In just over two weeks, I should be making my way back to normalcy. In fact, the days are starting to pass better. I’ve got proper internet access which means I do not have to depend on the connection of others. I’m able to check my mails and catch up on my RSS feeds.

There’s not much to watch on TV lately, apart from a few shows here and there.

Yesterday was the third time I’ve gone to the local cinema to catch a movie. It’s quite an ok experience, except for the intermission they always have in the middle of the show. This time around, it’s “Wall-E” for me. I would have prefered to wait until I got back to SG before watching it without any intermissions, but it’s hard to say if it’ll still be showing by the time I got back. For a movie of this calibre, it should still be screening in a few cinemas, but you’ll never know.

The movie is a pleasure to watch, just like other Pixar creations. It’s difficult to compare this with the other previous incarnations. My expectations are usually never high, so minor graphical glitches are usually acceptable. Unlike the other computer animated flick, Beowulf, which was generally ok except for some apparent visual shortcuts which caught my eye. Wall-E was top notch, with excellent visuals and really realistic dust effects. The story line was nothing very exceptional; typical “boy” meets “girl” type story which is explained by the rather obvious names and gender of the voices. It’s not often that the “girl” gets to save the day (hmm … spoiler? oops), but it’s a refreshing change. It looks quite far fetched too, but the sight of earth being the huge dumpster as was depicted is quite scary. Probably will not happen the way it is shown, since we have segregated dumping grounds, but that’s probably what will happen many decades later, with unrelenting consumerism and without any care for reusables or recycling. Just the simple act of purchasing second hand items would go quite a distance. I shall not digress any further…

For once, the end credits wasn’t a bore to watch. Just like one of the older Harry Potter movies, there were some simple graphics attached to the rolling end credits. Certainly makes it appear to pass much quicker as I sat in the cinema watching the text fly by, so much so that the cinema management eventually came up to say that the movie has already ended. As if we didn’t know.

Oh, there doesn’t seem to be any post-credit scene, even though I waited until the end. Pity.

Managed to catch Shark Water with Plain sunset just this evening. Was fortunate that there were still 2 shows left. Thinking that the popularity is already waning, I decided to get the tickets at the box office rather than booking it online. Surprisingly, the cinema was already half-full by the time I got there.

The cinema hall appears to be packed with non-asian people. Naturally so, since it is the asians who are the ones consuming the fins of sharks in the first place. The movie was not exceptionally long at all, but within it’s short film length, it showed the true colours of the fin trade through the eyes of the producer. Not to forget the colourful beauty of the ocean and the marine life; whale sharks, hammerheads and the elusive sea dragon. It even had a sizable portion aboard the Sea Shepherd, which I visited last year while in Australia.

I think the most hilarious part was the interview with a certain staff – probably director / owner – of a presumably local company which deals with the sale and distributorship of sharks fin. I would say definitely a Singaporean based on the accent and the look of the office background. He actually portrayed himself as rather misinformed. I had a good laugh whenever he appeared on the screen.

All in all, I pretty good docu-film which confirms the videos which most of us would probably have seen at one time or another; those of the inhumane slicing of the fins and dumping the barely alive shark bodies into the waters.

The ultimate cause of this is like any other – greed of men.

Wonder if the certain local guy in the film happened to watch this film. Would be interesting to know if he decides to change his ways!

Great movie which somehow, seemed much longer than it’s actual running time. The effects were simply top notch, as always, as with each new iteration of the series. No expense was spared, no doubt about it. Spiderman looks awesome as usual. Venom on the other hand, looked real cool and vicious. For once, it almost looked enticing to be a baddie at least for once. Sand man looked extremely superb too, with it’s … erm … sandy effects. For lack of a better word, sandy just underplays it. A lot of effort definitely went into the sand effects, considering the close-up shots with the millions of sand particles going into the texturing of the facials.

