I, Fan

I've been caught up in Isaac Asimov's stories ever since my library membership here began. Even if I found them in different library branches, Asimov's books were still very accessible that I couldn't pass them up, especially since I've wanted to read his Robot books for so long.

I've only gotten started on the Foundation and Empire series, and the Robot books I've read are Robot Dreams and The Complete Robot.  The Robot novels are almost always unavailable, on loan.

A couple of weeks back, I suddenly remembered that I haven't watched the movie I, Robot.  Last weekend, I finally did.  Here are my thoughts (I took notes while I was watching =p):

• It's a swell Will Smith movie.
• I read that some people hated the Converse product placement -- I thought it was amusing.
• The liberties the movie took with Asimov's characters (okay, specifically -- or maybe, just Susan Calvin) were a serious disservice to the fans of the books. What endeared Calvin to readers, her cold attachment to robots they stripped off, and I didn't like her slight interest/fascination(?) with Will Smith's character. The Calvin in the movie was simply.. someone else.
• I didn't think they should've played off the robot-as-monster theme, since.
• I know that Asimov did write some action scenes (though not in the Robot stories), but the way they did it in the movie just didn't work for me. For example, I hated the revolving cameras in the final action scene.
• Forgivable changes:
• What happened to Lanning in the beginning of the movie. It fit the plot quite smartly.
• Robertson's A-hole-ness.
• It was nice how they integrated the central ideas of many of the robot stories:
• the lost robot
• robot + detetive -- weeell, I wouldn't call it a partership, just a pairing
• the dream
• the different interpretation of the Three Laws
• I was hoping to see a Powell and Donovan cameo. =p

(WTF -- Ctrl+P in Blogger's editor means Publish.  But I'm not done yet!)

Overall, I still liked the movie.  =)

So, naturally, I felt that I had to re-watch that other movie based on Asimov's Robot stories:  Bicentennial Man.

And it was AWESOME.

I haven't read the novel, The Positronic Man, yet, but it was quite faithful to the short story. The parts that differed from the short story were subtle changes that didn't touch the core of the story. While I was watching it, I felt the same way as when I was reading it.  Simply fantastic.

Tekken Movie Reactions

I was able to watch the new Tekken movie courtesy of Mike.  Several minutes into the movie, I just had to take down some notes as it ran.  If I hadn't I would've just forgotten a lot of my reactions.  In hindsight, I guess it would've been better if I had timestamps per reaction.  =p

Here goes:

[Spoiler warning:  If you do watch the movie, your day will be spoiled!]

• I'd let the lame backstory pass.
• No respect for the characters whatsoever
• Raven?  No hints of being a ninja?  Dead, just like that, in a gun fight, not in a match?
• Steve?  No hints of being a boxer?
• Christie?  Not capoeira?
• Jacks?  Mere foot soldiers?  Jackhammers. Anvil. Yeah, yeah.
• Dragunov -- since when was it spelled "Dragonov"??
• And why does he look like he's always just about to laugh?
• Nina didn't look cold enough.
• The fighting styles aren't obvious!
• They should be since they're a huge part of a fighting game character's personality!
• Why insist on Kazuya's facial hair?  He would have looked great without it!
• The bed scenes were totally unnecessary. Especially, Kazuya's.
• Jin's portrayal is actually good!  Probably the only aspect that's properly done?
• Well, almost -- Jon Foo's Irish accent is showing.
• Bryan is good, too!
• "Heihachi Mishima is dead"  --  CRAPPY DELIVERY!
• Could've been a nice reference to the game
• What's with the weapooons????
• What's with Dragunov's "Hwoooaaah!" like he's Law or something?
• Oh.  Raven's not dead.
• Yeeees..  Jin is the right amount of emoooo..  :p
• Why do they pronounce Miguel's last name Rojo as row-haw?
• Wow, a pep talk from Raven?  *raises an eyebrow*
• Finals already?  We didn't see Anna fight?
• THAT'S NOT A MACH PUNCH -- that's Jin's move!
• Why so many wall jumps??!!
• People cheering at the TV now?  Way too lame, even for a kiddie movie nowadays.  And, this movie isn't supposed to be for kids.
• Kazuya's attitude seems just right for his Tekken 2 phase, I guess.
• Even Kazuya uses weapooooons..
• Parang PBA championship lang kung magreact mga tao..
• Cung Le's name was misspelled in the credits:  "Cung Lee"?
• Bryan's name in the credits is "Brian"
• Nice after credits extra scene!

