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Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2013

Cups

It MUST take something epic for me to start writing haha ._. >.<

Was planning on writing a post (i've totally forgotten about wad) since my relatives went back. After they went back, I was busy for a period where I was doing some temporary jobs. Gotta save for my grad trip ya know. Then school started and some of the work continued and I nvr ever got to coming back here to write a post.

Now, maybe 2 hours ago, as usual I go on youtube and start linking here and there and arrived at frosty the snowman by uuuuuuuukewithme. Then in related videos there were many cups videos. This cups craze like just started recently and I realised that its due to this "Pitch Perfect" movie last year in 2012. Started hopping and I even found a Cimorelli version. N being me, I totally went off track, started looking at Cimorelli stuff rather than cups vids and zomg they have really gone very far since I first watched one of their videos I guess one or two years ago, I carn really remember. They have a VEVO account now O.o wow.


This video was posted in 2009 so I guess we can safely assume that they didn't jump onto the bandwagon with this recent craze thanks to the internet.


Cimorelli's EP, pretty nice song =)

Anyway, this cup song is really cool haha at least the multitasking skills of all those who've tried made me awed. I wanna try it in Europe haha in front of the Eiffel or Colosseum HAHA and record it or something. Recently having this crazy thought to record something in front of all these monuments I'll be going. Like really, when would I have a chance to do this again? Plus I most probably wouldn't be meeting all these strangers in those lands anytime in my life again so it's ok for me to act crazy and silly with my antics =D
My dream is coming true ^^

My latest obsession haha the Enneagram.....and I just realised that the Myers-Briggs personality types could also be applied into this Enneagram. I have already forgotten which type I am. But I do remember that it does change during your lifetime. While the Enneagram, its said that the personality type is inborn and thus doesn't change, because the type indicates the motivations you possess behind things and decisions you make in your life, so subtly on the outside you may change but your motivations remain the same.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

I choose to spend 100 days with Mr. Arrogant in 2012

Three movies!
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100 Days With Mr. Arrogant
100DaysWithMrArrogant.jpg 100 Days With Mr Arrogant

Disgustingly funny movie. Like it is funny due to some disgusting scenes as well as some not so very innocent scenes, which I doubt I would have understood the humor behind it if I had watched it like in secondary school. See how my mind has become polluted over the years? =-= I am afraid that next time kids will have no problem watching NC16, M18 comedies and end up understanding them perfectly fine. I think the way they determine movie ratings need to be constantly updated.

SPOILERS

Anyway, both the leads are eye-candy, so even when the acting becomes overboard act-cute for Ha Ji Won’s part, you overlook it. You can also overlook the not so good CGI at the bungee jumping scene thanks to the pretty enough faces of the characters.

I don’t like the build-up of their love story. It is similar to BOF’s Jan Di and Jun Pyo in a way, Like I do not get to witness the growth of their love, how it was nurtured. There weren’t enough scenes to show the changing attitude of the two towards each other, in my opinion. Although it was shown that the male lead started to be nicer to the girl but I don’t know leh, there is a lack of feel? The only sweet scene besides the happy ending scene was the part where they were saying good night to each other through sms and the guy was gonna type a reply in a similar sweet tone as the girl’s but ended up deciding against showing his true feelings. That part to me is more significant and is more useful to the plot than the rest of the story which doesn’t flow too well. It made me go “Ah-ha! Caught you! You have fallen in love with her.” There was supposedly this other scene (the bungee jump one) that is supposed to have a similar effect but it fell flat because of the pathetic CGI and cuz the lack of interaction between the two while the girl lay in hospital downplayed the whole significance of that scene. They spent like a few seconds filming in that room with the guy sitting there and then getting up, then the girl finally open her eyes. They could have planned for the guy to like hold her hands at least, but no. Or better yet say some mushy stuff that reveal his feelings but then the girl was still knocked out so didn’t hear. I thought that is the standard formula of most romantic shows? Maybe the director is trying to break out of the norm but ahem, the whole story is still sorta predictable, so...haiz.

I did like the flow of things after their 100-day anniversary though. A try at a plot twist there, and the twist made sense. And those lights near the river was so cool!!! I do wonder though, why the girl never start hitting the guy (jokingly, of course) after learning the truth of him ganging up with her mum, her current tutor and even her college to trick her. Thought that is a good formula to follow – girl hits guy although she is obviously relieved and happy and then the guy grabs her hands and they kiss. Feels very standard kinda thing to me. And since romantic shows are usually very predictable to start off, might as well go on and follow the standard formula and have fans go aww and cry at all the specific moments in the film. I guess can just watch this very predictable movie for eye candy and to while away time when you feel like doing nothing at all.
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Choose
This was supposed to be some thriller film. Not a horror or scary kinda film but also not very thrilling.

