Gulliver's Travels

Many of us remember fondly of Gulliver's Travels to Lilliput, the island of the tiny people. But what if you just work in the mail room and you are scared to move outside this comfort zone?

Lemuel Gulliver is such a man. He has been working in the mail room for 10 years, focusing his spare time idolizing all the games and movies as he doesn't have a real life. He was challenged to date Darcy, a colleague whom he has a crush for 5 years.

Instead of bucking up his courage to declare his feelings, he ends up with assignment to the Bermuda to write a travelogue. Through the waves, storm and whirlpool in the Bermuda triangle, he shipwrecked onto Lilliput.

This version of Gulliver's Travels is filled with modern twists and cynicism and lacks a certain mystere and magic from the old book. The movie remains entertaining for as a little to-do item for the afternoon when you have nothing else planned.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. While I enjoyed the humour, I walked away from the movie feeling something is quite missing from it. I guess it is the Hollywood thing which all things end well that irks me this season.

The Social Network

The mere mention of "social network", you can't help but to think of Facebook. The powerful online portal has quietly invaded the first rung of the ladderin this genre. Quietly and slowly, we extended ourselves into the cyber world through the Facebook.

The Social Network tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg, who is the founder and creator of Facebook. In the course of creating this phenomenon site, the accidental billionaire meets with some major lawsuits. I must say it is a big learning curve for him, but essential in teaching him some valuable lessons in protecting his assets. Still, he is a rather talented (though geeky) young man.

Honestly, I am absolutely turned off by the trailer. I would have definitely skipped this movie if it is not due to friend's recommendation to check it out. The Facebook images and like/dislike are too much in your face. It is just bad, very bad marketing and very bad taste. Too cliche and unoriginal for such an interesting movie.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. The conversation is exciting. The plot is intriguing. The people are... kind of funny. The pace of development is good. Overall, it is quite a decent and entertaining movie to watch. Let's try to get beyond that stupid movie trailer.

Flowers

Hana... Flowers. I watched this movie with a friend over the public holiday.

Flowers tells a story of six different women, over three generation. It starts with Rin who opposes to the arranged marriage her father arranged for her. She has three daughters, Kaoru, Midori and Sato. Kaoru is a widow who loses her husband to an accident. Midori is a career-minded young lady who wants to change the world with her forward feminist thinking. Sato just wants to give her daughters the best even if it means forgoing her life.

Sato gives birth to Kana and Kei. Kana is a modern day woman with a mediocre career and deals with being a single mother. Her sister Kei is a simple young housewife who takes whatever life offers to her.

Each of the woman tries to be forward and test of boundary of societal role of woman in Japan. It is unfortunate that they are purely tested on the only known programming - to be a baby-making machine. I believe I expected too much. On the other hand, I like the efforts which has been put into creating the different period. The production crew paid a lot of attention to details in creating the costume, the props and background.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie could be improved. It gets a little draggy in parts of the story telling and for those not paying attention to the year, it can get quite confusing to follow through each story.

Life As We Know It

Another movie treat from a friend who wanted to cheer me up. I appreciate the kindness.

Life as we know it sucks most of the time. It is worse for Holly and Eric who are loggerheads for the longest time but bonded by their best friends who are married to each other. The bickering eventually ends when they adopts their best friends baby who have met with a fatal accident.

She is a selfish and self-centre woman who can only see her own needs and wishes. While he is boy who refuses to grow up or take so any adult's responsibility. Eventually the baby bonds them together, allowing them to see each other and fall in love. Yucky saccharin sweet love story.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds. If you likes to see love conquer all and how you can finally find the one true love in your life, then go watch this. Else you will suffer a diabetic consequence like me. Lovey-dovey mushy story like this gives me goosebumps! Yucks!

Reign of Assassins

I typically do not watch Chinese movies. On the rare occasion that I do, it is usually a movie treat from friend. This free treat got me Reign of Assassins.

Directed by John Woo, the movie tells a story of an assassin who falls in love with the son of man her gang had killed. Both had changed their faces through ancient cosmetic surgery and trying to relive their lives through another identity.

Nothing much to rave about. The storyline is predicted with an typically ending of living off la-la land happily ever after.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds.

Inception

In the imaginary sci-fi action world, your dreams and secrets could be taken away by an extractor, who enters your dreams and access the otherwise inaccessible hidden information. Similarly, he might be skilled enough to plant in idea into your sub-consciousness and alter your life path altogether.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), is a professional extractor, and team comprises Arthur (point man in charge of research), Earnes (forger who impersonates target), Ariadne (architect who designs the dreamscape) and Yusuf (the chemist for sleep induction), are employed to plant an idea into Robert Fischer who is the heir to an energy business empire. The man behind this plot is Saito, a rival energy company owner.

The target subject is first put to sleep and made to go into 2nd and 3rd stage of dream, that is dream within a dream. The idea of inception is to attached a basic positive emotion to that idea/concept. The subject will then assume the new idea as it slowly manifest from the subconsciousness.

