just dreams ...

ohh, how nice it will be if i can .....


roll myself in the meadows on the mountain sides ... (and perhaps singing the sound of music ...)

marvel at the volcanoes .... (dormant ones, of course .... )

enjoy a  romantic dinner with my beloved ...

hmmm.... sweet dreams, dreamer ...

(all images thanks to google)

The Long Walk

My encounter with this story started when I saw the movie, "The Way Back" (2010) last year on the movie channel. From the movie, I learned that it was actually inspired by a true story written in a book titled "The Long Walk". The movie gripped my attention till the end. It's one of those adventurous story of prison escape that I have enjoyed after The Great Escape (1963) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). So, when my eyes caught the book on one of the library shelves one day, I didn't hesitate to pick it up for reading.

The Long Walk is a story of Slavomir Rawicz's adventure of escaping the infamous Siberian Gulag camp during the Second World War (WWII) and traveling about 6,500km south on foot from the camp in Siberia down to India, traversing harsh weather and difficult terrains including the Gobi Desert, Tibet and the Himalayas. His arduous and gruelling mission for freedom was shared together with six other inmates consisting of two Polish soldiers, a Latvian landowner, a Yugoslav clerk, a Lithuanian architect and a mysterious American engineer from the camp and later on joined by a young Polish girl, all were victims of the war. Rawicz himself was a Polish cavalry officer. Of all in the group, only 4 people including Rawicz succeeded in reaching the British India, while the rest succumbed en route.

I have also learned that this story's claim as being a true story that occurred to Rawicz has been debated by many, due to certain parts inside the story that were deemed inaccurate or questionable. Another fact that being brought to light was that the story actually happened to another Polish soldier, not Rawicz. However, as far as I know, none of these debates were definite in confirming whether the whole story told by Rawicz was really true or not. After all, it happened during one of the biggest war in human history, where the world was in chaos.

For me, true or not, this story is an ultimate tale of human perseverance with gripping adventure, exploration of different cultures and tragic disasters before freedom is finally accomplished. A captivating story.

Title : The Long Walk

Author : Slavomir Rawicz (ghost-written by Ronald Downing)

Published:  First published 1956, this edition was published in 2011 by Constable.

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Studio Ghibli Craze Pt. 2

I remembered that last year I wrote about the Studio Ghibli's animated movies that I've enjoyed in my post Studio Ghibli Craze, and then noticed that I haven't really finished writing it, since there are more movies that I have seen and enjoyed. And so, here comes the second part of it...for me to share with you. :)

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Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Kiki is a young witch whose mother is the resident herbalist in the village where they live. Ever since she turns 13, Kiki always waiting for the chance to go out of her village as it is the witch's tradition that when a witch turns 13, she has to travel for a year for training to become a resident witch. So, finally Kiki settles herself with her black cat Jiji at a nice town by the sea. Although having a hard time at first, she finally finds a friend and shelter in the home of a cheerful baker woman, Osono. To support herself, Kiki has to make use of her skill and since she only knows how to fly with her broom, although not proficiently, she finally decided to become a delivery girl (by flying), while stationing herself in Osono's bakery. In the meantime, a young boy named Tombo took a liking to Kiki as he is interested in aviation (and so interested in Kiki's ability to fly) and also because Kiki is a different kind of girl. After encountering a bad experience with some of Tombo's friends, Kiki's ability to fly and speak with Jiji suddenly disappear, causing her to feel down. Another friend of Kiki, Ursula, invited her to stay at her forest cottage, and after being there and through Ursula, Kiki's spirit becomes a little bit uplifted and she believes that after a series of things that turned wrong, she would find a new purpose that she can work on and probably from there she can get her powers back. One day, an accident occurred where Tombo is involved, and driven by her strong will to save him, Kiki finally recovers her flying power and able to save Tombo in the nick of time. Afterwards, Kiki becomes the hero of the city and finally settles there for good to continue her practice.

In this movie, the characteristics of being independent and having a strong will to overcome life obstacles are perhaps the main things to learn, especially for young people. Good things doesn't come easy, eh .. And also, if you dream to do something, you can realize the dream if you work hard enough. This is shown in Tombo's persistency in inventing a kind of flying device from a bicycle, because of his dream to fly. An inspiring movie. For note, this movie is loosely based from a novel by a Japanese author, Eiko Kadono.