SPOILERS

The twist wasn’t a very OMG-WHAT-THE-HELL twist, but an ok twist. I do get the motivation behind the psycho’s actions, trying to take revenge (as it mostly is).  The whole movie feels like a failed SAW-impersonating movie, where victims are forcibly asked to choose between two impossible choices, both which brings pain and suffering. It is also shown that the victims were all chosen for a reason, but I think that the torturing parts were not enough (3, 4 if you count the sheriff) and the connection was made late and wasn’t strong enough an impact. And the ending confused me a lot. I understood that the creepy guy Fiona saw in the hotel was the lover of her mother but I am confused as to if he had a part in egging her half-brother, the torturer, to take revenge or if he was part of the action all along., cuz the movie ended after his identity was revealed. The actors did a decent and believable job though.

Overall, I thought it was a waste of my time as not only was the plot weak but even the scares and torture wasn’t deliciously evil or disgusting.
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2012
The effects were good, and all the close-calls when it came to running away from the disaster made it nerve-wracking as the audience is made to sit on the edges of their seats hoping the characters could get out of the place in time and then heaving a sigh of relief along with everyone when they do succeed.

SPOILERS

There was some like “humans should fight for each other” message but then like the vigilant citizen website (http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-hidden-symbolic-meaning-of-the-movie-2012/) said, it was more of “the rich will survive and the rest of you shall die”. The movie makes sense in that indeed, a lot of capital is needed in order to build all these humungous ships. The website is correct in pointing out that although Dr. Helmsley made a speech about how humans should fight for each other, he didn’t volunteer to like give up his seat whatsoever to those other poorer, less-privileged people who have all been left behind to die. He only “realizes” his wrongdoing perhaps, near the end and takes action. But so many are already dead, a bit late huh? But I guess this is where “it’s never too late for anything” comes in. After all, his speech saved the rich, who were the one who funded this whole thing. I think it is dumb that they wasted so many precious seconds debating and voting on the ships whether or not to open the doors for the rich who were almost left behind because there was no time. And I want to know what happens afterwards. Do the rich simply forget about how they were almost abandoned and make peace to continue life on Earth or will they bear a grudge and only start the quarrelling etc after they reach Africa safely and cannot be threatened by the ship’s controllers to be thrown overboard?

The vigilant citizen complains that disaster movies always depict the layman as a bunch of irrational, rowdy people that required shepherding, but I think that this is not entirely untrue. People do panic and forget how to think rationally in times of despair and this isn’t something to be ruled out.

I think just watch the movie without reading too much into anything is good haha hopefully you won’t be subconsciously trained to think a certain way about certain stuff after watching movies with supposed “hidden meanings”.

Monday, August 6, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises

Thanks to omy.sg and Domino's Pizza, I not only got to catch The Dark Knight Rises for free but also got posters, collectible The Dark Knight Rises glass cups and free Domino pizzas (in the form of vouchers)!!! =D



I remember seeing Domino's in Korea and it was then endorsed by Kim Soo Hyun.
Apparently, now it's not =( but anyway, I didn't get to try Domino's in Korea either as we were only eating the pizza selling within campus and any other pizza that school events ordered (which wasn't Domino's for some reason). Now I'll get to try it in Singapore...soon haha then I'll have to right to comment about its taste. Although there is no direct comparison, if Domino's in Korea is close to the national standard of pizzas over there, Domino's Singapore has quite a lot of expectations to live up to. The healthy pizzas there are seriously HEALTHY. No joke. Like your fingers won't even get oily after eating and I would describe the crust as more chewy than dry. This in comparison to the "healthy" choices we have here, ha, no competition at all. And they have fillings like sweet potato that surprising goes pretty well with the toppings and I don't really feel sick of it even after eating several slices.



Wakao look at that dough falling...drools...but since Domino's didn't even start from Korea, let's put this aside haha. From perusing through the webbie of Domino's here, I think they set high expectations for themselves too, service wise at least, with 30 minute delivery and 15 minute takeaway guarantees. I remember always hearing on the other side of the phone that at least 45 minutes or sometimes an hour (peak hour) is needed for delivery when I placed orders, but I've not ordered pizza since I left for Korea so eh, not sure if the situation has turned for the better, but still kudos to Domino's for this kinda guarantee. Damn, I am getting hungry @.@

Ok done with food for now!!! Until I taste it for myself.

Collection of tix and goodie bags at GV Vivocity




Pictures of what was in the goodie bag
stickers, why no joseph gordon-levitt?! =(
the limited edition glass that Domino's Pizza was giving away with purchase of certain items
3 posters in total for one goodie bag. still no joseph gordon-levitt =(




On to the movie! =D so awesome~ was supposed to go watch with friends after I caught The Dark Knight on channel 5 and the new one came out in cinemas but then due to some schedule issues, the plan fell through. So great that I managed to get this chance to watch, although it only officially started screening around 9.20pm+ and ended at around 12 midnight, causing the audience to all rush out to catch the last buses of the day. The timing was a bit awkward...heng we got onto the last bus, if not would have to have taken a taxi and cost a bomb to get to my house O.o I found it weird that we were asked to register from 7.30pm onwards but we could only enter the theatre at around 9pm (although it was stated on the event invite that we could at 8.30pm). Oh wells, I think there must be some admin stuff going on. And I expected a mini pizza reception instead of receiving vouchers so it was O.o when they started distributing the food vouchers to us while waiting in the cinema.

