it's epic!

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Today I watched a very fun and entertaining new animation film, epic, which was directed by the same man who directed the hilarious Ice Age. It's a fantasy film with comedy and drama elements in the package, adapted from William Joyce's children novel entitled The Leaf Men and The Brave Good Bugs (1996).

The teenager Mary Katherine aka MK went deep into the forest where his estranged and eccentric scientist father lives to stay with him after her mother passed away. Apparently MK's parents divorced many years ago because her mother couldn't stand her father's tenacious-to-the-point-of-madness study about a world of tiny people living in the forest. After giving up on discussing with her father about stopping to pursue his study, MK decided to leave the house when his father's dog, Ozzy, suddenly ran out of the house into the woods. MK then also ran into the woods to find Ozzy.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, in the Moonhaven kingdom, there exists a group of little soldiers called the Leafmen, who are the only creature in human form that function as the protectors of the Queen, and that also means, the forest. The Leafmen is led by Ronin, their leader. Nod, is Ronin's dead friend's son whom he tried to mold into becoming one of the Leafmen soldiers but Nod just not interested and insists to live independently. Queen Tara, is the queen of the forest and the main power who controls and protects the various life and creatures living in the forest. On the other side is the Boggans, the hideous creatures led by Mandrake who oppose the kind of balance the Queen is protecting and do nothing but rot and kill the forest.

So all these characters will soon have their paths cross one another when it's summer solstice and the time comes for the Queen to choose the new heir for the forest. The first part of the ceremony is for the Queen to choose a suitable leaf pod from a lake. These pods are nursed and guarded by a pair of slug and snail, Mud and Grub. When the Queen finally made her selection, the Boggans ambushed the ceremony, intending to kill the Queen and the pod. In the process, Mandrake's son was killed and the Queen was fatally wounded. On her last moment, she fell near MK who's looking for Ozzie and managed to transfer her powers to the pod and gave it to MK, at the same time shrinking her into tiny size and told her to take the pod to Nim Galuu.

From this part onward, it's a spectacular journey for MK to get the pod to Nim Galuu, assisted by Ronin, Nod, Mud and Grub while she tries to come into terms of being tiny and then surprisingly thrusted into the world that she didn't believe before and that her father has been searching for so long. The group has to dodge and secure the pod and themselves from the relentless attacks by Mandrake and his Boggans who after the death of his son, now wants to steal the pod for himself to create his own Dark Prince.

This is a very fun and entertaining story and you couldn't help but laughing at Mud and Grub with their funny dialogues. And watching this movie in 3D is really awesome. This film encompasses some good morals to discuss with your children. The first being the relationship between family members as shown in MK and her father's relationship. The second being the importance of protecting the environment and maintaining the balance in the nature's cycle of life (at one part Mandrake told his son that the forest is not built in one day, and his son replied that they can destroy it in a day...which is so true..). The third is about teamwork and even though everybody lives as individuals, no one should be alone. There's quite a lot of wisdom quotes in this movie. You can never go wrong with this type of movie, although this one is not the rolling-on-the-floor kind of funny but it has a nice amount of humour in it and the story is good, sensible and entertaining. The animation is also so beautiful. Recommended.

 

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.  

The Great Magician

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Famous actors, catchy tagline, got nothing better to do, OK...lets see this movie...without first knowing what kind of movie it is, and so with no expectations other than to be entertained.

Starring Lau Ching Wan, Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Zhao Xun, with the theme set around old China of perhaps in the 18th century weaved with a speck of magic and optical illusion, The Great Magician seems to be promising a great story....but, after watching it, for me it's just a light fantasy movie good for releasing stress. So, it's a fantasy movie, don't take it seriously.

Chang Hsien (Tony Leung) is a scholar turned magician (or conjurer) who comes back to China after being abroad for so many years, training in the arts of magic. He returns to set free his old mentor and his mentor's daughter, Yin (Zhou Xun) who is supposedly to be his wife if he didn't go abroad. However both are in the clutches of an 'evil' warlord, General Lei (Lau Ching Wan). The mentor is a prisoner in Lei's castle while Yin has become Lei's 7th wife. Chang Hsien accommodates a run down theater house and turn it into a new and attractive magic show place with his team, while setting the baits to get the general, which scheme is also involving Japanese spies who's all bent to get the general too.

