Conclusion of Dune

At long last the story ends... that's one hell of a long story. I remember when I wrote, 'It's not a Dune Novel if Duncan Idaho isn't in it.' Or something like that. Of course that doesn't include those where he wasn't born, yet. Anyway. Duncan Idaho is the Final Kwisatz Haderach. I never would have thoght of that. Though ghola's of Paul and Leto II were there, they weren't the Final ones.

It was pretty exciting for me, at least. There were the gholas of the prominent characters; of course, Duncan Idaho, Miles Teg (more of a clone), The Tyrant Leto II, Lady Jessica, Alia, Liet-Kynes and Stilgar, Chani, Two Paul Atreidieses (one is more of a clone), Barron Harkonnen, Doctor Yueh, Tufir Hawat, and the almost completed gholas of Gurney Halleck, Serena Butler and Xavier Harkonnen. There was also the creation of the Seaworms, which produces more potent spice known as ultraspice.

It didn't really end with a big bang. It's more of a.. how should I say it?... A "mental / intellectual" ending. Read it for yourself.

That brings the story 15000 Standard Years in length... at least. With 15 books... at least. With the coming of the Heroes of Dune trilogy, that would be 18 Dune novels. And there might be more to come. The good thing is we already know how everything started and ended. At least as far as the Final Kwisatz Haderach.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

A Lot of Movies Over the Weekend

So it's been a while since I saw a movie. What did I do? I watched a lot of 'em through the weekend. Actually, five of them.

Let's start with Wanted.

This stars James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman. Neat-o cast so far. The plot: A freternity of assassins who keeps the balance. They get the names of their targets through binary code hidden in fabrics. Interesting. James is the newbie. Angelina is the veteran. Morgan is the boss. There are tiwsts and turns in the movie and the narration is quite ammusing. "What have you been doing, loser?"

Neat tricks with the curving bullet. Some might not like the ending just because the assassins die at the end. That includes Jolie but not the main guy, McAvoy. Yes, Freeman dies, too. Spoiler.

Next up would be the comedy movie, You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

This is one of Adam Sandler's happy-go-lucky movies. He just usually goes with what he has and never really thinks of what might come out of it.

This stars his usual cast of characters. Yes, Rob Schneider is here. He always is in every Sandler movie.

The plot: The best Israeli counter-terrorist has a dream of becoming a hair dresser. And his arch-enemy, Phantom, the Palestinian terrorist, played by John Turturro, has a dream of becoming a shoe salesman. Quite unique.

Overall, it's a funny movie. But I'd only watch it once.

Next is the attempt to put into shame the super-hero genre. Well, not real shame, but to give a human side to it. Hancock. As far as I'm concerned, giving a human side to super-heroes was done in Spider-Man.

This stars Will Smith as the super-hero, Hancock. Not his real name.

The plot: He's not really the most responsible super-hero. He does more damage than good. And he doesn't give a f*** what people think. Yeah.

However great the plot is, it fell short in the story-telling department. The story went from A to B in the blink of an eye. Not much there.

Next is Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. Well, not exactly Verne's version. This is modern and the people in the movie, all three of them refers to the book. The book is more of their map.

Brendan Fraser is starting to become a houshold name when it comes to adventure movies. With the string of The Mummy moveis and this one, he's like a modern Harrison Ford.

The effects were so-so and the story quite fast. Well, there were really just three of them for the most part of the movie. It got a little bit boring as it went on with just the journey in and out of the Earth.

Finally, The Increadible Hulk.

Interestingly, this movie follows the movie, Hulk. However, it does not exactly pick-up where the last movie left off. Hey. It may be a stand-alone move altogether even without the previous one. Heck, the entire cast is even new. No Erick Bana, no Jennifer Connelly, and no Sam Elliot. Now there's Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, and William Hurt.

Comparing with the previous movie in terms of story, this one's a tad bit better. The effects, this is newer so this is better. Story's still fast like the last one. Overall, they're both pretty much the same.

I like the clincher at the end though. Tony Stark, Iron-Man, with Ross. Does this hint a team-up to capture the Hulk or does it hint the formation of the Avengers? We'll know in time.

There you go. Five movies over the weekend. . . That's quite a lot.

Juken Sentai Gekiranger Vs. Power Rangers Jungle Fury Part 2

Wow. . . A whole month without an entry. Almost two months if I didn't put this one up. Just busy, I guess.

I may have have said 'kudos' to PR Jungle Fury on its first few episodes, giving the US version a wee bit of original touches. Everything would have been nice until I saw the episode where they turn into Jungle Fury version of Super Gekiranger. Seriously. You'll get yourself a Super Geki-Claw when you battle your inner fears. It would have been a lot better if the Masters would have given them the Claws.

Next up. The arrival of the Wolf and Rhino Rangers. The wolf's entry was better than the rhino's. I guess the Power Ranger franchise still can't get enough of its "copying". Neil Patrick Harris look-a-like, Rhino Ranger, did the same trick Ken (Geki Chopper) did in Gekirangers, an orange blade from his fingers.

Some say that Power Rangers are better than Super Sentai maybe bacause it's the second time around and some bumps are buffed. I beg to differ. Or maybe because a lot more people understand English than Japanese. This makes more sense. I've said it before and I'll say it again. One thing's for sure. There would be no Power Rangers without Super Sentai.