Movie Review 10: Inception (5/5)

from the cult classic memento... to the reboot of the Batman franchise... Christopher Nolan had built up quite a resume to his name... naturally, this only leads to critics to ask if his next effort can out-trump his earlier work...

in Inception... the project offers a whole lot of promise even before the movie itself is released... for one.. Christopher has been working on it for almost a decade... the story is somewhat familiar to his earlier works like memento where the concept of reality is questioned...all these and a good 10 years to revise his script and at the same time hone his craft as a director must surely guarantee this movie to be a masterpiece... so did it live up to its expectations?...

the story of Inception is about a group of dream thieves led by the best of the trade played by Leonardo di Caprio... the idea is that by sharing a dream, the group can extract secrets from their target's subconscious... to do that, the team will build an environment for the subject and slowly lead the person into revealing the location of their deepest secrets...

in his last job... Leonardo's effort was foiled by the image of his wife and subsequently failed to acquire the information he needed... since failure is not an option from his employers... he was ready to go on an exile when his target offered him a chance of a life time... Saito, the man in question, offered to help him reunite with his family in US if he managed to embark on an ambitious project...

for a long time, extraction of information in dreams has been common knowledge... but it seems that no one has ever managed to implant an idea into the subject's mind... Leonardo, desperate to go back to his young kids accepted the offering because as he explained... he knew it was possible...

so the search begins to assemble members of the team and perform this implanting of idea called inception...

i try to not give too much away on the storyline because the movie is full of surprises... to be honest... i have not found such a stimulating experience both visually and mentally since perhaps all the way to the very first matrix movie... the idea is fresh... the plot is intense and smart... the execution was almost pitch perfect... while the concept of the dream and reality can be a confusing subject... the idea is presented in a simple to understand way that audience will not feel lost and detached... the great thing about this film is that it is well suited for everybody... if u are looking for a thriller that requires some thinking... this movie definitely offers u a lot of afterthoughts... if u simply want to just sit back and enjoy the action... this movie can do more than a fine job... a special thumbs up for Christopher Nolan who reassured us that movies will not be simply CG effects plastered everywhere... although there must be a lot of temptation to create boundless computer generated dream worlds... most of the worlds and effects seen in this movie is simple and realistic... one big reason how everything stays believable even though they are not...

in the end... for once... i struggle to find fault with a movie... there are no tongue-in-cheek cracks on the loopholes.. or how characters are laughable in scenes... this movie is simply a must watch for everyone... thank you Christopher Nolan for bringing Batman back to good standings and for giving me a wonderful movie experience i have not enjoyed for years...

go watch Inception now if you have not already... this is simply a 5 star movie...

Movie Review 9: Bodyguards and Assassins (2/5)

movies based on true political stories are always great source materials for epics. U have a real story featuring real people to make everything more than believable. U have the epic struggle between good and evil... difficult choices... great individual sacrifices...

in terms of stories about modern China, the story of Sun Yat Sen's uprising against the imperial system is arguably the biggest political story oh the past century... what set this story aside from other more military focus ones is the core idea of individual freedom versus individual privileges... like how the descendant of the ruler will enjoy everything at birth... this is perhaps the first awakening of the Chinese to the flaws of the old system... a fight for their ideologies... inspirations to similar efforts down the years like the story of Tian An Men...

such is the premise that based on the source materials alone, i was looking forward to the movie Bodyguards and Assassins even though i have heard some negative feedbacks from my friends...

the story of Bodyguards and Assassins is about Sun Yat Sen's visit to Hong Kong to have a secret meeting with leaders from other parts of China.... and the imperial guards is taking this opportunity to kill him... while activists try to do everything they can to protect him for the whole duration of the meeting... ya... so really... the title in itself explains everything...

