My two attempts to get a Looper UK quad teaser poster shipped to India

These are my two attempts to get a Looper UK quad teaser poster shipped to India and I am pretty much running in a loop now.

The first time I used Shopandship.com (a mail/parcel forwarding service), I had the UK poster seller ship it to my UK shipping address and then Shopandship's courier service Aramex forwarded it to India and delivered it to my city in Mangalore.

I received it on August 31. Instead of opening the tube from the sides to check the contents, the poster tube was chopped in the middle like a cake by the Indian customs. Aramex sealed it with a tape during transit, but the poster was already ruined and creased up. I am currently communicating with Shopandship.com to compensate for the poster. Though I doubt I will ever get this poster for 10 pounds anywhere else. It's not even available on eBay anymore. I managed to buy the poster the second time for 12 pounds.

The second time I decided to risk it big time and had another UK seller ship the poster directly to my Indian shipping address, which meant once it reaches India it would get delivered by the Indian postal service. I received this poster today on September 17. The Indian customs this time didn't merely open it but also folded the whole poster tube like a tissue paper.

(Edit: Updated this post to include shot of the poster tube in its original full folded condition)

So yeah the Indian customs guys are a bunch of irresponsible sadistic jerks.

Perhaps my Loop is working against me and making sure I don't ever get to own a proper version of this gorgeous Looper poster, after all it's the only poster featuring the Time Machine.

Though I won't be framing these two damaged posters, I just have to find solace imagining that the damage to the posters gives them a little character and a distressed look fitting into the aesthetics of the film.

Total Recall (2012)

Total Recall has lot of great visuals including many real sets making their whole world believable. It's non stop action yet I wasn't really engrossed by it. Sometimes the much needed excitement was somehow lacking for me and knowing the gist of the story based on the original film had nothing to do with it.

Even the flying cars sequence which I was most looking forward to, started out great but lost steam eventually. Kate Beckinsale's early fight in the movie is probably the highlight of the movie for me.

Len Wiseman who directed this also directed the first two Underworld films, which I felt were also barely memorable. And my expectations were already pretty low for this movie, so I don't really consider that I was totally disappointed by it.

The streets of the Colony in this movie had a Blade Runner vibe, while some other parts in the movie reminded me of Minority Report. All that only made me realize that no matter how impressive the production design was, the movie still kinda felt hollow and forgettable to me. And neither Collin Farell nor Jessica Biel were the problem as they along with Kate Beckinsale played their roles quite well.

Also as I was watching the movie I kept thinking that there would be other capable directors who would deliver sci-fi masterpieces with such production values. Like Duncan Jones, who could have done his love letter film to Blade Runner which was titled "Mute".

I just hope the remake of Paul Verhoeven's other classic sci-fi film doesn't share the same fate.

Mars Attacks 50th Anniversary

'Mars Attacks' again, 50 years later is an article from USA Today which looks back at the Mars Attacks franchise and its future plans.

Perhaps I had forgotten about it, but it wasn't until early 2012 I realized that Mars Attacks was based on the trading cards from 1962 and that they were re-issued in the 80s and 90s even before the movie came out in 1996. So far really been digging the cool artwork from artist Wallace Wood, which has also led me to tracking the Weird Science comic book volumes that also featured his sci-fi works. Hoping to buy those later this year.

Sample of old cards.

I enjoyed watching Independence Day at the theatre in 1996 and was looking forward to Mars Attacks later that same year. Of course I was surprised as it was not what I was expecting, but eventually I did enjoy its tone and humour.

Looking forward to the various Mars Attacks merchandise being released this year in celebration of its 50th anniversary, including the commemorative book from Abrams Books.

From wiki:
"In 2012, in celebration of the franchise's 50th anniversary, Topps has partnered with a variety of companies on a merchandising campaign to include comic books (via IDW Publishing), bobble heads and vinyl dolls (Funko), action figures and plush (Mezco Toyz), costumes (Incogneato), statues and busts (Quarantine Studio), electronics skins (Gelaskins) and a hardcover commemorative book (Abrams Books). Topps will also be issuing a special 50th Anniversary card set.

It has been announced via the official Mars Attacks Facebook page that the IDW comic books will launch an all-new Mars Attack universe, with plans to expand into other mediums."

I now mainly want the Heritage 80 card base set which includes the original 55 cards. But looks like they are not selling factory sets at the moment and the box set which contains 24 packs is the only way to get them, with 6 cards in each pack. So there are no guarantees of acquiring the complete set with the box, but they told me every pack contains 4 classic cards and 1 each of the new universe and deleted scenes. So apparently with 24 packs it's most likely that one will get a full set. Box is priced $50 at the Topps website, but going on ebay for less. Some are even selling their own completed 80 cards set for $30 and less.