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Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

Ohh....I watched this one many times haha. Maybe because of the romantic element? Or the voice actor for Howl is so kakkoi..haha. Anyway, this movie is also based from a novel of the same name, from a British author Diana W. Jones.

Sophie, is a young hatter, who I think, feels insecure of herself because of her plain look with brown hair (but I consider her as very cute) compared to her mother and her sister who's considered prettier than her ( imagine..blond hair and blue eyes). Anyway, as she's on the way to visit her sister who works at a bakery, she encounters 2 soldiers who try to hit on her but then saved by a mysterious guy. However, as the guy escorts her, they are followed by some blob men (got the name by the English subtitle though...) and to avoid them, the guy suddenly rise up to the air with Sophie and start walking on air to safety. Once Sophie gets back to her house, she's visited by the Witch of The Waste. It seems that the blob men are servants of the witch, and the mysterious guy before is actually Howl, a young wizard whom the Witch is trying to find. The Witch casts a spell on Sophie, changing her into an old woman. Sophie is terrified at first but then slowly cherishes her old form as it makes her feel less insecure. Sophie somehow feels that her old form frees her from being scared and self-conscious, even makes her feel more cunning than before. And so, Sophie run away from the city until at the mountains where she saves a scarecrow with a turnip head and encountered Howl's moving castle.

And that is the beginning of Sophie's journey that leads her into meeting other magical characters. Inside the castle are Howl's himself, a brilliant but insecure young wizard, Calcifer, a fire demon who keeps the castle moving, and Markl, a boy wizard in training. The story has several other subplots that all intertwined very nicely to create a wholesome magical fantasy story. Somehow, apart from the love that grows between Sophie and Howl, the wizards and witches, and the war that occurred because of a missing prince, all plots in the story, there's something to be learned as well.  

  

My Neighbour Totoro (1988)

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My Neighbour Totoro is like the cutest movie filled with cute and adorable characters. Two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei, very active girls indeed, moved to a modest house in the countryside with their father, who is a professor, to be near to the hospital where their mother is treated from an illness. At the new house the sisters encountered 'dust bunnies' and forest spirits called Totoro. The main part of the story centered around the girls' encounter of the forest spirits and how the spirits responded to the girls innocent and honest behaviours, in helping Satsuki finding Mei after Mei gone missing. What I love about this movie is how the animation is full of texture, bringing the feelings of softness and comfortable, as I would love to roll around inside the Catbus and hugging or lying on the big Totoro for real. I also like to see the portrayal of father-daughter relationship in this movie as the girls' father, sportingly, kindly and lovingly treated his daughters well and with respect. A heart-warming story. 

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The Borrower Arrietty (2010)

I just watched this recently. Yup, it's kinda new. The story is based on a Mary Norton novel, a British author, where it dwells about a family of little people called The Borrowers as they borrow things belonging to the humans for a living. The plot revolves around the Clock's family, who live under the floorboards of a house in the countryside. One day, the father, Pod, takes his 14-year-old daughter, Arrietty, on her first borrowing trip. However, while trying to 'borrow' a tissue paper, Arrietty was accidentally seen by a human boy, Sho, who happens to be staying in that house (his aunt's house) while waiting for his heart operation (he has heart condition since birth). Although not seeing her very well, but the fact that a human already know of their existence in the house, Arrietty's family plans to move to other place, as it is a rule that the little people should never been seen by the humans, obviously, for their safety. However, Sho is a kind boy, and later on, both Sho and Arrietty do meet and have conversations. Unfortunately, the budding relationship between the two is sensed by the housekeeper Haru, who, unfortunately feels that the presence of the little people is annoying (she thinks of them as thieves, while on the little people's view, they are just 'borrowing' things that the humans would not miss, such as a single cube of sugar, a piece of tissue paper or a pin). In a sequence of events, Haru found the Clock's house and kidnapped Homily, Arrietty's mother, and locked her up in the kitchen store. Although Sho helps Arrietty in finding her, Arrietty's parents really think that they should move away to someplace new. Although both are sad, Sho and Arrietty parted well. From their short relationship, Sho, who at first almost feel helpless with his with dying condition, feels a lot better after knowing and seeing Arrietty's fight for survival.