Somehow, I feel that it didn’t really explain how did the simbiote that is Venom get to earth, only that it dropped down from space. I’m sure the comic books would have elaborated on that part of the storyline a great deal. Since I didn’t read it, I don’t know much, except that it’s probably worth a good half a movie just to explain the coming of the Venom slime. At least they did to explain how did sandman come to be, although ti didn’t now really explain why was such a test facility so near to human existance, and that one would normally expect their test rigs to be at least a few miles away from any security fencing, realistically. But that’s not how it works in the movies anyway.

As with the past movies, there’s an underlying moral to it all – choices.

It’s been a really long time since Sandra Bullock came onscreen, with the last one being Miss Congeniality 2. I don’t remember catching that movie. However, this one is a must watch. She still looks just as good, despite her age.

When I first caught the trailer for the movie, I immideately decided on the spot that I will catch this show, no matter what. I didn’t even know that it was a remake of the Korea movie “Il Mare”. It didn’t bother me anyway, remake or otherwise.

It’s an interesting story line, about a Lakehouse with a mailbox which strangely happens to be in two different timezones at the same instance. Without which, the story wouldn’t have been possible anyway. What initially began as a routine message left in a mailbox by Kate (Sandra’s character) to the new owner to forward all mails gets picked up by Alex (Keanu’s character). The only difference is that Alex happened to be living two years ago.

It only came to light when Kate, having suffered stress at work decided to take a drive out to clear her mind and calm her nerves. She decided to revisit the Lakehouse, which she left. There, she discovers that the “new owners” of the house has received the message and left her his reply.

Soon enough, they both began to exchange messages through the mailbox / portal through time and started a relationship of sorts. Naturally, they tried all means and ways possible to meet-up, but with a 2 year gap inbetween them, anything can happen.

The twist to the show came right at the end, which explains how it all started. Still, it’s a wonder to me that since the reason for Kate’s initial stress at work was somehow adverted, there wasn’t any reason for her to go back to the Lakehouse, and thus, no exchanging of messages? But of course, if that were to happen, there wouldn’t be any story, wouldn’t there.

Oh, and interestingly enough, the “theme song”, Somewhere Only We Know by Keane, which happened to be featured in the trailer, was somehow left out of the movie.

and I wanna ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
I wanna drive it all night long …

That’s probably one of the main things which went into my head and got stuck inside, long after the movie ended. From the movie Cars, that’s what I’m talking about. Judging by what history has shown, every single one of Pixar’s movies, from Toy Story, to Monster Inc and The Incredibles, in my opinion has been a real winner. Not just graphically, but story wise also. All of them have a story to tell, with a meaning behind it all; provided you’re able to extract it. Cars has a real huge shoe to fit into, and thankfully, it’s one nice tight fit.

It’s a wonder that Pixar managed to infuse such humanistic and believable character and emotions into such an inanimate object, this case being a car. It’s quite a surreal, almost inimaginable feeling, just looking at the first few minutes of the show. It’s not easy to imagine that the character is a real human, taking the shape of a car, with four wheels as limbs, and the front radiator grille as a mouth. That, or imagining a car with the wit, emotions and feelings of a person. Eitherway, it’s just as difficult.

That’s the beauty of animation. It’s a make believe world, waiting to be created, as wonderous as you can imagine. As beautiful as you can imagine it to be. A story about self discovery, about life in the fast lane, with all it’s fame and glory. A story about slowing down and taking the time to smell the flowers growing by the side of the highway. When you reflect back on it all, it actually makes sense too. Life isn’t always about living in the fast lane. There is life too, where the pace is slow, where the air is fresher and the grass is greener. Or is it just me? A story about the ritz, the glory, the attitude and the self-centeredness and about learning to appreciate all that is around you. Learning to appreciate the finer things in life, not the the glam and the glitz.

Why make a movie with humans and what’s familar to tell a story. Why not take something which we (almost) take for granted in our daily lives, turn it into something believable, and then use that as a metaphor to tell the story. That is the ultimate test in story telling. That is what Pixar did, and I dare say that it excelled in it too!

I guess I’ll never look at a car the same way ever again.

