Movie 8 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

25 February 2009 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The second Oscar nominated movie for Best Picture to watch.

Story line - Good
Directing - Good
Acting - Good
Make-up - Excellent

This is the first Brad Pitt starring movie I watched after Mr. & Mrs. Smith. He deserved his nomination for Best Actor. And I think he fully justified his Sexist Men alive tag in this movie. I am really a fan of him, but can't deny his appeal here.

Cate Blanchett did a great part as the dying woman in the hospital, telling her story to her daughter, and revealing to her daughter her real father. But of course, the make-up is excellent. If not for reading it somewhere, I would have thought the old lady was another person and not her.

It deserved the three Oscars won in Art Direction, Makeup and Visual Effects.

But then again, my complained is on the length. My butt felt numb at the end of the movie. It is too detailed that I felt pace was too slow.

Rating: 4/5

Movie 7 - Slumdog Millionaire

18 February 2009 - Slumdog Millionaire

Every year, when the Oscar nominees were announced, I usually found those movies unfamiliar, especially in the Best Picture Category. For this year nominees, only two ie. Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button were screened in local cinema. With Slumdog recent win at the Golden Globe and BAFTA, and a favourite at the Oscar, I was determined to catch this favourite piece.

I am not a fan of this type of movie and especially so with its 2 hours screen time. However, due to reasons stated above, I just had to watch it. And gladly I am not disappointed. However, towards the third-quarter mark, I was getting a bit restless and bored. I felt that if it was, say 15 minutes, shorter, then it would have been perfect.

Since small to young, and now old, I have always heard of kids being kidnapped to nearby country. Chopped off their legs and/or hands, they were pushed to beg for some syndicate. This has always being the story told to kids, then and now, to scare them not to wander alone. How true was this? I don't know.

When I was transferred to India to work in 2002, the first thing we were warned was that never to give anything to the huge group of child beggars at the airport. If you give to one, the rest will rush to you and start asking (begging). After watching this movie, there may be some truth to my question above, although in India, kids may not need to be kidnapped. There are so many wandering around the city that it would be easy to get those kids to follow without resorting to kidnapping.

The scene where, Arvind - one of the kids, was purposely blinded by wax, to me, was one of the most unforgettable scene in the entire movie. I really could not imagine this being done in real life, but I guess there is.

I read in a review that the editing of the movie is one of its low point, but I found that acceptable. The directing is also commendable.

Note: At the time of blogging, the Oscar winners were already announced. Slumdog Millionaire claimed the Best Picture and 6 other Oscars, including Best Directing and Editing. The biggest winner of the evening.

Well, at least, this year I could lay claim that I have watched an Oscar's Best Picture. Which I am glad I did.

Rating: 4/5 (It could have been a perfect rating, had it not bored me in certain part)

Movie 6 - The Wedding Game

11 February 2009 - The Wedding Game

The plot is acceptable. Fann Wong is lousy. The supporting roles by Alice Lau and Charles 'Blackie' Chen are commendable. A movie to showcase Christopher Lee body and boost his popularity. Daniel Tan is hopeless as an actor. Dubbing his dialogue may probably help a bit. The ending is happy and predictable.

Rating: 3/5

Movie 5 - Pink Panther 2

9 February 2009 - Pink Panther 2

I have always like Steve Martin. And he doesn't disappoint me here. I don't recall watching the first one. But I love this. I love the supporting cast too. Never mind that the crime was solve rather easily. But the whole acting really tickles me.

Rating: 5/5

Movie 4 - All's Well End's Well

5 February 2009 - All's Well End's Well

I have never being a fan of Sandra Ng, but I like her in this movie. The career woman look goes well with me. My favourite scene is where she works overnight to prepare her book, and appear with the fake moustache line.

Overall the movie is entertaining, but somehow without Steven Chow, a CNY movie seems to lack something.

Rating: 4/5

Movie 3 - Red Cliff 2

4 February 2009 - Red Cliff 2

Part 2 of John Woo's epic. Better than the first part.

My favourite part: Where Zhou Yu and Zhu Geliang challenged each other to kill the Chao Cao's naval commanders and to get 100,000 arrows respectively. I think Zhu Geliang still has the finer touch in terms of wits. His plans are more elegant and intelligent.

How wars are won then in ancient China? From the movie - wits, intelligence and luck.

The final word of Zhou Yu after the war - No one is a victor here.

Who actually benefitted from war? No one. Wars are only the selfish act of crazy people.

Totally impressed with Chao Cao's influenced on his army. Even when they are dying, they still pledged their loyalty.

For acting, Zhang Feng-Yi got top marks as Chao Cao. Whereas, I think Tony Leung and Takeshiro are just A-list actors paid to make the movie more reputable in terms of casting.

