PJ20 - Pearl Jam Twenty

Not just Eddie Vedder & Co... a journey that started with Andrew Wood and involved Chris Cornell, Neil Young, Alice In Chains and Kurt Cobain...
Most of us survived to relive the era last night... Alive, indeed =]

got 9 spare mins?

Watch this.








"best driving footage ever" apparently.. still can't say the name.

Good clutching though =]

Tampopo

Rated one of the top 10 food films of all time.

Gotta watch it, right?

Light hearted classic 80's Japanese filming with scenes like these:

All good.... til these turned up on screen.

yeah... classic Japanese indeed.

Nice... if you are watching in private... not so if this was on a public screen with kids and pretend clean-cut crowd.

Fuck them! they should suck it up and learn a few things anyway, no baby? =]

It's indeed a great food film!

julie and julia

surprisingly... i enjoyed it!

Made me wanna eat French and even buy books with the word "French" in them... and THAT's something. hahahahaha

Meryl Streep, once again... great great acting but i still don't like her *clenched teeth*

Stanley Tucci is always cool.

The rest of the cast did their job.... the story and direction carried the film.

Well done Nora Ephron !!

Exit ThroughThe Gift Shop

First documentary on street art.
Banksy and friends... and a mad French.

Fucken brilliant!

the boat that rocked

revolution has never been so cool..... and wet.

Great cast, great soundtrack... laugh your ass off =]



grown up and expendable?

We watched 2 films in 2 weeks featuring all-star cast in ther own genre. Most of the stars were once star of their own multi-million films / TV shows, and provided us with hours of entertainment over the years.

How did they fair? One bombed almost completely and one just about made it.

Grown ups featured Adam Sandler (who featured in some of my personal favourite comedies like Little Nicky, Waterboy, Click, Punch Drunk Love) and a crew which consisted of Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Sneider (of course!), a (still) sizzling hot Salma Hayek and an aged Steve Buscemi at his classic pathetic best.

Well, a loose script with adult and family backbone and leaving each of the comedy heavy weights a free hand to churn out the jokes didn't quite work in the end. Even the couple of young hotties couldn't save one of the very few Adam Sandler bombs.


The Expendables - What can we say? Egos and testosterone galore!

Stallone, Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rouke, Eric Roberts, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Randy Couture.
Enjoy new action while shamelessly remember all the old ones they were in.
Arnie and Bruce Willies made it a Planet Hollywood reunion.
Notable absentees were Steven Seagal and Van Damme (but who cares?)
Giselle Itié alonemade it totally watchable.

They've stuck to what they know (well, Stallone did) - Rambo template of a plot.
Classic action movie. Leave your brains at home!
Even the style of custom choppers are dated =]
Love the "classic" patch too!

Not all grown ups are expendable just yet.
The comedians, unfortunately, were and the action guys, surprisingly, survived.

fucking short version - fet. Joe Pesci

Thanks to RobTay, i now know there are short and sharp versions of some of our favourite films around =]

Casino



Good fellas


more to come =]

Inception

Brilliant cast (hello Juno!). Perfect plot.

Don't let anyone tell you anything more til you've seen it.

Green

Green - the colour often associated with the environment, trees, plants, leaves, grass, freshness, naïveté, "grass", religion/Islam, activism etc.. it's also my mother's favourite colour.

Last night was a rare night.
A last-minute change of plans resulted in an order-in (Nando's !!!) + DVD night.

"Leaves of Grass" was picked for one reason - Ed Norton.
It turned out to be a combo of comedy, great acting and suprisingly thought provoking (violent at times) themes - brotherhood, small town vs big city family issues, drugs and trade, and Christians vs Jews, set in Oklahoma (red neck country).

Good entertainment overall.

I decided to research further.
Tim Blake Nelson, the writer/director of the film, who acted as one of the Ed Norton twins' best friend, was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and of Jewish descent. His mother was a local activist.... explains a few things about some of the themes.

For me, the strange thing is - during the time when we watched the film, a fleet of boats of humanitarian activists were under attack by Israelis navy out at sea on international waters, while attempting to deliver aids to Gaza.

check out #flotilla on twitter

One of those things that causes my brain to spin a little.
Naïveté, religion/Islam, activism...
Violence, disregards for human rights, assholes..
Everyone should have more "grass".

Peace.

The lovely bones

Well made... Peter Jackson's  slight overdose on the CGI but well made nevertheless..

These 2 ladies had great performances.

oh ya... Marky Mark has another good role.... not bad.

Ne te retourne pas (Don't Look Back)

I wasn't embarrassed to admit - Monica Belluci  + Sophie Marceau in a film = a must watch for me... even for pure visual sake.

2 of my top 5 most "goddess" actresses of all time in one movie.... well, my 2-in-1 "dream" went a longer way than i ever expected.

Expecting a 2 hour of pure elegance and style etc etc... not to be.

If I hadn't read that it was a Marina De Van film, i would have bet my last dollar David Lynch was the man behind the production somehow.

