Food Trip: Cyma Greek Taverna

So last Sunday, me and my family decided to head over to Eastwood Mall and eat at the much talked about Cyma Greek Taverna. There was a lot of talk about this place so it was a must that we tried it!

Let's start with the overall look of the restaurant and its ambiance. The restaurant itself is pretty small. They offer a few tables inside, and a few more on the outside. During its peak hours, be ready to wait a few minutes to be seated cuz it does get pretty full. The ambiance of the place is pretty cozy, and the overall decoration of the resto is pretty greek-ish. Eating in the outside area is not as bad as it may seem since the breeze keeps everyone pretty comfortable.

Now on to the food. Now I have heard some pretty bad comments about Greek food, so I was a little uneasy going into this place. I really didn't know what to expect to be honest. But much to my surprise, they actually offered dishes very similar to that of Persian food, which I am a huge fan of. They had dishes lie kebabs and gyros (very similar to a shawarma). For my apetizer, I ordered Cyma's popular dish called, Saganaki.This dish is basically melted cheese that u place on four pieces of bread. The fun thing about this dish is that upon arriving at your table, the waiters all yell "Opa" which means "cheers" in Greek. This dish was actually really good. I could see why it was so popular. However, this dish is actually meant for more than one person in my opinion, cuz the taste does start to get boring after awhile, and four pieces of bread is just too much! Hahaha! For my main course, I ordered the Steak Shish-Kabob. This dish is pretty similar to its Persian conterpart. It's served in a skewer with pita bread, and it comes with the yogurt sauce that most Persian retaurants offer. This dish to me was excellent!! I absolutely loved it! With the addition of their hot sauce, this dish was pretty much everything I expected! This is definitely something I recommend for those who wanna try out this place!

I give the food here a solid 8/10 rating.

Here are some shots:

"Chicken Shish-Kabob"

"Steak Shish-Kabob"

"Saganaki"

Now let's talk price. The pricing of this place is actually not bad. I mean the most expensive dish costs about 600+ pesos, so if you were to bring about P1,500, you could actually have a pretty decent meal. The Saganaki costs P200, and the Kabobs cost about P300-400.

Cyma is definitely brings us a new flavor, a restaurant that pulls us away from the usual Chinese and Japanese restaurants. With prices that could cater to all classes, I totally recommend this for everyone!

Visit the CYMA WEBSITE

CYMA is located at the 2nd level in Eastwood Mall.

Contact them at 709-1955.

What do you think? Comment!!

END OF POST

Food Trip: Wagyu Stone Grill

A few weeks ago, my family and I decided to head over to Eastwood Mall and try out this restaurant called Wagyu Stone Grill. Now for those who aren't really in the know, wagyu is basically steak of high grade. It's suppose to be taste better, and it's suppose to be a lot softer.

Now let's start with the ambiance of the resto. Upon entering this place, it immediately gives you a feeling of class, with interior designing done well. It definitely has that modern minimalist feel going on. Jazz music also plays throughout the restaurant.

Now let's talk price. This place pretty much caters to middle and upper classes since the cheapest meat you can find is about 900 pesos. Pretty steep if you ask me.

Now on to the food. My family is pretty much composed of meat-eaters. We love our steak, be it at home, at a restaurant, here in the Philippines, or another country, we will definitely go out of our way to have some meat, so we basically have a basic idea of what tastes good and what doesn't. We were all pretty excited to try this place out since they did offer wagyu, and they had the whole stone grill aspect as well. Stone grill is basically a piece of volcanic rock or something that you cook your meat on, so all that sounded pretty fun. Now as we were eating, I noticed that nobody was really reacting to the food. So as I took paid closer attention to my food, I came to a conclusion that while the food was good, there are definitely other places that offer better for a lot cheaper. I mean Le Souffle was definitely a lot better if you ask me. And so as I continued to eat, my dad turns to me and says that his food was "just alright", and everyone else pretty much said the same thing.

If I were to rate the food out of 10, I'd give it a solid 7.5.

