The September Issue

The September Issue was OK.

I got what I expected and was happy, but I never really had any special fondness for the real Vogue September 2007 issue despite it being a record breaking biggest issue ever. Exactly, whatever.

I’m sure it has over 840 pages of fashion but honestly, I believe more than 70% of those 840 pages were probably advertisements.

So when the docufilm showed only 1 scene of the Vogue sales team, I thought that was really unfair towards their significant contribution to making the issue what it is.

On the other hand, I was very satisfied to see “first hand” the behind-the-scene production process at Vogue and of course, Anna Wintour. I’ve always been a big fan of Ms. Wintour ever since I found out she was the EIC for my favourite mag, and I loved her even more when I learnt that she inspired the book, Devil Wears Prada. Never really an idol person, but if I had to have one, Anna Wintour would be my one.

The September Issue film satiated my curiosity and more by giving more insights the delightful and fiercely talented Ms. Grace Coddington. I absolutely adore her fashion stories; the details that she show and the attention that she gives to her work are just insanely brilliant.

But besides all that, the film was OK. Stereotypes about the fashion industry are still intact, nothing new and surprising was revealed. I think I was more excited with the trailer than when I walked out from the theater.

Ah-hah!

Glow when you're winning

8 words -- Marion Cotillard is the actress of the year.

I predicted in May 2007 that she will win the Oscars. She has nailed the Golden Globes now can someone please pass her the golden man already...

I'm not there

A film that I’m looking forward to watch is “I’m not there”. The film is a new type of biopic that illustrates the life of iconic singer-songwriter, Bob Dylan, at several different stages.

Why I’m really looking forward to this film is to see Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and Richard Gere portray Bob.

Also looking forward to see if the film can pull of its interesting take or just falls off as an “attempt” at being different.

Grindhouse Vol 1

It all began with the trailer.

Most of the times, trailers are misleading. We see a really cool trailer that either shows a lot of cool scenes or is done in a very unconventional way (sometimes too unconventional that we have no idea what the movie is about) and our chances are that all the good scenes were completely used in the two minutes trailer or the director spent more effort in editing the trailer than the movie.

So when I saw this really awful trailer (watch the trailer here, unfortunately with Dutch sub) about a guy who drives a beat up car with a skull printed on the hood and had the worst toe curling one-liners for exaggeratedly washout blondes who happens to sit at a bar in movie that’s further worsen with the most unoriginal title I ever heard of in a long time (that was before I saw Next), I thought, “Man, where did that come from?”…and continued munching my popcorn.

Not till I realized nearly a month later, that that thought almost became my biggest film mistake.

So a month after I saw that seriously horrible trailer, I was sitting not so innocently at a very seedy but tasty (must be the MSG and Oyster Sauce) Chinese restaurant where a waiter tried to cheat me and my friends by putting two orders in one plate; someone just had to gushed so effusive-ly that she had seen the Lap Dance of all lap dance in a movie call Death Proof. The movie call Death Proof.

This girl who happened to seen Death Proof couldn’t stop ooh-ing and ahh-ing about how the Lap Dance was the ultimo of all lap dance (well excuse me, she didn’t exactly describe it with words), so I decided to expand her impulsive oohs and ahhs into a conversation by probing for more tips about this movie. But mostly wondering why anyone would even bother to watch that film after seeing its trailer and at the same time, why they didn’t show the lap dance in the trailer (Apparently, now that I rewatch the trailer, 1 milisecond of the lap dance is there).

In the next 48 hours after that not so innocent Chinese food incident, my entire internet surfing was dedicated solely to these words: Grindhouse 2007. After that I couldn’t stop talking and preaching to everyone about how ingénue the idea of Grindhouse is, I became an instant (though temporary) Tarantino and Rodriguez (the creators of the films) nerd telling everyone about their bios and their future plans and how incredulously awesome it was for them to not only come up with the idea for Grindhouse but:

1. To exploit the Grindhouse concept
2. To make two films in one
3. To have fictional trailers in between each (and with Nicholas Cage and Danny Trejo no less!)
4. I’m sure there’s more to be listed

Finally after three days of preaching Grindhouse, I finally got me self a ticket to – Death Proof. One half of the Grindhouse set. How disappointing. Apparently, when it came out in the US the ticket sales were below expectations and the rest of the world decided to play is nice and safe and separated the film into two installments. Blasphemy.