'Evil' warlord as he is, General Lei is also such a sensitive and kindhearted guy when he is around children and especially when he is around Yin, who he tries so much to capture her heart and make her fall for him (but unsuccessful to this day). So much for 'evil' right? Still cares for a woman's feelings. However, Yin, having no love for the general she is forced to marry but stand it anyway for the sake of finding her father's fate and his whereabouts, she managed to somehow 'control' the general from touching her. The general seems to care for her the most while managing his other six wives.

However, General Lei might not be all evil as most of the 'evil' works are done by his right hand man, who is actually the one who holds the mentor in captivity. His motives, other than politically-motivated, also involves finding the scripture of 7 magical wonders. We will find out soon who is the real Japanese spy in question, and who's actually the one who wants to topple General Lei so much. 

For, Chang Hsien, General Lei and Yin, the relationship of these three characters somewhat changes from the earlier part to the end of the movie, when things didn't go exactly as planned and when each character gets to know each other more. And the ending? Darn! This movie is all about fun and good laughs. So don't expect to be awed so much. However, it's still enjoyable with good acting and great CGI. Fun!

Misteri Jalan Lama

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Sometimes I make a decision to watch a movie based on my 'trust'. It may be the trust on the director, the actors or the producer. Based on my trust to Afdlin Shauki's working mind, I went to watch Misteri Jalan Lama. Afdlin may have said that his latest movie has a sombre tone, different from his other movies, but it didn't make me leave the cinema feeling sombre. Instead, I left feeling entertained.

Two brothers of different personalities undertake a journey back to their hometown for their father's burial. However, in the middle of their journey, they meet with an unexpected accident (not a car accident, ya). Lost, or so they seem, they try to resume their journey despite encountering mysterious people and creatures beyond their (and our) understanding. But finally, we will come to understand the story. It's quite a straight-forward one, actually. Indra and Ilya are the brothers grimm. However, Indra has been estranged from his family for a long time. When their father passed away because of a car accident which happened mysteriously, Indra received a letter previously written by his father to drive Ilya back to their village. Prior to the accident, his father left Ilya a birthday present (which is supposedly to be on the next day, he will be 25), and the present being a strange looking locket. When Ilya hold the locket, it shines and made Ilya sees some kind of vision that he cannot understand. And so, the journey. Indra is portrayed as an ex-car racer turned loser who's always in trouble due to his gambling habits. Ilya is the hope of the family and he helps his father's company to grow and succeed. However, Ilya has several health problems and he also cannot drive. That's why they have to go back together. An unfortunate event caused them to lost their car and they have to continue on foot. In the middle of the forest, scary things happen as well as encounters with two different kinds of ghostly creatures. They seem to be waiting for them, but each with different intentions. What are those creatures? How are they related to the brothers? What is the secret behind the locket...and their father's instruction? We would know it at the end of the movie. But we would have guessed it as the story goes on. We would wonder, does this person actually knows more than what he seems to show?

The story? Quite straight-forward as I have said before and understandable. The actors? Great, the two male leads are not disappointing. The dialogues? Nice and at some point, can make you laugh. Yup, some scenes that are meant to be scary, they do scare me. There are elements of surprise. And some dialogues that are meant to be funny, they do made me laugh. However, I'm kinda intrigued by the scenes at the climax of the story. There is a war. There is suspense. However, I couldn't stand the costume. It made me laugh. Oh, Afdlin...are the costumes meant to make us laugh? Because I did. Personally, I think he could make the costume better and nicer, I think the scenes there deserve more serious tone and perhaps induce some jaw-dropping moments from the audience.

But anyway, a good and entertaining movie. An mystery-fantasy tale of two brothers. 

