THE LEGEND OF HERCULES

I was a fan of Kellan Lutz since The Twilight saga movies and I still am. However, I was quite sure his movie "The Legend of Hercules" would not propel him to the same league as Robert Pattinson and true enough, this movie wasn't a hit and I think it fared poorly at the box office.

Starring Kellan Lutz as Alcides, otherwise known as Hercules, Gaia Weiss, Scott Adkins and so on, the story was slightly different from the ones that I know of. Kellan often played minor forgettable roles in other movies such as "The Twilight" saga, "Immortals" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and this is one of few movies where he played the lead role. Sadly, with his bulky built-up body with ripped muscles, he wasn't charismatic enough and wasn't able to draw the audience with his acting. I can't explain why but I guess it is one of those either you can make it or you don't scenarios.

On a personal level, I didn't think the movie was bad and I did enjoy it although if one was comparing it to the Twilight saga, then it wouldn't be good enough.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

You know how long I have neglected this blog when the last post is about 3 weeks ago. I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago but had no time to post about it.

Following the success of and end to the Twilight franchise, Hollywood produced an entirely new movie series with the hope to replicate the success story  of the former. This time round, the movie is not about vampires but focuses on witches instead.

Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert as the newly paired lovers, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Viola Davis as the supporting cast, this movie tells the tale of how a newcomer Lena in town was shunned by all others but found love in her classmate Ethan. Touted as the most powerful witch in her family, her true nature will be revealed on her 16th birthday where she will either join the light or dark forces. Before that happens, opposing members of her family were trying their best to convince her to be on their sides.

Judging from the crowd, or rather lack of, at the cinema, I don't think the movie is doing too well. Alden first came across as being whinny when he opened his mouth but eventually was kind of charming. Alice wasn't charismatic and I failed to understand the deep attraction that Ethan had for Lena. Their pairing was rather weird and unconvincing to me, unlike the made-in-heaven Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart pairing. And I felt Emma Thompson's portrayal of the possessed Sarafine seemed too much over the top to me.

I can't wait to see how the subsequent installments will do at the box office.

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)

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THE HUNGER GAMES

Today's weather - sunny

Welcome, welcome!


Based on a series of novels by Suzanne Collins, this is the first of a few movies that are set to rock the screens. It is likened to the "Twilight" movie series, which propelled the leads Robert Pattison, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner to international fame.


Would this movie make well-known stars out of the 3 leads Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, the brother of the Thor actor Chris Hemsworth? Only time will tell.


The marketing strategy for the movie was planned by the production company and the promotion started as far back as a few years ago, culminating in the recent release of the movie. It performed very well at the US and worldwide box-office and broke previous records.


Set in the high-tech future, where tributes from 12 impoverished districts were selected to compete in an annual battle "the hunger games" where only one victor is allowed to emerge alive, as a form of punishment against and reminder for the districts for staging past rebellions against the government known as the Capitol. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were both from the same district 12 and paired up to strategize their moves in order to stay alive till the end. The technology was so advanced to the stage that the game masters were able to adjust day and night lengths at the flick of a switch and conjure up anything, such as trees and a pack of hunting dogs, and throw them into the battle field to up the challenge for its remaining surviving participants.


So disappoint the movie did not, but I wasn't particularly overwhelmed by it too. To me, it was just alright. The scene where the 12 pairs of tributes were first introduced to the audiences on chariots, but more specifically the one where Katniss and Peeta rode through the runway with wing-like flames on their shoulder blades, is cool. Some of the outrageous costumes, make-up etc were what distinguished this from other movies but other than that, I wasn't exactly thrilled by the predictable plot and acting. I understand that the  novel series was compared to the Japanese novel "Battle Royale" and was slammed by some critics for its uncanny similarities. I guess when you have seen the best, nothing comes close. It is hard to beat the movie "Battle Royale", with a cast of complete unknowns, which I was privileged to watch on our screens in the year 2000. That is by far, one of the best movies I watched and love deeply, for its originality. Fine, I admit the names Katniss and Peeta are original but seriously what kind of names are these? Anyway, the Japanese is most capable of telling a story at its rawest to evoke the most primal feelings, like the horror movie "The Ring". It was fresh, fast-paced, heart-stopping and extremely violent. In short, it was able to shock me. Sadly, "Battle Royale 2" didn't make it here even though I waited in vain for the many years to come. 


Would the sequels to this movie be as successful as this? We can only wait and see. And may the odds be ever in their favour!

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.

PSEUDERANTHEMUM ANDERSONII

I started to appreciate and love this understated Pseuderanthemum andersonii (synonym: P. graciflorum, P. graciliflorum) from the Acanthaceae Family in recent years. The common names range from Blue Twilight, Blue Crossandra to Florida Twilight.

When it is not flowering, it is not an eye-catching plant with its uninteresting green leaves. But when it does, the bluish-purple flowers do make me sit up. A link is attached below:

http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Pseuderanthemum_graciflorum.htm