and so this afternoon, thanks to nuffnang, we caught a preview to the narnian sequel: prince caspian.

it was good and bad all at the same time. first off, draggy. understood they were following pretty closely to the book but there were some bits that could have been sped up just that teensy bit. senseless boring dialogue (i know i know they were necessary but still) and scenes that just made you go eh? wtf?

now instead of edmund being the prat, peter took the cake. male ego and pride getting in the way of logical rationalizing. is it truly for narnia or is it to assuage that swelling ego of yours? either way, the plan failed and it took edmund to break the ice (oh a pun!) and shake you from making what could have been your gravest mistake. at least lucy wasn't as irritating either and the boyfriend felt that they could have gotten someone else to play susan. i thought she was ok, not as if they could change talents at the very last minute and cite plastic surgery or accelerated puberty.

everything stuck t the book plot-wise. prince caspian had a rather strong and weird accent which strikes me as italian. but i doubt he is since his actual name sounds otherwise. i favoured edmund throughout the whole show. that boy really grew up.

t'was quite hilarious in some bits. really random punchlines and of course the infamous 'lucy at the other end of the bridge and wielding only a small dagger with aslan by her side'. then there's the lion himself and the tree-saving ending that was a bit too much like lord of the rings.

thank god i didn't pay a cent to catch it in the theaters. the kids in the cinema were surprisingly well-behaved, much like when we caught horton hears a who. other than that, personally, nothing fantastic.

catch it during the weekday. or better yet, wait for it to come out on dvd or something and rent it. because the one thing memorable at the end of the whole show was... that they had a pretty neat soundtrack and that our butts ached from sitting way too long.

and it was only 2 and 1/2 hours too. yikes.

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Just got back from catching Untraceable. The one thing that struck me so hard and deep was just how twisted the world is. It may be fiction but you've been given glances of reality. There's no telling what might happen and how it might happen; the human mind can be a wonderful and yet a dangerous thing.

All those people who tuned in, denying that they're accessory to murder. Didn't the whole term that the more people watch, the faster he'll die trigger something in their rational consciousness? Sad to say that I do know of some people who actually enjoy watching such gruesome things and actually find it entertaining, exhilarating even. What kind of perverse satisfaction do you get from watching sick, twisted and mutilated things happening to other people? What if it were to happen to you? We're all so caught up in our own little world that we fail to realize that there are things on the outside, hell even the borders, that are far more bigger and malicious.

In this scenario, who do we blame? The environment? The parents? The child themself? Or everyone else, whose attention and fascination with what's happening serves as some sick moral, ego pumper that only drives the individual to commit more of these acts and dare I say, be bolder in their next step?

Just the thousand and one possibilities. Just the simple thought. A parent's worry isn't paranoia. Maybe a little at times, but there's truth but most importantly, love beneath it all. I don't know if I should be thankful that the killer wasn't so merciless as to want to ensnare the child.

You could argue, an eye for an eye. Revenge to clear a name. But in such a drastic way? It's not as if you engaged the person in mutual honest combat. Like how the English/French did, slapping the other with a glove to indicate a battle of pride and sorts. In this case, he was catching them unawares. Exploiting their weaknesses. You don't even give them a chance to fight and instead, you turn them into fodder for entertainment.

I don't know which sickens me more. The motives and actions of the killer or the blatant ignorance and masochism of the public.

You watch the show and then you decide.

Labels: movie review, untraceable

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When we bought the tickets, and his humour I didn't think Semi-Pro would have been interesting. I don't know Will Ferrel that well. The only other movie starring him that I did catch was Blades of Glory, even so, I was home and nodding off to sleep. But back to Semi-Pro.

It's one of your typical underdog-wins-at-the-end feel-good kinda show. Hello Hollywood, you really are running out of ideas aren't you? Basically put it's about a has-been singer who had a one-hit wonder and used the money to buy a basketball team in his hometown. They suck, save for one or two players but it's more about performance and engaging the crowd and entertainment that matters to them. Or the coach who is the forward and said has-been (Will Ferrel).

Cue in some problem or rather and they need to up their game in order to qualify or be part of the NBA team. Coach trades in a washing machine (this was hilarious though sad, I mean imagine soccer players are traded for a HUGE sum of money and this guy gets traded for a washing machine) for an ex-player of the Celtics and he comes in and everyone thinks he's a hotshot but he isn't and he has his own angsty issues yaddayaddayadda.

But he knows how to play the game and eventually ends up coaching the team. They end up pretty decent. Actually having proper strategies and tactics to win the game. I shan't spoil everything else, it isn't hard since the plot is just so damn predictable. It's a good barrel of laughs when you need something to perk you up after a rather tedious day at work. Acting was alright. I'm no fan of the 70s but the atmosphere was pretty authentic. I just can't get over the weird hairstyles - mullets, afros, really curly do's. Yeah.

You can blow $8 bucks on it or you can wait for it to come out on DVD. Not a must-watch. And speaking of paying for tickets; Golden Village has revised their pricing scheme. Bloody hell, it's all superduper expensive. As if inflation rates and the 7% GST wasn't enough. How does the government expect us to survive and be able to live well when they already dock 20% of our pay to CPF, raise transport fares, GST to 7% and everything else. With all the talk about the GST offset and shit, everyone's saying that once they give money to us (one of the sad perks of being above 21), they're going to find a way to take it back.

:(

In other news, how many of us are actually quite superstitious? Was reading some interesting articles in the local forums and came across one that fit the superstitious bill. About a boy in Malaysia whose shadow was pierced through when he was watching some construction guys doing their job. He fell sick and everyone found out (with the help of a jengjengjeng priest) that his spirit was trapped. I'm not sure if this is scientifically true. I'll ask the mother, she's the expert on spiritual and religious stuff. Most things may not scientifically make sense but the other world really does exist. Some day I'll talk about my close encounters of the intangible kind.

It's the end of the week. I can't believe it. Time flies so fast and so slow all at the same time. The first week of April ended, without much fuss for April Fool's (didn't get tricked or jacked at all, too old for it?) and I'll be trying to cruise the next few weeks till payday.

Labels: movie review, stories

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