Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS

I enjoyed Transformers. I think it's the best Michael Bay film in a long time. For better or worse, Michael Bay has stamped his signature on the film, the slow-mo, the herky jerky editing, 360-degree panning cam (which I couldn't help but smile at, since it was parodied by HOT FUZZ as well, which I saw last week) the hyper-kinetic cinematography. Yeap, riddled with Bay-isms, film looks like a music video and a commercial, and ultimately, Transformers is really a Michael Bay film that happens to have... Transformers in it.

Many people I know, many blogs I've read have raved about the film. I'm not surprised, it's an entertaining popcorn film, a joyride for the masses. It's funny, it's action-packed, it's good eye-candy (besides the robots, MEGAN FOX provided the rest of the visual candy)

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (or DIE HARD 4.0 outside North America) is surprisingly awesome!!!!!

Hooked On You 每当变幻事

HOOKED ON YOU is the second Milkyway Image production I saw in two weeks (the first one was the entertaining EYE IN THE SKY). This Miriam Yeung - Eason Chan starrer is produced by Johnnie To and directed by Lau Wing-Cheong (who did the surprisingly good 2 BECOME 1 last year,the one about Miriam Yeung with breast cancer), the poster made the film look like a generic romantic comedy. But having seen the trailer before few weeks ago, I knew the film would be larger in scope, and definitely more serious.

Dark City: Death Row (TV Review)

DEATH ROW, the Tony Pietra-directed episode of the Dark City TV series is a prison drama/thriller set in a fictional Southeast Asian country where everyone speaks Malay, but peppered with a bit of English whenever someone ones to make a point.

Speedlinking: Dark City TV Series Controversy?

I plugged the local Malay-language TV series DARK CITY aired every Wednesday night in my previous post two days ago, but also mused whether Xeus, mastermind behind the anthology horror book of the same title had anything to do with it as she was approached months ago by a production company asking for a collaboration (of sorts), which she declined. She never mentioned anything about it since then.

I got the answer to my question yesterday. Xeus had nothing to do with this TV series at all, and was upset that the title was used without her knowledge. The following links are some reactions to this whole deal.

Check out the DARK CITY TV Series

Received an email from filmmaker Tony Pietra few days ago regarding a new local BM-language TV series called Dark City (no relation to THAT other movie), which he was involved in making with other indie filmmakers like Khai Bahar, Virginia Kennedy and Johan John.

Viewership's been low due to the lack of marketing and promotion. In order to ensure the survival of this show, I'll help increase some awareness of this series.

Friends of mine have always accused local indie filmmakers for being much too self-indulgent and inaccessible, making inaccessible arthouse films aimed more for festivals and awards than actual viewing. Stereotyping? Or truth?

For this series, many of these filmmakers will be trying to reach out for a wider audience. I'm not sure whether it'll be good or not, but I don't think it'll hurt to give them all a chance.

Caroline Lufkin Live In Kuala Lumpur

I angsted about the fact that I had to go to Caroline Lufkin's live performance at KLPac all by myself on my previous entry. Since then, I tried calling numerous friends, offering to even buy them their tickets for them as long as they can go with me, but my efforts were in vain.

(There were some who said yes at first, but circumstances forced them to say no moments later. It was VERY frustrating for me.)

Humanity smacked me in the face. Hard.

Don't worry, Wota gang, I brought my little sister along instead.