Combien tu m'aimes? (How Much Do You Love Me?) starring Monica Bellucci

I've long wanted to see this film. In fact, my first attempt to see 'Combien tu m'aimes?' (aka 'How Much Do You Love Me?') occurred way back on the 11th of April, during the French Film Festival held in Perth. I was tremendously excited, I dragged Justin with me to see it just hours before the Sigur Ros concert (the concert rocked, go read Justin and my reports here), but unfortunately, tickets were all sold out.

THE DA VINCI CODE film

Plot Outline (stolen from IMDB because I am lazy to come up with my own): A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years -- which could shake the foundations of Christianity.

My Thoughts: I am not a fan of the book. I think Dan Brown is a rather mediocre writer. I cannot help but chuckle when I see bloggers everywhere heaping praises upon the book as if it were some insanely awesome literary masterpiece that shook the very foundations of the world (all right, its impact and sales, and transformation into a genuine cultural phenomenon DID shook the very foundation of the world, but it definitely has nothing to do with the quality of the book), however, the book IS a page-turner, because the crazy theories Dan Brown conjured were pretty damned amusing/funny/interesting, but that was it. In terms of plot, The Da Vinci Code was not THAT different from its predecessor, Angels and Demons, which pretty much exposes Dan Brown's limitations as a writer.

Of course, by dissing Dan Brown, I'm risking the wrath of his millions and millions of fanatical fanatics, who had just thrown a campaign to support Dan Brown in his bid to win a Nobel Prize. Therefore, I shall stay silent, after all, like most of my film reviews, I tend to disregard the existence of the source material and judge the film based on its own merits.

My thoughts? The Da Vinci Code film is amazing.

X-Men: The Last Stand

Plot Outline (stolen from IMDB again cos' I really hate coming up with plot outlines): In X-Men: The Last Stand, the final chapter in the X-Men motion picture trilogy, a "cure" for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier (Stewart), who preaches tolerance, and Magneto (McKellen), who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test -- triggering the war to end all wars.

Mutants are on the verge of X-tinction, it seems, when US business Worthington Industries discovers a cure for mutation. This scientific breakthrough complicates and intensifies the battle - both physical and ideological - between Professor X's (Stewart) integration-friendly X-Men and the human-hating muties let by Magneto (McKellen)...

Singapore Airlines

Well, Swifty has failed massively in his efforts to update this blog. There hasn't been new material for what, two weeks or so? Sensing this dire situation, I am taking it upon myself to post whatever I damn well please. Instead of trying to form my thoughts into coherent-theme-based entries, I will post whatever comes to my mind. For example, drugs are awesome and all orthodox religious traditions are stupid.

Photos of Sunday's 'Vertical Distance' (My Short Film) Shoot.

Photos taken last Sunday (14th of June, 2006), when we were shooting a climatic scene for Vertical Distance, my short film. Yeah, been so busy that I can't even update this site myself, seriously.

20th Century Japanese Literature in Grade School Terms

20th Century Japanese Literature is often considered an impenetrable morass of nature poetry, vague description, and suicidal authors. In order to improve on this reputation and open these works up to a wider audience, we undertook an intensive program - and after months of study, we discovered that the most prominent authors (including two Nobel Prize winners) could best be understood in terms of a grade school class. This intensive research has infallibly determined that all of the writers mentioned below pretty much conform to the simplistic stereotypes I’ve reduced them to, both physically and in terms of their writing.

Vertical Distance short film shoot begins

Visual Thought Learning, An interesting method for directing actors

VTL, short for Visual Thought Learning, is a rehearsal tool devised by Annie Murtagh Monks, my teacher for Directing Actors class, a year and a half ago. And to me, it definitely changes the way I've always thought actors should be directed.

Basically, the whole point about VTL is to aid actors in remembering their lines, and allowing themselves to get more into character, immersing themselves completely into the scenario as presented to them in the screenplay. It isn't about memorizing your lines like a robot, but feeling and understanding why your characters are saying those lines in a particular scene. For VTL to work, the best method is to make sure the actors haven't read or memorized that particular scene.

To perform a VTL session, what you do is to have your actors sit closely to each other so that their knees will touch, and that they won't cross any part of their bodies. Then, sitting beside the two facing figures, you will read the script to them.

1) But actors are not supposed to try remembering the lines read to them.

2) They should imagine and picture the scene while it is being read to them.

3) The scene will be read to them by the director three times.

Clive Barker

Posting on behalf of Justin.

Mission Impossible 3

Appreciating films that have Tom Cruise in it has made me an object of ridicule during the last few years. How could a manly man like I cite Jerry Maguire as one of his all-time favourite romantic comedies (I listed it as one of the must-watch movies for Valentine's Day earlier this year)? How could a rational film student like I call Minority Report one of Spielberg's finest films? How could a person like me always feel excited whenever a Tom Cruise film is about to come out? Be it War of the Worlds (... yes, the ending sucked, but I wrote a fanboyish review right after I saw it last year, before it occurred to me that the film wasn't THAT good after all) or The Last Samurai (... yes, the ending sucked too), I would always be the one rushing to the theaters for their premiere.

