Moel's Blog

The rumor about the end of the world in the year 2012 is spreading all over the world. Sony Picture take the advantage of this and make a movie of this 2012 term.

In the 2012 movie, people in the world is in panic because of the Maya prophecy about the end of the world came true. Statue of Christ the Redeemer that stands firmly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, went to pieces. Meteor shower followed by a great earthquake shake the world. No less thrilling, the Church of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, collapsed. Even the USS John F Kennedy hit with a super storm and sunk.

In 2012 The movie budgeted US$ 200 million, director Roland Emmerich who had directed The Day After Tommorrow and Independence Day, put a number of great names in this movie. John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt, and Woody Harelson is some of the notable artist played in this 2012 The Movie.

In it's premier day on November 13th, this movie is watched by millions of people around the world. There's a huge crowd in every cinema in every country. In Indonesia, the movie is rumored will be banned because MUI critize the movie. Let's hope that we can still watch it before get banned.

Cast :

* John Cusack as Jackson Curtis, a science fiction book writer who occasionally works as a limousine driver
* Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley, scientific advisor to the President
* Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis, Jackson's ex-wife
* Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis, Jackson and Kate's daughter
* Liam James as Noah Curtis, Jackson and Kate's son
* Thomas McCarthy as Gordon, Kate's current boyfriend and a plastic surgeon.
* Danny Glover as Thomas Wilson, the President of the United States
* Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser, the President's Chief of Staff
* Thandie Newton as Laura Wilson, the First Daughter
* Chin Han as Tenzin, a worker in Tibet
* Zlatko Burić as Yuri Karpov, a Russian billionaire
* Osric Chau as Nima, a Buddhist monk and Tenzin's brother
* Johann Urb as Sasha, a Russian pilot* Beatrice Rosen as Tamara, Yuri's Russian girlfriend
* George Segal as Tony Delgatto, an elderly traveling musician going on a cruise with his friend and Adrian Helmsley's father Harry, who along with Tony perished when the cruise ship they have boarded was capsized by an undersea earthquake. He had a family back on land, who also had perished during an earthquake.
* Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost, a conspiracy theorist disguised as Yellowstone hermit who prophesies the end of the world and is considered crazy by others. Harrelson compared his character to the mythological Greek figure Cassandra, whose predictions were dismissed
* Jimi Mistry as Satnam, a scientist who helps discover the events that are to come in India.

Star Trek 2009 : The Beginning tells about the beginning of the USS Enterprise, when the characters are young. This story begins with the birth of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine). His father was a leader of the USS Kelvin, he sacrifice himself to save his crew from the Romulan attack.
The history of Spock (Zachary Quinto) is told here too. Pointy ears creature, half-human half-Vulcan, where he was excommunicated by the Vulcan himself.

James T. Kirk and Spock then met at Starfleet Academy, they are not get along well each other and fight. But the dispute did not last long because they have to fight the Romulan attack which destroyed the vulcan home planet.

This attack is led by Captain Nero (Eric Bana), in which he blamed Spock (Spock played by Leonard Nimoy old) for the destruction of the planet and seek revenge in a way back into the past where a young Spock and the USS Enterprise.

Other character fill the 127-minute length movies, among others, Uhura (Zoë Saldaña), Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban), Hikaru Sulu (John Choo), Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg).


Star Trek tilled by J.J. Abrams, director of Mission Impossible 3 and the TV series Lost. J.J. Abrams show various views of the future with special effects and captivating outer space battle scenes. The use of technology and teleport warp (the move at the speed of light) color the various scenes in this movie. Future mobile phone was still there, because the James T. Kirk put Nokia in the so called "antique car".

The story line of Star Trek moving dynamic and easier to understand than the previous sequel. Even so do not miss the dialogue in order to understand the story well. The story is simple but still complicated if you ask me: D. This movie is worth watching and I think it got 4 stars out of 5.

Another movie review :

Angel and Demons
Fast and Furious 2009
Red Cliff

Angels & Demons is an American movie in 2009 which was adapted from Dan Brown's novel of the same name. It is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, another Brown film adaptation, even though the novel Angels & Demons was published first and takes place before the novel The Da Vinci Code. Filming took place in Rome and the Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Tom Hanks reprises the lead role of Robert Langdon, while director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also returned.

Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals. What terrifying discovery would make the Vatican turn to Robert Langdon, the man who cracked history's most controversial code? When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati "the most powerful underground organization in history" he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization's most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. Upon learning that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, Langdon travels to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow the 400-year-old Path of Illumination that marks the Vatican's only hope for survival.