There was a short speech by the marketing manager of Domino's where she mentioned that this is most successful movie collaboration (with The Dark Knight Rises) out of those that Domino's has done so far. They were giving away special limited edition glasses (which we were given for this movie event) with purchase of The Dark Knight Rises meal or The Rising Add-on Bonus, but the promotion just ended today (5 August). Hopefully they will do collabs for Catching Fire and Mockingjay *fangirls*

Then the movie finally started! YAYS *some spoilers*

I remember a while back hearing some random guy talk about the movie on the mrt. He commented that The Dark Knight was better and that the latest installment doesn't make sense. I agree with the first part, I disagree with the second. I liked how the second movie in this trilogy revolved around the theme of having a good and evil side to everyone and about trying to suppress that evil/bad side of yours. I especially liked the part where two boats of civilians and criminals were set up against each other by The Joker. It goes to show the darker side in humans where even though we have not erred before, we might not think twice to do something if it's to save our own asses. Selfish - that's what we truly are. It's just a matter of having more self-control to keep your nature in check, or the world is doomed. I totally loved how the movie managed to point this out very beautifully - making me start to support the Joker and want the good people to blow up the other ship first just to prove the point XD yes i nearly went as psycho as the Joker himself. For this movie, the true cowardly and selfish nature of humans are again shown. The rest of the nation leaves Gotham city to their own devices when threatened by a nuclear bomb going off should there be outside intervention.

I pity Tom Hardy who acts as Bane. It's gonna be hard for people to judge him for his acting skills as most of the time he has this oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth, and he has to rely on his eyes only to portray any emotion (erm not much emotion to be shown with this character either). Basically, it isn't a role that's gonna allow him to shine + he's wearing that uncomfortable mask and very uncomfortable long coat + he has Heath Ledger's Joker as his villain predecessor who was scary yet beautiful in his acting.

The major twist in this movie is quite awesome. I guessed that Miranda was nothing good but as the movie went on and she didn't do anything evil, I gave her benefit of the doubt. Totally didn't recognise the first sign of her being a villain - the truck marked by Gordon and his team as the one transporting the nuclear core was actually a decoy; Miranda helped measure the radioactivity or something for that particular truck and identified it as high readings of radioactivity and thus the correct truck. I just thought that Bane found out what they were doing and changed trucks =-=
While Bruce was stuck in the well-like prison that Ra's al Ghul, then later his wife and child, used to be held, it was constantly mentioned by the characters inside that the child of Ra's al Ghul was the only one who has managed to escape from there before. After a sighting of Ra's al Ghul's apparition, Bruce in his physically and mentally broken state deduced that Bane is that child and started bucking up and recovering so that he could go back to save his city. Flashbacks also showed a child that we are assumed was male with his/her very short hair that's close to bald. Turns out that child is a female and Miranda Tate at that.

The ending of the movie does a nice summing up - showing that carrying away the nuclear core and having it explode above water didn't kill Batman/Bruce (he managed to run a patch installing auto-pilot on The Bat), how Bruce is now living a new life (with Selina Kyle/Catwoman) as Alfred once mentioned he hoped he would have and John Blake revealing his registered legal name to be Robin and then making his way to the Batcave (though I'm still unsure how he got the coordinates, I think I blinked somewhere for too long or sth haha).

The action and CGI was good, storyline was okok. I liked the score!!! Builds up the tension very well. I liked Anne Hathaway's acting! I think it's also because her character is in a dilemma and thus have more emotions to perform. Robin/John Blake was a bit boring and I still don't like Commissioner Gordon's continuous lies/coverups. I vote for Gotham to know who Batman was, for this movie, I don't get the point in not revealing since he is thought to be dead anyway and most prob not coming back. The "anyone can be Batman" hope and crap thing that Bruce stood by doesn't make sense to me =-= Do the kids that saw The Bat blowing up together with the nuclear core believe Batman survived it?

I want a new trilogy or something!! With Robin officially inside too, as a sidekick or as a lead I don't care. I want Joseph Gordon-Levitt to reprise his role, that's it.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Mr. Nobody (2009 movie)

My mind is totally jumbled!!! gyahhhhhhh

I think I just spent almost 4 hours watching a 2 hour movie, and this is exclusive of the little breaks in between and dinner. "Mr. Nobody" is sick, and I am not sure myself whether it is in a good way or bad T.T I'm just really confused and quite speechless right now. I had to rewind and rewatch a lot of scenes along the way, so if I caught this in the cinema I would have died of frustration and confusion once I came out. Or maybe I'll just bang my head against the cinema floor after the movie.

