2012 Review: End it now, please!

Last night, out of the blue, I went to watch Roland Emmerich's latest world-beating flick, 2012. I went in having read various reviews, some praising, some lambasting the movie. I set my expectations low and just wanted to enjoy the special effects... however I still left the theater with less than stellar thoughts about this film. End of the World films aren't new to me- Deep Impact still stands as probably the best one I've seen so far, taking a very emotional look at what would happen in the last days building up to a worldwide apocalypse. Even with the grim premise, that flick left me uplifted and believing in the human spirit to survive. This one left me jaded, resentful and just tired, not to mention utterly frustrated at the maudlin, clunky script.

2012 opens up in current 2009 with a geologist named Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejofor) finding out from his scientist friend in India that the sun is sending out dangerous neutrinos that are basically microwaving the planet Earth, causing the core to heat up rapidly (why humans aren't being affected is one of the huge plotholes, I think, but hey, I'm no scientist). From this discovery, Helmsley realizes that this will result in a chain of events which will basically cause the End of the World. He immediately gives word of this to the US government, via White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (a very ruthless at portly Oliver Platt). Thus a secret plan is set in motion to preserve the human race through giant arks that will ensure the survival of 400,000 select humans (and a bunch of animals, apparently) through the coming armageddon. To help fund the big operation, 'tickets' for boarding the arks are sold at the very reasonable price of 1 billion Euros a seat. How... nice.

Anyway, after all this setup, the 'heart' of the film is revealed in divorced former writer-turned-limo driver Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), who just happens to be taking his kids camping to Yellowstone Park. In a fortuitous series of events, he finds out about the coming crisis from a pretty nutty conspiracy nut (Woody Harrelson) and soon is racing with his estranged family (including his ex-wife Amanda Peet and her new husband) to find supposed salvation in the China-made arks.

So that's the movie- about a third of it is about the super-secret and super-stingy operation to save the world's rich and powerful via their futuristic ocean-going luxury star destroyers (including a captain that seems to have graduated from Star Wars' Imperial Starfleet Academy). A third of it is all about showing the world getting destroyed in spectacular CG fashion (albeit strangely bloodless and impersonal) by earthquake and flood, while the last third is the clunky, totally ridiculous story of Cusack and the people he uses/tags along with to try and save his family's skins.

The movie is at its best when it's a roller coaster ride- though really, Cusack and family are always one inch away from doom so many times, it becomes predictable very quickly. Really though, even from the first time you KNOW that there's no way they're not going to make it- which pretty much kills the thrill in some ways, although it's still fascinating to see all the wholesale destruction rendered so onscreen.

It's funny- you see Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Italy and Washington fall to ruin with little emotion- it's all shown as grandiose, cartoony spectacle for the most part. When the movie tries to go in close to show the personal drama of a character's last moments, it turns out maudlin and yet again, does it far too often with characters who really don't matter or the audience doesn't give a damn for; are we supposed to feel worse for the family of a side character than we do for all the countless others lost in the rest of the film? Danny Glover's defeatist, depressing US president, who elected to stay behind and die in the White House, is woefully pathetic as he spends his last few moments in a useless and pointless gesture right before he gets a tidal wave and an aircraft carrier in the face. Morgan Freeman he ain't (yet another place where Deep Impact one ups this flick- the black president there was way more sensible and effective).

When it's not showing wholesale destruction, 2012 sadly bogs down with the adventures of Cusack and company, who are so painful to watch (these idiots deserve a facepalm so many times) that you'd wish they did indeed get swallowed up by the earth. Man, I'd rather that the Indian guy and his family survived instead of Cusack and clan.

Anyway, the film ends with a pretty odd choice of finale; in contrast to how the rest of the film has been occupied with wide vistas of carnage, it all finishes with a rather closed-in conflict with Cusack braving a submerged room full of big gears that he has to un-jam in order to save the Ark from certain doom thereby eliciting a requisite HURRAH from everyone on board (even though he and company were the cause of gears getting jammed in the first place).

I think a lot of my distaste for this film lies in the premise of the US-sponsored, China-made Arks. The whole operation was secretive and selective, and basically gave up the rest of the world just to save a select few. I actually wish that the ending was different- that the Arks ultimately fail and sink and send their nasty contents to a much-deserved drowning death (with Oliver Platt's slimy Chief of Staff first and foremost), even as we find out in the end that good people were able to go into some hidden valley and ride out the storm to survive. But no, that doesn't happen. For the most part, the good people of the earth die, and only the very powerful and very rich (along with a smattering of very lucky Chinese laborers and a bunch of super-lucky but otherwise utterly brain-dead nobodies) live to inherit the earth.