Here are some shots:

Now don't get me wrong. The food is good. After all, the steaks are wagyu. All I'm saying is that there are definitely places out there that offer a lot better. But if what you're looking for is wagyu with the added fun of cooking it yourself on a stone grill, then this is your place! But the steaks in Le Souffle are definitely more tasty in my opinion.

Wagyu Stone Grill is located on the ground floor of Eastwood Mall.

What do you think? Comment!

END OF POST

Vantage Review: inFamous. - from a ordinary Joe's point of view

inFamous… A game praised by many gaming sites, Sony stating how they have high hopes for the game, even an early release signifying that it has already been tuned to Sucker Punch’s liking, but is it really worth its while? We at Vantage aren’t hardcore gamers or in-depth reviewers, but we do like our games and we do know what is good and what sucks. So we hope we’re able to voice what all those regular Joes out there like us are thinking and what they want to know.

And in one word, inFamous is… AWESOMENESSTASTIC!!! I didn’t feet the hype for this game, nor was I interested at all before its broken release date. It had great potential to fail, especially with its other sandbox predecessors such as Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown. But somehow, someway, Sucker Punch was able to combine all the great elements from these games into one and add its own twist. I like to say, it’s like choose your own adventure GTA: IV with powers! The karma system in the game is great, giving you a Bioshock-type feel when having to choose what to do, making available both sides to a decision, putting you on the spot and making you more immersed in the game. But we’ll go a little deeper into that later.

Lets start with a basic rundown on what’s going on in Empire City where this all began. Our main character, lil ol’ Cole, was tasked to deliver a package, no harm done right? Well, not unless your package blows up in your face and along with half of Empire City. After Cole awakens, he finds himself charged with electrical superpowers. With a whole chunk blown out of Empire City, a plague also sweeps its people giving the government no choice but to quarantine the entire city. The people of Empire City, now stripped of their freedom, are left to fend for themselves as the government thinks of a way to save this post-apocalyptic event. As Cole, you face this head-on, with your newly acquired powers to save or control the city, keep peace or rule with fear, and track this thing called the Ray Sphere that gave you your powers.

Now onto Cole whose power is electricity, shooting it from his hands as a bolt of lightning, a force blast, riding the rails, making a shield etc… You start off with only a few powers like the lightning bolt and force blast, but it’s more than enough to fry and destroy everything in sight. As the game progresses by finishing missions, opening up new parts of the city and eventually new islands by restoring power to them, new powers are unlocked and almost all of your powers are upgradeable (through XP), allowing for more destruction. Through the karma system, which basically lets you decide to be good or evil, powers specific to them will be unlocked. To tell you the truth, there are so many aspects to this game that is it hard not to make this a long review, but I will try my best.

Based on how you tackle missions, whether your going to be the all out martyr or sacrifice the people for your greater good, your karma will lean towards being good or evil. This basically plays into a two class system and forces you to choose to be one or the other. You can be neutral but powers specific to those classes won’t be unlocked or upgradeable. For me, this is one downside to the game. As a normal guy, some choices given to you will force you to be evil, yet other times, you want to be good. But when you start being good or bad, you best stick to it. The basic differences between the specific class powers is that a good Cole’s powers/attacks are more focused, attacking and restraining enemies without dealing too much damage to surrounding civilians/hostages, whereas an evil Cole’s powers are more destructive and will take out practically everything in the vicinity. The differences in powers are pretty clear cut which in turn, is good because it gives you a different way and incentive of playing the game more than once. Not to mention playing each side yields a different outcome/story and how your friends, along with people of the city view you. When choosing a side, how the city looks will also differ. For example, if your good, the city will start going back to normal, showing off a brighter color scheme and happier tone, whereas if your evil, the city may still look grim and you will still notice people suffering. 

Onto the graphics department, which will be short... and sweet, because the graphics are gorgeous. Lighting is top notch and Cole looks great! Especially during those Batman moments where you're just sitting up on a rooftop or water tower somewhere, looking down at your city. Everything is fluid and Grand Theft Auto IV's graphics seem like nothing special. The only problem is that when traveling fast on the train tracks or rails, the distance (far distance) will pop out of nowhere, but honestly, it isn't a big deal.

