Sinemayang

This movie is about magic. Every magic has 3 parts. The 1st part is called The Pledge. The 2nd Part is called the Turn. The Final part is called The Prestige. The final part is the title of the movie and you will know what it means when you finish this movie.

Plotwise, its about a tale of 2 rival illusionist (or magician).One blames the other for the death of his lover.So the story revolves around who is the best magician.

The Prestige was released on October 20, 2006. It received good reviews and strong box office results.

I watched Paradise Now and it is a movie that shows the minds of suicide bombers.

The movie was a Middle Eastern film titled 'Paradise Now'.Its a movie bout 2 young men Palestinian (Said & Khaled) who were somehow selected to be suicide bombers.Their purpose were to carry a bomb strap to their body and blow up Israel soldiers in Tel Aviv.

I was thinking why would anyone do that?The movie somehow made me realise that the condition in a person's life determines his ambitions, hope and purpose.In the movie, the guys were staying in Nablus, is a major city under Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.The place is really bad with its buildings full of holes, bad roads, ancient cars & just really bad infrastructure.

Details of Nablus is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nablus

I knew this because I can see the difference once these 2 guys cross the border and go to Israel.The buildings in Israel are modern, good roads with modern cars & rich people.It is a beautiful city.

The sentiments of being oppressed by Israelites dominate throughout the movie.The 2 guys believe that since they are oppressed, victimised and mal-treated by the Israel government, the only way to be heard is to be a suicide bomber.They believe killing Israel army helps the Palestinian cause.

The other strange thing is that when they shaved their beards and hair, they look like any Israelites.Maybe the mentality or paradigm is the problem here when it comes down to resolving Israel-Palestine conflict.

I really despise characters like Jamal who is the point man for the Palestinian NGO.He told these 2 guys that they were choosen to strike Tel Aviv.Why don't he straps a bomb and do the job himself? The whole thing is stupid but watching the place these guys are in, I sympathise with their unhappiness.

Watch it on DVD if you can.The website for the movie is here:
http://wip.warnerbros.com/paradisenow/

I watched this awesome movie the other day and I say that it is not for everyone.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is an off-Broadway musical theater play (1998) and film (2001) about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by a transsexual singer.

The text is by John Cameron Mitchell and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The story draws on the life of Jayne County, the original transgender rocker, the androgynous glam rock era of David Bowie (who produced the original run of the show), early punk rocker Iggy Pop, and the gender bender fashions of the early 1980s.

One thing I wonder is the good songwriting in the film. We in Malaysia do not have Broadway plays and I think we miss a lot of good quality Broadway musicals.

The plot revolves around Hedwig, a transsexual wannabe rock star, leader of the band called The Angry Inch.

Hedwig discover her love of rock music and forming her own band. She names it The Angry Inch, referring to her mutilated genitalia. Hedwig befriends the shy and misunderstood Christian teenager Tommy Speck with whom she shares some of the songs she has written. Soon after Hedwig gives him the new stage name "Tommy Gnosis", he leaves her and goes on to become a huge star using the songs Hedwig had written.

Hedwig believes that Tommy is her soulmate and that she cannot be whole without him. She feels driven to either reunite with him or destroy him.

The strong points for the movie are the songs.They are one of the best arranged songs I ever heard.

I know it is weird for me to write about DHS1 but I watched it out of curiousity.I was curious on why the show became such a huge hit on TV especially in the U S A.

So I managed to get the Season 1 TV shows and to be honest, it is a good show.

The show opens with the suicide of Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), who narrates the episodes from beyond the grave. Mary Alice's suicide leaves behind a mystery involving her husband Paul Young (Mark Moses), her son Zach (Cody Kasch), and a mysterious toy chest, which Paul digs out from underneath the family's pool. Ultimately, it is revealed to have contained the skeletal remains of a dead woman's body.

The story unravels through Mary Alice's four friends and neighbours. Each has her own storyline that ties into the theme of being a desperate housewife: accident-prone single mother Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) trying to find love; perfect housewife Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), mother of two problematic teenagers, who struggles to save her marriage; harried Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) tries to be super-mom to four children while longing to return to her life as a corporate executive; and materialistic, adulterous ex-runway model Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) who tries to keep her husband from finding out about her affair, and then finds out she's pregnant.

I enjoyed the show because it really gives a look at the issues faced by these 4 main characters.In fact, it made me aware (not understand, ok) the complexities of women who can be a sister,girlfriend,mother,daughter,widow or divorcee.The male roles are limited here and they were given supporting roles to bring out the complexities of these women.

Men should watch it and I think they can be better men after that.The misleading title 'Desperate' is actually about each individual character's depseration for a better married life,respect,confidentiality,honour and pride.It is not only about the 3 letter word.....

I watched this movie The Island the other day and it is really good. Why? Because after I watched it, it makes me think whether we are being brainwashed by our religious authority to do good in this world, so that we can go to heaven (in the movie, heaven is The Island).

It makes me wonder if we should be like Lincoln E6, this character is played by Ewan McGregor.Lincoln is inquisitive, adventurous, daring & a rebel.He and Jordan (played by the oh so gorgeous Scarlett Johanson) escaped and saw what they are made of.

The movie is said to be borrowed from various sources i.e. The Clonus Horror (1979), Matrix or even Plato.Who cares? We on this ASEAN part of the world may not know what those movies or sources are and as far as I am concern, Hollywood can rehash new movies with old plot to make it fresh.

The Tagline for the movie is "Have you ever had a dream, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

The basic plot is : In the future and if you are among the super rich, you can have clones made for spare parts and basically lengthen your life by about 70 years through this process. Now the clones live in an isolated environment deep underground in this super-structure where their lives are basically a huge gym with evil trainers. You don't know you are a clone, you believe you are a survivor of a plague ravaged earth and you are being maintained and cared for the eventual repopulation of the earth. All you know and want is to go to The Island to which you can only be chosen by a lottery system. The lucky few get to live topside on an island paradise.

This blog will be about the movies that I had watched and which I like.I will not review any bad ones.It is a total waste of my time.The reviews will be from my point of view and will not reflect the opinions of my family,friends,coleagues or anyone who knows me.

I like a good movie.A good movie is the one that has a good story to tell.It captures the audience from start to finish.It makes the audience think and discuss the movie after the first watch.A classic movie is the one that is discussed by its audience forever.

I like to know the art of a good movie-making.The people who are involved in the creative ideas in making a movie is the core.People such as but not limited to the screen writer, director, editor, producer & costume designers.Of course there are other important people to make a movie works. I will try to review one movie a week.