Kings and Queen of Comedy Asia II, 22-23 October 2011

Just for two nights, some of the most funny stand up comedians gathered at Singapore's Esplanade to tickle our funny bones.

Hosted by Harith Iskandar, the comedy filled Esplanade up with laughter. There are a total of 3 Kings (Ronnie Chieng, Papa CJ and Paul Ogata), and our one and only lovely Queen, Kumar. Of the four of them, I like Kumar and Paul Ogata the most.

Ronnie's sense of humour is rather on the abusive side with a lot of "f**k you* and angry laced comments.

Kumar is still as humourous as ever. No one, regardless of our nationality, race or religion, is spared from her sharp tongue.

Papa CJ has almost a similar style of Ronnie's, plus the pride of an Indian. He is quite good in playing with his race and adding quirky clever retorts.

Paul Ogata is a tiny man with a great statue. He is truly the highlight of the comedy night. Love his sense of humour and jokes leading up to "that was the best part".

Not forgetting the host, who is equally funny in giving out his rendition of "Grenade" and advising all women to run away from a man who sings this song when he professes his love for you.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. I had a great evening attending this comedy. I love to go for more laughing sessions.

Je n'ai Rien Oublié (Small World)

The wealthy Senn family faces a threat as their holiday home caretaker's health deteriorates due to Alzheimer. Simone, whom recently married into the family, finds herself forming a strange friendship with Conrad. As she tries to help Conrad recover, she discovers the very secret which her grandmother-in-law Elvira is desperately trying to keep hidden.

Unbeknown to all, Elvira had murdered her husband and bring up her own son Thomas as the legal heir to the Senn's fortune. The only living person aware of this secret is none other than Conrad. With his health worsening, will he take this secret to the grave or unintentionally expose it?

I was a little irked by the fact that Thomas failed to remember his childhood. It is only upon seeing a childhood album when his memory was rekindled. I would imagine he is old enough to have some reminiscence of his younger days.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. The movie is a little intriguing and confusing as there are many flashes of scenes from different time being pieced together. You see part of Conrad's world when he is sober and times when he is stuck in a past memory.

Green Lantern

Now DC Comics is trying to get a piece of the movie-goers who have been watching too many Marvel characters on the big screen.

Green Lantern is an intergalactic cops organisation that serves as guardian of our universe. The story starts with Abin Sur being badly injured by Parallax, the embodiment of fear. Before Abin Sur passing, his ring chooses Hal Jordon, a human. The new successor now has a challenging task to ensure peace through the universe and live up to the expectation of other Green Lanterns.

While the movie is interesting, I seem to be remembering the wrong concept. The thing that stands out in my memory is Hal Jordan is an irresponsible person who somehow managed to save the world and become a better person. In my humble opinion, he is just an attention seeker.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. It is quite a decent movie to watch if you don't mind the simplistic story. I'm a little disappointed that Hal defeated Parallax so easily when all other lanterns sacrifice their lives and still failed the mission.

Super 8

Another overly-hyped movie simply because it is produced by Steven Spielberg. I watched this movie during my flight to Maldives.

Set in the 70s, Super 8 tells a story of a group of young children and their encounter with Alien. Yes, another alien conspiracy story. While filming a low-budget zombie movie, the kids get themselves caught in the mystery of a train crash and eventually discovering the imprisonment of an alien by the government.

The movie attempted to build up suspense to captivate viewers and played on their imaginative of what could-be, might-be and would-be. The plot is simplistic, story is segmented and ending boring.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds. I could have better used my time to watch other movies or sleep. Or perhaps my expectation was made higher.

Letters from Iwo Jima

I realised recently that I didn't write the review for this movie. So now it goes...

Letter from Iwo Jima depicts the story of Japanese Imperial soldiers defending Iwo Jima to keep the Americans out of Japan. The movie focuses on a soldier Saigo and General Kuribayashi, and shares their thoughts and feelings as the battle looms. Though the defense effort is futile, you can't help feeling sad for the soldiers.

While some portions of movie is a little slow pace, the development of the plot is still excellent. You see the loyalty and the honor of these men and you also pick up on the strength, humanity and horror of man's foolishness.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. After watching the movie, I'm quite keen to read the book which probably offers a richer background to the characters. This movie can be quite intense as war theme is general harder to digest. Yet lined with mild violence, it is more palatable than other war movies. Perhaps too soft for those wishing for adrenaline rush.

Thor

Chasing up on a number of movie reviews which I haven't had the time to work on till now.

Thor, the God of Thunder, legendary character from Norse mythology is the son of Odin. In the movie, the rash and impulsive Thor is banished from Asgard by his father for being too arrogant. Landing on Earth, he learns of humility and wins the battle against the Frost Giants and his brother, Loki.

I find that most of the fighting scenes glamorised the blond hunky Thor. Compared to other Marvels movies, Thor is meek and boring with predictable story line and a cast with bad acting.

Rating: 3 out of 5 fairy clouds. This movie is a waste of my time. Nothing exciting and not even the fighting scene. The handsome hunk reminds of me the pretty face in Transformer. No substance.