Latest Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers trailer Out!!!

Must must must share this with you guys!!! I'm on an LOTR rampage!!! Actually it hit the www yesterday but they were in sucky real video and the only quicktime version was a tiny one. But today, the apple trailers' section carries it and i've got a link here for all you. C'mon, c'mon move it there already! You're wasting trailer watching time! =p Very amazing stuff! Looks like Peter Jackson kept his promise to make The Two Towers darker and more dramatic than the previous installment.

Go here, for the first Two Towers teaser released a few months ago.

Fun-filled Sunday.

Today was so much fun! It kicked off in the morn when I went to watch Reign Of Fire with my dad. When I first heard about the movie in the early stages of its preproduction, the premise fascinated me. By the time I got to see how the film makers were approaching it. I sorta lost interest and the trailer...man..that totally killed it for me. Testosterone overdosage, nu-metal score, special fx consumed, action-packed...it was just too typical Americano Hollywood and I guess that was quite unnerving. But I went anyway since my dad's so hard-up on watching it and I totally watched it without any expectations and it worked. The movie wasn't as bad as I imagined. Haha. There were some intense sequences and wry humour that were at least disarmingly charming to a sometimes disenchanted movie geek, i.e moi..haha.

After the movie, I met up with one of my besties, the one and only Jia! We had lunch at Sakae Sushi at Marina Square cuz I've got a craving for raw seafood on rice. =p After which we went to watch 8 Femmes!! Yes, that movie I had wanted desperately to watch and which was full housed at the current European Union Film Fest. It was amazing! 8 strong, 3-dimensional women characters, they totally ruled the screen for that 2 hours. Francois Ozon's whodunnit parody musical was the foreground for more serious issues concerning womanhood, sexuality, love and ultimately truth. Excellent stuff. I had laughs and provoked thoughts.

Jia and I then decided to go to the nearby Esplanade to check out what's left of the open weekend. It was packed! Felt like the whole of Singapore was there which made us glad. We do love the idea of the Esplanade. A place for the Arts and for everyone to appreciate it. We managed to catch Cesspit, a local band i think who plays reggae music. We checked out the building and its various places except for the concert halls cuz there were super long queues outside. We then walked alongside the bay and we noticed something. They were having this activity where the public was given chalks..all different colours of chalks and encouraged to draw on the pavements in that area! Everyone did it, the kids and there were even fine art students who made masterpieces. So Jia and I got bitten by the bug and we got some chalk from this bubbly girl who was giving them out and we picked a spot to draw something. I figured it'd be cool if we made ourselves a star of fame, y'know...like those found in Hollywood containing the names of celebrities. So we drew our star. It was colourful with our names embedded brightly in it. Haha. After that, Jia had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. She figured it'd be amusing to draw out a chalk figure, y'know...like the ones u can find at a crime scene on television to pinpoint where the victim's body lay? It was awkward just drawing it out of nothing so Jia decided to model for it! She just dropped to the floor and lay in a strategic position and I outlined her body with a chalk. Hahaha. It was funny and passers-by just stopped and observed what we were doing. The figure on the ground looked pretty good. =) Went home after that to my waiting telly and watched Crime and Punishment in Surburbia on Star Movies. 3 movies, Esplanade and pavement drawing...my kinda Sunday. =)

Warner Bros' Huge Mistakes.

Some of you might have read the article in Strait's Times Life section today about the new Superman movie that is apparently greenlighted. I heard about it a week or so ago but I dismissed it as totally unconfirmed. I mean Keanu Reeves as Clark Kent...c'mon... I heard about the Superman vs. Batman movie I blogged about sometime ago being somewhat put on hold but I didn't think it'd be shelved(if whatever Life reports is really true). Now if studio execs at Warner is giving the Superman vs. Batman script(which close observers of the industry and extreme cinephiles tout as terrific) a pass and settling for another which movie geeks and Superman fans read and abhorred, then the Warner bigwigs are just being plain stupid. I think they should clean the dollar muck from their eyes and really listen to what the fans and script readers have to say.