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? :)

Movie : Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (The Malay Chronicles: Bloodlines)

Spectacular! Yet another courageous effort from KRU Studios in dabbling with the silver screen. Yes, this movie is one that you can not miss if you are looking for a difference in our "son of soil's" brainchild. Actually, I have seen this movie much earlier, however, due to the turns of events, I only manage to write about it today.

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The production company chose one of the revered ancient literature documents of the Malay chronicles; the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa or The Kedah Annals as its latest production. As I understand it, this ancient literature script is also a document of historical accounts telling about the ancestry of Kedah rulers, yet it was weaved with such intricacies inclusive of mythical figures and miracles. However, let us be reminded that in the production's website, they explicitly said that this movie is "loosely" based on the chronicle, and so, what we would see is the production's interpretation of the chronicle and their choice of highlights in order to produce this movie. In general, we know that Merong Mahawangsa is said to be the descendant of Alexander the Great and the founder of Langkasuka Kingdom which later on became Kedah, and later on produced a line of kingdom rulers including the Sultan Mudzafar Shah.

The Gist (full synopsis can be read here: KRU Studios)

It was 120 AD, a prince from the Roman Empire was set to marry a beautiful princess from the Han Dynasty in China. Both empires agreed to execute the wedding in a neutral land, called the Golden Chersonese (Malay Peninsula). When the Roman ships was heavily damaged by the rough weather, they seek help from a sailor and traveller named Merong Mahawangsa when they met him Goa, India. Merong successfully escorted the Roman prince to the wedding site and met the Chinese envoy. However, the success was short-lived when an army of pirate nations called the Gerudans came and wreaked havocs at the camp in order to kidnap the princess. The Gerudans actually had a more sinister plan. Merong was later saved by a native villager who turned out to be a wise man (or tok guru), and later became his apprentice. Merong was then able to find out about his family and then set up a new kingdom which we later knew as Langkasuka. A reunion later brought Merong to use all his might and wisdom to face the Gerudans and save the princess. Will he succeed?

The verdict

Thumbs up from me! I think Stephen Rahman-Hughes has done a good job in delivering the lines and embracing his character. Khir Rahman brutal giller! All in all, all the actors performed really well. Good story line. The brawls and the war were rather violent and quite real. Kudos for that. And kudos for the special effects too. The best in Malaysian film industry so far. It was classy and I feel proud watching it, satisfied too.

It was a great experience watching this movie. And I wish the KRU brothers will continue to produce good quality movies in the future.

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!

Movie : Haq

From http://www.flixunlimited.com 

Haq is a brand new Malaysian movie, currently showing in the cinemas since 27 Jan. I had not any idea of its existence until yesterday, when I was waiting for my luggage at the airport. There's a big tv screen there, where they show ads and promos...a sort of entertainment, for the bored passengers, forever waiting for their bags..

So, anyway....there I saw the promo..felt quite interested in it, since the film looked like an action-thriller flick with elements of superpower heroes...the first one to be seen in the local film industry. Lately, there's a "pasar borong" market of horror flicks and comedies. Even the last local action hero movie was a comedy...yes, I mean Cicakman..So, this one seemed to be one of the serious stuff, so I went to check it out. Anyway, uhm...there's Adiputra in the main role...quite a hunk, huh...

This movie is obviously about a battle between good and evil. What I am going to write next might contain SPOILERS...so, if you don't want to be spoiled, please stop reading right now. But if you don't mind, be my guest and just scroll down.

There's No Place Like Here

This is the first novel of Cecelia Ahern, an Irish novelist, that I've ever read. The original title is actually "A Place Called Here" but in US the novel's title is changed to the one up there. Actually, I don't quite understand why some names or titles of movies or books need to be changed in some countries. I can understand if the original title has already existed in another work published/produced prior to the later ones, but for some other cases, I don't quite get it. For example, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone in UK became Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone in US. Anyone care to explain?...