What it used to be before it got chopped

Nothing can describe the excitement I felt when the first frame came onto the screen. I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat and had to be pressed down by my husband. The next 127 minutes were orgasmic in a film kinda way. Every scene every frame that unfolds delivers a film treat one after another continuously.

The first half actors were good but I have to agree that yes, I was a bit smitten by Vanessa Ferlito’s performance and that lap dance. Tarantino really knows what he’s talking about when he says pot bellies are sexy - and he shows that damn well by exploiting the sex element in the films. I mean, Vanessa practically set a benchmark for lap dance with just her t-shirt, shorts, slippers and her cute little pot belly.

Pot belly chick to the left.

(Spoilers in this line) And the crash scene – that was so cool. Somehow, seeing Jungle Julia’s leg flying off was just raw. But a bit sad to see lap dance girl go.

The famous leg that constantly exploited throughout the 1st half till it flew off.

The second half worked the film even better with the likes of Rosario Delicious Dawson and Tracie Loud Thoms. Rosario was as beautiful as she always is, though more like a waffle crapper than eye candy. Absolutely lurrve her outfits in the movie too – relaxed yet eccentric and totally exploiting her curves. I did say it was an exploitatious film. While Tracie was just loud as eva with her fuck-me-and-I’ll-up-your-ass wits; though at a good balance of not completely turning off the audience as some actors tend to do.

The ladies struttin' it...

But the star of the second half was definitely hands down Zoë Bell! Starring as herself and just being herself really gave her a difference to the other actors. I know she’s professionally a stunt woman, but you could really see who’s acting and who’s pro-acting during their breakfast scene – either way, the ladies were lovely.

GAWD!! I just realized that I have been such a total DUMBO!! I should most definitely get a double roundhouse kick at my big head for actually forgetting to mention KURT RUSSELL until now!! For that, I will write his name in caps. It was a great idea for Tarantino to give KURT RUSSELL back the true glory of being a total baddie. And even though the all out evil baddie didn’t last through the last few minutes of the film, KURT RUSSELL managed to convince us as an exaggerated everyday stuntman who is a Joe Average with a few nuts loose.

Seriously girls, if you ever see a guy with a skull printed on his car - run for your life. Cos' either he's a psycho or has chronic bad style.

All in all, although I have to wait more than three months after the rest of the world have watched Shrek 3, I can gloat in glee that I managed to watch one of the world’s masterpiece when others might not even have the chance to catch a glimpse.

And maybe…maybe…damn. My goody-alter-ego wishes me to say that it is also a pity that many people might never even hear or come across the existence of such a rare film gem as this. So read it here and read it loud – Grindhouse is a must watch!

YoHoHo...a pussycat GOES!

Coming up....

Nuff said.

La Môme

Breathtaking moments are hard to come by. Great times are hard to come by. Films like La Môme (La Vie en Rose) hardly ever comes by.


And that’s why you need to watch it and you need to watch it now.

La Môme is the French title of the film about the intense and tragically short life of one of those extraordinary singers that appears once in a few lifetimes. Edith Piaf was a household name in the US and the Europe and France’s most loved singer. Her music usually reflected her intense and ill-fated life, which ended shortly after only forty seven years. Her legend continues to live beyond her existence in the likes of her signature song, “La vie en rose” written in 1945 and voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

The film follows closely to Piaf’s struggle, discovery, rose to fame, and her eventual death. Keeping everything so real; so much so that you actually feel the tiny hairs on your back stand just by watching Marion Cotillard flesh out Piaf.