Despite some pretty impressive CG, 2012 is otherwise an incredibly bad and dragging movie, thanks to a nasty and clunky script that only tries (and fails miserably) to find it's humanity and redemption at the 11th hour. I've never had so many moments where I found myself throwing my hands in the air in frustration. Man, Let it end. Let it end already. Anyway, I guess it's inevitable that many will watch this disaster, in the same way that you really can't avoid staring at a car crash when you see one on the road- and this movie is indeed a car crash... on a global scale.

Komikon 2009!


Congratulations, Mangaholix!

Thanks to everyone who went to Komikon 2009 last week at the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall! Though I myself wasn't a direct participant with my own booth, I went there to see my Komik Komrades at Mangaholix Presents and Groundbreakers Inc., as they manned the tables for some all-day sketching sessions and meeting readers. Of course, I also was able to share a bit of spotlight with my Main Man Kriss Sison, artist extraordinaire of Ninja Girl KO!, since we won this year's Komikon Award for Best Comic Character of the Year for our heroine, Michiko Yamashita. Kriss also picked up the Grassroot Award for his ashcan epic, Nurse Macho!


Standing Guard at Komikon.


Kriss Sison and Ian Cang man the Mangaholix Booth.

I spent most of the Kon just milling about, grabbing all the comics and indies that caught my eye. Among these were the latest stuff from Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo, including Trese: Mass Murders and the second installment of Skyworld. Great stuff!


The Ol' Alamat Crew, Together Again! Well, Kinda.

At the end of the day, I was tired and thirsty, hungry and hoarse from all the commotion. I slipped out for a Thai Halo-Halo somewhere quiet and looked over the booty. Unfortunately Komikon was sharing the day with SM's Three-Day-Sale, and I just couldn't take the massive crowds choking the whole place. So I bailed early on, leaving while the leaving was good. In all though, an awesome Kon! The next big comics event will be M3Con this November. See you all there then!!!

Return to Eden (AKA Back to the iPhone)


Getting into the iPhone 3GS.

Aaaand... here we are. Yeah, I know, I know... just a few posts ago I seemed to be past my days as an Apple Addict, satisfied with my Nokia N97 'mini-laptop phone'. Well, I had to make some choices recently and re-assess my priorities and needs in my everyday companion gadget. Ultimately, I chose- no, I REALIZED- that Fun and Ease of Use are what really mattered to me. All this time I've been looking for my needs in devices that not really to my tune. The N97 just wasn't me- in the end I realized it was just too 'professional-looking' and 'officey' (no, that's not really a word) for someone like me who regularly wears t-shirts and jeans to work, who still enjoys videogames and cartoons. All this plus the most enjoyment you can get out of it requires you to be online and connected- and I'm not really one to spend frivolously on 3G and GPRS unless it's being paid for by the office.

I can only blame myself for doubting that I am, for better or worse, Heart and Soul an Apple Addict at this point- I own a freakin' iMac at home after all, and have spent (and am spending) obscene amounts on apps from the Appstore. But then, I don't regret the time I spent with the Flagship Nokia- it's still a great phone... it's just not for me. Perhaps in another life, in another reality, but not here in this one.

Anyway, moving on... yeah, I now have an iPhone 3GS. Moving back into Apple's fold was a particularly easy and problem-free affair, thanks to a lovely 'Import from SIM' button (ah, no more inputting contacts by hand!!!) and the seamless syncing with iTunes for the return of all my apps and content. In a flash, my brand new iPhone was good as OLD!

There are probably thousands of other writeups online raving about the new stuff about it, but what the heck. Even though it looks pretty much like the previous iPhone 3G (albeit now there's a variant with a white back, which I have), many new features and improvements have been incorporated. Overall there's the faster, zippier aspect of the whole thing, as the 'S' in 3GS stands for Speed after all. Certainly, the phone IS faster though I never really had a problem with loading times before. Thanks to the more powerful guts and processing power, the 3GS runs apps and games, particularly those with 3D graphics, a lot better and faster. Yeah, Time Crisis played a LOT better.

