Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties - movie review

Garfied: A Tail of Two Kitties – starring Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt & Bill Murray. Need to get some humour while in Sudan so this show was just nice. An animated Garfied with Odie being a real life dog. Jon was on a trip to meet his long time girlfriend in another city to propose to her. Somehow, both Garfield and Odie got into his luggage and travelled along. Weird event happened where Garfield was mistaken (due to similar look to Garfield) to be a rich princess’ (who died and left a huge inheritance for the cat) cat. At the mansion, Garfield with his wisdom overcame a relative’s scheme that tried to kill the actual cat. The scheme has to succeed as he’s next in line for the will after the cat. You would be mad too if you knew that you ranked no. 2 after a cat in a will of a multi-millionaire.

Meantime, the real rich cat was found by Jon. Not to beat around the bush, the 3 of them ended up at the mansion too with Jon’s girlfriend being a guest at the mansion too. The evil scheme has to come to an end but how? Just laugh along. You need to as this will relieve you of some tensions built up in your work or daily routine.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Garfield, Cat, Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Comedy

Munich / Break Up - movie review

Munich – starring Eric Bana (The Hulk) & Daniel Craig (the new James Bond) and directed by Steven Spielberg. An intriguing movie that depicts the terrorist incident during the Munich Olympic in 1972 where Israelite Olympians were kidnapped and killed subsequently. All the perpetrators were of Palestinian background and most were killed during their getaway attempt at an airport. Thereafter, in revenge and to show the world that Israel can’t be bullied, the Israel government arranged for a mission led by the former prime minister’s bodyguard to hunt down the people behind the Munich incident. 11 names were given with 5 Israelites given the mission going around Europe hunting them down. Quite gory at times. Not advisable for young kids.

You must have an open mind to watch this show and shouldn’t judge who’s wrong or right as this is just a movie. Would say it’s quite sensitive & stunning but highly rated by me as the deep thoughts of those people were acted out. Too bad, I think it was banned in Malaysia too.

Break Up – starring Vince Vaughn & Jennifer Aniston. Both were living happily together but as time passed by, Jennifer felt that Vince wasn’t helping around the house. After numerous hinting and without Vince lifting a single finger, she had enough and broke up the relationship. As the nice apartment was under both of their names, they wouldn’t want to move out and endured each other’s presence in the house. During that period, both parties tried to break each other’s heart further by getting their way in the house by inviting their own friends to their house. One of their mutual friends finally got them to sell the house instead of destroying the apartment’s value. From there onwards, their individual life didn’t get any better. Why? Couldn’t find much meaning in this movie but Vince was really convincing in his role. If you have time like me, force yourself to see it.

Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Munich, Break Up, Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Steven Spielberg, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Munich Olympic, Palestine

Just My Luck / End Game / Thank You For Smoking - movie review

On the way back, watched 3 movies in the airplane....so thought of sharing with you my reviews on it.
Just My Luck - starring Lindsay Lohan (another gifted beautiful lady) & Chris Pine. Lindsay plays a young & upcoming lady in a corporate world and everything is going her way. To the extent when she calls the word "taxi", 4 taxis could be stopping right in front of her at that second. On the other side of the city, a young guy is really at the bottom of the pit. Somehow, this 2 main characters' luck changes or you can say "switched" due to a kiss between the 2 of them in a masquerade party. Lindsay has to find her luck back by finding whom she kissed in that masquerade party (a party where people wear mask). And that guy, wow.........everything's going his way now. Very entertaining movie to kill boredom only.
End Game - starring Burt Reynolds, Cuba Gooding Jr & Angie Harmon. Cuba plays a personal bodyguard to the US President and was unable to prevent an unwanted assasination on the president. He just can't stomach the situation. A hardworking and nosey lady reporter found some leads and such leads were "terminated" the moment she talked to them. As she approaches Cuba, both were nearly killed too. This brought Cuba to search for clues which leads to more controversy as to who are the people behind the assasination. He can't trust many people as the Secret Service Dept was somehow involved. A suspense / thriller movie. Such scenarios could be real for the death of certain people in the political arena.