Anyway, another reason why I took double the time needed was because while rewinding, I was also attempting to make notes and figure out how many different possibilities/dimensions the movie was portraying. I remember I wiki-ed this movie previously when I found it on youtube and read that it was confusing but I totally forgot until I watched it =-= and I think wiki did mention the different scenarios and all that too but I shall type out what I managed to sieve out before reading wiki again haha, to prevent overwriting of opinions.

My (hopefully correct) analysis/deduction is that there were these scenarios playing out in the little kid(Nemo)'s mind:
  • Went with mum, rejected Anna's offer to swim with her and her friends, ends up meeting Anna and her kids many years down the road and regrets
  • Went with mum, swims with Anna and ends up "brother" and "sister" as Nemo's mum and Anna's dad gets together, but they stay as lovers who are eventually separated as Anna and her dad moves away after the parents' separation, meet several years later and vows to meet again by the lighthouse but rain smudged the number Anna asked Nemo to contact her at
  • Went with mum, swims with Anna and ends up with her eventually in adulthood, Nemo becomes some "host" for some science/philosophy program but ends up drowning while trapped in the car after swerving into the river on the way back home from work
  • Went with dad, Nemo falls in love with Elise but gives her up when seeing her with Stefano, the man she loves, and goes out venting in a motorcycle and gets into an accident, falls into a coma
  • Went with dad, Nemo doesn't give Elise up but after their wedding they get into an accident and Elise dies, Nemo keeps his initial promise of spreading her ashes on Mars, there he meets the other scenario Anna who is studying time and a collision between meteorites and their space shuttle kills both of them
  • Went with dad, Nemo doesn't give Elise up but after bearing 3 kids together, Elise is falling into depression and neglecting her duties as a mother and wife, being unable to forget about Stefano her first love and eventually leaves Nemo when she can no longer take it
  • Went with dad, Nemo doesn't give Elise up and instead decides to marry the first girl that dances with him at some ball, Elise ignores him and dances with Stefano and to spite her, Nemo dances with Jeanne and bringing her home on his motorcycle, making a list of things to accomplish - marrying Jeanne, having two kids, owning a house and convertible etc, but ends up bored with his life after accomplishing all and do some coin-flipping again to decide what actions to take and eventually assumes the identity of a man named Daniel Jones, causing him to eventually be shot in the head after coming out of the water in the bathtub
Confusing much, eh. By the way, apparently it is revealed near the end that most of the 2 hours of movie you have been watching were just going on in the mind of 8/9 year old Nemo. Just a figment of his imagination of the consequences of choices he made. And the opening of the movie simply showed the ways he died after making different choices.

Ok done with reading wiki (again, since I forgot its contents from the first time), YAY my scenarios are quite accurate haha but seriously, if its gonna take rewinding to piece the puzzle pieces together, then I think it isn't such a good idea to watch it in cinemas, renting a DVD is better. And I totally didn't take note of the colour schemes - red for passion/love (Anna), blue for depression (Elise), yellow for materialistic stuff (Jeanne). But now that I read it on wiki, yea I think I remember Jeanne being associated with yellow and Anna with red but not so much of blue for Elise. I guess the colour schemes were considered pretty subtle, not in-your-face kinda thing so we really need to be more attentive to catch it.
File:Mr. Nobody girls.jpg
The little girls who said Hi to the child Nemo, in their colour schemes
I liked how the movie incorporated butterfly effect, pigeon superstition and all that into the movie. The examples of how a low quality shoelace eventually caused the boy Nemo to lose his shoe while running, hindering him from getting to his mother, and also of how the adult Nemo choosing a cheaper pair of jeans caused a factory to relocate from Brazil to elsewhere and caused the unemployment of a man who boiled an egg few months down the road causing a micro climate that resulted in rain, which caused the ink noting Anna's contact number to run, and thus Nemo lost contact with Anna after managing to find her with much luck after many years. My god, this movie review is making me type uber long sentences that are hard to read and digest, like the movie itself =-=

One problem with me is that I like to do mental calculations, of the addition and subtraction form mostly. Its almost like OCD. So when it was stated in the movie near the beginning that the character was born in 1975 and the year now is 2092 and a newspaper said that the guy is 118 years old, the wheels in my head started turning and I concluded that there is some calculation error, he should be 117 unless we take the guy's Korean age XD but anw, few minutes more into the movie, there was a mention that he is 117. =-= ok this was random.

Anyway, the 117 year old Nemo said to the journalist talking to him for half of the movie "What do you see when you look at me?......etc" and I was like O.o cuz i remember reading it on some shared link on facebook. I googled it and apparently it was just phrased quite similarly to this poem written by this old man and spread by nurses. And since this poem was already posted in that thread in 2007 and Mr. Nobody is a 2009 movie, even if plagiarism is the case, its the scriptwriter's fault (but the content isn't exactly the same, just the contents of how the old man remembers himself as a young boy then young man).

