~ Come Rayne Or Shine ~

Yikes, two months into the new year, and I've already broken my resolution (err...wish). LOL! Oh well, I'm hoping to rectify it real soon *crosses fingers*

Managed to do another review on the movie 'Valentine's Day', and watched 'Legion' also. Since it's been so late after 'Legion', I think I'll just sum it up in a few words: It wasn't as nice as it was hyped out to be, in my opinion. I think some of the best scenes were shown in the trailer itself (which is a bummer!); Paul Bettany was a great actor, but sadly underused in his character of the arch angel, Michael. There was no real story-line, and I find it real ironic that an angel knows what God needs and wants -____-" Hello? God is all-knowing??! Anyways, to put it bluntly, not something I'd recommend to watch in the cinemas. It's probably better to watch it at home.

'Valentine's Day' on the other hand, was SWELL!! My *ahem* official review here: http://www.cinema.com.my/movies/movie_contents.aspx?search=2010.6230.valentinesday.11653

Great casting, good comedic elements to break up the overly sweet theme of the movie; not to mention all the hunky dudes cast (McDreamy, McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Topher Grace and Taylor Lautner...need I saw more? *wink*) In short, I can't rave more about the movie...go watch it!

Okay, okay...I babbled too much. This post is supposed to be about 'Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief'! Went to watch it last week with a bunch of good friends. Didn't quite meet what I thought it would be, but it wasn't as bad either.

My good friend mentioned that it was so much different from the book  version, so I guess I have to read it to see how different it was from the movie. But, looking at the movie alone, it wasn't half bad. Okay, it had some similarities with Harry Potter (3 students going out on an adventure, breaking many many rules as they go along; big bad fight at the climax of the movie; the 3 became best friends after that. Oh, not to mention the same director from the first two HP movies...heck, I even thought the musical score was similar too >.<")...and it kind of bugged me a little that Percy (played by Logan Lerman) is a Zac Efron lookalike (remake of High School Musical, anyone?), but other than that, not too bad.

The story is about Percy Jackson finding out he's a demigod (half mortal, half Greek God...apparently, Greek Gods like to come down to Earth every now and then to 'hook up' with mortals, but are not allowed to meet with their offspring. How convenient would that be, eh?) and someone has framed him for stealing Zeus' precious lightning bolt. So, he gets rescued by his good friend Grover (who turns out to be a mythical creature himself, and throws a whole dimension of WTF in your face in his revealing) to a place called Camp Half Breed...oops, I mean Camp Half-Blood (creative name, isn't it?) where Percy finds refuge and subsequently sets out to find who the heck stole Zeus' bloody bolt (not in their words, anyway). On their quest, they met up with many mythical beings, like the famous Medusa (played by Uma Thurman...I can see why they chose her for Medusa. GORGEOUS eyes!), Hydra, and Persephone...heck, even the Hell Hounds made an appearance!

The ending is quite predictable...don't want to spoil your fun on it *wink* But some of the effects were quite impressive, like the regrowing of the Hydra's heads. It is after all, directed by one of the HP series's directors, so one should expect no less =) Story-wise, it had a good plot...I just didn't like the climax and ending, which seems a bit too rushed compared to the way they slowly (and nicely) build up the events leading to the climax. Time constraint maybe. Casting was good; they threw in some famous names amidst the new leads...Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd, Steve Coogan and Sean Bean did a great job with their characters, although I think I would prefer them to be less...how do I say it? WEIRD. Maybe it's the dialogue or something, but it's very jarring to see Zeus and Hades as a Jesus lookalike and a faded out rockstar wannabe respectively. Trying too hard to make it more current for the masses, I guess...*shrugs*

All in all, it was kind of lame in some parts, but it also has its funny and cool moments...my venture would be that it's catered more for young adults (read: teenie boppers who have crushes on Zac Efron). So, if you have a 14-year-old sister, bring her to watch this one...I think she'll fall in love with Percy in no time flat. *wink* Let's just hope he doesn't pull a Daniel Radcliffe and does an 'Equus' production in the future too..