now i have no idea whether this is an actual event... but i am thinking probably not... and actually i really hope that is the case cause if this really did happened... this would seriously put a dent in my impression of Sun Yat Sen as a wise and caring man... for a start... if u are someone who knows that u are going to be hunted down... it is kind of brilliant to announce to everybody u are going to such a dangerous place then entrust everything in the people there to ensure the safety of u and the proper execution of the meeting? in the movie, they did not say for whatever reason why the meeting MUST take place in dangerous Hong Kong and not anywhere else...

while i must give credit for the recreation of old Hong Kong... which looks pretty authentic... though i have a minor complain about the CG of the movie... when they revealed the shores of Hong Kong... the lighting and movement of the water is too regular and makes it look fake... then again... that maybe just me...

back to the story though... on the good side... this story focuses on character developement... most of the character introduced in the movie... u will know them quite abit at the end... but this is perhaps one flaw of the movie... there are too many characters that shared equal amount of attention such that it becomes hard to really associate with any of them... the lead... business man Li seems to be the Lead... but in the later half of the movie... his role is totally insignificant... for the activists... which are not even central to the whole Sun Yat Sen meeting itself but somehow got dragged in to the effort saw so much screen time... they even have dedicated scenes and death to "glorify" their efforts... but this really diffuse the whole focus of the movie...

the worst part of the movie... which is also debatable... because i do know some who liked this... but personally i hated this to the core... is the over the top fighting and melodramatic scenes... i felt so cheated when i saw the big guy getting stabbed by a whole mob and feel bad for him... only to find that he miraculously survived just to get stabbed by another mob... a beggar turned hero who can battle a whole group of imperial guards?... no wonder the uprising was a success...

most of the fighting scenes... except the initial one involving an aging general are so over the top they are on the brink of plain ridicule...

and just to make the story go along certain paths the director need to follow to include his scenes... there are so many elements that look so odd and out of place... faking a death by almost gutting urself? making everyone in a room draw lot only to find out the person who should not be there is there? right... there were a few hundred people inside... its impossible for u to know...

at the end of the movie...
i almost forgot that this is about the uprising and Sun Yat Sen... this is more like how a bunch of people screwed themselves up with bad plannings and stupid acts... and how Chinese were superhumans until... the uprising was successful...

the movie has lots of potential... strong background materials... a really good set... some of the best actors in the industry... but what it was lacking was the script and the direction... script-wise it would be forgivable it the movie itself managed to engross audiences so much to not o think so much about it... direction-wise... it seems that the movie cannot make up its mind whether this is a political drama or an action film... the end result is a hybrid that shows u a glimpse of drama with no added development... a host of seemingly insignificant characters introduced in too much details... and an action film featuring the most unrealistic... and ok... stupid fight scenes...

if u want to take a look at old Hong Kong... or want to look at some "Kung Fu" styled kung fu... u can take a look at this... if u are interested in the story of Sun Yat Sen... go to the library of Wikipedia...

this movie is a generous 2/5.

like all movies that sucked... below are some spoilers of how ridiculous things can be in old Hong Kong... especially by smart resistance standards.

Movie Review 8: Avatar (4/5)

It is 2154, the Earth is dying and the Resources Development Administration, a non-government association on Earth, has lay eyes on the planet of Pandora. Pandora is a primitive planet filled with wildlife and inhabitable by the blue, gigantic aliens, Na'vi. What makes Pandora so attractive is the rich reserves of unobtainium found underneath its surface. The problem is, the Na'vi lives right on top of the biggest reserve.
Avatar tells the story of Jake Sully, a Marine who was paralyzed waist down due to an injury sustained in combat. He was chosen to take part in the Avatar project, after his brother, who was supposed to be in the team, died in action. The Avatar project is a technology that enables the transfer of consciousness from a person to his human-Na'vi hybrid genetic creation.
Jake was tasked to learn the ways of the Na'vi and convince them to leave their sacred land so that the valuable unobtainium can be extracted without resistance.

Now due to some mixed up in communications, I missed a good half hour of the start of the movie...
Luckily I had some background knowledge about it based on news and trailers so I was not completely lost... By the time I was in my seat, Jake is already fighting the panther-like creatures in Pandora...

