24 Hour Comic Day 2011

Open publication - Free publishing - More 24 hour comic

Been a long long time since my last post but anyway here's my attempt at comic & storytelling in the Singapore version of 24Hr Comic Day 2011...

Some TV shows I've watched recently

"The Pacific" (2010): The first episode of the highly-anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed Band of Brothers mini-series, "The Pacific", was great. It was just what I was expecting the series to be, to be as grand in scope and story as Band of Brothers. The first episode drops you right into the action, where marines battle at Guadalcanal - at one point the beach-landing even reminiscences and spoofs the build-up to the Omaha Beach landing scene in Saving Private Ryan - as marines land on the shores, not riddled by enemy firepower, but greeted by their Army counterpart which had settled on the beach.

The second, third, and fourth episodes follow individually Pvt. Leckie and Sgt. Basilone, both from different units, as they trudge through harsh tropical environment and undergo constant enemy fire and shelling, on different islands like Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester. They were also subsequently stationed in Melborne, where Leckie met his fling/love-interest and where Basilone received his Medal of Honor. The acting by James B. Dale (as Leckie) and Jon Ceda (as Sgt. Basilone) were commendable, but not great. Leckie, at most part, comes off convincing as a fresh recruit tormented by the ugliness of warfare and harsh environment, but at times his "temperamental" rant or outburst came a little too abrupt and uncalled for (such as yelling "f**k you" at his officer while being drunk after being dumped by his love interest he met in Melbourne); he toggles between a somber thinking literate, writing letters to a girl back home, and a disgruntled wise-ass who is simply unhappy at everything that's around him, including his superiors. Ceda, who played Basilone, comes off a tad stoic but it befits his character, which seems to have suffer from a little post-traumatic stress disorder.

The "core" action of The Pacific really picks up in Episode 5, 6, and 7, where the audience follows the journey of Private Eugene Sledge (played by Joseph Mazzello) from his training as a mortar-man to being deployed in Peleliu (an island riddled with rotten coconut trees plantation, and heavily-fortified Japanese strongholds), where the battle took the highest casualty rate in The Pacific war. The beach-landing sequence could be one of the most spectacular and intense of all war movies. Mazzello, whose boyish face accentuates his character's innocence, depicts Sledge in a realistic light, as he awaits the impending chaos about to unfold as the 1st division Marines storm the beach of Peleliu. The entire sequence is centered mostly on Sledge from start to finish, from the moment their crew-carrier craft left the ship till they were knee-deep on the shores pinned down by heavy machinegun-fire and artillery. As Sledge makes his way through the shores and as bullets whizzes by and people around him dying, you could feel his deep-seated fear, and that he might just die at any moment. The subsequent episodes continue Sledge's journey as the Marines cross an open airfield bombarded by mortar fire, as well as fighting the Japanese on the hills of Peleliu, before the final campaign on  the island of Okinawa. Oddly enough, the filmmakers manage to squeeze an extra episode dedicated to the battle on Iwo Jima, which the Basilone character was part of.

All in all, The Pacific makes for an entertaining and refreshing take on WWII's Pacific theatre, and a satisfactory follow-up to 2001's critically-acclaimed series "Band of Brothers". 10/10

IMAX - Under the Sea (2009): Movies filmed in IMAX always looked immense and grand, and "Under the Sea" is no exception. The underwater scenes are spectacular and almost sublime. Yet, Jim Carrey's soft-spoken narration doesn't quite compliment the immensity of the grandeur that is unfolding on screen. It seems almost frivolous at times that he would switch from describing the activities in an idiot-proof language i.e. "The mother is feeding her children", to touching on the need for human to put in effort to help preserve the ocean species due to global climate changes. At times I just don't get where his focus is at. Instead one should just sit back and enjoy the spectacle onscreen. 6/10

"Archer" (2009): An adult-oriented cartoon that spoofs the likes of secret agent James Bond. Loaded with lots of sexual humour and innuendos, this show's not likely to impress many. The character animations are stiff and their expressions are almost non-existent. It looks cheap, but the character designs (especially the female agents) look decent and sexy enough. Too bad there isn't a consistent storyline that I could follow through, and I stopped watching the show after the first episode. My rating: 6/10.

