Terminator : Salvation

Yet another braindead loud as fuck summer movie. More enjoyable than the last one but c'mon, even if I had directed it, I would come up with something better than that flacid piece of turd.

Got some bizarre homages to Schindler's List and The Great Escape, though. The McQueen motorcycle bit is almost reproduced here frame-by-frame. And McG, the director, is overtly fond of "in the back seat" and first person perspectives.

Hey Arnie makes an appearance as well, courtesy of CGI and a body double. Only funny bit about the movie is the "I'll be back" reference.

Sam Worthington is worth watching out for, though, and I'll probably catch "Avatar".

The sheer stupidity bit goes to Skynet, for not blowing up John Connor and Kyle Reese or zapping them with lasers, when they were trapped. Skynet has all the next-gen weapons, dolt!

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". 5 out of 10.

Oh, there's a giant headless robot in it as well.

Angels & Demons

Was in Malacca during the weekend. A former port, with some good food and an entertaining shopping mall.

Caught this one. It moves along at a brisker pace than Da Vinci Code that it is not as thought-provoking. After the quite interesting premise, the way it wraps up is also pretty dim-witted and hollow. And I can see from a mile away the main villain.

It's nothing more than National Treasure with religion and ancient sculptures. Quite pathetic also that they only saved one quarter of the detainees.

Tom Hanks doesn't do much in the way of acting chops. The heroine is superfluous.

Nice with the itinerary of the Vatican and Rome, though. And Ewan MacGregor is one of my fave actors, though a bit underused here.

Passable. 4.5 out of 10 stars.

Star Trek

Glad they decided to turn the franchise into a space western a la Star Wars. I've always had trouble with the incessant techno-babble and the future Utopian elements. Rebooting Kirk and Spock as misfits and ne'er do wells seems to pander to the current climate, though, especially since now every hero seems to be darker. Alright to me, though, as a casual Trekker.

Things I didn't like:-

The Spock-Uhura romance seems like an afterthought.
The saving Romulus part is illogical as the planet is doomed. Romulus will either be pulled into the singularity or die without a sun. (Or is it a nearby star? If so, cross this out)
Hey! Sulu is an Oriental, why not make him a katana-wielding samurai? (shitty Asian stereotype)
Simon Pegg comes in too late in the movie. (He's funny)
Kirk could have easily faked an illness rendering the administration of the virus unneccessary.

Things I liked:-
The original Star Trek crew, not TNG, not Voyager, not DS9, not Enterprise.
No barely comprehensible future scientific theories.
The action sequences are very well done, especially the free fall from space.
Kirk from the beginning was shagging aliens.
Setting it in an alternate future (or past) works, since the original series started with the maiden voyage of Enterprise (the pilot had Pike as captain, didn't it?).

I don't have much of a problem with the cast, except they don't resemble their TV counterparts except for Spock and Bones. Karl Urban as Bones throws in the best performance, seemingly channeling Deforrest Kelley. 8 out of 10 stars. The summer is having a good start.

Dylan - Together Through Life

This is pretty much a workman-like release and keeps the high quality of his later-period work. It doesn't really drop from the high stakes raised by his last three records. I'm only starting to have a problem with his voice, which is sounding really raspy and gnarly here.

This is pretty much in the mood of a stripped-down "Time out of Mind" without the pea-soup
fog production with elements of "Desire" thrown in, especially the mariachi burner of "This Dream of You". I would really like to hear his Nashville Skyline-phase voice on these hispanic-sounding songs but no cigar, I think cigarettes have reduced it to a rakey hoarse croak. On the bluesy tracks like "My Wife's Hometown", I'd imagine a Howlin' Wolf but also no such delights, just too unrefined and croakey.

Otheriwse, the music is solid. The lyrics are cool, none of that profound gibberish as on his mid-60s zenith but I don't really miss that much. 7 out of 10 stars.

Wolverine

Face it, bub, this isn't as bad as most people think it is. But I'd hate to rate it any higher than 5 out of 10 stars. Definitely not as dire as Ghost Rider or Daredevil but not up to X-Men's status.

The story is just too ho-hum, never really capitalising on the main character's diverse comics roots. For the record, I find the character of Gambit to be more interesting then the lead. The few takes on his supposed animalistic traits is never fully expanded, besides the usual rage. Heck, even the characterisation in Ang Lee's The Hulk of the green goliath is better than this.

It never really rises above just an average action flick, and some of the exploits are just a tad unbelievable - especially the slicing of the rotors of the helicopter.

And finally, the introduction of the anti-hero Deadpool is just crummy. I used to be a huge fan of Deadpool. Here, they created a character much like Bane in Batman And Robin, sterling comic creations never rising to the occasion. Next!

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology

Like this a whole lot better than "Cold Roses", which I thought was a one-dimensional "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" tribute album. The melodies are generally more engaging, there are some rousing pop-rockers like "Magick". Adams also does some vocal acrobatics as in the chorus to "Let us Down Easy". The chords to most of the songs, however, are cliched and contrived in the alt-country genre, you can sorta figure out how it'll go. Not too bad anyway. I really disliked "Cold Roses". This I'm quite warm to.