According to my friend I did not missed much, but I probably missed a big part of the introduction to the Avatar project...
Initially I thought this is the reason why I could not understand some of the things mentioned later in the movie, but my friends assured me that those are not explained in the first place...

If you know what the Colonel meant by "you will get your legs back tonight" do let me know.

This movie is a 2hr40min long...
pretty long for a movie...
but...
this is probably one of the few movies this long that does not feel long at all...

it is amazing...
since the movie is filled with lots of patchy and corny dialogues...
the story is simply predictable...
but somehow i never felt like it was a drag...

one of the reason is because of the beautiful world of Pandora...
what this movie definitely did right...
was to come up with a world filled with amazing creatures and plants...
the wonders of the planet...
especially the wildlife kept me glued to the screen...
the only negative thing is that i watched the movie in 3D...
maybe i am not used to the 3D experience...
but more often than not i found that watching the movie with the goggles on makes things appear dimmer...
and actions a little blur...
plus i was sitting in the first few rows so my neck was pretty strained...

anyway back to the movie...
like i said...
Pandora is amazing...
amazing enough to make me neglect all the cliche in the movie...
and there are plenty of them...

most of the characters of Avatar are the general stereotypes...
u get the gunho Colonel...
the princess who is surprisingly nice even though u are a stranger to her people...
the want-to-do-good soldier...
the biology obsessed biologist...
the money obsessed coorporation which is willing to kill other people to get resources...
and of course...
the kind-hearted outsider of a hero who managed to fit in and decide to stand up for the people he has now call his own...

the storyline is predictable...
but where even though u probably know what is coming...
u would not have guess how it is coming...

like the battle between the Na'vi and the humans...
u know it is going to happen...
but there is still this mystic charm of wanting to see how native tribes battle against the might of technology...

and u really must give it to the production team...
even though the Na'vi were completely CG...
they display a vast depths of emotions...
especially when u look at the Na'vi on the sides at scenes...
u can see some of them looking at other directions, showing certain emotions...
and some of them apparently in thoughts...
really well done...

the only thing that really bugged me in the movie...
is the constant alternation between English and the Na'vi language...
it is bad enough that they speak accented English..
i missed a few lines because they started speaking in Na'vi...
and i was reading the subtitles...
only to realised they have suddenly uttered something in English...
it was quite hard to catch...

Simply put...
the effects and Pandora already worth the amount i paid for the movie...
even if i have missed 30 minutes of it...
with something as beautiful as Pandora...
u can forgive all the flaws it has with it...

for this Avatar gets 4 out of 5...

just some words of advice...

do not go to somewhere u do not like for 3 months...
because that is the time u need to build a bond with the people there that is so strong that u would not mind turning into one of them...

when u have screwed up big time...
u win back the people who felt left down by subduing the biggest monsters around...
it does of course help that when u talk to them u had the monstrous creatures right behind u displaying its might...

and 3 interesting things for u to take note of...

first...
during the "horse" riding lesson...
as Jake is taught how to "communicate" with the "horse"...
if u look at the words used...
they sound really wrong...
like Jake is riding the "horse"...
literally...

secondly...
Norm was shot and got out of the Avatar device...
and simply disappeared all together...
was that because they forgot about him...
and added that scene after they realise towards the end one of the device is empty?...
hm...

finally...
i do not know whether i saw wrongly...
but at the end of the movie...
i thought i saw Norm and the Avatar team on the side...
then saw Norm in Na'vi form holding a gun just seconds later...
did i see them wrongly?...
hm...

Movie Review 7: 2012 (2/5)

it appears that disaster movies run  a periodic cycle in Hollywood...
every few years, the movie industry to introduce new ways of devastation...
new prophecies of a new doom...

what is different lately, is that while in the past, earth can easily be saved by the sacrificial efforts of an individual or a team...
now Hollywood is taking a more realistic approach...
u see they realised that one person or a team can't save everyone...
so they have twitched things a little...
earth is pretty much screwed...
what that one person or a team can do is to save a sufficient portion of the human race so that we won't be extinct...