One should check out Comedy Central's "Ugly Americans" (2010), a show about the city of New York inhabited by all sorts of creatures, beasts, ghouls and demons, engaging in day-to-day activities alongside humans. This show offers more than just foul-mouthed humour - acting as a spoof on the oddities and ugliness of New York, "Ugly Americans" provides much parodies derived from other well-known movies & American pop-culture. 8/10

At a glance: More movies I've watched recently

Crossing Over (2009): One would easily be reminded of 2004's Oscar-winning "Crash", a movie which centers on race and issues of immigration, and the multitude of characters are linked by a single event. In "Crossing Over", you get a whole lot more stories, but none of which were tied together by any significant storyline, except for a few characters' whose lives intertwine one another in some parts of the movie. The audience could only catch a glimpse of each characters' lives and not being able to appreciate any character development. The film centers mainly on the main theme of "Green Card", and tells various stories, all of which explores interesting issues of race, religion and immigration, but when thrown together into a 2 hour movie, the result is a mess. The list of stories presented in the film are as follows: 1) A Muslim girl with conflicting ideology about terrorism threatens her family's deportation, 2) A musician tries to become a Jew to get his work permit, 3) an Australian gets in bed with an immigration worker to obtain her green card, and 4) the immigration worker's wife tries to adopt an African child, 5) a teenage Korean immigrant is tied down with gang violence before being naturalized to become a US citizen 6) an Iraqi-American police officer coming to terms with the murder of his sister, 7) an immigration officer (played by a stoic Harrison Ford) re-traces his steps in order to find a deported Mexican mother to reunite with her child. That's 7 singular plots lumped into one mess of a movie. 3/10

Frontiers (2007): A French horror flick filled with A-to-Z cliches. A group of young, rebellious friends stranded at a creepy house or motel out in the middle of nowhere? Checked. Scenes of gory, in-your-face splattering violence? Checked. A dysfunctional (sometimes cannibalistic) family of psychopaths bent on preying on road-trippers or hitchhikers? Checked. Plus the usual heroine who makes it out and survives at the end? Doubly-checked. This movie reeks of every other recent horror films from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Martyrs, Wolf Creek, High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, to the Human Centipede (check out the Nazi-like villain which is almost identical to the one Frontiers) which I've seen lately. 4/10

The Tournament (2009): Movies about individuals pitted in a "last-man-standing" contest are cliche & overdone. There was "The Condemn" (with Stone Cold Steve Austin) based loosely on the original Japanese cult movie "Battle Royale". And then there was "Gamer" (with the "300" guy) - and now "The Tournament". How many crap reiterations of Battle Royale can Hollywood churn out every year? 5/10

A Perfect Getaway (2009): Bore-fest, Seen the twist coming pack a punch. David Twohy should have just stick to making Sci-Fi movies and Riddick sequels instead of casting a Resident Evil star in a vacation-thriller. 4/10

Cell 211 (2009): Intense prison drama involving an infiltration by a rookie prison guard downplayed by its convoluted ending. 6/10

Nanjing! Nanjing! (2009): A gritty, realistic and exceptional portrayal of the life under the brutal regime of the Japanese during WWII in Nanjing. Filmed in black and white and evocative of Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" which follows a similar historic event and theme, "Nanjing Nanjing" is well-acted (with an international cast), well-photographed, and tells both sides of the story. 9/10

Flashpoint (2007): In Wilson Yip's follow up to SPL, the fight scenes look more like the characters are in a  tussle rather than brutally brawling the hell out of one another. It's lame. 5/10

Little Big Soldier (2010): Jackie Chan's foray into period war drama - expect his trademark slapstick humour in some parts of the movie but be prepared to be disappointed by a somber ending, which downplays Jackie Chan's performance and the movie in general. 6/10

Extract (2009): Expect didn't quite hit the note: bland in some parts. Definitely not as great as "Office Space" or "Idiocracy". 6/10

Planet 51 (2009): Lackluster animation with dull, generic character designs referencing past Sci-Fi classics and no originality of its own. 5/10

A.V. (2005) : A Hong Kong "coming-of-age" tale about a group of college students trying make the "best" of their youth by going through thick and thin in order to nail a Japanese adult video (AV) pornstar. The plot provides several hilarious moments (such as the protagonist snorting sugar at a dining table in an attempt to "woo" girls who are into bad boy antics, and another scenario whereby the group has a hard time deciding who to enter a mama shop to purchase Viagra) given the purely carnal motivation of the characters. Although the film remains a comedy at heart, it unfortunately digresses into a melodrama with an abrupt, inexplicable ending in the third act. Coupled with the mixed messages and missed opportunity of humour, the film is a disappointment. 6/10