The highly-upgraded memory is pretty great- I got the 32 Gig version, which makes this the equal to my now-gone iPod Touch 2G. Of course, there's the ability to nicely organize all the tons of video and music I have thanks to iTunes (something sadly lacking from the N97). The 3GS's speakers are a LOT louder than the previous models, making the whole video experience a lot better now. This pretty much translates to me no longer having to strain myself listening to vids without headphones... AND having a lot more fun with my Lightsaber and Gun apps. WAHAHA!!!

Then there's the new camera- it's now 3 Megapixels, which admittedly is not that impressive given that my N97 had 5M's and a flash. Most that can be said is that the 3GS camera has a neat 'tap to focus' feature which makes it more fun than it really is, and now has the ability to record pretty nice and clear VGA video. I don't really think I'll be editing much on the actual phone (I'd rather sync the phones at home and edit on iMovie if ever), but it's a neat thing to have. Anyway, I really won't be relying on the 3GS for video, since I have my Flip Mino HD anyway, but it's still great to have decent video recording anytime, anywhere.

Then as I said, there are all the apps and games. The Apple AppStore simply has no equal in terms of easy access and use- other companies really need to do their homework to keep up. The huge variety of apps, and the relative cheapness of most of 'em is awesome. And man, there can only be tons more to come. Who's to say there won't be an iPhone Tekken game? At the very least, I'm looking forward to a port of that cool Plants vs Zombies game later this year. There are those who still doubt that the iPhone and iPod Touch is really, truly, actually a new game console... maybe they're right. But then again, quite a few (okay a lot) crappy games and countless Tower Defense titles aside... an iDevice fully loaded with games is a sure-fire bore-killer.

Now, all these features would be useless if, well, the battery life sucked. I initially was worried about the 3GS's battery, thanks to several reports of horrible battery life with some iPhones. Well, apparently I confused the 3GS with the 3G- supposedly the 3GS's life is a lot improved from before, that is, if you're not a heavy user who has everything turned on and online all the time. Anyway, after my first full charge, with unneeded online functions like WiFi, 3G and Push Email turned off and the screen set to about 20% brightness (which is still quite fine to the eye in any case), my 3GS is still at a healthy 65% battery life on the second day, which is pretty good. I tested it, and playing an hour of video eats up about 10% power, which makes Apple's claims of 10 hours of video playing quite accurate. So... yeah... If I ever wanted to I can watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on my 3GS. WOOHOO!

That all said, what can I say? The last time I had an iPhone, I was in mobile gadget bliss, and that was with a 'measly' 8 Gigs of space, free 'bootleg' apps and so-so battery life. Now, with everything pretty much perfected and still as fun and easy to use as it ever was, with TONS of proper apps and games and very good battery life to enjoy all these things... I think I can safely say... I think I've found my Perfect Gadget. The fun, ease, elegant simplicity and just overall excellent quality build just SINGS to me. I can't say it enough how much I love this freakin' device. All this time I've been looking for something I've never found in other phones, other devices, other brands, no matter how cool-sounding the specs. It's here, in the iPhone 3GS. Found it. Gadget Shangri-La for me.

So I guess I'm set. That's it. Over. Done. Live Happily Gadgety After.

At least, till the iPhone 4. Heheh...

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Review


The classic cartoon goes live on the big screen.

I'll admit it... the first time I saw a trailer for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, I wasn't at all pleased. Really, the trailers SUCKED. All I remember from them were the hokey Accelerator Suits and Marlon Wayans; Honestly, these two things formed the basis of my reservations with the movie; I was afraid that the flesh and blood Joes would become CG cyborgs, and that Wayans would turn this into a very Scary Movie. However, in the end I got over these little bumps and convinced myself to give this action movie a good ol' fashioned look-see. Yeah, it wasn't screened for critics, but from every review pretty much I saw online, word was that it was not bad. Not bad at all. Well, I watched it last Friday... is it a Yo or a No?

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is set in the 'near future'- which means the world still looks pretty much like today, but with stuff existing that can make James Bond's Q Branch look like a shoe factory. The bad news is, the bad guys have more hi-tech toys than the good guys, it seems. When James McCullen (Christopher Eccleston), the head of MARS, the world's largest weapons developer, supplies NATO with a new nanobot-powered missile, veteran special forces soldier Duke (Channing Tatum) and his buddy Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) head up the security detail for the superweapons. The two men of action soon find themselves neck-deep in a secret war between the super-secret international strike force known as G.I. Joe and a terrifyingly well-financed unknown enemy armed with next-generation weaponry. In short, it's The Joes versus Not-Yet-Cobra.

