Ip Man and Ip Man 2

I have finally (yes, finally) done an Ip Man marathon. Wee...! I watched Ip Man and Ip Man 2.

Ip Man tells the story of the martial master himself, Ip Man, during his days in Foshan. The young and wealthy Ip Man is highly regarded by local martial masters but he remains humble and low profile. During the Japanese Occupation, a Japanese General challenges Ip Man to a public duel, which results in his subsequent escape to Hong Kong.

Ip Man 2 continues with the life story of Ip Man. He starts a school to teach Wing Chun and unintentionally incurs the wrath of the local masters in Hong Kong. His unassuming manner and perseverance eventually won him support from local master and the Chinese community.

Rating: 4 out of 5 fairy clouds. The martial art is quite the captivating highlight of both movies. The movies certainly will invigorate and inspire you to learn the art. But the Bruce Lee ending in Ip Man 2 is rather cheesy for me.

The Tourist

After a week of working hard, I decided to pamper myself with a movie this afternoon. I have picked The Tourist for this weekend.

Alexander Pearce is a wanted man in 14 countries and also the lover of Elise Ward. For 2 years, Elise leads a routine lifestyle until one day, she receives a letter from Alexander to board the train to Venice, Italy.

On the train, she meets an American tourist, Frank Tupelo. As part of the plan to mislead the Interpol and Scotland yard officers who are hot on her trail, she deliberately includes Frank on her journey, only to discover at the end that Frank is Alexander.

The thriller did not offer me much thrill, nor could I sense any spark between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. While she still looks stunning, I can't help noticing that she seems to have aged quite a lot.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 fairy clouds. Visually speaking, the movie has a beautiful backdrop of Venice. Beyond that, storyline gets more predictable as you proceed into the movie. It's a real pity the on screen chemistry between the two leads aren't there.

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.