2012 is the latest disaster offering...
it centers on the latest hype...
the year 2012...
apparently, 2012 is the ultimate doom for all humans...
not without "strong" arguments...
u see...
centuries ago...
the advanced civilisation of Maya developed their own set of cultures and science...
among these things is the Mayan calender...
which despite having run until today, would end in December 2012...
at which, the calender would not start afresh like other calenders...
but would end...
so this is the ultimate end date...

of course, one calender is hard good justification...
alot of the doom-sayers' claims are also based on this astronomic phenomenon that would happen around the same time...
in 2012...
the planets of the Solar system will align themselves in a straight line...
scientists have said that this alignment would bring a strong magnetic effect among others...
which could possibly be devastating...

in the movie however...
it was the energy from the sun's eruption that causes the core of the earth to start to rise in temperature...
this raise in temperature in turns trigger drastic movements of earth's plates...
and the earth is screwed...

right from the start, i am not a big fan of disaster movies...
simply because their plots are usually so predictable...
this is the same...

but in terms of effects...
this movie probably has one of the more spectacular ones...

what did not work for this movie though...
is the storyline...

ok...
fair enough...
disaster movies do not really have a strong storyline anyway...
but here...
it appears that the movie maker was trying to squeeze in every cliche of the genre to the movie...
and action sequence were intentionally calligraphed just to display its wonderful effects...
it kind of make u feel u are watching a video game more than a movie...
which is good if u are just in to see something cool...
but not cool if u want to have a movie experience...

plus...
there is seriously something wrong with the dialogues...
very often u are feed with conversations where u feel everything do not make sense at all...
it probably was best summed up at the Tibetan scene...
where a follower tried to ask his master for some guidance...
and instead of blowing our minds with a good deep answer...
the master just smoked through using another cliche analogy...
this happens alot in the movie...
and definitely deters u from feeling any attachment to them...

i must be frank though...
i enjoyed the movie...
but it kind of sucked because ever so often i am reminded that the scenes and dialogues do not make any sense at all...

maybe my friend was right...
i should not have thought so much...
maybe that way...
i would have enjoy it more...
and give it more than just a 2 out of 5

good quote from the movie though:...
"its disgusting to know that all those crazy people holding the signboards have been right all along"...
when that really happens u know u are seriously screwed...

spoilers ahead~!...

Movie Review 6: Paranormal Activity (4/5)

first i have to say...
i understand if u do not agree with the 4/5 for this movie...
i sort of think that for this movie people will be split between those who love this and those who think this is plain boring...
and i kind of understand why...

but i am definitely one of the former...

first of all...
there has been tonnes of media hype about this movie...
justifiable considering that this movie made more than 100 million in the US...
then movie was shot on a 5 digit budget...
all the hype kind of spoil the movie a little...

because most people would have already known that although the movie try to makes u feel that the footage are actual footage...
but none of this is real...

so if you go in with the "this is completely unreal" mindset...
half the movie is already spoil for u...
this movie relies heavily on the fact that audience have to relate to the movie...
and given its lack of characters...
special effects...
if u cannot relate to the movie...
there is not much for u to see here...

secondly...
most of another element which works in this movie is the atmosphere...
if u don't buy in from the start...
u probably won't feel much...

but for me...
this movie really worked...