Now, where is my Porsche 911 Carrera?

Contrary to what some might say, X-men is actually quite an entertaining piece of movie. It’s to be expected anyway, when you’ve got beautiful babes, hairy hunks and maniac mutants all in one movie. Entertainment wise, I’d give it a thumbs up. All the fav characters are there, with a few ones added. Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Prof X, Magneto, Mystique, you name it. There are even a few new ones too – Beast, Archangel and Psylocke. Colossus had more screentime too, compared to the second movie.

Entertainment value aside, the storyline, as with almost all hollywood movies have been modified to suit the masses. First, let me clarify that I don’t read X-men comics, and what I know are all from following the X-men cartoons and what I’ve read on the internet. Well, I’ve just discovered that Wikipedia is an excellent source for X-men and related info. It’s quite extensive too. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what i do know is that the Phoenix was supposed to be an entity from space, and not living inside Jean Grey all along, as was claimed in the movie. From the ending of the second movie, I was anticipating to watch the Phoenix saga on the big screen. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. It perhaps would appeal only to superhero and X-men fans alike, and that’s about it.

It’s also interesting that the script writers decided to kill off Cyclops, Jean Grey and Professor Xavier too, which of course, everyone who stayed till after the end credits that Professor Xavier managed to resurect himself. Magneto also appreared to have regained a little of his powers despite having been injected with the cure. Mystique is no longer too. Still, there is a slim chance that Mystique will make a reappearance, since Magneto regained a bit of his powers.

Will there be a fourth X-men movie? It remains to be seen, with a few of the heavyweight characters gone. My friend said that movies based on individual characters are in the works. It would be an interesting idea, but it’s still very much different. There’s so much chemistry going on, with a team that can’t be achieved with a single hero. The next X-men movie? Maybe they will fast-forward to the Age of Apocolypse and introduce Cable, Forge and Bishop?

I wonder …

Been a long time since I last watched a midnight movie. It must have been even longer since I last watch a Restricted (Artistic) movie. I did both just last weekend. Well, that’s making full use of your weekend!

I had to help up with a sport climbing course in the morning and afternoon, so the only movie I was able to watch was the later one. However, by the time I got to the shopping center, the only showtimes with good seating was the late ones. Ah well.

Brokeback mountain it was. And what a good show it was too. No regrets catching it, despite it being a “gay” flick as so many people have conveniently labelled it. All the more since I happened to be watching it with my other pal, who happened to be male too. Don’t start to have wild imaginations, mind you. It’s not time for that!

The show wasn’t exactly about gays in particular, although the two main leads happened to be of that inclination. Hey, it could even be about normal straight people, but I guess it wouldn’t have had much impact comparatively. I find that the underlying message I took back was one of supressed love. Suppressed mainly from the limitations and expectations of society in general. It’s the fear of repercussons from society, the stigma and the possible fallout that they may face from society, so much so that their underlying feelings were suppressed. It only goes to show the kind of effect it can have on the parties around them, and the domino effect it causes, especially when they long lost feeling was rekindled.

On the whole, it’s a great movie to watch. I think I’ll consider getting the soundtrack too.

Frankly speaking, to me it’s not just the lead character which is little in size. In fact, even the plot seems little in size to me. Little and thin, and in some places a little bloated up by force. Some of the laughter appeared to be induced not by chance, but by purposeful script writing.

The visual effects are … how would you put it, on par with the standards set by the other animation studios. All except for Final Fantasy: Advent Children. That is what I call truely top-notch 3D animation. The characters are very lifelike and fluid. Pity they arn’t real. Oh, what would any hot-blooded male these days just to make one of the female characters come to life?

I guess with Disney being Disney, Chicken Little is probably more catered to small school going kids than young adults. That’s where Disney’s target lie, and that’s where they are probably aiming at, compared to the studios of Pixar, Dreamworks SKG and Blue Sky.

