The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

I had no idea what this movie was about when I was dragged into it by my bunch of closer classmates. I guess I trust their taste and all. However, what was the clincher was that the movie was created in part by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto who's the character designer in my favourite anime series ever, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is, well, self explanatory. It's about a girl who can leap through time! After finding herself saved from a fatal bicycle accident by a time leap, she slowly discovers how she could make use of it to get what she wants, although with sometimes dire consequences.

While it contains sci-fi elements and a fair dose of the typical time travel themes (boy do we get so sick of them), the film is largely a romantic comedy.

Funny most of the way but tragic at times, it explores the sweetness and innocence of teen love.

Really, there's hardly any sci-fi so the time travel thing shouldn't turn the female audience off.

While the feel-good factor of the film works out really well, it's also quite a forgettable one. Sorta like Meet The Robinsons, only Japanese.

Holes in the Wall

After the marathon 11pm session on Monday, I decided to give Tuesday a miss. WTF I'm already sleep-deprived enough I'd never be able to survive the rigours of lectures and long marathon clinic sessions.

Was all set to do some overdue revision, but ended up lazing around online, reading about aerodynamics, then being all inspired to try out my theories.



What better way to test out aerodynamic principles than folding paper aeroplanes? Was trying to get an optimal lift-to-weight ratio, which proved to be rather hard.

Try to emulate the shapes of aeroplanes too much, and you'll lose too much stiffness. Have too much lift without a counterweight to balance it out and you'll get a plane that shoots upwards and stalls. Get rid of the winglets and tail and the plane won't fly stably. The slower the plane flies, the more difficult it is to keep it going straight.

And just when you think you've got a decent shape, you realise it's so damn hard to launch the aeroplane without it nosediving or stalling because every little change in attack angle changes the amount of lift drastically.

Enough. I'm not learning to be an aerospace engineer anyway. But it'd be quite cool to make a cardboard glider that can glide a payload of a can of Pringles across a field, no?

==



Watched Transformers eventually, after, like, getting totally desperate and MSNing and SMSing close to 10 people asking if they'd watch with pathetic loserish me.

At least my secondary school mates didn't ditch me. They've been planning Transformers for a while so it was convenient for me to just turn up. Yay! Haven't met up with them for a while but no awkward moments, so as long as I put up a good show and act like Mr Nice and Funny Guy.

As for the beef itself; the movie. Hell yeah it's good. The plot (or the lack of it) flows really well, which is expected when you got Michael Bay (of Armageddon fame) and Spielberg at the helm. The robots are animated really well, to the extent that you can actually think that Frenzy is cute and that the party of Autobots are more human than robot. There's quite an intimate collaboration with Hasbro (the bastard stepbrother of Takara which produces the inferior toys for the American market) so don't expect too many acts of travesty. But it's sad how they created a bastardisation of Soundwave and called it Frenzy just to fit the role.

Oh! The plot. Well, there's one, and it's admittedly clever in some parts - a goofy high-school kid who had almost sold the future of mankind on eBay and a huge dollop of conspiracy theory. Most of it is cheesy fodder though but hey, it's a Transformers movie, not a drama epic. And while the ueberly corny ending had incited the derision of many, it's not half as bad as the ending of the Matrix trilogy.

There's not too much to fault about it from a critic's point of view, but it just doesn't do enough to impress. As reflected by professional critics giving it a much higher appraisal. Maybe it's the cracks in the plot's logic that are huge enough for even Optimus Prime to fall into - why did they fight so long and hard, when the final finishing move could have been done way earlier? Or that it depended on a series of divine coincidences - the college kid who holds the key to saving the world somehow happened to come across Bumblebee; everyone somehow happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Or maybe it's just the cheese. But if you suspend your disbelief just for that two hours, I promise you'd enjoy yourself in the world of majestic-yet-fluid robots even if you're not a fan of the Transformers.

Grade: 4/5

==

Sleep? Bah. Never got any until 3.30am, and I guess it's from the hyperness that rubbed onto me from my exclassmates and from the movie.

I hate not being able to sleep. Too groggy to do anything productive, yet awake.