Thank You For Smoking - starring Aaron Eckhart & Maria Bello. Aaron was the lobbyist for a non-governmental organisation ("NGO") sponsored by major cigarette companies to counter negative statements or incidents that occured or linked to cigarettes. On the other side, a group of congressman was trying to label/brand cigarettes as poison. His concious/moral was tested when he was testifying on behalf of the NGO in a congressional hearing with his young son witnessing in the room too. A very good movie in view of current legislations being implemented worldwide to counter the cost of smoking.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Just My Luck, End Game, Thank You For Smoking, Lindsay Lohan, Cuba Gooding Jr, Aaron Eckhart

My Super Ex-Girlfriend - movie review

My Super Ex-Girlfriend - starring Luke Wilson & Uma Thurman, about a man trying to befriend a lady in an underground train. Unknown to him, the lady was the city's supergirl....appearing from nowhere saving the day.

They got along fine and a close relationship developed and the supergirl has to share with him about her secret about being the supergirl. As time goes by, the man found it hard to live with her and decided to break off. Supergirl couldn't live with that and started to follow him and disrupted his personal life. A colleague of his caught his attention later on. His new girl was also exposed to the same meteorite rock one night and caught the super strength too. A fight erupted between 2 supergirls now for this guy. Hilarious movie and quite entertaining.

Few more movies to go........maybe 5
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Rating, My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Nacho Libre & Click - movie review

Nacho Libre – starring Jack Black (of School of Rock too) & Hector Jimenez. Nacho is a man who grew up and worked as a cook in a Mexican monastery. After seeing the earning potentials of a wrestler seen in town, he tried to groom himself and a partner of his to make it big in the local wrestling arena. As times goes by, he was able to earn some money through tickets sold in fights involving him as the crowds loved them. Good food were bought by these money for the orphanage in the monastery. Nice, hilarious movie.....listen to those punch lines which will make you drop from your seat.

Click – starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale (one of the most beautiful ladies in the world), Christopher Walken & David Hasselhoff (yeah, the guy from the Knight Rider TV series). Adam, having the ambition of becoming a partner in his architect firm, drove him to neglect his family and parents. Eventually, he bumped into a gadget, a universal remote control, which could ultimately change anything/event in his life (fast forward, next chapter, mute) just like a normal TV remote control. But soon he regretted the use of it as it works intelligently according to usual clicks. Life went past him in few moments with him missing his whole life (due to too many fast forward)......... one of the better movies watched recently......
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Rating, Nacho Libre, Click, Jack Black, Adam Sandler

Snakes On A Plane - movie review

Snakes On A Plane – starring Samuel L. Jackson, Nathan Phillips, Rachel Blanchard, Julianna Margulies & Flex Alexander. An eyewitness of a murder scene was to be brought from Hawaii to Los Angeles to stand in court. To stop the witness, the suspects somehow were able to transport boxes of different kind of poisonous snakes onboard. The boxes self-detonated via a small explosive device and the snakes (too many to count) wriggled their ways throughout the plane and started attacking everyone onboard………too exciting!!
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Rating, Snakes On A Plane, Samuel L Jackson

World Trade Center - movie review

Another movie done during the nice Friday afternoon.
World Trade Center (9/11) – starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Stephen Dorff & directed by Oliver Stone. A re-collection on the actual 9/11 tragedy where the movie zooms in to the lives of a group of policemen. A true story where a group of Port Authority policemen was amongst the earliest to be at the rescue scene. They despatched in a rescue team into the WTC and just before they could conduct their rescue, the 2 towers collapsed on them. Following parts of the show will see the anxieties, sadness (including me) and relieved of the family members that waited, heard or seen their loved ones being saved from the rubbles……thousands of innocent lives lost in a tragedy.

The so-called cause fought by the so-called terrorists (which is giving a bad reputation to muslims around the world) unacceptable to me. An archive of the September 11 tragedy is available here.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, World Trade Center, WTC, 9/11, September 11, Port Authority, Terrorist

Hong Kong TVB series

Rested well on my Friday afternoon (halfday work in Khartoum) as it’s the weekend for Sudan (a muslim nation). Having a countdown on my journey home on coming Tuesday…..yahoooooooo!!! Meantime, finished the last chinese TV series that I have.

Shades of Truth (a Hong Kong TVB TV series of 25 episodes) – starring Chilam Cheung, Wong Hei, Gigi Lai, Tavia Yeung & Yuen Wah. A police force was assigned to nail a mob group and an unfavourable competition arose between 2 police teams to outdo one another to nab the mob. A policeman was sent in as a mole where he managed to convince and the mob leader trusted him. A friendship was developed in the course of it between the mole (unknown to other police members) and a policeman from the other team. Somehow the police’s plans didn’t work as intended.

