Movie Review: The Flowers Of War

Wikipedia image



Can't believe this movie just started showing on South African cinemas recently.

 

A friend lent me a copy of this movie a few months ago, knowing that I loved watching fascinating Chinese-themed movies. The film top-billed an English actor, Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises), so it perked my interest.

 

The Flowers of War is a historical drama war film set in 1937 during the height of the second Sino-Japanese War. It follows the story of John Miller, a mortician sent to Nanjing (Nanking) to bury the head father of a school convent there, but then is caught amidst the war. He seeks refuge at the convent, pretending to be the dead priest. Together with a group of innocent schoolgirls and flamboyant prostitutes, they formulate an escape plan. And although the ending seems hopeful, it leaves a very bitter aftermath.

To say I was moved would be an understatement. After watching the movie, I researched and found that The Flowers of War was directed by the renowned Chinese director, Zhang Yimou. He was also the same director who made other thought-provoking movies like Raise The Red Lantern, Hero and House Of Flying Daggers.

I spent another 4 hours surfing Wikipedia for anything I could find about the "Rape of Nanjing" (or Nanking). I don't know if most of the articles I've read were factually true or false, but it brought me to my core. The hardship that the Chinese people suffered during the wars with Japan was undeniable.

So if you're sorta in the mood for a dark-themed movie, try this one out.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

From Wikipedia



I think I may have fallen into the trap again.

A few years ago, when I first heard of the Twilight series, I did not think that I would be affected so much. However, after watching the first Twilight movie, I was suddenly overcome to buy the whole series on paperback. It took me a week to finish the 4 books. By the time the second Twilight movie came out, I had the whole story embedded on my head.

Of course, I wouldn't say that I'm a Twi-hard fan. I just had a mild obsession after watching the movie. I occasionally get these teenage symptoms. No biggie. Although I think it might cause some alarm to say that I am almost middle-aged and I'm still getting these tendencies. LOL.

 

This past weekend, the family decided to rent The Hunger Games on DSTV BoxOffice. I must admit, I was quite impressed. It's not the greatest film I've seen and I did find the ending slightly disappointing (I think they were prepping the movie for the sequel)...but it certainly has captured my imagination enough that I want to go on and read the books. I have even already gotten the electronic version of the whole series.

Set in the future where two tributes from each of the twelve districts are selected to fight to the death on live television. The story revolves around Katniss Everdeen (captivatingly portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence) who volunteered to become a tribute to take her younger sister's place. Joined by the male tribute from her district, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson in real life, who reminded me so much of Dash Incredible), Katniss and Peeta travel to the Capitol to train with Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) before the match.

And the day finally arrives and the Games begin. One by one, the tributes fall. The movie evolves into almost like a "Running Man" feel (If you're as old as me, you'll remember that old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie).

Without giving away too much, the film is one of raw emotions, inner strength and undeniable bravery. For me, Katniss really stood out like a female gladiator in this live-or-die arena.

I can't wait to dig my way into the book series! And hopefully, by the time the second movie instalment comes out (which I'm sure it will), I would have all the words off by heart.

In the words of the movie: May the odds be always in your favour!

Movie Watch: Ip Man 2

You knew this was coming, didn't you?

I've always looked at sequels as a mere shadow of the original. And after all the praises that I recently showered on Ip Man, you'd think that I couldn't inundate much more on its sequel. Indeed, I never thought I could offer more myself. Until I saw Ip Man 2.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it was better than the original. But both films are definitely on par with each other. There is a slight feeling of glamour on the second one as the connection to Bruce Lee is highlighted slightly at the end of the movie.

Ip Man 2 follows Yip Man and his family's hardship as they try and settle in Hong Kong after fleeing from China. To make ends meet, Yip Man decides to open a martial arts school teaching the Wing Chun discipline. He is challenged by the local martial arts masters to pass an initiation process, where he shows his excellent ability to fight.