==

Wednesday was a marathon day in school. Learned how a baby is delivered, and it's so DAMN FREAKING SWEET AND LOVELY WHEN THE BABY POPS OUT AND HERALDS ITS EXISTENCE WITH A KAWAIIIIIIII CRY. It's so beautiful, I swear I almost cried.

And yay, I'm ahead of schedule in terms of the seemingly-impossible quota of evaluation forms I have to get done. I've been so lucky lately I'm convinced I'm gonna get a really bad spate of rebound bad luck anytime from now.

==

Yay.

Pirates of the Curry Bean: At World's End (hopefully?)

To be honest, I didn't really enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean 3. There's the prerequisite intricate set design and elaborate fight scenes involving archaic weapons. But you see, it feels like it's missing something.

I gotta admit, I watched the first movie The Curse of the Black Pearl but not the second, Dead Man's Chest. But when you compare the first and third movie, there's really not much of a comparison. I couldn't even dig the plot. It was lots of politicking which no one really understands and does nothing to the film but to hold the pacing of the movie hostage. (ARRGH MY BLADDER IS FULL WHEN IS THIS INANE VERBAL PILLOWFIGHT EVER GONNA END?)

After an epic 2h 48min movie, the most you'll remember are the cheeky antics of Jack Sparrow, the cruelty of Davy Jones, the occasional joke and the well-designed set which is supposed to be Singapore in the times of maritime anarchy.

I walked into the film expecting a good movie (gee, how bad can a sequel to an excellent film possibly get) and came out a tad disappointed and VERY confused. Turns out, I'm not the only one.

And possibly the worst thing about the movie is: it hints to YET another sequel. Bleagh. Save your money.

Spiderman 3

We all recall vividly the memorable action between Spiderman and Green Goblin and Octavius. The ingenious battles that happen, the silly smooth build-up that each movie's bound to get. Oh did I mention? The upside-down kiss. Rest assured you'll see some pretty interesting smooching scenes this time sound.

Here comes Spiderman 3, where what you thought was a peaceful ending in 2 gets all shattered.

The plot revolves around an alien meteorite substance that can live as a parasite in human beings. Not only does it bring great strength, but it also brings out the most evil in the person. And it's tough to shake it off. Think the ring from Lord of the Rings, but with a superhero twist.

The action you'll see is bound to enthral, with ingenious and sometimes humourous scenes. Not to mention, things get tied up. How did Uncle Ben actually die? You'll find out.

Admittedly, this movie is a funny one, with more bone-tickling moments than the previous 2 movies combined. And hey, Mary Jane in a skirt does get suspended in midair again!

It's a great memorable movie that's entertaining, well-paced and features a good whallop of comedic romance. And less of that corny superhero morality/ethics preaching. Just the uncorned beef.

Oh wait. Why am I gushing on about this. I know you're going to watch it anyway!

Grade: A

Meet The Robinsons

OK, after some mulling over, I've decided to make my reviews snappier and more to the point.

Really, when we read a review, what are we looking for? Just one answer: Should I go and buy this product? It matters not how I go into a page-long diatribe on how the characters in the film interact and the stylistic methods used, if you've already decided to/not to watch it. So, I'd do reviews with a focus on things that would affect your decision to choose a product, no more, no less.

The beef: Orphan boy genius feels unwanted, gets approached from boy from the future. Boy from future drags him into the future, where a series of unexpected turn of events happen.

The good: Stunning computer graphics. Honest, sweet themes of abandonment, family love and destiny.

The bad: Formulaic plot, complete with usual 'awwww-so-touching' moments that don't stand up to creative scrutiny. Age-old time-travel themes. (What if we interfere with our own past? Can we change destiny?).

The crunch: Watch it, simply cause it's a well-rounded, amusing and touching feel-good movie. Don't watch it if you're looking for something creative and ingenious.

Meet the Robinsons plays out like one of the many songs that sound the same on popular radio - they may not stand out from the rest, but hey, being similar to the other songs means that if you like other similar ones, you'd probably like this.

Mr Bean's Holiday

Remember Mr Bean? Our favourite British comedy character played by Rowan Atkinson is back with a new movie, years after his hit movie Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie. That movie was a classic that was totally rewatchable, with lovable characters and a stellar plot.