My first encounter with Cotillard came in the form of strange but rather well done arty French film call Innocence. Otherwise, Cotillard has kept herself mostly to the French film society only making her rare English appearance in Hollywood movie “A Good Year” opposite Russell Crowe.

Since noticing Cotillard in Innocence, I was instantly mesmerized by her deep questioning eyes that seem to lead to many mysteries. They appear to search you and question you and even talk to you – despite through camera lenses and severeal film strips! I just knew I had to look her up and read more about her. Yeah, I’m one of those geeks who has their laptop nearby everytime they watch a film (geeks normally watch on DVD or Internet J), just in case we need to google or wiki something out about the film.

But back to La Môme - or Cotillard in La Môme as Edith Piaf or The Sparrow as the title refers to her nickname in French. A sparrow both because of her small physique as well as her throaty yet sad voice that seems to communicate the fragility of the bird.

Cotillard played scarily so well and real that it’s almost emotional to watch such rare performance from actors nowadays! It was like seeing Piaf alive again! Her body movements, her signature expressions, her looks throughout various ages…the makeup artist for this film definitely deserve high appraises as well! Managing to transform Cotillard, who is in her own rights a very beautiful woman, into someone completely different and changing accordingly to age. You could actually believe the woman on screen was Piaf, stricken with arthritis and dying of cancer.


Ahh, but most amazing of all – Cotillard sang every single song herself. Pretending to be singers/dancers/or someone-you-seriously-are-not; is already quite a feat. But trying to act as someone who else who happens to be quite extraordinary in some way, it’s near impossible. But damn! Cotillard can sing! And she sings like Piaf herself!

As you can see, I can most definitely go on and on forever singing about how amazing and near impossibly good the film has been. But I won’t. I won’t allow myself to keep you snagged here as you have a mission to accomplish. Go watch La Môme.

This film undeniably, indisputably, more than likely, should receive an Oscar – if not something better. Maybe two, maybe more. One for coming out as a great film; another for Cotillard for her stellar performance, another for the makeup artist, and maybe one more for the director for putting everything together.

Bravo Edith! Bravo Marion! Bravo Olivier!

Oh yeah, one of Piaf’s song was used in yet another amazing French film, Amelie. Go find out ;-)

If Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny were real...

As a lover of South Park, it's no news that I "stumbled" across them in wiki...and saw this picture of the boys.

I'm not sure what to comment about it. Maybe you start.

Sparta 300

PREPARE FOR 300!!!

Sparta 300 was good. Any girl would tell you that.

A cast that seemed rigidly selected – no abs no role. Every single Sparta man had atleast 6 abs, 6 feet of height, and an absolute epitome of manhood. That was what the film is, not all, but mostly about. Besides the fact that the men were strangely irresistible in their blood red cloaks and brown loin covers.

"What did you say? My loincloth too small?"

"OK lads, look cool now...Oi, flex those abs!"

I thought Gerard Butler played wonderfully as the legendary Leonidas. His powerful masculine voice that growls through the film is simply orgasmic. I wouldn’t mind receiving orders from this man.

Undeniably, the physical attraction element was a bit played out of proportion (explains why all the guys who’ve watched it didn’t like the film). Hey, it's a comic adaptation! But what were also elegantly executed were the battle scenes. The filmmaker tried their best to stay true to the Sparta art of battle though the ending where they all died was rather pathetically intepreted. They obviously died because they didn’t follow the combat tactics that they were supposedly famous for. But alas, they had to die and that was the only way the filmmakers could fantasize it to be.

The splatter expectations were met dutifully (OK, it was a bit soften. Sin City was better). Each splatters were splendidly executed. Oh, and I love those breathtaking leaps that they take before they slice their enemies in halves – top down. The slo-mo, the music (ahhh…I love great film scores!), everything…very powerful! I like.

Simply Balletic!

