300

Watched 300 yesterday. It has to be the best movie I have watched thus far this year. Just want to share the trailer with anyone who has yet to watch it. Gonna get myself the graphic novel when the next paycheck comes.

Doing Something Different

I did something last Saturday. Something good enough to change the tone of how I approach the rest of the year. Here’s the 2007 changing moment.

Waking up early, way too early, on Saturday, my wife and I practically dragged ourselves off the bed, after the previous night of intensive WoW gaming. At 9.30am we were in a cab cruising along the rather quiet streets to Picturehouse at Cathay. Can’t remember when was my last visit to the venerable old dame along Orchard Road, but it is definitely in a bygone era before the facade change and new coat of paint.

So what’s so important that both of us just had to haul of leaden, or more correctly, mine, to Picturehouse at such ungodly hours. Well, to get my hands on the expansion to WoW – The Burning Crusades!!! Nah, just kidding.

I was at the Picturehouse to catch 2 films by Atom Egoyan. The films were brought in by the Singapore Film Society (SFS), of which I am now a proud member of it. That said, the life changing moment is none other than the fact that I signed up as a member of SFS. Life changing? Well, I see this ‘event’ as such since this is something which I would never comtemplate a year back, not to mention the years I am alive.

My decision to take up the membership was not an easy one. The fact that I am not sure if I am into film appreciation is the greatest stumbling block. And that I have to pay around $60 for a half-year membership is another, since I can’t be sure if I will be attending the other screenings by SFS in the coming months.

After agonising about it between the trip from Picturehouse and Plaza Singapura, as I had to obtain money from a ATM, which Cathay has none, I realised that it was a good feeling to try out something new. But the shock of parting with 60 bucks in the morning, without any prior inkling of it, soured my mood somewhat. Gotta thank my patient and loving wife for putting up with the cranky me while I made up my mind.

The films on show last Saturday were Family View and The Sweet Hereafter. Being an amatuer in film critque, I shall not venture any synopsis lest I get it all wrong. But share I will on my personal views. The one thing which struck me in both the films was the way Egoyan protrayed daulity of families and society. The side which the public sees, and the not so pretty side where only insiders are privvy to. Basically, things are not what they appear to be.

After the films, there was a discussion session where the SFS organiser explained why some scenes were as such and why the musical element to the film were so strong – Egoyan studied music while in school. These little snippets are things which I will never go out of the way to find out after watching a Hollywood blockbuster. And I suspect these are the little things which will drag my leaden feet to the next SFS screening.

Superman Returns

The last 2 weeks has been fast and furious for both Mydaemon and I at the cinemas. Following our last big-screen adventure, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in Nov 2005, we have contented ourselves with catching movies via dvds on at home.

Still, nothing beats the immersive experience of the big silver screen and the oh-so-loud good, sound system. THX experience just cannot be replicated at home. To satiate our hunger for movies, we had a go at X Men-3 a few weeks back. Lots of action, pretty good special effects, but a money-grabbing lame ending. Pity. Then it was Superman Returns yesterday. Check out the official site. Pretty cool pictures and features.

I can’t really say that I am a Superman fan, having only watched Superman I and II in my primary school days. That said, Superman has always been, and still is, one of my favourite heroes. Standing for truth, justice, peace, and all things good, Superman embodies many values and beliefs which mean a lot to me. With Christopher Reeve injuring himself and passing on recently, I never thought that Superman, with his flowing red cape and chiselled good looks, would ever adorn the big screen again. Murmurs of Nicholas Cage and others being considered for the role of Superman made me cringe. Don’t get me wrong, Cage is a fine actor, but since when Superman became a balding middle-aged man. It just doesn’t click for me.

While it may not be evident, even to Mydaemon who was seated beside me during the movie, I was actually excited that Superman is back! With excitement bubbling under my calm, cool and deceptively adult exterior, I was as excited as the kid who’s getting to see his hero again. This sense of nostalgia hit me between the eyes just like that. Wham! Bam! Once again, I was the wide-eyed, wet behind the ears kid looking for a superhero to save the day. Don’t everyone just need a hero. And save the day did the ‘new’ Superman in his ‘return show’.

 

Superman Returns stars Brandon Routh (see above), who took over ably from Reeves, as the bumbling, cute, and super nice, Daily Planet reporter cum superhero, Ken Kent aka Superman. Routh possesses the same marble chiselled looks which Reeves was amply endowed with. Apart from the new spandex costume, Routh’s Superman was also a tad more humorous than the Reeves-era Superman. Can’t help but laughed out loud for some of the lines, although I was only a minority, or in actual fact, the only person other than Mydaemon, who actually found the lines humorous. Singaporeans can be so serious at times. Another thing which I found hilarious was the casting of Karl Penn aka Kumar, of the famed Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle comedy flick. That is one show which gives me the giggles whenever it plays on cable. Penn has this really goofy look. I am tickled just by looking at that guy’s face! For those who doesn’t have any idea who Penn is, he’s the Indian fella infront.

This Superman movie veers away distinctly from Superman I and II. It wouldn’t be fair for me to comment on Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace since I have yet to watch them. Superman Returns basically updates the Metropolis environment to the 21st century, where handphones, LCD monitors, plasma TVs and other hi-tech gadgets are the norm of the day. Apart from Superman’s newfound humour, Lex Luthor, wonderfully portrayed by Kevin Spacey, have become a meaner, darker, sadistic badass. I consider Spacey’s portrayal as the best I have seen so far. Gene Hackman was good, but Spacey is a class act who made Lex Luhor’s role his own. I have to applaud Spacey’s artistic versatility, evolving from the mild middle-age man who pines for his daughter’s schoolmate in American Beauty to the somewhat sadistic megalomaniac I saw in Superman Return. Kudos to a great actor.

While the action, storyline, special effects all paid tribute to what we have come to Superman for, one missing ingredient was the lack of, for want of a better word, verve, from Louis Lane. Kate Bosworth is a pretty face. But Lois Lane is not just a pretty face. She’s one hardass, pardon the language, star journalist from The Daily Planet. Bosworth portrayal of such an central character is found wanting. She lacks the gritty edge which Margot Kidder exudes in the previous Superman movies. Seeing Bosworth trying to like up a cigarettes reminded me of an A+ student from a convent school trying a cigarette for the first time. Bosworth is just too squeaky clean for me. The only time she came remotely to look like the battle-hardened Lois Lane was when she got tossed around the plane. Kidder looks the part even in black and white.

I think I will just leave you here with the picture above. A fine tribute to Christopher Reeve, the person who brought Superman alive to children, and adults alike, all over the world. Thank you, Superman.