LOL

“I am very happy as I have never won anything before and the prizes are really cool.”


Stupidest answer ever. Haha.

Why Video Games is my favourite past time

First of all, forgive me (yes, all 3 of you) for not updating my blog for a very long time. There are no more movie reviews simply because it has been a while since I saw a movie. At the time of writing I have yet to watch the current all time highest grossing movie, Avatar. But I have the intention to do so. In 3D. That is if I would. I don't know already. Had a surprise of surprise advanced birthday celebration on the last 31st of January. Thanks for those who has made it possible. It means sooo much to me. That's the best gift I can ever get.

Now, onto the topic.

There are a lot of hobby to pick up. Being a boy there are even more hobbies to choose from from stamp collecting, reading books, err.... well you get the idea. I am born in the 90's. The year where pop music, mohawks and Y2K jokes are famous for. Back then video games weren't as big of a market as it is today. Back then it was a niche thing. Only a certain number of people knows what it is and even a smaller amount of people can afford to have one. Games arcade was at large back then but it had a bad reputation as a place where kids would skip school, gamble and all sorts of negative things. This made video games as a hobby a difficult thing back then because it was the same as being addicted to gambling and such. Console games are available but here in Malaysia it very hard to come by and its usually expensive. Mine was the time for Sega Saturn and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) but my hobby only started on the next generation of Playstation and Nintendo 64. I've no idea what Nintendo 64 is until later where I have more access to information about video games from sources such as magazines and later internet. Playstation was dominant. I always see these things around the shops in the capital and grew an interest towards it. Having to play it in my friends house, I asked for my very own and got my first console ever after scoring 5A's in the UPSR. I was also into a hobbies magazine known as Gempak for about 100 issues before stopping from buying it since when I bought it, the section I'm looking forward to the most is the video games section. So, I thought, rather than wasting my time buying the magazine, why not look for something more directly about video games. That didn't happen until later in my life when I decided to buy GameAxis which was also a temporary poison. Back to my Playstation, I spent countless time playing all sorts of games on it, Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, Nascar Rumble, WWF Smackdown 2, Final Fantasy VIII and all sorts of games before it was stolen a few years later in which I teared its lost. It was the closest thing I have in my life back then. A few years later, I got a Playstation 2 (which is 2nd hand by the way since a new unit is expensive and still is today). I spent my time playing even more games. In my free time, I like to surf the internet. Guess what sites do I go? No, not porn sites. I went to even more video games site and looked for even more video games related news and videos. It's like I'm doing my own thesis considering the amount of information I take up all the time. And I still do it up to this day.

 











Now the question is, why? I have been telling the backstory of my hobby for the earlier parts of this post. But why? Good question. Why? I'm not sure. But what I can say is, video games has helped made me to a man I am today. I used to have very average English language capabilities before I discovered video games. And after I discovered it, my English has started to improve gradually day by day. How is this possible you ask? Well, video games back in my earlier years, has very little to no voice overs. It was all text and writings if you want to know the story or anything, you have no choice but to read. Of course I will stumble upon word I have no idea what it means. Because I don't want language to be the barrier of my hobby, I took the initiative to look up what it means. This indirectly helped me learned new words and sentence structures. Video games from the adventure, action and racing genres always test your reflex. In other words, playing video games can improve my reflex towards things. I became more aware of the situation around and learning to act fast with what comes up next. Strategy games like Final Fantasy and sneaking games like Metal Gear Solid on the other hand, sharpen up my ability to quickly strategize and make quick decisions of the situation. This also helps me with my leadership skills. Thanks to these video games that had helped me with these values, it had made me a good enough person to be the leader of many groups and organizations at school that actually does work. I don't want to be arrogant but I think it is safe to say I didn't do the worst job. Video games has also nurtured my interests towards technologies. I should say that it is the contributing factor on why I chose to further my studies in computers. I am just fascinated by these technologies.

Video games was, still is, and will always be my favourite past time. It's the kind of hobby that is not only topical but helps hone all sorts of quality in a man. Qualities that I think is important and helps us as a person. Video games are no more a nerd's hobby to me. More people are exposed to it than ever before. And to be honest, I have lots to say. But this could take forever and I am sooo lazy to type. This is my hobby. This is my passion. This is me.

Apa yang Lelaki Tahu tentang Perempuan?

[Article extracted from a blogger guy named Magenta. Stop by his blogs sometimes. He has some rather quality posts.]

Pernah jumpa buku bestseller ini?

Buku ini bertajuk 'Everything Men Know about Women' dan mengandungi 128 mukasurat kosong.

Dalam semua-semua majalah atau buku yang aku pernah baca dan pengalaman yang aku pernah lalui atau cerita yang aku pernah dengar, dua perkara ini yang paling banyak membantu aku memahami perbezaan antara lelaki dan perempuan:

1. Kenapa lelaki tak akan mendengar jika perempuan mengubah topik.

Perempuan ada lima ton suara. Lelaki hanya mengecam 2 daripada 5 ton itu. Jadi kalau seorang perempuan menukar topik dan ton suaranya ketika sedang bercakap, lelaki itu takkan ada clue perempuan itu sedang bercakap tentang apa.

2. Otak lelaki dan perempuan berfungsi dengan cara berlainan when it comes to love and sex.

Otak lelaki memproses cinta dan seks dalam dua kawasan otak yang berlainan, manakala otak perempuan hanya ada satu kawasan untuk kedua-duanya. Jadi, secara saintifik, lelaki boleh meniduri perempuan lain dan masih mencintai kamu, tetapi perempuan tak boleh membuat perkara yang sama tanpa emotional attachment.

Aku rasa banyak masalah hubungan timbul dari fakta ini. Lelaki biasanya mahukan seks dan perempuan tak mahu, tetapi perempuan itu masih lead him on.

Bagi lelaki seks itu sesuatu yang fizikal. Bagi perempuan ianya lebih kepada emosi.

Bagi perempuan, ia lebih kepada mahu merasakan dirinya dimahukan dan cukup seksi. Sebab itu sudah mencukupi bagi seorang perempuan jika lelaki itu selalu memberitahu perempuan itu sangat hot dan selalu memujuk wanita itu untuk have sex. Lelaki pula selalunya mahu go all the way.

