Movie Buzz : Rango

Mayor: “You see Mr Ringo, people need to believe in something.Pick it up your destiny waits.”

Anyone who knows me would know that I’m a HUGE Johnny Depp fangirl – you won’t be surprised if I said I loved the movie, just because Johnny Depp is involved.

Rango is the story of a lonely chameleon who got separated with its owner and off he entered the desert to become a great asset to the town of Dirt. I would say Rango belongs to more of an adult story rather than a simple animation meant for children.  Without a doubt, Johnny Depp delivers almost perfectly that quirky, slightly unstable yet confident personality that is almost natural from him. In fact, I think the voiceovers were very well done, including Jake the Rattlesnake, who is actually Bill Nighy, whom you may recognize as Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Rango: “So you want something to believe in? [points at the "Sheriff" sign] Believe in that there sign. For as long as it hangs there we’ve got hope.”

I thought the story took off on a rather slow pace as it was a pretty good introduction to the characters but personally there were certain details that can be left out for me. One thing about animated films is that the suspense is often lost as the audience usually is able to predict the next scene but I thought Rango built up to the climax pretty well. Fine, I still thought it was predictable but at least it was a satisfying conclusion to the film.

Humor? It is definitely there. The animation looks fantastic and overall, it was a captivating animated film. I could almost see bits of Captain Jack Sparrow somehow, just in a lizard form. As much as I dislike lizards, I would say Rango hit all the notes in the right key.

If you like the whole western cowboy feel and Johnny Depp, you are sure to enjoy the story of Rango.  I’ll give it 4/5.

Opening in cinemas on 10th March (TOMORROW!)

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The Job Hunt and Hunted

During every gathering I have been to, most of us end up talking about work. You bump into someone in school, the first thing that greets you is ‘Hey! Last semester right? Graduating soon? Have you found a job yet?’

As for me, I am graduating this coming April as well. Looking for a job never came across my mind so far (ok, once in a awhile), not because I want to be a bummer but I am going to try my luck with my masters plan. If I do apply for a full time job now, I might have to leave the country when I receive the enrollment package. I am probably going to take it slow and wait till June for the results to be out before planning my career path.

Sounds too good to be true if I can find a job that fits all 10 criteria! I’ll be happy to find one that fulfills 6 out of the listed 10!
As a graduating undergrad, I would say I’d prefer to plan my career path properly before jumping at any job opportunities offered. Not because we should be picky on an entry-level role but I think it is only right to know how you can contribute to a company instead of being half-hearted at your job. You wouldn’t want to work for a couple of months and dreading work every single day for a few years. Worse, to quit your first job after a year ?

So how was your first job hunt like?  Did you end up straight away in a job that you like?
Any tips for job seekers out there or personal experiences are welcomed !

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[Event/Giveaway] Royston Tan’s new short ‘Ah Kong’

Health Promotion Board had a preview screening of local filmmaker Royston Tan’s latest work – ‘Ah Kong’ 阿公 last Tuesday at The Screening Room. I had the privilege to watch it firsthand with Hweif Fen.

First of all, it is really nice to see how the government is getting involved in the arts scene and sending messages to the public using a creative platform. Secondly, it’s a topic that really touched me because my grandfather suffered from Dementia and I know how horrible the feeling was for both him and the caretaker. It’s like living with a 4 years old trapped in a wrinkled body, sad but true. They need the extra care and attention which most people are unable to provide due to work/social lifestyle. But there’s always help you can seek, so don’t just leave them alone.

Just to share more about Dementia, did you know these are top 10 warning signs of Dementia ?

Top Ten Warning Signs of Dementia

1.       Memory loss that affects day to day functions

2.       Difficulty doing familiar tasks

3.       Confusion about time and place

4.       Problems communicating

5.       Difficulty planning or solving problems

6.       Poor or decreased judgement

7.       Misplacing things

8.       Changes in mood or behaviour

9.       Changes in personality

10.   Withdrawal from work or social activities

If someone you love around you shows certain warning signs, you should really  pay extra attention and care for them instead of abandoning them on their own ! Being socially engaged and mentally active is one of the few ways to reduce the risk or delay the onset of dementia. (Speaking of which, I feel like I’m suffering from dementia already. Haha ! )

Enjoy the full length film here ! I thought it was pretty well executed and I have to say, the Ah Kong was really convincing.

[Giveaway]

Stand a chance to win an autographed DVD of ‘Ah Kong’ by Royston Tan !

Simply drop me an email at ingridmak [at] gmail [dot] come with the title: “ Ah Kong DVD Giveaway” with your name and contact information. (Please include your mailing address so that I can mail it out!)

Winner will be randomly picked and contacted via email.

