Book to Movie: Warm Bodies (Movie Trailer)

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion is one of the few zombie books that I enjoy reading. Well actually, I listened from an audio book but still same results, it is fun and enjoyable novel. So when I found out that there will be a film adaptation coming out next year I can’t help but get excited. The movie is planned to be release next February 1, 2013 and it stars Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer. Basically the story is about a zombie (Nicholas) who rescues a human girl (Teresa) from an attack and ends up falling in love with her.

The film adaptation is directed by Jonathan Levine, the same man behind the movie “50/50“. Which is really an amazing film. I enjoyed it so much even it makes me cry. It is just raw and real and of course it stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and any film that has Joseph Gordon-Levitt for me is a must watch. I’m a fan obviously. I can’t help but be amazed with his so many talents, from acting, to singing, composing, writing and directing. Anyway, before I get totally lost and rave more about Joseph Gordon-Levitt let’s go back to Warm Bodies. I’m expecting another fun and heart warming film from Jonathan Levine in this movie. The trailer is already out and I think it is pretty good. It makes me more excited to see the film. You can watch it below.

As for the film poster there are two version that already comes out. The first one comes out early this year and when I first saw it, I honestly didn’t like it because it reminds me of Twilight. Check the poster below so you can see it yourself why it reminds me of Twilight. The second and latest poster, the one with a red background is much preferable than the first one. But it doesn’t tell much about the stories. I’m still hoping that there will be another poster coming out before the film is  release, something that will match with the dark and comedic part of the story.

Warm Bodies Film Trailer

Have you read the book? What do you think of the trailer? Does the new poster make your heart warm? 🙂 If you haven’t read the book, I urge you to do so. You can also join me as I plan to do a re-read before the movie comes out. We still got a couple of months.

Upcoming Book-to-Movie Adaptations

There are couple of movie adaptation of popular books that are set to release this year. Some of them are already out in cinema. And here are the three upcoming movie that will be available in cinema soon. This doesn’t include those that will be released after March 2011. Such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Hobbit, Water for Elephants, Breaking Dawn, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and a lot more.

I Am Number Four

Based based on the novel I Am Number Four, written by Jobie Hughes and James Frey. This is one of the film I anticipated for 2011 after seeing the trailer last year. I haven’t read the book yet and I have no intention of reading it. The last time I read James Frey’s book I never finished it. But the film looks pretty good.

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is one of the few classics I’ve read when I was in college. I can’t remember much if I did enjoy the book back then or not. I’m thinking of rereading the book now but not a chance for me. With so much in my to-read-list I don’t have much time for rereading. I’m just glad to discover that there will be an upcoming movie due to released this March 11, 2011. I just watched the trailer and I can’t help but be excited to see the movie soon.

Beastly

Based on Alex Flinn’s 2007 supernatural romance novel of the same name. It was expected to be released on July this year but moved to March 18, 2011. It is a retelling of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast set in modern-day New York City. And since I love the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, I can’t let this one pass.

Large number of books are also in development for movie adaptation for 2012 and 2013. Such as Fallen by Lauren Kate, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, Matched by Ally Condie and The Mortal Instruments City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare. So much movie releases to watch out.

Charlie St. Cloud (Film)

Last Monday night, I went to the red carpet premier of Charlie St. Cloud at SM Megamall with my best friend. The film is based on Ben Sherwood’s best-selling novel The Death and Life Of Charlie St. Cloud which I already read before seeing the movie adaptation.

The movie plot is strong because it’s based off the book. But in-spite of a good plot the movie doesn’t carry the same depth and darkness of the book. Charlie has near death experience, lost his dearly brother Sam, graced with an extraordinary gift talking and seeing spirits, limited communication to his mother, no real friends, barely trust no one and can play catch with his dead brother. It has limitless opportunity for motivations, soul-searching, and well-written emotional drama which the movie failed to present. There are more to explore, issues about life and death, grief, moving on, restoring faith, life after death and living a full life. But the movie focus on the love story angle forcing Charlie to go down the misguided teenager role.