Paranormal Activity is about a couple who lives together...
the girlfriend has been experiencing weird sensations lately...
so the boyfriend, out of concern and probably for the fun of it...
decides to purchase a camera to record their daily lives...
particularly when they are asleep...
so as to find out what caused the disturbance...

and from these footages...
u will come to realise that things are really paranormal here...

what works for me...
is that the home video feel kind of fuse me into the setting right from the start...
i was one of those then begin to form an unseen attachment to the cast...

it helps alot because both characters are quite believable...
especially the boyfriend...
whose character really reminds me of one of my friends...
all the gusto and manliness...

the pacing of the movie is on the slow side...
u would not see anything spectacular through out...
it is always small little build up...

one amazing thing is that although u can pretty much know when strange things will happen...
since everytime something is about to happen...
the camera will be frozen on a static screen...
u will still feel the creeps because u never know what would happen...
so i was pretty much constantly on the edge of my seat...

all it is great that there is no spectacular effect...
the same way that the shark in Jaws and Aliens in...
er...
Alien...
were scary all they way...
until they show themselves completely...
at which point u realise that well...
they are only monsters...

still...
there were a few things that doesn't seem right...

u mean she is that young and just a student?...
why do they not just freaking leave the house?...
u can actually study demonology?...

but these are just minute things that only someone as anal as me would think about...

all in all...
Paranormal Activity is an intense experience...
it is not so much of a scary movie...
but more of an intense thriller...

so ya...
like i said...
if u like it...
u will feel it truly deserves all 4 out of 5...

PS: i should not have watch the cast interview before the movie... now i really want to see all the endings they shot before selecting the final one...

Movie Review 5: Pandorum (1.5/5) + Funny Nonsense from this crap...

there is enormous possibilities in space...
and going delusional, paranoia and freakishly crazy is one of them...

usually there is little that can go wrong with a horror film about space...
u have the perfect settings for a scary experience...
stuck in a location with no way of getting out...
checked...
lack of lighting...
checked...
isolation...
checked...
easy excuses for introducing extraterrestrial/ paranormal creatures...
checked...
large amount of ducts and vents to crawl through...
checked...

and Pandorum did a wonderful job...
of screwing all these nice setting up to give u an experience that is perhaps entertaining...
but leave u asking alot of questions...
one of which may be why u even bothered...

the story of Pandorum starts when an engineer crew on board a starship bounded for a long voyage to a distant planet was awoken...
due to the immediate effects of hypersleep...
he lost most of his memories...
and yada yada yada...
he is forced to navigate through the scary ship to get to the reactor so that he can restart it before the system shuts down...

Pandorum actually refers to a condition where a space traveller lost his mind due to the accumulation of many things and decides to do something scarily stupid...

the reason why i was so brief with the synopsis is because the movie is a compilation of snippets at best...
immediately after the movie...
i have two theories...

one is that the producers read two different scripts about space...
likes them both but only have money to make one movie...
so they decided to patch them into one...
the other more likely explanation...
is that they simply do not have a good central story...
what they have is a bunch of cool ideas...
and they are on a mission to piece them all together whether they fits...

the shameful thing is if Pandorum is a game...
it would probably be a very good one...
you have a character who remembers little from the beginning...
little memories to give u more details of events...
freakish aliens/humans hunting u...
a major quest to the reactor...
a kind boss that gives u back weapons u have lost and could have easily recover all ur HP and MP before it starts a fight with u...
strange characters to meet...
freakish guy who despite being only a few months ahead of u can tell u the whole chain of events from the beginning to the end just like in a game...
they even have a stealth mission towards the end...

it would work for a game because gamers do not as that many questions generally...
and because a game can last u for more than the typical 2 hours of a movie...

the Pandorum experience is a weird, non-cohesive mix of too many elements...
and they do not even bother to fit them nicely or give proper background to each characters or events...
if u can just sit back not think and take whatever it throws at u like u are completing missions of a game...
then probably u will enjoy it...
otherwise this is going to suck really badly for u...
at the beginning of the movie...
i was holding my breath in anticipating that this would blow my mind away like the delightful Event Horizon...
it did not even come close...

this movie is a 1.5/5...
and it could have easily been just 1...

here are interesting stuff about the film...
and believe me...
i check through the internet...
and i am not the only one who found so many nonsense...
but be warned...
SPOILERS ahead (if u would bother watching this movie)...
click to see the rest of the post...

