Thor

The first official image of Thor has been released... looks cool eh? :)

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-thor-revealed-first-photo.html

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is of course the sequel to the 2008 film, Iron Man. Iron Man is about Tony Stark, who was captured and injured in Afghanistan. He fashioned an arc reactor for his injured heart, along with the iron suit and weapon technology. He then told the whole world about it.

In the second movie, his adventures continue but he is actually dying from having the arc reactor in his body. So now, he is reckless and being a daredevil.

Trouble shows up in the form of Whiplash, who can also build the same reactor and also has vengeance in his mind against Stark/Iron Man. To make matters worse, Justin Hammer, Stark's archrival, is secretly funding Whiplash to humiliate Stark.

Other new characters that showed up include The Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff played by Scarlett Johansson and War Machine played by Don Cheadle, although technically James Rhodes is not a newbie.

Terrence Howard played Rhodey in the first movie and he was replaced by Don Cheadle for the second movie, over a salary dispute if I read correctly...

THE GOOD:

1. Tony Stark is a hoot and a half! Robert Downey Jr seems to play himself in this one... although, his most recent work are all almost exactly the same. Wry, sarcastic, self-deprecating charming guy... :P

2. The fight scenes between Iron Man/War Machine and the drones... really nice...

3. Has comedy, has action, has drama... nice

4. Has Scarlett Johansson as one bad-ass Black Widow



THE BAD:

1. Like The Losers, this movie suffers from a lame villain... no, not Whiplash... he's kinda good... Justin Hammer, Tony Stark's archrival... played by Sam Rockwell, the annoying villain from Charlie's Angels. Either he's written to be annoying... or he's just annoying... not at all scary or intimidating...

2. Don Cheadle playing Rhodey. He's a good actor but he's no Terrence Howard, who fit the bill and look the part. Cheadle is not kick-ass-y enough to pull it off.



Other than that, it was a good summer outing and a good sequel to a good movie. :)

Sons Of Sylvia - You already know them! (Video)

When the band "Sons Of Sylvia" took the stage on last nights "American Idol" I knew they looked familiar. All it took was seeing the way the mandolin player stood while he played.

Where had I seen this group before?

Then it hit me. These guys are the "Clark Brothers" from the Idol knockoff "Next Great American Band" broadcast in 2007. The sound was the same, their hair may be a bit shorter, but the style and sound was all there.

It seems that after the win on "American Band" they briefly signed a record deal but were later plucked by Carrie Underwood to perform on a track for her new album. Underwood later asked the brothers to front them on her 2010 road tour.

In October 2009, the brothers Ashley, Austin and Adam Clark were signed by "Interscope/19 Entertainment" for a record and management deal and emerged as "Sons of Sylvia". Yes, their mothers name is Sylvia and their father is a preacher.

Wait a minute, 19 Entertainment?

That's the big production company behind the "American Idol" franchise. Now it made sense how they ended up on Idol next to "Rascal Flatts" and "Shakira". It seems Hollywood may be a smaller world then anyone ever imagined.

Brother Austin summed it up well:

"I can't believe it's happening. It feels like a childhood dream as far as start a band, get a record out and being on tour. All of this is actually happening. I wake up every day baffled."

The brothers have a new and impressive website at "Sons Of Sylvia" and their first album "Revelation" that was just released on April 27.

The brothers may have blossomed into a hit rock band, but they will always be "The Clark Brothers" to me.

Watch Video Of "Sons Of Sylvia" On "American Idol"


_

Eliminations

The bottom three are:

Michael Lynche

Siobhan Magnus (WTH???)

Casey James (yay!!)

Who's out? Go here --> http://www.rickey.org/?p=39609

Parenthood Renewed For Second Season

Good news for "Parenthood" fans! The hit television series has been renewed for a second season.

In addition to the first seasons twenty-two episode deal, the show will now be seen through the 2010-2011 season.

And the fans have spoken. They love the show and are falling in love with the Braverman family.

Parenthood follows the joys and challenges of the Braverman family from Northern California. The huge cast includes Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Craig T. Nelson, Bonnie Bedelia, Mae Whitman, Miles Heizer, Erika Christensen, Sam Jaeger, Dax Shepard, Joy Bryant, Monica Potter, Sarah Ramos, and Max Burkholder.

Expect young Drew, played by Miles Heizer, to have more face time next season as the teen faces more mature life challenges and issues while trying to integrate into his new surroundings.

Congrats on a hit show!
_

Top 6

It's Shania Twain week! The remaining 6 contestants sing songs from Shania's repertoire... country music of course...

Lee Dewyze - http://www.rickey.org/?p=39481

Michael Lynche -http://www.rickey.org/?p=39483

Casey James - http://www.rickey.org/?p=39474

Crystal Bowersox - http://www.rickey.org/?p=39477

Aaron Kelly - http://www.rickey.org/?p=39471

Siobhan Magnus - http://www.rickey.org/?p=39488

Who's your fave? Who you think will be out this week? My money's on Casey James...