*Singapore Residents Only.
Closing date : 27 Sept 2010, 2359.

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AOTW [39] : Sick Puppies

I discovered Sick Puppies by chance a couple of years back but came across them again when their song ‘That Time of Year’ was featured on NCIS (Yes, I’m still pretty much a TV junkie – GREAT show I must say!).  This Australian band even engaged in a documentary film by Robert Knight and I think the DVD will be out pretty soon later this year. Looking forward to that !

White Balloon – Sick Puppies

I’m holding on to white balloons
Up against the sky of doom
Tell me you see them
Cause whats inside of me is invisible to most
Even in clear view
Im sending out a signal
To the possibility of you
Cause right at this moment
I know youre connected to a part of me
That I dont even know myself

The changes in me
Are likely to be like the weather
Stormy and clear
Strength into fear bound together

But I’ll break my silence
If I believe that you and me
Could ever be more than just
What’s been behind us
I tried and left they came and went
I got rejected out again
But no one believes me
I’ve worn a hundred faces
Of the characters and placements
And now nobody sees me

The changes in me
Are likely to be like the weather
Cloudy at best

Angels lift me
Are you with me?
I’m holding on to you like
I’m holding on to white balloons
Carry me away
I hope that you dont break

Cause what’s inside of me is invisible to most
Even in clear view

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AOTW [35] : Angels And Airwaves

Usually I’ll try to feature youtube/myspace artists but couldn’t find anyone who covered this song by Angels and Airwaves, so here’s the original artist with one of my favourite song from their 2007 I-Empire album. Catchy beat and of course the ever-catchy line of saying “everything’s magic”. Honestly, I prefer the acoustic version featured below.

What I like about Angels and Airwaves (apart from the fact that it’s lead by Blink 182′s Tom DeLonge) is that their music is inspiring and you can always feel the message behind each song.  Their songs somehow grow on you after a few playbacks. Looking forward to see their film ‘Love‘, pretty sure the soundtrack will be awesome !

So down with depressing songs that remind you of the past or dwelling in relationships problems, here’s one to remind you that you still have a purpose in life, give life your best shot, live to the fullest and don’t be afraid to fall in love again.

Angels and Airwaves – Everything’s Magic

And do you ever feel like you’re alone?

And do you ever wish you’d be unknown?

I could say that i have i could say that i have

And do you ever feel things here aren’t right?

And do you ever feel the time slip by?

I can say that i have and i can say that i have

So hear this please

And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly

And look for the stars as the sun goes down

Each breath that you take has a thunderous sound

Everything everything’s magic

Just sit back and hold on but hold on tight

Prepare for the best and the fastest ride

And reach out your hand and i’ll make you mine

Everything everything’s magic

And do you ever lay awake at night?

And do you ever told yourself don’t try

Don’t try to let yourself down don’t try to let yourself down

And do you ever see yourself in love?

And do you ever take a chance my love?

Because you know that i will because you know that i will

So hear this please

And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly

And look for the stars as the sun goes down

Each breath that you take has a thunderous sound

Everything everything’s magic

Just sit back and hold on but hold on tight

Prepare for the best and the fastest ride

And reach out your hand and i’ll make you mine

Everything everything’s magic everything everything’s magic

So hear this please

And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly

And look for the stars as the sun goes down

Each breath that you take has a thunderous sound

Everything everything’s magic

Just sit back and hold on but hold on tight

Prepare for the best and the fastest ride

And reach out your hand and i’ll make you mine

Everything everything’s magic

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Movie Buzz : She’s Out Of My League

Yet another romantic comedy (seriously, nothing beats ’500 Days of Summer’ as of now),  nothing special about ‘She’s Out of My League‘ – girl meets boy, they falls in love, reach the crisis but it’s always a happily ever after ending. Alice Eve is the gorgeous Molly which is drawn in to Jay Baruchel aka Kirk who is just your average Joe – or worse.

We all know how this rating system works when it comes to the opposite gender. It’s always a 1 to 10 and most of us fall under the average 5 or 6 – with a point or 2 as bonus. Few gets to meet a 10 and when they do, it’s like they’ve strike lottery and the whole self-esteem comes as an issue. Same goes for the main leads for this film, Kirk ends up thinking that this relationship is too good to be true and screwing his own relationship up. While Molly is having issues living as a ’10′ in her previous relationships and decided to date Kirk, for a safer alternative.  Both realized their mistakes and true love overcomes their differences yadda yadda – you get the picture.

