"There is darkness everywhere Mr. Lincoln..."

Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) tried to seek vengeance over the death of his beloved mother and discovered about the reign of vampires in the United States... Trained by his mentor, Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), he hunted and killed vampires for the sake of the country's sovereignty... 

The title itself is an indicator that one mustn't take this movie so seriously... My expectations of this movie was that it would be both funny as they parodied 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln and bloody cool with all that crazy axe wielding moves I saw in the trailers... 

Unfortunately, the producers didn't take the opportunity of making the movie more amusing to watch by making it a little bit more humorous... Instead, most of the time, the mood was set to be quite serious and gloomy... 

However, I'm not saying that this movie is far from entertaining... In fact, it's rather the opposite...

The huge plus point for this movie was of course the flashy action scenes... I enjoyed so much watching Abe Lincoln slashed the hell out of those ugly vampires using an axe... The director, Timur Bekmambetov who also brought out Wanted, showcased some cool slow motion frames to highlight Abe's acrobatic vampire killing skills... 

One complain that I had was that the movie seemed to be rushed at the beginning... The origin of how Abe got into the vampire killing business was not well elaborated... The director should've made the sequence of events smoother and Abe's first kill scene longer... 

Luckily, in the middle and towards the end, the scenes were more elaborated... I found satisfaction watching the fight last battle in and on the train decks... 

All in all, I personally think that Abraham Lincoln is an entertaining movie mostly because of the flashy vampire killings... It's fit for leisure watching on a weekend... 

3 out of 5 stars

If you're looking for a biographical film on Abe, look forward for the upcoming Lincoln (2012)

"In order to get home, we will come up with an act that will blow everyone away!"

Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), Melman (David Schwimmer) and the rest of the gang were still struggling to get back to the place they truly belong - New York! As they were on their way, they were chased by a very persistent and determined hunter, Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand)... They seek cover from a travelling circus that soon they bought and transformed into a very festive and colorful one! 

It seemed that the production house of the Madagascar series was very motivated in making the latest installment a big hit after quite a lukewarm reception for the second one... If you've seen this movie, you would probably know what I meant... They really didn't hold back one bit!

Pure cartoon comedy! Those three words are the best in describing Madagascar 3 as most of the jokes and gags were physical and silly... If you love cartoons like the classic Tom & Jerry and Oggy and the Cockroaches, this animation is definitely for you...

The picture was colorful and vibrant... The best edit was in the few final scenes where the circus performed spectacular acts accompanied by neon spiral lights and fireworks... 

Captain Chantel DuBois was a very memorable character for an antagonist... Her acts of breaking through walls, dodging banana bullets, singing opera!, sniffing animal tracks earned so much laughter from the audience! I would personally vote her to be involved once more in the next sequel (if they ever plan on making one...)... Who's with me?

I loved how the production house used all of the characters... I mean, all of them had a role to play... No one was left behind... Even the small gangster puppies had their own tasks to complete... Mort and Maurice were given less screen time for this one however they still had some business to be in this movie especially during the last scenes... 

Do not expect this movie to be heart warming like Toy Story and Up... Not that it had no moral values whatsoever but the main focus was on physical comedy... You would see a lot of effort had been put into each gag sequence reflecting the creativity and silliness of the production house members... Trust me, you would laugh from the start til the end! This movie is very very entertaining! The animation edit was also vibrant giving a feel good sensation and cheerful emotion... 

4 out of 5 stars

Yesterday, as I tried to overtake a lorry, it suddenly squashed a giant cow dung (a.k.a shit) and the splatter flew towards me... 

I was thankful my helmet has a visor... Otherwise, I would probably have poo for early dinner... 

Yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk yuk... 

"Adik, ayah mana? Nak tumpang pakcik?", said a guy who was I thought in his thirties... He was riding a rather old motorcycle and wearing a dirty plain grey t-shirt and jeans... 

If my memory serves me right, I was a standard three student at that time and I was walking home alone because Abah didn't show up to fetch me after I waited for him for around one hour... 

"Cepat la naik... Pakcik hantar pergi rumah..." 

My mind immediately had a flashback of all the stuff I read on kidnappings and molestation... Thus, I refused the guy's offer and walked away... 

Still riding his motorcycle, he followed me... At that time, thanks to the tips I got from movies and cartoons, I thought of using the things around me as weapons... The first thing I thought of picking up was a rock as big as the size of my palm... 

Wow... If I was dumb enough to follow that guy, I could have been kidnapped or molested... He could have taken to the oil plantation and raped me... 

It was lucky for me for the guy only rode a motorcycle and therefore, his modus operandi would rely heavily on persuasion... If he was driving a van or car, he could have just dragged me into the vehicle and driven away... 

Therefore, dear parents, teach your kids to always be smart when dealing with strangers... Ask your kids to wait inside the school if you're running late to pick them up... Lets avoid the worse from happening... 

Sort of related post - I took it as a compliment

"Assalammualaikum~ Saya ingin menjemput saudara dan keluarga untuk ke ceramah yang akan diadakan di Paka pagi esok...", said a guy who came into my shop... He appeared to be in his twenties and was wearing serban and a maroon jubah... 

Before walking out and heading to my neighbours' houses, he handed me a few flyers and a calendar...

They were propaganda flyers... 

BUKTI BARISAN NASIONAL PERAMPAS TANAH MASJID DAN SEKOLAH AGAMA!!!

