Movies: World War Z (2013)

Director: Marc Forster

Cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, David Morse

Story: based on the novel by Max Brooks

Genre: Action, Drama, Horror

Rate: 9 / 10

"United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself."

This is one great suspense movie for 2013 that will certainly give you the feeling of jumping out of surprise  because of fright from the start till the end of the movie. From the time the title and a few credits had already presented at the start of the movie, and also after a few introduction to the main characters of the story, we are right away bombarded with surprise and confusion as to what has suddenly took place. By having zombies popping out of almost anywhere and very eagerly (and also very fast in running) to catch anyone, it really changes a lot of things that we might opt to do in case a zombie apocalypse might happen.

Spoiler: There are a lot of scenes wherein you'll get frustrated for individuals who caused the death of others. Thru a simple phone call or by singing out loudly of songs of worship. I'm just guessing that's what they're singing and also I have nothing against them doing their worship. The only problem is the volume of loudness of their song that will certainly make you angry after the succeeding events. There's also the foolish death of a doctor, who was the best person who could have found a cure. But the thing that really pissed me off was the phone call that was made by the wife while her husband is in the middle of biking towards the plane, in the middle of zombies. It just makes you want to leave destroy your communication with her until you get back and finish the job. End of Spoiler.

As a viewer who watched the movie without having read the novel from where it was based on, I would say that this movie gives us a new and great insight on zombies. Aside from the mode of transmission that the "zombie" virus needs, it was really amazing and shocking to see the upgrade that the zombies have in this movie in comparison to previous zombie creations. In this movie, they have now the ability to climb tall buildings and walls by forming a somewhat zombie ladder, which was made upon by the bodies of zombies climbing on top of each other. With the loss of human instinct to stay on land, the movie gives us the impression that in order to stay alive and remain free from infection of the zombie virus, one has to be either in the middle of the sea or up in the air.

I recommend watching this movie for all the zombie story fanatics out there. Even though, I had already seen this movie two times in the cinema, it still never failed to make me jump off my seat once in a while due to the surprise and fright some scenes can give its viewers.

 

"Mother Nature is a serial killer. No one better. More creative."

Comics: Black Ink Comics' Shortcuts ~ Fairy Tails: Another Beauty And The Beast / For A Pair Of Legs / Jack And The Giant

BIC0013

(4/5 ★★★★☆)

Aside from releasing comics which consists of around 10 books more or less per series, Black Ink Comics also came out with Shortcuts. It's a comic book that consists of three short stories that are created by different writers and artists. In this shortcut, it presents Fairy Tails with stories like "Another Beauty and the Beast" as the first story. The other stories included are "For A Pair of Legs" and "Jack and the Giant".

Another Beauty And The Beast

Story by: Ron Mendoza

Illustrated by: Arnel R. Coronel

Black Ink Comics

"Maniwala si Beast na hindi mahalaga ang hitsura pagdating sa pag-ibig. "Bulag ang pag-ibig," sabi niya. Pero nang mawala ang sumpa sa kanya at bumalik ang kaguwapuhan niya, bigla ay nagbago ang pananaw niya sa pag-ibig lalo na nang ma-head over heals in love sa kanya ang isang halimaw."

This short story I may say is the best among the three stories complied in this book. It uses the Filipino language and the modern way of how Filipinos communicate with each other. Words like "Nevah", meaning never, was used in the story as a way to present how our current society talks informally. The story is based from Disney's Beauty and the Beast in which the author placed a twist. It answers the question, "What if the situation was reversed with the Beast turning to be a handsome prince, while the gorgeous Belle transforming into an ugly beast?" As much as the story was written nicely, its just sad to see that some of these lines were placed incorrectly. I find that some of it were positioned at the very side where the pages of the book are bounded to its spine, meaning you need to open and expose the pages of the book wide enough in order to read the texts. Then on page 9, where Belle and the beast are having a conversation, I find the speech bubbles to be a bit confusing as to whose lines are spoken first due to their arrangement. Nonetheless, with this shortcoming I find the story and the art to be good. I'd advice though that this story not be read by children in grade school and below for a bad word that it contains, which may highly be disapproved by most parents.

For A Pair Of Legs

Story by: Nald Tabuzo

Illustrated by: Cliff Renegado

Black Ink Comics

"Love makes the little mermaid foolish. She doesn't mind where her love for the prince will take her. Love is a source of joy. But she seems unaware that it's also a source of misery."

This second story is based on another Disney movie entitled The Little Mermaid. It has a less entertaining twist in my opinion among the three stories compiled in this book. In here, the same concerns with the first story like some texts can't be easily read, since it's placed near the center where the pages of the book are kept in place, are still present. It also contain some words which may be disapproved by some parents to be read by their little kids. I might say that the thing that I liked the most with this story was the part where Belle started doing a headstand and all different sorts of dances for a dance competition.

Jack And The Giant

Story by: Jeffrey Marcelino Ong

Illustrated by: Roy Allan Martinez

Black Ink Comics

"Jack climbs the giant beanstalk in their backyard to search for his missing father and brother. He finds a nasty giant whom he kills jubilantly, unaware that what he did would probably be his life's greatest mistake."

This third story of the compilation is now based from the famous Jack and the Beanstalk. The story starts with the beanstalk already in the backyard of Jack. The plot starts with his brother and father who were never seen again after they had climbed up the giant beanstalk. This story gives a different view about the giant that lives in the castle up on the clouds. Still the same problem with the previous two stories were seen to be present in this compilation such as having some of the texts not being easily readable due to its placement.

Overall, this compilation is worth the buy due to the twist that the writers had made to the fairy tails that most of us knew. The only downside is the placing of the texts. I only hope that this difficulty in reading the text won't appear in the next comics published by Black Ink Comics.

Note: Images were taken from the internet.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

The Mechanic's True Handbook

Written by: Peter Wallace

Illustrated by: Manix Abrera
(5/5 ★★★★★)

"The joys of the workshop leap from the pages as the insights this wonderful handbook provide takes you to another plane (where the wood is truly smooth).

Join us in an exploration of the workshop and the satisfaction it can truly bring. No true engineer or mechanic can afford to be without it." - www.nationalbookstore.com.ph

Needless to say, this is the same as my review with "Why You Need 3 Hands" made by the same writer and artist. An interesting insight made by Peter Wallace can be seen on page 3 where it says "KNOW IT ALL: Mechanics don't read instructions -- they know how to do it already." A thing most of us usually do upon purchasing things, such as a gadget, wherein we neglect to read the manual which could have given us a few tips to have a more enjoyable time with the product that we had just bought.

As for the illustration, Manix Abrera made use of one of the common characters seen in the Kikomachine Komix series, which is the guy whose eyes are rarely seen due to the cap he's always wearing. Well, just as the same with the book "Why You Need 3 Hands", it is a must buy for avid collectors and fans of Manix Abrera's works.

Note: Image was just a photo from my copy since I can't find a good picture uploaded on the internet.