Filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson (Death Race), aka the “mastermind” behind the Resident Evil movie franchise  (he only directed the first one, but wrote and produced all three installments) has recently stated he will soon start tackling the unavoidable next sequel, saying thet he’s writing “an adaptation of the Long Good Friday right now, set in present-day Miami. Then I will probably write Resident Evil 4.”

Each film in the franchise ends with a tease to the sequel, so judging from Resident Evil: Extinction you can expect the film to take place at least partly in Tokyo, Japan. Aside from the rather poor writing (especially for the second movie’s ending), my main beef with these movies is how much they stray from their video game source, both in tone and storywise (much like most video game adaptations).

Heck the films feel more like video games than the games themselves. Then again, Extinction is the flick that has the least in common with the games, becoming some sort of Mad Max with zombies, and ended up arguably being the franchise’s best film and a great return to form for Highlander director Russell Mulcahy.  Yet one can argue that this is because the previous two entries had so little to do with the games that what they did have in common was more distracting than anything else.

So while Resident Evil 4 may prove to turn into an entertaining action movie, I’d still like to see a Resident Evil movie done right. Sure there’s that new CGI movie but that one simply expands on the games’ storyline, instead of retelling it. The Anderson series needs to be concluded in a final installment, enabling a more respectful filmmaker to reboot the franchise in my opinion.

Source

Name: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Imdb page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318627/
Rotten Tomatoes page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil_apocalypse/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onJoefM-MVQ

mFacts:

01. Dead bodies buried six feet under in cemeteries physically attract any viral infections within city limits. Also, no matter how tattered, they can easily crawl out of the ground when a trespasser nears.
02. The only way to kill a super zombie-mutant is kick boxing.
03. Zombies’ heads magnetically attract bullets, even when haphazardly fired.
04. When you’re trapped in a zombie-infested city, make sure to check out as many buildings as you can, specifically the schools, churches, police stations, biological-warfare laboratories, and other populated areas.
05. Mutant killing machines are not effective unless given high-powered weaponry.
06. Always wear a miniskirt and tanktop to work.
07. When a city the size of Raccoon City is sealed off, the world doesn’t notice.
08. Tanks and armor are out. Kill zombies with motorcycles.
09. Flesh-eating monsters ALWAYS look in small alleyways, tight corners, and dark buildings. They also always look together.
10. Men dressed in black stealth gear, high-tech weapons, and armor are useless.
11. Said zombies in graveyard would all pop out at the exact same time.
12. Private corperations could own nuclear weapons and no one would know.
13. When hiding out in a city overun with zombies, hide in a bus surrounded in windows, then yell and swear about how screwed you are.
14. Its possible to barracade in an entire city within a matter of hours.
15. When you see an 8 foot monster approaching you, don’t bother to shoot it in the head first; start from the stomach and work your way up.
16. When you restrain people, don’t bother to check them for pocket knives.
17. If you’re fighting off hordes of walking zombies, standing still and shooting will get you killed.
18. Zombies kids can appear in a classroom in one second.
19. Gold Desert Eagles are a minimal threat.
20. Trash collectors will protect you from rockets.
21. Telekinetic powers can travel through cameras and computer screens.
22. Zombie dogs love school just as much as zombie children.
23. All undead creatures hidden in underground facilities can be tracked by a random piece of technology.
24. Further random pieces of technology can scan an entire city, locate any person, and allow anyone to visually fly through the streets.
25. Zombies don’t eat flesh. They just nibble and then allow the person/thing to become a zombie.
26. It’s cool to bungee jump out of a helicopter and have your friend tie you off before you hit the ground.
27. Don’t try to save a woman running for her life she’ll just jump off the building after you save her.
28. Only main characters are allowed to know that it is possible to run away or around zombies. Extras (even those with machine guns) MUST stand and wait to be eaten.
29. During zombie attacks, you should crash your motorcyle through large windows. People may need your help inside.
30. If a friend or loved one is bitten, ALWAYS argue about about killing him. He may not turn, and if he does, you can handle it.
31. The power and speed of your punches and kicks is determined not by the size of your frame or level of development of the supporting musculature, but by the hotness of your ass.
32. A corpse trapped in a coffin buried six feet under has the capability to breathe an airborne virus.
33. It is completely possible for 4/5 people to live after a helicopter smashes into rocks at the bottom of a waterfall.
34. If a city is overrun by Zombies, Newspapers still have the time to publish and deliver an issue with the headline “The Dead Walk”
35. Pistols have a sick sense of humour and when sensing that you plan on killing yourself, even when out of ammo, will lock the slide forward so you are surprised when it clicks empty, leaving you at the mercy of a zombie horde.
36. You always have to see Milla Jovovich’s tiny chest in every movie she is in.