Amazingly, this Angels and Demons, the Da Vinci Code sequel starring Tom Hanks, has received a surprisingly good review from the Vatican. The Church officials condemned The Da Vinci Code on its release in 2006, calling it "an offence against God" because it was based on the premise that Jesus married and fathered children. They banned the film-makers from shooting the sequel inside the Vatican, forcing director Ron Howard to reconstruct the settings in Los Angeles.

However, in its first pronouncement on the film, Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano described Angels and Demons as "harmless entertainment which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity". While the "gigantic and smart commercial operation" is filled with inaccuracies and stereotyped characters, the camera work is "splendid", Howard's direction "dynamic and alluring" and the reconstruction of St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel is "magnificent".

The film's success should prompt the Church to rethink the way it communicates its message, an editorial in the paper added, pointing out the"simplistic and partial" representation of the Church had captured the public imagination.

"It would probably be an exaggeration to consider the books of Dan Brown an alarm bell but maybe they should be a stimulus to rethink and refresh the way the Church uses the media to explain its positions on today's burning issues."

Cast :

* Tom Hanks reprises his role as Professor Robert Langdon, a Harvard University professor of symbology.
* Ayelet Zurer plays Vittoria Vetra, a CERN scientist whose antimatter experiment has been stolen by the Illuminati to be used as a bomb.
* Ewan McGregor plays the Camerlengo Patrick McKenna.
* Stellan Skarsgård plays Commander Richter, head of the Swiss Guard.
* Pierfrancesco Favino plays Inspector Ernesto Olivetti of the Gendarme Corps of Vatican City State.
* Nikolaj Lie Kaas plays Mr. Gray, an assassin who believes he is working for the Illuminati.
* Armin Mueller-Stahl plays Cardinal Strauss, elector of the conclave.
* Thure Lindhardt plays Lieutenant Chartrand, officer of the Swiss Guard.

Despite of the controversy, I personally think Angels & Demons is surprisingly a good movie. The movie hangs loosely on the actual novel itself. Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Hanks) jets off to Rome after the Pope's sudden death and the re-election through Papal Conclave. Arranging all of this is the carmelengo, Patrick McKenna (McGregor). However, he soon learns of a new threat, one that involves a secret brotherhood making its presence known, an anti-matter time bomb that Vatican City is now targeted with and the kidnapping of four cardinals. Langdon, using his intellects (and trust me, you'll be hearing a LOT from it) is given the task of finding and rescuing them using the mysterious Path of Illumination. Aiding him on the quest is CERN scientist Vittoria Vetra (Zurer), who is also the co-creator of the anti-matter.

The movie itself runs at an uneven pace. One minute Langdon and the Swiss Guard are speeding to save a branded cardinal, the next minute he bores you with pointless information about every random object he passes, evidently slowing the book's much anticipated action/thriller sequences down. It makes for an interesting read on paper, but on screen it can go either way.

The character's are decently written onto the big screen. Ewan McGregor does a convincing performance as the quiet but knowledgeable Patrick McKenna, famous accent included. Tom Hanks is slightly more agile, intellectually and physically, since his last performance in the mediocre Da Vinci Code. Stellen Skarsgard plays Commander Richter, the straight-faced leader of the Swiss Guard. Unfortunately, neither his nor Ayelet Zurer's performance are worthwhile ones, and instead of playing a part in the story, they are just kicked aside as assets.

However, Angels & Demons accomplishes what DVC could never; a thrilling fast-paced movie filled with satisfying explosions, beautiful recreations of St. Peter's Square and Basilica (including many of the churches) and a pulsing bomb counting down the midnight hour. Ron Howard does a decent job at directing this second Langdon adventure, this time taking in much criticism and almost completely exchanging the boring dialogue for tense chases.

So overall, a good movie to be seen this year.

The Fast & Furious (which also known as Fast & Furious 4) is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious film series. The set was taken between 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift sequel. Fast & Furious 4 was released in the United States on April 3, 2009. The plot connects with the original film of the series from which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster reprise their roles. The film was directed by Justin Lin, who also directed the third installment of the series, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

The opening sequence of his "Fast & Furious" is an amazing adrenaline rush. Dom (Vin Diesel) and his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) highjack a cargo truck careening down a ravine in the Dominican Republic. Dom, unflinchingly guts out a crazy maneuver that saves himself and Letty from fiery death.

What works is the dynamic chemistry of Diesel and Walker. Diesel is not breaking new territory. He plays to his strength as the powerful dark hero, who follows a code of honor. Paul Walker is a pleasant surprise. He infuses a force and charisma in Brian O'Connor. Walker has become a stronger actor since "The Fast and the Furious". This time around he and Diesel are true screen partners. Theirs is a partnership of friction, brotherhood, and ultimately of respect which grounds "Fast and Furious". In one scene former girlfriend and Dom's younger sister Mia (beautiful and strong Jordana Brewster) asks why Brian (Walker) let Dom (Diesel) go 8 years ago. Brian tells Mia it's because Dom taught him: "Nothing matters unless you have a code." Brian also confesses that he is still trying to find his own code.