Other little stuff that they focused on, maybe not of the very confusing but undeniably smart and artistic way of portraying life and choices, but directing (and erm issit called screenplay) wise, when the adolescent Anna and Nemo were getting intimate they filmed his/her (no idea) hair standing, like really starting to stand. Like omg. And also how when he sorta wake up from each scenario to jump to another, he will call out the name of the woman in another scenario. Ok bad explanation =-= simply put: when he woke up in an Anna dimension/situation, he called out for Jeanne when awoken; called Anna when in an Elise situation; called Elise when he woke up to Jeanne.

I am still confused yet awed at the same time so this cannot even really be considered a review, more like spoiler or rather guide to understanding this movie if I should decide to watching it a second time much later to see if I get further insights (highly doubt so). And the hibernation thingy for trip to Mars reminds me of that in Prometheus, which I haven't reviewed although it was eons ago when I watched it =-=

Ok abruptly end here cuz i need to ZZZ

UPDATE (2/8)!
I am fully awake now haha
I love Jared Leto's eyes!!! Really O.O very piercing and blue. I could drown in them. They managed to find a kid and an adolescent with similar eyes too but theirs not as scary and creepy. In the opening scenes, we can see the various situations in which Mr. Nobody will lose his life depending on his choices in life and one of them is the one where he gets shot in the head and we see him like knocked out dead and eyes still WIDE OPEN. Very freaky =-= and I realised that he does have a resemblance at certain angles and with a certain hairstyle (he had quite a few different hairstyles in the movie but I didn't take note if they had any symbolism/hint about the storyline).
see!!! its really O.O and looks like zac efron here

His eyes I guess are the more shocked look kind haha compared to the intense kind of piercing eyes like Ian somerhalder's.
maybe it's really just due to the size of the eyes
Gyahh I wish I could have light eye colour, so nice!!! T.T

Ok ahem, to comment about the acting, honestly, I didn't really take note, cuz the storyline alone was tough enough for me to take in. But I know for sure that Jared Leto didn't disappoint. He was also the one who acted as the 117 year old Nemo, albeit using plenty of makeup. Wakao, the way he manage to mimic the way elderly speak and facial expressions and all was 대박. Really. I was pleasantly surprised the other time when I found out he was from 30 seconds to mars. As in, I really thought he is some full time actor...i found a new idol man...
As for the rest of the actors, they were alright. None of them were cringeworthy actors. I specially want to mention the actress who acted as the adult Elise though. She was mostly crying inside the movie or acting super emo and she really pull it off. I have no idea if she is using makeup or method acting or what but her eyes were really puffy, like from crying for ages. And the way she cries and acts, is scary. As in, she really comes off as an extremely depressed mum probably also diagnosed with some mental disorder. But I don't know her name haha and I didn't really bother finding out now either haha
===================================================

The T-ara thing hasn't cooled down yet. If only it wasn't negative stuff, I think this is pretty good publicity haha allkpop for one is already posting an article for each little action taken by the parties involved =-=
Was wondering why the entertainment companies refuse to reveal details about the exact reasons for dismissal like in the Jay Park situation, there were many rumors and accusations floating around about why he left and some are not nice, like he committed something really bad. And if the company keeps mum saying its for the artiste's own good, I don't know leh, it's quite 进退两难 too I guess, but really, it keeps the rest of the population wondering and jumping to conclusions about things. It could be that it was really something bad that he committed or the company was covering up and finding a way to dismiss him only - saying this kinda thing is quite an easy way out. But in this case, I think either the management doesn't know what's going on within T-ara and just doing their own jobs trying to keep the group afloat, or the management is in it together with the members that supposedly bullied Hwayoung. Cuz if the translations were correct, Jiyeon did say something like "good actor" which doesn't seem to be targeting any staff member or wad since the CEO insists that their "Determination" twitter stuff were talking about how when a big group of members and staff move together they need to work together crap. Like this doesn't really cover up their twitter posts? Plus Hwayoung's own reply targeted at their posts, saying determination alone is not enough at times. Like erm is she the only one defending a supposed staff member or someone who brought down the whole grp? =-= duno lah, just v arghs at the whole issue, cuz feels lik jaypark all over again. That contributed to me losing faith in kpop, plus the fact that there were too many groups debuting with no very obvious talent and catchy songs to boot.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Looks ARE everything


Most the movies I have watched recently (or rather, pretty long ago since this post is long overdue) is about self-empowerment. First, 27 dresses teaches me not to be too helpful to anyone and learn to say NO and do things for yourself instead of always putting others first. Second, Lying to be perfect (the Cinderella Pact) teaches about confidence and like how looks don’t matter blah the usual thing when obviously looks do matter.