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From the novel's back cover,

Since Sandy Shortt's childhood classmate disappeared twenty years ago, Sandy has been obsessed with missing things. Finding what is lost becomes her single-minded goal - whether it's a sock that vanished in the washing machine, the car keys she misplaced, or the graver issue of finding people who vanished from their loved ones. Sandy dedicates her work to finding these missing people, offering devastated families a flicker of hope.

Jack ruttle is one of those desperate people. It's been a year since his brother Donal vanished into thin air, and he thinks Sandy Shortt could well be the answer to his prayers. but when Sandy goes missing too, she stumbles upon the place - and people - she's been looking for all her life. A world away from her loved ones and the home she ran for so long, Sandy soon resorts to her old habit again, searching. This time though, she is desperately trying to find her way home....

What I like about this story is the element of mystery in it. As the synopsis reveals, I wonder just where all the lost things go and why did they get missing? Why everything started to happen after the missing of Sandy's classmate, who's not actually being kind to Sandy during their childhood years. Sandy is a unique character who has this obsessive and compulsive behavior of finding missing things no matter what it takes or costs. She makes every case as her mission and doggedly pursue her missions until she could find no more. She is the most detached person I've ever met in a novel, always distancing herself from others, even her parents yet close to the people who seek her help in finding their missing loved ones.

And then there's 'Here'...where things took a mysterious turn. As the story goes along, we are following Sandy and Jack's journey to reveal the mystery. And in their journey, they find themselves.

A good read. Enjoy.

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!

Movie : Dorian Gray

Would you like to stay young forever?...

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This post is about Dorian Gray, the central figure in Oscar Wilde's 1890 literature "The Picture of Dorian Gray", and its 2009 film adaptation simply titled "Dorian Gray". As I have never read the actual Wilde's literature, much of the storyline in this post came from my perspective and reading after watching the DVD of the 2009 film a few days ago. Dorian Gray was a young man, with charming good looks and youthfulness that everybody desired. He was innocent, he was good...until he met the cynic Lord Henry, who took quite an interest to the young Gray. Befriending Lord Henry, Gray was enthralled with his world views and looked up upon him. Henry preached his views and philosophy to Gray, yet his views and philosophy in life were laced with his fanciness to hedonism and slowly corrupted Gray's mind. Both men were friends with Basil, a fine artist who were inspired by Gray's beauty and painted his portrait. In a way, he was also fond of Gray. The painting became the central object of the story as Gray realized his good features and slowly succumb to the idea of conquering all life's pleasure by using his charm and exploring his senses. He broke a lot of hearts, he became heartless himself and cared for nothing except for his pleasures. Although being reminded by Basil not to believe Henry's words, Gray was already embracing the ideas and constantly motivated by Henry to use all his qualities to the maximum. The story took a different turn when Gray looked upon Basil's painting of him and saw that after every sin he committed, his painting changed. Gray in the painting became deformed and aged gradually after committing each hideous act, while Gray himself didn't change, hurt or age a little bit. Earlier on, in what I thought as a scene of playful remarks between Henry and Gray, they discussed the idea of bartering one's soul to the devil in exchange of something. And Gray said that he would agree to change it with eternal youth. Thereupon, the story reflected a Faustian theme. Gray hid the painting as the changes escalated. As Basil encounter him for the painting, Gray killed him and threw him into the river. Now that he thought himself as untouchable and invincible, he went away and travel the world, using his curse to seek pleasure. 25 years passed (18 in the literature), he came back to London, tired of his conquest. He reconnected with Henry and the others. Looking the same as he was 25 years ago, many were surprised to see him, including Henry. However, Gray now was tired of his life, he wanted to change. He wanted to be a good man. But he looked at his painting and it was still the same hideous thing. He wanted to be free from this curse. He fell in love with Henry's daughter (a vicar's daughter in the literature) and wanted to marry her. But his terrible past came to haunt him. The hearts he had broken, the souls he had killed, including Basil's and the girl who committed suicide because of him, all came upon him and torturing him. He blamed it all on Henry, he blamed it on the painting. In the tragic end, Gray died in the effort to redeem himself. In order to kill the curse, he stabbed the painting. In the literature, he was found dead stabbed in the heart. In the film version, he died in a blast while stabbing on the painting. The painting survived the fire, and changed its form back to its original look.