Because of this, Yip Man slowly gains respect. He becomes friends with the head of the local master, Hung. During a friendly match however, a British boxer named The Twister, challenges Hung to a fight and kills him. Yip Man moved by this, steps up to the plate and accepts a challenge to fight the Twister. The ending is expected, Yip Man once again proves that Wing Chun prevails all.

I especially loved the fight scene when Yip Man was on initiation. They did the fight on a round table and they were not allowed to step off the table. It was really a spectacular martial arts masterpiece when it came to choreography. (Which I found out later on that Sammo Hung directed).

So definitely another film to add to your weekend viewing.

Movie Watch: Ip Man

I remember my eldest's first reaction when I told her that I had bought this DVD. "IP Man? Is this movie about an IT guy? Something similar to The Social Network?"

If you had any such idea akin to my eldest above, rest assure that Ip Man is not some hacker trolling the internet. Take it out of your mind now. Ip Man is wonderfully written and if you watch it with an open mind, it will even surprise you.

The movie has been in circulation since 2008. But I only stumbled upon the movie recently when a Chinese friend recommended that we watch it. I was not the least bit skeptical in purchasing my own copy of the movie because most of the Chinese movies that I've watched with my family have not failed me yet. They've enjoyed most of the movies even if they could not understand a single word said and could only follow the subtitles.

Ip Man is an autobiographical look at the life of Yip Man, a martial arts grandmaster who later became the mentor of the famous Bruce Lee. The movie follows Yip Man's life in China and the hardship that followed during the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. He uses his knowledge and mastery to survive and in the end, after defeating a Japanese leader in a public martial arts fight, he gave hope to the Chinese people to break free from the abuse of the Japanese.

The storyline seems simple enough but it is beautifully portrayed and narrated. Donnie Yen, a Hong Kong actor, represented Yip Man with such subtlety. His mannerism, poise, in fact, his whole demeanor depicted that grandmasters do not need big muscles to be great men.

The DVD I had did not come in English and was only available in Cantonese with English subtitles. But you know what? The family enjoyed it. Hubby was really blown away with all the action scenes.

So if you want a night in and a good movie, go and borrow this DVD at your local rental shop now. You won't regret it.

See my post about the sequel here.

Movie Watch: Let Me In

PHOTO BORROWED

Beware: Written for pure enjoyment and spoilers are included.

I recently spoke about the Box Office and how much of a wonderful innovation it was.

One of the first movies we rented through Box Office was Let Me In. To tell you frankly, I happened to just stumble upon it while looking through the movies that were on offer at Box Office at that time. The movie came highly rated on RottenTomatoes and as I'd been on a rampant lookout for a good horror flick, I thought I'd give it a try. The film does not star popular actors and is off the beaten track when it comes to the horror genre but is definitely highly enjoyable.

I convinced the family by showing them the trailer and although Box Office categorised this movie as a drama, you can clearly gather from the movie trailer that it was definitely not just that.

The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Owen, who leads a lonely life - being bullied in school and neglected by his divorced parents. He then meets Abby, a 12-year-old girl, who recently moved into the same complex that Owen stays in. They form an unusual friendship.

However, Abby and her "dad" lead a secret life. At night, Abby's dad would go out and kill local residents to collect blood for Abby, who is actually a vampire. One night, the attempted abduction of a victim goes wrong and Abby's dad is captured by the police. To avoid recognition and a possibility of a connection back to Abby, he poured acid on his face. Later in the hospital, when he is visited by Abby, he encourages her to kill him.

Abby is left all alone now to fend for herself. One night while out with Owen, she shows her vampiric self when Owen suggests that the two do a blood pact together. Once calmed, Owen confronted Abby where she admitted that she was indeed a vampire. Owen also discovers that Abby's dad was not her dad at all but was actually a man that Abby knew since he was a boy.

Towards the end of the movie, Abby comes back and saves Owen from the school bullies that have been hounding him. Owen accepts Abby for who she is and runs away with her.

The film was very haunting and very sad in the end, knowing that Owen's life and fate would turn out, most probably, like Abby's "dad".