The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03) : I've been delaying my viewing of what many deemed to be "THE Trilogy" after Star Wars, for more than 5 years since I last bought the bootleg DVDs back in Thailand. These movies were 3 hours each and the dialogues are English-accented, so it wasn't long before I got bored and fell asleep when I began watching the first (Fellowship of the Rings) when I was about 14 years old. I've never had any inherent interest for fantasy flicks with elves and swordfights, nor was I able to understand what the characters were saying - reading the English subtitles were a chore too. But when it came down to viewing all 3 (now that they're released in high definition), it's admirable how Peter Jackson, the director whose past works include cheap-looking indie horror such as "Bad Taste" amd "Braindead", could craft out three 3-hour long epics each filled with movie artistry and storytelling deftness. One would have to see it (especially in HD) for himself to truly appreciate the beauty in the trilogy. 9/10

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009): Quirky and fun animation with beautiful spctacular eye candies. The story about an inventor who came up with a device that rained food justifies for great use of computer graphic. The character and voiceacting cast is great (even Mr. T is in it); all in all makes for a delightful viewing. I just wished I'd seen it on the big screen instead of converting it to be viewed on my iPod. 9/10

From Paris with Love (2010): One post from IMDB reads, "[the villains in "From Paris with Love"]: Asians, Blacks, Pakistanis, Kids, Pakistani Women, French Women, Muslims. Why wasn't this called "Americans Shooting Foreigners and women in Europe?" Having seen the director's previous work "Taken" (2008), I'd knew this movie starring John Trovolta (in his reprisal role of a bad-ass just like in The Taking of Pelham 123) would be another shot-em-up flick - but I didn't expect it to suck that badly. This mediocre film's all action and not a sensible, logical storyline that follows. Even Babylon A.D.'s better than this crap-fest. 3/10

Bodyguards and Assassins (2009): A star-studded cast including Jackie Cheung, Donnie Yen of Yip Man fame, and many others couldn't salvage this wreck of a film. Fun fact: the opening title's soundtrack is a rip-off of the music in "Munich". 5/10

Knowing (2009): Usual stiff acting from Nicholas Cage, coupled with a horrid script, and an atrocious storyline, with absurd "The Day the Earth Stood Still (remake)" moments. 1+1 (for some of the visual effects, which looked amazing) out of 10.

Battle for Haditha (2007): When it comes to films which re-creating the "truth" of events that had occurred in real life (films such as "United 93") I always try to maintain my skepticism - for fear of letting dramatization get in the way of facts. Knowing this film is based on facts, Battle for Haditha's recreation of the horrific event of the massacre of innocent civilian is deeply riveting and engrossing. It may not be 100% factually accurate, but it calls for a necessary viewing. 8/10

Coraline (2009): Coraline, with its visual flair apparent of "The Nightmare Before Christmas", features nothing-short-of-amazing visuals; a definite milestone for the stop-motion medium. But an ultimate-letdown in terms of pacing and flow of the story, and character development. Beautiful film nonetheless - 6/10.

Sherlock Holmes (2009): Guy Ritchie's first "period" drama, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, is a big-budget Hollywood movie which departs from the director's usual run-of-the-mill "snatch"-type flicks. The movie has excellent set and costume design with a stellar cinematography (including a stunning slow-mo moment involving explosives). Downey Jr, more noticeable from his definitive role as Tony Sparks from Iron Man, plays out Sherlock with a fitting British-accent which shows his obvious acting talent. Guy Ritchie seems to have outdone himself making this period film. At least it's better than his dreadful past films such as "Revolver (2005)" and "RocknRolla (2008)" - 7/10.

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009): Simply put: This is Big-Labowski-meets-Burn-After-Reading, except that it doesn't quite meet up the absurdities A movie about soldiers who were trained for their "psychic" power and use of non-lethal weapons. A star-studded cast doesn't help redeem the stupidity of the movie. An utter disappointment. 3/10

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009): Nifty little animation which came surprisingly from a live-action-oriented director of such offbeat dramas as " Bottle Rocket" and " The Darjeeling Limited". 8/10

Brokedown Palace (1999): 2 lifelong female buddies go on a holiday trip to Thailand, and gets framed for smuggling drugs in their luggage at the airport. One thing I dislike about this film's its soundtrack: the electric-guitar, alternative jazz music just seems disjoint with the entirely solemn mood of the film. And by the way, watching Claire Danes act is as good as looking at a brick wall for the duration of the movie - completely devoid of emotion, believability, and liveliness. 4/10