Movie Review 4: Fuuny People (4/5)

Funny People is the latest offering from Judd Apatow, the writer/director that brought u The 40-year old Virgin and Knocked Up...

the story centers around a famous comedian, played by Adam Sandler, who one day realised that he has a terminal disease...
he deals with this life-changing episode by engaging in a new found friendship with an aspiring stand-up comedian, played by Seth Rogen...
and tries to piece back his life by facing his past and mistakes he had made...

if u are watching this for a laugh...
u would probably enjoy only half the movie...

surely there are more than its fair share of funny moments and dialogues...
which are done in a very subtle way...
plus a steady stream of funny stand-up gigs...

in fact...
most of the funnys of this movie comes from these gigs or funny dialogues in very believable real-life settings...

but as i said...
comedy is only half the movie...

the other half is more about life...
how we deal we our pasts...
how we deal with our mistakes...
how we deal with our choices...
and how we choose when given a second chance...

u may feel that this sounds quite deep...
and in reality i think it is...
there is a lot of depth in the movie and its characters...

the movie is on the lengthier side at more than 2 hours...
and the pace is pretty slow...
but not to the extend where it bores u...
it feels more like a simple, leisure boat ride where u would meet a lot of meaningful and perhaps a little weird characters...

i particularly like the subtlety of the movie...
lots of issues are masked under the funny moments...
it does not weigh on u...
or throw these things straight at ur face...
but u are welcome to explore if u so choose to...

casting-wise u would be familiar with most of the faces if u have seen the Apatow's films...

i urge u to go see this movie...
even if u just want something light-hearted and funny to go at the end of a long week...
but i hope u would look at the things underneath the surface as well...
that way u would be able to enjoy the movie as much as i do...

for this the movie get 4/5...

Movie Review 3: The Ugly Truth (4/5)

like what Gerard Butler said in the movie...
the truth is ugly...

The Ugly Truth is the typical Hollywood romantic comedy...
but it is also filled with lessons we can learn...
before i go into that...

here is what the movie is about...

Katherine Hiegl is an award winning morning show producer whose show is facing the chop due to poor ratings...
and her boss decided to help up the ratings by hiring Gerard Butler, host of the "Ugly Truth" to do a segment on the show...
the Ugly Truth was popular with the crowd due to its blunt and crude breakdown of relationships...
being a strong, control freak who dreams of dating the perfect, sensitive guy...
Hiegl cannot see eye-to-eye to Butler's relationship-is-not-romance-but-desire point of view...

and like all Hollywood comedies...
the duo starts things off with lots of bickering...

things begins to change as Butler made a bet with Hiegl...
he would help Hiegl get her dream guy (her seemingly perfect boy next door)...
and if he fails he would quit...

from there it really goes along the normal Hollywood path...
i do not want to spoil the show for u by revealing too much...

but basically there are a lot of lessons to be learnt from there...

such as how we try to package ourselves to be the perfect one for another person...
how long can we keep up...
is that the real u?...

why does loving someone need a reason...

how we like to see things in all negativity even when someone is trying to tell us they are in love with us...

and of course...
how men are sexual animals using purely sexual cues for navigation...

there are plenty of funny moments in this movie...
and at no point...
unlike some comedy...
did i feel that the pace slow down to almost a boring level...

one thing that really help was the on-screen chemistry between the two leads...
nothing in this movie is out-of-the-world spectacular...
as outrageous as some scenarios can be...
they are all pretty believable...

all in all this is quite an entertaining movie...
if u are looking for some light-hearted laughs...
something a little sweet border-lining romantic...
this would be a good choice...

for this the movie gets 4/5...

just remember...
i still believe a sensitive guy exist out there...
who is not gay...

and remember to be who u are not who someone want u to be...

and most of all...
take note when someone says "i love u"...

