Revamp + Potter Movie Review

*rubs and squints eyes* Sept...em..ber.. 8..th..

Oh my gosh, my last post was on September the 8th? Really??!!??!!

As you can see, to mark my return to the blogosphere, I've decided to do a little revamp to rekindle my spirit of blogging.

The changes are namely:

1) New blog header! Did it myself; the filmstrip border is to highlight my undying passion for movies, but why those two pictures, you might ask. Well, the balloons photo is about celebrating the colourful things in life, and the picture of the clouds is about the quiet, contemplative moments in life. I guess this blog strives to be a mixture of both =)

2) New search bar for blog. It's the first thing after the chatbox. Want to look for what I've blogged about a certain topic? Just type it in and it'll scour through my blog posts and dig them out for you. Go ahead, try it. Try "Harry Potter" and see what comes out =)

3) New movie rating system! Explained below. Read on =)

Gosh, I really miss blogging. About my favourite music videos, my favourite eats, my favourite places to go...

...and of course, those beloved movie reviews that probably take up 80% of wilsoniscurious. How I've missed my beloved popcorn men!

Do you miss them too? No? Okay. Moving on.

It's probably time to start finding a new rating system - time for a revamp! =)

Introducing my new range of movie ratings - from 0.5/5 to 5.0/5.

And I've got just the right movie to kick-start the reviewing again.

But before that, just a little trip back in time.

That link was last year's review of the 6th Harry Potter film. Guess what, the 7th one is out! Although, technically, it's really just version 7.1.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1

Rating:

It's been close to a decade - that's 10 whole years - since the first Harry Potter movie was released and took the world by a big-freakin-Avatar-plus-Lord-of-the-Rings-epic-Jurrasic-Park storm.

Yes, nothing comes close. The Harry Potter movies, to-date, is the highest grossing film series of all time, with box-office receipts across the globe mounting to over US$5 Billion. If James Cameron plans Avatar to go on for another 4 or 5 films, it just might break this record, but truth is, Cameron is no J.K. Rowling, so I guess Potter wins.

Okay, I digress. But for those who've read my blog since the beginning of Life, Curious would know that I'm quite the Potter fan. I've even written one uber-long and intensely-documented post when I finished reading the last book (warning, though, that link contains spoilers).

Anyhow, a release of a Potter film is always considered a landmark in the movie industry. Not only for the movie studios who are delighted their cash cow is still milking the heck out of movie-goers, but for people who grow up with the series (yours truly), it is quite thrilling to witness how the magical world is translated onto the screen.

Of course, we are happy to reunite with our favourite cast members in the cinema - be it the lovable trio or sick favourites like Snape, Voldemort and Bellatrix; they never fail to excite, scare and move us like before.

Alright, time for the review, then.

HP7 part 1, as most of you might have heard, serves as a prelude to the concluding film which will be out mid of next year. But as a beginning, this is an extremely well-made entry into the Potter film franchise.

With an unsettling opening sequence, the brutal murder of a Hogwarts teacher at the start jolted the audience into realising that we are no longer watching the happy adventures of Harry Potter, but rather, "these are dark times" indeed. In fact, scenes involving Nagini the snake are especially terrifying - protect your young ones.

Harry, Hermione and Ron continue their quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes - cursed items that contain fragments of Lord Voldemort's soul - on their own. Being the 17-year-old angsty wizards and witch as they are, conflicts abound, and Ron even walked out on the pact at one point.

Incidentally, that scene displayed the fine acting abilities of the three young leads - especially Emma Watson's - as it carries hefty emotional performances which they pulled off nicely.

With hundreds of millions in profit, the film benefited from the big budget and delivered visually as well. The editing of fight scenes was taut and intense as characters flailed and dodged and sparks of spells flew in rousing exchange.

Most delicious, perhaps, is the ensemble of respected acting veterans. Ralph Fiennes, as usual, provides the right amount of menace as the cunning Voldemort, while Alan Rickman's Snape basically steals every (limited) scene he is in. Helena Bonham Carter's Bellatrix revels in her own insanity, and Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge returns more piercing than before.

Director David Yates and long-time Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves are to be credited yet again, for successfully bringing to life the action that Rowling wrote on paper.

Besides the one gripe that the film does seem a little episodic and a bit aimless in the middle, the stunning cinematography as the trio Disapparates from location to location, and the well-choreographed action scenes more than make up for it.

