from anime to live action movies

Beck

I loved the anime. It's about a shy boy who befriends a talented guitarist and they go on to a wildly successful rock band Beck. 

GANTZ

The manga is notable for its alien gore and babe galore so I was really surprised to learn that it's being adapted for the big screen. The use of CG in the manga comic is already pretty impressive so I'm looking forward to catching this at the theatre. There's no sign of the aliens in the trailer; I wonder which of the gruesome, ugly, ridiculous ones will appear in the movie... (Off hand I can remember the Shinto god statue aliens, dinosaur aliens inspired by Jurassic Park, giant-bird-in-human-body aliens!)

寝られないんだ。。

日曜日なのに、６時起きてしまった。まだ疲れているけど、寝られないなああ。昨日、映画が三部見た。

フィシュストリ

＜ミメミメ＞はさっきフィルム祭り見た映画（＜空気人形＞と＜水の花＞）と同じ。主人公は寂しくて幸せに探していた女の子たちだ。ちょっと悲しい気持ちあった。運良く次の２部映画は違った。＜フィシュー.ストリー＞は面白いし、可笑しいし、楽しんだ。最初にプロットは半分分からなかったけど、映画の最後２０分と明白になった。大好きな映画だった。

 LIVE TAPE

最後、＜LIVE TAPE＞はすごく斬新なフィルムだ。ショットは一つだけ、カットしなくて、面白いんだ。

8th asian film symposium... what a great opening night

As we sat on the posh leather lean-back seats in the picturehouse theatre, ah tan, jo, j-ho and i started gushing about the fabulous deal j-ho got for us tonight. for a mere twelve bucks, we were able to stand first in the buffet line for a delightful spread of local dishes that included very delicious curry chicken in the vip lobby, with second helpings to boot!

kiasu hounds we may be, we were not there solely for the pre-reception food. the main attraction of the event - opening night of the 8th asian film symposium organised by the substation - is the back-to-back lineup of two asian films, 'kawaii' and 'lovers on the road'.

both films fall somewhere in the seldom trodden reaches of the love genre. in 'kawaii', a japanese man and a taiwanese woman come togther for a transient relationship on a roadtrip to another town in taiwan. 'lovers on the road' continues the underlying theme of travel; a hongkong couple relocates in beijing in this long-drawn break-up movie in which separation is painfully inevitable. boy doesn't meet girl and live happily ever after. i'd prefer happy endings, but the whimsical travel scenes worked for me anyway.

it is a pity the theatre was not fully booked. it was an enjoyable sunday night of films. at least there wasn't a crowd jostling for the buffet.

check out the rest of the programmes at the substation website.

erm.. ayat ayat cinta..

On what would otherwise be a dreary day of job interview, i went out for dinner and a movie with angela. she wasn't as quiet as she was the last time we went out and she still giggles like a schoolgirl which i found rather cute and she brightened my day. The sashimi at Akashi Paragon was delicious! It was soft and had a tinge of sweetness. Delicious. The restaurant is a little pricey though, but i didn't mind as i haven't been out in a long time. i didn't even know the link between citylink and suntec was complete until yesterday.

After dinner we went to catch the Indonesian movie, Ayat Ayat Cinta. Of course, it was the smart lass's choice; i had suggested Indy Jones. Her other choice was a movie called Angel, a polar opposite of Cinta. Angel is a movie set in Edwardian England, and is rated M18 with many sensuous scenes from what i see in the trailer. Cinta is about an Fahri, an Indonesian graduate student at the esteemed Al Azhar university in Cario, who's never had physical contact with a woman except his mother and relatives.

After the movie, angela remarked how 'powerful' and 'touching' the movie was, while i had question marks swarming in my head. At least we agreed on the parts where the corny music and the dramatic scenes felt so painfully artificial and cheesy. Probably I don't understand Islam culture at all, especially regarding its views on the issues of women and polygamy, which were dealt with in the movie. What baffles me is that the women in the movie actually wanted to marry that guy when he is already married to a woman he loves. I think the movie questions the existence of love in polygamy as well, but it conveniently kills off the second wife and leaves its audience with a 'happy' couple. It was a strange movie for me, albeit rather well-acclaimed and being a positive portrayal of Islam that has no terrorists in it.

Driving to Zigzigland

This film is hilarious!

霍元甲 (Huo Yuan Jia)

I just watched Jet Li's 霍元甲/Fearless, supposedly his last martial arts movie. I had been tempted to watch it since the KBox session with the history boys the other day. Both Ah Ben's rendition of Jay's song and the action in the music video impressed me lots.

Anyway, I loved the movie. It has the usual kungfu message--"thou shalt not fight unnecessarily, ye kungfu kid," but this is the first time Jet Li is playing the antihero since my childhood days of seeing him in that righteous pigtail. So it's a little disturbing, at least until after his redemption.

Set in the late Qing period, the movie plays up the Chinese cultural pride as Li's earlier Wong Fei Hong films, albeit in a less chauvinistic, anti-imperial tone. Probably as a response to the tense East Asian relations, the central theme is friendship and harmony. Huo Yuan Jia beats the American boxer but does not kill him; and the boxer declares Huo victorious. Huo perishes in the hands of the wicked Japanese businessman, but fights a final honourable duel with the Japanese warrior.

Some snotty professor said this is what history should be really about... My classmate can write a good paper on Chinese civil society through a study of Huo Yuan Jia's Pure Martial Arts Association (精武体育会) that really existed and historians can dismiss the movie as fiction, but ultimately this excellent movie uses the past to advocate a peaceful present. Oh, and the action and Matrix effects raawwkz too!! =)

たそがれ清兵衛

Tasogare Seibei is such a beautiful samurai movie..

La Vie En Rose

I listened to an Indian version of song a lot in my brother KC's car without knowing how famous it is until I watched the movie La Vie En Rose, an enchanting biopic of the rollercoaster life of legendary French singer Edith Piaf. The moving soundtrack and Marion Cotillard's tantalizing portrayal of the petulant yet endearing Piaf make this movie a must-watch! :)

Alice: "I amuse you but I bore you."

I just watched the movie Closer on DVD a second time. I'm not big on love stories but the first time I watched it when Grette was halfway through it. Aside from Queen Amidala's outstanding role as a stripper, what really struck me was the wrenching scene when her character Alice realized her love for Dan is over:

Dan: I love you.
Alice: Where?
Dan: What?
Alice: Show me. Where is this 'love'? I can't see it. I can't touch it. I can't feel it. I can hear some words but I can't do anything with your easy words.

Lady Luck is smiling at me; I managed to borrow the screenplay by Patrick Marber from the library!

Protege

The buzz coming from award nominations, star power and the raving comparisons to the massively successful Infernal Affairs didn't convince me that the recent HK movie Protege will not be just another rip-off of the Infernal Affairs. Instead, it has completely shattered my entrenched perception of the dearth of the thought-provoking genre in popular HK movies. The brooding movie takes an honest look at the dangerous and destructive heroin addiction from both the perspectives of the addict and the pusher. Caught between the two is Daniel Wu's role as narcotics agent struggling to understand why they cannot extricate themselves from their involvement with heroin.

ok, I love the movie but it's 4am on the first day of the lunar year and I don't have the mental capacity to discuss the movie nor disclose any spoilers for now.

Happy CNY and Gong Xi Fa Cai.

spiderman 3 is coming

Caught a glimpse of the new spidey movie trailer at cineleisure last week when I was there for flyboys. it's slated for a summer release and i can't wait to see spidey in his black costume and perhaps venom in cg glory too!