My rating: 4/5

Movie 2 - Outlander

14 January 2009 - Outlander

Firstly, the 'Back to the Future' really does not click with me. A futuristic space craft crashing into ancient Norway. Seems odd to me.

Secondly, the monster creature seems too modern to survive in the Vikings era. Let alone multiply.

The only scene I thought worthwhile watching is where they try to trap the monster into a huge pit and burned it alive. Their plan seems workable, but no. The burning doesn't work. Instead what kill the monster was dropping several hundred meters from the cliff to the sea.

Rating: 2/5

Movie 1 - Yes Man

7 January 2009 - Yes Man

I have always been a Yes Man at work. Though I am not the big boss, but I do have many people below me and the word that I dread most to hear from them is NO. I believe most, if not all, bosses will share that sentiment. Therefore I am always a Yes Man.

Carl Allen, the character play by Jim Carrey, does not seem to believe in it, both at work and at play. He's the NO man. But he soon found that YES meant better things. And he YES, even when he does not meant them. He found out the consequences of that the bitter way. But all is not loss when he realized it soon enough.

Jim Carrey is funny. Not over the top funny, well, most of the time, but humorous. But the character I liked most is that of Norman, or Norm, Carl Allen's boss. He provides the slapstick comedy, which used to be Jim Carrey's best.

My rating: 3/5

Mamma Mia!

4 January 2009 - After watching the movie version, I have wanted to watch the stage version. When it was announced that the musical will come ashore, I was trying to get the ticket. But due to 'unforeseen circumstances', I missed out. Then they announced that it will be extended for another 3 days. This time, I made no mistake and went to get the ticket the following day after the announcement. With WK's Enrich Card, we got a 10% discount for the ticket. Priced at RM303, we pay RM273. This is supposed to be the final show of their tour here in Malaysia before moving to Sweden.


The seat is on the second floor. And it is only 5 rows behind the VIP seats. And this guy was just right in-front of me.

(Picture taken from the The Star Online)

It was my first time in Istana Budaya. The only other musical theater that I have visited is the one Vienna (cant remember the name though). Istana Budaya has big entrance hall, the stairs leading to the second floor make it looks a bit grand. But that's it. All others are nothing compared to the one in Vienna. But probably I should not compare.



But I got to compare this - the movie and stage version of this hit musical Mamma Mia!.

Thanks to the publicity, I had big expectations (if not huge) of the stage version. I always had the impression that huge hit musicals like this would need a huge stage to support its huge props. But I was all wrong. There are only two fake bricked walls, which they turned back and front umpteen time and at different angles to suit the scene. And of course, some chairs, tables and beds. And that's it.

Singing and Acting - Surprisingly, the voice and acting skills of some the key performers are not really what I expect from a hit musical. While I can excuse the acting, but at least the voice should be great. Save for the lead roles of Donna and Sophie, the rest struggled through a solo performance. I am not a music expert or critic, but those are not exactly great singing to me, as far as my ears are concerned.

However, nothing could beat listening to a live rendition of ABBA hits. Watching these performers live and humming live together with them are probably the only reasons rendered worthwhile forking out 300-bucks from the pocket.

Will I catch another hit musical? Yes.

And You are Welcome!!

Christmas Charity Hunt

29 December 2008 - Christmas Charity Hunt

The last hunt of the year. I started driving from Ipoh at 6.30am to reach KL at 8.30 for the hunt. My car was parked at Jaya33 and the guys just drove 'from the back' at the church to Jaya to fetch me.

To me, this is one of the easier hunt. Our team has started hunting for some years now. I am in the third year, the rest maybe a year or two more. But lately we have not been that regular. To put us in the novice category seems a little 'fresh' for us as we are not that new to treasure hunting. Putting us in the regular with Master level questions, we would have surrendered after the first 3 questions. So this is a case neither here nor there. But what the heck, this is Christmas and time for joy. So we go the novice category and have some fun.

The first 2 questions was a roadblocked for us. After circulating 3 rounds along the sector, we still could not find the answer and decided to leave and come back later, since the finishing control is just nearby. This prove to be a good decision.

At the end, we finished at fifth, dropping 3 route questions and 1 treasure. The treasure where we should have been correct. But somehow, 1 liter seems to equal 'less than 1000ml' then. We got two hampers and we donated one back for charity. I posted some comments in the HRU's blog pertaining to some of the question. Take a look and see.

Anyway, that is it for 2008. Have some wonderful hunts especially during the second half of the year. To all that I have partnered for hunt this year: Wee Kiat, Fong, Angie, Joyce, Jessica, Anthony, Wai Chee and another guy for the Sun Hunt (which forgot his name) - Thanks for a good hunt year. New Year resolution - more hunts.