After the first installments of Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings rocked the global box-office back in 2001, American  movie studios started buying the rights of every fantasy book they could find in the hope of striking cinematic gold. Barely any executive was able to shout “cha-ching” however, as only a handful of these opportunist films have proved successful, namely Disney’s The Chronicles Of Narnia and New Line’s The Golden Compass (sure, it bombed in the US, but it was huge everywhere else). Indeed, in their rush to shell out movies about magical worlds, studios seem to have mostly forgotten what made Potter and Rings so successful: it’s not only an established fanbase and an otherworldly setting, but mainly faithfulness, and a creative team truly invested in the source material.

Which brings us to Eragon, which is adapted from the first book in Chistopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. The movie was directed by first-timer Stefen Fangmeier, a visual effects supervisor on films such as A Series Of Unfortunate Events, and adpated to screenplay form by Peter Buchman (Jurassic Park III). It stars newcomer Edward Speleers in the title role, as well as Jeremy Irons (Kingdom Of Heaven), Sienna Guillory (Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later), John Malkovich (Beowulf), Garett Hedlund (Death Sentence), Djimon Hounsou (Never Back Down), Rachel Weisz’s voice (Definitely, Maybe) and pop singer Joss Stone in her first (albeit brief) film role.

Eragon’s story goes pretty much like this: Once upon a time, peace was kept by an order of knights with special abilities. One of these knights turned to evil however, and betrayed his comrades, killing them all (or did he?) and establishing himself as ruler of everywhere. Years later, a young blond male living at his uncle’s farm stumbles upon something stolen from the evil lord. After his family is killed, he is recruited by a wise old ex-knight and sets on a journey to join a small band of dedicated rebels, to whom the stolen item could prove extremely useful. Along the way, they will venture into one of the enemy’s fortresses to rescue the young princess who stole the thing in the first place. Sound familiar? Review and trailer after the jump.

Yes, Eragon can be pretty much be described as Star Wars in a Lord Of The Rings setting… Jedi Knights become Dragon Riders, Luke becomes Eragon, Obi-Wan becomes Brom, Princess Leia becomes Princess Arya, the Death Star plans become Saphira the dragon, the Rebel Alliance becomes the Varden, etc… At one point, Eragon even looks up at the sky, longingly observing the sunset. Elements of The Lord Of The Rings and, apparently, The Dragonriders Of Pern are also thrown in for good measure. However, all this was in the book, which was very well-received, so why would the film be any different?

Many elements contribute to Eragon being an extremely disappointing film. This could have been a huge franchise for Twentieth Century-Fox, so it’s baffling that they chose to put it in the hands of Fangmeier, who may be a very talented effects guy, but has virtually no directing experience (all he did was direct Galaxy Quest’s second unit). However, while Fangmeier’s inexperience is surely an issue, I don’t think it’s the main one. Nor is the acting, which ranges from decent to quite solid. No, one of Eragon’s biggest problems, in my opinion, is its length. Indeed, most of the recent successful fantasy movies have been more than two hours long (with the notable exception of The Golden Compass). Barely more than 90 minutes long, Eragon feels like it should be much, much longer. Take the first two Harry Potter and Narnia books, which are a bit more than 200 pages long, while their respective movies each clocked in at about two hours and thirty minutes. By comparision, Eragon is around 500 pages long, and I swear to you this hampers the film. Events seem to happen one after the other, with little room for development and explanation, such as Eragon apparently mastering the elven language in under ten minutes. You can plainly see where scenes were taken out, and this is one film which could truly gain from an extended/director’s cut. Also, there’s the fact that most of the film’s props look ridiculously fake.

