Zhu Chuan's Blog

24 Hour Comic Day 2011

2011-10-04T01:23:00.000+08:00

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

2011-07-31T17:22:00.000+08:00

"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

2011-07-02T17:07:00.000+08:00

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

2011-04-23T01:36:00.009+08:00

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!

2011-01-06T16:24:00.013+08:00

Lingering Thoughts on Movie Trends

2011-01-06T16:03:00.002+08:00

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

2010-05-02T18:58:00.004+08:00

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

2010-03-08T20:38:00.019+08:00

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

2010-03-01T23:39:00.013+08:00

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"

2010-02-25T11:57:00.013+08:00

"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.

Big Bucking Bunny

2010-01-27T23:26:00.008+08:00

Big Buck Bunny (2008): This short film has an impressive lead-in that is clearly Pixar-inspired. The background and lighting are stunning, but the storyline about "Big Buck Bunny" just falls on flat. As the saying goes "STORY IS KING" - apparently this short just doesn't seem to contain any. What is the point of a big dumb bunny chasing a butterfly out of curiosity and deciding to take "revenge" against the bad guys, the three squirrels (as shown at the bottom), which had killed a butterfly for no particular (albeit sadist) reasons . What exactly are the villain characters' motivations? What do they gain from teasing the big Bunny? All of these doubts are left unanswered in this 10-minute short.

Somehow, the norm for animations these days is to be "Pixar-esque" (see the "A Bug's Life"-inspired title above), to the extent that Big Buck Bunny seems to have blatantly ripped off the design of the unimportant, side character of the bird from Pixar's "For the Birds (2000)" short. See screencap:

You might mistake this bird to be from one of Pixar's classic short film. When juxtaposed with the bird, the bad guys just look plain, uninspired and bland; with their big squinty-eyed conveying merely a hint of soullessness and retardation:

My rating for Big Buck Bunny (2008): 5/10. Completely disappointing flat storyline and characters; props to the modeling, background and lighting crew for making an impressive set.

Beethoven's 7th Symphony

2010-01-14T12:50:00.018+08:00

Not that I'm a fervent fan of the classical genre, but this somewhat "majestic" piece by Beethoven called the "7th Symphony" or "Symphony No. 7" stuck to my head after I'd skimmed through the ending scene of the 2002 film "Irréversible". I recalled hearing this music somewhere in another film (somewhat grandeur) I'd seen not long ago. It was as though I had a piece from Beethoven lodged deep down in my memory bed and I couldn't figure out where I'd heard it from! And just like that, my brain clicked, and I remembered that it was the film "The Fall".

This particular Beethoven piece was played during its opening credits sequence (filmed in slow motion). The photography in this segment is simply stunning. Each shot is dynamic and well-lit, and has a portraiture feel individually, as though you're looking at still photographs coming to life, simply put, a no more than 3-minutes opening credit montage has never looked so beautiful in any form of motion picture I've seen, and the music of Beethoven fits just as well.

Check out the amazing opening scene to "The Fall":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4DgxnHAYRg

The entire Symphony No. 7 can be heard here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs5pH4GKYkI

Where The Wild Things Are

2010-01-07T17:33:00.008+08:00

Spike Jonze's movies always leave a strange, lingering feeling after first viewing. When I first saw his film "Being John Malkovich", I thought the film was weird and the ending sucked because it seemed open-ended. If you've seen "Adaptation", chances are that you didn't "get it" the first time like I did when I first saw it, plus you didn't like it because of how ambivalent the film is.

And then came his latest work "Where The Wild Things Are", a movie-adaptation of Maurice Sendak's illustrated children book of the same name. Having seen the movie first and then read the book, I must say that the film is indeed a faithful adaptation of Sendak's book. The story remains the same, where the lead protagonist, a young playful boy named Max goes on a "journey" into the wilderness and encounters cute but gigantic, furry monster-like creatures, or "wild things" and decides to become their ruler and king. Basically all the characters in the movie adaptation remains faithful to the book, where their appearance would look similar if they would to exist in real life.

Being a children's book, "Wild Things" doesn't really make much sense to me when I read through it. As compared to the movie, Spike Jonze has certainly taken much effort to inject more emotion and depth into Max and the creature characters - the Wild Things talk, yell, being playful and throwing tandrums like children, unlike in the book, in which they seem like mere arbitrary, giant, furry, monsters with horns on their heads and claws on their hands. In the film, each wild thing has their own name too.

As the film is a live-action adaptation of Sendak's illustrated book, certain segments of the film seems to dive right into the implausible (a young boy ran out of his house in the middle of the night, finds an abandoned sail along the river, and sets off to an island far far away), but they seem to be deliberately overlooked to hint that the world inhabited by the wild things is the realm of Max's imagination.

The behaviour and characters of the individual "wild things" also seem to derive from Max's experience of the people he met in his life (which was only briefly foretold in the film, such as how Max is being punished by his single mum, neglected by his sister and so on). They seem to embody attributes such as the temperamental, the impatient, the fun-loving, or the frivolous. Such characterizations layer the film with more subtleties, which enriches the viewing experience on top of what's merely portrayed on screen. Which is why I think "Where The Wild Things Are" deserves appraisal more than my first impression upon viewing it, because it has layered meanings beneath all the cute characters, their wild rumpuses and their playfulness. It is a beautiful film which makes for great repeat viewings.