I was fooled by the story line as it goes on as a new police plan was put in place (without you knowing of course). As the show goes on, relationships between the mole and the main policeman didn’t go too well. Daily work pressures didn’t help either. Lots of humorous moments in between. Along the way, struggle of power happened in the mob group and greed took place amongst the mob leader’s followers. Go for the series as the director did a very good job in the story line.
Tags: Hong Kong, TVB Series, Review, Shades of Truth

Filming of Lust, Caution (Se Jie)

Ang Lee, the Taiwanese-born and Oscar-winning director for Brokeback Mountain is filming his latest chinese movie called Lust, Caution (Se Jie in chinese) in the city of Ipoh in Malaysia, due out in the cinema in 2007.

A row of dilapidated pre-war buildings along Jalan Chung On Siew in Ipoh has been transformed into a World War II street scene of Shanghai. Prop signboards, street lamps of bygone days and a replica of a double-decker tram have been put up for use during the filming.
Lust, Caution is based on a short story by famed Chinese writer Eileen Chang, Lust, Caution will star Cannes best actor winner Tony Leung, Chinese-American pop star Wang Lee-Hom and mainland newcomer Tang Wei.

The story revolves around a group of patriotic students who plot to assassinate an intelligence chief in the Japan-backed Chinese government during World War II.
Tags: Lust Caution, Movie, Ang Lee, Ipoh, Malaysia, Eileen Chang, Tony Leung, Wang Lee-Hom, Tang Wei

Hong Kong TVB series

Finished another TV series in the shortest span of time.

Always Ready - starring Cheng Ekin, Lam Bowie & Charmaine Sheh with a host of new talents gave us a monotonous series. Nothing which will warrant you to sit tight in order not to miss a horrendous or extreme dangerous stunts.

Lots of the situation which required the GFS (Government Flying Services) team for rescue have super-imposed fire or a fake background of clear sky while lowering or lifting up rescuer or victims.

The main stars, at the meantime, are also having personal relationship problems which sometimes do not play along with human logical thinking. You decide on your own when you view it. I have 1 more TV series to go before I pack my bags for my home leave next week.
Tags: Hong Kong, TVB Series, Review, Always Ready, Cheng Ekin

Hong Kong TVB series

Another series finished off by me during the night time at home in Khartoum.

Women On The Run - a comedy throughout the series esp when you have Chan Pak Cheong in the cast. He plays the role of a private detective with a helper too. He will appear in most cases which somehow involves the 4 main ladies also. It was something like CSI investigation too where he used his wits to help the police to solve cases.

Towards the last 8 episodes, it was more of relationship with a guy (former gangster), his mom and a lady (intending to cheat his mom's property). But which also requires some wisdom to overcome those sticky situations. You will like the series as the jokes are quite original.
Tags: Hong Kong, TVB Series, Review, Women On The Run, Chan Pak Cheong

Hong Kong TVB series

La Femme Desperado (a Hong Kong TVB TV series of 22 episodes) – starring Melissa Ng/Sheren Tong/Raymond Lam/Michael Tse/Kenneth Ma/Kate Tsui/Cindy Au. From being a daughter to a girlfriend, all the way to being a mother, it's definitely not easy being a woman. Seeing from the female gender's point of view, this series shows us the hardships a female has to go through. Whether it's holding family honor, break-ups, relationships, divorce or being a single parent, the series will bring you through an experience from a female's point of view.

But from my point of view, at times it's way out / unreasonable / illogical for a lady to act like what the actresses have potrayed.
Tags: Hong Kong, TVB Series, La Femme Desperado, Family

Find Me Guilty - movie review

Find Me Guilty - starring Vin Diesel & Ron Silver is a movie about a group of 22 mafia-linked bosses being prosecuted for you-name-it kind of offences. The prosecution took 22 months to go through 400+ of evidences and dozens of witnesses.

Only a guy (was already in jail for other offences) opted to defend himself on his own and he made a mockery of the government's attorneys. This movie has no violence part even though it's about mafia-linked story. The action was mainly in the court room and the jail house. At the end of the trial, all 22 persons being prosecuted were found not guilty after impressive questioning by the self-defended guy. This movie was based on a true story.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Find Me Guilty, Mafia

Little Man - movie review

Little Man – starring Shawn Wayans & Marlon Wayans brothers. About a couple of crooks who had stolen a big diamond and dumped it into a lady’s handbag while escaping. Meantime, this unsuspecting lady and her husband wanted a baby in their family. And the crooks came up with an idea to take the diamond back by one of them acting as a toddler (due to a crook’s size that looked like a toddler) left by someone at their front door.