Would all those Youtube stars be that famous if on top of their humour and/or talents, they weren’t above average in terms of looks? And don’t even mention celebrities. We are all suckers for pretty faces, as much as we do not want to admit. But the last movie I watched – the vow – is based on a real-life story of how the wife forgets a part of her memory after an accident and her memory stops at a point before she met her husband, thus she is skeptical if the guy is her real husband as she changed quite a bit from the past etc. The ending is unexpected though. I expected the woman to miraculously remember everything after the efforts of her husband but end up actually she didn’t but was gradually turning back to the life she led before her accident and also gradually closer to her husband again. By the way, spoiler, they had a divorce O.o so they were like dating singles again.
Argh it has been way too long since I thought of putting up reviews of these three movies and now all I can think of are the above =-= ok erm, both 27 dresses and Lying to be perfect are pretty predictable but not horrible acting so still watch it when you wanna pass time and don’t want to use your brain too much. The vow…eh the chemistry wasn’t there. I think Rachel McAdams had better chemistry with Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, not with Channing Tatum. And there was an unnecessary scene where they showed his butt =-= I’m not interested at all. Repulsed actually. Overall, all three movies 3 out of 5.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Mini Movie Marathon!

MMM!

haha ok not exactly a movie marathon since it wasn't even consecutive...but yea watched quite a few films off youtube during the exam period up till now. Was watching 드림하이 2 dream high 2 too but stopped at episode 10 cuz they left it hanging at a potential JB-Rian reunion scene and I liked that. Dun like Hyesung...the actors and actresses who plays the parts are very important. I find Kang Sora too old-looking. Only after googling did I realise that she's actually of the same age as me =-= while the rest of the cast are still so young. Or maybe the fact that she was Leeteuk's "wife" on WGM, made me think that she must be born in the 1980s cuz if the memorisation of the members' birth years (when I was still young and crazy and suju was still producing half-decent songs has paid off), Leeteuk is the oldest and was born in 1983. N she is/was fat, the fat ard her cheeks are not disappearing n no it doesn't give her the cute appeal cuz of her frigging fat lips. Rmb seeing her on an advertisement in Korea and she hadn't slimmed down then and was looking quite, just not nice. Anw just dun lik her as a whole, I think her character makes her very irritating too, so I'm picking on her hahaha on the other hand, I like Jiyeon and I think she's doing a great job with her acting. Despite her supposedly being the "bad" guy, I see how she is actually suffering inside. N i dun like JB nor his acting, so I am very hating on the JB-Hyesung couple. I mean, their lovey dovey scenes are 100% cringeworthy while JB-Rian couple has some cute times together =) And I think this has to do with the age gap, like JB is 1994 if I remember correctly and Jiyeon is 1993. Sora is 1990 so quite 姐弟恋 feel exuding from their scenes. Arghs. I like Jinwoon so I'm also digging the Yoojin-Rian couple~ Anw so after exams ended and work started, I began dream high 2 again and well, I still like dream high 1 better. This second season has left me wondering about many aspects of the whole drama, its not as well executed as the first. And the lead was good in singing that time k, i.e. Kim Soo Hyun. When I thought he isn't a singer, totally blew me away. Plus his acting was really 최고 like really left me crying at parts. This Dream High 2, pfft. Not even close. I get sad at Rian's part if anything but I don't feel sad for JB nor Hyesung.

OK BACK TO MAIN POINT...so the movies I watched are:::
Starstruck
You are the apple of my eye aka 那些年,我們一起追的女孩
Scary Movie 3
Panic Room
Mysterious Skin
Our Idiot Brother

And during the exams, I did watch "Speak" and perhaps others which I have forgotten oops haha ok quick movie reviews here cuz I left my Dream High 2 episode hanging and I have to catch The Secret Circle later, which by the way, is pretty nice.

Starstruck
It's some Disney movie, expected it to be cringeworthy, but the acting was pretty ok. Just found the guy's smile highly disturbing. No idea why though. Very cliche story line. Famous star falling in love with ordinary girl, while trying to hide from paparazzi and still try to be true to himself.
3.0/5.0

You are the apple of my eye
Been wanting to watch it since I was in Korea but never got to it. It was pretty good. Read online that there were 18+ scenes or something, got rating de I think but well, I think the one I watched is cut version liaoz, v clean ah. And it doesn't even destroy the storyline or what by deleting some scenes. So yea, sometimes I don't get why directors wanna put in weird scenes or put in lotsa vulgarities just to get a 16+/18+ rating slapped across their poster and reduce their profits =-= but it was nice overall, the flow of the movie was good the plot is also good,but sad that the girl actually liked him before de, why never just tell him!!! when they set the kong ming deng off...haiz. But I wonder how the full story came out after all these years, did that friend of hers like tell him? And I wonder exactly how much of the movie is the truth as in exactly what it is. I know I know, there are reports where he said that some parts exaggerated like the quarreling in the rain VS over the phone, but like the wedding's kiss (no spoilers), did it really happen? If it did, eww.
4.0/5.0