Aku rasa kebanyakan perempuan tahu juga tentang perkara ini. Sebab itu ada perempuan tak kisah membuat oral seks, lantas memberi harapan palsu dan lead on lelaki mereka gila-gila sampai lelaki itu tak tahan dan merayu-rayu, lepastu berkata,

"Sayang, I’m not ready yet."

takpun tiba-tiba,

"I penat lah/ sakit kepala lah. Kita sambung esok je lah."

Tak baik dowh. Tak baik lead on laki macamtu semata-mata nak rasa berkuasa dapat memanipulasi nafsu lelaki. Mentang-mentanglah kita ada banyak nafsu dan nafsu mereka hanya ada satu dan tertumpu atas perkara itu.

Aku juga tak suka lelaki yang memanipulasi wanita untuk mendapatkan seks. Aku tak suka lelaki yang mendera mental wanita dengan menggunakan reverse psychology dan membuatkan perempuan itu rasa tak cukup seksi kalau tak buat seks dengan dia. Tak pun lelaki yang mengambil kesempatan atas wanita yang dikaburi emosi dan mengugut bahawa kalau tak buat seks dengan dia, akan ditinggalkan.

Bukan salah lelaki dicipta untuk menjadi visual dan terlalu dahagakan yang fizikal. Bukan salah perempuan dicipta kadang-kadang terlebih emosi dan selalu perlu tahu mereka mencukupi.

You don’t have to do what you don’t want to do. And don’t start something you can’t finish.

Sambungan…

3. Kebanyakan lelaki tak boleh multitask dan perempuan boleh.

Aku perasan lelaki biasanya tak boleh membuat lebih daripada satu perkara pada suatu masa. Perempuan pula boleh membuat 3 perkara pada masa yang sama. Dan aku rasa semua orang pernah dengar pasal contoh perempuan yang tak dapat divert attention teman lelakinya yang sedang menonton perlawanan bola sepak.

Aku rasa ramai perempuan tersalah anggap bahawa ini sebab boyfriend mereka lebih berminat tentang bola sepak daripada mereka. Tapi aku rasanya penjelasannya lebih mudah. Point nombor dua aku mengatakan lelaki ada bahagian otak yang berlainan untuk perkara yang berbeza. Aku rasa begitu juga dengan perkara-perkara lain.

Perempuan pula lebih mementingkan details dan connectivity. Mereka suka mengaitkan segala perkara dengan each other.

Kiranya macam otak lelaki ini umpama almari yang ada 10 laci, otak perempuan adalah almari dengan 1 laci besar yang tersusun.

Sebab ini juga perempuan suka mengungkit dan cepat terasa. Kalau sesuatu couple itu bergaduh dan si lelaki mahu bermanja-manja pada malam itu, kemungkinan yang perempuan masih akan marah kerana teringatkan kejadian siang itu.

Yang lelaki sudah melupakan hal itu kerana fikirannya sudah switch off kejadian siang tadi setelah pergi kerja atau jumpa kawan-kawannya. Kiranya mereka sudah tutup laci siang tadi.

Perempuan juga lebih banyak bertutur manakala lelaki lebih bersifat monosyllabic. Perempuan secara umumnya akan maintain eye contact yang lebih lama daripada lelaki, membuatkan lelaki berasa seperti mereka sedang diperhatikan di bawah miskroskop. Perempuan pula akan berasa bahawa seperti tak berapa diendahkan kerana lelaki akan jarang memandang mereka ketika mereka sedang bercakap.

4. Perempuan Suka Buat Benda Beramai-ramai.

Aku rasa kebanyakan perempuan memang suka travel in packs. Kalau pergi tandas pun kena pergi sama-sama. Kita pun dah expect perempuan macamtu. Lepastu wujud pula stereotaip lelaki perlu masa untuk bersendirian dan tak suka dikongkong. Memang kalau lelaki makan di restoran sorang-sorang, orang tak hairan. Tetapi kalau perempuan berbuat begitu, mesti akan dapat pity looks. Dan pada pemerhatian aku, perempuan ini suka berpuak-puak, manakala lelaki boleh get along dengan semua lelaki yang lain, cuma tinggal rapat tak rapat saja. Tapi kalau aku perhatikan betul-betul, memang ada tanda-tanda kalau seseorang lelaki tak suka lelaki yang lain, cuma lebih subtle. Dengan perempuan lebih terang- senyuman terpaksa, ayat-ayat sinis, jelingan tajam dan suara yang tinggi. Rrrrriaww!! (bunyi kucing mencakar).

Of course, semua ini tak apply pada semua lelaki dan perempuan. Sebab aku sendiri tak suka buat benda beramai-ramai (rimas) dan tak pandai multitask. Aku juga sangat aware tentang kewujudan perempuan seperti Samantha dalam Sex and the City (aku suka watak dia sebenarnya) dan lelaki yang terlebih banyak bercakap (so unbecoming for a man!- pada pendapat aku lah). Cuma point nombor 1,2 dan 3 kononnya sudah dibuktikan secara saintifik. Jadi aku rasa, hubungan yang berjaya mesti terdiri daripada pasangan yang pandai berkomunikasi.

[Reference: http://magenta-made.blogspot.com/2008/10/apa-yang-lelaki-tahu-tentang-perempuan.html]

2012 Review

Again, my mom got some free tickets to watch this movie. If not, I don't think I'm going to watch it because I'm not keen to really watching it at the first place. It's not that I don't like Roland Emmerich's work, it's just not my cup of tea. Anyway, my movie starts at 10.30am which happens to be the first show of the day. So I had to wake up early to go to 1 Utama which is pretty far from my house in Kajang. Prior to leaving the house, I saw a review on the movie so I had my expectations set for me. Actually it's the same expectations that I had even before I saw the review. I also knew that the movie was 2 and a half hours so I prepared myself for that stretch of time without being able to go to the loo.