 Zac Efron does a decent job portraying Charlie St. Cloud. I can now completely detached him from his singing and dancing role in High School Musical. But still I want to see more of his talent. I think he has something more to offer, but the script and the director limits him to show what he really got. There are some scenes where he is ready to full out those emotional moments then all of a sudden it diverted to another scene. Like when the tragedy strikes, the film has the chance to gear the affecting power but it jumps to another scene cutting the moment before it culminate. Obviously poor pacing is the problem. Efron gives a good effort and the film failures are hardly his fault. Charlie Tahan as Sam is sweet and endearing. He’s a good little actor that should be watch out for. I didn’t see much of Sam’s funny and naughty side from the book but Tahan is credibly good as Sam St. Cloud.

I fell in love with the two characters (Charlie and Sam) from the book and I still love them from the film. They manage to deliver a believable chemistry as brothers. The relationship between them is really strong on-screen. It looks more real by not being too sweet. Nothing too fancy or sugar coated sweet bonding like those cheesy lines from the book. In here they fought once in a while and still manage to show the care they have for each other. A simple look and some little gestures is all they did and still you can feel the intense care and love from both of them.

I want to like this movie as much as I like the book but no matter how much I ignore the differences I still felt that the movie lost some magic that the book has. It’s not a bad film but the story and characters deserves more. Everything is too safe, it needs more edge and darkness. Probably a better script and direction will make the difference.

Tekken (2010 Film)

I got my chance in playing Tekken before though I’m not a video games buff. Other than Jin and Yoshimitsu I’m not familiar with some of the fighters in this movie. Maybe I’ve seen most of them in the selection menu, but they are not my usual choice in the battle game. Most of the time I’ll pickup King, Lei, Paul and Asuka. As a film based from a fighting game series I don’t expect much from this film. Surprisingly though… it’s actually NOT bad.

The story is fairly simple and predictable. Like most fighting games it revolved around the fighting tournament. The story focus in one character which is Jin Kazama, his quest for vengeance, the Mishima bloodlines & the iron fist. Nothing much new actually but I like the fact that they tried to create some character relationships than just make a generic fighting flick movie. It takes a more gritty, real-world approach to the storyline breaking away from most of the supernatural and strange elements from the games. A nice touch that results in a solid, pretty easy to understand martial arts adventure, at the very least.

The casting is fair enough. Jon Foo (Jin Kasama) delivers well in the sullen, angry role of the revengeful pretty boy. He is believable as a young talented fighter as if he really earns every hard-won match. Ian Anthony Dale (Kazuya Mishima) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Heihachi Mishima) are pretty good too. Kelly Overton (Christie Monteiro) is ok. Candice Hillebrand (Nina Williams) looks too old for the role. And her costumes needs some fixing. Actually the costumes are good except for that one. After checking the video characters, I find that they wear the same style like in the video game. I think they are pretty accurate. Yoshimitsu has the most faithful look from the video game though he doesn’t talk much in this film.

The fight choreography are well executed. It was realistic enough to enjoy and digest. The fighter look like they mean business when they fight inside the arena. Battles doesn’t look fake, they are pretty good and fierce. In fact, they look extremely painful, especially those battles where real life martial artists are fighting on each other. None of the fight scenes were disappointing. They really looked like they put all their effort on their stunts and actions. The chasing scene from the first part of the movie wherein Jin is running from some bad guys and the Jackhammers (some kind of police robots of Tekken Corporation) is nicely done, it’s pretty intense. The chasing stunts are quite thrilling.

As for the settings, Tekken is set in dystopian near future year 2039 which is supposed to be futuristic, but I didn’t find it on that level. I feel it’s more like a post war era setting. Most of the scenes are set at night, or in shadows with spotlights, gasoline fires or neon lights.

Tekken was actually quite good compared with all the other game series turned to film. I mean as far game-turned-movie goes this one was actually pretty decent. As much as I want to compare this film to another fighting game Street Fighter : The Legend of Chun-Li, I can’t remember much about the last film. I am certain that I’ve watched The Legend of Chun-Li before but unfortunately I can’t remember much from this film. Compare to Dragon Ball Evolution Tekken is way better (WAY WAY Better). Tekken’s gritty action scenes and fast-paced story make it one of the better video game movies. This movie was made for entertainment like the game itself, so disregard about the inconsistency in adaptation this movie is enjoyable and pretty nice film.