Open Water (2003): A cheap-looking, consumer-camcorder-quality horror flick which descends into utter despair and total-fatalism and leaves nothing of human value redeemable for the audience. Spoiler: the couple  left behind in the waters by their tour group drowned or gets eaten by the sharks. 5/10

Ghost Town (2008): From David Koeppe, screenwriter of such blockbusters as Jurassic Park, comes a comedic film about a man who sees dead people in New York. Ricky Gervais plays the protagonist, but in an annoying Brit accent. His character also made an ignorant remark about Chinese names being funny, which I found slightly distasteful and offensive. The film has some funny and witty moments and an intriguing theme about how unless the living could reconcile with the dead, the dead could never really be absolved from what they had left undone. But it doesn't really pack a punch in terms of its hilarity towards the end. 7/10

The Invention of Lying (2009): Really promising premise about a world where nobody lies, but underscored with an underwhelming take on the script and story. Some laughs here and there but overall a predictable and shoddy storytelling. The absence, or lack thereof of a moving soundtrack, coupled with the uneven pacing of the film makes this a below-average film with unfulfilled potential. 5/10

Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008): "Super-size Me" filmmaker Morgan Spurlock had placed himself on the line to test out a fast-food-only diet in his previous documentary, and sacrificed his health badly to prove that fast-food is bad. Now he attempts to find out where no.1 man of Al Queda, Osama Bin Laden, is, before coinciding with the birth of his first kid (as though he's acting on some moral imperative to "rid" the world of "evil"). Here's the fact: if the CIA can't even locate the most wanted man on earth, a documentary filmmaker sure as hell can't. Plus, Spurlock chickens out at the end when he reaches Peshawar (border of Pakistan and Afghanistan which forbids foreigners from entering) because "it ain't worth it" risking his life finding Osama. Perhaps the title's a bit misleading, but it's just a ploy for Spurlock to explore social-political issues and stereotypical views of the rest of the world about the Middle East. 6/10

À l'intérieur (Inside) (2007): This horror-flick about a pregnant woman being stalked by a psychotic lady in her own home made me go like, "Oh that's f--ked up. She didn't just do that" half the time while I was watching it. The film's an exercise in extreme, graphic violence (on women in particular), the invasion and vulnerability of the maternal, and even more excessive violence. The special effect looks cheap, the slow-pacing of the film dragged out the tension, the music score's jagged and out of place (think The Hills Have Eyes [2006 remake] with the distortion and heart-thumping noises and all), plus there isn't much of any redeemable value beyond all of the bloodshed seen on screen. 4/10

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009): This remake of a 1950s classic carries forward the gripping (but not really plausible) tale of a man who framed himself for murder in order to indict a district attorney whom he suspects to be forging DNA evidence to boost his conviction rate. However, poor editing, pacing, stiff acting from the rest of the cast (except Michael Douglas as the villain D.A.), an incoherent double-"twist" to the story's ending makes this film a 5/10.

Halloween II (2009): I saw this flick strangely in the morning while I was on my way to camp on the shuttle bus (the bus driver was playing it on the onboard video player). Hard to stomach scenes of graphic violence (including a scene of decapitation by the masked killer character) at 7:30am in the morning. Nonetheless, I went back home and finished out what I started and watched through scene after scene of senseless murders and profane dialogue (with an unbridled use of f-words) - nothing we hadn't seen before in horror films these days. An unnecessary sequel to a remake to a 70s classic at best. 3/10

Mary and Max (2009): lovely, poignant animated feature with a sterling cinematography, fluid claymation and a touching story about a young Australian girl born to a dysfunctional family, Mary, reaching out to Max, a New Yorker who happens to an eccentric and mentally-handicapped individual. The soundtrack, which consists of variations to a chromatic piano piece is really fitting and evokes and stirs emotions as well. Highly recommended. 9/10

FUGLY-Ass Cartoons

When it comes to TV Cartoon series, "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hills" are two of my favourites.

