Movies Movies Movies

Before I start with my little double movie session, I'd like to share with you guys my first review written for IMDb.

Colic
I happened to chance upon the trailer and I thought that the premise of this story was a very fresh and interesting idea and the film seemed pretty interesting, that prompted me to catch this film without reading any prior reviews about it. It was only after watching the film and having a good impression of it that I read some pretty bad reviews about this film.

The premise of the film is very interesting, incorporating the supernatural and medical research to create a very real feel to the film. And there's a strong plot which sadly quite a number of horror films lack. The acting and emotions of the lead actors and actresses were very well executed, and their love for their child and the extent they went to protect their child was very touching. The supporting cast was very likable, which made the twists of the film very sudden and very shocking. The background music aided in the suspense of the film and provided an eerie enough atmosphere.

One thing different about this horror film that I liked is the tone down on the use of 'ghosts', in place was just the effects of the supernatural forces. I also like the use of in-your-face graphic images which was also something scary, and horror-filled on its part. The style of the film reminds me quite like The Eye.

In all, I feel that this is still a good film to recommend and a fresh change of the usual horror films palette offered.
***end***

I wrote this entry because of this review by A Nutshell Review. Luckily for me I read his review after watching the film, and hence did not fall for his almost inaccurate description of the film. I sure was glad I watched this film and I'd put it alongside The Eye as one of the better horror films, and I'd put it at the first place for my favourite horror films, but that's because I haven't watched many. It's still better than the likes of The Ring, Dark Water which are the better ones already. I shan't even mention here the crap ones I've watched. I felt compelled to write the review because I was afraid that the only review up there was a misleading one, but as I checked the user ratings, it seemed like I'm the only person who felt that the film was good.





At time of this blog entry being written, there were only five votes and one of them is mine, and it's very obvious which one is mine from the demographic details of the voters, thank you very much. It shows very clearly that yours truly is 18-29 and live outside the US if you take the presumption that this person here is a female. Maybe it's because me being a female that I could feel more for the emotions of the film, especially of those of the different characters caring so much for the baby. Guess it's some kind of maternal instinct. Did I mention I got my A- on my film module from writing my exam comparing the kampongs of Bujang Lapok and Homerun, and issues from Eating Air, and without any studying and watching those films only once and it was during the screening times instead of like right before the exams. wahaha~ I think I shan't be studying anymore~

Anyway, I thought it was quite surprising that Colic seems to have been screened only in Singapore, either that or the Thais don't visit IMDb. Still only for five Singaporeans to vote seems to be a little too few based on the amount I think Colic spent on promoting the film. wah lau, the trailer was on TVMobile so often that I even dreamt of the film based on some premises of the trailer lor, not even of the film, merely the trailer only.

Okay, put this aside, I still have two more films to talk about. I went for a double movie session with my sister because our mother had movie vouchers, I can't really call it a marathon since it was only two movies, but it was indeed fun watching movies and not paying for it. The films we chose we major releases and was clearly selling out on a Thursday afternoon even. damn... Don't these people need to like go to school or go to work? I hate it when there are so many freaking people in the shopping centres, worse when these people are irritating ginna-kias who make a lot of noise and can't behave themselves. Kids should neither be seen or heard man, they should be locked up at home doing assessment books. yea yea... I have much disregard for kids.

Night at the Museum

I saw the trailer (yet again on that green channel called TVMobile) and the cast of Owen Wilson attracted me. It's quite a furore online because Owen Wilson was uncredited for reasons yet known. I still have great dislike for Ben Stiller, as much as my dislike for other actors of that genre (see Stephen Chow), but I thought the crass humour for this film is very much toned down than his other films such as Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers. The premise of the film was also very interesting, almost magical, like a dream come true for all history students or history lovers. I think there was a time when I had imagined myself to be in that position, to be able to communicate with people from the past to get to understand them better. But of course, the execution of the film was lame, as usual since most of the plot is devoted to the main premise, the building up and the climax twist was lame. But still it was an enjoyable film, for one to relax a while and forget about everything else.

Larry is your typical comedy lead character, sort of like Jim Carrey's roles in his comedies, divorced/separated, the ex has a new guy in her life and that guy is in every aspect better than the protagonist. There would be a son or daughter somewhere, but mostly it's a son, the child loves the father but is continually disappointed by the useless father. Enter the plot, the protagonist suddenly becomes someone interesting, the plot twist, the child is no longer disappointed, the protagonist either gets a new girl or gets back together with his wife. It's a happy ever after ending.

But the pull factor of this film unlike other comedies is the visual effects of the main premise, the effects of all the stuff coming to life in the museum and that was the one thing I really liked a lot.

***spoilers ahead***
The T-Rex was damn cute, just like a playful dog. He likes to plat Fetch, he even behaves like a dog listening to his master. And the part he played at the end, leaving those tracks in the snow was plain hilarious.

My favourite was of course the Yankee leader and the Roman leader. Their rapport was so there that they just crackled me up being there. They were miniatures so the special effects made them look so small and cute and Larry in contrast was a giant, which they played to that effect with Larry. It was funnier at the end when they made up to complete that task, they drove a remote controlled car over and across the snow, crashed that, and came crawling back in the deep (to them) snow. They were so chibi, so kawaii~ yea, and Owen Wilson was so shaggelicious.

