doubt (2008), directed by john patrick shanley. burn after reading (2008), directed by ethan and joel coen.

doubt (2008) is a gem. amazing cast, great performance, heavy but that's what it takes.

BUT

burn after reading (2008) is something else altogether. i am stressed out when i watched this. the world is either full of stupid people or the flow of events that got them where they are is randomly stupid. is that justified? i don't know. but it's not hilarious to me.

he's just not that into you (2009). directed by ken kwapis.

after watching he's just not that into you (2009) i must say i find the whole experience exhausting. it is infantile and the characters were barely scratching the surface. ah well, chick flicks, an adaptation of a sex and the city episode no less, it's shallow of me to expect a shakespearian proportion out of it. or may be real life is full of people like that, and having to watch the spill over on screen is just plain painful.

he's just not into you (2009). directed by ken kwapis.

it's red hot. so many people out there are watching and queuing for the ticket that i didnt manage to secure one yesterday, other than the rm40 premier ticket which i think is too much. when i read these reviews in the star He's Just Not That Into You and Dial L for loser, i think it echoed what i have in my mind all along. that perhaps, why this is such a phenomenon when in actual fact it is pretty obvious, is that too many women are desperate and too many men are perasan (damned is there an english word for that? bahasa melayu is cool!). a culture of egoists? a unique combo indeed. personally i find the premise degrading women and not respectful at all. but yeah we are in the age of being able to laugh at ourselves on our own expense, so why the hell not.

this bit from the star highlights the difference of today's women on the screen to their strategist heroines of the 40's:

Oh, how I miss the screwball heroines of 1930s’ and 1940s’ romantic comedies. Sure, their priority was to marry their man, but boy, did they do it with style. There was none of this neurotic whinging and self-doubting.

Take socialite Susan Vance (as played by Katharine Hepburn) in Bringing up Baby. After setting her designs on palaeontologist Dr David Huxlex (Cary Grant), she unleashes her pet leopard Baby in a far-fetched courtship scheme. Then there is successful designer Marilla Brown (Lauren Bacall) in Designing Woman, who puts off marriage until she finds the right man. And after tying the knot, she fights to be her own woman.

What about Schatze Page, Loco Dempsey and Pola Debevoise (Bacall, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe respectively) in How to Marry a Millionaire, who dream of snaring millionaire husbands? Instead of going to the bookshop (or the movies), they come up with a plan, complete with a penthouse and luxurious lifestyle.

Despite their ambiguous sexual politics, these classic movies showed respect for their female leads.

Today’s women can learn more from these heroines, who are witty, ambitious and more of a match for their male counterparts than the characterless female in many current movies. Most of all, they take us on a fun ride in their battle of the sexes.

It’s no wonder that Judd Apatow and his merry men of comedy are ruling the box-office with male-oriented romantic comedies like Knocked Up, Superbad and Pineapple Express. They at least know how to have fun, if at women’s expense.

and what happened to making it on our own terms? perhaps this could refresh the essence of individuality that is the ultimate weapon for all women out there.

I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes. I’m out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” - Marilyn Monroe

thanks marilyn.

ps: for those who don't know malay very well, perasan can be translated as "self conscious, conceited, vain, full of one self"

columbus day (2008). directed by charles burmeister.

this is the kind of movie that i like. it is thoughtful, well paced and full of witty conversations. it is about a man who tries to fix his life at the oddest moment, constantly on the phone with his estranged wife and daughter, his buyer, his sex addicted gf in the midst of pulling a drug deal, in a middle of broad day light on columbus day. far fetched? may be so. but it goes to show you should never give up a chance to make amends while you still have the time to do so.

shinjuku incident (san suk si gin (original title)) (2009). directed by tung-shing yee.

it has been sometime since i last watched a chinese movie on the big screen. the last one had daniel woo in it too, darn he was tall. one can not imagine jackie chan being the head honcho of a crime organization, well he did in this film about the influx of migrants from china to japan back in the 90s. asian cinema has a certain aura of romance when it comes to crime flicks which differs significantly from their western counterpart. the hand to mouth existence of the migrants, followed by their descent into crime and involvement with the japanese yakuza, overnight success and the sudden downfall happened all too fast. they can still work on character development, certain shots was good though like the flood of stones thrown outside the building which shattered virtually everything, even someone's head.

crime does pay, according to this movie, only for a while. oh, i just noticed that japanese men can be pretty hot.

the reader (2008). directed by stephen daldry.

i guess i cant fathom people half the time, especially when they are so angular like hanna schmitz in the reader (2008). though this might give a hint, or the point to it:

We don't know. We think we do but we don't. We make decisions or sometimes decisions are made for us but we think we've made them. Then suddenly, there we are. We can't be certain how we got there or where we will be when everything settles but we do know that we are alive. Some experiences are life altering and we can run from them or embrace them. Staying to see them through though can bring incredible bliss but also tormented turmoil. We just never know. One such experience was had by a young Michael Berg (David Kross) and is chronicled in Stephen Daldry's THE READER. How could he know that when he pulled into an alley to be sick that he would meet the woman who would shape his entire life? How could he know that getting close to her would pull him the furthest he's ever been from himself?

taken (2008). directed by pierre morel.

if only i were as big as liam neeson, i would beat the hell out of the 2 couples who endlessly talked in the cinema as if i am squatting in their living room at their mercy for letting me watch the movie. to my credit, i told them off, both of them, but these people are beyond civilisation that they continued their chatter soon after.

taken (2008) was good though. i loved the wierd brand of family loyalty a la luc besson, whose earlier movie leon (1994) was of the same theme.

when kim said, you came for me, may be it's good to listen to the old man once in a while, if not most of the time. or may be the love of a father, when it is not as rare as we think it is, is just as precious, tender and unparalleled.

the history boys (2006). directed by nicholas hytner.

the history boys (2006) is rife with homosexual overtones. high school, young boys with raging hormones and teachers who cant keep their hands to themselves. never mind, i get it. but this is worth the endurance:

Mrs. Lintott: Can you, for a moment, imagine how depressing it is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude? History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.

confessions of a shopaholic (2009). directed by p. j. hogan

i give Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) a C. there's some good jokes here and there but i am not an appreciator of chick flicks so it's just ok. however, the complete opposite of rebecca bloomwood is someone very dear to me, who is in the form of my sister. whenever we go shopping, she would be knitting her forehead and eye brows that lines will form on her skin. in one breath she will go, aku dapat bezakan apa dia keperluan dan apa dia kehendak.

i snickered, kedekut!

when i related the little incident to my dad, he laughed like crazy.

my sister, the accountant.