"South Park" is also a popular series, but I couldn't really stand its crudeness and constant toilet humour, let alone its cut-out paper style animation. Nonetheless, these 3 cartoons are the ones that stood out amongst some of the crappy, detestable shows that are put out these days:

 

 

Just a whole string of 'Dysfunctional-Family-and-their-everyday-lives-mishaps' kind of shows (made popular by The Simpsons). The character designs simply look hideous. The dog in The Family Guy can speak and walks with its two hind legs like a human, and the baby trash-talks like an Italian mafioso. What gives? Plus the jokes in the shows aren't even funny. Then there's this show called "the Goode Family" created by the same person who made "King of the Hills" which tried to do something different, but ended up getting canceled after its 1st season run. Supposedly it wasn't well-received by the audience. There seems to be some variety to the Goode Family characters, but they just look really awkward (especially the guy on the left and the woman beside him).

"Goode" Family

 The Simpsons may have 'bad animation' in it (i.e. stiff & flat character animation) but it makes up for in its satiric and slapstick humour (At least that was during its first 6 seasons). Since then there hasn't been any thing remotely funny coming from The Simpsons. It's just one trite dialogue-driven episode after another. Serialized Cartoons used to be funny! What the hell happened!?

The Simpsons

AND THEN THERE'S THIS CRAP.
Gosh the characters look generic and ugly as shit!:

This is not Bob's Burgers. This is Shit.

My Life Drawing Portfolio Submission to CalArts!

Lingering Thoughts on Movie Trends

As we embrace the new year, what are some of the best films that you've remembered from the past couple years? If you recall, "The Dark Knight" was the top-grossing film of 2008. "Avatar" out-grossed Batman the following year. And so what are some of the best, currently showing or upcoming movies in 2011? I might say that none carries the same grandness or hype that The Dark Knight or Avatar had brought to moviegoers (with a few exceptions which I will elaborate later). Looking back, 2010 just doesn't seem to have that single  die-die, MUST-WATCH film event of the year that brings everyone around you to the cinemas - which got me thinking, does the term "blockbuster" even mean anything these days? Is there a decline in movies that are worth your time to go to the theaters and money to spend on tickets? Is the movie industry (Hollywood in particular) losing originality and creativity?

Granted, I haven't seen ALL the films in 2010, and there are a few exceptions which precludes my writing (examples of critically-acclaimed films such as "Inception" or "Toy Story 3") but in general, who's to say that aren't lesser and lesser good movies out there these days? As someone who aspires to work in the movie industry, I thought I would spend sometime outlining the trends I'd observed in movies these days.

They say that "art imitates life", but in movies, it's just "art imitating art" (if one considers movies to be an art form anyway). One definitive way of determining the commercial success of a movie is to check out the box-office results. According to Wikipedia (as of November 2010), the top-grossing movies in 2010 are: 

1 Toy Story 3
2 Alice in Wonderland
3 Inception
4 Shrek Forever After
5 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
6 Iron Man 2
7 Clash of the Titans
8 How to Train Your Dragon
9 Despicable Me
10 The Karate Kid

I had came up with several observations looking at these: of the 10 top-grossing films of 2010, 4 of them are sequels, 2 "revivals" (Clash of the Titans and Karate Kid). Amongst them 4 are animated films. If one were to consider Alice in Wonderland to be a live-action adaptation of the fairytale, Inception could arguably be the live-action counterpart to the 2006 anime "Paprika", which features a similar plot about the stealing of one's dreams. These observations led me to believe that, firstly, animations are slowly becoming the top-earners in movies box-office gross, and secondly, sequels and revivals are bankable. However, the main crux of my hypothesis, that movies are losing originality and creativity, lies not in the way stories are told, as there are endless untold stories out there that could be told in a million different ways. My gripe with movies these days are its source materials - where their ideas are derived from, not how their ideas are told. For instance, one could argue that the story of "Avatar" is merely a variation of "Dances with Wolves" or "Pocohontas", albeit in a futuristic setting. The fact remains is that, more often than not, art imitates art, but it all comes down to how filmmakers could not merely imitate, but re-invent and reinvigorate existing "art". The Dark Knight is an example of how the existing story of Batman is revived and brought back to the screen, better suited for the modern audience than its 1980s predecessors (Tim Burton's Batman movies) and succeeding at it.

