About Schmidt

Caught this sentimental movie on Astro's HBO, reminded me of previous Jack Nicholson's movie 'As Good As It Gets' in that the movie centers mainly around Jack's character and his personal journey towards self-discovery.

To some this may not be a movie that they can identify themselves a lot with, especially the younger crowds, yet to me it's almost as though I'm looking at the story of myself sometime in the future.

I know there are still some good number of years to go before I'm even near Schmidt's age, yet I can't help but found the themes behind it resonate surprisingly well within myself.

Here's a quote which I think sums up pretty well of my thoughts about the movie -

"How you react to the film will tell you more about yourself than about "...Schmidt"."

The Lists

Currently watching:

- Naruto
- Farscape


Currently reading:

- Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code'


Guys in LQ whom I regretted for not getting to know:

1. The one with grey t-shirt dancing near the dj in LQ on 27 Nov 2004
2. The one wearing white t-shirt (?) and glasses who was dancing near the dj and I happened to bump into around 3 am outside entrance to The Disco talking on the handphone on 27 Nov 2004

I gather it would be interesting (if not agonizing) to see how many possible opportunities I allowed myself to pass by on my way to the Lonely-Old-Gay-Man-Land :-P

Kung Fu Hustle

Hmm.. what can I say about this movie? Maybe I should say that it is somewhat similiar to 'Shaolin Soccer', in the sense that the action in the movie tend to get more over-the-top near the end?

I think some subtle themes are done better in 'Shaolin Soccer', as 'Kung Fu Hustle' seems to pay more attention to its action/comedy aspect.

Certain scenes are much more effective than others, the ones I'm more fond of are the total laugh-out chasing sequence and the ending scene outside the candy shop, which was a rather sweet sequence that put a smile on my face.

I'm not sure whether the new actress in the movie is a HKnese, but she do look a lot like a typical Korean beauty. Too bad she's only there to provide eye-candy and some singing for the soundtrack. Well, I'm sure it won't be long before she'll start appearing in every other HK flick, hehe.

The Passion of Christ

One of the more controversial film in recent film-making, finally found time to watch it's DVD on Christmas Eve, guess it seemed like a good timing to me, lol.

I may know very little of the stories told in the Bible, but the movie really had the last 12 hours of Jesus' life told in minimal distraction and most of the events in it felt rather grounded to me, as if it was really something that could have happened, and to most I'm sure it did indeed happen.

The title of the film cannot be anymore more apt, as a person who chose not to affiliate myself to any specific religion, I find myself moved by the capacity of passion shown by Jesus.

Notorious for the almost bare-naked gore, I think it's somewhat a neccessity, because if not we the audience would not have felt the same impact of the extreme cruelty and compassion we humans are capable of.

And quite unexpectedly, I finally found out why Jesus' name is pronounced the way it is in Chinese :-P

The Polar Express

Finally caught 'The Polar Express' in IMAX, though a bit straining on the eyes having to wear the 3D effect glasses throughout the 2-hour fare, worth watching nevertheless in my opinion for being a heart-warming movie with really fantastic 3D animation.

May sound strange, but god I love the hair rendered in the movie! Most realistic so far in any animation I've ever seen.

Coupled with generally highly detailed/realistic rendering and the fact that the whole movie just screams Tom Hanks, should come off as no surprise that I'm looking forward to get this movie in DVD :-)

2046

After watching Wong Kar Wai's '2046', I find it to be a surprisingly personal and poignant sequel to the IMHO overly romantic, self-absorbed and artistic 'In The Mood For Love'.

Perhaps it has to do with the higher number of characters featured in '2046', or perhaps its the easier-to-follow and slightly more interesting plot, somehow I just found this sequel much easier to digest.

Although sometimes it can still feel like dragging, but then again with good looking casts like Kimura Takuya and Faye Wong, I'm sure most wouldn't mind, lol.

Alexander

I don't know why, but watching the many explicit gay referencing scenes in Oliver Stone's 'Alexander' actually had me squirming in my seat.

Why? Is it that I find the film a bit too obviously gay friendly or is it that I'm somehow worried that those from the straight camp might be annoyed from being forced to stomach all these 'gayness' in a 3 hour history yarn mumbled by an old man who can't even tell a story chronologically?

And of course, there's always the eye-liner thingie.. and Jared Leto.. and the Persian boy-toy...

Rand (thoughts)

1. Russel Crowe is green and deliciously evil in 'Virtuosity'

2. Rediscovered the joy of watching good ol' 50s romantic/comedy flick 'Pillow Talk' starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson

Christmas

Ah.. Christmas, my favourite time of the year :-)

Don't really know why, I just have this warm and fuzzy feeling whenever Dec 25 comes.

It could be those super-feel-good Hollywood romantic/comedy flicks that somehow always come with Christmas scenes.

Am hoping to catch 'The Polar Express' in IMAX soon, I'm sure it will prep me in good ol' yuletide mood in no time, and yes, give me a Tom Hanks movie anytime :-)