I find the dialogues pretty smart and genuine, I giggled quite alot throughout the film.  There were indeed some laugh out points, like Kirk’s balls-shaving scene and ‘jizzed in his pants.’ The characters were quite likeable and some may even find them resembling  someone they know in reality. The quirky buddies of Kirk, unfortunately, failed to impress even though provided some amusing moments in the film. I liked Molly’s snarky girl friend Patty, played by Krysten Ritter, she gave me alil of the Zooey Deschanel vibe but sadly – little scenes for her to shine.  I have a soft spot for geeks like Kirk and Jay Baruchel played the role perfectly as usual. (He’s ‘Windows’ from Fanboy by the way)

This film  convincingly gives every ‘Kirk’ in the world a semblance of hope. Moral of the story ? Don’t sell yourself short when you find true love.  Afterall, like how people loves to put it “Love is Blind”. Certainly inspired me to write another post on the topic, wait for it !

I’ll give this 2.5/5 (+0.5 for its soundtrack which I quite enjoyed!) for a pretty brainless chill-out summer film, not worth your weekend tickets but not exactly falling under the ultimate-trashy film category either.

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Movie Buzz : The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

Let’s put it this way, Terry Gilliam isn’t the most coherent story-teller and is the kind of director whom you either love or hate. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is either utter rubbish or rather epic for movie-goers. Unlike the boyfriend, I’ll choose the latter. Almost like how things just don’t make sense at first but evolves into a somewhat fantastic, abstract, and amazing imagery. I feel that the film was rather ‘Hitchcockian’ as well and quite similar to how he directed 12 Monkeys. (Which is not a compliment IMHO)

So the story follows Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his traveling theater troupe, which includes Anton (Andrew Garfield), Percy (Verne Troyer) and his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) as they try to show people the enlightenment within life – through a mirror which brings u to the imaginarium that’s some sort of dreamland where your wildest fantasy are realized. Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) aka the Devil, on the other hand, allows people to get quick gratification they desire. So at a certain point the person in the imaginarium will be given a choice of easy temptation or harder road to enlightenment.

Obviously if you choose the former, your soul will end up with the Satan, while the latter will return and be happy. I will not spoil the rest of the story but Tony (Heath Ledger) was rescued by the troupe and the story progresses from there.

While most people won’t embrace the fantastical,the scenes inside the imaginarium were pretty awesome with the (hand-drawn?) CGI. I thought the usage of CGI environments were pretty well-blended into the story. However,the way how Tony as a character morphing into Johnny Depp/Jude Law/Colin Farrell was just too convoluted and forced. Perhaps Ledger’s death affected the ‘original presentation’ but it felt really incomplete. On a side note, I’m not sure if it’s just me or the dialogues were rather muffled. Perhaps it’s post-production but it was a struggle to understand the actors at times.

There were just way too much set-up to absorb and it was like the movie will never get going ! Just like how your naggy old dad is telling you a story and keeps on interrupting himself with random things, that’s how the movie started. The plot just won’t start rolling and it took me awhile to understand (I won’t even dare to say fully understood) the movie. I’m quite sure the impatient movie-goers would have walked out of the theatre before the story actually start flowing. (You should see how the grumpy boyfriend was frowning at the end of the movie.HAHA!)

I was quite disturbed when I see Doctor Parnassus romancing his daughter, Valentina, or rather her mother who was played by the same actress. It was almost like incestuous ! But Lily Cole is really gorgeous in a special way. Percy”s one-liners cracked me up during the film but overall, I didn’t think any characters actually stood out but great acting nonetheless. I don’t think I’m bias to say that Johnny Depp was brilliant even though it was just a short appearance. In fact, it was only at that point where I understood the story better ! Sadly Ledger didn’t get to act in those imaginarium scenes, would be fantastic to see a quirky side of him.

To keep it short and simple – Watch it if you’re a Ledger’s fan, it’s his last performance afterall. Watch it if you’re Johnny Depp fan. Watch it if you like bizzare stuff. Watch it if you’re a deep thinker (especially if like me, you can relate it to the bible/religion etc). Watch it if you like detailed settings and wardrobe. Watch it if you’re patient enough to stay through the movie. Else don’t bother. Not the usual Hollywood film that movie-goers would enjoy ! I’ll give it a 3.5/5 personally !

source : flixster

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AOTW [16] : FAME

A reinvention of the original Oscar-winning hit film, Fame ! This a remake of the original musical & soundtrack made popular in the 80’s. The album features stunning tracks by the cast and other popular songs from the incredible film. After taking a listen to it (courtesy of the nice people at Universal Music), here’s what I think of it!

