Thursday, January 10, 2008
25 December 2007
Over the weekend, i Watched “National Treasure 2” & “Enchanted” with my cousins, “The Kingdom” with my family. I wanted to watch “I Am Legend” but since no one is willing to accompany me, =( i in the end watched National Treasure with the majority. Anywayz, those are unimportant info. I shall watch “I Am Legend” soon.
Luckily, “National Treasure 2” is worth the time and money paid. It’s a great movie. Full of adventures, clue solving and a pinch of humor. Thanks to the character “Riley” whom i find most entertaining. I actually pity Riley because he is a great guy but overshadowed by Ben (Nicholas Cage). Well, talk about unfair. Haha.Diane Kruger, who plays – forgot her name – doesn’t look so pretty in this movie... OK i know i’m in no position to judge since i look like a peacock’s backside myself, but really, i tot she’s stunningly beautiful before, but this movie just make her look normal. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand looks gorgeous in “The Golden Compass” though the same positive comments can’t be applied to the movie. Well, i mean, i wouldn’t say that it’s a bad movie, it’s just that you will have to read the book to fully enjoy “The Golden Compass”. It’s like Harry Potter, but less entertaining of course. If you don’t read the book, you won’t fully get the story, since the directors would have altered some parts of the story. I think, “The Golden Compass” is a bit difficult to understand when watching the first time. ALL MY FRIENDS and me don’t fully get the story by the end of the movie. We left our seats feeling clueless and lost. It’s like 2 hours of a whole lot of questions unresolved. In the end, i have no idea what Nicole Kidman is up to really. Is she good or evil? Yeah, i know she wants to separate the children with their Daemons (an animal, in which part of the human’s soul is in – don’t ask me why – it’s their world) because of ”Dust”...and by the way, i still have no idea what “Dust” is really. Of course it’s not the normal dust i have in my room, that’s for sure. To answer all these questions, we have to watch the 2nd movie and, seriously, will the 2nd movie lead to more questions? WAH! Then how in the world would i remember all those unresolved questions throughout a few years? Harry Potter is better in a way because its storyline is more captivating and they focus on one mystery in each sequel. So, though all the movies are linked, each individual movie makes sense at the end as well. And if you didn’t watch the first movie, you would understand the second one as well. “Golden Compass” on the other hand, tries maybe wants to use it’s “not-like-ending” ending to attract people to watch the next instalment, you know, like to make them wonder and crave for the answers and so they will watch the next movie. Well seriously, maybe it works for other people, but definitely not for me. But back to Harry Potter movies, i am not saying that they are perfect either. If you read the books, you’ll find the books disappointing too. Sigh. Especially the thrid movie, which is my favourite. And they ruin the movie by ALTERING almost 40% of the book. And it’s not thorough enough. Sigh. But then again, what can they do since there’s a time limit right. But the third movie (The Prisoner of Azkaban), can definitely be improved, even with the running time restrictions. The fourth Harry Potter movie (The Goblet of Fire),is better, b’cuz it’s a long book that one, and the director managed to stay true to most parts of the book, though i was sad that they didn’t show much of the Quiddich World Cup match and the front part was really short and not well explained. It’s clear that they don’t have enough time. Most of my friends who did not read the book have no idea what the front part is about. But thanks to me (hahah), hey i explained what i remember to them and that just lightens up their confused faces. And the latest one “Order of Phoenix” is also a sigh of relief since the director also was faithful to the real storyline. So, let’s just say, THE THIRD MOVIE SUCKS!! I mean, then i found out that the director do not read Harry Potter books. He just read it when he got the job. No wonder! He doesn’t know the essence of the story. Ok back to “The Golden Compass”. I shall give it another chance and watch the second movie – just to see whether my puzzles could be resolved. If it leads me to more confusion... i’m so not gonna watch the third one.