But this all means nothing if Cole controls like a stone. Good thing he doesn’t. He can scale and climb practically anything and everything that looks like a handhold. And he climbs quickly, very cat-like. Right from the get-go, it was so fun and easy to control Cole, probably spending the first hour just climbing and jumping around the city. It’s also handy that the city is Cole’s urban jungle. Its extremely enjoyable much like back in the day of the PS2, web-slinging all around the city of Spiderman 2, and climbing and highest buildings, just to jump off them. Unlike Spiderman though, Cole won’t suffer any damage dropping down to the ground. What’s also great is that Sucker Punch gives us the feeling of owning the city and the different islands, making you feel like THE MAN wherever you are. Handholds are where they need to be and everything just feels in place, making you feel like an expert right off the bat. But some high holds and platforming still feel intense and give you a great sense of how high you are… very heart-pounding. The city feels alive, hearing sounds from civilians in pain or asking why this is happening. Empire city along with its inhabitants play a big role in setting the theme, atmosphere and mood of the game. It wouldn’t be as good without it. Indeed, they go hand in hand. And you won’t really have to worry about draining your powers since almost everything in the city provides you with the electricity you need by draining it from lamp posts, cars, fuse boxes etc… Again, the city does behave differently based on your choice of being good or evil, praising you if your good, and stoning you if your not. 

Story… check. Character… check. Graphics... check. Controls… check. City… check. What about the gameplay and missions? The game is no where near a breeze but at the same time, it’s not tremendously hard or annoying. Enemies can attack you in small groups, single enemies from rooftops can shoot you from afar and random break outs of huge amounts of enemies can flank you. Hordes get difficult to deal with especially when in an open, unpowered area where Cole can’t charge his powers and health. You really can’t deal with them head on here, so maneuvering and finding the best route to your target comes into play. Rooftop enemies can be somewhat of a pain as they shoot you from above and afar and you can’t really do anything except run or climb up to take them out. Missions are very well paced, giving you the choice to take your time with its numerous types of side missions, ranging from killing people, dealing with civilians with various problems, deliveries, check point races and much more, or just jumping into the main plot line. There is enough variety with the side missions making them not feel redundant. Both are rewarding as doing side missions also give you XP and some also give you the opportunity to tilt your karma meter to good or evil, allowing you to reach the Hero rank (good) or the inFamous rank (evil).

Aside from all of these, what makes this such a good game is the attention to detail. Little things like TV broadcasts about you, pedestrians reacting towards you and posters on the wall depicting your personality, make this game all the better and immerse you more into its universe. Empire City is definitely one of the big stars of this game and the little details make the city come alive and show you how your actions affect it.

This is definitely a MUST OWN for PS3 owners out there. I don’t care if you don’t like sandbox games or gameplay, this is a must buy! I will even go on the limb to say that for those waiting for a right time to buy a PS3, this is it, because of this game. After playing the game since its early release, the only things I find annoying are the enemies on top of rooftops and the inability to choose a class between just good and evil. But other than that, I can’t find anything else wrong! Scaling the city from the get go and hours after that, collecting blast shards (to increase your power meter), collecting other bonuses scattered across the city (like recordings that deepen the story), doing all the side missions along with the main ones, and just wreaking havoc for no apparent reason will easily take you a good 20-30 hours. Then there’s the choice of being good or evil, which can clock you another good 20 hours. There’s definitely plenty to come back to. Paying around $460 for a PS3, inFamous and around 60 hours of gameplay sounds like a good deal to me!

Weekend Review: Sumo Sam

I'm sure a lot of you already know about this place. Its the Japanese resto that seems to always be packed on the 2nd floor of the Rockwell Powerplant or the top floor of Shangri-La Plaza. So is it packed for good reason or just for show?



I decided to do this review for a few reasons, firstly, there hasn't been that much interesting news lately and two, we were there for lunch this afternoon and something about it was bothering me. Anyway! Lets get down to it...