So for those of you not in the know, the movie is based on the Mayan myth that the world is going to end on the 21st of December 2012. That date was speculated because it happened to be the last date on the Mayan calendar. Whether it's true or not, nobody knows except our God almighty. And just a fact to slip in here, the Muslim believes that End of Days will happen on a Friday, and the 21st of December 2012 IS a Friday. The movie starts with some scientists in the year 2009 predicting a massive solar explosion that will disrupt the gravitational balance of the Earth, causing drastic movements of the tectonic plate hence utter catastrophe. In simple English, its a bad thing to us. But of course, who would believe them. As the year goes by, the theory gets more true and the superpowers of the world gets ready for it. Fast forward to the year 2012 and the catastrophe strikes and chaos is everywhere. The story is not very heavy on story although its 2 hours and 30 minutes, but for the story it has, it touches all of the moralities that we expect to see during a mass chaos. Directed by Roland Emmerich, which is the guy who also did the American version of Godzilla, or known by the Japanese just by the name of Zilla. He also did Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. See the similarities? Yes, he likes destroying stuffs. Therefore expect to see top notch world destruction effects in this movie.

In my opinion, the movie was a big ride. Huge effects and there's lots of em. All of the famous places in the world gets destroyed except for the holy land in Arab because the director was smart enough not to anger the Muslim community who takes serious respect to our religion. But the places which got destroyed really got destroyed good. The usual suspense you would come to expect from this kind of movie is also present. Overall, a good movie although I think 2 and a half hours was pretty long. Go with your friends, this is a friend flick for the destruction parts. Owh it's actually a family flick too. Some family values slipped inside it. And a pinch of humanity lessons. Nothing really groundbreaking although there literally are (pun intended). For a feast of top notch Hollywood visual effects, have at it. If you're a fan of Roland Emmerich, you would instantly be familiar with this work of his.

End of the world is rated 7 out of 10

3 kinds of people

Admit it, the internet is filled with people who is not very bright and like to say things only to make other people upset. But amidst the sea of those people, there are a few people who makes sense. That few people who does inspired me to write this post.

I do a lot of thinking. Sometimes too much that I strayed into things that are way too deep. Anyway after much thinking I've manage to categorize people into a 3 categories. Note that in no way I am saying this is what it should be rather it is my personal opinion.

Believers

We aren't living under anarchy. Our lives are determined by a more superior body usually known as the government. I am not trying to talk about politics here, I'm talking about people. Living in this day and age, we have a a lot of source of news and knowledge around such as the radio, television, internet, books, and so on.

Also note that not everyone in the world put out news because it's true. Some wicked minded people in the world use these kind of media to trick them. believers are the kind of people who believes these kinds of thing. The usual trait to these believers is that whatever makes sense to them, or sometimes even whatever that is so complicated (or sound complicated to them) and due to the attitude of "wow these things are so complicated it must be true" they end up as the believers. Believers also most of the time don't have a clue in what they believe in and on some instances even made up stories about the thing that they believe in due to the ignorance of themselves. Doesn't mean that everything that the believers believe is wrong but rather what they believe in is not given much thought into.

Rebels

These are the kinds of people that are the opposite of the believers and usually have a very aggressive and hasty kind of mind. They tend to just repel whatever news or knowledge that is just not to their liking. A part of the rebels are also the people who just like to see something successful to plunder. The rebels usually despise what is believed by many people just because they want to. Not to say that all rebels are wrong, but rebels usually spear without a true purpose. Just like the believers, what they have in common is they don't have a clear idea of their goals and does it for the fun of it. And because of the personal loathe towards what is believed, fictional news and knowledge are also made up to make themselves feel more secure and a sense of accuracy into what they're rebelling against.

Thinkers

Thinkers are people who don't just gobble in what they heard or instantly reject what is known. Their reaction is based on proper thinking and rational reasoning. Right of the bat, the news or knowledge that is fed to them is analyzed and proven its truth. Thinkers are the people the world is lacking today. A kind of person that thinks about everything, constantly, relying on reliable sources and later deriving their own net of understanding on a given subject. Problem is its not easy being a thinker. You cannot force yourself to be a thinker, you have to train yourself to think and make it a habit to constantly look for the logic and maybe even make rough predictions of what to expect. Thinkers lead a more organic life. They live on what they personally believe and what they personally rebel. They don't follow people, they lead. They are made up of leader material. But sadly they aren't many of them today. They are the optimum person. If we have a goal of change that we need to have, it'll be to be a thinker.

Hook ups vs. Relationships

Now before I proceed, I have to be honest that I do have a couple of reviews for movie that I haven't done but God knows I am so lazy to type them. The movies are Gamer featuring Gerard Butler and a local film, Papadom featuring Afdlin Shauki. Long review short, Gamer sucks, 5/10 and Papadom is pretty good, 8.5/10. Now, onto the pressing matters.

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Before continuing to read on this post of mind, keep in mind that these are merely an opinion and you are open to an intellectual argument with me on the mentioned topic. Also keep in mind that I have nothing against one or the other since nowadays it seems that it's all a matter of choice and preference.

Hook ups
Hook ups are when you agree to be in relationship with each other, but it's in a trial period. Just like a lot of shareware out there where you are given a specific amount of time to try it out, extend the trial period if you did something in particular but all in all, will expire within a certain amount of time. People get involved in hook ups because they can skip one major feature of a relationship; devotion. While in hook ups, they're allowed to date other people and they are not limited to spend time specifically garnering the temporary relationship. Hook ups also give reason for both sides to have reasons to end it early say if a problem appears. It seems to be a very popular choice among youths nowadays since devotion is a very heavy thing to handle and needs a lot of time to have it. Hook ups also allow these people to be able to experience a lot of different people and the multiple hook ups that they have gives them the upper hand of knowing what various problem that can occur once they seriously want to start being in a relationship.
This culture is practiced widely in the western world and is now catching up quickly with easterners. Hook ups are also practiced mainly by youths since they say that they have a long life ahead of them and want to utilize the time to try hook ups and experience multiple person while they still have the time.

Relationships
Relationships are long, devotion-driven connection between 2 people that will stay that way until marriage or death do them apart. People in relationships are stuck with the person of their choice for the rest of their romantic lives. Relationships don't have an expiry date and it is usually bound by a promise to stay with each other. Relationships are the less popular choice of today's youth since devotion is a difficult thing to practice and also they don't have the chance to be with any other person anymore. Any free time for both of them will usually be utilized with bonding and ways to strengthen their connection. Relationships are less popular too because the major arguments and disagreements usually happens in relationships and they have no choice but to look for solution(s) regardless of the difficulty of the situation. Relationships obviously are much, much harder to maintain and having to put up with the same person everyday is a tasking thing. The plus side of it however, in relationships, love exists and with much effort the love will be more than you can handle, which is a good thing by the way. There will be also time where anniversary celebration is held and to achieve that milestone and feel a kind of happiness that is truly a gift from God. In relationships, you too will have a much better idea and perception of the person. In simpler words, relationships are something you go into because you love a single person and want to improve everything together.