There were also some somewhat boo-hoo parts in the film. The narrator was successfully the most annoying person in the film and kept that part with his whiny voice. I’m appalled that they didn’t spot that when they cast him in that role. More hilarious was the Brazilian actor who played antagonist Xerxes. 300 aside, Rodrigo Santoro seems to be quite a normal dude (if not dashing as well) outside of the film. But the costume, makeup, and special effects delivered a highly gay, effeminate, whiny, self-centered, psychotic Xerxes. It was quite amusing to actually see Xerxes as a contemporary drag queen who wants everything to be his/her way. Total diva. I couldn’t help but laughed in stifles everytime he appears. Oh, and his freak troupe was exaggerated.

GAY!

SUPER GAY!!

STILL GAY!!














Oohh...and who's this laddie?

SANTORO!!!??? See...I told you.

Otherwise, all in all, I declare this a great girlie flick. If you’ve watched it (regardless of your sexual preference), then good. If you haven’t, it’s a film that must be watch on big screen (seriously, squeezing 300 heavenly men in your puny pc screen?). If you’re miserable and want to save every penny for life’s better good, that’s ok as well.

Oh I forgot. There’s the Oracle factor as a male attraction point.

A year of numbers

- sounds boring.

We (relatively) recently observed the release of 300 and 23; then jumping forward a few more weeks we would have a series of 3’s – Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, and Shrek 3; followed rather swiftly by Harry Potter 5. Oh, and Harry Potter book number 7. Great, maybe then we can save our sanity from going simply crazy over these books.

Numbers have always played a magical role in story telling. The three princesses, the three brothers, the three fairy godmothers, the three witches, the three stooges…you get the idea. Five is probably not far from it either though my 00:27 brain is not entirely up to its optimal processing performance at the moment. I can go on with 7 as in the 7 dwarfs, the 12 princesses…but maybe I should stop before my lack of numerical intelligence reveals more than it should.

In the last 7 days also known as 1 week; I’ve watched two movies with numbers, numberly 23 and 300; both of which I will share duly. Read on.


23 starrs funny man Jim Carrey - sorry, but he just can’t run away with that stigma and neither can his acting unfortunately; as a man who became obsessive and paranoid over the number aforesaid. The film tries to take a conventional approach to paranoia and delivered a conventional twist in this rather stale plot line. Normal man (fatedly) finds interesting book, gets obsess with the story, finds similarity, tries to solve mystery, and then tries to punch you with its lame twist. In fact, it’s not even worth my time writing any recommendation. In short, bad film, waste of money, don’t watch.

Whooo...I can write my name, SPARROW = 23!?

Yar...women and fire, I like!

LAME!

In Pursuit of Happyness

One of the best reasons to watch this film is that Will Smith is starring in it. Then there’s the fact that his own son, Jaden Smith (or Jaden Christopher Syre Smith), is also making his debut as Will’s character’s son. It’s quite obvious isn’t it? Great marketing stint. Then there’s also the lovely and ubertalented Thandie Newton as the wife who left. And finally, an all American feel good plot about how the ones who strive the hardest, gets the fattest reward. And it’s true – it’s practically inspired by a true story of Chris Gardner, self made millionaire and founder of Gardner Rich & Co.

After reading about the film and then watching the trailer, I knew that I had to watch it for all those reasons mentioned above. But mostly, I love watching anything with Will Smith in it – they’re either fantastically hilarious or a good effort to be meaningful – think Prince of Bel Air and Bagger Vance.

Besides, I needed another boost in my work motivation as I’ve pretty much used up the pack that I got from The Devil Wears Prada, where the super work slave gets some fashion bonuses. And Happyness, is definitely a great shot for putting you back in gear for more demanding and near-impossible jobs.

Chris Gardner is a struggling salesman selling the random-est thing of all – high density bone scanner – to doctors who are not smart enough to buy it. In other words, it takes shit loads of convincing and persistence to make any cents out of it. But his wife is not as patient or optimistic as he is and decides to leave the family, entrusting their son to Chris alone. Then Chris lands this ultimate internship with a competitive stockbrokerage firm where he of course is the only candidate who passes and snags the glamorous job as a stock broker, in which he will earn lots of money and live a relatively happier live with his son. (You can read more about the film or book online. Or just go watch the film)

Of course he leads a happier life; anyone would if you’ve been homeless and seriously against all odds – then getting a 6 figure salary (my assumption) out of the sudden will definitely make you happier. Unless you’re slightly “special”.