Sumo Sam tries to be a modern type of Japanese Resto, with some items that the west has created such as the Philadelphia Roll (salmon, mango, philli cream cheese), steaks that have a western feel, and bacon coupled goodies, but at the same time it still has the traditional sushi/sashimi, teriyaki/tepanyaki and ramens. Its menu is actually pretty extensive with a lot to choose from to satisfy picky eaters. The ambiance looks modern, (the only thing that gives it a Japanese tone are the plates and anime-looking servers) but still very comfy, but not Japanese. Are having nice surroundings and a presentable, large menu enough? Judging that it seems like its always full, the resto must be doing well, but in my book, its not a place I'd recommend or go to willingly.

Prices are average for the upper class, with sushi and entrees starting at around P250 up to well over P1k. A group of 5 people should have an average bill of around P2000 plus plus (making it over the minimum wage). Food is below average for its cost and service unreliable. Having been to both branches numerous times (not by choice), the service is sometimes good and sometimes bad, so you're in for a little service-poker to see which you get.

"So why is it always packed?," you may ask. First thing that comes to mind is it's location. "Thats it?" Yup! Well, this is from my Vantage, and food is definitely relative, but my rating for this would be 1 out of 5 stars. Why? There are so many other restaurants to choose from. A more inexpensive alternative would be Teriyaki Boy, where spending roughly P200 can satisfy your tummy. In my opinion, Sumo Sam is a restaurant that claims to be Japanese, yet has no Japanese taste, and Japanese is my favorite type of food! Sure you have the sushi, but thats just raw fish. Meals don't have that Japanese flavor and the bottom line is, its a restaurant that fools you by telling you its Japanese when its not. When you do get the good service, it is... good. To those who like this restaurant, then its large menu does it job by giving you a lot to choose from, whether you feel like having sushi, steaks, seafood, noodles etc... But for me, having a large menu is meaningless when the food feels fake.

Last word... irregular service standards, ambiance is only nice when sitting inside the restaurant (because there are tables outside as well), a lot to choose from... but whats the use when its not good?

Review: Fast & Furious

The Plot:

Fast & Furious sees Brian O' Conner and Dom Torretto cross paths once more as a crime brings them together and forces them to put their differences aside and work together to bring down a heroin importer named Braga.

My Review:

Let me just start by saying that I absolutely loved this film!! I think what I loved about it most is that it felt like a true sequel to the original film. The reason I say this is because 2 Fast 2 Furious was just ridiculous, and Tokyo Drift was a whole new story all together. This film is able to succeed in giving the film the same feel and tone as the original.

Let's start with the story. I though that the plot of the story was excellent. I mean, sure all these Fast & The Furious films basically have the same story, but what I loved about this one is seeing what happened to Dom and his family after the events of the original. I definitely enjoyed seeing the dynamic between O 'Conner and Dom. Another good thing about this film is that it wasn't just about fast and flashy cars. The cars sorta just helped progress the film, as well as add eye-candy for those car-enthusiasts. The director, Justin Lin definitely puts emphasis on the story above all else.



I think that the drawing power of this film will mainly come from the return of Vin Diesel. I mean, it was definitely what got me excited for this film. 2 Fast 2 Furious was just crap without him. Anyways, Diesel's performance in this was spot on if you ask me. He was definitely able to show just how bad-ass Dominic Torretto really is. I don't think there was a scene with him where I Didn't enjoy. The story this time around heavily revolved around his character, so I think he was really forced to step his game up a notch, and I think he was successful. I really don' think anyone else could play this character except him.

The other characters and performances were also alright. I mean, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster returning was also cool for me. Although, these two don't really get that much screen time as compared to Paul Walker and Vin.




Paul Walker as Brain O' Conner was also a lot fun to see in this film. When you see the film, you can tell that O' Conner has definitely grown and matured a lot through the years, and Walker was able to show this through his performance.

Now let's talk about the cars and action sequences. I think that car-enthusiats will enjoy the eye candy in this film. I mean, there aren't as many cars in this as the previous films, but I think there's enough to satisfy you guys. The driving sequences in this one is definitely a lot of fun to watch. Although, there were some scenes that I felt were just way too much and unbelievable. But when it comes to movies, my philosophy is always, take it for what it is, a movie. You're allowed to go a little overboard. My favorite scene has got to be the race scene. We definitely get to see some awesome driving skills in this scene. I gotta give props to the stunt drivers they hired cuz these fools got mad skills if you ask me.