If you ask me,
I would prefer a relationship over hook up on any given day. Yes it's difficult, yes it requires a lot of patience, yes it require a lot of guts, but the satisfaction and the feeling of happiness and security that result from it is far more beneficial and leaves a greater and longer term impact to your life. True, I'm 19 and might still be too young for it but to me it is best for us to learn when were young instead of using the free time to experiment. And I never know how long is my future, so I don't want to waste it experimenting. It's not exciting compared to hook ups, I know, but the rewarding feeling that came from it is worth all the effort.

Don't make a promise you can't keep.

Stop being rebellious all the time

If you are to spend your life rebelling, when are you going to fail and learn life as it is?

We are humans. We are not perfect. So wasting time trying to be perfect is just not human.

We are humans. We should learn to fail sometimes.

My history of Social Networking

As a kid, the internet was a very strange thing for me. For some reason, after entering some keywords into the address bar, I was able to go to site filled with things of my interest anytime and know any kind of information I wanted. Awesome stuff. I was exposed to the internet as early as 6 years old. Later in my life I was just using the internet to get information on all sorts of things and that's that.



As I get older, When I was in my Form 3 to be exact, I heard of a little thing called Friendster. It is a website that allows you to have your own profile and connect with your friends. Back then, I really don't see what's so fun about it but since it was a fad at that time, I registered myself an account anyway. After a while using it, it was getting kind of fun for some reason. I don't have anything specific that I do there but I just find it fun to be there. Sharing pictures with people, writing testimonials about friends; maybe those are the things that I find joy in doing.



Then came along another new and more deep social networking site known as MySpace. It was getting a lot of attention since it gives you the ability to fiddle around with the HTML and CSS of your profile, which means (for advanced user at that time) you can make you profile look anyway you like. One thing that doesn't attact me to use it at the time is because of the complexity of it. On Friendster, there are very little things I have to manage, such as pictures, friend requests and the occasional testimonials. But here there are many other things to manage such as music, videos and other multimedia things. As I grow older and getting more proficient in HTML, I registered myself a MySpace account. I found joy in making my site as flashy as possible and adding as much people as I can into my friends list; regardless whether I know them in real life or not. Commenting on other people's profile was a blast and fiddling with the elements of my profile was a lot of fun too. I had a lot of things to do and the depth of this social networking site, paired with the (kind of) large friends list that I have, it was something to be proud of back then. And I've also met a lot of interesting people that end up being my good friends up to this day.


Then, came along yet another new social networking site, Facebook. Not many of my friends are there so earlier I just stick to MySpace. Thinking that this thing might be a new fad, I registered myself an account there and just leave it. You know, in case if MySpace became outdated, I already have an account there. As I grow older, MySpace gets kinda boring to me. More and more of my friends are getting on Facebook and so what is the purpose of social networking of you don't have any social to network with. After trying on Facebook for a while, I got hooked on it. It was far more simple, neat, and manageable. It was also very presentable and the profile of other people are much more accessible and systematic. I also liked how it gives us the ability to comment on anything that the person has done; befriend with another person, liked something, changed status and much more. And as I grow older too, MySpace becomes so obnoxious to me with all of its sparkly, blinky, seizure-inducing profiles. Thus, I moved onto Facebook and kept using it until now.


I also have a twitter account. I used it kind of late because to me, it's like another way for people to be able to stalk on you, but then when I think about, who wants to stalk on me anyway. Plus I intend to only update on things that are not really significant. It's a new kind of social networking so it doesn't compare to 3 of the earlier ones.

I think I'm not the only one with this kind of experience though. And I'm still thankful that I had registered on all of those social networking sites. Although the 2 earlier ones are now a pain in the neck for me, I still have them standing, on the brink of deletion of course. They have thought me a few things that I treasure up till today.

• Friendster - early exposure to social networking, picture sharing with friends
• MySpace - thought me HTML, thought me to befriend strangers, a site where comments are the currency of your profile
• Facebook - neat, easy and accessible social networking although with a lot of application notification spam that gets on your nerves

I have nothing against any of the social networking sites if you have to know. Those were the times.

I'm only active on Facebook and Twitter now. Feel free to be my friend on Facebook but I only accept requests from people I know in real life. As for twitter, you are free to follow whoever you are.

FB - Rayza Ridzuan
Twitter - rayza_ridzuan

Compensating for lost times

Ok

I know it's been a long while since I've added a new post. If you think I was being lazy, well, that's because I am. I have a new problem now; the inability to do anything productive. Haha. Anyways, I saw 2 movies while my blog was in vacation, therefore I will review those movies as brief as I can. Sorry to keep you waiting. Well a handful of you anyway. People don't read my blog.

Hello? Hello....?? Echo.. echo.. echo.. echo..

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Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

To cut to the chase, I don't really find this movie as engaging as the previous movies. Keep in mind that I didn't read the novel so throughout this movie I was struggling to relate and figure out what am I really looking at. The actors were tremendous don't get me wrong and the post effects were top notch. It's just because I didn't read the book. The previous movies were lighter but because Harry's getting older and so does everyone else, the story gets heavier and a lot more people kept dying. Not a bad movie for the readers I guess, but for the non-readers, I guess you'll be in the same boat as I am, dazed, confused and wondering. Owh the movie was almost 3 hours too. So, go to toilet and empty your bladder and bowels before hand ;-)

For me, it's just a 6/10

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The Proposal

Ryan Reynolds, gotta love him. He plays Deadpool in the recent X-Men movie and he have a great sense of humor too. I loved the movie, so much that I went to watch it twice. The movie was intellectually funny and it was very interesting to watch the progress between these two unlikely couple. The movie was not over 2 hours and is just nice for people with weak bladder such as yours truly. A great romance/comedy movie.

The odd couple gets 9/10 from me

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Those are the two movies that I've saw before this. Sorry for the short reviews. I will do full fledged reviews after this. And non-review blogs are also coming. Maybe later. Right now I'm pretty busy with my games. Wow, Rayza you're a student, you should be studying. Ouch. I know.

Later peeps.