So does Mr Bean's Holiday live up to expectations? Problem is, Rowan has maintained such high standards when he is Mr Bean, it's so hard to match up to his previous performances. I loved the movie. But it wasn't as good as other Mr Bean works, mainly due to a razor-thin plot that doesn't provide for much new material.

Mr Bean wins a holiday to the Cannes, in an amusing scene that involves the fact that a 6 is am overturned 9. However, due to a series of Bean-esque mishaps, he found himself lost in the middle of France with a cute kid, short of money and withoui his passport. In a series of gags, Bean finds himself with a rising actress who drives the same Mini as him (sans latch, padlock and screeching engine).

Overall, the gags are mostly stuff recycled from the TV series. I don't know if you'll call it a tribute to the old stuff or a lack of creativity, but it disappointed me. The kid's acting is first class for his age. And Mr Bean's slick and very in character. But the plot doesn't let them shine, which is a pitiful waste.

Should you watch it? Yes, simply because it's a Mr Bean movie. But don't keep your hopes up too high, cause it's not a very good one at that, Mr Bean's cool as ever, albeit with more wrinkles, but the plot doesn't let you see that easily.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a psychological thriller about a troubled teen whose life goes topsy turvy the moment he met a mysterious man in a bunny suit.

Absurd. Yeah. Donnie Darko does not attempt to wow with its plot or logic, but is rather savoured like a cocktail of different, conflicting themes. Time travel, nihilism, destiny, angst, all these themes are fashionable ones at the turn of the millennium when this film was released, thus easily explaining how it became a cult classic.

Donnie Darko meets man in bunny suit, follows his voice, avoids jet engine falling into his room, bunny suit guy tells him that the world will end in 28 days.

The movie's saving grace is that it does not pretend to make sense. It brings the viewer into a rollercoaster ride of events, each more in-your-face than the previous, such that the next bend is always more thrilling than the previous. Cinematography is done well - nothing too outlandish - it's good simply because there's no way to fault it.

Stifled acting galore. It's one thing for Jake Gyllenhaal to act as a shy, withdrawn Donnie Darko, but another for him to appear withdrawn acting as a withdrawn teen. Everyone overacts a little in the movie, but that's fitting to the style.

The soundtrack is excellent, including very aptly placed songs such as Echo and the Bunnymen's (yay, bunny) The Killing Moon as the opening theme, and the famous cover of Mad World by Gary Jules as the closing track.

Should you watch it? Well, you may like it, for you may identify with the themes and the characters in the movie. But if you're looking for something more polished, like most of us do, Donnie Darko simply doesn't cut it.

Grade: 3/5

Death Note 2

Rushed through some homework at home, then slacked around and time to head out.

Since I'm sleepy and it's late right now, I cut to the chase for now.

Death Note 2: The Last Name



Since I'm sleepy and it's late right now, and I do not want to spoiler it, I cut to the chase for now.

It's good. It's amazing how they managed to tie up so many open ends all in one fell swoop. It's entertaining. It keeps up the detail and good work in Death Note 1. I like it.

Go watch it, cause I don't want anyone spoilering it for you.

Grade: 4.5/5

Boxing day

Why is it called boxing day? Is it a day we're supposed to unbox presents, box people up on the streets or parade around in boxers?

Morning: Alarm rang. Peered out of window. It's freaking raining again.

Back to sleep.

Woke up later in the morning and watched Silent Hill on DVD.

Silent Hill

Like most video game adaptations, this one didn't really catch on with the general public. However, fans of the video game would appreciate how true it captures the creepiness of the game, complete with all the small details such as the noise of shoes against the metallic grille floors and the quirkiness of Dahlia Gillespie.

However, the plot in its entirety is pretty absurd, to put it politely. It gets so weird and lame in the second half it starts to disappoint. I'd rather they save the viewers' time and their own efforts and tone down with all those pseudo-logical explainations. When you watch a horror movie, all you want is the horror eh?

A little disappointed they didn't do that creepy static sound effect when the mosters come around, or attempt to recreate any of the flying monsters in the original.

Overall? They captured the horror of the game series really well, but as for its value as a movie by itself, not much.