At a glance: recent movies I've watched

2009-12-26T23:28:00.010+08:00

Changeling (2008): Gripping, moving drama about a single mom in the late 20s in America trying to find her lost child and her struggle being compounded by the state's corrupt police force and lack of response. A must-see. 9/10

Invictus (2009): Clint Eastwood made really great films in the recent years (Letters From Iwo Jima, Gran Torino), but this film about South Africa's rugby team making the world cup just doesn't make the cut. Morgan Freeman's appearance as peacemonger Nelson Mandela is great as anticipated (though occasionally slipping into his American accent), but the dialogue and acting coming from the rest of the cast just seems stiff, seemingly lacking heart and soul. Plus the film got really boring toward the end (with that same old cliche "final" winning game as seen in all sports movies) since I have no idea how to play rugby. 6/10

Kung Fu Panda (2008): A surprisingly funny and great animation with great characters and voice-acting. The animation is fluid and the backdrops beautiful. Kung Fu Panda comes highly-recommended! 9/10

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988): The highlight of this film's its fusion of live-action and hand-draw, classical animation, which makes for a really unique film where real-life figures interact with wacky looney toons and disney characters. If only the dialogue and acting were half as good as the technical achievements seen in the film. 6/10

Year One (2009): From the director of Groundhog Days (one of the best comedies ever) comes possibly one of worst comedies ever made this year: ancient cavemen and biblical characters acting and talking in modern-day lingual. The script sucks, the acting is stiff and the movie is unfunny. 3/10

Assassination of a High School President (2008): Despite what the title may suggest, this film's far from a solemn, serious drama/crime flick, but instead it's a comedy with a detective story in it. The crime revolves around a whole bunch of stolen SATs papers, and Bobby Funke, who writes for St. Donovan high school's newspaper, attempts to find out the culprit behind it. Without spoiling anything, the plot isn't as intriguing as I thought plus the twist at the end of the film simply made me go, "That's it? Is that all they've got? An unsatisfying conclusion after all this build-up?" 6/10

Step Brothers (2008): Lame slapstick comedy about 2 men-child (played by Will Farrell and John C. Reilly) becoming step-brothers due to their single parents' marriage. One of the several WTF-moments in the film includes Will Farrell licking white dog shit in close-up. 5/10

Paranormal Activity (2007): Filmed in the style of "Blair-witch Project" (handheld, shaky cam with storytelling from the people behind the camera), the film captures the ongoing strange events happening within a couple's home. "Paranormal Activity" looks dirt cheap and features unknown actors - which make the premise and characters more authentic. There are some really creepy moments and scares in it. 6/10

A Night at the Roxbury (1998): Spin-off movies from TV show sketches just don't hold well together (think Chris Rock's Pootie Tang), sure, the SNL's "Night at Roxbury" sketch's just ridiculously funny, but as an hour-and-a-half feature film, and without Jim Carrey, the story and humour just doesn't hold up. 2/10

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008): A romance comedy where a guy tries to handle a breakup initiated by his girlfriend, a popular TV actress. The acting and story are good but the film's a tad too slow-moving. 6/10

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009): Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009): Another one of those vulgar, lame comedies, you can expect more fart jokes, penis-centric references and absurd moments with Will Farrell as a cameo skydiver who died misplacing his parachute with a bagpack full of dildos. 5/10

Good Hair (2009): You'd think Chris Rock would make a funny and satirical "documentary" as he did on the Chris Rock Show. On the contrary, this documentary fails on several ends as it covers a niche area (black people's hair), is biased towards the African-Americans, and has NO funny bits despite being hosted by a comedian. 3/10

Mars Attacks! (1996): This film was strangely creepy and frightening the first time I saw it as kid. Went back and watched it again to "re-experience" that moment, but the film just turned out cheesy. 6/10

Law Abiding Citizen (2009): Great thrilling film about a vigilante taking revenge against those who killed his family with intense performance from Gerald Butler and Jamie Foxx. Too bad the ending was a total cop-out. 7/10

The Limits of Control (2009): My rating: 2/10. Director Jim Jarmusch has a few good flicks (e.g. Broken Flowers, Dead Man) in the past, but this film is pure esoteric. The Limits of Control will even make the hardest of hardest cinephiles and arthouse fans go snoring. There is no build-up, no pacing, no fitting music, only minimum pretentious dialogue and arbitrary walking-around-and-meeting-strangers lameness. The only redeeming factors about this film's not-too-shabby Chris Doyle cinematography, and a nude scene with a spectacles-wearing sexy vixen (see below!):

The Final Destination (2009): A regurgitation of the popular "Death has a design" series. The first one was great & original, the second was shit, the third was okay, and so's this. Spoiler alert: Everyone dies at the end, just like the first in the series. But you may have already guessed that. 5/10

