Random Places

First Impression: I didn’t even watch the trailer of this but I thought the premise was pretty funny. And I’ve never seen such a highly lauded (B+) Ben Stiller movie since Zoolander.

Afterthoughts: The movie did made me laugh about 70% of the time, the rest of it was probably due to the unfunny performance by Jack Black and Downey being too black for me to understand what the hell he’s actually saying. Loved the cameo by Tom Cruise as the ugly ass studio executive. And thank you Ben Stiller for not making this another one of your failed comedy (and while I was doing research on Stiller, he seems to have another Focker sequel lined up…please tell me that will go straight to video.) I would love to rent the movie again just to catch all of Downey’s hilarious performance.

First Impression: I have pretty much all of Neil Gaiman’s books, and Stardust is one of my favourite. When I heard it was going to be adapted into a movie I had my doubts. It grew when I saw the movie trailer, especially when I didn’t really find Charlie Cox that attractive or charming. And I guess I was a little pissed about what they did to Captain Shakespeare as well.

Afterthoughts: Honestly, I think this was one of the few movies I truly enjoyed last year (that is, watched last year…not came out). I’ve never been a fan of such epic fantasies like Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. Sure, the movie special effects were low budget, but so what, I thought the film was fairly faithful to the book itself. I think it did a good job of capturing that whimsical and magical, romantic and comedic story. And come to think of it, I think that’s why I like the TV show Pushing Daisies! Anyway, back to Stardust. You know, I didn’t think it was possible. When I saw the trailer, I thought Tristan’s flippy hair looked entirely stupid on Cox, but when Captain Shakespeare gave him that haircut, he literally turned from small town boy “cute” to a fucking man. I also thought Claire Danes was great in this as well; especially her attempt at British accent. And if you need any more reasons to rent this, consider this. After British pop band “Take That” watched a screening of Stardust, they loved it so much that they immediately wrote a song for it. I don’t think the song played in the theatrical release but when this played at the end of the DVD it was just perfect.

Here are two videos for the song. One for those who hasn’t watch the movie, and one for those who did, respectively.

Official music video

First Impression: Did I ever mentioned I love Leonardo DiCaprio? Well now you know! Again!

Afterthoughts: A typical Hollywood take on the corruption in diamond mining industry. As long as you don’t take everything as fact or believe for a second DiCaprio was speaking in a genuine African accent, then you’ll find it quite watchable. It’s got the suspense, the action, the thrill, the romance, Leonardo, what’s not to love?

First Impression: OK, I admit it, I love Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley and I KNOW sequels always suck ass, and still I had to watch it for my birthday. Call it self-inflicted torture if you will…

Afterthoughts: One of these days, I’ll re-watch the entire series back to back because what the fuck was that? I mean, not only did I have to sit at the very front of the theatre but also to be subjected to this huge pile of crap (which lasted 3 whole hours by the way)? The only reason I didn’t leave the theatre was because I paid for the movie ticket (and did I mention how much I loved Johnny and Keira) I was just confused about the entire story, not really remembering what the first two were about other than Sparrow and Lizzie’s illicit (but HOT) kiss. At the end, not only did they dismiss their onscreen chemistry but also brought back stupid Turner into the picture and even had a weird post-coital leg rub scene that I still don’t quite get. If you still want to watch this, be SURE to watch the other two first AND watch with subtitle on.

First Impression: I’d watched this when I was very little, but my dad, for some odd reason, thought I have never seen this before, so we watched it again.

Afterthoughts: This is one of the most classic animation films by Miyazaki (who wrote Spirited Away). I even have a Totoro alarm clock that plays the theme song, which is actually quite annoying in the morning so I don’t use it anymore. (It also takes 4 frakking AA batteries) If you liked Spirited Away, this is another movie you can’t miss. Disney should learn from Miyazaki on how to write a kid movie that don’t suck.