Grade: 3/5

Review - Transporter 2

Grade: 4/5

Remember the first Transporter? The one with Shu Qi, the lady who endos off the movie in horribly-accented English: "He's a bastard, but he's still my father." Shu Qi's no longer in the sequel, but Jason Statham is back as Frank, the ueber-cool guy who fends off his enemies with all those intelligent-yet-impossible moves you remember from the first movie.

This time, it's crazier, more absurd, more action-packed and yet so much more engaging. Frank Miller's so slick, he can drive his car off a ramp at the harbour, do a 360 degree flip with such precision that the crane hook scrapes the bomb planted on the bottom of the car seconds before it explodes, then lands the car on the ground with nary a scratch.

But it's fun. And humourous. The villain stereotypes may be overplayed, the Russian femme fatale may have been extremely corny, but somehow, when you suspend your disbelief enough, the movie's so well-paced and entertaining you hardly get a moment where you're bored.

In this sequel, Frank finds himself breaking his own rules (as usual). The story begins with Frank being a chauffer of a rich family's kid (not his usual idea of 'transport') and eventually gets emotionally connected with the family. Somewhere along the way, he finds himself in action again, as he ended up making a promise to the kid to keep him safe.

All things break loose when the kid got kidnapped and the true plans of the villians was slowly unfurled - they were going to spread a bio-engineered virus and release it in a drug-enforcement gala event.

The plot's absurd indeed. But suspend your disbelief, enjoy the ride and you'll be entertained.

Review - Million Dollar Baby

Grade: 4.5/5

"I don't train girls.", mutters Dunn (Clint Eastwood), while Maggie (Hilary Swank) persistently pesters Dunn to be her coach.

Each character in the movie has his or her fair share of baggage behind him. Dunn's broken relationship with his daughter and his professional regrets, Maggie's poverty and one-tracked determination and Dupris's (Morgan Freeman) fall from grace after a nasty boxing injury that left him partially blind.

Dunn finally sees the passion and determination in Maggie decides: he's going to get things right again, take up his role as coach again and avoid the mistakes he had done in the past.

With the backing of Dunn, Maggie's career took off at incredulous speed, with her outclassing everyone and almost always knocking out her opponents in the first round.

Dunn is cautious. He doesn't want Maggie to be hurt. But where do you draw the line between protecting your boxer from getting hurt and allowing her to spread her wings and progress through the classes? What decides if a life is lived meaningfully, despite the physical hurt that comes in the process?

This movie tracks the rise and fall of Maggie's career with startling rawness and intensity. Clint Eastwood betters his previous directorial+acting role in Mystic River, brewing up this masterpiece where the emotional highs are sky high, and emotional lows are, well, rock-bottom. It's a pretty long movie, there's alot being told and the detail may overwhelm you, but it's all worth it.

I'm not going to spoiler it for you. You just gotta watch it.

Old friend/Earphones/ Deja Vu

One line synopsis: Deja Vu is a movie about a police investigaor trying this best to reverse tragic happennings when he chanced upon a method to look back into the past, and to possibly change it.

==

Met up with secondary school pal F, talking about movies and music and stuff like it was year 2000 all over again. Thank goodness for friendships that never change! Too bad most everyone we knew were either busy or overseas, so it was only me and him splitting my free GV voucher 2 ways (too evil to keep that voucher all for myself yeah. How did I get my voucher? I paid for it with my own blood. Blood donation drive, that is.)Just hung around for a while and after that it was like, earphone-shopping to replace F's recently-deceased earphones.

A quick word on earphones. Usually when it comes to audio equipment, the most commonly asked question is: How do you tell if the product is good? Answer: by listening to how good it sounds!

However, the thing about earphones is that sampling booths are hard to come by (Sennheiser and Creative sometimes have listening areas at various fairs and roadshows, Sony has sampling booths in some of their showrooms.) and even if you find one, would you really plop an earphone that'd been in the ears of hundred people into your own ears? I've had 2 bouts of outer ear infections myself from in-canal earphones - and I don't even share my earphones.

To be honest, there's no good way to determine if any pair of earphones sound good. Online reviews help alot, but make sure you read a few such that you can eliminate the bias. For the lower-end market price is also one major determining factor - you can be sure that $50 earphones would sound better than a $20 pair.

