Wicker Park

Extracted from gv.com.sg (again) --

"Intricately moving back and forth in time and revealing the story from each character's perspective, Wicker Park is an intense psychological drama about a man (Josh Hartnett) caught in an obsessive search for a woman he fell deeply in love with - a woman who then vanished without a trace. Two years after her disappearance, he catches a fleeting glimpse of her in a local bar and begins a twisting search to find her and discover what really happened."

It felt like a romance thriller as Matt (Josh) uncovers clues as he traces Lisa (that gal in Troy who kissed Orlando). It is frustrating to watch how the lovers keep missing each other. (Sound like the chinese - Turn left, Turn right). I thot it's going to be a senseless-near-miss-romance story that Josh always acts in. But the way the film was presented got me sitting straight up through out the movie. It keep you guessing as you uncovers pieces of the puzzle. And slowly piece them up for the whole picture. And the whole movie builds up to the final scene that I felt was pretty full of impact even thou no words were exchanged.

It's worth, 3.5-4/5 stars.

The Terminal

Extracted from gv.com.sg --

"Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump") and Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") star in "The Terminal," under the direction of Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg ("Schindler’s List," "Saving Private Ryan").

"The Terminal" tells the story of Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), a visitor to New York from Eastern Europe, whose homeland erupts in a fiery coup while he is in the air en route to America. Stranded at Kennedy Airport with a passport from nowhere, he is unauthorized to actually enter the United States and must improvise his days and nights in the terminal’s international transit lounge until the war at home is over.

As the weeks and months stretch on, Viktor finds the compressed universe of the terminal to be a richly complex world of absurdity, generosity, ambition, amusement, status, serendipity and even romance with a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). But Viktor has long worn out his welcome with airport official Frank Dixon, who considers him a bureaucratic glitch, a problem he cannot control but wants desperately to erase."

Very funny movie. Undeniable acting from Tom Hanks again. I think the romance part isn't the main focus of the movie. We see more of how Viktor survive in a foreign land, making friends and later wooing Amelia. It is not a fairy tale story, and that's what I like about it. It is realistic.

It is worth 4/5 of my stars.

LS Part II

Coincidentally, just got hit by a round of LS soon after seeing the previous post (voodoo anyone???).
Anyway, I think it's like 8-10 times in 1 night. Exactly 1 full roll of paper used :D
Turns out it wasn't bad food.. more stomach flu.
Anyone want pics :))

London Trip

Hi Guys,

I just got back from a short business trip to London. Thought I'll share some photos that I've taken over there. The weather there was great, cool but not too cold, and the company, fellow Yahoo!s, was wonderful.

I was also very fortunate to meet up with my cousin, Joanna. She was so kind to show me places which she has been for countless times. Jo who is married to Phil Askey, founder of Digital Photography Review also invited me to their lovely pad. I get to see Phil at work and almost have to sign an NDA for it. The hospitable couple brought me out for an authentic English Pub dinner which was amazingly good. A big thank you to Phil and Jo!!!

Check out the rest of the photos here.

LS anyone ???

Hi guys, been so long since I read/write this wonderful blog :)
anyway was wondering if you guys experiencing what I'm going through now....that is ... LS ??

Heard that many of my colleages, friends and relatives are having it.

If you guys forgot what LS means, can always ask Glutton :)

Open Waters

A couple went on a diving trip and were left behind in the open sea. The boatman did a miscalculation of the head count and left without them. They were deserted in a shark infested waters (in the Carribeans). The movie spans over a day. It shows how truamatised, stressed, and terrifying it can be.

The movie is made on a low budget, using mainly handheld cams (as it seems). So expect motion sickenss. Scripts doesn't flow and actors could only do well in pretending to be terrified and biten by sharks.

I've went up on a wrong boat when I was diving with my sister once. We rarely go down without any Divemaster but on that occasion, we had to do it on our own. It shows that our navigation was horrible. It was actually my fault cos I heard the bearings wrongly. Lucky for us, the boat belongs to the same company, and our boat was still waiting for us a kilometre away. We were rather anxious when we couldn't find the boat underwater. I surfaced to see a boat infront but our boat is infact behind me. At least we still had a boat then. We learnt from our mistakes, and through this movie, we've decided to buy torch, knives, dive watch and campasses. I'm also considering bring a bottle of water and musli bars for such emergencies. Haha

This is worth 2/5 stars. Not realistic enough and I was bored by their poor scripted dialogues and boring cinematography.

Anacodas 2

A group of scientists found a natural source to forever youth; a rare orchid that blooms once every 7 yrs. They made their way to Borneo in search of the flower but were met with the monsoon season. At the same time, its the mating season for the anacodas. On their search for the orchids, they were hunted by the snakes one by one. It's not difficult to guess who'll be eaten and what's the ending like.

Tyipcal suspense thriller.. nothing out of the ordinary. Actors were great at acting being terrified. Their dialogues sound so scripted. I felt it didn't protray the scariness of the big snakes.. not enough I think. But then, it is still entertaining with climaxes, and anti climaxes..

It's worth 3.5/5 stars.

13 going on 30

The movie I caught on the plane on the way back from Maldives.

A 13 year old had her wish come true and woke up being 30 years old. How will she handle the life of a 30 year old with her 13 year old life experiences? And thru this short detour of her life, she gain insights into her life as a 13 year old, and realise what she is missing.

Funny but not hilarious. Felt like over-acting to me. Maybe I'm just bias against that lanky actress. It like one of those cinderalla-expected-happy-ending sort of movie. Its an easy film to 'digest' but its not worth the money.

It's worth 2.5/5 stars.

Swimming Pool

Caught it on the plane to Maldives. Its a very artistic film that leaves you wondering and going through the movie in your head when it ended. The story tells a middle age English writer, being bored of her life, seeking inspirations at her publisher/lover's holiday mansion in France on a short vacation. The daughter, a liberal French babe, of the publisher dropped by one night and stayed in the same house with her. One is an uptight conservative English lady, while another is a liberated, sexy hot babe who comes home every night with a different man. How will she endure her 'loose' lifestyle, and can the Frenchie liberate her from her uptight world? The writer was so inspired by her that she started writing a new book revolving around this Frenchie.

That looks like what the movie is protraying, until the end of the movie. I still dont know what's the moral of the story. : There's a lot of nude scene and the hot babe is really one hot babe! Great body!!

It's worth 3/5 stars cos I can't make sense out of it yet.