User:Jedd the Jedi
About Me
Joined as a Wikipedian on 29 October 2006.
I am a Singaporean teenager who joined because his IP address was shared by some vandal, resulting in the author getting unpleasantly locked out from edit pages. As a member, I now have little to fear!
I enjoy movies a great deal, and have had a long-time interest in the film-making process. My favourite genre of film is action-adventure, in the vein of the classic Indiana Jones films. I have a great interest in special and visual effects in movies - who can forget the Star Destroyer chasing down the Rebel Blockade Runner in Star wars, the T-1000 dissolving into liquid metal in Terminator 2: Judgement Day or the eerie Spyders in Minority Report (film)? Among my favourite actors are Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep. Favourite movie directors include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, J. J. Abrams and Robert Zemeckis.
As of 2012, I am currently working as a contributor/writer to Singapore's F*** Movie Magazine (the three asterisks stand for 'film', 'fame' and 'fact') I really enjoy writing and have been writing movie reviews for fun since I was 12, and am grateful to be doing so semi-professionally now.
List of Favourite Films
Here we go,
Action Comedies/ Thrillers
As mentioned earlier, Action Comedies rank as my favourite genre. Which teenage guy doesn't like to seeing things get blown up, or enjoys a farcial gag or two? The appeal is undeniable. Further more, I love special effects: physical or CGI, they're all interesting. I love to analyse particular scenes and stunts, and look out for mistakes or trivia points. I'm no nitpicker, but that's where the average teenager and I differ.
As for thrillers, you completely can't be laughing all the time. Everything's heavier in these films: mystery, plot, action etcetra. This makes them all the more intriguing.
One last note: some of these films can be mixed up in other genres too.
- Rush Hour 2 (great stunts, chock-full of laughs)
- Who Am I (Quite the Jackie Chan fan, eh?)
- The Recruit (Colin Farrell looking smart for once)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Sean Connery! Harrison Ford! Steven Spielberg! George Lucas!)
- Tomb Raider (film) (believe me, it's not all about the padding...)
- Mr and Mrs Smith (My absolute favourite Hollywood car chase is in it...ridiculous but so much fun!!!)
- The Rock (film) (I mentioned something about Sean Connery earlier, did I?)
- Air Force One (film) (If only real US presidents had Ford's foreign policies!)
- Casino Royale (2006 film) (The much-needed reboot to the franchise, all gritty edge!)
- Enemy of the State (Packed with action and more intelligence than all the above combined, plus a virtuoso performance by a not-that-famous-yet Will Smith)
- The Bourne Ultimatum (film) (The perfect cap to the Bourne trilogy! Pacy, smart and very fun to watch.)
- The Fugitive (film) (fantastic work from two of my all-time favourite actors, a smart and quick-moving plot plus sufficient action to keep me placated)
- Executive Decision (fairly derivative, but with very solid action and performances by Kurt Russell and a not-that-famous-yet Halle Berry)
Sci Fi
In the realm of science fiction, anything's possible. I kinda think this genre bonds all others. There are science fiction action and comedy films aplenty, almost all fantasy is also science fiction (and vice versa), a ton of weird sci-fi thrillers, a couple of horror films, heck, there are even some sci-fi romances (The Lake House)! My personal faves (inclusive of alien movies, depictions of the future, superhero movies, disaster films etc) are listed below:
- Star Wars (all of them, though my absolute favourite is Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Intense and incredible)
- Batman Begins(This started me on Batman, and I haven't turned back since!!!)
- X2 (film) (The crowning middle piece of the trilogy, smarter and more appealing to fans than the first, and a far better balance than its messy wham-blam successor)
- Deep Impact (Touching, fab special effects and Morgan Freeman's in it!)
- Blade Runner (Now why should this be missing from any best-sci-fi list?)
- Virtuosity (An underrated gem that is deeper than it appears)
- RoboCop (Marvellous in its satire and unflinching jolly-good violence. Plus, you've got to give it to Peter Weller for that performance.)
- The Lost World Jurassic Park (good stuff, especially those CGI dinosaurs)
- Minority Report (film) (That one for sure! Mindbending sci-fi noir and lots of fun)
- Iron Man (film) (Stikes a near-perfect balance of not taking itself too seriously and not being silly either - oh, and Robert Downey Jr was nothing short of perfect in this film)
- The Dark Knight (film) (Awesomeness. Defined.)
Musicals
Truth be told, there aren't that many mainstream musical films that catch my fancy: the 2001 Moulin Rougue too risque and gaudy; the same can be said of the Chicago film as well. However, there is one...
- The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film) Is based on wonderful source material and is presented in epic cinematography. Emmy Rossum looked and sounded great as Christine Daae as well.
- Evita (film) Wonderfully atmospheric with a great period flavour and laudable performances from Madonna, Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce.
Dramas
I have to think and cry once in a while too, you know.
- Slumdog Millionaire (The little film that could-touching, funny and absolutely mesmerizing)
- Rain Man (a brilliantly-acted and completely unpretentious tale of tolerance and understanding)
- The Queen (film) (A sensitive and majestic portrayal of Her Majesty by the very talented Helen Mirren)
- Forrest Gump (A triumph on every level - story-wise, in terms of acting, effects and even music.)
Animation
Whoever said cartoons were just for kids was painfully wrong. I enjoy layered and complex animated pieces, the Batman animated films, Disney classics and of course Pixar's beautiful computer-generated work count among my favourites. High-quality artwork doesn't hurt either.
- Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (Surprisingly dark and stylised, very Batman-ish)
- Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (A much more intelligent and watchable alternative to-ugh-Batman and Robin)
- WALL-E (high concept, brilliant execution, remarkable animation)
- Finding Nemo (The original that spawned countless inferior copycats)
- Ratatouille (film) (A rat who wants to cook? Doesn't get more original than that.
- The Incredibles (A humourous take on the superhero genre that was mature yet irreverant and packed with eye-popping visuals.)
- Beauty and the Beast (1991 film) (My favourite version of the classic tale. That ballroom scene seals the deal for me.)
- The Little Mermaid (1989 film) (Ariel is my favourite Disney princess, and there're so many other things to like about this classic)
Notable-ish Contributions
I have created these articles so far:
- The mrbrown show
- The Touch (2002 film)
- T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous
- They Call Her Cleopatra Wong
- Batman Adventure - The Ride
- 8 Days (magazine)
- FiRST movie magazine
- Tomb Raider (comics)
- Chang & Eng
- Edwin Corley
- Young Justice (Animated Series)
Plus the relevant redirect pages.
Thanks for viewing my userpage!
Cheers,
Jedd the Jedi