Some of The Movies I Watched That I *erhem!*

One of the reasons for my perpetual presence online was due to my continual *erhem* of movies. I used to buy new original movies. Then I downgraded to 2nd hand original movies. And then...

There were 3 films I watched that made me somehow want to blog about them. 1st, is the show "Into The Blue", by who, but the guy who couldn't act: Paul Walker. Frankly speaking, he really can't act. But too bad the show I had was a poor quality, filmed-from-the-cinema-screen version. ie. No matter how good Paul Walker's bod was, it looked so dull in the show.

A still pic shows his great bod better than the movie did

The show startedf slow and boring. I guess Paul Walker's acting really had to blame. It was so boring that I stopped the show, went to shop, slept and waited for another few days before I made myself finish the film.

And boy was I glad I did.

The pace picked up soon enough to live its name up as an action flick. It literally ended with a bang (the only explosion in the show) and that's it. I was quite satisfied with the adrenaline rush it injected within me for the last 30 min of the show, which somehow made me feel my hours of broadband was not wasted.

As for the plot, since it was a stupid action flick, it really isn't important to waste the space here.

And then there was Elizabethtown.

Elizabethtown

It was weird watching the show. Not only because the characters are weird, but also because they are weirdly like ME. Talking to themselves aloud when they're alone, asking rhetorical questions and telling jokes to make themselves laugh. And acting hysterically as if they were on a stage and the other people around them were audience. erm... I somehow felt as though someone put a hidden camera and filmed me instead. eerie...

The show's about a guy (Orlando) who fell from grace when a product he he spent years developing flopped. All the years of fighting and sacrificing family time went to waste. And just as he was about to kill himself (he actually improvised a killing machine just for suicide!), he received news that his father was dead in his hometown. So he had to go there (Elizabethtown) and retreive his father's body.

And well, Elizabethtown is somewhat like our chinese' home village. ie, all the closely related relatives live in a village. And the whole village are as strange as the guy himself (well, I suppose such traits are genetically linked). So it was a fight between his family and his EXTENDED family to settle on what to do with his father's body.

And, the main part of the story is actually the blossoming love between Orlando and Kirsten Dunst. Unfortunately, they were chatting for the most part, and boring conversations they were. So much so I didn't know what they were talking about. And since it was the main part of the film, I didn't really understand the film real well, if there was ever a message to be brought across.

The only thing I understood: the film had a lot of beautiful scenery of America.

Elizabethtown 2

The next show is the best show of the 3. I was so... captivated and my adrenaline level was at an all time high throughout most of the show (when the real plot starts to roll out).

gothika

Halle Berry acts as a psychiatrist in a prison. Treating patients who commited crimes due to their mental disability. One night, after a near-miss accident, she went unconscious and when she woke up, she was herself in a cell in where she worked. Turned out that she was accused of murdering her husband and went gaga for a few days.

gothika berry w cruz

But she couldn't remember a single thing about that incident except for the girl whom she nearly knocked down. She started to believe that the girl was a ghost and tried to convince her colleagues, who as scientists, treated her like the other mental cases.

downey jr as colleague

Being marginalized from all sides, she started to solve the mystery on her own, trying to escape from the prison and unearthing all the dark secrets that led to her killing of her husband.

cruz as one of the patients

the only comment I have for the show is: WATCH IT.

berry

Unknown at 1:21 PM

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Is The Sky The Limit?

Ordered Gattaca, Is The Sky The Limit by Gary Simmons from the web. I guess it was the publisher (UNSW) where the author is lecturing. I had to do this because I couldn't find the book anywhere in Singapore, or rather, bookshops that I thought would most probably have it. Disappointingly, Borders had none.

Anyways, the package came on early Vesak Day (wow! DHL is hardworking!). Ok, not early, because it was 11am already, but I was still asleep then when my mum barged into my room with my package.

my DHL package

I have ordered other stuff online before, but those were all albums from Yesasia!. So for this time round, it's really my 1st time receiving a DHL package (no wonder the shipping fee was so high).

the address side

I was amazed at the size of the package. I half expected the book to be of normal paperback book, similar with those novels in bookstores.

wateva's in the package

So, what was inside the envelope was actually something that didn't quite fill the space.

Even worse, the book was thinner than my expectations. It was something like a primary school textbook, with juz over 50 pages. hmmmm... why the expenses?