So should you dismiss Eragon as the turd everyone makes it out to be? Not really. Despite its many flaws and bad choices such has the long stark black nails every villain sports and its awkward handling of the clichéd storyline, the film is much better than, say Uwe Boll’s BloodRayne or Jeremy Irons’ previous fantasy effort, Dungeons & Dragons. The special effects aren’t groundbreaking, but they’re good enough. The cinematography is quite decent, though not to the level of The Lord Of The Rings. And sure, the storyline is conventional, but it’s a convention that has proven it’s worth time and time again. Also the score by Patrick Doyle (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire) is excellent and features a memorable, heroic theme. To conclude, if The Lord Of The Rings is the Dark Knight of fantasy movies, then Eragon would be Fantastic Four.

Eragon was critically bashed upon its release, and was a box-office flop in the US, though it performed quite well overseas. The possibility of a sequel is however extremely unlikely and Fox seems to have missed its fantasy franchise opportunity, ironically in a play to make more money (epic fail). As for Stefen Fangmeier, he’s gone back to visual effects work, most recently in this summer’s Wanted.

Verdict: don’t expect much out of it, but a decent alternative if you’re tired of rewatching Star Wars and The Lord Of The Rings. Eragon currently hold a 5/10 on IMDB and a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.

More “Movies Of The Day”

Alors, je vais faire ma critique de mes deux derniers films visionné.
Donc, pour aujourd’hui: SAW 4 et Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Deux film que j’ai pu écouter en anglais siyouplait. Moi entendre: oh putain de merde on va tous mourriiir dans un accent français d’un français chiant de France. Wash.

Alors
Saw 4: 7,5/10
Resident Evil Apocalypse: 7/10

Saw4

De plus en plus tordu comme histoire, on voit qu’il commence a manqué d’idée pour que l’histoire tienne (et que le cash rentre chez Lionsgate).
Pas mal de violence, on rentre assez vite dans l’histoire, c’est vraiment bon ! Pas mal tordu mais…bon…c’est bon pareille !

Resident Evil : Apocalypse

Manque de Zombie la dedans. Histoire un peu trop facile. Y re-ouvre le “hive” comme une bande de con, les zombie sortent. Hey le cave, c’est pas une 12aines de tata en suit blanc pas armé qui vont empeché les zombie de sortir des portes de 100m de largeurs. c’est sûr qu’y vont sortir ! En partant…c’est pas fort…
Les zombies partout…sa crie sa court sa pleure. Suite du scenario poche, la petite fille du gars super intelligent qui a crée un remede contre la zombie-itude pogne un accident de char pendant qu’il essaye d’evacuer la ville. Wow, original. Sans explication dememe la, Bang, a se fait rammasé par un truc de beton. c’est tout. La biensur les “hero” pour sortir de cette ville de fou là, doivent trouvé la tite fille et sortir. Parce que le papa de la tite fille a un merveilleux plan pour els faire sortir de d’la, amis y veut ravoir sa tite fille biensur. parce que lui, y’es deja sorti de la ville hen…
Osti que c’est pas bon comme scenario. Des guns, du sang. Des guns, beaucoup d’action style Matrix. Ça vien compensé le scenario POURRI. Alors le film est tres bon quand même, mais y faut pas s’attendre a un chef-d’oeuvre. c’est un film d’horreur classique; Scenario 100$, effet speciaux 30millions$.

 Alors, mes petits commentaire inutile…

• Confort du Divan: 3/10 Vraiment, y’es pourri le divan
• Qualité du son: 9/10 le systeme de son y torche
• Sortir dans la “tempete” pour allé loué des films: 9,5/10 excellente idée!
• peleté toute l’osti de neige pour pouvoir sortir loué ds films 3/10: pas super.
• Qualité du verre d’eau bu en ecoutant le film: NON-DISPONIBLE, (désolé me souvien pas si y goutait bon!)
• Qualité de la personne collé sur moi a avoir peur parce que y a du sang partout: NON DISPONIBLE (tempete de merde)
• absence de lumiere dans le sous-sol: 7/10 (ma mère fesait du lavage, c’étais gossant !)