Tracklist :

1. 1.Welcome To P.A. – Raney Shockne
2. 2.Fame – Naturi Naughton
3. 3.Big Things – Anjulie
4. 4.Ordinary People – Asher Book
5. 5.This Is My Life – Hopsin, Ak’Sent, Tynisha Keli & Donte “Burger” Winston
6. 6.Out Here On My Own – Naturi Naughton
7. 7.Street Hustlin’ – Raney Shockne featuring Stella Moon
8. 8.You’ll Find A Way (Switch & Sinden Remix) – Santigold
9. 9.Can’t Hide From Love – Naturi Naughton & Collins Pennie
10. 10.Black & Gold – Sam Sparro
11. 11.Back To Back – Collins Pennie featuring Ashleigh Haney
12. 12.I Put A Spell On You – Raney Shockne featuring Eddie Wakes
13. 13.Get On The Floor – Naturi Naughton & Collins Pennie
14. 14.Try – Asher Book
15. 15.You Took Advantage Of Me – Megan Mullally
16. 16.Too Many Women (Damon Elliott Remix) – Rachael Sage
17. 17.Someone To Watch Over Me – Asher Book
18. 18.You Made Me Love You – Raney Shockne featuring Oren Waters
19. 19.Hold Your Dream – Naturi Naughton, Asher Book, Kay Panabaker

Quite a well-balanced list of up-tempo numbers and a few ballards, though it was almost like Naturi Naughton EP because you can see the name in almost every other song ! Voice isn’t too bad and I thought “Out here on my own” was quite a nice track.  Then again, I’m biased since I like Asher Book (featured here as my last AOTW with his song “Try”) alot more ! Love his cover of John Legend’s “Ordinary People” as well !

In my opinion, kids from the Drama/Dance Club will love this OST because of the upbeat songs and if you’ve caught the movie, you’ll know what it is all about. The strong dance-pop influenced album is more of a crowd-pleaser rather than focusing on the original soulful music. Still worth listening if you enjoyed the movie or just need something easy to listen to while working !

The movie is already screening in cinemas since 25th Sept (I know I’m pretty SLOW at this, catch it NOW if you have not) ! The soundtrack is also available out in stores, check out getmusic.com.sg for more information.

[GIVEAWAY]

I have FAME OST CD and goodie to give away as well !

Just drop me an ONE email (exit18 [at] gmail [dot] com) before 15th Oct 2009 2359 hrs with your contact details (name/email/blog if any! *Singapore residents ONLY*)

To win, answer 2 simple questions :

1. why do you want win this ?
2. Which is your favourite track and why ?

(Winner will be notified via email)

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Movie Buzz : Marley & Me

The boyfriend and I caught “Marley & Me” today. Based on John Grogan‘s best-selling book, this film is definitely a must-watch for all dog lovers. (although I have yet to read the book)

((potential spoilers alert))

It chronicles the relationship of John (Owen Wilson) and Jen (Jennifer Aniston), the newly-wed couple who decided to settle down and start a family of their own…and it all began with a really cute Labrador , Marley. Basically Marley is this “world’s worst dog” who chews through wall, gets kicked out from obedience school and gets turned on by legs. But throughout it all, dog is always a man’s best friend and the film portrays that fact quite perfectly.

The set was gorgeous with perfect lighting and the cinematography was not too bad for a family film. I thought Owen Wilson played his role pretty well, the comedic persona with a tinge of SNAG (sentsitive new age guy) feel. Jennifer Aniston is (as usual) gorgeous and a total natural at playing the damsel in distress. I thought the boss (Alan Arkin) was quite an outstanding character with his witty lines too. Of course the main lead goes to Marley the dog who totally worthed all the cooing and cracking up over his silly actions.

I liked how the story flows like a diary and makes audience feel as though they are part of the character’s lives. I was quite emotionally “attached” to Marley by the end of the film and I was sobbing when Marley left the family.    In fact, I was quite upset when Jennifer Aniston lost her first baby. I really enjoyed such family films to begin with, the happy scenes with the entire family and Marley were very memorable and I kinda envy that kind of life. (Though 3 kids and 1 dog sound alil scary for me) I can say that I walked out of the theatre feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It was so worth the tears. HAHA !

It was undeniably a sweet, simple film that has quite a good message(s) behind it. Unconditional love between the characters, how unexpected situations in life surprise you but you can make whatever you want out of it. When things get tough, stick with it and make the best out of it instead. Overall, I guess this is a movie that any dog owners/lovers can relate to wholeheartedly. I think it is an instant classic that many will enjoy, so do go and catch it if you have yet to ! I’m so tired but I just have to blog this out before I sleep. =X

P.S :  Just a casual reminder, as much as I love dogs and I think everyone else should too…do not get yourself a dog if you’re not ready to be a responsible dog owner. No matter how cute/adorable/must-have the dog is to you, please bear in mind the responsibilities that comes with him/her. Dogs are not toys !   They too need as much attention and love as a human being.

Marley & Me Official Trailer

“A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.” – Marley & Me

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