An origin story may get cynics flinching, but as Iron Man has proven, start-ups aren't always bad. In fact, they can be pretty good. Thankfully in this case, director Stephen Sommers has somehow rediscovered that fun gene he tapped into when he made the original Deep Rising and the first Mummy film, but lost when he made the Mummy Returns and Van Helsing. G.I. Joe is a fun ride, packed to the gills with action and set up with likable characters off the bat. Unlike some other big cartoon-to-movie sequel that utterly horrified some time ago, this adaptation pretty much does everything right; at the very least, there's a distinct lack of tasteless supposed-comedy or racial slurring (although there is your usual funny French accent) and the action is actually easy to follow. ZOUNDS!

As a longtime fan of the original cartoon, I have my little fanboy nitpicks, but it's all still good. Yeah, the Baroness doesn't have an accent but man, Sienna Miller is killer with those glasses and black leather, and she's a pretty slick character who's central to the plot (which is great, since she's pretty much the poster girl of the movie, even more so than good soldier-girl Scarlett (Rachel Nichols). Storm Shadow (Lee Byung Hun) looks like he's gonna bust out a mike and start singing a Korean pop song at any moment, but he's still every bit as bad-ass and lethal as the Cobra ninja should be, so why not. Ray Park's Snake-Eyes has a MOUTH but at least he never talks, and well... IT'S FREAKIN' RAY PARK.

But my biggest gripe has to be with a big secret of the film- which you see coming after a bit. I miss the old design for the character, and I wish they stuck to it. Man, if Attack of the Show can do this character almost perfectly (even if in comedy), why not the big movie version?

I also found it quite entertaining to see so many faces from the Mummy movies making appearances, from little cameos like Kevin J. O'Connor (Benny from The Mummy) and Brendan Fraser to much bigger roles for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (bad guy Lock-Nah from Mummy Returns) and the always-reliable Arnold 'Imhotep' Vosloo. Where's Rachel Weisz and John Hannah?

Anyway, the story moves along at a fast pace, with several big setpiece sequences and tons of firepower and explosions going off all movie long. The CG effects are fine and dandy, and it all sets up the franchise perfectly for what I expect will be a fast sequel coming up next year. Yes, I want that sequel, especially after the cliffhanger ending!

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is high-octane action entertainment, a fun popcorn movie that's sure to entertain action junkies, and there are lots of nice little details and nods to the original series that will make fans smile. Great production values, engaging action scenes and likable characters make this something worth watching for the young and the young at heart.

No, it's not Oscar material. No, it's not rocket science. But neither was the source material. It's a refreshing throwback to the days when cars could just pop out missiles and other defenses at the push of a button, when at the end of the movie you can expect the cavalry to arrive and a big freakin' battle over the enemy's secret base can be expected. We see far too little of that kind of action these days- too much handheld-cam crap for action, with an overabundance of grit and blurring of lines, too many shades of gray. G.I. Joe is simpler but still smart, fantastic without being too over the top, fun without being too kiddy or juvenile. In short, it's exactly what it needs to be... a live-action version of one of the coolest cartoons of our youth.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is now showing in theaters all over the Metro. Mobilize and Watch it NOW! YOOO, JOE!!!

Cory Aquino, 1933-2009



Today, the day was gray and overcast, rain falling like tears, as if to let us know someone we all knew and loved had passed away. I heard from Mom that President Corazon C. Aquino was gone. Though I cared little for politics, especially now, I found myself feeling the grief. In this day and age, when there are few heroes and inspirations among Filipinos, where everyone in government is tainted and suspect, one person could always be seen as true. And that, I believe, somehow, was Tita Cory. The housewife and widow turned leader of the country and people, and even after her term, a surrogate mother for the Pinoy, a moral center and heart to a people. To the end, she was a beacon of courage and hope. Truly... she represented the best the Filipino could be, in the most trying of circumstances. Hero

The Philippines' Madame President. The Best-loved President of the Philippines. A True Hero.

Salamat, Tita Cory. Farewell. May God and Ninoy welcome you to your rest with open arms. You deserve no less.

Flippin' Out!


Easy HD: The Flip Mino HD.