Public Enemies Review

This was an unplanned movie experience. I was actually going to college to get the results for my previous semester but thanks to the effectiveness of the college, we had to wait for the schedule to be released after lunch which is after 2pm. I got at the college around 11.30am so after taking my results and registering for my next semester (which is Pre-Degree finally!), I still have a lot of time to kill. Luckily I was with a few of my friends. Went to a restaurant and had lunch there and went into the hostel area to hang out with some other friends while waiting for after lunch. There, one of my friend invited us to go watch this movie so lacking of a better thing to do anyway later this day, we agreed. After taking my schedule at 2 something and taking my cheque at 3.30pm, we head for KL. There were 6 0f us including me, going by 3 cars with 2 peeps in each. Parked the car at Berjaya Times Square and then walking to Pavilion for the movie. Since I bought the ticket late, I had to sit on the third row from the screen with Anas. Bought a large popcorn & a couple of soft drinks since we were starving anyway.

The story is about John Dilinger, played by Johnny Depp who is a head honcho of a notorious bank robbing crew who are John Hamilton, Baby Face Nelson, just to name a few. There are very good at what they are doing and they will only rob the bank's money and put away the customers' money. But of course no crime is without it's fighter. With the rise of crimes in the 1920's pf Chicago, a talented police is extracted on the case for Dilinger named Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale. Earlier through the movie, Dilinger has also a love interest in a girl in which I don't remember her name in the film nor her name in real life. But she's a big part in the film. Through the course of the film, we see Purvis and his Investigation Bureau chase down Dilinger who is very hard to locate due to his strong influence around his company. I was told that it was based on a true story, and that this particular John Dilinger is the reason why there is FBI today.

I'll tell you earlier, this movie is not for people with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder - the disability to concentrate on something for an extended amount of time) since it is full of story and it is 2 hours and 15 minutes. Yes I know movies nowadays are mostly around 2 hours. Nothing in this movie is improbable as it was based on true story anyway. Therefore for people who's looking for some fabulous hollywood post-effects won't find it here. It's pure movie all the way. The first half of the movie is honestly pretty slow and I admit I am struggling to try to understand what is happening. It's the second half where the first half of the movie really make sense and things becomes interesting. As the law enforcers gets closer to Dilinger the drama heats up and becomes more personal on both side of the party. Gangster life has never been portrayed like this before -- well not this proper at least. And to my favourite part of the movie, the gunfights. They are nothing like you've ever seen in a movie before. If you think you know how a gunfight looks like well watch this movie and get it redefined. They were nothing short of astonishing. it really steals the show. Both sides weren't just spraying bullets as it was absolutely free of charge but rather with a very realistic kind of gunfight. The gun sounds were loud, which is how they supposed to be. And usually during these firearms engagements, there are no background music to give the fake environment. It is pure environmental ambiance in the background. It's the movie with one of the best gunfights I've ever seen anywhere. Every single shot fired in this movie has one thing in which I don't see in many movies, existence. In most movie, they put more attention onto the quantity of shots fired, but in this movie, it's quality, and sometimes both. Johnny Depp was great, Christian Bale too. Great actors as they are. Keep in mind though this movie is not for everyone. It's not the normal action flick you see out there. This is not an action film, it's a gangster drama. And I kinda like it.

Gunshots still ringing in my head, 7.5/10.

One Sentence Opinion

Out of thinking too much, I've thought of giving out one sentence opinion of the things surrounding our lives. Might update if I feel like it.

Religion - guidance
Knowledge - drive
Mind - gift
Money - necessity
Social - companion
Men - perpendicular
Women - complicated
Courage - boost
Time - medium
Food - fuel
Rain - forgiveness
Heat - torment
Hatred - weakness
Love - madness
Hugs - embrace
Kiss - exclusive
Lies - diversion
Truth - reality
Hypocrisy - cowardliness
Drama - unnecessary
Life - redemption

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen Review

Just for the record, at the date of writing, I've already saw this movie twice. Initially at the Berjaya Times Square and the next at KLCC. My review will be based on my first experience since the second time I saw it, I fell asleep for 10 minutes not because the movie was boring but because I had a long and exhausting day before.

This movie was waited by everyone. Waited so much that the GSC website that offers earlier bookings crashed that they had to divert it to another simplified site for reservations. Even then you will be lucky to be able to book anything before midnight. Holding to that fact, I've decided to book the one on the 10th floor of the Berjaya Times Square. Thank goodness there were still an ample amount of seats available. Probably because not many people know about the place. It is actually a better experience there compared to the conventional cinema because the screens are bigger and all the seats hand rest are retractable. The sounds were also blasting loud but the right kind of loud. Bought the ticket one day earlier. I got a nice view of the movie. Unfortunately I came in about 10 minutes late. So I missed the opening but I could only hope that I didn't miss out much. Since I was kind of thirsty, though I had breakfast at Old Town White Coffee Cafe at Pavilion, I bought a large Coke. The place is big so it is a while before I reach my seat.

The movie, from the beginning should be concluded with one word, colossal. Right from the beginning you could see them getting the bad guys with no excuse to the environment around them, blowing up with anything that is possible to be blown up. The movie is mainly about the hunt for the last shard of the Allspark and the Decepticon's attempt to revive the ancient Prime that went rogue in search of Energon (power source), The Fallen. The quest was littered with battles among them in the most flexible battle I've seen between hundreds of tons of metal. It is kinda hard for me to follow to since most of the Decepticons have very dull colours compared to the Autobots. All the Transformers stay true to the first movie except for Megatron (and another one in which I will not enclose here) in which as we seen in the first movie was terribly damaged, in which he got his spare parts from another Decepticon. This time he's a semi-tank-semi-jet but still pretty much the same. There were also a few goofy Transformers thrown in the movie to slow the movie down since when it is not slowing down, something is blowing up or metals are clashing. The Transformers were so big of a part of this movie that the rest of the human characters that are not Sam & Mikaela seems so puny. And should I say the designs of these Transformers were astonishing. Looking at made me wonder how long did it take to do all that. The details were just eye popping. If you really want to see what they did, it's either you see it at the movies a lot of times or wait for the High Definition version of it is sold to actually see it. There are also a lot of Transformers now and some in which is a lot bigger that the Transformes themselves. Always a sight to behold. There were also so many Transformes that it is not very easy to keep track of. Not that it's a bad thing, I'm just mentioning it.

