Australia: You can separate this into parts

Australia
Starring Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman
Directed by Baz Luhrmann

The latest film by lauded director Baz Luhrmann, Australia is a stylish epic that involves a woman from London named Sarah Ashley whose husband was killed on the outback of Australia. She inherits his cattle farm and tries to get it back to its former glory which will be a challenge especially against the big Carvey Cattle Company. Fortunately "Mr. Rover" and an indigenous child named Nala appear and help Sarah to achieve that goal. Yet, this is during a time of war- the second World War- so the people have to be wary of the Japanese.

Back then, I thought that this was gonna be the epic that'll sweep audiences off their feet, but after watching it, I left it feeling rather exhausted. Why? Because the film is exceptional! Exceptionally long!

You could say that the epic tries to be a hybrid of several genres and social topics- but they end up seemingly more like a ruffled hodgepodge of pressing issues of social discrimination, revenge, cattle and some romance shoehorned somewhere. The way how they are tackled don't seem very seamless, in fact it's like they unfold in a queue! Hell, some scenes feel as if they don't belong to the whole damn movie (we could've done fine without the journey to the Australian port and the 15000 cattle; maybe a montage would suffice).

After reading reviews when it first came out, I now had the impression that this movie was gonna be really corny. And while I can't say that it wasn't, I can't really say that it's super sappy either. There are streaks of brilliance (the incorporation of the ever-famous Wizard of Oz song 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow, personally) showing in this mostly aesthetically-pleasing film, but meh, the sequences that follow turn out to be either overlong or just plain predictable. 

***2 EXAMPLES***

"Let's look at that indestructible indigenous grandpa first so we can see the effects of discrimination of the whites! Oh yeah, zoom in on that shot. Closer... closer... a few more seconds... and cut!"

Lady Ashley: "You're fired!"

Fletcher: "I HAB MAY REE-VENJ!"

Drover: "Crikey!"

Additionally, the influence of music in this movie makes me feel like I'm watching Pocahontas: Her Australian Brother. All it needs is for the wind to have color.

It's just long, seriously. I can count 3-5 moments when I thought that the movie was about to end! It feels as if the whole movie could easily have been divided into 3 parts or something! I mean, the way the story's movie unfolds literally feels like chapters in a book- in a bad way. It's like I'd rather read a junioralization of this than watch it again.

That's not to say it's bad, if I'm misleading you. It's just that you need plenty of time to spare to be able to get into the swing of things. It's kinda predictable too, but I wouldn't think many would mind it all that much. Bottom line, it's just OK.

Rating: 6.7/10

de Blob (WII) review

de Blob

Nintendo Wii

Blue Tongue, THQ

Ever reminisce those times as a child when you'd actually get a crayon and start painting on the bland, white wall, and every time you did you would get reprimanded by your parents? Well, this game basically takes this child-like desire to color the world and put it in a video game, and infuses it with a political metaphor along the way.

So you start out as the titular Blob as you help the Color Revolution bring all life back to Chroma City, much to the anger of the colonizing INKT Corporation. You restore landmarks, ancient ruins, rivers, lands, and look at pretty pre-rendered, but smartly 'written' cutscenes in between.

Gameplay-wise, de Blob is extremely easy to pick up and play. The primary mechanic here is to put color back just by absorbing a specific color and touching a building to color it. Still, you're not exactly an unlimited coloring machine, as you have to observe the number of paint points you have. They operate similar to ammo, but these points also double as your HP or life points. 

You can get several styles to give a bit more personality to your establishments, and you are free to color the part of the town you want as long as the timer doesn't run out, which is pretty much the least of your concerns if you agree to the challenges presented to you by the members of the Color Revolution.

These challenges are generally easy, but one challenge type in particular which involves having to paint a select part of the town in specific colors is a bit limiting (and at times, frustrating). They manage to infuse some variety in the paint job, but they, in the end, lack just that as well-variety. To be honest, the lack of challenge types (there are only 4 if I'm not mistaken!) is the only major con in the whole game, but that won't stop you from actually getting addicted to coloring the entirety of Chroma City and killing every INKT soldier in sight.

Another con, albeit minor this time, is the fact that Blob can and will cling on to the walls of buildings every single time. This is frustrating if the path is narrow, but with a little bit of perseverance and luck, you can get out of that sticky situation.

The thing that the game definitely runs with is its artistic presentation (the effect that accompanies you painting a building never gets old) as well as its addictive, yet simplistic (and deceptively so) gameplay. If you have a Wii, de Blob is a title you may want to nab if you're into platformers. It may not be as magnificent as Super Mario Galaxy, but it's a potential third-party franchise I'd want a sequel for.

Rating: 8/10

Movies Opening This Week (Week 3)

*This post was a bit overdue. I had this on reserve for a long time.
Last week, there was nothing interesting in the theatrical canon. Now, there are pretty much a few.

Australia
Baz Luhrmann makes a comeback in the star-studded romance Australia. It's the story of an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a farm and makes a reluctant pact with a cattle driver (Hugh Jackman) to protect it from a takeover. The twist in this romance is that it's set near World War II, thus chaos ensues and they even get to witness a bombing.




Milk
When we're talking about Sean Penn, we usually talk about Academy-Award nominated performances and a unique movie. So who is he playing in this movie? Well, he's playing Harvey Milk- the first ever openly gay person ever elected into office in America (and where else but in San Francisco?). If it wasn't obvious, it's a biopic. And he gets to kiss James Franco... errr, not exactly my idea of a good time in the movies, but whatever.

Anyway, it talks about how Milk got into office, and got shot the same year.