Ok, je pense que la c’est assez…

AdiOSs les touristes!

                                               -YanKee

Resident Evil: Extinction излезе в щатите на 21 септември и размаза бокс офис класациите, малко по късно това се случи и в Русия. А на нас българчетата, ни казаха – много ви здраве, ма ша чакате до 19 октомври 2007.
Ми възмутен съм (както винаги). Просто не ми е ясно защо трябва да изчакам ЕДИН! месец за да мога да гледам филма като хората.

И после що хората гледали филмите по Интернет а не ходили на кино – еми щото това е цял месец ве, шушляци с шушляци. Една бърза вметка – аз филми с качество различно от DVDRip и нагоре не гледам, така че или DVDRip (който няма да е скоро) или на кино!
BTW тука се сещам за филма Crash (Сблъсъци) който ако не беше взел Оскар, надали щеше да види бял свят в България, заради гениалната политика на някой организации. Ма стига за малоумщините в наща държава (все ще се оправим някой ден), щото като се замисля положението преди години беше доста по-зле (има надеждааааааа). Дайте да си полафим за фенщината ми към филма

Първият Residen Evil ми допадна много (не само заради игрите, който в оригинал се казват Biohazard btw), ами просто защото супер много се кефя на филми със зомбита. Тука вметвам че един от най-смешните филми който съм гледал се казва Shaun of the Dead и е романтична комедия със зомбита но това е друга тема. Все пак ако не сте го гледали и искате наистина качествена пародия, ей ви трейлъра:

Моя личен съвет – намерете си филма и се забавлявайте

Тъ филмите със зомбита ме кефят, а сървайвъл хорърите са един от любимите ми жанрове игри (купих си джойстик за да изиграя Biohazard 4 а.k.a* Residen Evil 4 на PC-то си, все пак). На всичкото отгоре Milla Jovovich рулира (дори като се снима в малоумия от типа Ultraviolet). Тъ (ей не мога да се съсредоточа ве), първия филми беше перфектен (поне според мен). Имаше идеалната сървайвъл хорър атмосфера, и нужния куулнест така че след краят му останах остро ентусиазиран за следващата част.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse беше стъпка в грешната посока. Твърде много екшън, вместо сървайвъл хорър. Все пак филма имаше добри моменти (фен съм к’во да правя), и ако преглътна факта че не беше страшен би получил четири и половина от мен (по шестобалната). Краят на филма както се досещате (ако сте го гледали де) достатъчно красноречиво показа, че ще има още – съответно като излезе първия тиизър

заплясках доволно с ръце, а след като се появи и първия трейлър

започнах да мучЪ доволно. И така докато не разбрах, че ще трябва да изчакам около месец повече за да мога да гледам филма. Или по просто казано “Welcome to Bulgaria”. Просто не виждам логиката. Да беше някъФ неизвестен филм, разбирам. Да беше няква евтина продукция, пак разбирам. Обаче тука имаме трета част, на сравнително успешна поредица, около която се вдига достатъчно шум и въпреки това – един месец! И не е щото неможе, защото лично съм присъствал на премиерите на филми който се излъчват в един и същ ден със световната, а е защото… и аз незнам защо. И не е само тоя филм. Скоро очаквайте да се размрънкам за Shoot ‘Em Up примерно

Така – мисля че мрънках достатъчно и мога да се заема с други полезни дейности. А като излезе филма по-кината, ако все още има някой който не го е изгледал, обещавам да се пробвам с едно ревю

*a.k.a – “also known as” (също известен като)

PS: Ако случайно сте пропуснали сухите факти за филма ето ги и тях:
Resident Evil: Extinction a.k.a Resident Evil 3
Жанър: Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Студио: Sony Classics
Режисьор: Расселл Малкахи
Сценарист: Пау В.С. Андерсън
Участват: Гари Хюдсън, Ашанти, Спенсър Бреслин, Майк Епс, Йен Глен, Али Лартър, Одед Фер, Мила Иовович
Световна премиера: 21 септември 2007
Премиера в БГ: 19 октомври 2007
Официална страница: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/residentevilextinction/

Man!

