truth, along with his little nephew, and a novel named "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", yup, THAT one, by Jules Verne. On the way they met a beautiful mountain guide, and the threesome set out for an exciting adventure.

Sounds familiar? If you have read the book before, it will be even more familiar. Director Eric Brevig was smart enough to not to make it like a LOTR trilogy (if you stick to the novel, could be), but use several classic scenes to re-create a story instead. Of course he deleted quite many days of the journey (the movie shows around 72 hours' length, while in the novel the adventura lasts for weeks), like those Robinson Crusoe style of survivor games. I particularly thank him for deleting those scenes that the uncle and nephew pair quarallling about the question of "to go ahead or to go back", which is the thing I hate most in the novel. Finally the movie length is below 100 min, and was rated as "PG" in most countries, which means it became a ideal "summer vacation movie". Now you know why there are some many parents taking their school-age children to this movie.

Although there are some many deleted scenes, the re-created story still sounds reasonable, all thanks to the extremely strong logic lies in the novel itself. And the writer is smart too. With such a classic, the best thing you can do is to keep the mainframe, adding some funny conversations, a little bit details here and there, and that would be perfect. Never, ever, try to destroy a classic and build up your own on the ruin.

Brendan Fraser did not get his chocolate muscles in this movie, so don't expect those "eye icecream" scenes, like in "The Mummy 3". But he is really set for such kind of roles.

The little nephew played by Josh Hutcherson looks like a combination of Elijha Wood and Daniel Redcliffe. Cute.

The scene that the threesome taking on a trolley trip in the abandoned mine is totally recycled from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Similar settings, similar shootings, even similar roles! (Man, woman and a boy) Talking about that trolley track, I clearly remembered that I played that before in some theme park. And the worst thing is, the digital effect sucks! You can easily find out that the threesome and the trolley are "pasted" to the background, and the edges are fragmented, even an amateur CG job now could do better than this. Actually the whole scene is just to show how the threesome find the entrance to the lava tunnel. In this case, if they can now do it nicely, why not change to some other way?

Finally there is a hint for a possible sequel, as quite many Hollywood movies did these days. Hope that could come true.

A Firework Show -- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

A firework show, this is my feeling after watching the latest episode of that all-time classic, The Mummy.

Actually it was the leading actor, Brendan Fraser himself, that described a blockbuster movie without a good story as a "firework show", during a recent interview with some movie magazine. Unfortunately, this term could be used to describe his movie here, too.

The leaving of director and writer Stephen Sommers has predicted the problem of this movie. The story line is neither convincing nor surprising. To those audience that have some basic knowledge about Chinese history, it's even worse -- the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (literally "the first emperor of Qin dynasty), was renamed as "Emperor Han" (Han is actually a dynasty that right after Qin)!
The new writer seems to have focused on the dragons and zombies only, and thrown out of the window those funny conversation and small tricks from the previous two episodes. Come on, this is summer, blockbuster season! We have had more than enough CGs, robots, explosions, etc., adding one more doesn't look that interesting. I happened to watch the first "The Mummy" last week, really miss the laughters that Rick, Eve and Jonathan can bring me.

Rachel Weisz is wise enough not to get involved with this movie. The replacement, Maria Bello, seems to have more interests in becoming the next Lara. But as far as we remembered, Eve was just a cute little girl, the brain of the threesome in the adventure, and always need some rescues from Rick (and such rescues are always the most attracting scenes). We do not like Eve because of her kick-ass techniques; we like Eve because she is Eve.

Brendan finally gets back to fit. But this movie seems to be a big waste of his muscles. Hope he could get some more luck in the next "Journey to the Center of the Earth", at least that one has a genius writer.

Luke Ford, as the son Alex, is just too normal. Without a memorable name like Shia LaBeouf (I still cannot pronounce it!), or the shining and killing smile of Freddie Boath (who plays the role Alex in "The Mummy Returns"), he just couldn't make us excited.

Oh BTW, there are some other people in this movie, namely, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh and Isabella Leong. In this movie, they could be replaced by anybody.

The Darkest Time -- Batman: The Dark Knight

"The dark before the dawn is the darkest" (I'm not talking about McCaine, although he had some problems with this quote recently.) This is my feeling about the recent Batman movie.