Final Destination 2 (2003): A promising build-up (involving a major pile-up accident on the highway) but an ultimate letdown in the latter half of the film, this sequel to the first Final Destination is disappointing at best. 4/10

Moon (2009): An intriguing film about a lone-mining-worker on the moon who meets his doppelganger. I was expecting much more from the story but the film kept it simple. The score, visual effects and cinematography however are excellent for an independent film like this. 7/10

Saw VI (2009): The sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the sequel of the original Saw film (the first and only good one) - with what viewers would come to expect: a never-ending storyline to the Jigsaw serial killings and lots more gruesome, gory and graphic torture devices. Wonder what sick, demented script writers would come up once and once again with these stuff. 5/10

Gamer (2009): The visuals in this flick are as wacky and over-the-top (see below for instance) as you would expect from the creators of the "Crank" series. The story's like Johnny Mnemonic and The Running Man, where the main guy's in a game of kill or be killed. The violence, gore and sexual imagery here are over-the-top too, but sadly doesn't compensate for the lack of a coherent story. 6/10

At a glance: recent TV shows I've watched

2009-12-26T21:58:00.011+08:00

"Generation Kill" (2008): Like an extended, mini-series-length Black Hawk Down, Generation Kill fills the screen with awesome gunfire and explosions that looks real, but confuses you with lots of characters that lookalike with their helmets and gears on, where you can't really figure out who's who in a mere span of 7 episodes. Where the other Iraq-war based serial drama "Over There" is soldiers' drama, "Generation Kill" is geared toward the heat of the battle. 8/10

Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening (2010) (TV): I've seen this Indian guy in almost every recent comedies like, lately "Funny People" where he played this really offbeat and wannabe-gangster-like stand-up comic named "Randy". Besides making the usual run-of-the-mill dick & fart jokes, Ansari finished the act off with an icing on the cake by returning as Randy from "Funny People". A definite recommendation. 7/10

Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction (2009) (TV): The aged Robin Williams makes an hour and a half length of non-stop, profane stand-up jokes about anything under sun, from references to his recent heart surgery, alcoholic problems, to how the human penis came about. 7/10

"How I Met Your Mother" (2005): A heartfelt sitcom with lovable characters and deeply engrossing storyline which keeps you on the hook. 9/10

"The Flight of the Conchords" (2007): Sometimes lame and funny do go hand-in-hand. Flight of the Conchords chronicles band members from Flight of the Conchords in their journey as they try to make it big in the states. The show features lots of show-stopping moments and abrupt musicals which makes for some absurdist humour and laughter. 8/10

"King of the Hill" (1997): A warm-hearted cartoon animated TV serial drama that doesn't rely constantly on fart jokes or slapstick humour like The Simpsons. 9/10

"Man v. Food" (2008): A show devoted to stuffing your face with fast and junk food and eating in the least healthiest way possible in the U.S, the fattest nation on the planet. 8/10

Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America - A Final Night with George W Bush (2009) (TV): A witty parody of George Bush's presidency and his life in an hour and a half stage performance. Watch out for the hilariously carnal dance by a Condelezza Rice look-alike. 8/10

"Lock 'N Load with R. Lee Ermey" (2009): Fun history channel program which traces the footsteps of Military weaponry from guns to tanks. Hosted by the grumpy old gunnery sergeant himself from Full Metal Jacket. 8/10

"That's Impossible!" (2009): Interesting documentary about various mysteries and conspiracies such as the possibility of becoming invisible or the use of weather as an instrument of warfare. 8/10

"Hell's Kitchen" (2005): A show where F-word-ladened Gordon Ramsey pisses his cooking disciples off bit by bit. Not my cup of tea. 6/10

"Criss Angel Mindfreak" (2005): Magic seems like a long gone entertainment now that the masked magician has revealed all of classical magic's greatest secrets. Where David Blaine at least tried to inject some "authenticity" into his street magic by going to passers-by and saying nonchalantly, "hey, you wanna see something cool?" Whereas Criss Angel's all about showmanship and acting all mysterious and cocky-like going, "I know the dark arts and I can blow your mind! Watch me!" Doesn't work on me as an audience though. 1/10

"Mad Men" (2007): A period drama that for the first couple seasons, starts out enticing for its authentic portrayal of the 50s America as well as misogyny around office life, but got rather bland toward the third season. Guess I just wasn't too keen or interested in chasing the past. 8/10

AVATAR

2009-12-23T19:00:00.013+08:00

Perhaps the most spectacular sci-fi epic to come along this year, Avatar is a definite must-watch movie on the big screen on my list. After viewing the trailers online, I couldn't wait to see it in its 3D splendor, the way director James Cameron had envisioned and intended for it to be viewed.

As soon as critics' reviews came out, with each review spotting the movie with no less than 4 out of 5 stars, and some claiming it as "groundbreaking", or even "revolutionizing the way movies are made", I didn't hesitate and went to preorder tickets (costing $13 each even with safra discount) to watch it in digital 3D. And to my delight, it didn't fail to to disappoint - from a visual and technical standpoint, Avatar is by far the best-looking movie I've seen to date.

