Waterboys

I saw this cute hilarious Japanese movie, Waterboys, probably about 5 years ago. Recently I stumbled upon it online while cross-referencing some materials for movie. I decided to watch it again.

Waterboys tells of a story of friendship and never-say-die attitude amongst 5 teenage boys. Suzuki aspires to be a competitive swimmers but he never quite make the par. In fact his school teacher wishes that he could just give up trying.

One day a new swimming coach arrives at the boy's school. She is a young, sweet and pretty female teacher. Many boys decided to pick up swimming only to realise that she only teaches synchronised swimming! All the boys immediate quit swimming, leaving behind Suzuki and 4 other losers Sato, Satome, Ohta and Kanazawa. The team immediately falls apart when their swimming teacher ditches them to go on her maternity leave.

The adventure of the boys starts here. The team falls apart, with everyone going separate ways. Later they re-form on their own accord and seek help from a dolphin trainer who is only interested to make sure of them to clean the aquarium instead of actually coaching them. Through the thick and thin, the boys synchronise their loyalty to one another, become real friends to each other and a real team.

It is still a hilarious and touching movie to watch after all these years. It is quite a novelty to see boys doing synchronised swimming when this form of sport is still predominately female. I had a good laugh watching this movie.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. Gotta to watch this!

Taken

Instead of being taken in by Taken, I am taken aback by the thin and unimaginative plot. The solid acting to Liam Neeson did nothing to save the movie. Neither could Luc Besson's signature car catch scene in the streets of Paris. Its another one of those microwave popcorn movies with no substance.

Brian (played by Liam Neeson) retires as a CIA agent so that he can stay close to his daughter, Kim. Relationship with Kim is shaky as his ex-wife Lenore unwelcomes Brian and her step-father Stuart upsurges him by buying into the little girl's heart with gifts which Brian cannot afford.

Kim goes to Paris with Amanda after getting Brian's approval. The girls are immediately targeted by the sex slave syndicate and kidnapped upon arrival. Here, Liam delivers the famous Daddy Brian's line "I don't know who you are. But if you don't let my daughter go, I will find you and I will kill you" and this marks the start of the thriller suspense which the movie promises to deliver.

Liam is charming as an actor and he delivers great punches and chops in fighting the villains. At the end of the movie, he saves his daughter, brings her home and fulfills her dream of being a singer. Very cliche and boring ending. It has no depth and hardly showing any improvement to the father-daughter relationship despite the life-changing mis-adventure.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. The overall story plot, development and delivery is weak, extremely weak. It is only worth watching because of Liam Neeson. Beyond that, the movie is a flop. Watch it if you have nothing else to do.

Tribute to MJ

The world has just lost a star. Michael Jackson suffered from a cardiac arrest and departed the world on 25 June 2009.

The icon has indeed change the world with his famous moonwalking dance. I'm not sure if the world is a better place, but if we take a look at the man in the mirror, we might catch a glimpse of a man who has gone too soon. Keep the faith Michael, you are not alone. Many of us, black or white, will remember the time and continue to rock with you whenever and wherever your music is played. Your songs shall continue to heal the world and our hearts.

A man who is afraid to grow up. A man who has grown up unwillingly against his desire. Michael Jackson shall remain the King of Pop to us. He is one of the 3 artists whom my mind has registered at an impressionable age of 5. My salute to the Man who has gone through a lot in life. He shall always be remembered.

Changeling

Changeling is an inspirational movie on a woman's perseverance and strength. Based on a true events of Christine Collins, a mother who had lost her son, Walter Collins.

Mrs Collins lost her son Walter in 1928. Five month after she reported a missing child, the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) found a boy who matched the description of her missing son. They united the mother and son, trying to get some good publicity. When the mother and son first met, Mrs Collins insisted that the boy wasn't her son but was told to give it a few days on a trial basis by Caption Jones.