In essence, stories have been told and re-told in innumerable ways. The storylines in movies are crafted from screenwriters alone, or created, adapted, or derived entirely from other existing mediums, namely books, comics, TV shows, and even video games. As fresh new ideas for feature films seem to wear thin, filmmakers are looking toward these mediums to come up with fresh new films. Personally, some of the movies which I've been drawn to were derived from books, such as "Repo Men" and "Shutter Island". The "Millennium" trilogy films and the upcoming Cohen Brothers' "True Grit" which I've placed on my to-watch list were also based on novels. Movies based on original screenplay materials, and handled in the hands of seasoned directors, such as David Fincher's "The Social Network" and Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" are also enticing to me. These are the handful of films this year that I would contest as "original" in terms of its source materials. My gripe about the hundreds of other movies produced in 2010 are that they are becoming more derivative than ever, and that there are more blockbusters out there than are rehashing old franchises or simply looking to revive old classics.

SEQUELS:
4 out of the top 10 grossing movies in 2010 are sequels, indicating that audiences are willing to go back to the cinemas to watch more of the same thing if the previous movies were good. There seems to be an increase in unnecessary sequels such as the "Alvin & The Chipmunk "Squeakquel", or "Paranormal Activity 2", which cashes in on the success of the first movie. There have also been a number of sequels to notable titles from the 80s, such as "Predators" and "Wall Street 2", both of which which were disappointing and failed to live up to the hype. The upcoming "Tron Legacy" is a follow-up to the original which was the first film to feature 3D imagery, and in this day and age, might need more than just 3D effects to dazzle today's audiences.

3D MOVIES & REVIVALS:

Another draw to movies is the 3D medium. I must admit that the first thing which lured me to watch "Avatar" in the cinemas was its 3D stereoscopic effects, which in its own right, immerses audience "deeper" into the movie, although some have labeled or criticized it as being gimmicky and when not done well (e.g. Clash of the Titans) could look fake and flat. With 3D being the next big thing since colour TVs, 3D movies are  starting to be more common. Check out "Resident Evil Afterlife 3D", "Saw 3D", "Jackass 3D" and "Piranha 3D", all released in 2010. Existing titles or old classics have become ideal candidates for revivals, revisits or reboots, such as "The Wolfman", "Nightmare On Elm Street", "Last House On The Left", "Death At A Funeral", "I Spit On Your Grave". Strangely, most of these revisits seem to be horror films (think past years Halloween, Friday The 13th, or American remakes of Asian Horror flicks) which makes me wonder if the horror genre has become stagnant or over-saturated with gory, torture-porn-slasher flicks (think Saw & Hostel) that it necessitates more violent adaptations of old classics for today's audience.

TV SHOWS, GAMES & COMIC BOOK MOVIES:
Where novels left off, TV-show, games, and comic book-inspired movies fill the gap for today's film market. "The A-Team" was based on an old American TV show of the same name, and the raunchy comedy MacGruber was based off a sketch off from Saturday Night Live. Sixth-sense director's "Last Airbender" was based off the Nickelodeon cartoon. Movies based off of popular video game titles also became the norm - "Tekken" and "The King of Fighters" are two of such movies which I felt are unworthy of the same title to the games they were based on. Lastly, comics make for adequate motion pictures, since filmmakers could practically take comic panels, which are pretty much like storyboards, and adapt it panel-by-panel for the screen. Sin City, 300, Hulk, Iron Man, Wanted, and Watchmen are just some of the prime examples of the comic book movie genre. The two prominent comic book films this year are "Kick-Ass" and "The Losers".

"PIXAR-ESQUE"  ANIMATIONS:
Pixar's movies have been the pinnacle of the 3D film market, clinching the Oscars year after year in the animated features category. Various other movie studios seem to be in the footsteps of Pixar, and along the way, one gets to witness the putrid hybrid/turd-mash of an animation called "Megamind", an unnecessary 3D trash that reeks of characters from the already-average 2009 title "Monsters vs Aliens" and Pixar's first-of-its-kind "The Incredibles", which parodies the superhero genre. Though I have yet to see Megamind ans my first impressions of the flick may seemed bias, but frankly, who would want to pay money to see the same thing that you've already seen before, now that it's in regurgitated-crap form?

Now that I've elaborated on my observations and thoughts about movies that have been lingering on in my mind, it's time for me to catch these films which I've been anticipating to watch when they're released:

1. Inception

2. Scott Pilgram vs. The World

3. The Social Network
4. The Town

4. Restrepo

5. Catfish
6. Enter The Void
7. Black Swan

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_in_film

The Prata Place

Just went to "The Prata Place" last week down at Mandai Road (rather secluded location) for supper with my family. The place serves the best prata I've ever tasted! We've tried the kosong (plain) prata, cheese, egg and onion, and the banana prata, all of which are crispy and really tasty, especially the banana prata. The curry sauce is also one of the best dipping I've had to go along with the pratas. Most definitely recommended!