The animation is very brilliant in colours, vibrant, very detailed and full of textures. I am somewhat amazed by the animated perspective of the human world from the little people's viewpoint. The flowers, the leaves, even the things in the doll house inside Sho's room, everything is detailed to perfection. And it is very interesting to see how the Borrowers make use of the things in the house as their tools. I also love the music at the start and the end of the movie, it seems ethereal. The movie is simple but very nice.

So, there they are...another 4 movies produced by Studio Ghibli that should be enjoyed by everybody. They are heart-warming, inspirational, enjoyable, fun and makes you feel good. Enjoy.  

Seefood

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Recently, I watched an animated movie called Seefood. Being an adult doesn't mean I cannot enjoy kids movies, right? And anyway, most animated films are made to suit all range of viewers age (and some are even specifically for adults, you know..), and I have written quite a number of reviews of animated films in this blog. Part of the reasons that made me interested to watch this movie is due to the fact that it is the first Malaysian-made animated film in English language and that the movie has been shown in ..er...90 countries, if I'm not mistaken before it finally came back to its home country last March. After some reading, I found out that Silver Ant, the company that created this movie has started this movie project since 10 years ago but only able to finish it and release it after Doha-based network company, Al-Jazeera, provided financial support for its Children's Channel.

In a glance, Seefood is about environmental awareness and friendship. After watching, I, as a viewer, could see that this movie is obviously trying to send messages about shark's fins hunting, marine life protection and environmental pollution. Basically, the story is about Pup, a bamboo shark, who determined to save his brothers and sisters (bamboo shark eggs) from the ruthless shark's fins fishermen. Concerned about his safety, Pup's best pal, Julius, a kind-hearted white-tip shark, along with Mertle, an old turtle, and Octo, an octopus who is a genius inventor, all together helping him during the trip on Man's land for the mission. Along the way, Pup and his friends also meet other friends and foes.  

What I can say about the main story is that it is a very good one. The animation? Superb. The colours are beautiful, the voice over and the animated movements match perfectly. The characters itself are beautifully created, and Pup is sooo cute and adorable. However, it's quite boring. The story moves in a slow pace, quite draggy I'd say. And there are some parts, or subplots, that I don't quite understand, or maybe, a bit under-developed. First, why do the deep sea creatures want to go out from their abyss, which is definitely their natural surrounding, into the upper part of the ocean? Second, why does Spin the ray fish meet the deep sea creatures? And third, why is there a factory by the sea? After thinking a bit hard, I could come up to some assumptions which might explain the questions. However, I think the story itself should not be so complex and giving hard time to viewers. The story-telling lacks understandable, explainable dialogues and scenes. Some part of the dialogues also lacks the element of fun, and some parts also lacks dialogues or sounds that you'd normally hear in real situation. In other words, it is not quite 'lively'. However, I think the roosters are quite interesting, as well as the interactions between Julius and his three 'servants', and the coconut crazy crabs. 

Whatever it is, at least I've learned from this movie, that a bamboo shark can breath on land up to 12 hours, isn't it cool? All in all, apart from the boring factors I mentioned above, this is actually a good movie. But it would be a better movie, a movie that we can't forget and wanna watch over and over again if with smooth plot and spot on dialogues to match that excellent animation.

The Adventures of Tintin

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A trip to the cinema is usually a planned trip because I am choosy when it comes to enjoying movies. So, when a free invitation to a movie suddenly came up and there's no 'now showing' movie in my wishlist at the moment, I just chose movies that's really close to my taste. Hence, The Adventures of Tintin (TAOT) was selected.

I watched TAOT without reading any previews or reviews or any pre-existing knowledge whatsoever of it, except for having a little guess because the name's quite familiar and so it is probably an adapted work from a novel or some other works of art. Indeed it was, but from a comic book. After watching, I read up for some information and TAOT is actually "a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artiste Georges Rémi (1907-1983) who wrote under the pen name Hergé" (source: Wikipedia). Yup, his comics joined the famous books, novels and literature of long publication lines and globally famous.