The Losers

Watched this movie last week Thursday, when it was released. The Losers is based on a comic book by Vertigo of the same name.

The storyline goes something like this: the five soldiers were sent to Bolivia on a mission to track down a baddie, which they did. Once they radio'd the location, they realize that there were children at the location so they tried to abort the mission but the Powers that Be AKA Max did not want to stop so they rushed in to save the kids. So Max ordered them to be exterminated but the ones that got killed were the kids. They faked their own deaths to get revenge on Max later on, with the help of the mysterious Aisha.

This film stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba and Jason Patric.

The Good:

1. The action is nice and stylized

2. The chemistry between the actors seems genuine

3. It's quite funny

4. I did not see the red herring coming... :)

The Bad:

1. Some of the action sequence AKA the hand-to-hand combats are blurry so you can't really see the fighting

2. Max is too much of a wuss to be that omnipotent in the film...

3. The accents that come and go... is a bit of a stretch for me...

4. The blame game was also a bit of a stretch for me...


All in all, it's an enjoyable ride. But some might find certain parts of the movie a bit too draggy though...


This week, two big movies coming out on Thursday.. Ip Man 2 (if I recall correctly, he died at the end of Ip Man yes? Or I am remembering a different movie...) and Iron Man 2 (War Machine!!!)

Kelly Clarkson Concert

Yup, that's me... before going inside...

The view from our seats...

Me again...

Jaclyn Victor opened the show with a medley of famous Malay songs...

Then Suki came on and played the violin in a ridiculously huge wedding dress... then she sang a song that I was not familiar with...

After that, we waited for about 10 minutes... then Kelly showed up!!

She rocked!!

Her vocals were on point...

Her energy was high and her charms showed through when she talked to the audience...

She rocked the night!!!

I waited 8 years to her live on the stage and now that I have seen her in action, it was absolutely worth it!!!

A lot of my fave songs were sung... but she kinda left out a chunk of the first album Thankful (she only did Low) and also the third album My December (only Never Again)... some of the other good songs like A Moment Like This, The Trouble With Love, Beautiful Disaster, What's Up Lonely, One Minute, Don't Waste Your Time, Sober, Be Still, Gone, You Found Me, Cry, Whyyawannabringmedown, Long Shot... huhuhu

I know, I know, she can't possibly fit everything in... wishful thinking... If I Can't Have You from All I Ever Wanted is a really fun, funky, rocking song to do live... :)

Oh, happy birthday Kelly... hope to see you again next year and/or next album!! :)

Bret Michaels In ICU With Subarachnoid Brain Hemorrhage

"Celebrity Apprentice" bad boy and rock band "Poison" lead singer Bret Michaels was admitted to the hospital, and later the intensive care unit, on Thursday night.

Michaels had been complaining of an excruciating headache and after scans, tests, and an angiogram was told he had suffered from a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage.

This condition is caused from bleeding near the base of the brain stem.

Bret is currently in critical condition.

Michaels, 47, had just undergone an emergency appendectomy in early April and was reported to be recovering nicely.

Michaels is also diabetic.

Friday Update: Bret Michaels is awake, in good spirits and talking to doctors…
_

Survivor Villian Russell Hantz - Arrested

We're going to file this under "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy."

It seems our low down Survivor villain Russell Hantz was arrested last night at a Louisiana street festival.

The "Heroes vs Villains" star apparently attacked, then pushed somebody to the ground and was promptly arrested by police.

Hantz was quickly taken to jail where he was eventually released on bond.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Louisiana, if you want to keep him… you can.
_

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly... the greatest of all the American Idols... she's finally coming to KL for a concert... I was there when she competed on the very first American Idol and I rooted for her to win... waited for her concert but it never happened... now, 8 Idols later, she's here!!!

My ticket!

I'd be seating in the circled area... can't wait... I have all of her albums and followed her career, through ups (Breakaway) and downs (From Justin To Kelly, My December)... :)

Eliminations

Guess who's leaving American Idol? - http://www.rickey.org/?p=39132

Box Office

Early estimates state that How To Train Your Dragon got a narrow lead over Kick Ass... but now they're saying that the estimates were wrong and Kick Ass actually has a narrow lead over Dragon...

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/04/box-office-kick-ass-upsets-dragon.html

Movie Weekend

Saw four films this weekend... okay, okay, one was on Thursday... there was like a drought for the past couple of weeks, and now we're bombarded with a lot of movies...