PAS MAMPU MEMBAWA KEMAJUAN DI TERENGGANU!!!

PAS GANTI BN DI TERENGGANU!!!

The calendar was decorated with pictures of big shots of PAS... 

Wow... Simply wow...

I went outside to check out where had the guy went and found out that he was not alone... There were a few men in the same outfit as him and women in purdahs walking the streets of my neighbourhood handing out flyers and calendars... Some of the women appeared to be carrying babies and small children...

It was noon at that time and I could only imagine how uncomfortable they were walking around in such outfit under the scorching sun... Pity the children too... The things that they would do to spread their politic views and agendas...

What a waste, I thought... It would be more appropriate if the flyers given were words quoted from the holy Quran instead of some words of propaganda... It would better if the calendars were decorated with Islamic calligraphy writings instead of pictures of Nik Aziz, Haji Hadi and some other PAS top guns... 

I showed the flyers and calendar to my parents... Ma just snickered cynically while Abah threw those stuff into the trash can... 

PAS, or Parti Islam SeMalaysia, already had their chance during their reign in Terengganu after beating BN a few years ago... but they blew it... Kindergartens were seized and closed, no progress in development, no incentive for the people... Their governance was a mess and that was why BN easily took over Terengganu again during the last general election...

However, that wasn't the reason why my parents weren't a big fan of PAS...

You see, my parents are among many Felda settlers who are thankful to the government, UMNO and Barisan Nasional, for coming up with the FELDA programme... Because of FELDA, my family and I now own acres of agricultural land, a house and opportunities to prosper more... FELDA funded extra classes when I was in my SPM days... FELDA gave out great financial assistance - Dana Remaja, Dana Hari Raya, Dana Pakaian Sekolah... 

Without FELDA, I might not achieve anything that I have right now...

The last time I was in Kuala Lumpur, I hanged out with my dear friend Ridhwan and his dear friend, Epul - the human GPS... Epul gave out a very long and eye opening argument on how PAS has lost its way and now sinking to bottom of the Malaysian political ocean... 

Dulu, PAS cakap BN ni parti kafir sebab ia terdiri daripada parti - parti bukan Islam... Tetapi sekarang, mereka sendiri menyertai gagasan PKR yang juga terdiri daripada parti - parti bukan Islam... Mengata dulang paku serpih, mengata orang dia yang lebih... Well, those are among Epul's arguments... 

Negara Berkebajikan? Isn't that similar to Islam Hadhari that was introduced by Pak Lah? What happened to hudud? Do they still want to implement it? 

Epul also said that PAS needs to make an impact because people are losing trust in them... 

Owh gosh, I'm talking politics... I've grown to an adult now... WHYYY?????

Actually the initial purpose of this entry was not to belittle PAS or anything, but to point out that it's better that PAS people to focus on dakwah rather than spreading propaganda... They used to fight so hard on their true cause - to transform Malaysia into a Muslim country - but now, their main focus is just to gain more political power...

Lalalalala~

"Lips red as blood... Hair black as night... Bring me your heart my dear, dear Snow White..."

Ravenna (Charlize Theron), who possessed dark magic powers used deceit and trickery to seize away a kingdom from a mourning king... Years passed and eventually she learned that there was one person who could end her reign - Snow White (Kristen Stewart), daughter of the fallen king... She kept her hidden from the world in a tower but in a twist of events, Snow White escaped to the Dark Forest... Being powerless in the wretched jungle, she sent out Hunstman (Chris Hemsworth) to track Snow White down... 

Despite Kristen Stewart, initially, I was rather optimistic about this movie and such thought came from how well the darker version of Red Riding Hood went for me... Besides, judging from the trailers, there would be a significant amount of medieval action sequences included in the scenes... Being the action movie junkie that I am, I thought, hey, maybe this can be as good as Red Riding Hood... 

In my opinion, yes, it was as good... I like the movie very much... 

The first thing that came to my liking was of course the gorgeous performance of highly talented Charlize Theron... For me, she's the Loki of my Avengers... Not only she's terrifying as a dark evil queen, she's also sympathetic when she kinda explained to the audience why and how she became so hateful and psychotic... Did I mention that she's really hot? Well, even if I did, I'll mention it again... She's frrrreakinggg hot! 

Besides that, I loved how beautiful the movie looks... The special effects were flawless and the place setting (CGI or not) was amazing... The part when Ravenna exploited dark glass shrapnel to battle the men who stormed her castle was my favorite CGI moment... 

My only remorse was the fact that Kirsten Stewart was chosen as the lead... WHYYYYYY??? This is such a good movie and Kirsten just just JUST ruined it... She was most of the time expressionless... Was she happy? Was she sad? Was she afraid? I couldn't tell... She's the Megan Fox of my Transformers (minus the boobs)... Heck, even the dwarfs surpassed her in acting... 

One more thing, I personally thought that the role of William (Sam Claflin) was unnecessary and unimportant... His character was not well elaborated and therefore, forgettable... 

Other actors did really well carrying their roles... Chris Hemsworth, a.k.a Thor, had it easy because the Huntsman character was as muscular and vulgar as Thor in the movie Thor... Thor Thor Thor... Lalalalala... The dwarfs was great too~ Half of the movie, I was wondering, "Where are the dwarfs? One does not simply make Snow White movie without dwarfs..."... So glad when they finally showed up...