I'm a huge fan of Darren Aronofsky so naturally I wasn't very pleased to find out Brad Pitt left the production of The Fountain only a few weeks before filming was to begin. I got to read the full angry letter from the crew and I totally agree with them about Pitt putting a lot of folks out of work and how he wasn't responsible to the project and the art as a whole. What Life didn't mention was that Pitt chickened out. The script was something bold, different, personal and consequently unconventional but great. Warner Bros was also nervous about investing in it so when Pitt left, it gave them opportunity to stop production. Aronofsky really needed Pitt because he was a good enough actor with a big enough name to assure Warner that the film can pull in the mainstream crowd. When Pitt left, Warner didn't help at all by refusing to entertain Aronofsky's list of other actors he felt could fill in the role instead and also some of the actors are unavailable at such short notice. Apparently, a more conventional plotted script dropped on Pitt's lap, Trojan, which is the adaptation of Homer's The Iliad. He might take on the role of Achilles. From what I heard, after the whole Fountain hoo-haa, Aronofsky ain't too pleased with Pitt's deeds. I think it's not very smart on Pitt's part...to piss off a director whom I feel could be and will be one of the greatest...

Ack, let's get all this unpleasantness out of the way. It's the weekend, hurray! What are you guys are up to? Just last Sat when I went to GV Grand to get my tix for the European Union Film Festival, 8 Women was sold out and I was totally bummed because it was the film I was looking forward to the most in the film fest. Imagine the tickets just went on sale on the thursday prior to that weekend and a couple of movies including 8 Women, Italian For Beginnners, Jump Tomorrow and Saint-Cyr were almost or are full housed by last Sat. The cool thing is GV Grand and GV Marina are having sneak previews and extra screenings of 8 Women and I got the tix yest!! So i will be catching it this weekend after all!*excited* Buahahahaha!...*ahem* European Union Film Fest began yesterday but opens to the public today.

Next month, there will be the French Film Fest which promises to be the biggest with 28 films in its list. It looks really good too with several categories that include the women directors' selection, drama, comedies, thriller/film noirs, prestige screening and there's even the Francois Ozon Retrospective. Something to go for if you guys want some alternatives rather than the usual Hollywood fare. Have a good one pple! Peace and out... =)

Eventful Tuesday.

I had an eventful day yesterday...well, more so than my usually mundane life. =p Bummed around for a bit in the morning before it really kicked off at 2p.m. Watched S1M0NE. I really like the concept and the ideology behind this film and it presented great potential but the plot just doesn't do it for me. It turned out like The Truman Show where the plot doesn't do the philosophy justice. Then met up with Eileen for dinner and a chat after which we went to The Esplanade to just look-see. The building is amazing and the new library there is so snazzy. There's such a beautiful view of the bay from there and I can't wait for it to officially open for performances. Already bought tix for the London Philharmonic orchestra and Faust. Heh. Then, we moved on to the Substation at Armenian Road. I had wanted to attend the Screenwriters' Talk: Tuesday Series organized by the Singapore Screenwriters Association and The Substation. I don't think I've talked about my love for writing and scriptwriting much because I tend to be very personal about that. And quite embarassed to really show my friends what I've written although I wouldn't have much difficulty talking to close friends about a couple of ideas I have. Maybe because I think I suck at it! =p haha. Eileen was kind enough to want to accompany me. You da best, grrl! =) And luckily she found it interesting too. The venue was a small classroom on the 2nd level and since Eileen and I were a little early, we got reasonable seats while more and more people and I guess would-be writers and film makers and even some amateur ones walked in.

Yesterday's speaker was Wee Li Lin for the topic of writing a short film. Not sure if you guys have heard of her but I read about her some time ago in the Straits Times. She's a Visual Arts graduate from Brown University(whoa!) and she's made several short films. She's one of the calibre short/independent film makers of Singapore with a Singapore International Film Fest Best Director award under her belt for Norman On Air which we got to watch yesterday. I particularly like another short called "Another Guy" and her latest one Holiday starring Adrian Pang. She talked and explained her personal method of working on her scripts and directing and producing them. She's worked with mediacorp before and has some really famous friends but I'm impressed and glad that she's so down to earth and disarmingly funny. So although about 30 or more of us were cramped in that sardine can of a classroom with the aircondition busting up on us, we were thoroughly informed and entertained. She opened herself to questions from the audience and it became more interactive. All in all it was a good talk and I came away more enlightened and kinda inspired for something I already adore. I came home to The Practice and Boston Public too. =p The next screenwriter's talk I'll be attending, yes with Eileen too ;), is next month, with the famed CheeK speaking about writing for a feature film. In case you aren't really sure, he's the guy behind Chicken Rice Wars(which actually won an award at the Toronto Film Fest) and he's also currently the vice-president of network editorial strategy at MTV Asia. Can't wait for that! =)

Recommend film of the moment: Monsoon Wedding directed by Mira Nair.

