Avianto's Journal

Remember those names? Travel back to 1978. They are names in a ripoff of the 1977 amazing original Star Wars, minus the lightsaber, TV series.

Warp through time. Now.

It is one of the best science fiction on television. Yes, I am talking about the new TV series of Battlestar Galactica.

It is a dark and gloomy universe (Your home planet and other human-colonized planets are destroyed, what do you expect?). The storyline involves politic, love, trickery and of course action. The way the story unfolded and intertwined is beautifully crafted and enjoyable to watch. It is more realistic than the 1978 version (as realistic as a science fiction goes) for example, names like “Starbuck”, “Apollo” and “Boomer” are become the pilots’ callsign instead of real names. The producer even has a blog.

The opening 2 parts mini-series DVD is already available at Amazon. Watch out for this series, this one is way much better that the ill-fated and doomed Enterprise. This one is frakin’ good.

I have seen the stageplay back in London, UK, 1996. I still remember it as one of the best stageplay I’ve ever seen. So, for those who never seen “The Phantom of the Opera” on stage and want to know how it looks like or want to remember the feeling of watching it on stage, this movie is highly recommended. For those who are expecting to see a “normal movie” might be dissapointed, after all this movie is a cinematical stage, it’s like “Evita“. Afterall both are Andrew Lloyd Weber‘s brainchild.

The movie itself is definetely a stage. The set, the act, the music are all stage oriented. The acting may not very highly qualified but face it, this movie is not just about acting, it’s about presenting the old media, the stage, in the not-so-new media, the screen. And I must said that this movie translate the stage beautifully.

The story itself is still the same as ever, even the dialog are based on the stageplay which itself based on the 1911 novel with the same name written by Gaston Leroux. Read the novel if you find the time, you’ll find love, obsession and tragedy mixed beautifully into one intricated story.

Back to the movie itself. It was beautifully made, I have to admit that seeing Joel Schumacher in the director list made me flinch for a bit. This man is famous for action movie and don’t have any musical movie in his repertoir but I put my faith in the man who made the screenplay, Andrew Lloyd Weber himself. It also got some negative review from some reviewer, professional or amateur. It turned out that my pessimistic was not proven. I can see why those people seeing this movie negatively because as I said, they were expecting to see a “normal movie” instead of “stage translation”.

So, if you are eager to see what is the fuss about “The Phantom of the Opera” is all about, go watch the movie. But I have to warn you that this movie is not everyone’s cup of tea. You either love it or hate it. To end the review, I will give you the lyric of one of the best song from the movie, made popular by Sarah Brightman in the original play in Broadway.

Think of Me

Think of me,
Think of me fondly,
When we’ve said goodbye.
Remember me once in a while
Please promise me you’ll try.

When you find that, once again, You long to take your heart Back and be free If you ever find a moment, Spare a thought for me…

We never said our love was evergreen,

Or as unchanging as the sea

But if you can still remember,

Stop and think of me…

Think of all the things

We’ve shared and seen -

Don’t think about the way

Things might have been…

Think of me,

Think of me waking, silent and resigned.

Imagine me, trying too hard

To put you from my mind.

Recall those days,

Look back on all those times,

Think of the things we’ll never do -

There will never be a day,

When I won

There are movies that have great plots and storylines but the acting are terrible and there are movies that have absurd plots and storylines but the acting are amazing. This movie is the second kind.

Ocean’s Twelve is the sequel of Ocean’s Eleven and still following its tradition by casting a lot of A-list actors and actresses. With that this sequel almost got everything, it also have great camera work, great scenery, funny and witty lines, smart jokes and lots of fun moments. But the plot is well, let me put it this way, the plot has a nice twist and surprising moment but that’s it.

Recommended movie? Absolutely if you a fan of Ocean’s Eleven. Even if you are not but you want to see how good acting can influence the whole experience of watching a movie, this movie is still a recommendation. For people who love intricate and smart plot, avoid this one because it will make you bitchin’ about waste of talents.

Anyway, there are lots of jokes in this movie that reference to other movie the actors/actresses had been starred. So if you watch this movie, try to catch that kind of moments because they are hilarious.

Overall, this movie provide a good laugh and good entertainment. There was one particular joke that make me laughed so hard and for that moment only, I think it was worth my admission ticket.

This movie was a rollercoaster. I didn’t put too much hope in the beginning, the original Blade and Blade II are categorized as an OK entertainment flicks, but I was actually enjoyed and entertained until half of the movie and then when I began to feel that a movie was quite promising and started to get excited then things began to move to the awkward direction.

This movie started with a bang. Special effects were top notch – especially the burning vampire which is the trademark of all Blade movies, the storyline was promising in the beginning and as a long time observer of vampiric literatures and movies I actually enjoyed the notion of “The first vampire” or “The origin of vampire” – remind you that I am a long time fan of Anne Rice’s “Mac aficionado the abundance of Mac things through out this movie was unbelievable! Cinema Display was ubiquitous, Powerbook was Abigail’s choice of notebook and the most coolest thing was Abigail, the girl with the bow in the movie poster if you don’t know who she is – Jessica Biel is the actress, always wore and turned on her iPod before starting the mission or a fight. That’s so cool! Btw, she had a 3^rd generation iPod. The word “Playlist” was also one of the catchy word in this movie. I wonder, did Apple sponsored this movie? I think so…

Anyway, a decent movie on its own, lots of good action, futuristic weapon and lots of Mac’s product. Go watch it if you don’t mind the ending. Looks like this movie is the last of Blade series and I will not be surprised if there will be a “Nightstalkers” movie, the group that help Blade in this movie, as a spin-off of the Blade series.

Beautiful and wonderful movie. As a long time fan of Peter Pan and a believer of its “Never grow up” philosophy, I found this movie is quite inspiring. It’s amazingly crafted and bring tears to the eyes. Johnny Depp is amazing in this movie, he portrayed JM Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, flawlessly and really get into the character.

The story itself is about how JM Barrie got inspired by the Llewelyn Davies family especially one of the boys, Peter Llewelyn Davies, and created Peter Pan’s story. It told the story by flawlessly blend the reality and the fantasy by smoothly interchange the scene of the 1903 London setting and the fantasy, or Neverland to be precise, setting. It crossed the boundary between reality and fantasy back and forth as it told us that the world of fantasy is not just a little child’s world.

The loveliest movie of the year. Highly recommended. It will bring tears and joy to your heart.