Throughout the story, the “toddler” tried many ways to just take the diamond and get out of the house. A good comedy and the “toddler” sometimes forgot he’s supposed to be a toddler.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Little Man, Wayans Brothers, Comedy

Hong Kong TVB series

Men In Pain (a Hong Kong TVB TV series of 21 episodes) – starring Damian Lau, Ron Ng, Louis So, Toby Leung, Florence Kwok, Rebecca Chan, Johnson Lee. The story is mainly about a family man who works as a Project Manager in a large construction company largely responsible for 2 main projects. Back home he has to take care of his family and in-laws too. Pressurised further when he found out that his “mojo” couldn’t function.

His high ego brought his relationship with his wife deteriorated. His wife found out that he had an intimate relationship with another lady more than 10 years ago. Meantime, a big misunderstanding occurred between him and his newly married son/daughter-in-law. After being left alone, he tried to protect his wife and hoped to win her back before the divorce procedures are finalised.

Meanwhile, his brother-in-law (husband to his wife’s elder sis) also had problems with the wife. After challenging times at his company, he changed into a considerate/understanding man and the wife took him back. Very funny TV series and entertaining enough while spending my “time” in Sudan.
Tags: TVB Series, Hong Kong, Men In Pain, Review

Hong Kong TVB series

Yeah, I actually watched these TVB series.....nothing better to do during night time at home.
The Dance of Passion (a Hong Kong TVB TV series of 32 episodes) – starring Charmaine Sheh/Choi Siu Fun/Lai Chi/Lam Bowie/Chan Ho) & set in the early 1900s (if not wrong). The story is mainly on 2 major clans in the town located in the desert region (sounds familiar to me), namely the Yim and Sung clans. These 2 clans have been together for the last 100 years. But things were not smooth throughout. Betrayals, mistrusts, love & greed somehow are in the blood of the town’s citizenship. Talks about how the poors/poorly connected people (just like in many countries...hehehe) survived in such environment. The script is good but they packed too many “suddens” where they rushed to reveal lots of truth towards the last 3 episodes.

The Biter Bitten - starring Benny Chan, Linda Chung, Shirley Yeung, and Michael Tong. Basically it's about Benny, Linda, Shirley, and Michael finding treasure, but before they find the treasure they have to have enough clues to know where the treasure is located at. You will see the silver and gold eggs as the clue, as well as Linda's necklace, a photo, and the sword.

Each episode you will see Benny or Shirley uncover a clue that has to do with the treasure. Benny is really smart, he can answer IQ questions, and riddles. Benny was the only person who found all the clues to help to find the treasure. While the four of them looking for the treasure, the love relationships also complicates the situation. A humorous series at the same time as the 4 main young characters are of young age.
Tags: TVB Series, Hong Kong, Review, Charmaine Sheh

Miami Vice / 2 Fast 2 Furious-Tokyo Drift

Miami Vice - starring Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx & Gong Li (yeah, the lady from China). Story was made based on the 80s TV series of Miami Vice (but no stories are linked). Both Colin and Jamie went undercover to nab drug lord operating in Miami & to investigate murders linked to the drugl ords. Wherelse Gong Li was a Chinese-Cuban wife to arms/drugs trafficker. You have to pay attention to the conversations throughout the whole show otherwise you will lose the plot. The criminals-police shoot out only occurred, where they were within 200-300m of each other, towards the end of the show. Police investigations are so shallow.
2 Fast 2 Furious-Tokyo Drift - starring Lucas Black, Shad 'Bow Wow' Gregory Moss, Nathalie Kelley, Sung Kang & Brian Tee. A US guy notorious for his bad behaviour on the road with his car has been sent to Japan to stay with his enstranged father, a military man. In Tokyo, he befriended an American guy who introduced him to underground world of drift racing. In his first race, he challenged the Drift King who has ties with the local Yakuza (not that he knew since he's new in Tokyo). His borrowed car was badly damaged and he was indebted to this car owner. He continued his friendship with this car owner who taught him about drifting at the same time. Unknowingly, he fell for the Drift King's gal. The Drift King has ties with the local Yakuza. In the end, the hero has to face off stake with the Drift King, with the loser leaving Tokyo for good.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Miami Vice, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tokyo Drift

"SEPET" the Movie

If you could recall the local Malaysian movie production of "Sepet" relating to one Chinese boy going after the heart of one Malay girl. Seems that the famed producer, Yasmin Ahmad, didn't budge even though she was urged, both directly and indirectly, to stop messing about with our "culture" and start preserving it. Granted, the demands were made mostly by people of questionable intellectual agility. But one must be fair, mustn't one, and give all suggestions due consideration.