Who Watches The Watchmen?

WE DO!

I mean, "We will!"

See the first full-length trailer at http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/07/17/must-watch-zack-snyders-watchmen-trailer-absolutely-stunning/.

The world will look up and shout, "Save us!"

And I'll whisper, "NO."

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(UPDATE, 1 minute after posting) I'm baffled by the stand of the original author Alan Moore that he wouldn't watch any film rendition of the Watchmen..

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(UPDATE, 3 minutes after last update) How many times should you see that trailer before you'd get tired of it?? I'm guessing-- YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET TIRED OF IT AND YOU'LL KEEP WATCHING IT UNTIL THE MOVIE COMES OUT.

Death Note Live Action Movie 3?

There is one?!

L: Change the World

Definitely non-canon, but I still wanna watch it!

TEKKEN MOVIE NEWS!!!

YES.

The Tekken movie has reportedly finished filming and is now in post-production. It's due next year, 2009.

First Tekken Movie Images! (via SDTekken)

They listed the cast as:

• Jonathan Foo as Jin Kazama -- don't know this guy, but he looks.. young for Jin; did a wushu movie


• Luke Goss as Steve Fox -- seems alright.. this guy played Nomak in Blade II so, I guess, he can be vicious :p


• Gary Daniels as Bryan Fury -- don't know this guy, but the nets say that he's a real-life kickboxer, which Bryan is (sort of)..


• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Heihachi -- wahahaha! Shang Tsung!


• Darren Henson as Raven -- don't know this guy.. (Wikipedia says: Darrin Dewitt Henson (born May 5, 1972 in Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S.) is an American choreographer, dancer, and actor.) he's a.. dancer? they really should've gotten Wesley Snipes..


• Ian Anthony Dale as Kazuya -- an American plays Kazuya?! oh, he's half-Japanese.. whew! I thought they casted this guy on account of his eyebrows..


• Cung Le as Marshall Law -- THIS GUY, I'VE SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT LATER


• Kelly Overton as Christie Montiero -- don't know her.. IMDB says she was an athlete, so, okay..


• Candice Hillebrand as Nina Williams -- a singer?


• Marian Zapico as Anna Williams -- don't know her..


• Roger Huerta as Miguel -- a top UFC lightweight contender, yeah!

I've scanned through the comments and someone mentioned that two other major characters were listed in other sites:

• Chiaki Kuriyama as Ling Xiaoyu (from IMDB) -- the girl from Kill Bill


• Nathan Jones as Craig Marduk (from the Tekkenpedia site) -- bad-ass strongman!

Here's a page that puts the actors' pics side-by-side with images of the characters they play: http://pc.pcgames.com.cn/movie/news/movies/0804/1044428.html (Chinese site)

I'm loyal enough to the Tekken name to not take it against them that King isn't hinted anywhere.. =p

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Now. Cung Le.

Cung Le (which I've heard pronounced as "Lee") is a relatively new mixed martial artist. He's a kickboxer of some sort, and he now has a mixed martial arts record of 6 wins and 0 losses. His last match was with Frank "The Legend" Shamrock. Yes. Shamrock. And Cung Le won. Because he freakin' broke Frank Shamrock's arm with his kicks.

Fight fans, you gotta watch this:

Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le (VIDEO)
Cage Cam! (camera on referee)

Here are post-match interview vids:
- with Cung Le
- with Frank Shamrock

AWESOME.

The Hobbit Movie News

Mortensen, McKellen & Serkis Returning for Hobbit?

Viggo Mortensen? Aragorn wasn't in The Hobbit! But I read the comments and someone pointed out that the article said "The Hobbit and its sequel". Oookay.

This would be fine, I guess, with Peter Jackson and friends back behind the scenes. Guillermo del Toro? *shrug*

Cartoon Nostalgia

Transformers, tapos eto:

"Warner purrs for Thundercats"

Nabanggit pa yung He-Man remake na gagawin. Ayus.

Bits

On the bus on my way to work, Ghost Rider was playing. I haven't seen it before, and I only saw a bit of it, but I liked what I saw! It was probably a pirated copy, but I was surprised that the video and sound quality was really good.

Speaking of comic hero movies, the new TMNT movie has a new trailer! I am once again surprised that I liked what I saw! :p

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Nag-d-drama bigla si Mark.. *whistle-whistle*