FINAL SAY:

Brush up on your Potter knowledge a little before watching this sprawling part 1 to the epic finale. It'll help. But other than that, sit back, cower in your seat and enjoy this thrilling serving of Potter, and patiently anticipate the final part 2 next year. Good things are worth the wait.

~

Wow, that was a long one.

Continue checking this space for more posts (hopefully)! =)

Shall end with a happy photo:

Yup, "Find Happiness Within" =)

Take care, people!

Some Updates ~

School has started! I don't know if that means it won't be one post per month anymore, but still, I'll try to increase the frequency k? =) Anyways, it always feels good to be around like-minded people again. New semester, new challenges, whole new excitement.

And, random: I'm blogging from ACRC!

First and foremost...

I've bitten the Apple. Got myself a 13 inch Macbook Pro. Slick, stylish, erm, pro =)

Some photos and updates!

Just had to put this. Thank you for showing this to me =) These Inception-inspired poster designs have become my mac's wallpaper!

View of the infinity pool from atop Marina Bay Sands skypark, and the YOG closing ceremony at night. Chio ttm~

Turkish food! Tess' stories of bravery on her Germany exchange trip are definitely worth the repeat, but her pose in the photo is ultimate FTW!! =D And a fuji instax photo taken by me!

And now for some HATCHED <3

=)

And now, for some movie reviews!

Firstly, the Cannes Film-represented Sandcastle 沙城:

Directed by Boo Junfeng, this movie is, IMHO, not one of the best Singapore movies, as stated by The Straits Times. However, it is a quiet, contemplative piece of work that is poignantly acted. Story-wise, can be stronger.

Rating: 3.5/5

And next, Step Up 3 (no 3D).

If mind-blowing choreography and dance-sets are what you're looking for (erm, afterall, it is a dance flick), then this movie will satisfy your senses. Obviously filmed for 3D effects, the final dance sequence will wow even the toughest of cynics. Have a blast!

Rating: 3.5/5

Anyways, FLIPR ISSUE #4 IS OUT! Have a flippin' good time with our fashion issue:

http://issuu.com/flipr/docs/issue_4

And join our Facebook Group here! =)

Oh yah, I'm going to TAIWAN'S NATIONAL CHIAO TUNG UNIVERSITY for exchange programme in Year 2 Sem 2! Quite exciting~ Land of good food and shopping!

Alright, that's all for this time.

Update more next time.

Take care, people!

Get Incepted

To the people who spam my tagboard (read: EVE), apologies!! Been quite lazy to blog lately. My 5.5 day work week has finally ended, though. Everybody, now, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah... NO. Sorry, just finished watching the inaugural YOG Opening Ceremony, and there were more misses than hits.

Anyway, shall just review a couple of movies =)

From my blog title, you should know what movie blown me away recently. The only other movie I've watched twice in the cinema besides this movie was Shutter Island. Incidentally, they both have the same lead actor. And they both are directed by two brilliant (gross understatement) directors.

You can tell 2010 has shaped up to be Leonardo DiCaprio's year. See you at the 2011 Oscars, dude.

First up, the almost indescribable (in a good way) Inception.

I give this masterpiece:





Two posters for the two times I've watched. Coolest poster designs of the year so far, by the way.

"The Dream Is Real" reads the first tagline from the first poster. And for very justifiable reasons, Inception is exactly paradoxical like that. How can a dream be reality? The film will not only make you question that notion, but it bends your mind in such a way that whenever you close your eyes to sleep at night, you'd want to 'spin a top' when you wake up.

Besides weaving in mind-boggling special effects, and featuring some of the most exciting A-list actors out there (the most captivating being Marion Cotillard), the storyline is what intrigued viewers out there.

'Extraction' is a process whereby skilled 'extractors' enters the dream of an individual to steal his/her most guarded secrets. 'Inception', on the other hand, is an apparently more complicated process, and it involves the 'dream team' planting an idea into the subconscious of the intended individual.

Sounds confusing? No worries, this is one mental maze that you'll want to enter and get lost in.

DiCaprio stars as Dom Cobb, the protagonist and a skilled extractor/inceptor with a dark past that threatens to derail the team's operation of performing a challenging inception on Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Arthur (Jonathan Gordon-Levitt, who has the coolest anti-gravity fighting scenes in the film) is Cobb's right-hand man, while Ariadne (Ellen Page) is the team's talented dream-scape architect.