If you haven't seen this and are in the mood for some mental scaring, this is definitely worth the watch.

Let me in...and tell me what you think.

Novice Blogging - Note #29 (Paid-For Contents)

So if you do get the offer and you have to do it, what do you write about when it is a paid-for content?

Most of the product reviews I've done in the past were not really paid-for contents. They were really just my own personal opinion. But I think if I do get an assignment to review a product, I would not have much choice but to write my own thing about it.

On my very first paid-for content recently, I was just asked to mention the products presented on a post, which I did, and add the website links, which I did. It was as easy as that.

Of course, I can see that writing about products and items not relevant to your blog might just become a bit of a problem. However, Blogsvertise is there to eliminate most of these kinds of issue. They will only link advertisers with bloggers of a specific interest. Meaning assignments for baby products will mostly be sent out to mommybloggers, and so on and so it goes.

If you are wanting to try your hand with a bit of advertising on your side, this is something that can easily be set up and attempted. Nothing too fancy and nothing too complicated.

Try it and see.

Novice Blogging - Note #28 (Business in Blogging)

Funny that the first thing that comes to mind at this very moment is that unforgettable scene in the movie Jerry Maguire, where Jerry Maguire (played wonderfully by Tom Cruise) is screaming into the phone, "Show me the moneeyyyyy!!!!"

And with blogging, it probably works very much the same. Most bloggers normally make money writing product reviews and selling ad spaces on their websites.

Although my main intention for starting my blogs have not been of financial nature, I must admit that it did cross my mind to make monies of it several times, after reading some of my fellow bloggers' comments and posts about it.

I've recently dabbled on this side of blogging when I registered both my blogs on Blogsvertise, a website specialising in connecting advertisers to bloggers.

Also recently, I got my very first review assignment, wherein I was asked to write anything about the products I was presented. I was thrilled! I set to work immediately and published my post the very same day.

Afterwards, I submitted my entry to Blogsvertise for approval and within 2 days, the post was approved. Weeeeh! My very first money-making post. I was really chuffed.

So, I am pretty sure that if any of you, my fellow novice bloggers out there, are thinking of mixing business and blogging, that there is really some serious money to be found.

Ka-ching to us all!

Ahoy There! Part One...

What a day! What a day! And what a wonderful production and performance!

This year, my employer treated some of us, employees, and our families to go watch and experience a pantomime production as a year-end function. One of many functions before the year closes, I hope.

The setting: The Mandela @ the Joburg Theatre.

The show: Robinson Crusoe and the Carribean Pirates.

It was mostly for the kiddies but the show was really fantastic, even by adult standards. The cast and crew were magnificent with their performances. Main casts included some well-known South African actors like Marc Lottering, Carlo McFarlane and Kim Engelbrecht. They sang and danced to up tempo songs and converted some modern tunes to suit the storyline. Very nicely done.

Without giving much of the storyline away, the show follows the adventures of Robin Lottalove aka Robinson Crusoe (McFarlane), son of Lolly (Lottering) and brother of Bobin (Engelbrecht). After the mayoress’ daughter, Primrose Petal (played by SA beauty Tanya van Graan), was kidnapped by the evil Beelzebub, Robin and his family set off to save her!

Special mention should be made of Marc Lottering, who was absolutely hilarious in his role as Lolly Lottalove. He simply brought the house down with his antics and dialogues. The role kinda reminded me of John Travolta’s role in the movie Hairspray. Very different  but very convincing.

The stage sets were fully amazing as they changed scene by scene….it almost felt like watching in 3D without the glasses :-)

The family’s assessment were as follows:

Hubby: Performance by all was good. He was amazed with how quick the stage changed with each scene.

Eldest: It was fine. It was okay. The singing was really, really good.

Youngest: It was nice. She became very excited when the strobe lights came down the stage and caused some sort of fireworks.

Me: Needless to say, I was mesmerized by the whole thing. I am just showing off a bit of my naivete of theatre productions. Bravo, I say!

