Immortals - Movie review

Immortals (2011)

Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.



I'm not even going to seriously review this. I was shocked when I was in the cinema today. Initially, I thought it was like 300, with Inception music, but I was wrong.

I don't even want to explain the story. There is none! Everything does not make sense and the more they try to be serious, the more hilarious it gets. One thing though, the movie is very GORY! Lots of guts, blood and bodyparts everywhere.

Everything is predictable. The minute you see a virgin, you know she will not be for long, and they ACTUALLY SHOW IT, her ass and all!

The gore is not scary, but as it is trying to be artistic and serious, it becomes hilarious. Everyone is laughing at the over the top action sequence and gore.

It does teach you a valuable lesson though -- NEVER BE A TRAITOR / DEFECTOR. You will see the most horrible consequence, and it is graphic, did not even try to do any face away or off camera shots. A REAL OUCH moment.

Everyone seems to have great abs. It like everyone in the movie pauses to pose for the camera when they stop walking and show off their modeling pose for Abecrombie 500BC...

Nothing much else to say about this movie. 3D does not really add that much, but I do appreciate 3D ass cheeks, which makes me want to watch Sex and Zen in 3D.

Overall -- 3/10

If you want a comedy, go for it, it is brainless, gore and fun.
Otherwise, avoid it.

-- Robin Low

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Movie Review

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

I am very surprised at the pace of this movie. I did not like Harold and Kumar 2, but I felt that there was a change in pace and the way this new movie is presented, and it was a pleasant surprise.

With a cast of Danny Trejo, and all of the original cast, this movie has the same old feel as the original movie. In this movie, NPH is not so funny and his role is indeed very minor.

The pacing of the movie is pretty good. At the start of the movie, Harold and Kumar are not together, and it starts out pretty slow. Every 10 minutes something outrages happen, and in the spirit of the movie, it is always about getting high. There is a hilarious joke about the baby getting high on weed, heroine, and estacy pills.

The story also gets increasingly outrageous, and there is a lot of funny surprises, twists and turns in the story which will keep you entertained.

Storyline
Six years have elapsed since Guantanemo Bay, leaving Harold and Kumar estranged from one another with very different families, friends and lives. But when Kumar arrives on Harold's doorstep during the holiday season with a mysterious package in hand, he inadvertently burns down Harold's father-in-law's beloved Christmas tree. To fix the problem, Harold and Kumar embark on a mission through New York City to find the perfect Christmas tree, once again stumbling into trouble at every single turn. Written by Mandate Pictures

Overall, I would say catch this movie when its out, watch it, you'll enjoy it!
Rating 8.5/10

-- Robin Low

In Time Movie Review

In Time

Director: Andrew Niccol
Writer: Andrew Niccol
Stars: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy

In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.


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When I first read about the synopsis, I was thrilled about the idea, and wanted to watch to see how it goes. It does make sense as you see a lot of people wasting their lives away, spending their time on video games, YouTube and other random stuff. Time is a currency, and when time is the only currency, people might appreciate it more.

The movie was a little brave to take such a premise and run with it. And Justin Timberlake did not do much in helping make the role more convincing either. The dialog, and pretty much everything in the movie seemed a little unreal, and not in a good way.

The acting and plot at times become so bad, that I actually laughed hard. For people with minutes to live, they sure kiss a lot! Overall, I thought the idea was rather good, and the movie could be so much better, however the cast and the way this story is told on the big screen killed it.

I'm sure the book was much better. (I'm not even going to rate it -- Don't watch)

-- Robin Low

Halloween in Salem

Tis the season to be in Salem.

And here are some reasons to go.

1) Its Freakin' Halloween
2) Food is good.
3) There is a carnival??
4) 3D Haunted House is out of this world
5) Packed with activities!!! REALLY

-- Robin Low

Fuji x100 - Unboxing

This is the unboxing of my Fuji X100.

The first look and feel of this camera is pretty good. The camera feels very solid and it is pretty. I will be testing the camera, but the initial look and feel is pretty solid.

I've got it for RM$3200 with a 32GB Class 10 SD card, Original Fuji X100 Camera Case and a screen protector.

I'm just upgrading to the newest ver 1.11 firmware, and will do some shooting later. for now, the power up seems pretty fast, and the shutter lag is bearable, like a regular point and shoot.

The focusing is not fast and it cannot capture my fishes swimming. The image quality looks pretty good and the rear LCD screen and viewfinder is simply amazing.

Its a left-eye focus camera, and when I used my right eye in the viewfinder, I could see the lens of the camera.

I'm quite satisfied with what it is at the moment, and will shoot more to try it out and give it a review over the next few days.

Certainly very excited to have a APS-C sensor in such a compact body!

-- Robin Low

Night Festival Singapore 2011

Prior to my visit to Night Festival, I heard many good things, and the large crowds it draws.

I was very excited and decided to visit on 3 September 2011, and here are some of the photos.





















Yes, the question after arriving at 6pm hearing all the good things was "That's it?"

Yes, there was sort of a live light show exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum, but everything else seemed rather underwhelming. The crowd was terrible and the experience was rather disappointing.

Standing under LED lights to stare at your own shadow seemed to be one of the attractions as well.

*sigh*

-- Robin Low

High dynamic range photography (HDR)

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

The two main sources of HDR imagery are computer renderings and merging of multiple photographs, the latter of which in turn are individually referred to as low-dynamic-range (LDR) or standard-dynamic-range (SDR)photographs.

Tone-mapping techniques, which reduce overall contrast to facilitate display of HDR images on devices with lower dynamic range, can be applied to produce images with preserved or exaggerated local contrast for artistic effect.

HDR Photo of the above picture

Just search Google for HDR images and be inspired!


-- Robin Low