Yasmin, after giving a thought to it for 2 whole seconds laughed over it. Below is the multi-racial cast and crew members of Sepet:-
* Yasmin Ahmad: Indonesian + Japanese.
* Executive Producer, Rosnah Kassim: Malay + Chinese.
* 1st Assistant Director, Pete Abdullah: Chinese + Malay.
* Editor, Affandi Jamaludin: Malay + Indian.
* Producer, Rayyan Harris: Malay + Chinese + Portuguese + English.
* Production Assistant, Harris Zeka: Indonesian + Arab + Chinese.
* Production Assistant, Pipi: Malay + Chinese.
* Talent Coordinator, Zila: Indonesian + Chinese.
* Assistant Art Director, Jie Suria: Malay + Thai.
* Continuity, Hashim: Arab + Indonesian.
* Assistant Continuity, Aegi: Chinese + Malay.
* Props Assistant, Simon Langi: Iban.
* Make-up Artist, Hadthim Tai: Thai + Bengali + Malay.
* Wardrobe Stylist, Shahrom: Thai + Malay.
* Gaffer, Anuar Kingkong: Malay + Indian.
* Still Photographer, Adam Ariel Tunguia: Filipino + Kadazan + Chinese.
* The hero of the film members: Mohd Syafie Naswip: Malay + Arab.
* The heroine: Sharifah Aryana Syed Zainal Rashid: Bengali + Chinese + Arab + Malay.

And there you have it. Quite possibly the most racially impure production cast and crew you're ever likely to meet at any given film set or location.

Dr Jemilah Mahmood, founder and President of MERCY Malaysia, and to Yasmin's mind the greatest woman ever to walk on Malaysian soil, would proudly announce to anyone who cared to listen that she was born of a Malay father and a Chinese mother. A regular "Sepet" baby, you might say.

To me, this is MALAYISA, TRULY ASIA, the theme broadcasted by the Tourism Ministry's overseas' advertisement. And if you click at Sepet's website, just look at the credentials the movie has obtained.
Tags: Movie, Cinema, Sepet, Malaysia, Multi-Racial

Final Destination 3 / She's The Man / Date Movie

Final Destination 3 – starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Ryan Merriman. Personally I would have preferred FD 2 more. Same basis where a girl could feel/sense that something would go wrong on a roller-coaster ride. A number of passengers got off after her berserk scary behaviour. The accident really did happened. Thereafter, those who got off the roller-coaster ride at the last minute were experiencing scary death one by one. The main actress with her close friend have to catch up with the people that left the ride due to her before death gets to them. Not a horror movie but eerie death.

She’s The Man – starring Amanda Bynes & Channing Tatum, a college girl’s soccer team was taken off the list of activities from the college. At the same time, the soccer team’s captain was to stand-in for her twin brother at another college (in case got thrown out due to non-attendance). The brother has to leave home to go to London for a concert.

With a similar hairstyle which matched her brother’s, nobody recognized the difference in them. She switched roles at her college, family activities and brother’s college. Her good soccer skills got her into her brother’s college team. A college beauty fell for “him” and “his” roommate wanted “him” to set up an appointment with the college beauty. And then came the soccer match between her college and her new team. And "he" fell in love for "his" room-mate.

Date Movie – starring Alyson Hannigan & Adam Campbell, a crazy comedy which involved duplication of other movies into it. It’s a comedy and you must have seen those duplicatd movies to understand the jokes. It’s about this lady who participated in a TV show and won a date with a handsome bachelor. They went through their courting time and got married later on after the bachelor managed to win the heart of the girl’s family.
Tags: Movie, Review, Cinema, Final Destination 3, She's The Man, Date Movie

Jackie Chan & Jet Li

Jackie Chan revealed that an action flick starring Jet Li and himself is nearly a done deal.

If all goes well, shooting will start in March or April in Shanghai. It will be more American-style (Hollywood movie). It will be more suited to foreign audiences than Chinese audiences.

Chan’s immediate project is Rush Hour 3 with Chris Tucker. Shootings will be done in France, New York and further filming in Los Angeles. Rush Hour 3 will wrap by March or April next year.
Tags: Movie, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chris Tucker, Rush Hour 3