UFC 119(afterthoughts)

This card was stacked with potential. But only for the pre-main event cards though. The main event looked weak on paper(for Cro Cop was just a late sub). And that was what it really was. A bore!

Now here are my 2 cents for each of the fights:


(Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard VS Jeremy "Li'l Heathen" Stephens)
This had Fight Of The Night written all over it. Sadly, it went to the undercard fight between Matt "Meathead" Mitrione and Joey Beltran.

In this fight, we were supposed to see a much more rounded Guillard. He could've used his wrestling to bring Li'l Heathen(who's more naturally a striker) down on the mat. too bad he resorted back to his striking. It's good because he's exlosive and has power in his hands. Bad because he could've finished Stephens with some of his groun-and-pound. Good thing that he won. I am wondering who's next for Guillard. They should give him a top 10er, that's fo' sho'!


(Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk VS Evan Dunham)
This was highway robbery 101. Split decision victory for Sherk? Oh come on! The value of his name gave him the win, not anything else. I don't know what the judges were thinkin'! Honestly, the judges sucked on this card too. And guess who one of the judges were on this event. Cecil fuckin' Peoples! Man that judge's a rip!

Evan Dunham deserved the win more than the Muscle Shark. He's been tearin' it up in the lightweight division lately, and deserves to climb up the ladder more than Sherk.


(Matt "The Terror" Serra VS Chris "Lights Out" Lytle)
I thought that this fight will contain the KO Of The Night. Serra seemed to be more than happy to stand and bang with Lytle, which is a big no-no because he should be using his BJJ blackbelt on Lytle, who's more of a brawler. Though Lytle has a few submission wins himself. In the end, it's the bigger guy that wins.


(Antonio Rogerio Nogueira VS Ryan "Darth" Bader)
The Li'l Nog hype train needs to stop here. Rogerio seems to be just riding Minotauro's coattails because so far, his most impressive win in the UFC was against Luiz Cane. After that, it was all nothing. I mean, who almost loses to a late replacement Jason Brilz?!? Only over-hyped fighters, that's who.

Darth Bader showed in this one that he could hang with the big boys. This former TUF winner came in with only wrestling in his Arsenal. Now he's got submissions and some striking too! Good UD win for Bader!

(Frank Mir VS Mirko Cro Cop)
This was one of the worst main events that I've seen for a long time now. These 2 former champions fought as if they have a silent agreement in controlling octagon aggression. It looked like a glorified sparring match.

Well it seemed that way 'till before Cro Cop ate a Mir knee in the 3rd. Now that lulled him to sleep. Another W for Mir, albeit a lackluster one. IMO, Mir has already reached the Zenith of his improvement curve(he's 31), while Cro Cop should just hang it up. He has nothing to prove anymore. He's got legions of fans all over the world(especially in Croatia and Japan) and maybe he should just think about his safety and future.

Overall, a very weak card. That's why I can't wait for UFC 120. I'm rooting for Akiyama just because he's Asian and Bisping's too cocky. John Hathaway has got some serious upside so I dunno how he's gonna match up against Mike Pyle. But the fight that has detonation and fight of the night(nigh fight of the year!)written all over it is the Dan Hardy-Carlos Condit fight. Joe Silva(the current UFC matchmaker) is a genius! I'm currently salivating, just thinking of that wicked match-up!



*image from www.ufc.com

(my 3 cents on) Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole[3D]

Honestly, I haven't watched Happy Feet yet(just some clips from HBO), but I think Happy Feet was just as good as this.

I also honestly didn't believe that Zack Snyder was the director of this flick. But there I was, staring at his name during the end credits.

I was stoked when it came to the aerial shots that this flick offered. Especially in 3D, you could sorta' feel the air beneath your wings. The rain droplets also were very realistic. I was feelin' drenched after their flying lesson with Ezylryb. And I knew that it was Geoffrey Rush who was doin' Ezylryb because I could hear Captain Barbossa from Pirates Of The Caribbean.