Well, what more can I ask. Great action, incredible effects, long duration. Great. Just what the doctor ordered, a real action CG movie. Aside from the fact that there is one Decepticon that shifts into a human female that I do not agree as it is already been done by The Terminators, the rest were just beyond words. As a kid, most of us love Transformers, boys especially. Having to see them duke it out on the silver screen with over the top effects is just a dream come true. It's like a little kid walking into toy land. It's that kind of feeling that you get when you this movie. An incredibly tall recommendation from me for those who haven't seen it. Wonder what was all the craze about this movie? Well because it is good and people know it. If you haven't seen it, well you better be soon. Epic.

0.5 shy of a perfect score due to the cameo of a Terminator. [9.5/10]

Remembering birthdays

Today in a time where almost everyone has a social networking account, access of one's info has been anything but tasking. This includes birthdays. In social networking, often that the birthday of your friends are reminded to you up to a week earlier. Not necessarily a bad thing, at least the people who knew can think of something to say or maybe even something to give. For people who likes to receive birthday wishes (and presents) this is a welcomed feature as it gives the ease of informing her/his friends without having to tell them physically.

But aside from that, that will actually give the reason to not really remember the actual date of one's birthday. Just like the number of other people in your phone, if you don't have your phone, you wouldn't know the number of others unless you opt to memorize them or write them down somewhere else. Here is the age where even friends of friends can be able to know and wish someone on their friends list a happy birthday without having to memorize or even have met the actual person in real life. Although that sound great on paper, how about the thoughtfulness and the heart and genuine care that comes with the wish?

Once, before the boom of the social networking sites, birthdays are often remembered, therefore only friends, close peoples, or loved ones who really cares would remember the date of one's birthday. This way, we can really see actually gives two cents about us. We could really see if someone genuinely cares or if someone is merely trying to impress. Birth dates consists no more than a series of 6 digits placed together forming a specific date in a year with the year born indicating how old one will be on the given time. Having a lot of friends would mean it'll be difficult to remember them all but for that, it is excused. It's for the select few of the people that needed to be memorized their birth dates, for acquaintances or other usual friends, it is not a must to remember them but even if one do remember them, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Having social networking helps in reminding one to others birthday unable us to actually know if someone's wish is purely based on his/her memory or whether on of check, therefore eliminating the hard work. Like I said, not necessarily a bad thing or maybe even something not necessary, but for something that comes once a year, the sincerity, love and care in a birthday wish is truly none of the quality it used to be.

Or maybe I'm just over-analyzing. Haha.

Night At The Museum 2 Review

Since I watched the first movie, I have always wanted to see more of this movie. And now it's out, and I went to watch it of course. I actually saw this movie last Monday (01/06) with my regular movie partner. It was the starting of the school holiday and as expected the line for the movie tickets were long and it's coiling. Having to be one step ahead, I've reserved some tickets, which require us not to queue at all, only for an additional RM 1. I haven't got my lunch and since it was just quarter past 2, we went to the nearest food court to have lunch. I had the Dory Fish Pasta at the western corner there and guess what, it was pretty good. The fish were succulent and the pasta was moist and flavorful. You should give it a try if you want a breath of fresh air of all of the usual chicken rice, hot plate, claypot, mixed rice affair of many food courts. Window shopped around the area to kill some more time before the movie starts at 4pm. Weird thing though the only kind of window shopping I enjoy are games, computers & gadgets. Hehe.

The movie starts with Tim Daly the (once) guard of the Museum of Natural History now off having his own career of inventing stuffs such as a glow in the dark torchlight. Long story short, some events made him required to present at the museum as the artifacts in the museum he used to work in recognizes him. Some artifacts needed to be moved to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, which is the new "playground" for Tim. He's not an official guard of the museum but as the story goes, it doesn't really matter. The Tablet of Akhmenrah, the artifact that brings the creatures to life after sunset was unintentionally moved to the Smithsonian which happened to be the largest museum in the world. With some of the artifacts from the Museum of Natural History meeting the Smithsonian artifact should produce some interesting meet ups, and that's pretty much what the rest of the movie is about. Artifacts with attitude.

Simply put it, it's just like the first movie. If you have saw the first one, this is a very similar movie with the difference only being the setting and the repertoire of living artifacts. If you liked the first movie at all and wanted for more, this movie should fix you up, but if you're looking for something fresh and innovative, you're not gonna find any in this. This movie is like a haunted train ride; the first time you get on it, all the scares worked and you did get scared for your money, and this movie is like taking the same ride, albeit a little more variation. This movie was very average for me, probably because I was expecting too much from it. Probably because there were so many characters that they want to feature, the focus of story-telling has really suffered from that. If you haven't watched the first one, don't be afraid to straight ahead and jump into this movie. Past knowledge from earlier movie will only give you some neat things to pick out but nothing crucial to the story. The jokes were average, best be watched with your closest peeps so that you can laugh along with it. This is probably because during the first movie, you really had no idea what was going to happen but in here everything were quite predictable. All and all, this movie is not to be taken seriously. If you have some time to kill with your friends and you really can't come up with anything ingenious to do, maybe you should watch this. For the peeps who've watched the first one, be prepared to ride the same ride again. Not a bad movie, just very average. For me.

This movie scores a low 7/10 for me.

How I believed in love at first sight

If you've read my review on the Star Trek movie, you would've known that I went to Pavilion last Saturday to watch the movie. After the movie ends and after my lunch, me and my movie partner is still strolling around Pavilion, which is as we know it, a place where no typical everyday man (or woman) could afford from or maybe only buy from once in a while. After our lunch, it seems that our wallet is empty. Yes even the food court that we ate at is somewhat more expensive than a typical food court that you would find in any other average shopping malls. Pavilion and The Gardens are the two of the luxurious shopping mall in the capital which I know. All I can afford here is window shopping (and some stuffs from shops that have branches) and the boutiques around here will have us laughing out of the store after looking at the price tag. Well, at least that's the case for me. Ok, I'm going far out of my context here. I'm going to tell you how I believed in first love. When we were going to EON Bank to draw some money from the ATM there, we had to go past by a parking bay (with valet service nonetheless) where I laid eyes on probably the most awesome creation the motor world has to offer...