The title of the film refers to the genetically-grown alien body the film's human protagonist, Jake Sully, controls so he can go the planet Pandora to mingle with the Na'vis, natives of the planet, as part of the grand scheme of things for the earthlings stationed there to mine minerals from underground the habitat of the Na'vis. Just like the adventure Jake's about to go through, the audience is invited on a thrill ride in the futuristic world in Avatar, where planet Pandora is like a rainforest filled with creatures and scenery out of fantasy artworks. To put it bluntly, every bit of the movie's a special effects galore and a visual wonderment (such as the screenshot below). It's hard to describe how beautiful certain scenes look. The beauty herein is best seen in 3D in order to experience the "true" immersion, 2D film just doesn't seem to do the film justice!

The film is not without its flaws though. Perhaps everything in the movie's so photo-realistic, you cannot help but scrutinize on the believability of the alien "Na'vi" beings, which look like fairies (with big feline-like eyes and pointy ears). Quite frankly, they seem a little cartoonish. Also, there doesn't seem to be much character development and the story seems derivative (think Pocahontas, the Matrix). Apart from that, there's little to complain about the film - you've got your adventure story, the sci-fi backdrop, the epic battle scenes plus a sort of inter-galactic love story between a man (in an avatar) and an alien.

Wow-E

2009-12-22T00:22:00.004+08:00

I finally got around to watching WALL-E on DVD. I had to see for myself why WALL-E had won critics' hearts all over the world and why this was yet another of Pixar's Oscar-winning animated feat.

There's little or no dialogue in the first half of the film (only robotic chatters). The lead character's WALL-E, , a tale about a waste-allocating robot operating on the desolated, garbage-riddened wasteland that was once Earth. The adoration factor's all over WALL-E, which spots a pair of binocular eyes that brings out subtly an ever-curious glance, reminiscing much seen in that of an anime character. As the film progresses WALL-E has a crush on a fancier, more advanced robot called EVE and follows her all the way onto a spaceship, where more adventures await him.

WALL-E features superb sound design and background music, along with an astounding cinematography which wonderfully captures the grittiness of wasteland on Earth and the majestic glitter of the stars and galaxy beyond. WALL-E blends realistic 3D imagery and live-action seamlessly yet simultaneously delineating between the "now" and the "past", where the past is presented through old footage of classic movies, and the now being WALL-E's world. The quirky 2D-animated credits-sequence is fitting and rounds off and juxtaposes against the rest of the film. The movie also seems to be heavy-handed on environmental issues (given the presentation of a bleak future of Earth, which recalls films like Idiocracy) & also issues about the future & futility of the human race i.e. The Matrix.

What past films have tried to grapple with (think Bicentennial Man, Terminator 2, or I, Robot) might have been filling robots with emotions. WALL-E succeeds in the fact that it remains a cartoon rooted in an imaginative landscape, which transcends the suspension of disbelief and makes you look past the robots in the film as sentient beings and more as mere cartoon characters with heart, where even robots can fall in love. I don't know what got into me, but the film, jam-packed with exhilarating adventurous-sequences and a heart-breaking scene towards the end, brought tears to my eyes. WALL-E is not only a fun adventure film, but a moving one too. It is certainly one of the best films of 2008, and one which brings both tears and smile to my face.

At a glance: recent movies I've watched

2009-11-21T22:21:00.013+08:00

2012: Cliche and loud regurgitation of "The Day After Tomorrow" by the director of The Day After Tomorrow. Jaw-droppingly spectacular disaster sequences but that's about it. 6/10

Inglourious Basterds: QT made another hit movie with just about all the witty and well-written dialogue you'd expect from his films. Solid A+ film. 10/10

Pandorum: Nice back story & set pieces, but bad dialogue, jarring, haphazard editing, and lame monster designs undermined what this film was marketed to be. 4/10

Martyrs: Words can't really describe how fucked up this horror flick gets, it gets under your skin, it's way grotesque, gruesome and disturbing than Hostel or Saw, a torture-porn at best, and an excruciating, fatalistic filmmaking at its worst. Not for the faint-hearted. The last 20 minutes of the film just gets you thinking, "who in their sane, rightfully human mind would come up with this shit and allowed it to be filmed for the silver screen?" 5/10

Funny People: Funny people isn't very much a comedy, let alone being funny. Those parts that were funny were mostly shown in bits from trailers or TV spots. I wondered whether this is an Apatow-comedy (with the usual crude sexual humour), or a soap drama with a ton of f-words in it. 7/10

Observe & Report: This film isn't like Paul Blaut Mall Cop as the publicity material would have us to believe. It's about a mall security guard who doesn't do his job and instead decides he wants to be a police officer, drifting away from the crux of main plot. There's also a reason why this flick was rated R21 in Singapore: full-frontal male nudity of a flasher, like the film itself, it ain't a pretty sight. 4/10

GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra: been there, done that. Haven't we seen this show before? 6/10

Surrogates: Oh man, this film could have so much potential, it's a futuristic sci-fi film with Bruce Willis in it, what could have went wrong? 6/10

Up: Really touching animation that manages to bring out heartfelt, human drama than other animated flicks out there, plus it has scenes and characters that are funny and loveable. The companion short "Partly Cloudy" that came with Up's also a lovely film that explores the interesting idea of "where do babies come from"? 8/10 for both.