Reality Bites?

*sniffle and sobs* Ally McBeal ended its run with the series finale just past Tuesday. And I think Gilmore Girls had its season's conclusion too considering The Practice and Boston Public return next week. *sniff* Oh well, 2 doors close and another 2 open. =) All hail good prime time TV...*kow tow* Finally TCS 5 is airing Smallville. We're like a year late as usual. For those of you who're unsure, Smallville chronicles the day to day life of Clark Kent, aka Superman as a teen. Caught an episode while I was vacationing in Brisbane and it's pretty entertaining. Word has it that it was a sleeper hit in the US. Another critically acclaimed programme I watched while I was in Oz was 6 Feet Under. Heard about it when it emerged victorious at last year's Emmy's. I think HBO is gonna showcase it so for those of us who got HBO, "awright, duuuudes!" muahaha.

This is Kristin Kreuk, an upcoming actress who portrays Lana Lang, the object of Superman's affections in Smallville. Pretty ain't she? She's actually half chinese and half dutch quite to my surprise. As I watched that episode of Smallville in Oz, I was floored by her perfect beauty...for all of 5 seconds, before I started absolutely hating her!! Damn these chio bus...buahaha.

Television, Art imitating life...so where does reality tv stand? Survivor: Thailand begins tomorrow too not forgetting Amazing Race hitting the idiot box soon. The latent voyeur in me shall rise again! =) *rubs hands in anticipation* More bitching and back stabbing. buahaha.

Speaking about the thin line between reality and fiction... here are some flicks that toy with the border.

Interview with the Assassin- Hitman. Assassination. John F Kennedy. Just a gist of what goes on in the in the intriguing conversation in this excellent trailer. =)

Gang Tapes- This is Blair Witch meets the hood. A 13 year old gang member unveils the nit and grit of his life and his violent ghetto environment through a digital video cam which he chanced upon after highjacking and stealing a car.

Shanghai Ghetto- This is a documentary about two holocaust survivors who bring us on a journey to a Jewish ghetto in Shanghai, China where German Jews ran to during WW2 to escape the Nazis. But instead they got embroiled in severely poor conditions of poverty and disease.

Interesting piece of news... Have any of u guys caught The Eye from sometime ago? Guess what. It was screened at The Toronto Film Fest recently and Tom Cruise attended it. He liked the film so much, he has bought the remake rights to it. Who'd have thought, eh? =)

I'm bored, bored, bored. It started as a stay-in Saturday and threatened to play out like the day before. The last time I was out of the house was on Thursday when Eileen and I had lunch and caught The Bourne Identity. I lurve Matt Damon. Was a pretty entertaining movie but didn't quite hit the spot. And leave it to Eileen once again to save me from the dark abyss of non-activity by asking me to dinner tonight. Haha.

My date with The Man Who Wasn't There.

Like many people, I first took huge notice of Billy Bob Thornton in his Oscar winning turn with Sling Blade. He seemed like a quiet oddball then before all his eccentricities and the high profile dump(of Laura Dern) and run(with Angelina Jolie) were blown into hyperbolic weirdo-ism. Perhaps he really is unusual what with his various phobias and a unique take on life. He has even admitted to going insane twice in his life before in his conversation with James Lipton on last night's episode of In The Actor's Studio. And what perfect timing too for that episode to be aired after having caught The Man Who Wasn't There last Tuesday. I enjoyed his performances in Bandits and Pushing Tin and I regret not being able to watch Monster's Ball during its run here. But another huge factor that pulled me to The Man Who Wasn't There and perhaps even completely is that the film is the brainchild of the dynamic writing/directing duo, Ethan and Joen Coen, known collectively as the Coen brothers, those geniuses of screw ball comedy, the trojan horse of mondo bizarro...

What struck me about The Man Who Wasn't There was the downplay of the Coen silliness and the up on the dramatic. Humour is still evident and there were moments when the signature Coen bizarreness takes over. But the Coens' foray into a more concentrated dramatic mode circa the genre of film noir is intriuging. The film is in black and white and subtly stylish. Thornton portrays Ed Crane, a laconic barber who seems to grudgingly accept the passivity fate has dealt him with a mundane life. A possible venture into a lucrative business in dry cleaning opened an opportunity for him to walk out of his meagre existence. Thus, in need of 10 000 bucks cash, he proceeded to black mail his wife's boss(James Gandolfini) whom he suspected to having an affair with her(Frances McDormand). Unexpected and serious turns ensue. I feel that Ed Crane is one of the most fascinating characters in cinema history to date. And Thornton executed his performance with finesse. He narrated a lot, spoke little but exuded a wealth of expression with body and facial language. Arguably his most insightful role since Karl Chiders in Sling Blade. He indeed becomes the Man Who Wasn't There, a ghost of a person, a silent phantom in our tangible world who goes on a quest to prove his own existense to everyone else and perhaps most importantly, to himself.

