Kung Fu Fighting Music Videos

I was sitting in front of the TV the other night when this video got my attention:

It's Sam Concepcion's cover of Kung Fu Fighting, the theme song of the animated movie Kung Fu Panda. Dreamworks is doing a Disney here in having regional artists record their own versions of music from the movie.

The other Asian to do a cover of the same song is a Korean - Rain Jung Ji Hoon:

Rain's version is a bit more subdued and more of a club or dance song compared to Sam's version which is definitely pop.

The American version is by Cee-Lo Green, who's got a more powerful voice than the other two:

Sam's video is more fun to watch though... Cee-Lo and Rain don't do much in their videos other than sing. Sam gets to do some fun acting in his.

Can't wait for Kung Fu Panda to be shown in Philippine theaters in June. I like Jack Black when he's doing animated movies... and I adore the not-animated movie where the role was perfect for him: School of Rock.

Movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Studios:	Paramount Pictures
Release:	May 22, 2008
Genre:	Action/Adventure and Sequel
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images.

My Yahoo! Movies Rating:

Overall Grade:	B-
Story:	C+
Acting:	B
Direction:	B
Visuals:	B

How do you explain 20 years?

It's been that long since the last movie: real time and plot wise. And a fifth of the movie is devoted to explaining what happened to the characters: who died, who got married, and who got himself lost in a jungle looking for a hidden city. Along the way Indy realizes that his side kick Mutt is actually his son. More or less, the writers are tying loose ends and if things go well, preparing the franchise for a new era where Mutt would probably replace Indiana Jones.

Bringing the movie to the 21st century are savvy action sequences and better special effects.

Early on, we find out that the plot involves aliens and their supposed role in ancient South American civilization ... antique collectors that natives regarded as gods.

The latter plot would work in another science fiction movie, but to bring it into an Indiana Jones flick would have some mutter "Oh please". Not everyone I know liked having aliens in the plot. I for one think that the plot has already been used in Stargate. For the record though I didn't hate the "alien" factor. What made it cheesy is the plot where the Nazis plan to use alien technology to control the minds of people. And Indy doesn't even make a snarky remark about the plan when he learned about it.

The action was enjoyable. Shia LeBeouf once more is able to blend seriousness while acting out a funny situation, which he was able to pull off well in Transformers. Harrison Ford shows everyone that getting old doesn't mean acting old. And finally, he ties the knot.

Fun as the ride was, I found that the impact of this movie is less compared to what I felt in the previous 3 movies. Maybe "world domination through mind control" had a lot to do with it... the argument for it wasn't convincing and menacing enough that I actually found it funny.

I walked out of the movie theater hoping a get better experience with the Mummy sequel.

American Idol Finals

When it comes to reality shows that are also singing contests, I preferred the shortlived Rockstar series to American Idol ... simply because I liked the songs they sing on Rockstar compared to song selections in Idol (there are exceptions). The American Idol finals though is always worth watching. What with the numerous guest stars and every contestant for the season coming back for production numbers.

Really loved the number where Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. played Gladys Knight's Pips.

Cool how Renaldo Lapuz returns to sing his Brothers Forever song, this time to a high school marching band.

Just in case you haven't seen this yet, following is a clip putting together two interviews Fox had with Lapuz:

Movie: Iron Man

Studio:	Paramount Pictures
Release:	May 2, 2008
Genre:	Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Adaptation
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content.

My Yahoo! Movies Rating:

Overall Grade:	B
Story:	B
Acting	B
Direction:	B
Visuals:	B

Credit the movies "Chances Are" and "Heart and Souls" for making me love Robert Downey, Jr. He is the reason I made a point to see this movie.

To be truthful, I thought it would suck, since I didn't think Ironman is one of the most popular Marvel superheroes - although it should have a solid fan base. There has also been too many superhero movies lately that it's hard to get excited by the release of yet another one. Finally, Downey seemed awkward or didn't fit well into the role based on what the trailer showed.

Surprisingly, this movie rocked! It's one of those cases where the movie is actually better than the trailer and not the other way around.

The writers did a good job at Stark's character development. They actually made me like Iron Man/Tony Stark. The secondary characters were interesting although there is little space for them to grow. This movie, befitting of the main character's ego, is all about Tony Stark. This has got to be the superhero movie that spent the least amount of time showcasing its main antagonist (Obadiah) or leading lady (Pepper).

Robert Downey, Jr. was wonderful as Tony Stark. He owned the character. He was not that great when in the suit. There were times when he looked awkward as Iron Man, like he was just pretending to be Iron Man instead of being Iron Man.

Jeff Bridges was great, I didn't know being a bald meanie fitted him well.

I don't know much about how Pepper should be, but Gwyneth Paltrow did a good job of not allowing her star status to dominate a scene since she played Pepper as a quiet, subtle, if sometimes unassuming person.

Terrence Howard was adorable as Stark's somewhat unappreciated friend... loved his reaction when he realized Stark was the unidentified bogey.

Shaun Toub portrayed Yinsen admirably, which is why it's sad that the character dies. It never occurred to me till now that Yinsen sounds like a Chinese name ... and that's because the original stories show him to be .... tadah! .... Chinese.

It surprised me to see Paul Bettany's name in the credits ... apparently he was the voice behind the computer named J.A.R.V.I.S.

Stan Lee makes another cameo looking like Hugh Hefner. Which was a hoot.

I was puzzled to see Jon Favreau playing a minor character that is more or less what I'd call an "extra", till I realized he was the director.

Favreau impressed me with this movie. He has shown that he knows what the moviegoer looks for in a superhero movie. Notice that I qualified it to "superhero movie". He he he! Try as I might, I find it hard to like "Zathura". I do like "Elf".

It was disturbing to think that the movie sends the wrong message to kids when it comes to the importance of wearing safety gear ... Stark slammed into a wall while testing his propulsion boots and didn't show any indication that he was hurt.

The visuals were good, starting with the cool hot-rod red armor. Loved the holographic computer most ... especially when you could actually throw what you have deleted into the trash bin! How's that for fun?

To top it all, Samuel Jackson appears as Nick Fury after all the credits (pity if you left the cinema while the credits were rolling), asking Stark if he knows about the Avengers Initiative.

I immediatly started having flashbacks of the Ultimate Avengers animated movie. One has to wonder what Marvel plans to do by putting in that scene ... is this related to a possible Iron Man sequel? Or perhaps an Avengers movie?

Hmmm ... anyway, congratulations to Marvel Entertainment for having a hit for its first self-produced film ... and kudos to Favreau for giving us a rocking movie.