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

Every movie reboot has the burden of being compared to its predecessor and it's hard not to do so especially when its previous movies are relatively fresh in the minds of the audience. For some fans Amazing Spider-Man needs to not only stack-up to the Sam Raimi films but also to the Spider-Man comics.

Brave

In comparison to Pixar's previous films Brave isn't groundbreaking in terms of unique story, but it's still a really good fun film. Gorgeous animation and oh that lovely orange hair. And gotta applaud Pixar's decision to keep the second act under wraps during marketing, took me quite by surprise (I had only seen one trailer, don't know about the rest). Very rarely we get to experience that with big movies these days.

I was totally engrossed in the film and forgot to spot the Pizza Planet Truck easter egg. Also found out now that there was a post-credits scene which I missed, though it wasn't anything big.

Contact

Yesterday I watched the movie Contact again after a very long time. And since it's been awhile, the movie especially many parts before the third act appeared all fresh to my memory. There are some great little character moments of Ellie played by Jodie Foster and Ellie as a kid played by a younger Jena Malone (who I recognized only yesterday as I was watching the movie).

I've always been fascinated with space since I was a kid and now even though mankind's current prospects of deep space travel aren't looking bright, my enthusiasm for space continues to grow stronger. So watching Ellie talk about space with such devotion and the moments where she roots for things in the name of science, they were all so endearing to watch and had me in tears couple of times.

It's sad that Carl Sagan who along with his wife Ann Druyan was actively involved in the development of the film but never got to see the completed film.

After the Back to the Future movies and Forrest Gump, Contact is my favourite Robert Zemeckis film. I am glad Zemeckis is back to doing live-action films and I hope someday he will consider doing another sci-fi film.

And it's quite a coincidence that Jodie Foster's new sci-fi film Elysium from director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) had a private audience screening yesterday, which I read about earlier today.

I found this beautiful poster for Contact but since I haven't seen it listed in other places online I am guessing it's probably a fan-made poster, also cause there are no movie studio credits listed on the poster. Would have still loved to have it in a poster size.

 

Review for Prometheus

When Ridley Scott chose to go with a new mythology and story for Prometheus (based on writer Damon Lidelof's suggestions), it would have been much better if they had gone all the way and completely distanced their movie from Alien. No matter how good of a script they would have weaved, Prometheus could still never match up to Ridley Scott's original Alien. And for sometime during pre-production the movie supposedly didn't have anything to do with Alien. But the Alien brand is too big to ignore, so things from Alien ended up being shoehorned into Prometheus.

Aamir Khan talks about marriage in India (probably after spying on me)

In the article linked below actor Aamir Khan talks about marriage in India. It's like he heard me rambling and complaining with my friends about the marriage system in India and then jotted down my thoughts.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/article3439626.ece

I would say this needs more attention than corruption in India. Maybe if people thought more about the person rather than just the day of the marriage and families, more people would be happy, heck maybe there would be even less corruption :P.

Of course I am a minority in this way of thinking here in India. Judging by some of the comments* under that article, people are implying that this is a western ideology. As if to imply something that is being followed in the west is by default a bad thing, we Indians are after all the supreme in the so called department of "culture".

*Hit Ctrl F on that page and search for the word "western" to find those comments.

Men In Black 3

I love the first MIB film and seen it numerous times, second film had its moments but was barely memorable for me. Men In Black 3 is great fun where the story keeps getting interesting and good amount of focus is given to the characters, along with all the cool action and many laugh out moments.

I liked Men In Black 3 but some speculate if it's as good as the first one and I would say no. The first one really has that charm of discovering all things in the MIB universe for the first time, like J the audience is also experiencing all these cool surprises at the same time. But this movie had its own mystery elements that I enjoyed, including the time travel bits and theories.

Gotta say the alien makeup and creature effects were also a real treat to watch. Loved some of the new weapons and gadgets, my only complain would be some of them didn't get enough screen time. I wanted to see more of that Shotgun.

My thoughts on The Avengers movie

The second half of  The Avengers is filled with such fantastic action, it indeed has more action than all Marvel movies combined. Joss Whedon crafted the team conflict so well and balanced it out with such brilliant humour.

And though some characters managed to steal the show, Whedon and writer Zak Penn showed the importance of every character and gave them their moment to shine on multiple occasions. As a comic fan there were times while watching Avengers I couldn't believe I am getting to see these comic characters come to life all together like that.

And one of the best things about opening day is the enthusiastic crowd, who cheered right from the title sequence and during every character's intro scene.

There is a moment in the film where Alan Silvestri's awesome main Assemble theme music kicks in during that surround shot of the Avengers, I had almost tears of joy during that brief moment. Also the audience really cheered at that scene (among many others).

And the 3D for The Avengers was really impressive, also maybe it was cause of the proper bright light conditions. It is one of the best live action 3D experience I had.