wow.. i never knew that you guys like him so much. yar, the viewership has been slowing, trickling, just shy of the 50k mark that it sort of puzzled me a bit. but then, after i posted Hansel and Gretel review, the statics seem to jump start.
you love Jeremy Renner, don't you all? hahaha, i like him too. even though he's probably not coming back as Hawkeye in the Avengers sequel. what a shame but i think he's a good actor and he's moving to greener pastures if he doesn't get to reprise the role.
so.. as a small token of thanks, i'll do a review of theBourne Legacy next, ok.
see, like i said, he's a dead ringer somewhat to Mr Craig :)
Coriolanus (a Shakespeare adaptation) - among others, Jessica Chastain, Gerard Butler and Ralph Fiennes
Man on a Ledge - Sam Worthington and Jamie Bell
Quantum of Solace - Gemma Atherton and Daniel Craig
Safe House - Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington
One for the Money - Katherine Heigl
Game of Shadows - Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr.
hopefully i can review them soon!
and yes, the viewership for Slow-Pokey is reaching 5,000. here's for the next 5,000 views, hopefully by next month or so? hahaha.. such wistful thinking :)
In 1873, Arizona Territory, an unnamed loner (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the desert injured, with no memory and with a strange metal shackle on his wrist.
the metal shackle is irremovable
After killing 3 drifters who try to rob him, he takes their clothes, weapons and a horse.
He wanders into the small town of Absolution, where the local preacher, Meacham (Clancy Brown), treats his wound.
doc, the bar owner was fed up getting harrassed by Percy, the son of the town rich
the annoying Percy, son of no good
After the stranger subdues Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), a volatile drunk who has been terrorizing the town, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) recognizes the stranger as Jake Lonergan, a wanted outlaw, and attempts to arrest him. Jake beats up the posse sent to take him in and nearly escapes, but a mysterious woman named Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) knocks him out.
Percy's father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a wealthy and ruthless cattleman, arrives with his men and demands that Percy be released from the jail due for Santa Fe.
He sees Jake and also demands he be released to him, since Jake was the one who stole Dolarhyde's gold. During the standoff, alien craft begin attacking the town. Percy, the sheriff and many other townsfolk are grabbed by long, whip-like feelers hanging from the bottom of the alien ships and are abducted.
Jake's shackle unfolds and becomes a weapon, shooting down one of the ships with a single shot, ending the attack.
the townfolks have no interest nor show any awe at seeing a flying craft for the first time in their life.
Dolarhyde is impressed with Jake's ability to shoot down the alien ship.
Ella is the only female with gun, why is it the town not apprehensive about her?
Dolarhyde, his Apache right hand-man Nat (Adam Beach), Ella, Doc (Sam Rockwell), Meacham and other townsfolk form a posse to track an injured alien that escaped from the downed ship. His posse also includes Emmet (Noah Ringer), Taggart's grandson.
Dolarhyde and Emmet
bonding over knife
Jake, meanwhile, travels to an abandoned cabin, and in a flashback, recalls returning there with the gold just before he and a woman, Alice (Abigail Spencer), were abducted by the aliens. His memories returning, Jake joins up with the posse. During the night, while they camp in an upside down paddlewheel steamboat, the alien they were tracking kills Meacham, who sacrifices himself to save Emmett .
By the next morning, most of the posse has deserted, and the others are attacked by Jake's former gang. Jake, who stole the gang's loot after their last heist, attempts to retake control, but fails.
As he and the others flee, the aliens begin attacking again and Ella is captured. Jake jumps aboard the ship and attacks the alien pilot, causing the ship to crash, but Ella is fatally wounded. in delirium, Jake carried her back to the remaining posse.
However the Chiricahua Apaches capture the posse, blaming them for the alien attacks. As Ella's body is dumped on a fire, she is fully resurrected.
Ella resurrected without her clothes on, isk.. wayang free je
Ella reveals herself to be an alien who traveled to Earth to help resist the invaders after they destroyed her homeworld. The aliens, who have been abducting humans to perform experiments, are also mining gold to power their machines. They are not invulnerable, however: Jake's gauntlet weapon can kill them, as well as stabbing and shooting them, though the creatures are far stronger and more durable than humans and have superior weapons.