Heads up, this is one mother load of a movie. It's film noir, crime, black comedy, court room drama, alien intrigue all rolled into a whirlwind. Yeap, leave it to the Coen brothers... =)

Uber cool trailers of the day...

Shekhar Kapur's The Four Feathers. Apple.com has put up some clips from the much anticipated colonial epic. Made up of a strong, young cast of Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson and Wes Bentley. I'm definitely looking forward to this one after Kapur's previous period drama, Elizabeth. Check these clips out and the trailer, you'll know what I mean... ;)

Interview with the Assassin-This one is totally interesting, it has generated strong movie geek buzz since its release on the internet sometime ago, dunno if you guys have heard about it or even seen it but I thought to just link it up anyway. When you guys view the trailer, be sure to listen attentively to the conversation exchanged.

Journey on the Road to Perdition.

I was a little teeny-weensy anxious before I went to watch Sam Mendes' latest offering Road to Perdition. As I followed the course of its production for close to 2 years, I guess I've been thoroughly impressed with the kind of commitment Mendes had devoted to this film even more so because the movie is an adaptation of the famed DC graphic novel of the same title written by Max Allan Collins and illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner. Normally comic book adaptations are high on action and low on emotion, therefore with the appointment of Mendes, who is known to be emotionally and psycologically adept when it comes to his work and the casting of character actors like Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law and Stanley Tucci, it got this movie geek totally psyched. Hyping about something has its perks and dangers and one of the most revered consequence of hype is the huge juggernaut that can bruise, maime and finally destroy a reasonably good film. Hence we arrive once again at my sense of mild trepidation.

But lo and behold my fears have come to nothing! Yes folks, I love Road to Perdition! My faith in this film has not gone to the bin! I don't haveta go for movie redemption and stay off films for 2 weeks(like i promised to 2 blog entries back). tee hee! oh wait...I've yet to watch Monsoon Wedding...grumble... By now, you guys must be quite familiar with the plot of Road to Perdition right? With me going on and on and on(X100) abt it. So I'll just get to what made me continue to champion it. The actors are amazing and they conveyed the spirit and message of the film more than effectively. Too bad there's too little of Stanley Tucci. Tom Hanks is the meloncholic hitman, Michael Sullivan who works out of loyalty and duty. Paul Newman is the powerful businessman who has to deal with being a brutal mob boss and a father. Jude Law, still looking good despite his attempts to transform himself into an unkempt criminal, is Harlen Maguire, another assassin who doubles as a criminal photograher for a cover. Tyler Hoechlin as Michael Sullivan, Jr was competent as the boy who's fraught with grief, guilt and an all encompassing love for his father.

I guess what really mattered most in the film is the dynamics between actors/characters particularly Micheal and Mike, Jr; John Rooney and son, Connor Rooney. The film portrays the relationship between fathers and sons; parent and child. It's quite obvious that the relationship between Michael and Mike, Jr which is developing and growing serves as a foil to the one between the Rooneys which is deteriorating throughout the film. But what touched me the most is the underlying message that a parent will and should put family first before loyalty to others no matter how close one is to that other. Michael Sullivan gives his all to protect his child, and so does John Rooney, eventhough their methods invloved sacrificing lives, ties and even honour. Therefore the pun of the title. Perdition is the name of a town where Sullivan and his son are headed. Perditon also means eternal damnation. The journey that Sullivan has to take in order to exact vengeance which brings him further into the underbelly of society will lead him to damnation but the sole purpose of protecting his son from all the evils of his world and even from becoming a man such as himself, ultimately becomes his salvation.

Speaking about awesome films in production...at the moment, this movie geek is hyping about a cool, little project in development for about a year already. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, also based on a graphic novel, centres around the Britain in 1898 of an alternate reality. An anti-gravity element has been stolen and a team of agents are required to recover it and solve the myteries surrounding its theft. But what makes this film so interesting are the agents who make up this league because they include:
Ms Mina Murray(think Bram Stoker*huge grin*)
Mr Allan Quartermain(some kinda miner, y'know.*wink*)
Captain Nemo(he's into deep oceans and fought a giant squid once.*teehee*)
Dr Henry Jekyll(has a close friend named Hyde.*double wink*)
Dr Hawley Griffin(made see-thru into a fashion statement.*smilez*)
Dorian Gray(he's a famed pretty boy.)
Readers out there, you'd find these peeps quite familiar, yes? *nudge nudge*
Cool movie to look out for in the summer of 2003.