Scary Movie 3
erm. a very no-need-use-brain movie. Best for watching when it's one of those lazy days and you very sian to watch any deep-meaning movies that you cannot understand. And hell it's always so obscene =-= but some parts not as funny too =(
1.0/5.0

Panic Room
The plot quite simple I guess haha and I like the bloooooodddddd and I get the good guy stuck in a bad guy role as played by Forest Whitaker but I don't really get the purpose of the story...but the acting was all good. Love Jodie Foster man, and it's refreshing to see Kirsten Stewart in a tomboyish role heh
3.0/5.0

Mysterious Skin
The main actors were both pretty young at that time and so I didn't really expect the kind of acting I saw. If I were to compare the two, Brady Corbert did an even better job than Joseph Gordon-Levitt for certain parts or maybe it was just the role I guess but really, both did a great job. And it was VERY VERY HIGHLY EXTREMELY disturbing at parts. N the comments on that youtube page agree with me too...most agreed that it was disturbing but a must-watch. I will never think of fruity loops or cereal in general in the same way again zomg.
4.5/5.0!!!

Our Idiot Brother
It was just ok-ok. The kind of movie you wouldn't have anything good or bad to say about. Like some parts yea he really sounded super honest yet stupid and yet I'm suspecting that he may actually realise its an idiotic thing to do but like just do it out of spite or sarcasm. The sisters' different personalities are quite vibrant haha all so different...n yea moral of the story is family matters most? cuz i dont think its advocating ppl to be awfully honest as it doesn't get u anywhere.
3.0/5.0

Speak
This one had Kirsten Stewart too. Her character was supposed to have been raped and thus decided to stop talking all together when people accuse of her being attention-seeking and calling the police to a party when actually she was just a victim. But in the movie, she doesn't really stop speaking totally or anything and I felt that the synopsis I read on wiki did a much better job and perhaps made him have too high expectations.
3.0/5.0

ok end here. back to drama.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Hunger Games

Finally finally finally got to watch the hunger games after my craziness over it last month and the dying down of my self-created hype the past few weeks haha *bliss*

lesson learnt: really really shld nvr read a book before watching a movie adaptation. its really hard for a movie to live up to expectations that we have after reading a book.

now the spoilers.

overall the movie was pretty good, loved it. like it that it really tried to explain the concept of the hunger games, panem etc so that those ppl who havent read the books, like my friends, didnt feel too lost (i think even those who didnt read the synopsis can understand quite a bit). n the explanations werent lengthy! nor did they come in the form of awkward conversations between characters (explaining to each other for example *rolls eyes*). really kudos to the screenwriter for that (they did the job right...? im not very certain which positions take on which roles in the magical process of movie making though im pretty sure its still group work on the whole) i like the way small but still essential (at least to the readers i guess, i think most of us hardly want any little detail out) details were made available to the audience through different means - like use of the decree of treason at the start of the movie to explain what this whole hunger games is about, and then a short flashback to show how katniss' dad died n how her mum shut off (although for that one im still wondering if everyone got it) then another flashback (actually two) abt how peeta sorta saved katniss (though it still didnt really portray tt he SAVED her life, more of like he simply gave her some food + damnnit they were supposed to be like 12? how come they look the same =-=), n some parts in convos between the characters n etc.

then the acting, it was believable, doesnt make me cringe haha but some parts i guess due to the lack of time n the choppy way the scenes were played out, didnt manage to let the actors shine as much as they did. i already had a prejudice when the casting was announced and all, abt how the "child" actors were all too old for their roles except maybe josh hutcherson n how he is shorter than jennifer lawrence n how she doesnt really fit the kind of katniss i imagined. i really thought she shld have been skinnier, as in not that she is fat inside but that she shld be more of a stature that clove (portrayed by isabelle fuhrman) had. smaller. shes still 16 after all, n pretty malnourished for part of her growing years. but appearances aside acting was good =) cmon even the supporting actors n actresses are well known names, n they also act really good. RUE RUE RUE!!!

it was also pretty cool that they added in small parts that werent in the books, but still totally made sense n added some sort of a backstory as well. i especially liked that seneca crane had a more important role here in the movie, as well as president snow, since hes gonna be the main bad guy for the second book, he deserves a good mention in this first part so that moviegoers do recognise him more i guess haha. n the workings of the games, all the behind the scenes by the gamemakers was nice though i tot ALL the gamemakers were supposed to be involved n not just the head gamemaker aka seneca crane acted by wes bentley =-=
 n ohya wes bentley is seriously hot, so come on give the guy more screentime. gosh those awesome eyes. i rmb seeing him in american beauty. he had a very freakish n robotic character but the eyes, the color is so vivid n his stare is scary and dangerous looking yet...i cannot find a word for it.

see see! the eyes arent really obvs here though...

