Inkheart (2009)

My first movie of 2009. Almost had a heart attack right after I bought my ticket because I misplaced it. In my wallet. Boy, was my face red then.

*spoilers*

Brendan Fraser plays Mo, this guy who can bring fictional characters out of storybooks just by reading them out loud. Unfortunately, he didn't know that when that happens, someone from the real world goes into the storybook. And that was what happened to his wife.

Fast forward 12 years, and he's travelling around the world with his daughter, looking for 'Inkheart', the book he last read aloud from, so that he could read his wife back out. He finally finds the book (it's really rare), when he's betrayed by Dustfinger (from 'Inkheart') who was read out, but now wants in (Mo refuses to do so), to Capricorn, the villain from 'Inkheart'. Bear with me here for a bit, I know my explanation's complicating.

Capricorn's reader Darius has a bad stutter (the characters are read out of books incomplete), so he wants Mo for world domination and stuff, but not before he destroys Mo's copy of 'Inkheart'. Kicking himself, Dusty helps them (Mo, his daughter Meggie, his grandaunt Elinor, and Farid, a boy read out from something reminiscent of '1001 Arabian Nights') escape. Turns out, Mo didn't have to worry about reading his wife Resa out, 'cuz she already WAS out; she's working in the kitchens as a maid. She doesn't have a voice, though, 'cuz she's incomplete. Dusty knew about her, but didn't tell, 'cuz a huge-ass tornado (from 'The Wizard of Oz') was wreaking havoc.

So they head to Italy to find the author of Inkheart, hoping that he would have a copy of the book. He does, everyone meets the author, and poor Dusty finds out that he dies in the end of the book, saving his pet ferret Gwin. Dusty finally tells Mo that Resa is already out of the book and back at Cap's castle, Mo leaves Meggie with Fenoglio (the author), and with Dusty, heads back to Cap's lair.

Meggie finds out that she herself is also a Silvertongue, so Cap's henchmen rounds them up back to his castle. Cap wants her to read out The Shadow (from 'Inkheart'; part of his world domination gig) which is this large black shadow thing that goes around eating people and stuff. It's definitely not good.

So in the end, Meggie writes out her version of the events onto her forearm (it's quite thrilling, actually), got The Shadow to kick Cap's ass, and manages to send everyone but Dusty and Farid back into their respective storybooks (they were too late on the scene). Resa gets her voice back, and Mo reads Dusty back into Inkheart, where he's finally reunited with his wife. All is well, as Gwin was left in the real world, so it's most likely that Dusty probably won't die at the end of the book.

Even though it was kinda slow at the beginning, I liked 'Inkheart'. I especially enjoyed the part Paul Bettany was shirtless (I've to admit, that took me off-guard. Even though I'd seen The Da Vinci Code). But that aside, I love books, and I had a lot of fun doing the 'which character belongs to which book' routine (yes, I get entertained easily). The cinematography was lovely, Toto was so bloody fricken' adorable, and I enjoyed the storyline with its twists and stuffs (not being sarcastic here).

Now, to get the book xD

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Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

May the coming Moo year bring all of you health, wealth, and happiness!!

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Mamma Mia! (2008)

The storyline for Mamma Mia! is silly and kinda pointless, but I'm an ABBA fan, so I didn't mind so much ;)

[We missed like, the first 10 minutes, so the some bits (like the names) was Wiki-ed.]

*spoilers*

Sophie is getting married, and she finds out that she has three possible fathers, played by Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and Colin Firth. She invites them over for the wedding, unbeknownst to her mother, Meryl Streep, and then mayhem (and ABBA songs) begin to ensue. The movie ends with the whole father issue still unsolved, with Sophie gaining three fathers in the process. Like Three Men And A Baby.

I liked the movie; it was funny. I thought the three men should've gotten a bit more screen time ('cuz I find them adorable), but that's just me. I'm also a HUGE ABBA fan, since my parents force-fedwould blast it on the car radio whenever we visited the grandparents for the New Year. AND it was a six-hour drive, so I guess the subliminal messaging was pretty successful.

All in all, I loved the movie, but I guess I'm biased in that sense 'cuz I love ABBA.

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Update on random things.

Hello, peeples! Been not posting for the past two weeks 'cuzza the usual reasons, i.e. laziness, TV-ness, and BUSY-ness. Geddit? Like, BUSI-NESS... 'Cuz I have a BUSINESS degr–okay, never mind.