Birthday @ Tao's

Having woken up late, I frantically looked up on the internet on the morning of my birthday for a place to eat. After googling for shopping spots to go and browsing through makansutra for eateries, I settled on two locations: "Tao's Restaurant" (at Paradiz Centre near Dolby Gaut), and "Lee Kui (Ah Hoi)" (Teochew Food at Mosque Street, Chinatown). And so mum and I, us being the only members of our family still living together went together to try out Tao's, which serves up a 6-course lunch at only $20 per person. To my surprise, the 6-course meal, which serves up an appetizer, a side-dish, a soup, a main dish, a drink, and a dessert, is especially filling.


Appetizer:

Cheese & Ham with Toasted Bread: The oven-roasted cheese and ham was tasty, albeit a bit salty. It goes really well with the bread, which has slightly toasted surface and a soft chewy body.

Soup:

Chicken with Sharkfin Melon: Sweet (not in a sugary-way) chicken soup that'll make you ask for seconds.

Mushroom Soup: Made with fresh Shiitake mushroom, this thick, creamy soup is chock-full of finely-diced mushroom that will enlighten your taste-buds. Most def' the best mushroom soup I've ever had.

Side-Dishes:
Chicken salad: The usual mix of veggies with chicken breast meat, topped off with a unique tangy-sweet, sesame sauce which really hits the spot.

Fruit Salad: Fruits mixed with chopped mock-crabmeat, which go strangely well together.

Main Dishes:

Honey Pork Ribs: Tao's signature dish, claimed to be amongst the top dishes (reviewed by a food magazine or something), the meat's rather soft, but not that soft like it'll melt in your mouth. If I were to choose between this dish and Cafe Cartel's St. Louis pork ribs, I'd still go with Cafe Cartel's. However, the ribs' served with a addition of a sweet potato paste with yam cracker and tomato prune that's decorative as it is tasty.

Grilled Fish with Cheese: nothing too spectacular, the cheese topping is similar from the appetizer I had from the start.

Drinks:

Rose Apple & Peach with lemongrass: nothing special, both drinks have a flowery-scent to them and taste just sweet enough.

Desserts:

Creme Brule: An egg-based paste with a hardened caramel surface that's really neat to crack with your spoon. Unfortunately it's way too sweet.

"Yangsheng" Pear: a skinned whole pear cooked in some tonic concoction, served with red dates. The pear is rather bitter.

All in all, Tao's fusion of Asian-Western cuisine is a refreshing dining experience for me. The food's really well-presented and first impressions were great. The service there is also really friendly; Frankie, one of the waitors there was really generous, offering my mum and I a tiramisu when I told him that the creme brule was too sweet - on top of that, as it was my birthday, I was given a scoop of ice cream with a candle on it, with an addition brownie (when I told him the tiramisu was again overly sweet). At $20 per person, it's definitely an affordable place worth going for a casual eat-out.

Sex: The Annabel Chong Story

Annabel Chong: "To Singapore pornography is filth. That's okay. But it has become a national ideology than just a value judgment, you know. To do pornography is to be against collective agreement of what it means to be a Singaporean - F**k 'em. They can't lick my ass."

The documentary "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story" chronicles the rise of stardom of Annabel Chong (a.k.a. Grace Quik) from Singapore in the US porn industry, in the early 90s, and closely follows her life thereafter. For setting the record for the world's biggest gangbang, Annabel Chong is certainly an infamous, if not notorious figure in the eyes of conservative Singaporeans.

Annabel Chong: "Oh look at that. That's spooky. I don't know why."

High School Friend: "That's flag-raising ceremony everyday. It's almost a fascist display."
Annabel Chong: "Memories."

The documentary struck a deep chord with me because Annabel Chong was both a Singaporean and a student of Hwa Chong Junior College. It was intriguing to find out why she had chosen to become a porn actress against all norms of being a Singaporean, and how she was a product of the Singapore society. One of the highlights of the documentary to me was the above passing remarks made by Annabel Chong and her high school friend as they were browsing through their nostalgic photos of Hwa Chong JC. It made me rethink about the little things that shaped me as a Singaporean: moral education, flag-raising ceremony, CIP, and now National Service.