I also heard Elrond/Agent Smith from the very start of the film when Noctus(Soren's dad) started speaking. Megatron without the Welker element anyone?

Eglantine was really cute. Not as cute as Agnes from Despicable Me though.

And what was it with the "metal flecks"? Anyway, nothin's real in that film so why bother questioning what a metal fleck is?

Overall,this is one flick that I enjoyed! An 8 out of 10 would be just appropriate.

And oh, that song from Owl City in the soundtrack was pretty obvious. I kinda' saw it comin' that they'll use Owl City in a movie about owls.




*image from blog.80millionmoviesfree.com

(my 3 cents on) Phobia 2

I didn't even know that there was a "Phobia 1".

I already have a moniker(if you could call it a moniker) for this movie. It's "Shake-Rattle-And-Roll, Thailand Version". That's because Phobia is essentially like that(Shake-Rattle-And-Roll, or SRAR from hereon). It's a movie with short stories in it, just like SRAR. But Phobia has more stories in it I think because as far as I can remember, SRAR has like 3(or 4 tops) stories to a movie while Phobia has 5. I could be wrong though.

Anyway, Phobia really brought out the fright in me. I can't remember screeching and screaming like that while watching SRAR. Consider the fact that I watched SRAR when I was a kid. And kids tend to be more frightened more easily than adults like me. That shows how frightening Phobia really is to the average movie-goer. Good thing that they made the last part funny. It's a funny ghost story is what it is.

Now for the short stories(in the movie), here are my 3 cents...I'll just label 'em in parts to avoid confusion.


Part I
This part made me cringe. Supernatural elements were at work. Trees were movin' and bushes were comin' to life. There was even an "unyango"(or a gecko, I don't know) which said, "Tuko!". I even reckon seein' a "kapre", or was that just a shadow? But I'm pretty sure that was a "kapre"(or a tree giant smokin' cigars). In the end, the shaolin boy turned to a tree.


Part II
For me, this was the scariest shit. I screamed out the loudest during this part. It was all about this kid involved in a motorcycle accident. He requested for a private ward, but he was placed inside a "shared" ward, with a dying patient beside him and only a curtain that separated them.

Now this dying patient was only breathing through a respirator, or breathing machine, or whatever that thing was. In short, he as a vegetable lyin' in soup. So it was really creepy when the kid peeped through the curtain, only to find out that the other dying patient wasn't in bed but was instead, standing behind him, staring like a madman. What's more, the dying patient(or it's a ghost or what not) was trying to strangle him every single time that the nurse wasn't in the room.


Part III
This one was about zombies. People in a truck were bein' smuggled. Or rather, drugs I believe were bein' smuggled, and they used the human bodies as vessels.

Obviously, the director got his cue from "Dawn Of The Dead" or "28 Days Later" because the zombies were running. Sprinting even! Not so scary though in my book. That's because I know I could outrun a zombie in real life. i just don't know if my cardio could hold though.


Part IV
The penultimate episode was kinda' scary too. It had shock factor like in the 2nd part. Ghosts were just suddenly poppin' up!

Here, ghosts in car wrecks haunt the new owners because the wrecked cars were only restored and sold as new. Have you ever ridden ridden in a car where people have died, or got killed in? You could just imagine the fear factor at work when it comes to drivin' haunted cars.


Part V
Finally, some comic relief. What's more, one of the PAs doin' the movie shoot(they were shooting about a movie about a person seeing ghosts) looks like Piolo Pascual.

The lead actress looked hot too! She's half-Caucasian I'm pretty sure. I bet she's a daughter of a white dude who happened to be on vacation in Bangkok(or Phuket or wherever) and somehow ended up fuckin' a Thai lady.


Overall, this was a 6 out of 10 for I really ain't a fan of horror movies. 9 outta 10 for frightening me. I'm just concerned that Philippine cinema is gettin' left behind in the dust. Our special FX is just not at par with the other Asian countries. I just don't get it!