But well, it's THE book of THE movie, of course I have the obligation to buy. Besides, it's a study guide for me to better understand the movie even better ;P

THE book

Unknown at 12:07 PM

Friday, May 12, 2006

Sentosa Once & Again Pt II

the 2nd trip to Sentosa on wed was intended to b a councillors' outing after the councillor briefing in the morning. but it ended up w only 8 ppl going for the outing.

all the way, i was like thinking: gosh! so few ppl! and i felt so awkward, cos i dunno everyone very well, but they knew each other very well. and it also turns out dat the stuff dat we did weren't stuff i normally do (and do well).

but aniwaes, we went to Siloso beach and set up a ground site, after which we went to play the luge. the chairlift was indeed horrifying, tho i believe i'd b less horrified the next time. the luge was a fun thing to play too, considering such a simple game of gravity was tot up by some ppl.

ma'at, the logo of my gp

and den, we played frisbee. it was farnie. cos we foresaw we wld b going into water, merv and i went to find some discreet place to change our pants and we end up hiding behind a hedge of a garbage dump rite off the road.

5 of us played frisbee and i muz say it was an interestingly gd exercise. and esp since the slope of the neach at siloso was very steep, climbing up and down the beach and into and out of the water was tiring enuf.

after dat, we played volleyball. but we went away from ground site to search for a suitable court to play, considering dat playing it courtlessly was really tough.

the court was so far away, we likened it to having to walk from s'pore to JB. but as the journey dragged, we concluded dat we muz had had been heading to genting instead.

after a short while of play, an uncle-looking PRC popped in to join us in our game (since we had 3 against 2). and guess wat? when we said yes to his request of joining, out popped 6 more PRCs to join in the game. and they were so reluctant to leave us, even as the head of their tour gp was urging them to leave by reminding them of their itinerary for the evening.

and being PRC, they were very PRC-like. bossy and condescending. telling merv how to serve correctly, calling tiong wee 静 (silent) 哥哥. the only nice thing dat came out from one of their mouths was when they asked if we were secondary sch or jc students. heh... i look dat young eh...

finally, it was only after zhenqin came to tell us dat fred and christine were waiting for us at HF dat we managed to end the game w PRCs (tho i was hoping dat it was them who left us to our own pte game). rushed back to ground site, den back to the toilet to wash up and back again to catch the bus back to mainland, where we had dinner at the food court of HF.

gp photo after volleyball

so, the moral of the story is: ppl, pls go buy 4-D, cos for once, i was doing something alongside 3 others PRCs in a game w the collaboration of 4 PRCs. it's even rarer than Halley's Comet entering the inner solar system!

Unknown at 12:39 AM

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Sentosa Once & Again Pt I

went to Sentosa twice within 5 days. 1st was the ZPS outing last sat to Palawan beach and one is wed's OC councillors' outing to Siloso beach. both were of different feelings and i enjoyed myself in both a lot.

the ZPS trip was an alternative to Wild Wild Wet due to unforeseen (actually it was predicted, but we were naively hoping it will not happen) circumstances. after casting my vote in the morn, it was off to mit the peeps at HF. we did some shopping and proceeded to take a cable car to Sentosa.

my 1st trip ever on a cable car

we were told dat even tho we had the passes to the cable car, we had to Q w the big crowd at the ground floor of the cable car building for the Sentosa entrance tix. however, the staff was kind enuf to go all the way down to look for us when he realized we could buy the tix over at Sentosa, thus sparing us from agony from Q-ing.

aniwaes, something really gd happened after we reached, but i ain't gonna say it here, juz in case somehow dis blog entry is seen by Sentosa's authorities and i spoil the mkt (and possibly our next outing to Sentosa) for other ppl. lol

the food we brot for our picnic

we walked to Palawan Beach and where we found a bench for our food. however, being a picnic, we shifted to a ground site w the picnic mats we specially brot for the cause. after some warm up, we also took some pix...

our outrageous selves-pic

and den going off to 'play' in the water... at least dat was true for fred. we merely washed our feet w the seawater. it's therapeutic, u noe?