Iron Man 2

Someone asked me to write a review for the film Iron Man 2, so I am now giving a space for this movie in this site. I saw the film on the first week of it’s released in the big screen but since it is just another kid-friendly comic book adventure film for me, it didn’t give me much drive to write a review until now.

Iron Man is one of the rare superheroes who does not have any extraordinary powers or abilities. Like Batman he only relies on his inventions and creativity to be a super-human. Also, he is the only superhero I know who does not hide his “human” identity in the public.

The film Iron Man 2 lacks a genuine journey for its hero and worthwhile villain to match with. Tony Stark is as good as he is in the first Iron Man but we don’t get much dept on his character in this movie. The idea of Tony Stark having to face his family’s sordid past while securing his own legacy is a promising one. We get to see father and son reconnect, the passing of the wisdom from elders to the current generation. But the film doesn’t deal with Stark family’s prior sins in weapons dealing, instead it tells a simple issue — theft of technology. Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko is barely in the picture and he hardly speaks, most of his words were Russian. His scraggly, menacing, and tough appearance adds to his antagonistic character, but he was provided by a limited good scenes.

As for the action sequences, there’s nothing much of it in this movie. The much-anticipated team-up of Iron Man and War Machine is over even before it begins. And the climactic smack-down against Whiplash is quickly done, it could have done with at least a few more minutes’ worth. Iron Man 2 is just as funny, as entertaining as it’s predecessor, but not as menacing and threatening. There’s no Tony Starks fighting for survival like when he was in Afghanistan in the first movie. Origin movie seems to work out much better.

Good thing about this film is the casting. The director has populated the movie with a set of good actors and actresses. The addition of Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman / Natasha Romanoff is the best part of this film. More than just a sexy secretary her character is intelligent, ambitious and motivated and somehow mysterious. She portray the character with much dept and spice. The sultry looks and seductiveness was all over the screens in every scene she was in. Her action sequences were well choreographed, particularly in the last part of the film. Samuel Jackson playing Nick Fury is also good but his part in this film is obviously just a preparation for the possible next installation of the series. Which is advertise in the movie as The Avengers (team of superheroes consist of Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk and Captain America). The second and third acts of the movie basically boil down to Tony Stark problems that should be deal and if the need arise he should be ready to join the avengers.

How To Train Your Dragon

Training Dragons never look more fun. In this animated film How To Train Your Dragon from Dreamworks, those legendary creatures really fly high in giving us entertainment. The trailer may look like the film is just for kid but it is great and entertaining even you’re not a kid anymore. Based on a children novel by Cressida Cowell with the same title, this film tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who does not exactly fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic Nordics. More than just training Dragons the story explores the innocent but powerful bond between people and extra ordinary creatures.

It is a sweet and delightful movie, with lots of actions, heart-stopping magic, funny moments and endearing characters to watch. Dragons here are lovable, cute, come in different shapes and sizes and have a book of instructions to handle them. They never speak, which makes it more brilliant. They conveyed primarily through behavior instead of dialogue. Toothless a Night Fury black dragon, is threatening at times but cute and lovable. One of the most awesome creature I have ever seen. There are some scenes where Toothless reminds me of Stitch because of his look and one other dragon’s looks like Mushu of Mulan.

The director made an ordinary material a fresh spin, making it funny and exciting. It also has a surprising amount of heart and touching moments. A familiar story but still imaginative, simple without being stupid, full of heart and fun and with lots of lessons to tell. Lesson of empathy, empowerment, self acceptance and friendship. That sometimes solutions to problems can be seen in a better perspective if we just try to listen. Empower people by giving them a chance and showing them the way may give us opportunity to produced great and effective people around us. It also helps to search for the truth and not just simply accept what is written or told to us. Being different empowers us to see what others cannot see. And Friends are more powerful than foes.

It doesn’t matter if you watch it on 2D or 3D because it is a good movie. And good thing about a good movie is you forget the format of what you are watching and get caught up in the moment waiting to see what will happen next. To sum up everything I will quote Gobber line in the movie, “Remember, a dragon will always go for the kill.”

Practice compassion even to your enemies. Learn to make friends. Your enemies may turn out to be your closest and most powerful ally in times of adversity.