After Dom's stunt in the Dominican Republic, the authorities are closing in on him. To protect the love of his life, Letty (Rodriguez), he leaves her the money and disappears. However, while in exile Mia breaks the news to Dom that Letty has been murdered back home in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, FBI Agent O'Connor is hunting down the mysterious drug cartel kingpin Baraga, who is able to move large shipments of narcotics across the border with his elite drivers. Brian is also tracking down Dom, who he knows will come back to Los Angeles because of the personal tragedy.

Dom returns home just flying under the FBI radar. He has Mia show him where Letty was killed in a car crash. Dom discerns that Letty was brutally murdered, and that the murderer left a distinguishing signature. Mia pleads with Dom to let this go: this will not bring Letty back. Dom sullenly declared, "It's already too late." He intends to kill Letty's murderer and find the man ultimately responsible. All paths lead to the mysterious Baraga. So Dom and Brian's destinies collide as they compete as drivers for Baraga's right hand Campos (slick John Ortiz). That race too, is another spectacular mind blowing ride through the trafficked streets of Los Angeles.

Cast

* Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto: An auto - machinery mechanic and elite street racer from the United States. Dom is wanted for committing numerous semi-truck hijackings. At the start of the film, he is living in the Dominican Republic and hijacks fuel trucks to earn money. Dom drives a Chevrolet Chevelle SS and later in the movie, his resurrected Dodge Charger which appeared in the first movie.

* Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner: A former police officer, auto mechanic and talented street racer. Brian is now an FBI agent hot on the trail of the Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga. Brian drives a Nissan Skyline GTR R34 and later drives a Subaru Impreza WRX STI throughout the movie.

* Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia "Letty" Ortiz: Dominic's girlfriend who lives with him in the Dominican Republic at the start of the film. Her murder at the hands of Braga's organization is what spurs Dominic on to seek revenge. She drives a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner

* Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto: Dominic's younger sister and love interest of Brian. She reunites with both men when their paths cross over the Braga case. Mia drives a JDM converted Acura NSX.

* John Ortiz as Ramon Campos/Arturo Braga: Initially portrayed as a liaison for Braga's organization, he eventually reveals himself to be Braga himself. A powerful drug cartel leader who recruits street racers to move heroin across the US-Mexican border.

* Laz Alonso as Fenix Rise: An enforcer for Braga who is responsible for Letty's death. Fenix drives a Ford Gran Torino.

* Gal Gadot as Gisele Harabo: A liaison for Braga who eventually sides with Dominic after he saves her life and helps him and Brian locate the drug lord. Gisele drives a TechArt GTsport.

* Jack Conley as Penning

* Sung Kang as Han Lue: One of Dominic's crew in the Dominican Republic who appeared in this film's timeline sequel, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Han talks about moving to Tokyo when the heat comes down. He says to Dom, "Heard they're doing some crazy shit in Tokyo".

* Don Omar as Rico appears in the beginning and the end

* Tego Calderón as Tego also appears in the beginning and the end with Rico

* Brandon T. Jackson as Alex

Red Cliff (赤壁 pinyin: Chìbì), also known as The Battle of Red Cliff, is a Chinese epic war film based on the Battle of Red Cliffs and events during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. Within Asia, Red Cliff was released in two parts, totaling over four hours in length. The first part was released in July 2008 and the second in January 2009.
The film was directed by John Woo, and stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling and Zhao Wei. With an estimated budget of US$80 million, Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film. The first part of the movie alone grossed out $124 million in Asia, and broke the box office record previously held by Titanic in mainland China.

The first part of this story is rather boring to me. It began in the summer of AD 208 during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial army led by Chancellor (or Prime Minister) Cao Cao embarks on a campaign to eliminate the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei in the name of eliminating rebels, with the reluctant approval of the Emperor. Cao Cao's mighty army swiftly conquers the southern province of Jingzhou and the Battle of Changban is ignited when Cao Cao's calvary unit starts attacking the civilians who are on an exodus led by Liu Bei. During the battle, Liu Bei's followers, including his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, give an excellent display of their legendary combat skills by managing to hold off the enemy while buying time for the civilians to retreat. The warrior Zhao Yun fights bravely to rescue his lord Liu Bei's entrapped family but only succeeded in rescuing Liu's infant son.
Following the battle, Liu Bei's chief advisor Zhuge Liang sets forth on a diplomatic mission to Eastern Wu to form an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan to deal with Cao Cao's invasion. Sun Quan was initially in the midst of a dilemma of whether to surrender to resist, but his decision to resist Cao Cao hardens after Zhuge Liang's clever persuasion and a subsequent tiger hunt with his Grand Viceroy Zhou Yu and his sister Sun Shangxiang. Meanwhile, naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun from Jingzhou pledge allegiance to Cao Cao and were received warmly by Cao, who placed them in command of his navy.