Visitor Q: A really unusual, some say disturbing film involving a disgruntled TV reporter and his prostitute daughter, and a mother abused by her son. It's more about perversion and dysfunctional characters made for comedic effect, or more so sadist humour. 5/10

I Love You Man: Surprisingly good comedy with great drama about platonic friendship & marriage. 8/10

Role Models: this is a stupid movie with stupid characters revolving around a stupid make-believe fantasy world of role-playing; It's detestable how Paul Rudd could have a great role in one movie (I Love You Man) and a bland one in another. 2/10

Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-15T15:32:00.011+08:00

The latest installment to my favourite FPS (first person shooter) franchise, Call of Duty, had arrived and I bought it right on its night of release, and played it the day after, and oh my, was it totally worth its S$74 (though seemingly overpriced) price of admission. Out of the box, you'll get 3 game components, the usual singleplayer campaign, multiplayer, as well as a co-op mode called "Spec Ops". Not too bad considering how much time you'll actually be hooked on playing multiplayer online with others trying to rise through the ranks and unlock new weapons and peripherals to gain an edge over your human competitors online.

Its singleplayer campaign, which the COD franchise is most well-known for its Hollywood blockbusters-inspired level designs and gameplay, has again resurfaced to reinvigorate the immersive yet cinematic-storytelling gameplay that FPS shooters like the old "Medal of Honor" series had created. From the underwater Navy SEALs infiltration of a hostage-bound oilrig/storming of an island prison facility which recalls scenes from the movie "The Rock", to riding and gunning down snowmobiles (think Die Hard 2) and riding miniguns on Humvees down narrow alleyways/getting outgunned after your chopper's being shot down (reminiscence of Black Hawk Down), the singleplayer campaign is jaw-droppingly good, and just about as fun (though shorter) than its predecessor's. I finished it on regular mode in about 5 hours.

Developed by Infinity Ward & published by videogame mogul Activision, this game has sold (according to statistics from the company) 4.7million units and grossed more than 310 million dollars in US & UK alone on its first day, making it the biggest videogame launch in history.

And what's intriguing about this is its target audience. No doubt the game is being rated by the ESRB in America as M17, and MA15+ in Australia for its (the first few COD titles were only rated 'T' for Teens in the US, which means you'll only have to be about 13 years old and above to play), underage players will surely try to get their hands on this popular title, or unaware parents might purchase the game for their children amidst the holiday season. Not that there's any problem with young players under the age limit playing video games that involves shooting other people (kids as young as 10 even plays counter-strike), BUT there is something morally-questionable, and seemingly morally-deprived in Modern Warfare 2. When I speak of parents who are "unawared", I'm referring to them being uninformed about this "particular" mission in the singleplayer in which you're placed in the shoes of a terrorist. The controversy surrounding this particular scenario even made its way to today's newspaper.

Citing the recent Mumbai terrorist attack as a real-world example, the article noted that in the game, as a player, your objective's to kill civilians in an airport, which seems to echo exactly what happened in Mumbai - terrorists gunning down civilians. I have played through this mission, even though I was prompted to choose whether or not I wanted to skip the "disturbing content" (just so I can experience the game fully as it was meant to be by the developers and get my money's worth), which was unbeknownst to me at time of playing (I thought it would be a torture scene or something like in COD5: World at War where your character's being interrogated by the Japanese).

It was more horrific than that. Shocked at what I was (in some ways) witnessing and participating in, I cringed, muttering "What the f..." throughout the gameplay. Sure this is just a game, but it caught me by surprise with its sheer, unflinchingly brutal violence and depiction of an atrocity that you are made "complicit" of as a player. Despite the fact that Modern Warfare 2's still a piece of entertainment at its core, its storytelling mechanic in this instance somewhat serves as a tacit, chilling reminder of the realities of today's world: the horrors of terrorism and unconventional warfare. Headlines and news reports of such events often get relegated to the back of our minds; now you're able to see one, albeit fictional, unfold through the eyes of a murderer, and it will strike a chord through your senses. In an uncomfortable way.

That aside, the game's excellent, especially its multiplayer component, which got me hooked on for hours. I'd recommend this game to anyone who don't mind lots of gun-totting violence along with a heavy-handed singleplayer campaign, provided they're (at least) over 18 years old.

Big, Dumb & Loud

2009-11-14T20:10:00.013+08:00

The new transformers sequel movie's out for quite some time now and I got around to watching it on video. It was a super-sized, mega-loud, action-packed popcorn flick that was made for the big screen and the masses, succeeding in what its predecessor does best in nailing: awesome, mindnumbingly loud action sequences and gigantic robot fight scenes. But that's all there is to it for a Michael Bay flick.