The movie is a performance capture 3D film....which means, it's not real, but really close to real. All actions done by the actors are captured, animated and digitized in 3D. The story is about the journey of Tintin, a young journalist in unraveling the mystery of the unicorn sailing ships that is related to history or legend of its maker, Sir Francis Haddock. At first I thought this is only a kid's movie but WHEW!, with gunshots, fast-paced action sequence, unstoppable grinding of teeth (okay, that one is exaggerated), fight scenes and the seriousness of the story line....but no messy bloodbath, and there's some humour and funny moments and FUN! ....so, okay..it's for everybody.

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Tintin saw a unique three-masted sailing ship model at an open market one day and bought it with a good price, but suddenly found himself becoming a target to mysterious people who's actually wanting the ship for themselves. What's the story behind the model ship? What's the secrets behind (or in) it and who are the people who are also looking for the ship? The adventure of young Tintin and his clever dog made them crossed the sea and the air, and took them to race with the cunning foe, in finding the answers of the puzzles the ship maker left them. Good to watch!

Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

Title : Destination Unknown

Author : Agatha Christie

Publisher : Harper/Collins, 2003

Pages : 316

Genre : Adventure, thriller, espionage, a li'l bit sci-fi too I guess ;)

Bought at : MPH Sunway Pyramid

Price : Value Buy-double books for RM39.90 (Yup! This is the double companion
of Dumb Witness.)

First published by : Collins, 1954

This is Agatha Christie Signature Edition.

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Reading this one was a new experience for me, after reading a number of AC's works in the past. It's a rare type of style, no Miss Marple, no Hercule Poirot. No gossiping 'ol dames, no hunt for family treasures, but a thrilling adventure in a punch bowl of war, ideologies and political sentiments. In it, there mentioned the term Iron Curtain several times and it has led me to find its meaning, to which I quoted from the online Britannica Encyclopedia as ...

...the political, military and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern European allies from open contact with the West and other non-Communist area.

However, the dark and gloomy post-war ambiance is just the background of the main plot. The main story is about the investigation of the sudden disappearance of a British scientist, Thomas Betterton, along with a number of distinguished science experts and researchers from all over Europe. The only key person in finding his whereabouts is his wife, Olive. Unfortunately, Olive is suffering critical injuries after a plane crash. Hope comes in the form of Hillary Craven, a suicidal woman who has lost her own hope to live after a failed marriage and the death of her child. How does Hillary play her role in tracking Thomas? Now that's the interesting part. The mastermind behind the geniuses' disappearance is a master genius in his own way, and the discovery of the plot? Superbly thrilling. In it there are mysterious characters, someone that might just pretend to be someone else, but you don't know who, and you don't know his/her motives and objectives. And in the end, the mystery is unraveled  one by one, and you know who is who...and then you can't help but thinking how brilliant it was told. Really, because I felt it.

This is not a usual Agatha Christie's treat and I love it!

Ahoy, mates!

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Hah! I've watched this one after a few days it was released, actually, which was on 19th May. It's the first movie in my waiting list since I first heard of its production. Why not? I've been a fan since The Curse of The Black Pearl. Captain Jack Sparrow is really the star of the show. His swagger, his conniving method, and he's manipulative. Many times we see his actions can be defined as acts of selfishness, and yet, sometimes it's not. And he's so freakin' funny. He's lovable. On Stranger Tides, we were saved from seeing Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and in their stead are a hunky priest and a gorgeous mermaid. But whatever it is, I just love the love and hate relationship between Jack and Hector. They are always competing against one another but in certain circumstances, they can team up and cooperate. For Jack, there's no one that we've met in all four movies can be trusted (anyway Jack isn't a trustworthy person himself), except for his loyal mate, Joshamee Gibbs. Jack's interesting character is my glue to this film series and Johnny Depp's acting as Jack is perhaps irreplaceable. If Depp doesn't want to be Jack anymore, then all the pirates of the Caribbean should retire, savvy? :)

127 Hours

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Actually, I didn't anticipate myself to watch this movie at first, didn't matter whether there's James Franco in it or not, or whether it was one of the nominated movies in Academy Awards or not. My interest in this movie started when I learned more of the storyline and when I knew that it's based on a true story. Yeah, maybe I'm quite a fan of biographical movies.