Christopher Nolan, the director had warned us that this will be the darkest Batman movie that ever made. Actually I even think that this is the darkest movie that I've ever watched. The darkness, is not about the cruel and cold-blooded Joker, but torturing EVERY role by making them to make choices about life and morality. Jimmy has to choose from an unrightful apology or his son's life; Fox has to choose to use or destroy the powerful yet indecent overhearing system; people on the ferry boats have to choose to blow somebody else off or to wait for their own destine to come; even the old Alfred has to choose a "right time". Heath Ledger might be pushed to much by such a movie to be ended like that.

I don't quite understand why the Nolan brothers have some hostility again China in the script. The low-quality gun was "made in China", and Chinese government "will never extradite one of their own"? Come on, cold war has ended for decades! And for the record, this movie has not yet got the permission to be shown in mainland China, and you know why now.

Gary Oldman is really an "oldman" now. Let's hope that the next Batman movie could be made within these coming two to three years, otherwise he might be too old to take the role that I like very much. Maggie Gyllenhaal looks sooooo 1930's, and even if she's the elder sister to Jake Gyllenhaal, I cannot see the point to pick her as Rachel. Aaron Eckhart is shining as Harvey Dent, but not quite as Two-Face. But he should get people to remember his name now. Christian Bale fades to the background, just shows from time to time to reminds me that this IS a Batman movie.

The glory goes to Heath Ledger. His Joker is so pain-causing. It seems that he could jump out of the screen at any moment, with a knife in your mouth, and says, "Why So Serious?". I know that many people say that he should win an Oscar for this role. That's true. It's a once-for-a-life chance, and he use his life to catch it.

The music is quite striking, especially when you are sitting in a hall with the best audio equipment in town. And the shooting and editing is some masters' piece. Actually I even did not dare to look at the screen several times during the whole show.

BTW that Edison Chan, all his scenes include: one far-far-away shot from the heli, one from the back without the head, and the only one in front, -- out of focus. Is this kind of arrangement before or after his scandal?

Growing up - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Within all my friends, about half of them do not like the first piece of Narnia; even me myself, when I first watched it, I thought it was much, much below LOTR, not only the rating, but also the age of the target audience.

Now here comes the second one, which, refreshes my impression to this series with a "grown-up" feeling. For those who still think that this is a "Boy's Play", YOU ARE WRONG!

One year after the first movie, U.K. is in the centre of war. The foursome just tuned themselves back to the normal life. While in Narnia, it has been 1,300 years. A Hamlet (Prince Caspian) blew the horn that belongs to Susan, and bring them back to Narnia. Another war "for Narnia" is coming.

Actually we don't really care about who they are fighting against, what kind of spirits or animals they are fighting with, what new skills they grasped , or what strategies (smart or stupid) they are going to use. All what we know is, they are back, they are going to fight, and they will finally leave. Although there are several mistakes, both in the plot and the shooting (e.g., when the foursome were walking in the cave after they first back to Narnia, it was Edmund, who was taking the lead, that held a torchlight, but some "mysterious" light appeared behind the last one, Lucy.), but come one, who did NOT make such mistakes? Especially in Hollywood. So don't worry too much, don't calculate too much, just sit back and relax to enjoy this movie, as if it was a break in your boring life, just like Narnia is a break for the foursome in the WWII life. The only difference is, it will take you 2 and a half hours to finish this movie, while they only used 1 second to finish a war, and even a first love for someone.

Ben Barnes (as Prince Caspian) has a very promising look and an even more promising chance (he is also the lead for the next Narnia movie), hope he could be the next Orlando Bloom. So far he still needs some more practice in his acting (exactly the same case for Orlando in LOTR!).

In the foursome, my favorite is still the little Lucy, Georgie Henly. She is just so cute! Maybe she is not talented enough to handle all kinds of roles, just like Darkota Fanning did, but it seems that she could easily push Abigail Breslin into the shadow now (Hi Abigail, if you keep staying in your current status, you might be the next Kristen Dunst only).

Peter also got a quite good look in fact. The only problem might be, he does not look quite "characteristic", so you might easily mistake him with other blondes in Hollywood. Susan is obviously over-aged, and if she chose to stay in this business, we might just get another actress that you remember you saw her in some movie, just cannot recall the name, neither the movie's or hers. Edmund looks is just a loser, hope he could do better in the next sequel.

Not much to say for the supporting roles, except the fencing rat. Everybody knows you guys are just copy-catting from Shrek, why bother change it into a "copy-rat"? (Ever consider lend the voice from Antonio Benderas?)

The scene of the beach, valley and the river is awesome. But the CG lion Aslan is disappointing. Soooo fake!

Unlike the Golden Compass, I'm really looking forward to seeing Narnia 3 now!