In fact, in certain aspects, you can't help but recall scenes from Michael Bay's past movies:

Michael Bay's signature camera-circling-around-the-actors-or-actresses photography and camera-revolving-round-and-round-holes sequences are back too:

In fact, several more scenes in the film just seems borrowed from films like Black Hawk Down (the chopper crash), Indiana Jones (with the temple scene and Shia LeBoef dressed in leather suit) and even the scene with the Decepticon planet just reeks of Bay's very own Armageddon:

My rating for Transformers 2: 6/10

T-X (from Terminator 3) anyone?

FHM's Brain

2009-10-22T17:32:00.008+08:00

Came across this at a magazine stand. It's the back cover of an FHM magazine; a bunch of sultry, bikini-clad female figures forming what looks like a brain. Google-searched and found the image, according to the source (a blog) it's photographed by an Australian art director by the name of Adrian Chan working in Singapore.

Isn't this picture a thing of beauty? They say a picture tells a thousand words - this image just sums up what's on every man's mind!

FHM - "For Him Magazine", how apt.

For Adults Only: Californication

2009-05-14T14:30:00.004+08:00

Picture this: imagine you're a famous, charismatic, albeit deadbeat writer in L.A. in the middle of a mid-life crisis, a failed marriage and fathering an eccentric goth of a pre-teen daughter under the custodial care of your ex-wife. How would life have been for you? Such is the life of Hank Moody, played out in the fictional tv serial drama/ comedy "Californication". In the show, Hank Moody doesn't only deal with his familial problems; he also happens to be a p*ssy magnet, which makes incredibly hot chicks surround him most of the time. The premise of the show makes for plenty of hilarious moments (most involving sexual innuendos) as Hank Moody juggles between reconciling with his family and the hot ladies he's been banging.

David Duchovny, best known for his portrayal of Fox Mulder back in the early 90s X-Files series, stars in Californication as the lead protagonist. Fans of his movies and shows would come to appreciate the actor's portrayal of Hank Moody, as his subtle facial expression, or lack thereof, compliments the character's great deadpan humour.

The show is a first for me in terms of its copious amount of jokes revolving around sex, and the use of the 4-letter word, but that isn't much of a detracting factor for me. What's likable about Californication though, apart from its sexual humour (which aren't commonly seen in today's family-friendly programming), is its cleverly written story. Without spoiling anything, let's just say the plot of Hank Moody's sexually-charged journey towards sexual-gratification leads to numerous crazy twists and turns, one involving an underage daughter of his ex-wife's boyfriend. Another of the show's many hilarious moments includes an incident whereby Hank Moody's daughter stumbles upon his dad's one-night stand in his bedroom, and informs him, "There is a naked lady in my bedroom," followed by asking his father bemusedly, "Why is there no hair on her vagina? Is there something wrong?"

All in all, in my opinion, this is definitely one show you shan't miss! (Provided you aren't under the age of 18, or can't tolerate the sight of excessive swearing, sex, or laugh-out-loud comedy)

My Stop-motion film shortlisted on Animania '09

2009-01-17T11:54:00.004+08:00

It's quite a surprise for my film to be shortlisted on Animania, a local animation competition organized by Creative Bits. The last national competition I've taken part was NEmation '07, but I haven't exactly came out winning any prize at all. Plus recently my work have been rejected by other foreign international animation competitions like Animex and Anima. Anyway, do watch my stop-motion film "Share: A Tale of 2 Humpty Dumpties & a Bird", and share with your friends and families too and vote! (Go to this page, click the banner on the bottom right, choose "Share: A Tale of 2 Humpty Dumpties & A Bird", and vote.)

Since I haven't uploaded this stop-motion film (made for my A-level's coursework in 2008) anywhere else online, this is the only avenue where you can catch my animation!

Check out my friend Leon Sooi's work "The Perfect Park" too @ this page , do vote for his animation too if you like it.

UPDATE: This is old news, but something I would like to put up and should had done it a while back: Leon and I had clinched both the 1st and the 2nd runner-up prizes respectively for Animania '09! Below's the trophy for my 2nd runner-up win in the competition. Hats off to my friend Leon, whose work even got shortlisted on Reel13.

The amazing Waltz with Bashir

2009-01-17T10:48:00.004+08:00

This new film from Israel, a mixture of animation-cum-docu-drama, could be summed up in these words:

It's an amazing, unique feat with sheer mesmerizing wonder.

Rarely has a rotoscoped animation (remember Waking Life & A Scanner Darkly?) been so captivating and proved to have used the 2D medium so wisely. The film's about a war veteran who lost his memories of his days in the Lebanon War back in the 80s, and the rotoscoped animation does exceedingly well in illustrating the surreal-nature of his haunted memories as he attempts to piece together his past through interviews with other veterans and people involved in the war.

Throughout the film, we see sequence after sequence of stories of the Lebanon War pieced together by war veterans, reporters, and even from the protagonist himself as he recollects his lost memories. These sequences are beautiful, surreal, and mesmerizing, and coupled with the wondrous orchestral music, they make for an extraordinary, spine-chilling experience. You'll have to see it for yourself to "get" it.

It's a rare honour to have come across a powerful film of such subtle magnitude. Ari Folman, the director (as the main war veteran protagonist) did an exceedingly good job in directing and acting in the film. Needless to say, the animation (mix of 2D, Flash & 3D) is the strongest point of the film - very fluid, realistic and consistent throughout - fitting the whole notion of how memories are often idealized/beautified in our minds adequately.