Look at the size and form of the earphones for good fitting. For earbud type: big ears, big earbuds and vice versa.

Don't bother to look at the technical specifications on the back of the box, they mean nothing.

KC's recommended list for portable usage:
Foldable headphone: Sennheiser PX100 - $99
In-canal earphone: either Creative EP630 (price varies from $40 to $70) or Panasonic HJE50 $55
Plain earbuds: Almost any from the $20-$40 price range
Clip-ons: no idea, any recommendations from the readers?

F eventually got a $17 pair of earphones (against my advise!) but then he's no audio fanatic like me. I currently have 3 different sets of earphones in use - huge expensive Sennheiser headphones for home use, cheaper Creative EP630 in-canal earphones and Sony clip-ons from my MP3 player for comfort. Not to mention other earphones that're dead now or have been retired. Don't ask why! They might sound all the same to you, but it really matters to me if I can get to hear every bass note clearly, the sizzle of every hit of the hi-hat, and the breath sounds of the vocalist.

==

Back to Deja Vu. It's sort of a weird movie. The pacing's quite slow and irregular, but it's no immediate-fail. If you'd watched the 1998 action flick Enemy of the State you'd like this movie by the same director, done with similar themes and style.

However, the idea of going back and forth time, while being explored in many movies so far, was quite originally done this time around. While most time-travel movies of the past focused on the 'cool' factor of time travel, this one explores the logical implications with a more sombre tone. Can we really change destiny? Will we really travelling through time, or merely travelling through alternate universes? Will changing the future or past do any good?

All in all, after watching the movie, I can't help but to feel that while the protagonist tries to save the lives of the people who died in the first reality, all he really could do after all that effort was to transport himself into another reality where those people didn't die. The people who died in the original reality, still died in that reality - what's the point?

Even if you don't dig all these pseudocientific mumbo jumbo it's probably still worth a watch, for all that action, gadgetry and twists.

Grade is 3.75 stars out of 5.

A short note

The Step-Up outing on Saturday night was so sweet! The movie rocked. Great story, great pacing, great choreography, great camerawork and great acting! Honestly I hafta give it 4.5 stars out of 5. Can't really fault it can I?

Was thinking about it and well, I really can't live without the STOMP pals I've made so far. I'm like super thankful because they're like 80% of my social life now! I guess, it's like the people from STOMP are rather likeminded people (since we're on the same forums in the first place) who all want a little more company? It's so sweet that most of us are willing to just hear each other out. That's something I really treasure. A listening ear.

Really, I'm too scared to imagine how messed up my life'd be if I didn't have these pals to talk to. Especially since I've been having a rough patch these past months.

So, uh, thank you STOMP pals!

Sweet! (Friday)

Begun the day by rushing for school again. Stupid bus scheduling changed so I had to wait for the later bus.

Tutorial. Arrgh. I'm always the one who doesn't know the answers. These days instead of stalling in a blurry blank when being asked a question I don't know, I just smile and say "I think I need to read up first" or if in a bigger group and less formal situation, "Can I ask a friend?".

School progressed on, clinics shadowing the doc then a lecture. Was bored so SMS'd Ryan and decided to meet early before the movie!

Went home, fixed a quick lunch, slacked a little then went out again. Hanging around with Ryan is fun! Although we just walked in aimless circles it was great fun talking about movies, graphic novels, books, video games and stuff. All too often it's like I dunno what to talk about but it wasn't the case yay!

After what Ryan recommends and what I Googled/Wiki'd/Rottentomatoes'd -- List of movies I gotta watch: Scary Movie 4, From Hell, Daredevil, X-men 3. Gotta hunt for them the next time I pop by Video-Ezy. (Just realised that Junction 8 had one a few days ago, with lots of good titles.)

Oh. Ryan: the carton series that parodies Spongebob, Link from Zelda, Superman, Betty Boop and etc is called Drawn Together.

Met up with the gang again! Starbucks. Mr Black recommends using skim milk for coffee instead of the usual milk, so I tried it. It sorta tastes less creamy but it's quite a small difference really. Maybe I should stick to that - healthy choices that taste more or less the same!