Ella also claims Jake holds the secret to the aliens' whereabouts and says they must stop them before they exterminate all life on the planet. After taking medicine offered by the Apaches to cure his amnesia, Jake recalls that Alice was euthanized after she was used in an alien experiment, but he escaped, inadvertently stealing the alien weapon in the form of a gauntlet. He could also remember the location of the aliens' base of operations.
the Apache leader believes in Dolarhyde's ability as a leader, oh so easily
Armed with this knowledge, the group including the Apaches as Nat convinces their leader of Dolarhyde's ability as a battle leader, prepares to attack the aliens' grounded mothership.
Jake returns to his old gang, sure of himself, and persuades them to join the fight with the promise of gold mined by the aliens.
kasi bom dinamit sama dia!
In a sneak attack, the humans breach the spaceship, forcing the aliens into a ground battle.
alien huduh, tak lawa macam Ella
Jake and Ella board the ship and free the captives, but Jake is captured. Dolarhyde rescues him and both men escape the ship after killing the alien leader.
the Alien leader who has a (scarred) bone to pick with Jake
As the remaining aliens are taking off in their damaged craft, Ella sacrifices herself, destroying the ship using Jake's gauntlet.
Jake's memory partially returns, and some abducted townsfolk begin to remember their past. Still a wanted man, Jake decides to leave; the sheriff and Dolarhyde say they will claim that he was killed in the invasion. The citizens intend to rebuild the town with the expectation that the newly discovered gold mine will soon bring many new settlers. Jake kindly rejects Dolarhyde's offer to help rebuild the town, and rides away.
the Review:
to tell you the truth, i have tried watching the movie for 3 times only to postpone it after 5 mins. but this last time, i persevered.
and another truth, i had to persuade myself to watch it to the end. so it wasn't a gripping story, so slow in its storytelling and uncompelling most of the times. perhaps that explain why it is not a commercial success.
but i like its underlying theme: unity transcending skin colour and intergalactic romance a la 1Malaysia. ha ha ha
Nat, a son that Dolarhyde wished was his
one scene though do touch my hearstrings, the one where Nat died saving Dolarhyde. it was really sad..
the 2.5 star the movie deserves owes it to the gripping trailer. one of the examples where the Trailer is indeed a much better representation of the story than the film itself.
i'm sorry that i've been tardy with my movie reviews but seriously, i'm hooked, lined, and sunk in love with the tv series.
i have in mind to do a review on Shame by Michael Fassbender and perhaps Sherlock Holmes' Game of Shadows by Robert Downey Jr. not to forget, my Casino Royale review is also left in drafting stage.
i'm just plain tardy- eh wait, i'm just staying true to this blog's nature, Slow-Pokey! So sabo je la ek :sheepish grin:
... TSM or in its original language: Pelanduk Dua Serupa.
this is simply a Malay simile to describe 2 person who is a spitting image of each other.
i was watching Jeremy Renner in the Ghost Protocol and was acutely reminded of Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.
which prompted me to watch Casino Royale again, for the sake of another Slow-Pokey post. and made me somewhat impatient for the Avengers film to come out on the Net, JR is cast as Hawkeye in the movie.
yup, one of the reasons for my tardiness in reviewing fresh-from-the-oven movies is that i'm not allowed to go to the cinema to catch up on the latest flicks. i had to settle by waiting oh-not-so-patiently for the DVD version to be available on the Net.
me = LAME.
anyway, back to TSM, i had this uncanny feeling that these 2 guys are sort of look alike. perhaps they should be cast as brothers? :wink: :wink: hollywood people, do take note!
the Plot:
Tintin (voice of Jamie Bell) a young journalist, and his dog Snowy are browsing in an outdoor market in a European town when he stumbled upon a model of a three-masted sailing ship, the Unicorn. He bought it on the cheap, but was then immediately accosted by the mysterious figure of Barnaby (voice of Joe Starr) and then by the sinister Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (voice of Daniel Craig), who both try to buy the model from Tintin, without success.
Tintin takes the ship home, but it is broken during a fight between Snowy and a neighbour's cat. As it breaks, a parchment scroll slips out of the ship's mast. Snowy spots it but is unable to alert Tintin. Meanwhile, incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (voices of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are on the trail of a pickpocket, Aristides Silk. Tintin visits Marlinspike Hall, the origin of the ship model. There he meets Sakharine and learns that there are at least two model ships. Tintin puts the scroll in his wallet, only to have the wallet stolen by Aristides Silk, the notorious pickpocket.
Later, Barnaby tried to warn Tintin of the secret behind the Unicorns but before he could say anything substantial, Barnaby was shot to death. Tintin then is abducted by accomplices of Sakharine, and imprisoned on the SS Karaboudjan.
