Joel Silver: the guy responsible for...ULTIMATE FRISBEE!?

Joel Silver, producer of Ninja Assassin and The Matrix trilogy, was also the inventor of the sport Ultimate Frisbee. He invented Ultimate, as it is known nowadays, while he was attending Columbia Highschool in Maplewood, New Jersey.

He formed the first collegiate Ultimate team in 1970 when he entered Lafayette College.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ninja Assassin

From the guys who brought you The Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta comes Ninja Assassin.

The martial arts film is directed by James McTeigue, starring Rain, and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers.

The Plot

Raizo portrayed by Rain is a ninja and happens to be one of the world's deadliest assassins.

He was raised by the Ozunu Clan of ninjas and was trained since childhood in the killing and secret arts of his clan. It was a hard life, one that was made easier by the presence of a girl whom Raizo develops some romantic feelings for. The girl decides to escape and start anew and invites Raizo to come with her but he refuses saying “my life is here”.

The girl leaves but is captured and returned to the clan. She is executed before his eyes.

After successfully completing his first mission, Raizo was asked to execute a fellow member, a girl, for the same reason his love was executed. Instead he attacks his clan and wounds his master. The band of ninjas retaliates and nearly kills Raizo who manages instead to escape and plot his revenge.

He enlists the help of a Europol forensic researcher who is investigating what could be a conspiracy of ninja related killings. Through subterfuge, Raizo manages to lead the Europol agents back to the Ozunu Clan’s mountain headquarters where a bloody battle between ninjas and soldiers ensued. He makes good his revenge on his fellow ninjas and his master for the murder of his love.

The movie ends with Raizo breathing the air anew as he gazes on the mountain where his love once asked her to join her in a new life.

The Skinny

This seems to be the norm with most movies nowadays: dazzle them with effects, choreography, and production value.

To be honest, I was expecting a more sublime storytelling knowing that the Wachowski brothers were involved but I was mistaken. The Wachowskis were originally dissatisfied with the original script and got their friend J. Michael Straczynski to write a new one six weeks before it began production.

Unfortunately, even J. Michael Straczynski was hard pressed to save this movie.

The movie seemed like a mish-mash of several other movies, better executed ones at that. GI Joe’s ninja training camp, 300’s Spartan training for kids, and Blade with the African-American hot leading lady just to mention a few.

But worry not.

There enough fighting, blood, and gore for you action junkies out there and of course there’s Rain for the ladies. That should hopefully be because there’s nothing else the movie can offer.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Now Showing

NOW SHOWING (2008)
A Film by Raya Martin

November 18 Wednesday 4:30 PM
November 23 Monday 4:30 PM
December 1 Tuesday 4:30 PM
December 2 Wednesday 4:30 PM

Producer: Arleen Cuevas
Co-Producer: Antoine Segovia, Atopic/Third Home
Assoc Producer: Adolfo Alix, Jr.
ASEAN Competition, Bangkok International Film Festival, Thailand
Torino Film Festival, Italy

University of the Philippines Film Institute
(Member, CILECT/Internationa l Association of Film and Television Schools)

Tel: (02) 981-8500 (UP Trunkline) local 4286, 4289; (02) 926-3640/926-2722 (Telefax)
Multiply site: http://upfilminstitute.multiply.com
Website: http://www.upfilminstitute.net

To get screening alerts, join the UP Film Institute e-group: upfilminstitute (AT) yahoogroups.com

MOVIE REVIEW: 2012

There’s only one word in the English language to accurately describe the movie 2012 and that word is relentless...until we got to near the ending but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

2012 was a miracle of CGI. The movie promised to bring you the end of the world and it makes good on that promise.

There’s something about watching the apocalypse that is just so fascinating. Maybe we just have a morbid sense of curiosity, which is why we slow down at the sight of a gruesome accident on the highway. Or maybe it’s all the recent tragedies happening one after the other, man-made or otherwise, which supposedly portends the end of days as predicated by the Mayan Calendar.

Or maybe it’s the same reasons why we love watching horror movies: they remind us that we’re alive.

The Plot

Basically, the end of the world is nigh. Government build technologically advanced arks but only accept genetically superior folks and some rich folks who can afford to pay the 1 Billion Euro price tag. It’s to help finance the building of the ark, the powers-that-be says. They keep it a secret from the rest of the world.

A writer stumbles on the great conspiracy however and, through a map detailing where the techno arks are being built, bring his estranged family and a rag tag group of survivors hopefully to gain access and survive the coming cataclysm.

The last few minutes of the movie is basically a testament to Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong will.

Humanity wins in the end of course, just in time to escape initial onslaught of the great flood. It turns out that not all of the earth was engulfed in the flood and the flood waters are receding faster than anticipated to boot. They find that might be some inhabitable land somewhere in Africa.

The arks make a beeline for the Cape of Good Hope to a brand new start for humanity.

The Skinny

The movie was moving at breakneck speed up until the time when the human drama came into play and that’s when it started to get boring. It’s not really because the intensity of the human condition pales in comparison to continents sinking below the sea but the scenes were just too drawn out in my opinion.

But really the story itself is unremarkable. If you’re going to see this movie you’re seeing it for one reason and that’s to see the end of the world...with popcorn!