Movie movie! Grudge 1 and 2 marathon. Grudge 1 was sorta bad. To be honest. There was no coherent plot to talk about, unlike most good horror shows I've watched so far. And oh well, looked like I was the only one not enjoying it so it was quite depressing, slumped in the seat while the others around me just laughed and joked about it with each other. The cons of being a picky movie aficionado after all those years! Grade : C+

Grudge 2 is slightly better, but it's not going to get anything above a B- in my eyes anyway. Was freezing in the cinema by then. Forgot that Plaza Singapura got really cold at night, like the time I watched Death Note there. Thanks Kate for that jacket!

Hung around in Macs for a while then made our way back! Was having this conversation with Kate about our career choices and stuff. Hmm, I still am having do some thinking about it. The way I think logically, it is probably the right choice for me but it doesn't feel like it. In any case, I need to plan out my career path to a slack career! Long hours and hard work aren't good for my poor brain.

Oh and from what I'm like will I really get bullied when I start working? Yikes!

Reached home, still high after all that so hanged around online for a while. Then off to the bed! It's always a little sad when a blissful and fun gathering ends, so I'm looking forward to the next one!

Monday

Monday of a new posting at school. What can be worse. Woke up with great trepidation. Part of me wanted to believe that if I didn't get out of bed, Monday didn't have to begin. But oh well, it's so not true, so with a great I reluctantly got out of bed.

Breakfast, and got ready for school. Running madly around house looking for all those stationery and stuff I had left haphazardly around during the 1-week break. Was going to be late dammit!

Got on the bus with a sleep-deprived stupor and drifted in out of consciousless while the engine droned on.

Reached NUS 5 minutes late. Luckily the lecture hadn't begun. Lectures.

Break after lectures. Was just musing with my classmates how I'm bored and how about watching a movie? Surprise suprise and HC, J and KW are already planning to watch Death Note! But they already booked tickets, so had to book separately and hope to get seats that are close enough! SH joined in too.

But alas, the seats were for another screen! Well, since I really wanted to watch I decided to just take them...

Lectures.

Oh and since the NUH Blood Donation Centre was asking for blood, SH and I went during lunchtime!

It's like this. First you gotta fill up a questionnaire to confirm that you're not at risk of HIV/Hepatitis B/STD/etc infection, then it's a declaration that says you'll be locked up and jailed if you lie.

Then they take your blood pressure, haemoglobin count of your blood (i.e. how 'thick' your blood is - done via a pinprick) and weight. Saw the scale and nearly fainted. Gee I'm _that_ overweight?

Then they make you lie on this couch thingie, and they swab your vein site really cleanly then they inject a little anaesthetic and put in the needle. The actually blood donation's pretty fast - before you know it it's done!

Then they give you a cup of milo and some biscuits. And you sit in the waiting area for 10 minutes or so. No giddiness, no lethargy.

More lectures.

Home. Dinner, shower, slack. For a short while. So went online and crapped around STOMP forums and stuff. Oh and bozo posted a thread on VRZone linking to the Stalking gonococcus thread on STOMP. Yikes!

Was bored out of my mind after a while so decided to take the bus out to Orchard early. The bus was depressingly quiet and empty.

Borders. Took a look at the latest fiction, none of which looked familiar to me since I'm so out of touch! Saw Graeme Obree's autobiography. He's this bicyclist who's not only a great writer, but has a really creative and intelligent mind. He built all sorts of weirdly-shaped bicycles that were more efficient than what was being sold, then raced them himself and won. But the cycling regulatory bodies weren't too happy, and banned his contraptions. He had his bouts of self doubt and even tried to top himself twice, but managed to pull through, fortunately.

Tempted to buy the book, but it's almost $40.

Journey to the East! Walked all the way to Plaza Singapura cause I'm too damn cheap to pay the bus fare! When I was younger I used to take rather long walks across Orchard to City Hall, since there's so may places to stop by along the way. Trying to catch that feel again, but the crowds were just too huge.

Reached Plaza Singapura just while the shops were closing. So just sat outside and watched all the happy couples, the lovely couples, all the lucky lucky people who're walking around Orchard feeling invincible together.