            I think this is one example of life trying to imitate art. The Faustian theme aside, this is a tragic example when a man is devoted to pleasure and when morality is degraded as a hindrance to happiness. Lord Henry relishes the kind of life he preached to Gray, yet he didn't live that life. Gray took everything Henry said like in a textbook and unable to control himself.
            One quote that I like in the film, from Basil, "Some things are more precious because they don't last". The other cynical quotes from Henry, which I didn't mean to like but I found it rather interesting and couldn't help chuckled at some. A rather entertaining story, with an interesting plot, although I thought it diversed from the original literature to a certain extent (anyway, which adaptations do not..?), it was a good watch. The end.  

A piece of Harry...

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Harry..Harry..Harry..Harry was that cute little boy with the geeky glasses who was also a friend to the cute Hermione and Ron nine years ago. Now they are in their late teens, all grown up, adrenaline boiling and having romance issues (PG13 here...). I am not a die-hard follower of the books or the movies, however, counting...I think I have seen four of the seven film series, including the latest one (HP7), the first of the two part finale. Not being a serious follower, I was sometimes lost in comprehending some plots or relationships between characters, but regardless of that, I never fell asleep during the movie. So, that being said, you can still enjoy the movie because its story, dialogue and performance are independently entertaining. Anyway, familiarizing with the story line from the first series to the last does help to appreciate the movie better. As for me, as I watched the final part currently showing in cinemas, I was enticed to make a quick study of what was the story about from the start. So, there will be a little digging up after this. Lastly, the second part of the finale will be showing in July 2011, for the final battle. Can't wait... 

Movie : Magika

Magika is another brave experiment from the KRU brothers. As I remember, the KRU brothers always try something different and do something that is not usually done by other people in the local entertainment industry. There may be some loopholes and brickbats but they keep thinking and moving forward. For that effort and vision, I salute them.

Back to Magika, if we can enjoy Narnia, Harry Potter and other fantasy movies alike, why can't we enjoy this Malaysian version of children fantasy movie, Magika? In a nutshell, this movie is entertaining and fun. First, it is a musical. So, between dialogues you may expect some songs and those songs are also the story. Some dialogues are delivered through singing. The songs are very nice. I must confess at first I almost laughed at the starting of the movie as I 'tak tahan' (couldn't stand it) to see Maya Karin in a fairy-like costume singing at the river. Feels like watching old Malay movies from the 50s - 60s era., but with colours. But then, I started to accept the concept of a musical film (in this modern days).

Talking about colour, the colours are amazing. Technical aspects aside (for I am not a tech-person), watching the movie is like watching beautiful pictures. Actors and actresses, they are all famous and widely known around the country. Characters? They are all of famous Malay heroes and mythical characters like Nenek Kebayan, Hang Tuah, Mahsuri, Awang (Lembing Awang Pulang ke Dayang), Naga Tasik Chini, Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, Pak Pandir, Orang Minyak and others (Funny I have to ransack my memories of Malay story characters just to find out who "Bad" is at first, ha ha). But there are so many characters that most of them appeared only in a short while, just to accommodate the journey of Ayu in search of her brother.

Oh, I have skipped the main part. I should have told you the main plot. Ayu and Malik are two siblings living in this current era, who are grieving for their mother's death, especially Malik as he thought that he was the cause of it. One day, Malik is being difficult and run away into the forest. Ayu, his older sister has to find him. Malik then lost into the world of Magika and is caught by Nenek Kebayan. Ayu, following his tracks, also went into Magika and had to encounter many strange things and meet strange people, whom later we know as the famous characters, in search of Malik. In Magika, their journey began.