The first one I saw was Shutter Island... at GSC Pavilion... this is like the fourth Scorsese-DiCaprio pairing... the first one was Gangs of New York in 2002, followed by The Aviator in 2004 and then The Departed in 2006... a collaboration that has resulted in an Oscar nomination... for The Aviator... and he would have gotten a nomination for The Departed but he got it for Blood Diamond, imho... and I am predicting this performance will also go down well come award season...

Shutter Island tells the story of US Marshall Teddy Daniels, along with his partner Chuck, going to Shutter Island, a prison/treatment facility for criminals who are mentally unstable... The reason they are going there is to investigate the disappearance of one patient from the facilities...

Unfortunately, the longer they are there, the weirder things get and somehow things all point out to Daniels who are close to blowing the lid on the facility's mistreatments of the criminals/patients...

Also, a side plot is Daniels searching for his wife's murderer who was committed to Shutter Island... but things are not what they seem on Shutter Island...

It's a nice movie... complete with twists and turns that confuses and adds depth to the story... I really enjoyed the movie and was pleasantly surprised at the acting and the all star cast that included Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams and Mark Ruffalo.

Next up, Date Night and When In Rome... I was at Times Square for the Gatsby Street Fair thingy and I don't have any other plans later so I decided to catch a movie... or two...

Wanted to catch Date Night and Kick Ass but Kick Ass wasn't showing at Times Square so I looked at the showing times and decided to catch Date Night at 1.40pm, after lunch, and then When In Rome at 4pm...

Date Night has one of my faves in it... Tina Fey... that lady is awesome... she created 30 Rock and she was responsible for one of the most entertaining Weekend Updates on SNL ever! Also, she wrote Mean Girls... she is my idol... but her movies so far have been a swing and a miss... so I was hesitant to go see it... plus I am not really a Steve Carell fan... he is one of the ones that I really don't get, like Will Ferrell... until this blogger said it was good... so I put it on my to-watch list...

Date Night stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell as a married couple who are stuck in a rut with their lives and even the one thing they had going for them, their date night, is also in a rut.

One night, after hearing about their married friends getting a divorce, they decided to spice things up. Taking someone's reservation at a chic NY restaurant, a pair of hooligans mistook them for another couple and demanded a flash drive at gun point.

After that, the Fosters went through a bunch of misadventures to save themselves and hilarity ensued...

But if you really wanna laugh out loud, don't leave the theater as soon as the movie's done... watch the bloopers... :)

When In Rome stars another fave of mine... Kristen Bell... who was awesome in Veronica Mars and Heroes... Bell plays a girl who has been hurt and is gun shy about love... she goes to Rome for her sister's wedding and met handsome Josh Duhamel... but then she sees him smooching someone else so she went into the Fountain of Love and picked up five coins.

Legend has it, the owners of the coins will fall in love with her... and sure enough, they do... and wacky hijinks ensues... until she realized that the guy she's falling for is actually one of the owners of the coins she took from the fountain...

The movie is lightweight and breezy and fun... Kristen Bell is always good... Josh Duhamel surprised me in this movie... he made his name in Transformers... but he showed that he could be like a romantic lead and physical comedy actor as well...

To complete the movie weekend was Kick Ass on Sunday... at Cheras Leisure Mall... this film is about a guy who dresses up in costumes and tries to stop crimes... without having actual powers... or basic martial arts skills...

Kick Ass is the name of the main character... after a while, other normal heroes were introduced, including Nicolas Cage's Big Daddy and a very kickass Hit Girl, who was about 11 years old...

It was like Batman Begins/The Dark Knight meets Watchmen plus a bit of Mystery Men, then add a sprinkle of Kill Bill...

The story's gory and real... but there are hints of comedy and also a bit like old school comics... nice blend of all genres... I really enjoyed the movie...

Guess Hollywood finally got it right after botching it up slightly with Watchmen...

Nightmare

I woke up with a start.

Immediately, I grabbed the torchlight I kept next to my bed and hefted it as though it was a weapon. I looked around and scanned the room. The only other person in that room was my roommate Lee and he was sound asleep. In fact, he was snoring lightly.

I envied him.

I tried getting back to sleep but it was no use. There was no way I could fall back to sleep now. It was 4 in the morning. I sighed out loud. This was the fourth time in a row that I had the nightmares.

Getting up, I wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. I then realized that he was drenched in sweat and that my T-shirt was soaked through. I took off his tee and chucked it in the hamper. I grabbed my towel and went outside to the toilet.

I opened the door to the toilet. It was pitch black inside. Still reeling from the shock of the nightmare, I hesitated getting in immediately. I felt my way along the inside wall to find the light switch. As soon as I found it, I flipped it and the lights came on.

I glanced inside the cold toilet, and then I glanced around in the hallway. Satisfied that there was no one around, I went inside one of the cubicles and did my business. When I was done, I flushed and went out to wash my hands. All of a sudden, the toilet door slammed shu.

I jumped out of my skin. My heart was pounding so hard, it could break my chest.