Bottom Line:

If I were to rate this film, I'd give it a 4 out of 5. It's the best in the franchise if you ask me. Don't expect award-winning performances or anything like that, but if you wanna go see a film that's just lots of fun, and just flat-out enjoyable, then go see Fast & Furious. I highly recommend it!!

What do you think? You Agree? Comment!!

END OF POST

Blu-Ray Review: The Dark Knight

Hey readers! Starting today, VANTAGE will be adding Blu-Ray movies to our categories of reviews! So we will be giving you our thoughts and suggestions on restaurants, movies, and Blu-Ray.

So we start this segment off with arguably the biggest movie of 08, The Dark Knight. After seeing this in the theater, I knew I was gonna have in some sort of format for home viewing. But since I had recently purchased a PS3 and a High-Def TV, I thought, "why not buy it on Blu-Ray."

Before we begin, I just wanna let you guys know that me and my fellow masterminds are not huge experts on the details and specifications of Blu-Ray, so we will only be giving you our thoughts and comments on the reviews. For those who want an in-depth review, I suggest you guys head to BluRay.com.

Let's start with the video quality. In my opinion, I think that The Dark Knight is one of those movies that transfer well into Blu-Ray. The video quality of this film on BD was just spectacular. The detail on the city shots, or even on Joker's make-up was just great! The colors of Joker's face are more vibrant, and just simply overwhelming to look at. According to some reviewers, The Dark Knight on BD was a huge improvement from its predecessor, Batman Begins. The Dark Knight was framed and produced for 1080p.

Now for the audio. To fully enjoy and maximize the experience of BD, you guys might want to consider purchasing a home theater system for your TV's because most movies now are being presented in Dolby 5.1 TrueHD. This is basically to give all you movie fans the ultimate home theater experience. On The Dark Knight, it is presented in Dolby 5.1 TrueHD, but my only complaint is that there were times when it seemed that the audio was too bass-heavy. But nonetheless, the audio for this film is delivered in good detail, and with plenty of resolution.

Now for the special features. Just to give you guys a quick run-through, here are the special features for the film:

Disc 1: Gotham Uncovered--a mish-mash of standard definition and high-def content, clocking in at one hour, this multi-part documentary replaces the need for an audio track and focuses on the unique elements that went into the creation of the sets, props and the use of IMAX cameras. It's a trove of information that no fan of The Dark Knight should miss. The amount of planning that went into the film are remarkable and carefully documented here. You can learn such details as the materials and production of the Bat suit and the difficulty in driving the Bat-pod. I would have liked to see more material covering Two-Face, since he was such a large part of the film and an explanation of how his face was handled in CGI. Some type of memorial content for Heath Ledger would have also been welcome. Unfortunately, no such documentary is included.

Focus Points--a rather hidden picture-in-picture option available in specific episodes that turn out to be the above-mentioned documentaries. Those who find PIP to be distracting will prefer to watch the content as Gotham Uncovered.

Disc 2: Batman Tech--as part of three hours worth of documentaries, this featurette explores the many weapons and utilities designed for Batman. Most of them are based on military equipment.

Batman Unmasked--subtitled The Psychology of The Dark Knight, this documentary focuses on psychotherapeutic analysis of Bruce Wayne and Batman. Frankly, this content would have been more appropriate for Batman Begins.

Gotham Tonight--a series of six newscasts averaging about eight minutes each. They all explore Batman and Bruce Wayne, as presented by "Gotham Cable's Premier News Program". The CNN-like news show played a role in several scenes of the main feature, but on its own, the newscasts seem a bit boring.

Galleries--watching the Joker cards rain down after the assassination of a judge in The Dark Knight, it is clear that many different types of cards are used. Here, they are all on display, along with TV spots and trailers, concept art, poster art and production stills.