This film naturally carries lots of values and “moral of the story” elements. It’s a reality slap for all of us who can actually afford that little movie ticket and watch the film that we’re way better off than we think and we’re still very ungrateful little pigs (or cats if you’re a Muslim) as much as we try to count our blessings. We’ve so much in our lives but we’ll never be contented – unfortunately a natural human behavior in order to survive and multiply. Sure, Chris Gardner was not contented either with his former situation and that’s why he strived so hard to achieve something for himself and his son. The film reminded me of how much more effort we could’ve put into our daily lives and our work – and actually make that difference that we’ve always talked about or secretly dismissed. It gave me that much needed boost to be excited about my job again and explore my limits to see that there’s always space for improvement and that I can always be a bit better.

They’re all old values and things that we already know; but it’s still nice to be reminded about it and know that it can actually be done. Otherwise, just take a little time travel back to the prehistoric age and have a chat with the dinos. That will definitely cheer things up or atleast give you a new perspective.

Blood Diamonds

Diamonds are definitely not my best friends. They used too until I saw Blood Diamonds and instantly converted into pearl-enthusiast.

The Blood Diamond would probably be the first film entry that’s going to be positive. In fact, I will say it now that this film is a must-watch, a not to be missed – whatever you call it, you have to watch it.

I nearly didn’t make it to the cinema being a cynic for anything that sounded too ambitious – a story about diamond wars, unrest in an African country, Leonardo DiCaprio as a South African – yeah sure. I was definitely not prepared for what I was going to see, hear, and experience in the next two hours and eighteen minutes that I sat through in the cinema.

Sure I’ve read many stories, articles, and news about the diamond wars and civil wars in several African countries (I’m not generalizing here; I’m just not good in memorizing history details). I’ve seen many pictures of grief, pain, hopelessness, and disfigurements – all the results of this chaos that seized these countries.

And that’s how and why Blood Diamond should not only win the awards but should be watched by many as possible. It’s rare to come by a film that’s actually capable of capturing these details so real and unrefined.

Blood Diamond is a film that not only played out on a wonderfully written plot complete with excitement, suspense, and everything else that a good film needs. But it also played out many significant issues that grip the world today in that so call god forsaken region. Evidently were the diamond wars, child soldiers, conflict diamonds, and so forth. Then there were the underlying but still obvious notes that were laced in the film such as world aid, how people feel or think about the situations, whether to save one live or all, the constant greed and ignorance in the world outside, and how we always take our lives for granted.

All these elements were welded so effortlessly together in the hands of director, Edward Zwick, who did a relatively mediocre job with The Last Samurai. The actors in this film also deserve credits for living their roles so raw and convincing, especially Djimon Hounson. Djimon had a lot of strong emotions in his character (naturally, when you’re estranged from your family in Sierra Leone in 1999) and they were so powerfully expressed by him that you could almost feel the rage and total lost of all humane control when he was trying to protect his son from the rebels and the army.

Leonardo also deserves recognition for his role as a diamond smuggler with a conscience and its fair enough that he should have troubled past (boo-hoo. An easy excuse for the film maker to make him bad? Yes. Although it is quite an overused plot in many films for the bad guy who has a conscience, but this time I will accept it as Leonardo was simply flawless in his role). This is however not the first time I’ve been wow-ed by this wonder boy who emerged from his Titanic days and not being beached. His first wow-ing performance came in the role of Howard Hughes in an overlooked epic film, The Aviator. But that’s another film.

Anyway, instead of wasting more of your time here in this brilliant blog, I think you should grab your wallet now and head out to catch that film. If not, book the tickets online and make a date. It’s time to reduce that ignorance and challenge yourself to see what you’ll probably never witness in your wonderfully blessed life.