Cursing under my breath, I splashed cold water on my face and started to leave. Just as I was about to reach the door, I heard noises coming from one of the cubicles.

A sense of dread filled my soul.

I had not heard anybody coming in. Every fiber of my being screamed for me to run for the safety of my room but curiosity got the better of me. I tentatively glanced over my shoulder, slowly turning my body around.

I got on my hands and knees and looked under the cubicle doors for signs of other people in there. However, all I could see were the floors and the toilet bowls. Still not satisfied, I got up and pushed open the door to the first cubicle. It swung open.

Empty.

I repeated the process until I was down to the last two cubicles. I pressed the door to the one nearest to me. It was locked. I could hear some sort of noise coming from within.

A sudden charge filled me. I would not cower away. I kicked the door in and it almost flew off of its hinges. However, that cubicle was totally empty. I opened the door to the last cubicle and it was also empty.

Laughing at my own paranoia and silliness, I shut the cubicle door and turned around. I went to the faucets to wash my face again. The cold water felt good against my skin. I wiped my face and thought about going for some sort of sleep therapy or something.

As soon as I was done wiping his face, I saw it in the mirror. A vampire from my nightmare was right behind him. I gasped slightly and turned to face the vampire. However, there was no vampire to be seen.

I freaked and ran out as fast as I could. However, just before I reached the door, I saw the vampire in the mirror again.

“Leaving so soon?”

My feet halted and turned into lead. I could not move an inch.

“But we’ve barely gotten to know one another…”

I turned around slowly. In my peripheral vision, I could make out the shape of a person standing at the other end of the room. My heart was beating a mile a minute and adrenaline was pumping in my veins. Sweat tricked down from my forehead.

I had never been scared in all my life, yet I found the situation a bit exciting. I had never realized that I was such a daredevil. As soon as I had turned around completely, I braced myself for an attack. However, none came.

I was all alone in the cold room. I looked around. Sighing, I realized that the lack of sleep must be getting to me. Just before I was about to head back out the door, a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind.

I woke up screaming. It was a nightmare. Thank God.

So, now that there's a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie coming, those nightmares would seem tame now wouldn't it? :P

http://www.advertlets.com/weblog/2010/04/11/advertlets-presents-a-nightmare-on-elm-street-special-screening-this-5th-may-2010

Eliminations

It's double elimination time!

Full Recap - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38622

Top 9

Idols performing songs by Elvis, with Adam Lambert mentoring...

Full Recap - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38475

Crystal Bowersox - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38440

Andrew Garcia - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38431

Tim Urban - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38455

Lee Dewyze - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38445

Aaron Kelly - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38428

Siobhan Magnus - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38453

Michael Lynche - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38450

Katie Stevens - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38444

Casey James - http://www.rickey.org/?p=38434

Who will go home tomorrow? Double eliminations...

Semerah Cinta Stilleto

Semerah Cinta Stilleto is a Metrowealth production and is directed by Ahmad Idham, who recently directed the horror movie Niyang Rapik, as well as the comedy hit, Adnan Sempit. In fact, I don't think any other director has a film out this year except for Ahmad Idham. I jest. :P



Stilleto is about two people from opposite sides of the social and financial spectrum, having a chance meeting and falling in love. But not without great obstacles such as parents' disapproval.



Ya know, the classic love story ala Romeo & Juliet. Except Stilleto is not really gonna be a classic and the love story is not as intense.

For all intents and purposes, this is not a bad movie. But it's not particularly good either. It's floating somewhere in between.

Lisa Surihani and Farid Kamil are quite talented I think and this is a walk in the park for them.

Hmm, has anyone noticed that there is a 'Hollywood' trend occurring in our cinemas? Maybe it's just a coincidence... but... Hollywood (and the film studios) always have this ongoing war and they'd produce the same crap, I mean, stories just to compete and see who comes out on top. For example, the year we got Deep Impact, we also got Armageddon. Same no? Asteroids...

This year, we've seen already the Romeo & Juliet story in Lu Pikirlah Sendiri, although I am loathed to even put the two movies in the same sentence... come to think of it, both these movies... Stilleto and Lu Pikirlah Sendiri... have the same themes and storylines... love story, poor guy struggling to make ends meet, rich spoilt princess, chance meeting, conflict, fall in love... although the ending of Stilleto is different... hmm, can't remember the ending of LPS... maybe that's a good thing...

Anyways, looking at it now... this movie has the similar feel of another Ahmad Idham film, Adnan Sempit, with the quirky characters and all... and then Adnan Sempit has several similar stuff with V3... and all these movies are produced or directed by the same people... go figure...

Cast and crew at the media preview at Mines

The director fielding media queries...

Lisa Surihani was surprised with a birthday cake by the cast/crew of the film

Lisa and Farid posing for the paparazzi