Laughing With 72 Tenants

You don't really celebrate Chinese New Year until you go and watch a funny, entertaining chinese movie to ring in the new year. With so much promotion being done for this movie, I was thrilled to get plans rolling for my family to go and watch this movie on the first day of the new year. The crowd were thin upon arrival. Tickets were bought 2 days earlier which was picked up the day before, I just kept telling my family that you will be in for a very good and funny movie.

Name: 72 Tenants of Prosperity (72家租客)
Language: Cantonese
Date of release: 11th February 2010 (Hong Kong)
Director: Eric Tsang and Patrick Kong
Starring: Eric Tsang, Jacky Cheung, Bosco Wong, Anita Yuen

The movie begins in 1970s Hong Kong, rapacious landlords try to evict 72 tenants but sworn brothers Ha Kung and Shek Kin. With the help from the group of 72 defeat the landlord and landlady, coincidentally rescue Pinky from a planned forced marriage. When both sworn brothers fall for Pinky and propose to her, she flips a coin heads or tails and Ha wins her hand in marriage. The sworn brothers become sworn enemies and Sheks hatred fuels intense rivalry against Ha in business dealings. Even after 40 years they continue to clash and in 2010 they are in keen competition selling electronics appliances in Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mongkok, the busiest street in the city and still home to the 72 tenants. In a fiercely competitive Sai Yeung Choi Street high rents force businessmen to use every means to survive. These ploys are minor compared with the tactics of the landlord who threatens to close down the shops unless his demands for triple rental are met. Amidst this strife and struggle the street is hit by acid-attacks and in high spirits the 72 tenants unite and pledge to safeguard their home.

Many rated this movie may not be able to beat the other chinese new year movie All's Well Ends Well 2010 because of how well it did in the year 2009, so people will think that the 2010 will be better and funnier... however 72 Tenants proved that it has what it takes to beat that movie to claim the funniest show for the year 2010. There's Sam Hui's "Pun Kan Pat Leong" to Michael Jackson's Beat It, Jacky Cheung also has its fair share of his songs being sang throughout the movie. The jokes were never dry where it was entertainingly funny and the movie kept to its promise that there's no extras, just pure Hong Kong actor and actresses are the key figures to the movie. Kevin Cheng of Burning Flame 3 and also Michael Tse as Laughing Gor from the series E.U also made their presence felt in this movie. I had a good time watching this movie, it's every minute well spent and also the funny moments were stuck in my head for quite a while too! The best part would be to see everyone came out smiling, now that's the best thing to happen during Chinese New Year.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Where Wind And Cloud Meets

If you have been a huge fan of the Storm Riders movie back in 1998, then this movie will eventually go well with the fans. What I could remember was the all time popular sitting down pose by Cloud (Aaron Kwok) which was eventually a major hit and every boys in school eventually started to taking their own personal photos in the manner. With good news being announced that Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok would return 10 years after the original Storm Riders for a sequel, no wonder those ardent fans were buzzing about this movie since early 2009.

Name: The Storm Warriors (風雲 II)
Language: Cantonese
Date of release: 10th December 2009(Hong Kong)
Director: Danny Pang and Oxide Pang
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Simon Yam

The movie tells of Lord Godless and his son, Heart; whom are out to take over the martial arts world and the Middle Kingdom. They imprisoned the Emperor together with a large number of martial artists and tried to make them subjugate. Even with Nameless, Wind and Cloud combined effort, they cannot defeat Godless and his impenetrable body armor. Injured from battle, they seek the help of reclusive master Lord Wicked who guides Wind into harnessing the powers of the dark side. A dejected Cloud who was shunned by Lord Wicked from training, were then taken in by Nameless as his student. Both Wind and Cloud quickly boosted up their martial arts skills through intense training by Lord Wicked and Nameless. Godless, meanwhile, is forcing the Emperor to reveal the location of the powerful "Dragon Bone" relic. Unable to control his newfound powers, Wind loses himself to the dark side, and sets out to destroy Godless... and Cloud.

Special effects... check! Awesome fighting sequences... check! Aaron Kwok sitting pose... check! Now I was thrilled to watch this movie at home after I bought the original DVD from the store and the movie just blows me away. I've read plenty of reviews how this movie sucked and has copied a lot of Western features, I'm very much disagreeing with those critiques. If you would just sit down, relax and open yourself to the movie, the entire movie is rather an enjoyable sequel to watch. The opening song that was sang by Aaron and Ekin was great as well. The bad point about this movie was Charlene Choi. She didn't really fit well for her role, period! And the worst thing that ever happened about this movie was... it didn't end as well as I thought. It leaves every fans hanging in the middle of the air with that bloody poor script! I hate middle of the air storylines. Never the less, I didn't go to the cinema's to watch it so I still enjoyed fast-forwarding when I see Charlene on the screen and repeating the best fighting parts a few times with the remote.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Alienated By Avatar

It's my second visit to the cinema within a month period and it's because of the encouragement and enthusiam of my dear to watch a blockbuster hit movie. She has heard plenty of good reviews from friends and colleagues; read that this movie has racked high gross earnings and heard from deejays that kept on repeating how great this movie has turned out to be, who wouldn't want to watch this movie?