The Easter Island stone figure was also quite cute with him "gum gum" and "dumb dumb" talks. I like the part which he shouted to get the attention of everybody in the museum by saying something like "my dumb dumb wants to talk". lol~

The whole cast of the characters appeared in the film were really good, and the part of the pahroah was also very surprising. I think the most surprising part was that he was so good looking, and he spoke English ("I went to Cambridge" haha...). Attila the Hun was also damn funny. I think all of them are really good.

But I hate Dexter. Don't ask me why, I hate characters like that.
***spoilers end here***

For the magical experience of seeing history come alive, and seeing the shuai shuai Owen Wilson, and all the punch lines, I give it 3/5 stars. I haven't decided if I should rate it a 6 or 7 stars for IMDb but it'll be along those lines.

After a short rest outside the cinema, I got myself a jumbo hot dog combo for the next movie. I tell you why I hate some people so much. The woman in front in front of me was so sua ku, she was about a middle aged auntie with ginna-kias but I didn't see those kids. She ordered quite a lot of stuff, took out some money and wanted to pay, but after tabulation it turns out that the money she took out was not enough and needed to take out some more. She held up the queue for so long just for us to see her digging out some change. wah lau... I hate hate hate people who hold up queues and are so bloody damn slow. But she was not the worst lor, the ginna-kias in front of me were lagi best sia. They were about 12 years old, a very rough guage since I'm bad at this, two boys one girl, one boy was paying. He order the special combo set then at the last minute decided to add in nachos too, but after the tabulation of the price, he realised that he did not have enough to pay for everything, the other boy and the girl for some reasons unknown to me did not want to pay or had no money with them too. So that boy had to return the nachos. I was like wtf, want to buy stuff makes sure have enough money la. Kids like these should just go home and watch TV instead of paying to watch movies man, can also free up some cinema space for other people. grr...

Death Note: The Last Name

One must watch Death Note the understand the sequel. It's also better if one has read the manga to understand the concepts and premises of the film. Hence, to all manga fans, I must say, all the reviews for this movie are all bullshit.

I was so disappointed with all the film reviewers (I don't think they are honorable enough to be called critiques since their minds are so narrow) who can't understand the premise, or can't see the the connotations of this premise. I think some reviewer at 8 Days called that a teen flick with dangerously dark premise. Number one, it is not a teen flick. It is what anime/manga fans come to call it as live-action and one of the most difficult made for film kind of manga adaptation. For the film they have even made the characters older, in the manga they were high school students, but in the film they were university students. They are not young. Their age is such because that it the norm for manga. Nobody reads manga to see characters over the age of 20, nobody, period. I think stupid reviewers just don't understand the cultural differences. Somehow, I somewhat think that the first mentioned reviewer for Colic above would lie in the category of this mainstream reviewers. I guess there's a generation gap between the old and the young.

Number two, it is an adaptation of something that is already very immensely popular, and if one doesn't understand the popularity of the original, there is no way that he can understand why the Death Note franchise is not a flick but a blockbuster.

I also have to counter the point of views of the reviewers that the pace of the film is hurried. Of course it has to be hurried. To consolidate like 12 volumes of manga into two movies has just got to hasten the pace of everything. But this is not unintentional. Like most other made for film anime/manga movies, there is a presumption that one has already read the manga before watching the film. Remember the cultural differences that the ordinary reviewer cannot understand.

Really, the magic of Death Note is that unlike most live-actions, this was tastefully done without looking like a cosplay event. The characters were real, even more real than the manga or anime figures. The choice of actors and actresses were also good. I love Fujiwara Tatsuya, he was the Shuya in Battle Royale, it's seems so magical to see him all grown up now.

I don't know what has that Today reviewer has against the premise of this film, for one, I think that this premise is very interesting and of course naturally one which is very dark and there's a lot of creative room to play around this premise, hence this manga series. Really, if there was such a killing weapon such as the Death Note, what would one do to it, and how is it that it can be made to its fullest use? Maybe the only flaw in the movie was the emphasis on the battle between the two geniuses. For a manga and anime, it's possible to focus on that because of the difference range of audience. The movie audience just has too many lau kok koks who think that have two kid geniuses too ego tripping for them. bah~ Stupid adults.

Really, if there was ever a battle between Kira and L, I think I'd be in the Kira camp. But of course, as Kira is but human, he also errs. For a Kira to be really perfect and kami-sama like, he shouldn't have taken on the bait by L and started all his killings of the police people. Of course, killing his girlfriend, attempting to kill his father, making use of the Shinigamis and Misamisa, I guess those are all his failings as a person.

Then again, it's also because of his failings that we can see Light as a person rather than as Kira. And we can like him for being a person than a Kira. Oh well...

Going to watch this film with my sister is a bit of the hassle since her brain works so slowly that she can't keep up with the story even those she likes it a lot. She kept asking me questions about the Shinigamis and the Eyes and the part when Misa when "Yagami Tsuki?". Still, in all, I gave it 9/10 on IMDb, the only failing is that the film consolidated all the Ls into that Ryuzaki one person (I know, they don't have the time), and all the squashing of infomation into such a short amount of time.

Now it's back to the anime~