Movie Review: Conan: The Barbarian

I grew up watching one of the animated series of Conan where his sword was one of the few weapons in the world which was created by a special rock that came from a meteor. And then I can remember only a bit of watching Conan: The Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

When the 2011 remake was being make, I didn't feel the need to watch it because I just felt it's going to be another movie with sword & magic and the hero will always win. Just that he has to struggle a lot along the way, gain companions and so on.

Spoilers ahead

The movie is something I would plainly avoid. I had the pleasure of watching of an uncut version that I know some certain places would cut certain scenes. Yes, there is nudity in the movie and a sex scene. A movie simply cannot sell without a sex scene these days.

The movie does set up pretty well the origins of Conan. How he is born and what kind of person he is. Jason Momoa who plays as Conan does a good job of representing Conan who is both a kind yet cocky person. And Rachel Nichols as Tamara plays her role well. Tamara is able to hold out against most enemies and I like that. I have seen too many movies where all the female character does is scream and call for the Hero to save them. But not her, Tamara is able to hold out well and I'm glad the writers of the movie did justice to that.

Stephen Lang who plays Khalar Zym didn't really live up to my standards. Coming from the total BA from Avatar, I was hoping that he showed a bit of it. But the reasons for his behavior in the movie can only be explained by the movie script writers who give a very simplistic of a man wanting to see his wife again and the desire to be God. Rose McGowan apparently played his daughter and I didn't see that coming. Her performance is somewhat cast to the side and she only had a few moments that truly stood out for her.

Regarding the story, I felt personally the first part of the movie was well done. It sets up the plot, the motivation and the origins of Conan. But towards the middle of the movie it got a bit stale with the romance thrown into it. While Nichols played her role well, I really could not stand some stupid scenes that the writers put it. For instance, Tamara is supposedly a monk. I said supposedly because she develops feelings for Conan which is understandable. But Conan doesn't really like her until suddenly one scene where is giving a leather and armor because she apparently dresses like a harlot.

I don't mind that scene, in fact that is the first time we see Conan showing some sort of affection towards Tamara. But the next scene lines up with her having sex with him. And I'm not a big fan of plots that we need to include sex scenes because it sells. I prefer the affection that two couples display to one another than just full blown sex which seem Hollywood's idea of relationship.

Another thing that bugged me is that Conan's sword wasn't really emphasize a lot in the movie. I remember watching the older movies and animated series and I can remember the logo of Conan because of his sword. But the movie fails to deliver that, instead the sword ends as the final item Conan receives because Zym's daughter so happen decide to save it from 20 years ago. I mean it's supposedly the symbol of Conan yet it was push back to almost the end and I felt somewhat betrayed about it.

In conclusion, the movie is not great. I would give it a 2/5 because it fails to deliver in terms of storyline and the writers seem to lose their direction towards the middle to the ending of the movie.

Weird Dreams

I might as well throw in a simple post. I'm actually trying to write a movie review for In Time. But I seem to lost my motivation due to course works and the fact that I been having dreams lately.

Its irritating to me because I don't seem able to have relax and while I try to regain my sanity. Even my pictures that I recently took has to put on hold till I get over two things this week. A sales presentation that is tomorrow and an exam on Friday. I normally feel pump to do them, but I'm not 100% at the moment sadly.

On a bright note, the new Ultimate Comics Spider-Man I been reading has taken quite a cool turn in the series. I won't spoil it but it's great that they are slowly mending the ties with what makes it so great to read.

In Time Review

Before I begin, here's a short summary from IMDB. Forewarned, this review will have spoilers.

In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.

I like the movie. The idea of that live can be literally bought with money is rather interesting concept. As seen in the trailer, imagine that 4 minutes can buy you a cup of coffee. Interestingly enough, I wonder how would the economy of the world sustain itself when money is change to time instead. Everyone's remaining time is shown on a green stamp on their left arm and is publicly shown unless someone choose to wear something to cover it. By the age of 25, everyone's clock will start and they have a limited time to live.

The concept of the movie deals with similar problems with the world. How the rich still oppress the poor and the rich being able to continue living because they are rich. To get an idea of how poor someone is: a person who works a day job gets 24 or slightly more or less. A day is just enough to get through the day with some small luxuries that they can afford. A month and you're considered rich in the ghetto where most of the story's take place.

While the rich however, live in places where it cost a month to stay in a suite in an expensive hotel. What Andrew Niccol has done was to give the viewers an idea of how the poor day to day live by showing how much it is to spend on things and the struggle to simply live each day. When Salas gets a century, I began to wonder what will he do with it and like every man on the planet, he spends it.

Going into the "rich" zone cost you from 1 month to 2 months to 1 year in total. Also the price increases because this a way for the economy to be controlled. In essence a man could live up to 100 years if he can but that would be overpopulation because nobody can really die of natural causes. But the government control the prices and can change the price at any time in order to control the economy of the world.

The score of the movie wasn't really outstanding or out there. It was just there to provide the mood building that it requires. Overall, I like the movie, it's my first review and I'm giving this four out of five. My only problems was that the ending scenes became messy and it didn't had any WTF moments that blew me away.

4/5

Forever Arts in My Hearts

Yay!! Got the latest David Choi album and Clara C's album came into the mail today in two separate packages. I'm a happy man tonight being able to listen to get both at the same time. And the designs are pretty cool too.

I was expecting it to be in a hard plastic case. But their designs are similar and material is something of a brochure material feel to it which I like. That way I won't moan and groan when my cd case has a big scratch on it. Yes, I like my stuff to be preserved. MINT. NEW. UNTOUCHED. CLEAN!

The pictures are on my twitter account. So yeah check them out if you want to get an idea how it looks like. Wooo... what a day.

Penang: A reminiscence of the days I missed.

I just finished posting my short album on the days in Penang. I think as far I can remember, Penang has always been like a chilled out place for me. Being near to the sea gives me this feeling of just being able to rest well next to it.

Even now, I can recall memories that makes me want to get a hammock and sleep by the sea. Also the city shows some of the untouched areas of the older generations that came before us. This old looking mix with a new modern feeling is what I like about it. A sense the city is moving forward but not losing itself to modernization.

I think the pictures that I took will speak for themselves. I always like shooting an old structure or candid shots of something old. I feel each have their own story to tell and I like to see that story come to life. The album can be viewed here at my FB page.

My other blog still exist. It's mainly for soul-searching for myself when I need to. I mainly post questions that questions me as an individual. On another small note, join my twitter! Its a microblogging social network!! At least that's what they said on my instruction manual.

My twitter is here. And I will update as much as I can on what's going on here, but I would update twitter more often than this blog I would say.

Cheers...

-ZimS-

A Different Look

So today I start a new blog.

It's been sitting on my head for months to have a blog. I started this blog to tell a different story than my other one. As from the title, I'm will be posting some pictures and maybe some pop culture perspective all in a light hearted tone.

Whatever that I find it interesting I'm going to post it here. That way I don't have the burden of actually sitting down and really examining my life which happens too much and instead focus on what I like and enjoy as an individual.

My update plans can be daily to weekly, depending if I found something to write about. I will still maintain my other blog as when I need to write down whatever that is what I would call the other side of me.

So I look forward to keeping both blogs alive.