Saito (Ken Watanabe) is the devious client, while Marion Cotillard plays Mal, Cobb's devilishly mesmerizing wife whose role is pivotal in the plot developments of the story.

Christopher Nolan's genius script features layers upon layers of dream vs. reality that the talk of the town for awhile was the film's final closing scene.

No matter which way you decide to think the film ended, Inception is a movie worth watching again and again.

FINAL SAY: A find-muck was never so enjoyable. Let's see a film top this by the end of 2010. Anyway, it's a definite shoo-in as a Best Picture nominee in next year's Oscars. Watch this space.
~


Okays, here are some of the other movies I caught and my bite-sized reviews:

Quirky and light; a contemplative look at individuals who dream about breaking out of the city mould and wanting to see the world. Rating: 3.0/5


I actually enjoyed this. You have to watch it to understand how cool Angelina Jolie can look while kicking men's butt. Rating: 3.5/5


No, I didn't give it such a high rating (just) because Mariah Carey is in it. Besides, she was quite unrecognisable from her no-make-up face down to her husky voice. But anyways, Precious features some of the most powerhouse acting you'll witness this year. Mo'Nique is a tour de force as the monster mama in the film. A heartbreaking, uplifting, touching and humourous film all-in-one, the gritty direction also makes this movie utterly unforgettable. Rating: 4.5/5



And here are some rather outdated ones...

Cute, hilarious and wonderfully-made, this is the surprise animation hit of the year that could have nearly upstaged Toy Story 3. Key word: Nearly. Rating: 4.0/5


Watch it solely for the charm, charisma and chemistry of the two leads, whose last names are confidently splashed across the poster. Other than that, the action, plot and writing are rather bleah. Rating: 3.0/5
~


This was for our 99th day. Here's to more =)

Take care, people!

The Closing of an Enchanting Era

An epic trilogy 15-years in the making has finally culminated into one of the most moving movie experiences in a long while - Pixar's Toy Story rolled out its final film, and along with tears and laughter, we bid goodbye to a family of characters we've come to love so well.


After much thought and much looking back, here's my review of the best movie I've watched so far in 2010 (and my favourite trilogy in film history - sorry, Peter Jackson) - TOY STORY 3.

I give the movie:





There's really nothing like Pixar. Wholesome, touching, madly inventive Pixar. Funny, zany, adventurous Pixar. And if there is ever a movie that this beloved studio should be remembered for, it'll have to be the collective films of Toy Story.

Without the success of the original (itself the first ever fully computer-animated feature film), there wouldn't be the incredible Incredibles, the ballad of Wall-E and Eve, the endearing relationship between Sullivan and Boo, or even the odd-but-adorable pairing of Russell and Mr Fredrickson.

It is no wonder that when it was announced early last year that Toy Story 3 was hitting cinemas this summer, fans everywhere braced themselves - excited once more - at what the studio with the golden touch will come up with to complement the first two masterpieces.

Suffice to say, #3 contained all that was present in #1 & #2, and so much more.

From the visually captivating opening sequence, you know Pixar is in top form once again (actually, when was it never?). Directed by Lee Unkrich (co-director of Monsters, Inc and Finding Nemo), this Pixar talent deftly blends hysterical action and tongue-in-cheek humour together with moving storylines revolving around themes of insecurity, abandonment and teamwork.

In the final poignant act (you'd better bring your tissues), this coming-of-age tale will also make you cry like a baby. But - while dabbing your eyes - you will leave the cinema loving Pixar even more, because for me, it has risen to a place that is almost irreplaceable in my heart.

FINAL SAY: Chock full of memorable characters, this is an emotional, funny and witty farewell to one of the best film trilogies of all time.
~


Next up, the average Letters to Juliet.

I give the movie:





Although the movie title is kind of irrelevant (there's only one letter to Juliet that is of concert here), the film is littered with beautiful scenery which matches this journey of finding true love. The leads (Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave and Christopher Egan) turn in fine performances in their roles to lift the sub-standard script into something watchable.

Or maybe it was the company I had when watching this film which made it extra special.

FINAL SAY: Verona, Italy is the new Paris? Well, romance, scenery plus heartwarming people - will definitely try to visit the place sometime.
~


Just a few sweet trips =)


~


And after moving out from The Shaughnessy, I miss Randall!
Why so serious?? =D

Take care, people!