Anyway, in a gist, this movie tells you that you should never go anywhere without telling anyone, especially if you are going to some risky place with the intention of doing something dangerous.

And that was the ultimate lesson for Aron Ralston from the ordeal. He was probably the sort of guy who didn't take relationships seriously, even with his family. Or maybe he did, but he didn't show it or didn't feel that it matters to show. So, that was why he thought it won't harm a thing when he went off canyoning in Blue John Canyon without telling anyone where he was actually going. He's doing his thing, his passion, his hobby....just what could be wrong. Or so he thought.

However, as he started to descend a narrow passage, a suspended boulder wedged between rock walls gave in and fell down the canyon with him, only to land again, but this time with Aron's hand pinned between the boulder and the rock wall, trapping him. During the time he was trapped there, Aron had tried everything he could think of to free himself, while battling thirst, hunger, loneliness, helplessness, coldness of the night and weather. He knew that no one knew he was there, and no one would notice that he was actually missing until a few days later, so it was really up to him. It was a suspense to see him trying desperately while keeping his mind straight amidst all the delusions caused by lack of nutrition.

During this ordeal, Aron also occupied himself by recording a video diary with his video recorder and taking pictures. Aron thought a lot about his family and his former girlfriend, probably re-thinking what had happened, what he had missed or what he should or shouldn't done before. I'd say, he contemplated a lot about his life. In the end, Aron was a fighter. He finally freed himself by doing the thing that I had expected him to do, yet I didn't dare to wish for it to happen. But he did. And I was thankful that although the scene looked real, it wasn't so gory. So, yes....I didn't searched for spoilers before watching this movie, so i didn't know then how it would end. After watching it, I almost couldn't believe that he still had a second chance after being trapped deep inside a canyon for 127 hours. And continue to live, and wrote about his experience in a book, which then picked up by Danny Boyle the director and made this good movie out of it.

And Aron Ralston continue to pursue his passion after that, without forgetting to leave a note or message to somebody of his whereabouts. :)

Yes, I was satisfied. What I like about it is the story. The story of a real person learning a real lesson. And in desperate time, people can do the unimaginable to survive. The real Aron survived.

My next agenda? The King's Speech, The Adjustment Bureau and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa.

Till then.

Studio Ghibli Craze...

I first watched an animation production of Studio Ghibli (SG) when I was a teenager. However, at that time I didn't know the existence of SG. It was Laputa. Many years later, I watched Spirited Away and loved it. Still I didn't know about SG. In fact I didn't remember when did I know about it. SG has produced numerous brilliant animation since 1985. What I love about these productions is the story, and the theme for some of them, because there's a certain theme which I never found in any animation. The creativity, the imagination. Remarkable. Even for the earlier ones when there wasn't any digital imaging or high-tech process. When I found out that my niece have the compilation DVD of SG productions, I was struck with joy and borrowed it, of course. My, there's a lot more good stuff I haven't seen, I realized later. So, all of the followings are the "good stuff" that I have enjoyed so much viewing....

Grave of The Fireflies (1988)

Grave of The Fireflies

This is the first film that I watched. And my, it was really touching. Usually we see animations as something of fun, hilarious and interesting. Well, this one is really interesting...but sad. It is a heavy emotional depiction of individual struggle in war-torn zone. The era is at the end of WWII in Japan. A tale of two orphans, a boy (Seita) and his younger sister (Setsuko) and how they had fought with their lives to stay alive after their parents were killed in the war. The two ended up staying over at an aunt's house, who was kind at first but after some time, when the war was prolonged and the food was rationed, the aunt became hard on them and resentful. Feeling that they were no more welcomed, Seita and Setsuko found shelter at an abandoned bomb shelter and made it as their house. The story ended tragically and I was teary-eyed at the end. There's no propaganda or ideologies in this film, just plain strokes of images telling a story of the aftermath of war to ordinary, simple people.