And I was mesmerized. Mesmerized as if I've forgot everything I've ever had. Mesmerized like I never had been. It's an honor to lay eyes on such radiance, such sophistication, such contained wilderness... I never believed in first love, but this machine proved me wrong. Looking at it, I forgot to breathe for a while that my face turned pale, stunned by its resonating beauty. Under the spotlight of the bay, this machine shines it's beauty into the eyes of its looker. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But this kind of beauty is universal, and the kind of beauty that language is not required. I was in disbelief. I lost to my own belief, my own stand of "love at first sight is not love". My stand was shattered but I am glad, because my love at first sight is this Italian tailored madness under an ivory armor;

Lamborghini Murcielago...
I bow down to your supremacy

Star Trek Review

Yes at first glance, even I thought this is not a good idea to watch Star Trek. I've watched Star Trek: Nemesis before (Google it). The movie was Boring with a capital B. I tried so hard to like it because Star Trek is a big franchise but I failed to and fell asleep almost halfway through. But that was Star Trek: Nemesis which was still in the original canon of Star Trek. This movie however is a reboot to the canon. Hollywood tries to make it accessible not only for nerds, but also normal people alike. And the movie reviews I saw all over the internet says it was unexpectedly good. This time around, I watched the movie with my regular movie companion at Pavilion in KL, just for a change. We've been to other places before. Our movie starts at 12.15pm. Had our breakfast at Oldtown White Coffee: Signature there and their toast are one of a kind. The price was reasonable too. You should try it once in a while instead of the normal fast food restaurant breakfast. Walked around the Pavilion a little before going to the cinema for the movie. And I must say the air-conditioning in GSC Cinemas has been less cold. Probably because there has been complaints. Anyway at least it's cozy.

Being someone who never saw or liked the actual movie, my hopes wasn't really high for this one. The movie starts with the U.S.S Kelvin, which is one of the mega-spaceships like the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars. It stumbled upon one of the Romulan (a race in the Star Trek universe) ships and it started attacking. The captain of each ship decided to make truce with the captain of the U.S.S Kelvin boarding the Romulan ship. George Kirk was appointed as the captain of the ship while the original captain went and board the Romulan ship. The U.S.S Kelvin lost and also does George Kirk but he got the chance to name his son, Jim Kirk. The story then proceeds about the story of Jim Kirk and also Spock, a half human half vulcan and their story in the institute and the U.S.S Enterprise.

I know this is weird for a Star Trek movie but everything is understandable. Yes. Everything is! Including all of the intergalactic warp space time travelling thingys. The movie was action-packed, sprinkled with some comedy and drama. In one word, it was Epic! This movie has changed my whole perception of the Star Trek universe and if they decided to make a sequel for this, I'll definitely watch it. The new actors are nothing short of amazing. Kirk with his rebellious nature, Spock with it's logical explanations, have them as a team and you got yourself one heck of a duo. Much like Starsky & Hutch but they're in space. A very very good movie. If someone invites me to watch it again, I might just accept it because it was really good. Nothing short of amazing. "Dif-tor heh smusma" (which is "live long and prosper" in vulcan).

This epic movie is worthy of a solid 9/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

As usual, my reviews are not usually up at the same day I watched it but better late than never. Saw this movie at Mid Valley (again! I know I'm getting bored myself) with a friend of mine. Saw the first show of the day. Had my breakfast first at the nearby McDonald's while waiting for the ticket counter to open. Oh I forgot to mention that I got at Mid Valley around 9.30am. I just like being early for no particular reason. Had some good ol' Big Breakfast. Did you know that Big Breakfast is the MOST unhealthy menu in McDonald's? Yikes. I can't eat them often. We had booked for it at the first place but since my partner has conveniently forgot to copy it and the line was still fairly short anyway (because it's still very early) we decided to just queue. The lines here move rather quickly despite of its length so I wasn't really complaining. Plus we save RM1 on the booking surcharge. Ehem. Got the tickets, killed some time by window shopping and entered the cinema 5 minutes before 11am. The theatre was only half full though. Or was it half empty? Hurm. You decide.

The movie started with the child life of Wolverine and his elder brother Sabretooth. Living in a family full of conflict he Wolverine eventually killed his real father after his real father shot his fake father. The claws coming out of his hands at first were made of his own bones and he used them to stab his pops. Starting from this moment on they lived as vagrants, trying to survive by using their best skills, killing. The opening montage shows that they have participated in various combats in history from the American Revolution until The Vietnam War and they haven't aged a bit. This is to show that these brothers are practically invulnerable and that they had a very long lifespan. This movie also feature some of the other heroes from the X-Men canon such as The Blob, Bolt, Deadpool, Gambit and some other early appearances from the juvenile X-Men heroes to be. The movie was action packed, the story was easy to understand, the plot was straight forward, and there was very little dull moments along the movie. I love watching the double katana wielding Wade Wilson or later Deadpool in action and I'm really interested to see more of him. Heard news that there is going to be X-Men Origins: Deadpool too but I don't know because I also heard about X-Men Origins: Magneto. So whichever comes out I'm still going to go watch it nonetheless. But he is probably my favourite character in the movie after Wolverine and just like Stryker said, "If it weren't for his mouth, he'd be the perfect soldier". And also Hugh Jackman is incredible as Wolverine and I really can't see anyone who can do it better. He has the charms and the looks. Very good lines and very convincing and quality acting. I was also very eager to see Gambit actually since this is the first time that he ever appeared on the big screen. Sadly there were very little scenes with him and few of which is key to the story. I want to see him fight more. Maybe against Deadpool. That'll be awesome. And as everybody knows, Wolverine has adamantium skeleton which are ores from outer space. And he has regenerative properties. He is just entertaining to watch because his fighting style is so different than most superheroes that evade from attacks, Wolverine just goes to it head on. Sheer excitement and a sight to behold. He's someone you'll never want to mess with I'll tell you that.

Overall, it was a great movie. Better than my expectations actually. I was thinking I aws going to see another comic book franchise going to milked and rehashed but certainly I was wrong. My partner loves it too, and this partner of mine don't like films easily. That's good I guess. At least this partner of mine is happy and thinks it's worth it. Well so do I. I give you high recommendations to go see it. It's an entertaining movie and whether you like X-Men or not, just give it a try. You might like it afterwards.