My rating for "Waltz with Bashir": 10/10

Other past recent films watched:
-Crazy Sexy Cancer - 5/10
-The Rape of Europa - 6/10
-RocknRolla - 6/10
-Saw V - 4/10
-The Wrestler - 7/10
-House of Saddam - 6/10
-Eagle Eye - 4/10
-Benjamin Button - 10/10

The Cruel Contradiction of Benjamin Button

2009-01-02T12:42:00.004+08:00

The phrase "Happy New Year" has been thrown around constantly by everybody as a matter of common courtesy, greeting, and parlance, seemingly devoid of sincerity and significance. What does it mean to embrace a new year and to be happy? In fact, when was the last time you ever brood over about the meaning of your existence and about your life in general?

I did - just the day before 2009, I managed to watch the new Christmas movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (starring Brad Pitt) without lending much ideas about what the film symbolizes and how it's going to turn out. To my admiration, the film, whilst very well-made on its own, has cast a new light about my attitude towards life.

Directed by David Fincher, one of my favourite directors, whose filmography includes contemporary classics such as Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac, "Benjamin Button" could most readily be summed up in 2 words: movie magic. The film tells a poignant tale about a man born miraculously of a defect with causes him to age backwards in time (somewhat alluding much to Christ's birth). Although the crux of the story sounds ludicrous and bizarre in nature, it is in fact a mere plot device to explore a gamut of universal issues from love, morality, to life & death.

Highlights of the film would be its star-studded cast (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton), its brilliant, still-cam cinematography, a fitting orchestral soundtrack, and the amazing special effects (think middle-aged Pitt transforming to a pygmy 80-year old to being a 20-year old heartthrob again). The only downside to many however, might be its near 3-hour runtime. Most moviegoers (including me) might simply be looking for thrills & action-packed plotlines common in Hollywood blockbusters these days, but frankly I didn't mind the slow-moving nature of the film, it serves an essential purpose to evince the drudgingly long and painful chronology of a man's life. In fact, it is almost a mirror of life, as the adage goes, "art imitates life", and in this case, "Benjamin Button" is one such film which truely deserves such title. Through viewing the (albeit fictional) life of Benjamin, we are reminded of the plentiful contradictions of living : life is at once ugly and beautiful, we live and then we die, et cetera. There are memorable moments in life and there are plenty of those we would like to forget - life is lovely, but it is cruel at the same time.

In short, the film is all but an apt analogy about the universal mystery we call "life", it is a film that, after watching it, you'll grasp the subtle beauties of humanity, and appreciate the nuances of life. Rarely has a film captivated me on so many levels - it has both enthralled and left me embittered and downtrodden towards the end, taking a huge toll on my emotions! (I was literally in tears as the credits rolled) It is perhaps one of the most touching film of the century and moviemaking at its finest. If I hadn't been so moved by it I wouldn't be motivated to extol the film and write an afterthought. My rating for "Benjamin Button": 10/10.

Past recent films watched:
-Defiance - 7/10
-Taken - 8/10
-In Bruges - 7/10
-Body of Lies - 6/10
-A Few Good Men - 8/10
-Blindness - 8/10
-The Constant Gardener - 7/10
-Not Quite Hollywood - 7/10
-Choke - 6/10
-Babylon A.D. - 5/10
-Milk - 7/10
-Religulous - 9/10
-Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - 8/10
-Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desire d - 5/10
-Charlie Wilson's War - 7/10
-Che: Part One - 8/10

Demo Reel DVD Sneak-Peek

2008-12-30T21:50:00.004+08:00

It's one day away from Year 2009 and I've just got my 2008 Demo Reel DVD drafted, compiled, and authored in Adobe Encore, a spankingly-helpful software that I've just picked up in about a couple of days ago without much of a hitch. With Encore, I get to create conventional movie DVDs' contents, including the menu, the animated backgrounds, music, buttons, and everything. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the annoying "safe-margin" discipline (still existing in televisions even to date!) so it cropped off some pictures from my menu and my videos near the borders when played on my LCD TV, whereas the above screenshot's captured on my computer. Anyway I'll have to get back to re-tweaking everything to ensure no over-cropping, since this is the first draft at the moment.

I'm no expert at creating DVDs, but do post any comments or critisms about my work!

Demo Reel now available on DVD!!!!

2008-12-25T23:39:00.004+08:00

Available online via YouTube or on this blog, that is! The DVD casing is just for preview purposes, designed and created solely by me and I thought it turned out great, just the way I'd intented and drafted. I'll be printing several copies that'll be sent out (as packaged in the picture) when I try to apply to get into art schools in the near future; the front includes thumbnails of full works included in the DVD, and the back contains stuff like testimonials, achievements and all that usual crap that should convince the admission panels.
(Update: the DVD disc sticker has just been completed to suit the slip design)
(Update2: As suggested by Leon, I've adjusted the hue of the front "splatter" pattern to match the back cover, giving it a shiny, golden paint feel instead of the original white, platinum sheen. However it posted some problems for the other pictures on the cover since I couldn't really make the golden splashes on the thumbnails less opaque)
(Update3: Tweaked the "stains" on the thumbnails a bit more, and make the splatters look more golden-tinged overall. Effects' nice and balanced, but I might still stick with the first draft, since it's a tad detracting from the thumbnails)

So what do you think about my design(s)?
Do post your opinions, comments, or any sort of criticisms!