*image from www.lynks4you.com

(my 3 cents on Resident Evil 4: Afterlife

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(my 2 cents on)Despicable Me

I'm just amazed that this movie has its own song from hip-hop artist Pharrell Williams. Pretty cool!

Well Despicable Me really is not that despicable(like what Daffy Duck always says). It's actually a touching movie that centers on a "change-of-heart" theme, believe it or not. Well I saw that theme comin' a long time ago, ever since I saw in the movie trailer that he was adopting the kids. I instantly thought, "Oh, from criminal mastermind to kind-hearted dad. Yeah right, I know the drill".

I didn't expect that I was gonna be in for more. Laughs that is. Steve Carell is really amazing when it comes to voicing characters. There really is no hint of Steve Carell in Gru's voice because he did something to it. I believe it was the accent, added with some gruffiness.

Jason Segel(of How I Met Your Mother fame) also did a pretty good job voicing Vector. And so did Russell Brand, who did Dr. Nefario(the funny old scientist who did "Boogie" instead of "Cookie" robots). In all fairness, the Boogie Robots were a hit! I guess it was The Bee Gees that they were boogeying(did I spell that right? sounds like golf) to.

And I had a funny feeling that Gru's mom was being voiced-over by someone also famous. And I was right. I saw Julie Andrews in the credits.

With Miranda Cosgrove's hotness, she should've done a sexier character and not a kid!

I loved Agnes! She's now officially the cutest CGI kid(sorry kid from Monsters Inc). "It's so fluffy!"

Salt(afterthoughts)

Not bad for a post-cold war, USA-VS-Russia plot. Even with my "faux"-expertise movie storylines and everythin', I was still a bit confused about the early years of Chankov(Angelina Jolie). There was a part there in the movie wherein an infant Chankov died through health complications. She was even buried because there was a shot of a tombstone with a wreath of flowers laid on it.

But then suddenly, the baby was alive and was with another set of parents who died in a car accident! Lucky for Chankov, she survived and was taken by the CIA(or some American secret service member) to the US, where she bacame Evelyn Salt. The thing was that where in the fuckin' depths of Mordor did the new, "alive" baby come from?!? That faux-defector Russian spy Vassily(he said "Vaseelich") should've narrated the story in the interrogation room a li'l more clearer.

Another unclear part of the movie was the part of the plot wherein SAlt has to run away from the CIA just to prove her worth to the Russians or somethin'. I mean, what if she gets killed with all the dangerous stunts that she's doin' while eluding the CIA and the feds? She could've just killed the Russian president while still bein' within the ranks of the CIA. But then again, that's how intricate the plot of this story is. Evelyn Salt is like Agent Sands(Johnny Depp in Once Upon A Time In Mexico). She's just playin' both sides I guess.

She's on the run towards the end part of the movie, which clearly shows that there will be a Salt Part 2. I think the new movie will be entitled, "Salt II, The Russians Strike Back".

As for the actors, they generally did pretty good.

Angelina Jolie did a lot of stuff that reminded me of The Matrix. the off-the-wal roundhouse kick conjured memories of Niobe(Jada Pinkett-Smith) during Reloaded(or was thet Revolutions, I can't remember). Doin' stunts on top of a truck on a freeway was like Morpheus doin' his thang. And Evelyn Salt on a big bike was definitely Trinity!

The other KGB mole looked familiar(Liev Schreiber). He was the one who played Sabretooth in the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" movie. For me, he looks like he could be playin' Che Guevarra. His side burns are perfect! Unfortunately, no one could top Benicio Del Toro's performance as Ernesto.

Chiwetel Ejiofor was another team player. The English accent has already been neutralized, I guess ever since American Gangster. Or I guess he could really speak in both American, and English accents.

As for the other actors, they just didn't do enough to warrant my attention. Sorry because I was just drawn into the whole story. I say 8/10 for originality. Though the cold war plot never grows old. Original in that the story's kinda' fresh for me.




*Image from extramirchi.com