Staying in again today and it's driving me nuts! Luckily Eileen accompanying me out tom, u're awesome Eileen!! =) Wish I'm passing the time @ film fests. The 59th Venice Film Fest wrapped up screenings last night and right now The Toronto Film Fest is going on. I need to be there! Sobs! Anywayz, till the next madness, peace and out.

Ghouls And Drama.

Last Saturday, me and a buddy Lou(anna) attended a play which a mutual pal, Jo, worked on at LaSalle-SIA college of the arts. It was called Let The Balloons Go...I think and it was quite well done. The future in theatre looks good. Quite intense and the actors were pretty talented. Note that the folks acting and producing are the students with some guidance from their lecturers of course. Anyway, the production ended at 9pm thereabouts and after chatting with Jo for a bit, we left the school at about close to 10. While I was hanging out with Lou and Jo outside the theatre, everything was peachy keen and I was having a good time. Then as Lou and I were leaving, we walked into a relatively quiet alley flanked by two long cabins of empty classrooms and there was a big tree right smack in the middle of the path. It was strange and I couldn't explain why but I hated walking through that alley. Maybe it was indeed too quiet for my liking but it's uber weird how I felt fine one minute and the next when I walked into it without consciously noting that things were a little more silent, I felt awful...like I needed to get out of there fast. The "flight" mechanism started kicking in. I'm not sure if Lou felt it too. I didn't dare ask her there and then and I didn't get to later either. I just chatted as per normal and walked with her like as if nothing's bothering me but I so needed to get out there fast. So I shrugged that twilight-zonesque moment aside until I met up with Jo just this past Tuesday evening and she mentioned that LaSalle is badly haunted. Eeks, u guys can imagine how the lil' hairs on the back of my neck just stood on ends. And she told me how that very path I walked through is one of the "infested" zones. The big tree which I found really creepy and in the middle of the path is said to be inhabited by a...I don't even dare say it...well, it starts with the letter "p". Double eeks! Yeah, I'm aware that some of you will be incredulous when it comes to these things. There're many folks who don't believe that ghosts, ghouls, demons and the like exist. And that's really fair enough. But for Jo and I, we keep an open mind to begin with when it comes to matters that lie beyond human comprehension. And moreover, we both have had close brushes with the supernatural before so for us, there are several possibilities. She then proceeded to tell me what goes on, ghoulish wise, in the school. Man oh man...creepy stuff I tell ya.

Speaking about creepy, last week I completed a novel by Sandman writer, Neil Gaiman called Coraline. It is basically literature for youngsters but that doesn't stop adults from enjoying Gaiman's masterful storytelling. Coraline is about an adventurous little girl who moved with her parents to a huge house which doubled as flats and has 21 windows and 14 doors. 13 of the doors open and close but the last one is locked and leads only to a brick wall...until one day when she opened it herself and found a passageway to the other side. What lies beyond is another flat kind of resembling her own but it's actually different. Things seem amazing and way more interesting than her normal, mundane life at first...like with toys that move for instance. But soon the truth of the other place reveals itself as its denizens want to change and keep her forever. Coraline must thus use her inherent courage and wits to save herself from this alternative life. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel despite its simplistic language(targeted toward the young ones). Like J.K Rowling, Neil Gaiman has a talent for storytelling and that always scores an ace with me. Coraline has that conventionally well developed plot working for it, y'know..the beginning, the protagonist, the antogonist, the middle, the crisis, the climax and the resolution. And that usually gets the nods from most peeps. But I guess it's the world Gaiman has woven and the delectably twisted imagery and concepts that snared my interests from the moment I picked it up. A pretty good read about that latent adventurer in all of us and in a world where we seem to get everything we could possibly want, we can't appreciate the good things without experiencing the bad. And how after every adventure, we will always return home, the one true constant of our lives.

Speaking about adventure, this is a very nifty trailer of Guy Ritchie's newest flick, Swept Away which is a remake of an older Italian film. Looks pretty interesting and I enjoyed Snatch tremendously...vere is the diamond...muahahaha. *ahem* Get swept away, here.