It’s not just top notch 3D visuals which are required for a blockbuster hit, but also a top-notch plot which is slightly lacking. Knowing Disney’s track record in weaving great animation and wonderful storytelling, they’ve got much to catch up on.

Not exactly worth the SG$10 I paid to watch it.

This is one movie for Harry Potter fans. It’s dark, it’s on the edge, and it’s entirely magical – literally. Way darker than the previous 3 installments. I think even pirates would probably have difficulty making bootleg copies of this, although this doesn’t mean that they can’t. Pirates these days, being as ingenious as they come, will be able to find ways to overcome the darkness of it all.

It most certainly helps to have read the book / books which followed the series up till this point. Then again, it’s still ok if you haven’t watched / read any of the books. As long as you understand that the show is about a boy going to school, that’s probably good enough. Oh course, it’ll be good to note that it’s no ordinery school this boy in particular is going to, but a school of magic.

However, I guess the scriptwriters tried to pack as much as possible into two and a half hours of footage, and tried to be as true to the book as possible. Not much screen time was devoted to explain at the start of the show, how Harry Potter got to be with Hermione and Ron. Not much of the Quiddich World Cup was explained too, only that it regarded as highly as the Olympics or the Soccer World Cup. Even the aftermath of the world cup didn’t really make much sense to me. Either that, or perhaps I was too engrossed in the visuals of the show.

At least a little bit of screen time was devoted to explaining the works of the Tri Wizards Tournament for not-so Harry Potter fans like myself. Rightfully so, since the majority of this installment is focused on the tournament itself. The Ball at the middle of the show seemed a little out of place compared to the main theme initially. But I guess it was to highlight the fact that even all-powerful wizards and all-powerful wizards-to-be were as normal as everyone else.

Nothing was explained regarding the sequence of events leading up to the start of the movie. How the characters managed to get to where they were. Even the supposed escape from Azkaban wasn’t explained, It wasn’t central to the plot line of the movie, but I guess a little additional info wouldn’t hurt. Of course, that would probably up the running time of the show to 3 hours. One thing’s for sure, Albus Dumbledore seems to more “active” in this installment compared to the previous 3 movies. Mr V seems a bit of a let down though. I’d expect him to be … a little more sinister perhaps?

Still, it’s a movie worth catching. There’s the cool visual effects, there’s Harry Potter, there’s Hermione Granger and then there’s Cho Chang.

Simply put, this is one of the most amazing and cutest movie to date. The emperor penguins look so cool underwater as they look silly walking on land. The way they walk on land is just so hilarious. Even funnier when they decide to slide around on their tummies. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go check out the movie.

The baby penguins are the best. Ultra cute looking – as in adorable, but ugly too, in a way. Kind of like swans, since their hatchlings don’t at all resemble their adult versions. A mixture of white, black and grey, with spots in all the same places. Not even a hint of yellow, unlike the adult versions.

For those who have read the reviews in the Straits Times, just assume that the reviewer isn’t able to appreciate the soundtrack at all. The ambiant music is good. As for the parts with singing involved, it’ll take some getting used to, and some appreciation, but it’s quite nice. At least a refreshing change to the kind of soundtracks we are used to.

One thing to note. Strange as it may seem, and even I don’t know why. Of all the things it could have done, the English version of the movie wasn’t brought in. Only the french and Mandarin versions were brought in. Tell me, do the majority of the population speak English, or French? So why the hell did they bring in the French version and not the English one? A little bit lacking in the brain area, if you ask me. Maybe it’s a little more expensive, but so what? It’s English for crying out loud. It’s something understandable to us, unlike the French version. At the start of the show, I was torn between reading the subtitles or feasting on the visuals. It certainly is very difficult to read every word on the screen, and to digest every scene at the same time. Speaking of subtitles, I don’t understand the need for the mandarin subtitles since there already IS a mandarin version. Beats me.

Ultimately, it’s a movie worth seeing, mainly for the awesome visuals, and the really cute baby penguins. Do hope they finally decide to bring the English version in though. Else, I guess I’ll have to get the DVD when it’s available.