It already toppled 1997's Titanic record in worldwide movie sales. I was refering to no other than...

Name: Avatar

Language: English

Date of release: 16th December 2009(USA)

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang

The story basically tells about Marine's Jake Sully who decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid, the Na'vi in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an avatar identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

I have no idea that what I am expecting from this movie. What I've heard about this movie was that it takes almost 10 years to make it and the director has yet again spent a lot just to make this movie happen. Money to him is not a matter, it needs to be a blockbuster and that's all that matters to James Cameron. He's at it AGAIN! Just like Titanic... just that it's better than Titanic. The movie also delivers a good selection of cast. The movie started off pretty good and as I continue to watch on, I felt that I am watching Pocahontas... where you see Pocahontas met John Smith and so on. Touchy love story between the two as they learned each others cultures. Jake is just another normal man where he normally shows off how man he could be by letting his stupidity gets the best of him... however it pays off by having the respect of the Na'vi people.

The imaginary creatures and plants that was created is really good. The scenery is breathtaking however too much arial shots makes this movie a bit awkward to watch. I wonder those who's watching it on 3D can really focus on the movie? Overall, the movie is a good blockbuster... definitely plenty of positive reviews. Top notch flick if you are a sci-fi fantasy freak and as for the rest, if you've watch this... good on you. If you have not, then perhaps you might want to have a relaxed mindset before you sit yourself in the cinema to watch this.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The Agony Of Being Stuck

Have you ever thought that the road that you usually use to travel to work and back will be smooth on the day which you planned to leave early from home so that you could get to work earlier? Then have you ever thought that the traffic will be much more at ease during the wee hours in the morning? THINK AGAIN!

Welcome to the unexplainable traffic of Penang. I left home way earlier than I could and the morning traffic greets me with a bad jam. I got stuck in a massive jam created by no other than road closures that took place nearby Little India. Thaipusam is here and according to my colleague, the chariot will travel to the Botanical Gardens on the eve of Thaipusam... which it didn't really started in the evening, instead it happens in the morning! Now the trouble is this, wouldn't it be better for the traffic police to make a public announcement on the newspaper regarding the road closures just like the days prior to Merdeka to inform the public that which roads will be closed on what day and what time so that people can avoid the specific area.

We do have a traffic reports blaring on the radio stations, however!!! Those radios normally reports mainly on the traffic conditions over in KL, the causeway between Johor and Singapore and of course, the Penang Bridge. Hello!?? The coverage is not wide enough... which is a major loss. I remembered that I had to be stuck in a jam for more than 2 hours somewhere near Seremban on my way up from JB to KL on Christmas day and guess what, the radio had no intention to report about it. Roads were closed for a specific reason is understandable but what does the onlookers has to do? DRIVE YOUR FREAKING VEHICLE and get on with it. There's nothing much to see anyway and what if you manage to take a glimpse? Would that lead you to win the lottery or perhaps would that lead you to being famous? Seriously, Malaysians tend to have a habit of stopping and look before they proceed. If you can understand what I meant by "You are not helping, you are just giving more trouble in a troubled situation".

And that's how jams are created on this tiny island where roads are as small as a lorong and magic happens that a one lane street can eventually turn itself into 3 during these jam packed days. Today is Thaipusam and there's minor jams. I don't even want to imagine and think how this tiny island be choked on traffic this coming Chinese New Year. I'm ranting it out here just for the sake of making thoughts heard and if you are asking if I am still pissed... on what specifics that I should not be?

Wallie or WallE?

I was suppose to watch a Disney animation film... and because someone accidentally took it away, I had to make do with another film which me and my dear rather enjoyed till the end. A night in at home sometimes can be relaxing as we were swayed by a movie that eventually don't hold any solid story line.

Name: Wall-E

Language: English

Date of release: 23rd June 2008 (USA)

Director: Andrew Stanton

Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin

The story basically began on a not so unrealistic future, where mankind has abandoned earth because it was covered with trash. Wall-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. Mesmerized with trinkets of Earth's history and show tunes, Wall-E is alone on Earth except for a sprightly pet cockroach. One day, Eve, a sleek (and dangerous) reconnaissance robot, is sent to Earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. Wall-E falls in love with Eve. One day a massive ship comes to reclaim Eve, but Wall-E, out of love or loneliness hitches a ride on the outside of the ship to rescue Eve. The ship arrives back at a large space cruise ship, which is carrying all of the humans who evacuated Earth 700 years earlier. When the auto-pilot computer, acting on hastily given instructions sent many centuries before, tries to prevent the people of Earth from returning, Wall-E, Eve, the portly captain, and a band of broken robots stage a mutiny.

I did mention earlier that this movie don't really have a solid story plot and it's rather enjoyable to watch because you don't have to think too much to figure out the story line of the movie. The robots don't really talk other than speaking very electronical form of sound, so you will be pampered with earth's historic past as Wall-E is rather a sentimental robot that keeps valuable and historical trash inside his little bunk. You will also see how Wall-E fell in love for Eve which reminds you on your first love... warm and fuzzy. A movie which really touches the aspect of human life where you can't sit by and let the machines do your bidding as they will run you down in the end. A very great and entertaining movie, loved by many and I guess it will continue to be loved in the many years to come.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.