Blogger has been giving me a lot of problems. I couldn’t login properly the whole day and it’s been pretty irritating. Since I have some time now before I leave for my 8:30 appointment I shall quickly write something before I leave.

I had a half good and half bad weekend. Saturday turned out to be a pretty crummy day. The morning was pretty OK, read my devotional passage in then watched Saturday morning cartoons! Yes! After that I slept some more as I’ve been feeling super tired throughout the week. When I got up mom was asking to sweep the floor but I didn’t want to cos’ I had to go off soon to Children’s Church to play guitar for them. Things started going downhill from there. When I got to PJ after an arduous 40 minute ride from Setapak I found that my buhd J-son wasn’t around and I couldn’t pick up his guitar to use. To cut a long story short I ended up not playing at all so I wandered on over to 1U cos’ for some reason I felt really upset. Things didn’t get any better when I got home … I just slept and didn’t feel like having anyone around. That didn’t happen of course because my mom started nagging about sweeping the floor again which really irritated me then later in the night my dad made a lot of noise about the TV volume (which wasn’t that loud by the way). It really got ticked me off because dad does the exact same thing when he watches TV and I don’t really complain do I? Of course he was preparing a sermon or something so I guess it’s different but the things he said to get me to lower the volume weren’t exactly nice. Sigh … it really felt like a super bad day.

Which got me thinking … it’s always OK for girls to have bad days cos’ of PMS and stuff but guys can have bad days too and feel ill-tempered as well. It’s SOCIALLY acceptable for a girl to have a bad day but not for a guy!!! I’m sure I’m gonna rile up a lot of discussion by making this statement but I think it’s TRUE! Note the lyrics from the song “Bad Day” by Fuel. This is how it (it as in the song) goes:

I had a bad day again
She said I would not understand
She left a note that said I’m sorry,
I had a bad day again

She spilled her coffee broke a shoelace
Smeared the lipstick on her face
Slammed the door and said I’m sorry,
I had a bad day again

And she swears there’s nothing wrong
I hear her playing that same old song
She puts me up and puts me on

I had a bad day again
She said I would not understand
She left a note and said I’m sorry
I had a bad day again

So is it socially acceptable for guys to have a bad day too? Don’t guys have hormones and other such stuff? Ha ha. Well we don’t have PMS but I think we are emotional beings too it’s just that we are always expected to be cool and men are supposed to be stoic creatures who don’t break down and don’t cry. What a load of hogwash … MEN do have emotions too! We may not always be in touch with our emotions but that doesn’t mean we don’t hurt and it certainly doesn’t mean that we get upset by the smallest things at times.

Oops … it’s 7:31 now. Time for me to get ready to for my meet up. Will tell all of you more about my weekend. Suffice to say Sunday really helped to make it a good weekend – i.e. I caught Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow! Yippee!

Till next time. Vaya con dios amigos.

Cripes! I’ve just been blogging 4 days and already I feel as if I can’t live without it. It’s pretty amazing to discover people I know personally who Blog as well! I’ve discovered 2 fellow Bentongites from my home church who blog too!

The web is such a strange and wonderful place where there are familiar faces in familiar places (ha ha ha … guess where I lifted that last part of that statement from). I’ll give ya a hint, it’s from a song!

OK … I’m actually supposed to be coming up with some taglines for a Standee for a client. I’ve got 3 options so far and I’ll need to come up with more because I’m not a very experienced copywriter yet. I usually come up with a number of tagline options so we have a choice of what to present to the client. Bummeroo! But that’s the way it is when you are starting something new. Good thing I’m interested in what I’m doing or I’d probably be grumbling all the time. Heh!

Oooo … it’s already October and Resident Evil: Apocalypse is playing already. Plus Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow is on for sneak previews this weekend! I shall be preparing myself to do some spoiler free movie reviews soon!

Laterz!

Check out this review at : Resdent Evil Apocalypse Special Edition 2 Disc Dvd Review – SharedReviews

Check out this review at : Resident Evil – Resident Evil Apocalypse Resurrected Edition 2 Disc Double Feature Dvd Review – SharedReviews