青蜓点水

and den we crossed the bridge to the southernost tip of continental asia and took more pix (while kf settled on our ground site for a tan-sleeping session).

pic at continental asia's southernmost tip, w fred trying his best to b the southernmost man of continental asia

we returned to ground site and took even more pix. it happened as we were all tired and decided to all lie down on the mat. of which, we started snapping pix of ourselves.

selves-pic 2

but cos our hands were all too short, we were unable to capture everybody's faces in a single shot.

selves-pic 3

selves-pic 4

so, we finally resorted to an extreme mean:

ask someone to help us take

and tinking our heads r not enuf, we proceeded downwards...

selves-feet-pic. clockwise from top RHS: kf, me, fred, jan & angie

and tinking dat taking pix down is not enuf, we took upwards.

selves-pic 5

selves-pic 6

and tinking juz part of our bodies is not enuf, we took a full body shot.

w some ppl's slippers....

and den, as the sun settles into a gentle setting mode, we started playing mahjong.

gamblers...

and we left the beach at 6.30pm for dinner at harbor front. and as u can see, there weren't much ppl in Sentosa cos it's still not hols yet. and cos the rage now is KTV, we nearly had the whole beach to ourselves.

dinner was at coffee club express at HF, which seemed vacant in contrast to the crowds in other eateries. it turned out dat not only was the food (ESP THE DESSERT) was nice, the ambience was gd also. the lighting was ok and there weren't rowdy s'poreans spoiling the ambience. bagus!

cool~

Unknown at 11:35 PM

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Assualt On Precinct 13

DVD Poster

The Matrix Trilogy style of film being my cup of tea for action flicks, i bot the 2nd-hand dvd for the sake of ethan hawke (to fill my library of his works) and chucked it aside for a few wks. i watched all the other movies dat were bot w it and left it for the last, and few wks lagging. well, i dun sucker for gun fights and explosions w/o the appeal of cyber-ism.

aniwaes, i was taken over by the show. the action part was up to the mark, and wat makes this remake so gd was how it puts depth into the characters, something that was always missing in other action-packed shows.

yup, i haf never watched the original film, but ever since this remake made it to the big screen, it garnered all critical claims, except for a box-office smashing outcome.

the story took place in a remote precinct of detroit police station which would be moving after the New Year's. As it went, there were only 3 people on duty, a sarge (Jake), a retiring veteran and a secretary. along the way comes jake's psychiatrist (whom he allerged to have a torch for him, which otherwise makes a special trip to his post on NYE unusual), a another colleague and an envoy which escorts several criminals including local mafia Bishop.

the psychiatrist dun she look like nicole kidman??

oh... so as usual, ethan's char Jake is rather cliche. he is a fallen cop who was still trying to come to terms for an undercover failure 8 mths before which saw the deaths of his 2 colleagues (which was where the shrink comes in). and the conflict arose when the envoy in which Bishop was in had to call in to Precinct 13 due to a severe snowstorm. and the spark that got the show going was when a team of 'mobsters' came to assassinate Bishop.

so the show is staged, 8 people trapped in a police post in a factory-dominated precinct, caught in a snow storm confronted with a team of killers who were capable enough to severe communications and electricity and to command snipers and V-5 troopers to the scene.

the irony of all, was the fact that their opponents were the police. turns out dat Bishop had a dealing with a high-ranking officer whom he had fallen out with. following his arrest, the officer duvall knew that Bishop will spill the beans between their dealings and sets out to eliminate him while he was under arrest.

so it was an action-psycho flick with a dash of horror. what with formidable special ops who could penetrate into the building to try to wipe out every living person in there. if precinct 13 was a horror mansion, those troopers are the ju-on and sadako.

ethan hawke looking not-so-cool...

aniwaes, so Jake decides that if they were all to be alive, they had to stand on one line, police and criminals. the criminals were armed and they managed to deter the intruders by foiling their 1st attempt to siege.

things went wrong after the success. 2 petty criminals tried to make for it to escape jail terms, but were taken down by the snipers. and in the midst of the mayhem created by them, the psych and a female criminal were sent to take a vehicle and break out to call for help. unfortunately, duvall had already laid an ambush.

the final showdown came after the betrayal from the retired cop. he led them through an old sewer to 'escape', which was actually a plan to send them to duvall. the group manages to break free and Jake, Bishop and Duvall had a showdown in a forest-chase.

at the end of the movie, i guess the only ones living were Jake, Bishop and the secretary.

ethan hawke acting cool... as usual =P

yup, i can give all the synopsis, but it takes one to experience the tension of being trapped in the post, especially having to fight alongside with people with opposite interests. fear, suspicion, betrayal, trust, and trust misplaced, guilt and chivalry; bad guys are not all bad and good guys not perfect.

simple truths that lay unconcerned in everyday lives.

if you can stand the gun fights and explosions (with a level of gore that was played down, cos i believe point-blank shots in the head will mean no head for the victim), then i recommend this show for the gem buried underneath the action.

Unknown at 8:43 PM