n his beard haha epic - http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2011/11/15/hunger-games-seneca-cranes-beard/

then the bad parts, i knew frm the trailers that madge was already removed. but i thought they wld like to show peeta's dad appearing to katniss after they were reaped n come to give her candy or sth then link to peeta explaining that his dad had pointed katniss out to him as the daughter of the woman he loved n wanted to marry before his own mother. but i guess well that part COULD have been removed. but madge hmm ive only finished the second book so im not sure how BIG of a role she played but her mum n her were mentioned as much as Mags from the Seam n i dun see why Mags must be shown in the movie n Madge not =(
then, as much as i found the hiding in the cave part in the first book boring compared to the real games part that left me on the edge of my seat, they shortened it quite alot n i didnt really get to see the relationship between the two leads grow n katniss beginning to suspect her feelings, all that wasnt portrayed well enough. hmpfs. they could have done a better job to showcase their skills if the crew had given them more scenes n shots to show the gradual change instead of a sudden change n all that leaves me to wonder if those who nvr read the book see katniss as simply really acting that she cared abt peeta JUST to get supplies. because in the book we really got to see her starting to wonder abt peeta n how much of his words n actions were the truth n also abt her own feelings as she start to care for this stranger that she only just officially met days ago. to me, that seemed to be the only reason why that part of the story sorta slows down n a few days passes without much killing n bloodshed, to allow the readers to see the emotional growth n change in the characters. because all that killing n strategising only shows their brutality n what, street-smartness (in this case erm jungle-smartness? haha n survival skills)? the readers arent sponsors so we dont really care for that. giving the characters emotions is the way it makes us relate to them, of cuz not forgetting the sponsors in the books too.
talking abt emotions, also didnt like the portrayal of the relationship betwn gale n katniss. didnt like it in the trailer, dont find the movie more bearable. bleh. my friend even asked me if she was gonna leave that guy (gale) for this guy (peeta) n im like she wasnt even WITH the first guy in the first place =-= i guess their hugs n little interaction they had portrayed a seriously more than friends relationship. not good. confuses the rest who didnt read the book. then twilight style team gale team peeta is gonna start when if u ask me, i tink theres no such teams cuz its really team peeta all the way hmpfs. gale only confused katniss for tt little once that he kissed her n then he nearly died, n i seriously think her head was pretty messed up during tt period, worried that she wasnt doing enough to contain the possible rebellions. so i shall vehemently insist that peeta is her one n only choice. gale was just a momentary consideration due to her thoughts being clouded by confusion n stress. yes, i will continue thinking that way hahahahaha

another shortened part was the alliance between katniss n rue, totally not well developed, though their parting was heart wrenching (thanks to jennifer lawrence's acting) but still not tear-inducing for me, perhaps cuz i know the story
Rue from district 11
next, the CGI eeyer some parts not neat, can tell its fake. n the flames for her parade costume EEYER!!! damn bad. i was expecting so much for that cuz all they teased was tt little pic of them in black suits then cinna was holding a flame.
the super misleading still



thought they wld actl do some burning =-= turns out no. i must really congratulate the two for acting so good, as if they were really surprised n had their breaths caught when they saw their own reflections (when actl it was all fake) haha but at least peeta's camouflage didnt disappoint me haha it was pretty good =D n tt part was farnie for a little bit
one other thing tt im pretty sure isnt allowed in the Games (the books' Games, the movies' Games may allow it). how can u send messages along with ur sponsored gifts??? the whole point of haymitch consistently sending the gifts to katniss only n not peeta was cuz he realised that she really understood his intentions when gifts were sent or not sent. that was the damn good rapport they have! if he cld send messages, he cld have sent it to peeta too no? =-= i think the screenwriter was thinking it wld be too corny to have voice in the head kinda presentation so just made do with words instead. well i duno how they cld have done it to make us not feel corny n yet stay true to that rule of the Games, perhaps katniss voices it out loud? but really, not this way...

to end off, i have to say that the movie is still pretty well timed. they managed to get the audience who have never touched the books to get the background, along with the actual reaping, training, interviews all done in the first half of the movie (yes i checked my watch) then the second half was all abt the games baby~~~

And now with the end of the hunger games, its time to wonder whos gonna play the awesomely handsome finnick in catching fire. n his costume for the parade that supposedly shows lotsa skin haaha

OH n last thing, i loved effie!!! shes bizarre enough, n all the capitol ppl too!! so colorful haha random: hopefully i can win the hunger games hamper GV seems to be giving away *fingers crossed*

effie in an advert for a real life nail color series by china glaze

ok last last thing, my friend mentioned like during the first half an hour into the movie when josh hutcherson first appeared, that he n jennifer lawrence were a real life couple. i nearly died. =-= WHAT? its bad enough to watch them on screen with a substantial height difference (n shes not in heels). wad abt all those red carpet things u stars do??? zomg max. but thank goodness after i googled ard abit, i realise that there doesnt seem to be any truth to it at all O.o wonder where my friend saw that news

MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN MY FAVOR FOR MY EXAMS DESPITE EXTREME PROCRASTINATION T.T