Thus my suggestion is to turn off your brain and enjoy the ride.

RATING: 3 out of 5

VAMPIRES are Taking Over the WORLD!

It's truer than you think.

Guess WHO's on NEW MOON?

It's Snuffy otherwise known as Mr. Snuffleupagus!

Johnny Delgado Passes Away

Longtime multi-awarded actor Johnny Delgado has recently passed away due to colon cancer. Johnny, member of the popular gag group Going Bananas, was diagnosed with lymphoma or cancer of the immune system in 2008. He was 61.

Click here for more details.

Star Trek Bloopers

Check it out! Awesome video featuring bloopers from the set of the Star Trek movie.

MOVIE REVIEW: Astroboy

I’m sorry to say this but Astroboy didn’t quite blow me away.

I wanted it to, really I did, but it just didn’t happen. I’m not saying it was bad. In fact there were quite a few entertaining moments in the movie. Sadly, it just didn’t come together in the end.

Astroboy was loosely based on the long time running animated series by Osamu Tezuka. The movie was produced by Imagi Animation Studios and featured the voices of Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland, and Nicolas Cage.

The Plot

The Earth has become desolate and is no more than a big dumpsite for junk from Metro City, a floating city.

Toby, the brilliant son of Dr. Tenma (head of the Ministry of Science) was looking forward to spending some time with his father but his busy schedule however forces him to cancel quality time with his son. Determined to be with his dad, heads to the Ministry of Science anyway where an important demonstration is currently underway.

A new kind of clean and limitless energy (positive core) has been discovered and is being tested on a new robot called The Peacekeeper. The leader of Metro City, President Stone, however insists that the negative core be used to power The Peacekeeper instead. Things go awry as the negative core affect the robot and cause it to go amuck.

The scientists manage to confine the robot in the demo room but trap Toby by accident as well. Dr. Tenma watches in horror as The Peacekeeper unleashes a lethal blast in an attempt to escape confinement which vaporizes his son in the process.

Mad with grief, Tenma recreates his son, Toby, in the form of a robot powered by the positive core provided by his friend Dr. Elefun. Using a strand of hair from Toby’s hat, Tenma endows the robot with Toby’s personality and memories. He discovers eventually however can never replace his son and regrets the decision to create it. During a quarrel with his father, a confused robot Toby discovers that he has the power of flight, immense strength, and can understand robots.

President Stone discovers Toby’s true nature through positive core energy signature he emits and attempts to capture him. Toby makes short work of the goons the president sent. Returning home, Toby overhears Tenma talking with Elefun about deactivating him and finds out that he is only a replica of the original. Devastated, Toby flies off only to be ambushed by military drones causing him to fall to the Earth's surface.

Here, Toby meets Cora and a bunch of other kids who works for a man names Hamegg. Toby introduces himself as Astro and joins his new family collecting odds and ends. During one of their scavenger hunts Astro finds and revives Zog, an old battle robot. They fix him up for the robot games which turn out to be a gladiator event where robots fight to the death. Hamegg electrifies Astro and reveals he is a robot and puts him in the games but defeats all challengers until he is put up against Zog who refuses to fight Astro. Hamegg, tries to force Astro to fight but Zog attacks Hamegg instead. The military arrives to take Astro who gives up peacefully to spare the lives of everyone present at the arena.

Back in the lab, Dr. Tenma deactivates Astro by taking out the positive core. He relents however and puts it back in, reviving Astro saying that though he may not be Toby, Astro is still his son.

Stone, still determined to capture Astro, uses the red core to reactivate the Peacekeeper. The Peacekeeper absorbs Stone however and goes on a rampage growing bigger as it absorbs more and more weapons. Astro returns to protect Metro City.

Finally figuring out how to stop the Peacekeeper, Astro sacrifices himself by exposing the negative core of the Peacekeeper to his positive core. The contact resulted in a massive explosion that destroyed the Peacekeeper and Astro. Zog arrives and revives Astro using some of the positive core energy that Astro used to revive him.

But before any anyone had a chance to recover a large alien monster attacks the city.

Astro flies off leaving his father with the words “I was made ready” ready to face the alien and his new destiny as a protector and a hero.

The Skinny

For a 3D movie with a lot of 3D characters, the movie came off mostly as flat.

There were some genuinely touching and heart warming moments in the movie but a lot of the characters felt like they were thrown in there to appeal to certain demographics but served no real purpose in the movie. Their particular conflicts were resolved far too easily and conveniently, even for the supposed pivotal ones (take Dr. Elefun, for example).

They feel like the movie would’ve gone on fine even if they weren’t there.

I was particularly missing the tension between Dr. Ten-ma and Dr. Elephant in the animated series.

The animation was great however but Astro looked a bit too old to me. Some online research reveals that they indeed aged Astro a bit because they found the original design too young. Really now, Hollywood! Why do you guys insist on taking our comic books and cartoons only to make a mockery of everything we hold dear?

But I digress...

The kids and the adults who are not familiar with the mythology behind Astroboy will enjoy the movie. There are enough feel-good moments to turn everyone into an endorphin junkie. But for those who are looking for more depth in the story it’s probably best to move on.

Nothing to see here.

RATING: 3 out of 5

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