Psycho thriller indeed... great great acting from the 2 goddesses (they have both aged very well too!. damn...)... but the plot was stessful.

not a bad film.

resolved a problem too... now that they are one... room for more top 5 goddess actresses (whoever said top 5 is only for 5 people anyway? hahaha)

btw .... hattrick of "should have read the sypnosis before watching" completed.

the age of stupid

Supposed to be a light hearted "uplighting" flm session after a great meal, among loved ones...

Turned out to be a conscience-provoking one.

Yes, there are counter theories to global warming... and the old escapist "who am I to make save the world" thoughts.

Nevertheless... a commendable film-making effort... a wake-up call for a lazy Sunday evening.

With "Remember Me", a second in a row "should have read sypnosis before watching" session =]

remember me

NOT a "romantic date movie"...

But proves that Twilight fella can actually act.. and Emelie De Ravin's character is lovely cool =]

Nine

Daniel Day Lewis as an Italian and singing? hmmm

well, he is in the "can do no wrong" category, i suppose..

All the female leads were HOT! and carried out the singing/dancing well...

Judy Dench was amazing =]

Sophia Loren... well.. she's an icon... fast becoming a statue though... still a legend.

My best bits were the way the flashback scenes were treated... excellent!!

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland..

White queen.... will buy drugs from her, for sure...

Excellent... as usual... early Oscar contender? hahahaha


Love the red queen actually... same problems with off the rack hats, perhaps =]
BUT... my favourite moment is this -PIG!!! hahahahaha.....

Oscar fever...

Everyone's either rooting for Avatar or The Hurt Locker...

Of course... saying how Christophe Waltz and Quentin will surely win for Best supporting actor and Screenplay respectively ... YEAH!!!

But the film i'm rooting for the most this year?.. UP!

Well... Fat Kid, Funny Dogs, Travel by balloons... what's there not to like??

erhem... ok... it was the only film that choked me up, ok?? (the first 20mins)... damn u, pixar!!

UP you, i mean UP for Oscars!!!!!

Invictus

An inspiring story to start with  -  Mandela winning the hearts of ALL South Africans and Pinaar's World Cup winning Springboks.

I remember how they broke the rugby world's hearts when they beat a Jonah Lomu-led All Blacks team... on hindsight, probably deprived arguably the best known rugby player ever a world cup winning medal.

Who can forget Nelson Mandela's story of forgiveness and inspiration?

The film? Well.... Morgan Freeman as Mandela is a no brainer and he didn't dissapoint. Matt Damon was casted for his great acting skills and not his rugby skills nor knowledge - obvious. Clint Eastwood's direction was great.

Inspiring film overall.

However, we don't get the deliberate factual twist though...
Tthe story surrounds a hand written passage president Mandela passed to his rugby captain Pinaar. This same passage helped Mandela though his years in prison, and consequently helped Pinnar inspire his team to victory.

In Real life... it was a quote from a famed Theodore Roosevelt speech titled "The Man in the Arena" the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

In the film (and the title)... they changed it to the short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley
:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

 Both powerful... maybe they just want a more poetic passage.

Avatar

ok... imagine you are a humanoid tribe called Na'vi, living on Pandora, a lush, tropical Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus covered with rain forest... you are 9-12 ft tall, blue, fit as hell (yes, no fatty greaser Na'vis) and bonds with other beings with the end of your long black hair.



You spend your days running around half naked, eating exotic fruits, riding on direhorses called Pa'li.


When you are good, you get your own Ikran to fly around with.

If you are really really great... you may have to tame one of these "meanest muthafucka in the sky" Toruks and become a Toruk Makto - basically the ultimate warrior, legend of legends...

and lead the clans and tribes to kick the shit out of those invadors who want to rape your land and profit from it, and not bringing any good music, food, wine nor fine looking species in exchange. (I won't be too please too if Signourney Weaver is the best you can come up with... trust the humans, esp big brother Americans to screw up diplomatically...hahahaha)

oh ya... u will also get the girl.. "mate for life" - 9-12 footer (imagine the legs!) who rides, flies, hunts, climbs and to be the clans' spiritual leader =]


If she doesn't kill you first... helps if you are seen to be "special" and blessed by the seeds of the sacred tree of Ewya


hmmm....
how was the 3D movie experience?
lets just say I didn't want it to end and didn't want to head out back into KayhelL...

So.. I never thought I'd say this..."Thank you, James Cameron"

A, when we gonna watch it again??

check out the Fictional Universe in Avatar.

Legion the movie..

What was supposed to be a long-awaited Avatar 3D session, due to some Sunday dazed planning, became Legion.

Few Positives:
- A tattooed "rebel" angel played by Paul Bettany.. well cast, well acted.
- Nice wings and fighting sequence (though only one killer move)
- For the boys, Willa Holland (Brian DePalma's step daughter).. well she's almost a DePalma!
- For the girls, Tyrees Gibson ... should've shown off HIS tattoos!!


Overall : go spend your 2 hours elsewhere... AVOID!