A Season of Crap

OK. I have also watched Déjà vu, The Holiday, The Prestige (boy, they’re getting more creative aren’t they?), and unfortunately Eragon too. Nooo…Yes, I did. And I lived through it.

Déjà Vu was better than I thought/expected. Honestly, the only film that I had any speckle of expectation was The Prestige and I will talk about that later. Focus. Denzel Washington has always been good to watch on screen. He has this laid back and very natural way of delivering his lines – like some other great actors do as well. It’s like ballet, the more effortless it is the more mastery it takes and more brilliance you bring to you performance and your audience.

Unfortunately, tsk tsk…the plot was transparent. A plastic bag plot is useless with brilliant actors. Oh yes, Val Kilmer is still great eventhough he was probably only there for a couple of mins. But who can forget his dazzling performance as Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?

Don’t watch if you like excitement and intrigue. Watch if you like time traveling in your panties. Oops, that was a spoiler.

The Holiday. Right. First of all, I need to explain that I’m not really a sucker for romantic comedy. Unless it’s a truly deeply romantic kind and has good wholesome humor in it like Love Actually and The Sweetest Thing. Though The Holiday does carry a little bit of elements from those two mentioned films (hint: Cameron Diaz + Brits), it still didn’t impress me much.

It was one of those predictable film though the ending was rather unresolved. It seems that there just isn’t any answer for those long distance relationship hopefuls. My advice: doesn’t work, unless both of you are lying to yourselves and each other. Anyway, back to Holiday. I must give it some credits though since I did have that whoo-fuzzy feeling in my impressionable tummy.

Camern Diaz is undeniably a, in my case, Lovable character. You can’t help but love her in her intentionally ditzy roles with her beautiful blonde hair (made me consider cutting my hair short) and blessed figures – which reminds me – was wonderfully draped in exquisite clothing throughout the film! Yes, she plays a rich woman who owns her self-established trailer production company, and is supposed to be so consumed by her passion that she thinks, or rather, reflects in trailer motions – complete with The Voice. That gets a cool point.

But yes, the point was, her character was able to afford those beautiful clothes. The jacket she wore when she arrived in England, the top and skirt she wore when she visited Jude Law’s character aka love object.

Jude Law was – Jude Law. I’m glad to say that I discovered this gorgeous gem when I was only 14. Had a little poster of him in my sister’s closet labeled as “the next prince” or something like that. His accent is just incredibly – meltitious. He could talk all night if he wants and be as good as sex. Maybe not as good as with him.

OK, I would love to divulge and dish out more points for this relatively good effort film, but I must limit myself to max. three paragraphs of blabs for each of these films that I have watched. So, the verdict is – it’s too late to watch The Holiday anyway. I mean, it’s call that for a reason right? Saving it up for next Holiday season might be a bit silly, and there might be a Holiday 2: Burn the Turkey or something similar coming out.


Now this is easy: DO NOT WATCH ERAGON. DO NOT EVEN FANTASIZE ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF WATCHING IT.



Ahh…The Prestige.


Despite carrying a plastic bag plot, Hugh Jackman was amazing (and incredibly handsome); Christian Bale was delectably evil and fragile at the same time; Scarlett Johansson IS overused. I share your concern but have to affirm the suspicion that she DOES act the same in all her movies. Blame it on the producers for picking her for similar roles, or blame her agent, but also blame her for not being able to improvise. This ugly truth just had to be played out evident in this season of lets-overused-Scarlett. It’s just a natural human behavior – to keep using nice new things over and over again until you get tired of it.

Same reason why women shop too. Though the expiry date for their fancy runs out faster.

Otherwise, a really noteworthy say goes to the everlasting and forever ingenious David Bowie. No one, and I repeat, no one will ever play that unique role as exceptional as he did. Sure, George Clooney might have been able to convey the same sort of unwaivering confidence, but he definitely can’t exude the same kind of out-of-the-world charm or whatever it is that David does.

And of course, he has to be this wizardy scientist in the film. Is it worth your DVD rack? Not really. Unless you’re into collection. Of who? I’m not sure…David Bowie?