Ponyo (2008)

Ponyo

This story is very cute indeed. It is about a fish-girl (it's referred to as goldfish in the film) who is very adventurous. On an outing with her overly-protective father under the sea (who was once a human but said to be frustrated with human's attitude in contaminating the sea, he transformed himself to be able to live under the sea), she escaped to see more of the world but got 'tangled' in a mishap that landed her near the house of a cute 5 year old boy named Sosuke. The two just clicked together. Sosuke named her Ponyo. After that, it was an adventure when the father started to look for Ponyo and succeeded. But Ponyo was strong-willed to be with Sosuke that she escaped again, bringing together a massive tsunami that engulfed the island town where Sosuke lives. A lot more adventures as Ponyo transformed into a girl, Ponyo helped Sosuke to find his mom after the tsunami and the finale where it depended on Sosuke's feelings for Ponyo, that if he really loved Ponyo, she would stay as a girl and live with his family, but if he couldn't accept her, she'd return to the sea. One curious matter is that, unlike in other stories where children normally call their parents "otoo-san" (father) and "okaa-san" (mother), Sosuke calls his parents by name. A little odd there, I think. But a lovely story, love knows no boundaries...and forms, isn't it?

Spirited Away (2001)

Spirited Away

I think this movie is well-known by most people, since it had won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. This fantasy story is full of adventure and good lessons to be learned as it tells the story of Chihiro, a girl, who reluctantly followed her parents into an abandoned amusement park as they found it when they were lost in the way to go to their new house. In a string of events, her parents turned into big, fat pigs and Chihiro was left alone to save herself and her parents. In her adventure, Chihiro would encounter many kinds of characters in many forms of creatures. Topping all that is Haku, a mysterious boy, and Yubaba, a kind of sorceress who runs a bathhouse for gods and goddesses. There's a lot of fun elements in it and we would see Chihiro's transformation from a sulky, whiny and timid girl into a brave and courageous girl with a big heart. There's no true protagonist in this film, since all of them changed for good after meeting Chihiro...(well, I couldn't speak for Yubaba..). Haku is 'kakkoi' (cool)! 

The Cat Returns (2002)

The Cat Returns

Another amusing fantasy-adventure feature where the main character is Haru, a shy and modest teenage girl who were sort of 'emotionally tortured' by her feelings towards the most popular boy at school, who seemed to already have a girlfriend. A courageous act of saving a cat from a traffic accident, led to a series of dumbfounding events afterwards. The cat was actually Lune, a Prince in the Kingdom of Cats. After promising to repay her kindness, Haru found herself treated to cattails, catnips and...mice! The King of the Kingdom, however, has bigger ambitions and wanted Haru to marry his son. Haru was then adviced by a 'beautiful voice' in the air to look for a big white cat who can lead her to the Cat Bureau, where she could find help. The big fat cat was Muta, and although complaining all the time, he did bring Haru to the Bureau where they met the Baron, a really 'cool', debonair male cat. Haru was kidnapped anyway, but Muta, Baron and their bird friend, Toto went to the rescue. They landed inside the kingdom where Haru changed little by little into a cat. Here, the message is to stay true to oneself for as Baron told Haru, the more she lost herself in the world of cats, the more cat-like she'd become. Then the challenge of maze ensued where they have to escape to the portal to go back to human world but the King was adamant in keeping them. Finally, it was revealed that the Prince had never intended to marry Haru. Later, some matters were revealed as who was the 'beautiful voice', who was the person (...or cat) that Lune would like to marry, and who were Muta and Baron. They finally escaped although their effort was nearly broken by the 'crazy' King. After the event, Haru returned as a more confident girl and didn't matter about her the boy of her crush anymore.

Whisper of The Heart (1995)