Anywayz, before we got in the Golden Compass...hehe, we were talking about “National Treasure 2”. One advice – WATCH IT! It’s funny and exciting and if you watch it in Ipoh, and if you are as short as me, you can buy kid’s ticket (yea, i bought a the ticket at the kid’s price, talk about brilliance and using your weakness (shortness) to generate benefits hehehe) and that means you only pay RM 5 for this wonderful 2 and ½ hour movie. Money well spent! Of course if you watch in KL then it would cost you RM 8 if you are a student and it would cost you NOTHING if you go out with your boyfriend (since he will be paying rite?? Muahaha) Before we deviate further to other stuff, yea, let’s just say i really admire the brains behind “The National Treasure 2” – i mean how in the world can someone think of such a storyline. How one clue leads to another, and how they link it with the real history. That is, to me, brilliant, or like Rupert Grint always say in Harry Potter – WICKED!!~ hehe
Moving on. Let’s talk about “Enchanted”. I was really excited to watch it when i saw its trailer months ago. It seems really different from those Disney cartoons we see when we were young. But after watching it, besides the very HOT and HANDSOMe and CHARMING James Marsden, i find nothing really special with this movie. Well, i should have known that i shouldn’t expect much from this fairy tales, i mean, fairy tales are suppose to be simple, rite? They are supposed to get us into this dreamy mood of how we can live happily ever after. I am an idealist but then, i stop believing in fairy tales. Well, i guess i’m too grown up to still think like that. Movies which are predictable, like “Enchanted” seems really boring. I mean, I KNOW that she’s gonna eat the apple, I KNOW she needs her true love’s kiss in order to wake up, I KNOW that the true love is not James Marsden who plays Prince Edward, but rather Patrick Dempsey (i have no idea whether the spelling is right). I KNOW there’s gonna be a happy ever after ending. So we know so many things, you might be wondering why do we still watch it? Of course this type of movies really helps release some stress and sometimes it’s quite fun to idealize a perfect fantasy-like world, though after 1 and ½ hours, reality sinks in again. And i also really like the song “True Love’s Kiss” haha. It’s lame i know but i just kinda love. It had been stuck on my brains for a few days.
Then there’s “The Kingdom”! I wanted to watch this movie so bad and finally i had a chance to watch it. The DVD i bought was nice, but there wasn’t any subtitles for the Iraqis. I don’t understand a word they are saying and since we don’t know what they are saying, we don;t understand the movie. Fortunately my sis watched it in the cinema and remembers waht they are saying. If not, the movie would be half meaningless. I guess i’m gonna watch it again, this time, from my friend’s downloaded version.
The best movie i’ve watched this past few weeks, would be “Hotel Rwanda”. Yes it’is not this year’s movie. I’ve just watched it last 2 weeks, for my assignment and I LOVE IT! I almost cried watching it, but because my friends were there, i hold back my tears. As we all know, Rwanda is known for the “Rwanda Genocide” which happened in 1994. Well this movie is basically about a real man, Paul (Rausbinga or something – sorry with all due respect but it’s a very complicated name sorry) who save around 2000 Africans from the Belgian hotel in which they seek refuge in. Paul is the manager of the hotel and he, is really noble as he, himself a Hutu has helped safe the Tutsis as well. I mean, in Rwanda, they are two ethnic groups – Hutu and Tutsis – and in the movie, the Hutus are trying to wipe out all the Tutsis, whom they call cockroaches. So basically, if you are a Tutsi, that’s the end for you. Of course, if you are a Hutu then don’t assume that you’ll be safe, because if you bump into a Tutsi, then that’s the END for you. Let’s just say that they kill each other. But the thing is, they are the same. They look the same, and we can’t even tell the difference. That’s why there were parts in the movie in which i was lost because i can’t differentiate who is killing who. Now the lead actor, Paul is a Hutu and his wife, a Tutsi. So we see how Paul tried to protect his family and his wife’s family and almost everyone in the hotel. I must say, i really really admire this man. He has contacts with powerful people in Belgian, and that’s basically what got him out of Rwanda at that time. When the UN gave up on Rwanda, (because obviously, there are no benefits in helping Rwanda) Paul called his superior in Belgian and he managed to get the UN to send troops to save the people in the hotel. Well this movie obviously criticize the UN and US of course on their selfishness. I really love that part where Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a journalist tells Paul, “...they’ll say Oh God, and then go finish their dinner..." That, i think perfectly describe the people of the world. It applies to us too, not just the Americans. I mean, when we watch TV or the news or read in the papers about these africans, what do we do? We just feel sorry for them and then we move on with life. We totally forget about them the next day. I personally am that way too. And now, i guess maybe, we should be thinking of what we can do to help them. Issues like ethnic cleansing is still happening, especially in Africa. And to know that they are children and people there going through hell just once again reminds me of how lucky i am. And everytime i see these people, i just feel like crying, though like i say, i didn’t cry in front of my friends haha. Anywayz, just watch this show, because it will definitely open up your eyes and heart to the situation in Rwanda. This movie, bare in mind, is based on a true story, so it makes the feeling so much more surreal when you know it has actually happened.
Another show, i think which also perfectly showcase the situation in Africa is “Blood Diamond”, but the setting for this movie is in Sierra Leone. When watching this movie, I CRIED LIKE HELL cuz i watched it alone. I totally pity the child who was separated with his family and has to become a child soldier, and learn how to kill. He is trained bythe enemy to fight his own father.
Well i guess that’s it for now. More soon ya!
Love tammy
With Lots of Love & Hugs & Kisses & Chris Richardson's scent from BabyT ;