Rounding out the bonus content are Warner invitations to participate in BD-Live and to unlock a digital (non-high definition) copy of The Dark Knight. The BD-Live features include "My Web Commentary", where you can use your webcam and create your own PIP commentary over the film and share it with friends and the entire BD-Live community. It also includes "Live Community Screening", which Warner bills as "an on-screen chat with the filmmakers while you watch the movie." The BD-Live "Media Center" is advertised to have exclusive footage, trailers, photo galleries and more.

While not perfect, this content features enough interesting documentaries and extracurricular activities to keep one occupied for hours on end. And a word about the packaging--under the slipcase, the text on the back of the packaging artwork has been "marked up" with edits by the Joker. The brief description of the movie has been defaced and there is graffiti pointing to a photo of the Joker, "ME" and many "HA HA" and "BLAH BLAH" comments. This was a good finishing touch to a classic BD package: a combination of creepy and cute.

Overall, I would highly recommend getting this movie on Blu-Ray for Batman fans or home theater enthusiasts. The Dark Knight doesn't disappoint, and I couldn't imagine myself watching it on any other kind of format. With excellent video and audio quality, you're sure to have a memorable high-def experience with The Dark Knight.

What do you think? Comment!!

END OF POST

Dinelli Gourmet.

Manila has a new gourmet deli for all fresh food lovers. Dinelli Gourmet is located at 1 Mckinley Place, Fort Bonifacio. Santi's has been one of the newest hot spots for fresh meats and imported snacks and Dinelli Gourmet has improved the offerings of Santi's in more than one way. Dinelli offers fresh organic goods, deli meats, cheeses, wine, raw and ready made pasta, staple foods and a in store restaurant.



Wine.



Organic cooking staples.



Prepackaged goods.



Organic Jams.



Cold Cuts.



Streaks and Sausages.



Cheese.



Ready to eat Pasta.



Chocolates & other Desserts.



Fresh Produce.



Dinelli Coffee.



Organic Juices.



Clam Chowder Soup.



Panini.



Dinelli Gourmet was a great experience. I've been back a couple times to try their different dishes and to get some lunch meats and sausages. The Clam Chowder was good and the Onion soup was great. The Panini and Roast Beef sandwiches are great and the Duck Fat Fries are great, so great you don't need ketchup. The coffee and organic juices are good as well. The dinner platters were good but I personally prefer the Sandwiches.

I strongly recommend Dinelli Gourmet. Unfortunately, their prices are a little high so beware of that and just a heads up since the venue is so new they do not accept credit card yet, so make sure you bring cash.

Filipino Fudruckers.

In the United States there is a burger joint called "Fuddruckers" and they claim to serve the Worlds greatest hamburger. This is what it looks like. I love the Fuddruckers in the US, the food there is definitely one of my favorites. Manila has a habit of copying restaurant franchises in America. Gio B. pointed out a little joint near the Filthy Grommet shop yesterday and I stopped in to give it a try today.

This is the store front. The local version of Fudruckers offers pies, cakes, burgers/sandwiches, pasta, rice dishes and chinese catering. Seems like the owner might have been a little confused while making the menu. I honestly didn't have high expectations going in and when they told me their hamburger wasn't available my expectations dropped even more.  So I ordered the "Trio Magnifico," which is a pasta dish that has Italian sausage, meat and cream sauce topped with cheese.... And it was great! And I have to add that the garlic bread was the best I've had in manila. You can find Fudruckers at:

129 Katipunan Ave (across the street from BDO white plains.)

St. Ignatius Village

Quezon City

Review: Quarantine

Horror remake Quarantine was just recently released here in The P.I., so I made my way over to Rockwell to go see it. I had seen the original Spanish version of the movie beforehand, so I had some pretty high expectations for this one since I thought the original was actually pretty good.

The movie is basically about a group of people who are isolated in an apartment building because authorities believe that the people inside are infected with some kind of virus. The virus acts very similar to a rage virus, making whoever is infected filled with aggression and no sense of reasoning. Locked in the building, the residents, including a fire fighter and cop must fight to survive while trying to uncover the secret behind this sudden outbreak.