Perhaps the ending is not so much alike as in fairy tales, and not so strong (not that I wanted it to be like in fairy tales..). The positive message (for Malik) is there but kind of hidden by the feeling of lost and longing in Ayu for Magika (sort of). Malik is the one benefiting the most lessons in this story but the sense of his accomplishments is only revealed by Ayu talking to her mother's grave. So, okay, but all in all, this 1 hour and 45 minutes movie is nice, fun and suitable for all ages. Kudos to KRU. Enjoy.

Footnote (added on 25th October 2010):

Congratulations to KRU Brothers on winning the Best Film and Best Original Music Score for this film in The 23rd Malaysian Film Festival 2010.

To know what other awards this film has won, click the newsclippings;

The Star

Utusan Malaysia

Sundays At Tiffany's by James Patterson

Okay, this story has nothing to do with Breakfast At Tiffany's.

James Patterson is one of the author whose novels I have enjoyed more than once. That includes Along Came A Spider and Kiss The Girls, both books and also their film adaptations. Being so used to his thriller genres, I was somewhat amused to find this novel on the shelf because it seemed like a romance novel. However, I have no problem to indulge myself in a romantic story, even more with my current "love-dovey" heart. So, I finished reading the book in one night, a skill and a habit long forgotten since the golden days of Muna the voracious novel reader, haha. In a nutshell, it's a nice, sweet story, the kind that warms your heart. Mr. Patterson collaborated with another writer, Mdm Gabrielle Charbonnet in this novel.
The story is about Jane, who as an eight-year-old girl, had an imaginary friend, a thirty-something Michael. Michael had been her best friend, her only companion during her childhood, the only one who listened and care for what she thinks, as Jane was a lonely child, and didn't get the attention, love and affection from her broadway producer mother.

As any imaginary friend, Michael had to leave Jane on her 9th birthday. Like any other 'cases', Michael had prepared Jane that she would forget him as she grows up. That's how it is supposed to be.

Anyway, twenty-three years has passed. Fate finally brought Jane and Michael together. As a grown woman now, Jane is quite successful, although working under her mother's rather dictatorship wing. She is a playwright in her own way and working on a play she wrote about a little girl with her imaginary friend. So, Jane has never forgotten Michael, which is something unusual here. As Jane meets Michael, both of them are seeing each other in different perspectives and guess what, they fell in love. Now here was the confusing part for me, as I read through. Expecting this story to be a realistic one, I figured that the Michael whom Jane met later was actually a real person who has the same appearance and personality. But, it wasn't like that. Michael was real, but in a different way. Something of a little bit like "City of Angels" here, with almost a tragic ending....but again, "almost". Someone at the end of the story is facing death and I had guessed it wrongly. Ah, I should've known better.

Perhaps the fantasy-like concept of the story is the only thing that is a bit of a 'downer' for me, because I prefer a more realistic story in a novel. However, it is not hopeless too. The story made my mind did the 'time tunnel' thing back to my childhood years, wondering if I ever have an imaginary friend. Of course, I didn't remember having anything or anyone like that, although I was a bit of a loner and a dreamer too...(still a dreamer now ;) ). Like the rules said, we are not supposed to remember that after 9-years-old.

One of excerpt from the story that I like:
 "I don't know Vivienne had a kid," one of the other stick figures said. "Hello, Jane. You're as cute as a button."
 A flock of gazelles, they moved into the huge living room, leaving me to wonder if I'd ever seen a button that qualified as cute. (page 25)

And there is something from this part,
 I was a thirty-two-year-old woman who had everything and nothing going for her at the exact same time. I had a good job that was theoretically fascinating, but it consumed my hours and days and gave me almost no personal satisfaction. (page 113),
 which somehow I can relate to it.

And then I wondered who had written this part,
 I should figure out a way to be happy, not for a lifetime, but for an hour or two. Maybe there was somebody out there who wanted to sit around with me, and order in Japanese, and not hate watching a DVD of You've Got Mail or The Shawshank Redemption for the fourth or fifth time. (page 114),
 because those two movies are my favourite movies and I have been watching them more than three times each.

So, finally...this book is still a good read. It is simple, sweet and nice. The language is simple, the story line is not so complicated, and there's something to learn about love. Enjoy.