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.