While the storyline is interesting and special effect amazing, I can't help feeling bored in the middle of the movie. Too much time had been spent trying to impress the audience and buying time for the extractors.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie is still worth a shot for its ingenuity. The idea of programming the subconscious is not a new thing, and particularly to a psychic or energy worker. I find myself disappointed with the movie despite all the ra-ra, hypes and excitement about it. Maybe I went to the movie with too high an expectation.

Despicable Me (3D)

If you live in a quiet suburban neighbourhood, you would probably never imagine a supervillain as your neighbour. But you might still feel strange or weird about your neighbour, I hope.

Gru, the number one supervillain, lives in a tall dark house in the middle of a tranquil suburb. There lies a secret; beneath Gru's house is a laboratory where Dr. Nefario builds the most high-tech machinery and weapons and assisting Gru is an army of menacing minion. Oh ya, very menacing indeed! They are ready to charge, to steal and to fight next to the best supervillain.

Unfortunately, Gru is getting old and upsurges by a new villain, Vector, who has successfully stole the Pyramid of Giza. In order to restore his glory, Gru plans for the greatest heist of all, to steal the moon! Armed with a shrink ray, Gru intends to go into space, shrink the moon and bring it back to earth. Unfortunately again, while stealing the shrink ray from a top secret lab in Asia, Vector gets the upper hand and ends up taking the shrink ray right off Gru's hand.

There comes three cute little orphan girls whom Gru adopted as a plot to get inside of Vector's vault, where the shrink ray is kept. The girls turns Gru life upside and ends up changing his life altogether. He has to choose between being a father or the greatest supervillain who stole the moon. Which will he choose? Its a very tough choice for Gru indeed.

Rating: 5 out of 5 fairy clouds. This animation is worth watching for the storyline, the 3D effect and the minions! While the plot warms your heart and fills it with love, the subplots and jokes on the minions are simply entertaining. You are guarantee a good laugh from the movie. It is worth watching a second time round too. Here is a YouTube link to the my favorite minion, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo9-bcbLn1Q.

Iron Man 2

While Iron man thrills me with his adventure and Robert Downey Jr is an eye candy to my senses. I still feel "duh" after watching Iron Man 2.

A flamboyant billionaire and playboy, Tony Stark seems to be rather tame in this current movie. His invention lab and robots no longer make me ogle or sending endless "wow" and "ooh". While his life is in peril of being poison by the palladium which is vital element in the arc reactor to keep his heart beating, you can't help knowing that he will save himself and save the day.

Overall, Iron Man 2 lacks the excitement and doesn't get your adrenaline gushing. It is a pity to see a good cast of actors and avant garde concept of the future world which leaves your taste bud feeling rather bland.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. It is just an ok movie to watch. No biggie.

Clash of the Titans (2D)

I redeemed one of my free tickets (won from a game during my company's dinner & dance recently) to watch Clash of the Titans. While the stellar cast of actors are overpowering, it has somehow failed to match up to the glitter.

The 2010 version Clash of the Titans tells a pivoted story of Perseus and his quest to kill Hades. On his journey, he seeks the words of the Stygian Witches, obtains the head of Medusa, kills Acrisius and finally destroys the Kraken, saving Argos and Andromeda.

The mishmash of the movie offers mostly wrong information on the Greek mythologies, the wardrobe, sets and monsters did not heighten the enjoyment. It seems to lack grandiosity and mystic. So much said for the special effects.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. For those unfamiliar to Greek mythologies, the new Clash of the Titans is still rather entertaining.

City of Men

After I had watched City of God a few years back, I naturally assumed that City of Men could potentially be an interesting movie.

The movie tells the story of two best friends, Acerola and Laranjinha, before they turn 18. Laranjinha is determined to locate his father while his family discourages his search. Acerola, an orphan, supports Laranjinha and starts the search and to help to identify Laranjinha's father.

The friendship suffers a huge break when Acerola discovers that he has been an orphan because Laranjinha's father had killed his father while trying to rob a restaurant. Together with a war between the rival drug lords for a hold of the hill, their friendship becomes compromised.

Rating: 2 out of 5 fairy clouds. While the movie makes reference to their childhood and strong bonding, I find it hard to totally comprehend with dire exasperation of people living in the slum. You feel pitiful and sympathize with their hardship, hopelessness and chaos living in such an environment. You leave the cinema feeling sad instead of inspire by their perseverance to keep trying for a better life. It is a real shame.

My Lovely Bones

I watched My Lovely Bones after finishing up on an event over the weekend in March. The movie has a very strange poetic rhythm and captivating charm. You either love it or hate it, I don't think there is much of an in-between.

Her name is Salmon, like a fish. First name, Susie. She is a 14 year old and her life is only just beginning when it is taken away from her. Taking a short cut through the corn field, Susie meets a neighbour, Mr Harvey, who coaxes her to see an underground den which he has built for the children. From that fateful day onwards, Susie watches her family and her killer from an in-between world.

She watches how her death tormented her family and she desires vengeance from the man who has taken away all her hopes and her future. Slowly over the years, her family starts to heal and her killer has been discovered. Together with the other young victims, Susie is able to finally move on to heaven and let go of her final wish.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie has done rather well to bring across the emotional pain, the horror of death and all the things which were considered unbelievable in the 1970s where people trusted each other, especially neighbours. Quite a lot of depth in the seemingly simple and straightforward movie.