I've gotten myself a slick new tech-toy... and incredibly enough, it's NOT a phone. But damn if it doesn't look like one. It's the Flip Mino HD, an ultra-compact and light HD camcorder. Surprisingly it's apparently a pretty high-profile gadget, being the fave toy of some celebs like Ellen Degeneres and Oprah Winfrey. Anyway, what does it do? Well, as it's name implies, it takes HD video- that's footage with 720p resolution (1280 x 720 pixels). That's about three or four times bigger than the regular VGA videos taken by your usual non-HD digital camera or mobile phone. And a whole lot clearer and crisper. The controls as well are about as simple as you can get- click to record, click to stop. You get 4GB of storage for about an hour of HD footage. You can connect to a laptop or PC via USB and just drag-and-drop your vids which are MP4 and ready for iMovie or your usual editing software.

Basically after getting my N97 and trying out it's video, as well as looking through samples of the iPhone 3GS's recording capabilities, I've finally given up on mobile video from cellphones. So now, I got myself an HD cam that LOOKS like a cellphone. HAHAHA!

As far as I know, the Flip Mino HD isn't formally available locally, but there seems to be a growing number of people with the device, apparently being brought home by some enterprising folk (like the nice guy I got it from) or by relatives. It's also available on Amazon or eBay and at Flip Video's official site. I really count myself lucky I got this device, for a price far below the price of a standard digital camera. It's still a toy though, not really one for making serious movies, but for stuff like short films, parties, trips and anything you want to remember in extra-clear quality, this just can't be beat.

It's FLIPPIN' COOL!!!! WAHAHAHA!!!

Bruthaz in the Hood


Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood: Bringing the manga original to animated life.

I was a big anime fan a few years ago. These days, I still consider myself an otaku, but I don't have the time to watch as much as I want to. When I actually get to watch and stay glued to something, I must really like it. These days, that's Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This really isn't a big surprise- I was also a fan of the original anime FMA series, and watched it right to it's bittersweet kinda-ending. When I heard there was going to be an all-new, all-different Hagaren series based on the actual manga source of the franchise, I was easily hooked up. Thanks to Animax (and some great subbing groups online), I've been able to enjoy this refreshed, redone title the way it was originally meant to go.

Set in a fantasy world where alchemy is a kind of super-power given to a select few, Full Metal Alchemist is all about the adventures and events of and around the Elric Brothers- Edward and Alphonse. Two pure-hearted, kind but courageous and adventurous kids born with alchemy in their veins, they commit a terrible taboo- trying to raise their dead mother back to life. The act fails and instead takes away Ed's arm and leg, which he eventually replaces with mechanical prosthesis called Automail and thus giving him the title Full Metal Alchemist. Alphonse, or Al, has it even worse- he loses his entire body. To save him from oblivion, Ed is able to bind Al's soul to a suit of armor, and since then both brothers have been walking the road, seeking a way to restore what they have lost. It's this personal quest at redemption that brings the Elrics into encounters with various groups and individuals, including their country's military, other alchemists, foreigners and most dangerous of all, a group of inhuman enemies called the Homunculi.

In the first several episodes, FMA Brotherhood seems very similar to the original anime series... However Brotherhood eventually reaches a point where it diverges from the first anime version, and from here on in it's unfamiliar (well, to me who hasn't seen the manga) and intriguingly addictive territory.

So far, I've got nothing but praise for this new incarnation. The animation is flawless, the characters familiar but seemingly even more likable than before, most of all the two leads, Ed and Al. They're not as 'clueless' all the time as they seemed to be in the original anime, which is refreshing. Ed is even more sensitive about his height, which gives to tons of hilarious moments and the usual wonderful performances from seiyuu Romi Paku. The secret conspiracies, this time more up front and deeper, are more insinuative and it's great to see various characters in totally different roles than before. What I have been enjoying so much recently though is how the series so wonderfully handles things like grief and loss, guilt and heavy emotion so well- the heroes feel the weight of their actions so profoundly, and there is heart and soul backing the action and the comedy ladled onscreen.

Again, it's something so familiar yet pleasantly different, and every week now is such a treat. As much as I loved the original series, it had so many flaws and the ending and resolution really let me down... I'm hoping that Brotherhood fixes all of that in Spades. And so far, I think it's going great. I can't get enough of this awesome new anime.

With the manga still ongoing, I'm hoping Brotherhood goes all the way- which means I've got a LOT of alchemical adventures in store for the months ahead. Awesome.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood is shown locally on Animax every Friday.