My very own new Demo Reel 2008!!!!

2008-12-20T23:33:00.004+08:00

Do post some comments, feedback or criticisms whatsoever!

Credits to Leon Sooi for showing me his own show reel, which inspired me to make mine. He's been a real great buddy all these years throughout our course in Hwa Chong and I'm glad to have collaborated with him working on several projects (which you can spot him in in the video).
Do visit his blog at http://leonsooi.blogspot.com

Randomness & Caricature

2008-12-19T19:43:00.004+08:00

At a glance...

2008-12-19T16:56:00.004+08:00

I have a variety of blogs and webpages like most other peeps, and I'll be categorizing what I'll be posting on each of them!

First off, this blog of mine serves not only as a journal/diary, but as a personal repository of sorts for both my videos and artworks that I've done. Since you can check out all of those I've posted so far on YouTube (around 10 Videos to scroll through) on the top of the right-hand column of this page, I'll be posting other conceptual, unrefined sketches or doodles that I've created. Do feel free to comment whatsoever on these upcoming works! (be it casually or critically)

M y De viantart page:

To post and exhibit illustrations, paintings and artworks for everyone to view! Works posted on my Devart page are final or mostly completed, and serves as an online portfolio of sorts for 2D artworks.

My Facebook page:
To stay in touch, update, and communicate with friends occasionally - and to share and keep up with ongoing events around my groups and communities!

My Friendster Page:
Same as Facebook, except I'm beginning to ditch it as it loads too damn slow and doesn't have a simple user-friendly interface. In fact, come to think of it, Friendster seems really outdated.

My YouTube Channels:
- HC Animation Studios: where Hwa Chong art students alike post their media work. Currently, only Leon Sooi and I have posted on it. Do check out the videos posted here!
- HCI Sensorium Vale: My formal Junior College CCA Sensorium Vale's archived page! I'm not longer a part of the club so I've stopped contributing to their page...

There isn't much to go around, cause I'm not a real experienced blogger or web user, plus I haven't got much sense of arranging the interface or too keen on blogging every of my daily events or personal discourse over the Internet...

FIRST of 18 years

2008-12-17T02:05:00.004+08:00

Well - I've been living for 18 years and 9 months and around 95% of my peers and friends around me have at least gotten around to blogging and writing on their so-called internet "journals" or "diaries" - and I haven't really got started. I've constantly distanced myself from the open and public platform of the "blogosphere" for worries that some of my personal writings might not be worthy of any sort of public viewing or "consumption"; I've for a long time kept diary entries to myself, as an intimate and personal form of disclosure, relieve, and perhaps carthasis, to reflect and gain an alternative perspective to myself and the world around me.

But times may have changed and everybody seems to be sucked into this hype of relishing in the full-fledged, say-all-you-want-as-you-please public domain, where everyone is but an author of and for themselves. Ever since I signed up for those Friendster, Facebook and Deviantart accounts, I myself have, too, become part of the online communities/tribes of individual web users, through both fascination and addiction, to the appeal, the fun and the interactivity of the web interface. In other words, I'm totally hooked to this emerging culture of publicizing yourself, your image and a tad of your personal life on the Internet. I have no idea whether this is a form of addiction, a disease/epidemic or a form of narcissistic fetish. I have no idea why all my friends and peers would let their inner-selves out on the Internet. Is it for hope that their entries, like this one I've written, would be shared with the rest of the "world", or at least with a fraction of their social circles? Or is it, in a manner of speaking, to literally "let it all out"? To vent their frustrations, their thoughts, their views of life and personal philosophies about existence?

I still have no idea what or why the heck is it that I've typed out all my line of thoughts on my embracement of the blogging practice. Perhaps it's its ease of type-writing and editing, or perhaps it's how Facebook, an integrate tool to connect and stay in touch with the people around me, have led me to actualize blogging and revealing just a bit "more" of myself to my friends and peers. It's really an ambivalent feeling for me, a dubious mix of wonderment (at the technology) and doubt, and an inclination towards withholding some of my verbal thoughts and rants. I'm an impressionable guy but more "reserved" in revealing certain parts of my being. Still, I would never fully comprehend how I should go about posting entries or let out my thoughts.

Perhaps the sole purpose of blogging for me shouldn't serve as a form of self-revelation or realization, like private, physical diaries have been doing for me. Perhaps it should be an avenue where I could share with the rest about my joys of life, my hobbies, interesting or maybe random events or news that people should catch up with. And if you happen to know me or read this post of mine, I'll be posting and sharing drawings, sketches, paintings, etc, not just out of sheer boredom, but also to just showcase how art is another great medium of expression for me.