The production will still be at the Joburg Theatre until January 2, 2011. For time and seat availability, book at Computicket.

Disclaimer: This review was written with no other special consideration received from the Joburg Theatre or any individual connected with the production. Our show tickets were solely provided for by my employer.

A Partial Take On The Mecer

Here’s the newest addition to our home.

Our desktop computer recently packed up when the motherboard blew up. So we decided to upgrade and replace the old desktop with a new notebook – the Mecer W765THQ.

The notebook looks snazzy on the outside with its black shiny finish. However, my hubby complains that when you open the notebook up it does not look as nice and modern as it should. In a lot of ways, the interior feel is very old fashion, much like old notebooks. The mouse pad is outlined and the keyboard spacing is too far apart. I teased my hubby that when he types, he’d have to shape his fingers into a high-five to get all the letters in, haha!

But for an “ancient” notebook, it does carry some nifty features that are relevant and current. It packs a 15.6” screen, on-board webcam, microphone, DVD-RW drive and an SD card reader.

Personally, I don’t think it’s any much different from other notebooks nowadays. As long as it does the job, that’s what I always say. Plus the price was not bad at all (around just less than $500 I think) so there’s really not much reason for me to complain. Can’t be expecting a 5-star gadget if I’m trying to be cheap, right?

Anyway, here’s hoping that our newest addition will feel right at home with us.

User's Review on the HTC Wildfire

I might have mentioned previously that I got a new cellphone with my contract. (See blog Embrace The Camera - ETC Goes HTC).

It was really such a toss-up between getting the Blackberry Bold 9700 and the HTC Wildfire, but in the end, I could not get the Blackberry into a cellphone package that I and my pocket both liked so I went on with my other choice, the HTC Wildfire.

Having said this, the HTC Wildfire is not second best by any standards. From what I heard, it is the offspring of the HTC Desire. And if the reviews for the HTC Desire are anything to go by, the HTC Wildfire should also prove to be a great phone with all the right functionalities.

The HTC Wildfire is an Android phone with touch screen, 3G connection and a 5MP camera. Can’t tell you much about the other stuff but I’m sure they are pretty standard with all the other phones (i.e. Calendars, Contacts, Settings, etc. etc.). Oh, and it has a Friends Stream screen where you can get updates from your Twitter and Facebook friends. Not to mention, update your status without computer access. This is serious serial stuff for social network junkies like me.

It is suggested that you get a Google account so it is easier to access other functionalities within the phone. Google Mail is immediately connected. Other stuff like chats (i.e. Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, MXIT, etc.) can be obtained as free widgets through the Android Market. But this is where you’ll need your Google account the most as it requires registration to use the Market.

My complaints are minimal. I would just like to have received a thicker manual to understand the phone better. I couldn’t Bluetooth my contacts and music out of my old HTC to my new one, which is turning out to be a time-consuming exercise. (But I think this has more to do with the old phone than the new one). The touch screen is a bit sensitive and keeps going into camera mode (the camera button is at the bottom right corner of the phone). I suppose all touch screens are like that (I just don’t know how to touch it right?).

I have had my phone for over a month now and am still enjoying exploring. I do not always connect my phone to 3G as I do not want to run up my cellphone bill. I prefer connecting via wi-fi when at home and at work for cheaper options. I must admit that in the family, I am the only one not using a touch screen phone and so, this is all new to me. It is starting to feel like a heavenly experience (almost like devouring a chocolate). You just hover your finger above the phone, and the letter (that you want, or that it thinks you want) jumps out to the fore, like ESP! Lol. (Just make sure the phone doesn’t read your mind too much as it might send SMSes to people you don’t want it to :-) )

The downsides I mentioned previously are inconsequential to this otherwise really excellent phone. I love it! So if you are in the market for a new phone and budget is a bit tight, I highly recommended this!

Disclaimer: If you have reached this line, you must just know that I was not forced in any way by HTC to say any of the things above. Nor was I paid to say nice things. The comments are based on my personal experience with my own HTC Wildfire. And so should be taken as such.