Second Part
Sun Shangxiang has infiltrated Cao Cao's camp and she has been secretly noting details and sending them via a pigeon to Zhuge Liang. Meanwhile, Cao Cao's army is seized with a plague of typhoid fever which kills a number of his troops. Cao Cao cunningly orders the corpses to be sent to the allies' camp, hoping to pass the plague on to his enemies. The allied army's morale is affected when some unsuspecting soldiers let the plague in, and eventually a disheartened Liu Bei leaves with his forces while Zhuge Liang stays behind to assist the Eastern Wu forces. Cao Cao hears that the alliance had collapsed and is overjoyed. At the same time, his naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun propose a new tactic of interlocking the battleships together with iron beams to minimize rocking when sailing on the river and reduce the chances of the troops falling seasick.

The Eastern Wu forces look on as Liu Bei leaves the alliance. From front to back: Zhou Yu (Tony Leung), Sun Quan (Chang Chen), Lu Su (Hou Yong). Subsequently, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang make plans on how to eliminate Cao Cao's naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, and produce 100,000 arrows respectively. They agreed that whoever fails to complete his mission will be punished by execution under military law. Zhuge Liang's ingenious strategy of borrowing of arrows with straw boats brought in over 100,000 arrows from the enemy and aroused Cao Cao's suspicions about the loyalty of Cai and Zhang towards him. (This part of the movie is the best part I think). On the other hand, Cao Cao sends Jiang Gan to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender, but Zhou Yu tricks Jiang Gan instead, into believing that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are planning to assassinate their lord Cao Cao. Both Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu's respective plans complement each other when Cao Cao is convinced, despite earlier having doubts about Jiang Gan's report, that Cai and Zhang were indeed planning to assassinate him by deliberately 'donating' arrows to the enemy. Cai and Zhang are executed and Cao Cao realised his folly afterwards but it was too late.

In the Eastern Wu camp, Sun Shangxiang returns from Cao Cao's camp with a map of the enemy formation. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang decide to attack Cao Cao's navy with fire after knowing that there is a special climatic condition known only to Eastern Wu's forces, that the South-East Wind (to their advantage) would blow sometime soon. As the Eastern Wu forces made preparations for the fire attack, Huang Gai proposes to Zhou Yu the Self-Torture Ruse to increase their chances of success, but Zhou Yu does not heed it. Before the battle, the forces of Eastern Wu have a final moment together, feasting on glutinous rice balls to celebrate the Winter Festival. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu's wife Xiao Qiao heads towards Cao Cao's camp alone secretly, in hope of persuading Cao Cao to give up his ambitious plans but she fails and decides to distract him instead to buy time for the Eastern Wu forces.

The battle begins when the South-East Wind starts blowing in the middle of the night and the Eastern Wu forces launch their full-scale attack on Cao Cao's navy. On the other hand, Liu Bei's forces, which had apparently left the alliance, start attacking Cao Cao's forts on land. By dawn, Cao Cao's entire navy has been destroyed. The allied forces launch another offensive on Cao Cao's ground army, stationed in his forts, and succeeded in breaking through using testudo formation despite suffering heavy casualties. Although Cao Cao is besieged in his main camp, he manages to holds Zhou Yu hostage after catching him off guard together with Cao Hong. Xiahou Jun appears as well holding Xiao Qiao hostage and causes the allied forces to hesitate. In the nick of time, Zhao Yun manages to reverse the situation by rescuing Xiao Qiao with a surprise attack and put Cao Cao at the mercy of the allied forces instead. Eventually, the allied forces decide to spare Cao Cao's life and tell him never to return before leaving for home. In the final scenes, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are seen having a final conversation before Zhuge Liang walks away into the far distance with the newborn foal Mengmeng.

My opinion is that it's a great movie. I'll give this movie a score of 8 out of 10. The story is good. Although it's rather different than the story in the book, but John Woo make the difference not significant. The most incredible part of the movie is the effect, especially when thousands of arrows were flying in the air, the sensation is so real. The cast is great too. All of the artist play his/her part well enough if it's not outstanding. You should watch this movie or buy the DVD.