On board, Tintin escapes and meets the ship's nominal captain, Haddock (voice of Andy Serkis). Haddock has been supplied with whisky by first mate Allan, who is working for Sakharine, and the captain is permanently drunk, and doesn't know what's happening on board his ship. Tintin and Haddock (and Snowy) eventually escape from the Karaboudjan in a lifeboat. Sakharine sends a seaplane to find them, but Tintin is able to capture the plane, and fly towards the (fictitious) Moroccan port of Bagghar, but they crash in the desert.
Dehydrated in the heat, and suffering from a sudden lack of alcohol, Haddock hallucinates, and starts to remember stories about his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock, who was captain of the Unicorn during the 17th century. Sir Francis' treasure-laden ship was attacked by a pirate ship, led by the masked Red Rackham, and, after a fierce battle and eventual surrender, Sir Francis chose to sink the Unicorn, and most of the treasure, rather than allow it to fall into Rackham's hands. It transpires that there were three models of the Unicorn, each containing a scroll. Together, the scrolls will reveal the location of the sunken Unicorn, and its treasure.
In Bagghar, Tintin and the Captain find out that the third model ship is in the possession of the wealthy Omar Ben Salaad, but it is encased in a bullet-proof glass display case. Sakharine's plan is to stage a concert involving famous diva Bianca Castafiore, the "Milanese nightingale", whose penetrating singing voice will be able to shatter the glass case, allowing Sakharine's trained hawk to fly down and steal the third scroll. After a chase down to the harbour, pursued by Tintin and Haddock, Sakharine finally escapes with all three scrolls. Tintin chases him back to Europe and arranges a police reception for him on the dockside. Haddock and Sakharine, who is revealed to be the descendant of Red Rackham, replay their ancestors' swashbuckling sword fight, using dockside cranes, swords, and even bottles of whiskey. Haddock is eventually victorious and Sakharine is promptly arrested by Thomson and Thompson.
With the three scrolls in their possession, Tintin and Haddock find that the indicated location is Marlinspike Hall, and that the hall had been built originally by Sir Francis Haddock. There, in the cellar, they find some of the treasure, and a clue to the location of the sunken Unicorn. Both men agree to continue the adventure.
the many Pictures of the Movie:
Tintin and his able Sidekick, Snowy the Dog.
Tintin was besieged with offer for the Unicorn model by Barnaby and later on, Mr Sakharine.
the slain Barnaby left a clue "Karaboudjan". Thompson and Thomson failed to help Tintin in unravelling the clue.
Tintin met oft-tipsy Capt. Haddock for the first time.
Tintin, Snowy and Capt. Haddock braved the Morroccan desert. there Haddock was sober and able to recount the tales of the real Unicorn.
in his delirious state, Capt. Haddock remembered the story of Sir Francis Haddock and his nemesis, the pirate Red Rackham. Haddock deciphered that Mr Sakharine is in fact the descendent of Red Rackham as he is of Sir Francis Haddock's.
Tintin, Snowy and Capt. Haddock in pursuit of Sakharine and his henchmen at the streets of Bagghar. the evil guys had snatched off the 3 scrolls of clue.
Sakharine threatened to burn the scrolls with clues. Tintin managed to snatch it off his hands. Sackharine was apprehended by Mr Thomson and Mr Thompson.
the coordinates on the scrolls brought Tintin, Snowy and Capt. Haddock back to the decrepit Marlinspike Hall.
Tintin and Capt. Haddock found the part of treasure which was kept at the secret cellar. also found was the real clue for the Red Rackham's treasure location.
the Riviu:
this movie offera a tantalising 3D animation feature of the famous Tintin and his pursuit of the story behind the Unicorn. as i'm no fan of Tintin, i just went along with ride. and found it tolerable.
there are a lot of bigwigs involved. as for the voices, the actors involved are notable but unable to lend some notion of warmth to the movie. what i'm trying to say is that, should they decided to use any suitable Tom, Dick and Harry, it would have generated the same output. the exhilarating live motion effect however is the bane of the movie, you can't help but being included in the journey.
i have taken a liking to Snowy and Tintin. Capt. Haddock on the other hand, is guilty of being a drunk sod who often caused troubles to Tintin. Mr Sackharine as the villain was truly evil and believable.
coming from someone that is not a follower of Herge's cartoon, i watch it disinterestedly (thus the rating of 2.5 star). Watch it only and only if you're a fan. then you'll get your money's worth.
next installment of Tintin's movie is due by 2014.
