DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

I was looking forward to watch this movie but I must say I was disappointed by it. Starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell and so on, it continues from the 2011 movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" starring Andy Serkis and James Franco.

It was quite a long movie and the story took place in San Francisco, ten years after the Simian Flu Virus that escaped from a research facility following the first movie spread throughout the world. Caesar, the leader of the Apes, and his community had not seen humans since two winters ago and thought all of mankind perished until they came across a few human survivors led by Jason Clarke's Malcolm. The storyline was weak and didn't quite pick up after that and it was a letdown all the way to the end, even with Andy Serkis and Gary Oldman around.

The ending was once again open-ended, possibly as a lead up to any possible sequel. However, judging from this movie, I doubt the box-office takings would be optimistic enough to warrant a continuation of the this movie. Thank goodness James Franco didn't act in this movie.

Andy Serkis's Caesar, leader of the Apes

Koba, the ape who only learnt hate from the humans

Malcom and his team in search of the dam to restore power to the city

Malcolm

a visibly older Keri Russell of "Felicity" fame as Ellie

DAWN

I can't even begin to describe this photo.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2

This is the finale of the Twilight romantic fantasy movie series that premiered in the year 2008, gave vampire movies a new twist and made household names out of the 3 young leads Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

This last installment finally saw Bella transformed into a powerful vampire with amazing abilities. It also spawned the child of Bella and Edward, Renesmee who is a half human and half immortal. The movie has a strong cast comprising MacKenzie Foy, Ashley Greene, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Kellan Lutz and Maggie Grace, amongst many others.

I am not a good storyteller and do not know how to embellish a tale, but I was really happy with how the story panned out and the ending. Frankly, there are many things about this finale that I love.

For a start, I love how they alternated the colours red and white at the beginning of the movie to introduce the production crew and ended the movie by showing the entire cast from the first movie until the last. I think it is unprecedented and although I couldn't remember all the characters but it was a good way to wrap up the saga after 5 years.

Then, I love the beginning part of the movie where they showed fantastic views of the beautiful forest conifers and animals when Bella displayed her newfound abilities to hunt. Once again, it was as if I was looking at an enchanted forest with mystical creatures. I was already sold after watching this initial but brief introduction before the story unfolded its dark side. 

The showdown between the vampires, werewolves and Volturi on the snow-covered open field was the climax and I was shocked and saddened by the sudden and quick deaths of the Carlisle Cullen and Jasper, during the brutal battle, who appeared and played important roles in the Cullen family from the first movie until now. Their deaths enraged the Cullen family and their vampire friends and gave them strength to fight and hold their own against the powerful and corrupted royalty Aro, Jane, Alec and others of the Volturi coven, whose demise was both sweet and uplifting for those who rooted for the Cullens. 

The battle ended brilliantly, and gave a well-deserved ending to this epic tale of vampires and werewolves. Of all the movies in this series as shown below, this is my personal favourite.

• Twilight (2008)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 1 (2011)
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 2 (2012)

,

DAWN

Today's weather - sunny

I have not paused to look at the rising sun at dawn for a while now. It is always a mad rush to go to work.

So a few days ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful sky when I left the house. I realized that I have missed this moment for quite sometime and decided to give myself a few minutes to just simply appreciate the beauty in front of me.

I took these photos using different camera modes and they came out slightly differently.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1

I would be killed for saying this if fans of the movie read this, but I am getting tired of the series. This part 1 of the two-part finale was boring and draggy for me and there wasn't much action at all.


After the earlier movies focused on how Edward and Bella went against all odds to be together as a human-vampire couple and their complicated relationship with the werewolf boy Jacob, this entire movie was on how they finally married each other, consummated their marriage (yes, a human and vampire can have sexual relations) and what Bella went through before giving birth to her baby within a span of days. Her life force was sucked by the foetus, making her reed thin and she was dead from the delivery, if not for Edward's attempt to convert her into a vampire in a final bid to save her. Therein provides the premise for part 2, I presume.


There was much hype on the wedding dress that Bella was supposed to wear when she walked down the aisle, and the design was kept strictly under wraps until the release of the movie. It was sold soon after the release and that seems to be the talk of the town more than the movie itself. Sadly, there was little exploration or exploitation of the other characters which would have made the movie more interesting.


I am so not looking forward to the finale, except for the sole purpose of completing the entire series which I watched from day one.

DAWN

It was another beautiful dawn, to mark the start of October.

DAWN

Another new day was born with the come of dawn.

DAWN

It was the birth of another beautiful day starting from dawn.

SUNSET

From the rising sun to the setting sun, all in a day. From dawn to dusk. Every single day.

If only we all pause and learn to appreciate the beauty of everything in our lives and overlook the flaws, what could be more beautiful than life itself. We should be grateful to be alive and to be able to see, shouldn't we?

DUSK

So which is prettier? Dawn or dusk?

DAWN

Another new day was born.

DUSK TO DAWN

I showed the dusk a few posts earlier and here is one photo of dawn.

Such brief passing moments are splendidly beautiful and could not be re-captured.

DAWN

It was a rare occasion for me to see such a beautiful sun rise. It was so spectacular that I couldn't resist capturing the photos of the fast evolving skylight that changed within a matter of minutes. The clouds in the sky looked like a rolling sandstorm.

At that brief moment, I wished I could just indulge myself in watching the sun complete its rise till the sandstorm turned into the blue sky. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to capture photos of a thunderstorm, which I am trying to do.