And one by one the mates arrived! And guess what I managed to change the tickets to the same hall as the other 3 friends'! And just opposite the walkway. What's even better was that there was some sort of orangey dirt on the seats we got, so I asked the staff there what could be done and they decided to put the 2 of us right behind the 3 friends! Yay! I'm really appreciative of that.

==

DEATH NOTE - Death Note's a great movie. Although advertised as a horror flick, it actually is more of a psychological thriller than anything.

We got Light, an aspiring lawyer who learns of the injustice of the world and how the law isn't always powerful enough to solve them. On one particularly bad night, he finds a black book with DEATH NOTE emblazoned on it, with instructions inside it which read:

* The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
* This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
* If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the subject's name, it will happen.
* If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will simply die of a heart attack.
* After writing the cause of death, the details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. (ripped from Wikipedia)

Amused, Light writes the name of a criminal that was mentioned on the news and in the next day's newspaper, he realises that that exact criminal had died of a heart attack.

Light then sees the powers he is suddenly entrusted with.

We have L, a mysterious superdetective who works under a cover. The police had noticed the recent spate of mysterious criminal deaths and thus engaged L to find out the truth.

It becomes a cat-and-mouse game, with Light and L trying to outwit each other. Light and L slowly realise they aren't too different afterall.

I'll spare the details. Any more and I'll be spoilering it for you! But note that this is just the first of 2 movies in the series, so don't expect a hasty ending to this movie.

As for criticisms from me and my mates who watched the movie together:
Androgynous actors. Well. Jap film. What can ya do. The Japs love them Bishounen (pretty boys). But hey, Light's hairstyle is really cool and I want that.

Naomi Misora's (FBI lady's) motivations. What are they actually? She seemed more like a madwoman on a rampage.

The artificial, cartoon-like Ryuuk (the CGI-animated God of Death) doesn't go down well with many audiences, but I just think it's a nice tribute to the manga series!

Also, Light's slow descent from honourable justice to evil isn't explored much, which is quite a pity.

And, while L is the one shown biting his nails all the time, the extreme close-ups of Light's hands show actual bitten nails. What this implies isn't too clear. Maybe it's some sort of imagery to show the similarity between L and Light?

And, RHCP's Dani California totally stuck out like a sore thumb during the end credits. Bleagh. Use a Japanese song instead!

But all in all. Grade: A

==

After the movie, SH had to leave, so the 4 of us walked to the Kopitiam in City Hall area and just talked up to 4am! And HC and KW really devoured alot of Hello Kitty marshmallows:



Yeah it was nice catching up with stuff and all, but heh I'm sort of the odd one out - when they talk about Ayumi or Wang Lee-Hom I just had to do the smile-and-nod-thing since I'm like totally ignorant of all those enbtertainment gossip stuff.

Oh and we spent a great deal of time trying to figure out whether the 2 tall skimpily-dressed people were females or transvestites!

We already agreed to watch Death Note 2 together next time so that's great!

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Grade: B

First things first. This isn't really a horror movie in the traditional sense. Those looking for creepy horror scenes and all will be better off just fast-forwarding to the exorcism scene and losing the whole plot anyway.

While I do not agree with the leap-of-faith theme of the story, this movie plays out the dilemma between siding with science or siding with the supernatural when there the evidence points both ways. I can't say I empathise with that dilemma, but it was elaborate and well-thought.

The pacing generally was quite slow, and the acting a little wooden, but in general it's alright, but not great. The courtroom scenes were surprisingly engaging, whereas the horror scenes turned out to be a corny CGI-fest that mocks the whole story. Even The Exorcist from 1973 betters the atmospherics of the horror scenes, and without the aid of CGI.

So all in all, a B. Slightly better than Hotel Rwanda.

Hotel Rwanda

Grade: B-

We all know that UN isn't exactly omnipotent in situations of civil conflict and stuff. But this movie really over-sensationalises it, and there's too much of the one-hero-saves-the-day kind of crap. Prefer those movies where they tell you how every member of the team works together to get themselves out of the situation.

Oh and did I mention? Th ending sucks. It didn't give any closure to the main issue (the genocide of the Tutsis) but rather gave some sappy crap about bringing back some orphans. Sure, having scenes of little kids singing will bring them brownie points, but does it add to the movie? No.

This movie is overrated. It's a great true story mangled into a barely-passable movie.