The first thing I noticed about this film is how similar the look and feel was to Rec. It almost felt like some of the shots were taken right out of the original. And to me, that was actually a good thing cuz I think that the reason why most Hollywood remakes fail is simply because Hollywood tries too hard and makes it too "Hollywood." This film however, was a lot tighter than the original, and its pace was a lot faster. It was one freaky moment after the other, while the original had some breaks in between. This film also added some new scenes, I think this was done to add more scary scenes into the film because it was placed into the part of the film where the original had dragged a little. The story was somewhat altered, but still maintained the true essence of the original. But, I did feel like they should've explained the virus more cuz I felt like they really didn't shed light on that matter when the movie ended. In Rec, the original film, they explain that the virus had originated from the penthouse room, whose owner was an agent of the Vatican who was charged with researching and isolating a suspected virus believed to be the biological cause of demonic possession, which was later confirmed to exist in a young girl who was supposedly possessed. The agent kidnapped and brought the girl to the penthouse to conduct his research and to possibly cure her; unfortunately, during the work the virus managed to mutate and become contagious. This was completely left out of the Hollywood version, and we are left to believe that the virus is a mutated form of rabies that was spread by a dog.



Bottom Line:

Bottom line, I thought this film was better than Rec as a whole. They avoid the dragging scenes that Rec had by adding additional scenes that make this film a lot tighter and faster-paced. They are also able to make the scenes scarier. I don't know how they did it actually. Maybe it was the was the camera way held or maybe the sounds they used, but whatever it is, this movie felt just a little scarier than the original. Would I go see this again, or purchase the DVD? I probably wouldn't see it again in the theaters, but I would definitely consider picking up its DVD when it's released!

I give this film a 4 out of 5 stars!!

For those interested in seeing Rec, you can download it below!

Download Here:

Rec

What do you think? Comment!

END OF POST

Review: Twilight

Going into this movie, I really didn't know what to expect to see from it. At first I thought it would have some cool action sequences for the male audience but sadly, I was mistaken. While there is a fight scene in the movie, 90% of it was really about Bella and Edward falling in love with each other. Well I guess I can't blame anyone since Stephanie Meyer probably intended it to be that way.

This move is definitely a chick flick. In fact, I think when I went to go see this, there more women than men in the movie house. Hahahaha! Anyways, I use the term "chick flick" because there are some scenes that are way too mushy and cheesy for us guys! I can't really imagine the guys appreciating stuff like that. I can however, totally picture the women going gaga for them! This movie is really just a love story with a vampire twist to make things interesting!! but don;t get me wrong, I'm not saying this movie can't be appreciated by guys. They do have some interesting takes on the vampire lore, and actually have some pretty cool scenes. CGI was crap, but who could blame them. Their budget was probably not very high. But I really did enjoy their take on the whole vampire story. I don't wanna reveal anything for those who haven't seen the film, so I won't say too much about that. But let's just say that their take is completely new and fresh!


The actors in the films I think were well cast. Critics have already praised newcomer Robert Pattinson for his performance. Kristen Stweart, who played Bella was surprisingly pretty good for the role. I know critics gave her mixed reviews, but I think she did an excellent job playing the shy, quiet, loner type of girl. And surprisingly, as the movie progressed, Kristen got prettier for me. At first I thought she wasn't pretty at all, but towards the middle, I warmed up to her. I think the casting of the Cullens and Nomads were also excellent! Each actor were a perfect fot for their roles. I especially liked the casting for James. He was played by Cam Gigandet (The O.C.).

Bottom Line:

I recommend this mostly for the females, and maybe a few of the guys who wanna go see a film about vampires with cool abilities. The story could actually cater to both sexes, but the guys would have to be open-minded of course. Some scenes are really just too mushy for my taste. I was fascinated by their take on the vampire lore, and I think some you might feel the same. I think that the story of the Cullens was actually pretty good. Overall, the movie was average for me. I definitely have no plans on buying the DVD for this.

I give this film 3.5 out of 5!

What do you think? Comment!!

END OF POST