Whisper of The Heart

Oh, a lovely teenage romantic love story. Tsukishima Shizuku is a bookworm and reads voraciously. She frequents the library and borrowed lots of books from there. One day she recognized the same name in the library card for most of the books that she had borrowed. 'Amasawa Seiji'. It seemed that the person is also a reader as he borrowed many books before Shizuku. So, Shizuku started to wonder and fantasized about how would the guy be. At about the same time, she had a few encounters with a boy who enjoys teasing her with insensitive remarks and made her feel irritated. Anyway, one day, while following an interesting cat, she came across a cool antique store owned by an old man and there she saw a doll of a cat, which is the same as the Baron cat in the "The Cat Returns" (if you watch the previous movie before this one, you'd definitely recognize it) But in this movie, there's no magical fantasy, the doll is just a doll. Shizuku is totally mesmerized by the kind old man, the doll and his store. To cut long story short, the boy is actually the grandson of the old man, and he IS Amasawa Seiji! Before that she learned that Seiji is talented in crafting violins and playing it. Even his grandfather has a three-piece band played together one evening with Shizuku on the vocals. The story revolves so much on the song 'Country Road'. What's interesting is that the two fall in love but very modest with their feeling and just reflect their feeling through indirect conversation. Another interesting point is how love make them feel inspired by each other to find their callings in life. And how sweet the meeting at the end...aahhh, cute love.

Ok, I haven't finish watching all movies in the compilation. Maybe afterwards, I'll find more movies to my liking. Until then, I enjoyed so much the above ones that I watch some more than twice. Great entertainment!

Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale

Rapunzel is the best Disney movie ever!!!

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Okay.. a little bit over-reacting there..The rapunzel I meant is Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale, a new Disney movie showing in cinemas since November. Of course, we already knew of the original tale, but this one has a little bit of a twist, thus the 'tangled' theme. I really, really love the story. It was fun, witty, hilariously funny (klako giller!), the colour was brilliant, beautiful pictures and lovely, lovely songs. All in all, it was truly entertaining, the characters were all strong, and I love Max the horse and the chameleon! So cute! I just can't describe it better. Just enjoy it, because I did, immensely. I like it so much!

Despicable Me & Toy Story 3

Despicable Me...I like!!

Alright. The interesting promo made me gave this movie a go. What is it in this latest animation that is so endearing? Let me see... Gru, his yellow minions, and most adorable, Agnes. So, ok..Gru is a villain. He steals things. He has one mission, and only one ultimate mission....that is to steal the moon. To steal the moon, he needs a weapon called the 'shrink ray', and a big loan from the Bank of Evil to build a space rocket. In his most ambitious plan ever concocted with the goal of committing 'the true crime of the century', even better than the other villain who stole the Pyramid of Giza, he has an army of yellow creatures and a scientist/inventor friend to help him out. However, he is not alone in his conquest, a rival, Vector, is in his way. Then he met 3 little orphan girls; Margo, Edith and Agnes (so cute!!) whom he adopted with something else in mind. However, little did he know that he had acquired more than he bargained for with those girls. He learned something else in the adventure.

To me, this movie is adorably funny and exciting. Just don't expect that you will bounced out of your seat with laughter on the first scene because the story builds itself rather 'gently'. Once you have been introduced with all the characters, you would've understand it all and appreciate the funny moments. My favourite scenes include the scene at the theme park ("It's so fluffy, I'm gonna dieee!!!") and when Gru read the girls bedtime tories... :) . Showing in all major cinemas from 8th July, if you like this 3D feature film with the creative works from the guys behind Ice Age and Horton Hears A Who, this one should be in your movie list.

Now, Toy Story 3 is perhaps the most hilarious and emotional one of the 'trilogy' (assuming that Disney/Pixar is not planning for a fourth installment..). Alright, if the first Toy Story was about Woody and Buzz meeting each other for the first time and competing for the affection of then 6-year-old Andy, and in Toy Story 2 they both had their own mission to settle upon and meeting Jesse ( and Andy was still a kid ), Toy Story 3 is about the toy team battling with their fate as Andy grows up and is going to be in college. Who knows what will Andy do to them....keep them, put them in the attic, give them up for donation or just thrash them out?

Jeez, the story is quite thick to me, full of adventure, not forgetting highly hilarious and funny, and emotionally touching too at the end. Who would've thought that I would be nearly teary-eyed watching an animation movie?! I love the previous two movies but I dare say, this one is the best. Whatever it is, it's worth going to the cinema for it. And there's a whole bunch of positive values that we (not only children) could learn from this movie, especially about friendship. Of course, it's a movie for kids, what else can I expect? But you know, not every kids' show can demonstrate a good value behind the funny lines and graphic animation. Toy Story 3 is a must to see.
 ENJOY! 

Note: Toy Story 3 poster from disney.go.com