This movie deserves 9/10

He's Just Not That Into You Review

By the time of writing, I saw this movie yesterday (29/4) at Mid Valley with some of my friends. This movie has been out for a while now, about a month I guess. But only recently that I had a chance (and a group of friends that are willing to watch it). This day was a normal day with classes until afternoon but I headed for Mid Valley right after. The movie started 10 minutes after I arrived, and thanks to my friend who have bought it for me, I don't need to queue. Bought a small pop corn and a medium coke before heading in since I haven't got my lunch yet. According to the internet, the movie was 2 hours long. Probably that's the reason it took me a while to decide whether to watch this too long because I'm not a fan of sitting in a refrigerator for 2 hours. And since I'm kinda too thin, I get real cold real fast.

For those of you who didn't know, this movie was based on a 2005 self-help book of the same name by Greg Behrendt, Liz Tuccillo, and Lauren Monchik. Due to that, the movie was separated into 4 subtle parts if I'm not mistaken, started by the interview of some people on the topic. And this movie was star-studded. The idea of the movie came from Drew Barrymore herself after reading the book, and she stars in it as well as some hollywood hot shots which are Ben Affleck, Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Scarlett Johanson and Justin Long. That's a combination that comes once in a blue moon. The movie actually revolves around a few people which are connected indirectly. There's a desperate woman, a married couple with problems, and a happy couple with problems of getting married. This is mainly a chic flick but anybody that are even remotely interested in this movie from all fuss you heard about it should go and check it out. Especially those with relationship problems or not, or a woman who's having difficulties getting a men. This movie has a lot of messages for the ladies but mens, go watch it too and see what hollywood has to say about us. Characters in this movie was predictable again, but then again it's not easy to make it not. Convincing deliveries of the characters by the actors and actresses in this movie made it a worthwhile too

Overall, it was a great movie. There's nothing much I can say about it because there's nothing that you haven't seen but why fix something that is not broken anyway. Since the movie has been out for quite a while already, the showtimes for this movie is not much anyway. For those who haven't got a chance to watch it, go ahead do yourself a favour and go watch it. Higher recommendations from me to people that is going to be, still, and was in a relationship. This movie had messages so subtle that some people that might be in some situations might get influenced by this movie too. But hey its hollywood peeps. You do the judgement. Great movie. That's what I think. I don't think it's going to be shown any longer than another two weeks from now at most. Go ahead.

This movie gets 8/10 from me.

Fast and Furious 4 Review

As you see, this movie is in my list of movies to watch this year, so naturally I have expectations towards it. Planned to go watch this with my friends or something similar but since my mom got a hold of some free tickets (don't ask), of course I grabbed it. There's not many free things that I refuse. Who does?

Anyway, the movie was going to be in Mid Valley, on a Saturday (11/04/08). Coincidentally, I have class going on earlier that morning. So no choice, I had to attend it. The class ended about 30 minutes earlier and thanks to a friend of mine, I got sent to the nearest Komuter station without having to take a taxi. He saved me RM10. Thanks dude. The movie was a 4pm but I arrived in Mid Valley at about 11.30am. There are a lot of things I can do here of course to kill time. Had my lunch at McD's having the McValue Lunch of Double Cheeseburger. Walked around the mall, stopped by computer shops, stopped by MPH, before my mom called me to join the family for a meal before the movie. Guess what my mom got me? A McValue Lunch of Double Cheeseburger of course. My body must've been screaming like crazy if it could with the amount of fat and sugar I take in today. As you know, the movie is 18+ so my mom only got 2 tickets for this movie in which I had to watch it with my dad while the rest of the family get to watch Confessions of a Shopaholic. My movie starts at 4pm while the other one starts half an hour later. Got into the theatre and it was freezing cold. After the Transformers 2 movie trailer which was an eye candy and some booze commercials, the movie starts.

The movie starts and one of the company that works in this movie is Dreamworks, which specializes in digital special effects, which made me think, oh boy this isn't good. They're relying on some animated cars rather than the real ones. Unlike the earlier 3 movies to this series which starts with a race, this movie doesn't. This could be wrong or might be right. It's good to see Vin Diesel reprising his role as Dominic Toretto but Paul Walker hasn't yet to be seen. As in the trailer, it starts with stealing some oils and at the end of this scene was some obvious digital effects. Which was very cheesy and corny. Paul Walker appears later as the Brian O'Conner which is now working with the feds again. The movie mainly revolves around revenge that Dom was seeking to people who murdered her girl, Letty. And Brian was looking to bust the head honco of a drug smuggling gang. And coincidentally for both of the characters to reach their goals, they had to do some driving. Yeah nothing innovative but nothing wrong with that. Ok, now. What is it that made us so attracted to watch this movie franchise? Of course for the hot cars and racing action. Well, here's some spoiler for you, triple click in the white space to view it:
[Spoiler start]
there are only 2 races if I'm not mistaken throughout the whole movie and the rest of car scenes were just driving dangerously.
[End of spoiler]
There were only a handful of cars and even they don't appear much and even if they do only for a brief amount of time. This was not the Fast and Furious we have learned to like. Driving in this movie was just something that the characters had to do instead of what they like to do. Unlike in the first movie where there were drag races, races around the town in the second movie, races around a construction site in the third, all of which was done entirely by the protagonist's will purely for some good time. In this movie, such driving scene doesn't exist. It was either driving for someone or something. And there were also quite a number of death in this movie too, some which are very intense, which is not very fast & furios, which only have some deaths. This movie was more about a drama of revenge and gang busting starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker with some hot cars in it. I don't think it deserves to be called the 4th movie because this one has so much less than what I expected because it's losing it's fast and furious factor. There are too little cars and too many dramas for a Fast & Furios movie. Still can't believe what I said? Go watch all of the previous 3 movies and then watch this one. Be honest with yourself. Newer doesn't automatically makes it better. I would say this as the worse entry of the franchise so far and if you have saw the first 3 movies, go watch it if you want to see a story progress. For newcomers to the movie, I suggest you watch any of the first 3 movies. And for movie goers and that doesn't have a problem with watching anything in the cinema, I think there could be other movies but you could still watch it if you're curious. For me personally though, I was kind of a let down. It wasn't a bad movie but it was ok. Just ok. There might be a sequel but I don't know.

I give it 6.5/10

What will you do?

If you feel like you're the one who's causing problems among other people and that things were perfectly fine until you came along?