The Place Where Asians Meet

One day, 2 lovely Asians decided to meet up and have lunch after work. And the perfect venue? Simply Asia (Northwold), of course.

I met up with an old friend at this local restaurant recently. Actually, it was not so local to me as I had to travel more than 10kms to get there. Both my friend and I have never been to Simply Asia before. Nevertheless, the food was highly recommended and so we both wanted to try it.

Simply Asia is a Thai-based restaurant offering authentic Thai cuisine (duh!). They have their range of sushi and noodles, as most Asian restaurants do. My friend ordered Gai Pad Med Prik-Phao, which is chicken and cashew nuts with roasted chilli paste. Her order came with rice.

I decided to be adventurous for once with my food and ordered Woon-Sen Pad Gai, which is glass noodles stir-fried with chicken and vegetables in oyster sauce. Heard before that glass noodles were apparently fat-free :-) I was also pleasantly surprised with the size of the bowl my order came in. Wow!

So, the outcome of the eating experience was:

Chicken, nuts and chilli paste - HOT! (This coming from an Indian of course. So on a scale of Curry-ness, this spicy dish is just right.)
Glass noodles with chicken and veg - Actually cooked like vermicelli, slight twist with the nutty taste (nuts for the Chinese nut), although it could be the egg cooked crispily as I see there is no nut on my dish.

Could we pass up the chance to be food critics? I think not!
We could be Trinny and Susannah of the Food World.

Best food comes from Asia? Most definitely! But of course, being Asians, we are both totally biased.

Moviegoer's Review on The Last Airbender

Disclaimer: Read at own risk. This might contain spoilers. No other benefits were gained by the blogger for this review except for entertainment brought on by blogger’s initiative to watch the movie.

There are no other words to say it; the whole family is definite avid fans of the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. We’ve watched the animated series from Book 1 to 3 over and over again.

So being true Aang enthusiasts, I recently took my kids to watch the live action adaptation of The Last Airbender 3D at the cinema.

Although most critics have slammed the movie as being boring and drawn out, I found it good (but then I am no proper critic). It might not have been as great as it should have been but nevertheless the adaptation, most of the time, stayed true to the basic story. My youngest voiced out some differences between the adaptation movie and the animated series. Her most favourite was when Yue (pronounced Yu-wei) decided to give her life back to the spirits. The character, Yue, floated herself in the water and when her spirit left her body, her hair turned black. My youngest is quick to point out that the character is not supposed to do it this way. In the cartoon, the character held the two fish (representing the spirits) and then the character’s spirit left her body and floated to the sky towards the moon. And then she disappeared.

Bringing the kids along, the verdict is:

6¾ year old – good movie but she got a bit restless towards the end. I suppose it was just long for her and it was time for a bathroom break. She is just turning 7 and the movie was a PG10. She did remind us of all the characters’ names when they appeared on the screen so she was attentive enough throughout the story.

14¾ year old – also good but she felt that the story moved a bit too fast. This is of course a natural feeling with adaptations. You can’t cram a whole 10 hours of cartoon series into 2 hours of movie time without doing a fast turn. So yes, the movie did move fast. She was also a bit irritated that they called some of the characters wrong (Aang was introducing himself as a sorta “Ong”, Sokka was called “Soh-Ka”, and Iroh was “E-roh”).

34½ year old (who is acting a bit like a 10 year old) – also good but felt the end part of the movie could have been shot at better lighting. Really, it was just too dark. I actually felt funny inside the moviehouse. Here I am, watching this movie which I felt did not have enough light….and I’m wearing glasses??? I really digged Aang’s eyebrows. He was always shot with one half of his face on the screen and the other half off and so the eyebrows were prominent….to me anyway. I also like the character Yue. So sad her part was so short. She reminded me of a young Denise Richards with white hair.

So, all in all, it was a good outing to a good movie, for kids and kids-who-never-grow-old alike.