Besides splicing in interviews of the porn filmmakers and reactions from various people in the porn industry about her rise to fame, the documentary also had footage of the actual sex act: which was gross and excruciating to watch (someone even stated that it was akin to "watching meat being grinded"). I wondered what had drove Grace Quik, a wholesome, young, intelligent Singaporean girl to such state. In the documentary, it was explained that she was attempting to "reverse the notion that only Men can be sex studs". Be that as it may, it certainly wasn't a pretty sight watching a young petite girl surrounded and pounded by countless naked, hairy, sweaty fat men, all in the name of questioning stereotypical views?

Some memorable parts of the documentary include her visiting the location where she was raped while studying in London (which might have indirectly led to her choice of career), and how she was unable to confront her parents and admit to them what she had done in America. Come to think about it, how would you have faced the truth if it was your daughter who had being screwed by countless men at one go?

All the while I had been viewing the documentary passively, as though I have been maintaining a distance between the person in the film and the world around me (as though in disbelief that Annabel Chong couldn't have came from the school that I had studied in.) Yet as I was watching Annabel Chong step foot into Hwa Chong JC to visit her teachers, that barrier broke. There they were, in the documentary, the familiar faces of the teachers (who are still teaching in Hwa Chong as of today), speaking to Annabel Chong. Who'd knew that that tall, goofy-looking Caucasian teacher had once taught Annabel Chong?

"Sex: The Annabel Chong Story" is a fascinating, in-depth look at the person behind Annabel Chong, and an exploration/study of her motivations of being a porn actress and a documentation of her life thereafter. Definitely a recommended watch. 8/10

"1900"/"Novecento"

"1990" (1976): Lately I seem to have mustered up the spirit and time to sit through overly long films such as Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" (clocked at 3 & a 1/2 hour). Next up's "1990" or "Novecento", coming at a total of 5 hours and in two parts, perhaps the longest film I'd ever watched in my life and in a single-sitting.

When one thinks of a 3-hour war film "Schindler's List" or "Saving Private Ryan", would come to mind, as these both of which are excellent films (with albeit justifiable long-runtime). However, "1900" is not a Steven Spielberg war film. It is a sprawling, 5-hour, dare I say, mess of an epic. The storyline spans throughout the mid-1900s, from the time 2 boys, one born a peasant and the other to a rich landowner's family (or "patrone" as referred in the film) become friends and grow up during the peasants' revolution against the Italian fascists.

The story of two young boys of different social class during a tumultuous period of revolution and uprising certainly sounds like a great movie for me. Sadly, the script of "1900" just isn't too well-written; the dialogue in the film is crude at times, and the actors' accent and acting at times laughable (think dialogues like "I want the key!", "I stick it up your ass!", "The greatest load of horseshit and dung!" acted out in Italian-accented English dubbing). The pacing throughout the film to say the least is excruciating, as scenes tend to drag on and on and seemed really self-indulgent. The only few reasons I'd watched the flick's because firstly, I'd read how controversial the film was (but by today's standard it merely seems tame). Secondly, Robert DeNiro's in it, and lastly it's a Bertolucci movie (the first of several I've yet to finish viewing). If there's any commendable points to be taken from "1900", it would be its cinematography, which looks great for the time it was made. My rating for "1900": 4/10

Here's a list of the rather "brow-raising" scenes I'd seen in the movie:
-a young girl milking a cow, later an old landowner asks her to "milk" him (exactly what I mean)
-2 boys pulling out and pulling back their erected penises
-Again the 2 boys lying on the ground and "humping" the grasses
-Skip to 2 boys all grown up and getting handjobs simultaneously from a hooker
-cocaine sniffing
-a couple of animal killings (a cat, a pig in separate scenes)
-A mass shooting of farmers by the fascist character, rape (off-screen) and killing of a young boy
-close-up of a horse's ass and a man "massaging" it to make it defecate

Well, now that I've finished watching the longest-running movie on my list, it's time to finish watching these:
Gettysburg (1993) - 4 and a 1/2 hrs
Dances with Wolves (1990) - 3 hrs 56 mins. (Director's Cut)
Gods and Generals (2003) - 3 hrs 38 mins.
Wyatt Earp (1994) - 3 hrs 10 mins.
Fanny and Alexander (1982) - 3 hrs approximately.
The Last Emperor (1987) - 2 hrs 43 mins.
Ran (1985) - 2 hrs 42 mins.