I just got my academic transcripts in the mail, like the totally finalised ones that say you've finished everything and don't owe any money to the uni. Which was simply great. And I officially have a Distinction average. Yay. But it'd be more awesome if it were a HIGH Distinction... That entails bragging rights.

In other GREAT news, the Watchmen dispute has been resolved! Meaning, the movie's gonna come out on March 5th (6th for them, 5th for us!) without any delay, MEANING(!!), I will be there on the first day, having chips and getting all goggle-eyed at the screen!! YES!~! Hopefully, I'll be able to get into the downstairs theatre. It's way cooler to watch movies in the larger theatre than the smaller ones.

So on Monday, I woke up early to watch the Golden Globes live ('cuz I'm crazy about entertainment that way), wondered what the hell were the Jonas Brothers doing at the Golden Globes, saw other insignificant teenagers get screen-time in a non-MTV-related awards ceremony, and noticed that a lot of nominees didn't show up. I read somewhere that 10 nominees sat out on Monday ceremony. Ten!

[By the way, props to Sacha Baron Cohen. I get that divorce is no laughing matter, but Salma Hayek seems to be taking it personally.]

Watched a bit of Moulin Rouge yesterday. Man, I miss that movie.

Saw Mamma Mia! this morning (at church, no less). Haha. Will follow-up with review in a bit, my room's kinda hot now.

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Six hours to 2009...

So I've made it through another year (kudos to moi). Happy time all around! Choccies and champagne for everyone!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

May this coming one be more awesome than the last!

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Update!

[Man, I've a lot of posts that have that title.]

As per above, here's an update of what I've been doing for the past two weeks or so, since I seemed to have gone on an unannounced hiatus:

1) Finally. Came. HOME!! Flew back on the 23rd (or 22nd, what-ev), hung out with people I haven't seen in a year or so, haven't moved from the couch since (except to go to the kitchen). Been watching cartoons and DVDs ever since.

2) Managed to persuade my mom to let me buy Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, since she loves The Da Vinci Code (book, not movie) as well. Now, to get my mom to let me buy Patrick Suskind's Perfume. And also Robert Ludlum's The Gemini Contenders.

3) Found out a few days ago that my weight ballooned (literally!) up to 65kg. Is cutting off food as of tomorrow.

I'll post up some much-delayed photos of the things I bought over the next few days, like my Tommy Hilfiger sunglassies (oh YES!! Hahaha, I'm so sampat) and my iPod Touch (oh YES AGAIN!!).

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Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly

The Tuesday before last, Ying Ying and I headed to see Madama Butterfly over at the State Theatre. It was raining like ass (I seem to have an affinity for that word these days), but it wasn't heavy when I left the office and took the tram down.

Bought the program for $15 (still cheaper than what I paid for Wicked and The Rocky Horror Show), and when we went in, we got this mini flyer that said that the lady playing Butterfly (or Cio-Cio San, the Japanese lady of the title) was replaced by another lady.

Now, I'm all for understudies getting their time in the light, but I didn't pay $90 to see the replacement.

Anyway, before the show started, this guy came out and told us that the actress advertised was down with a throat infection (or something), and that the current lady has played Butterfly a few years back.

[So at least they didn't give us the understudy.]

Our seats were awesome (in the balcony, of course). We could see the surtitles (I dunno what's with the 'sur'; I always thought it was 'sub') clearly, and the stage, and the orchestra (which is always cool in my book).

The show was lovely. The storyline's basically proof that American men are pigs. In a nutshell, it's about this military man, Pinkerton (whose name sounds British, by the way) marrying this very, very young and very beautiful Japanese girl, Butterfly (of the title) so that he can have nice time if he docks at port again (in other words, he married her just for the heck of it). He promises her that he will be back by spring; unfortunately, three years have gone by and there's no sight of him.

Up till then, she's still hopeful that he will come back, because she had his baby (oooo yes, he knocked her up. But he didn't know). As the show goes on, her hopes are dashed, and Pinkerton returns (with his new AMERICAN wife) to adopt Butterfly's child (because it's still kinda his) and take the boy back to America.

So in the end, she gives the boy up, and she commits suicide.

[It is all very emotional.]

See, kids? This is why we Asian girls should not have white boyfriends. They will get us pregnant and adopt our babies and then we'll be forced to commit suicide because we can't kill our nagging relatives ('cuzza that whole 'filial piety' crap).

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