She made several attempts to explain to Captain Jones that the boy is an impostor and pleaded with the police officer to continue with their search for her missing boy. Instead of the continued search for her missing boy, the corrupted LAPD made official announcements and reports to denounce Mrs Collins, making her look like a derelict mother who was shirking from her responsibility.

Mrs Collins was lucky to have gotten the support of a Reverend Gustav Briegleb, a Presbyterian minister and pioneer radio evangelist, who was on a noble vendetta exposing the corrupted LAPD. Unable to accept the fact that the police refused to admit their mistake, she collected evidence and letters of from school teachers and medical doctors to make her claim that the boy was not her son.

Unable to handle more bad publicity, the corrupted Captain Jones made an incarceration and had Mrs Collins locked up in the local asylum on Code 12 before she is due to release her statement via the Reverend's radio network. She discovered many other patients who was locked up on code 12, and found that they had one thing in common; they had offended someone in the police force. This incident opened another can of worms which the LAPD is trying to hide.

In the meantime, a major discovery was made on a Wineville ranch, which revealed the gruesome abuse and murder of 20 young boys in the California region. Walter Collins was one of the boy who had been identified to have been taken captive and might have been killed. Court cases were pursued with the LAPD and Winewile ranch murder. But Mrs Collins never found her son.

Changeling highlighted the level of corruption during that period of time and how the society has treated women badly, putting them down as crazy, all emotional and unable to think with their brains. I'm glad to see by Mrs Collins standing up against the odds. It is not easy especially during her era. I salute her for her strength, conviction and will power. Well done!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. Changeling is an amazing story. The media has done injustice to this movie on simplifying the storyline to just a woman and her lost son. The movie highlighted a serious element which will make you ponder over obligation vs face value. Despite the gloom and desperation, you see still hope. Not a movie for the simpleton but a great one for those who love to be challenged.

Monsters vs Aliens

I did a movie marathon today with two movies, the first is Terminator Salvation and second is Monsters vs Aliens.

The cartoon is bland with no storyline, no depth, and no originality at all! There is Susan who gets hit by a meteor on her wedding day and becomes a 50 feet tall giant. During her captivity in a secret military "prison", she befriends BOB, a brainless blue gelatin blob, Link, the missing link amphibian from the ice age, Dr Cockroach, a mad scientist and Insectasaurus, a giant grub.

The adventure starts with Gallaxhar who is on a mission to hunt down quantonium, which happens to have been absorbed by Susan. And henceforth the rest of the plots pretty much unveil itself right there. Nothing new, nothing hard for the brain to understand and I fell asleep right in the middle of the movie.

Rating: 2 out of 5 fairy clouds. For young kids this movie is probably great. It ain't great and is much too simple. I guess I'm a fan of Pixar animation. At the very least, there is more depth and originality then such trashy cartoon. Not worth the time or money at all.

Terminator Salvation

The name John Conor is synomynous to Terminator as the latter is synomynous to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course, there is no way a Terminator movie can be a true Terminator movie without Arnie. Yet in Terminator Salvation, Arnie has a cameo appearance as the future T-800 cyborg, which adds a dash of nostalgia to the classic terminator movie.

This is the 21st century. The civilisation which we have come to know is almost decimated after the faithful judgement day. Skynet is now in control of the world. There are many Skynet machines around the cities, eradicating the human race.

John Conor leads a resistance army to attack one of Skynet underground base and discovers an unusual sight. There are human prisoners. Conor firmly believes in the evolution of the machines, having seen them in his younger days. Skynet has made a big technological advancement from the current T-600 to the new human cyborg T-800.

The plot in Terminator keeps me intrigued and hungry to see what is next. At the back of my mind, I have known how difficult it has been to get rid of one cyborg. I find myself (time and again, throughout this movie), grabbing my seat, wanting to see the resistance win over the machines. Wondering if Conor can really destroy Skynet, fulfilling the prophecy to saving the human race?

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie is fantastic, thrilling, unpredictable and mind-blowing. It has all the elements of a great action-packed movie with a well-written storyline. Go watch it now. Do not miss out on this excellent movie.