Movie Review 2: The Final Destination 3D (2/5)

although i don't like to admit...
but for quite some time...
i have been a fan of scary movies and thrillers...
and i particularly like to watch movies such as the Final Destination series and slasher flicks because they are alot less scary and...
kind of fun...
i always thought these movies are good to watch with a group of friends...
like a gathering or party...
nothing to intense...
just some scares and gore...

having like the original Final Destination...
and to a certain extend the 2 follow ups...
i actually wanted to watch this when it started screening...

plus this is the first time i am watching a 3D movie...
so i was kind of excited...

of course having been deprived of movie junk food earlier with Moon...
knowing that i will watch this with hotdogs and wedges helped too...

but 5 minutes into the movie...
i was beginning to feel disappointed...

i have to admit when the first object flew from the screen towards me...
it made me fringe...
and i thought it was kind of cool...
but soon the novelty begins to wear off...
plus the 3D effect caused considerable strain on my eyes...
maybe i was not used to it...
but more often than not...
i can see that my friends and i are lifting the 3D glasses to give our eyes a breather...

the 3D part aside...
the movie in itself is quite bad...

maybe cursed as i am as being an engineer...
most of the gore appears to be created from impossible situations...

and maybe the whole escaping from death and trying to avoid the next one idea is starting to run a little thin...

this time round...
the lead character has the ability to fore-told how the death would come about...
but the movie did very little in this area...
instead of the outwitting death by knowing what would happen scenario i thought it would be...
the movie is pretty much the same as the earlier ones...
it does not seem to matter whether the lead has any premonition or not...

worse still... the keep-u-guessing-which-would-be-the-fatal blow part is gone...
because u have seen the premonitions...
most of the time u already know how it would end...
and that takes away any suspense or surprises...

this is the first time that at an apparent end 1 hour into the movie...
i really wished that it was in fact the end...

this is the worst Final Destination in the franchise...

if u are into gory movies...
this would offer that in abundance...
but in almost ridiculous fashion...
the human body appears so fragile that anything would breaks it into a pile of blood and organs...
instead of watching it...
i may as well stay home and smash tomatoes with a club to get the same effect...

as bad as the movie is...
i would rate it a 2...
because i still think it would be fun watching at a party or gathering...
a bunch of people not thinking...
not expecting anything serious...
just mucking around...
that would be a better setting for this...

Movie Review 1: Moon (4/5)

if u have read my earlier entry...
u would have known that lately i have been watching quite a few movies...

probably due to the fact that i am unemployed and without much to do...

nevertheless...
since i watched them...
maybe i can give u all a feel of how these movie were...

the first one that i would go to is the movie Moon...
starring Sam Rockwell...
don't worry...
it's ok if u are unfamiliar with the name...
and...
well...
GERTY...
this advanced thinking program that surprisingly looks more like an MSN emoticon...
it is voiced by Kevin Spacey by the way...

i have to say i enjoy the movie quite a lot...
initially the plot kind of gave me the same feeling i had when i watched the original Spanish version of Vanilla Sky some years back...

i was pretty disappointed back then by the its all a dream thing plot-twist...
i do vividly remember that my English teacher had told me to never write a story where u end off with u waking up and realising everything is just a dream...
maybe the writer's teacher never taught him that...

but for Moon...
u would have probably guessed what is going on pretty early in the movie...
and please don't be mistaken it is not a dream...
but somehow the surreal situation detached me a little from the characters at the beginning...

then i realised the beauty of the movie...
the loneliness and the helplessness...

i think in order to enjoy the movie...
one has to not think so much logically of the plot...
but immerse in the situation the characters are in...
dip into the rich pool of emotions the movie offer...

its an emotion charged film...
filled with underlying hypothesis of situations that maybe created in future...
and the dilemma they would bring...

towards the end as i watched the character flies away from the station...
it reminds me of Ethan Hawk flying for his space mission in Gattacca...
away from the mess of the situation...
into a whole new uncertainty...

Moon is a movie i would definitely recommend...
aside from the fact that the theatre showing Moon and the Cathay does not allow any food or drinks to be brought in...

on a scale of 5...
this would definitely be a 4...