American Dreamz

I have no idea how it started, but I think I am starting to fall in love with Mandy Moore.

Blood and Flowers: Purity of Action in The Sea of Fertility

Posting this for Justin.

Failure To Launch

I can never understand why I belong to the 1% of the entire male population in the world actually partial to romantic comedies and chick flicks. I'm a hopeless romantic, that's long established. After all, I AM a Piscean. But anyway, yes, I don't know what is it about romantic comedies that appeal to me. Fulfilling my fantasies? Hm. Perhaps it's caused by my years-long singledom. But anyway, what do I have to say about this sleeper hit starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker?

Scary Movie 4 is LOL-inducing sometimes

I have waited more than a week to review Scary Movie 4, because I felt that it's, er, pretty damned challenging to review a film like this. Seriously, when I look at the reviews in Rottentomatoes (39% in the Tomatometer thus far), I have to scoff at the negative reviews, were critics really expecting THIS to be a masterpiece? This isn't a film where you can give negative or positive reviews, the usual methods used to evaluate the merits of a film are useless with films like Scary Movie 4. Is it acted well? Is it well-scripted? Is it well-directed? How's the script like? Oh please, are you even looking for all these?

My very first attempts at video editing + Kahimi Karie

Back in July-August 2004, before I made my very first short film called A Boring Story. The first video I've ever put together was what is now known as a mashup video featuring snippets from the Japanese film, Casshern, and the Jude Law film, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and also music videos of Hiro, lead vocalist of the long-disbanded Japanese girl group, SPEED, object of my obsession for many of my teenage years. (whose latest video, as I've mentioned here, unfortunately sucked)

Cultural Uniqueness or Stereotypical Caricature?

"But as I think of the many myths, there is one that is very harmful, and that is the myth of countries. I mean, why should I think of myself as being an Argentine, and not a Chilean, and not an Uruguayan. I don't know really. All of those myths that we impose on ourselves - and they make for hatred, for war, for enmity - are very harmful. Well, I suppose in the long run, governments and countries will die out and we'll be just, well, cosmopolitans." - Jorge Luis Borges, 1980

Whilst attending a seminar organized by the Sin Chew Jit Poh Newspaper last year, where two acclaimed Malaysian filmmakers, James Lee and Tan Chui Mui, were featured as guests, one thing that left the deepest impression for me was when they started speaking about how some people, both the authorities and the filmmakers, have been trying too hard to produce a film with a 'distinct Malaysian feel', thus limiting the boundaries of creativity. After all, must all Malaysian films feature people speaking Manglish? (to proclaim proudly to people of other countries our sheer ineptitude with the English language?) Must all Malaysian films feature mamak stalls and coconut trees? Why, because Malaysia is all about mamak stalls and coconut trees? And that without these, Malaysian isn't Malaysia anymore?

Is height an issue in relationships?

Well, haven't been able to go online due to the fact that I can't reload my Internet quota (it's one of the biggest annoyances about staying on-campus, the lack of unlimited Internet connection). It's Easter weekend, and I assume everyone's probably celebrating by slaughtering bunnies for fun. Hah.

Anyway, I'm currently developing two screenplays for two short films that will be done by this all-Malaysian girls screen production group I've volunteered to help (oh, and Kenny Sia's cousin happened to be one of them, small world huh?). I've already written one called 'A Mother's Love', which deals with a man who is still dealing with the grief of losing his wife, and also trying to bond with his son, who seems oblivious to the death of his mother. And then, the man's asthmatic attackes are also growing increasingly violent. Since this IS written by me, the entire short film takes a pretty cruel twist towards the end which will leave people shaking their heads in disgust after losing their meals. Of course, it's a matter of whether it will be translated well onscreen.

I am now starting work on a second screenplay for the group called 'Vertical Distance', which I have to examine how important a role heights can play in a relationship. As in, will guys go out with gals taller than them? Will gals go out with guys shorter than them? If yes, why? If no, why?

Koda Kumi's 4-part music video miniseries: YOU, FEEL, LIES, SOMEDAY

While speaking about using music videos to inspire myself when planning the visual looks of a film, I posted Koda Kumi's 倖田來未 beautifully shot 'You' music video because I was amazed by it. But most of all, I was really intrigued by the fact that it unfolded like a short film (I'm pretty into plot-driven music videos, actually), and when I realized that there are continuations to the 'You' music video. I went off to look for them, and I finally did, and arranged them into sequence so that you peeps can the music videos, and get the whole damned thing.

L'Enfant (The Child) by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

L'Enfant (The Child), A French film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, is Cannes Film Festival 2005's Palm D'or Winner.

Tsotsi by Gavin Hood

Tsotsi, a South African film directed by Gavin Hood, is this year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign film.