protege (2006) (original title moon to). directed by tung shing yee.

this movie is downright depressing, akin to traffic (2000), though not as extensive in scope as the latter. the mood is bleak, junkies in worldly hell of drugs, dealears and drug lords suffering from delusions of grandiose, and the undercover, simply suffering from too much reality. the undercover found no purpose in trying to bring down the cartel, life as meaningless as corpses being eaten by rats as a result of being tired of trying to kick the habit away, never succeeding. who can save us from such misery? only when we look beyond ourselves.

i like the fact that it is grounded. HK movies normally suffer from trying too hard, too much action, too much colour, too many characters, and it's just a havoc lacking control. it seems directors have become wiser, and a steady flow of films recently produced have seen the effect of afterthoughts in terms of plot, editing & scripts.

the wicker man (2006). directed by neil labute.

what ever you do do not waste your time on this pointless. movie. A remake that did not need to be retold. Everyone coming out of the theater had the same comments. Worst movie I ever saw. Save your time and money!!!Nicgolas Cage was biking down hills, swimming in murky water and rolling down hills while being attacked by bees but yet his suit was still perfectly pressed and shirt crisp white until the very last scene.Although a good cast with Ellen Bernstein and Cage the acting was just as unbelievable as the movie itself. It is amazing how good actors can do such bad movies. Don't they get a copy of the script first. If you still have any interest at all in seeing the movie at the very least wait for it to come out on DVD.

as reviewed in imdb.com

my take...

where do i begin? this is gotta be the worst movie ive watched produced in 2006. i am a cage fan, and you know what, it's no good to watch cage being burnt to death by the end of the movie because i knew 30 minutes in advance that he was the intended sacrifice. it's ok to have the hero whacked off, but for a good reason. you know, like in gladiator (2000), crowe died but not after he killed the evil emperor. not for stupidity as displayed in cage's character. the dialogue is funny-stupid-odd, the combo of a very modern man in cage and the 18th century-like feeling of summerisle.

the fountain (2006). directed by darren aronofsky.

There is a strange deadness in the film, together with a callow self-importance and self-pity which become more stultifying with every minute that passes, factors which are actually made worse by the obvious competence of everyone concerned: so much technical élan is being expended on this narcissistic and flimsy stuff. It looks frankly like an unbearably uxorious tribute from Aronofsky to his fiancee, Rachel Weisz. Her face is always being bathed in holy white light and she wears an outrageous "saintly terminal-illness case" outfit of woolly white hat and coat, looking like Ali MacGraw in Love Story. The fantasy scenes are all fantastically over-designed in a very new agey way; Clint Mansell's musical score is coercive and declamatory, and the whole premise is in any case dishonest. Dying young is a painful, horrible business, full of agony and rage and indignity. For Aronofsky to imply that it can be brought off looking all floaty and snowy and ethereal like a pale L'Oréal model, and that there is a spiritual superiority and sacrificial redemption in death from brain cancer - well, that is naive. And slightly creepy.

as reviewed by peter bradshaw, the guardian.

confession of pain (2006) (original title seung sing). directed by wai keung lau and alan mak.

my thoughts after giving it a watch last friday:

i think them reviews got it wrong. the story isn't trying to be infernal affairs because it doesn't aspire to be one. cops and robbers may well be the background, but the story is about guilt, vengence, forgiveness and ultimately, the pain of hanging on to something both Bong (Kaneshiro) and Hei (Leung) had lost. only one man survived the tragedy and that is by forgiving himself and others. i like the camera work, the soundtrack, and the movie works mostly due to heavyweights like Leung, and Kaneshiro definitely pulls his bit. Shu Qi was underused eventhough the character could have been further expanded.

i went in with my sis, and we were the only non chinese viewers in the theatre. both of us immensely enjoyed Tony Leung stuff over the years, and i'm glad to have watched him on the big screen this time. and this won't be the last, i hope.

confession of pain (2006) (original title seung sing). directed by wai keung lau and alan mak.

it is a bad sign that already 2 reviews that i browsed gave this film a solid C?

this review from imdb.com seems to be the kindest amongst them all.

User Comments:

3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful:-Somehow, the wound is painful., 23 December 2006Author: samuelding85 from Singapore

Seung sing, or directly translate as City of Wounds in English, is Andre Lau and Alan Mak's latest tale of men and women living with wounds that scars their heart in modern Hong Kong.The duo, who has created Infernal Affairs trilogy, pairs Tony Leung Chiu Wai (who was the leading actor from Infernal Affairs trilogy) and Takeshi Kaneshiro, as 2 detectives working on a case where Tony's father-in-law was brutally murdered. Takeshi, who was still living in the agony of his late girlfriend's suicidal death 3 years ago, helps his best friend in investigation. The fact is, Tony murdered his father-in-law, and uses his authority and wits to cover up on what he did. Along with the 2 strong actors are Shu Qi and Xu Jinglei, a Chinese actress from China.Somehow, Confessions of Pain does not seems to be as strong as Infernal Affairs. In terms of plot and flow of storyline, it seems similar like any crime thriller. In terms of ending, it is expected.However, Confessions have its strength that makes this movie watchable. Andrew and Alan pairs Tony and Takeshi as two leading actors, where both were reunited again after Wong Kar Wai's cult classic Chungking Express (1994). Tony and Takeshi did not have any crossover in Chungking Express, thus Confessions gives the duo a chance to see if there is any chemistry reaction.The experiment works. One commits the murder for vendetta, while another believes that the law should not be taken on his own hands. The two men who has their own beliefs displays a clash of ideas, which makes them question what do they really want to achieve at the end of the day. Confessions, some how, seems to be living in the shadow of Infernal Affairs. Nevertheless, it still goes strong.Shu Qi and Xu Jinglei plays the woman whom Takeshi loves and the wife of Tony respectively. Shu Qi might be the leading actress, but it was Xu Jinglei who steals the limelight. She has given the recent films from Hong Kong a fresh look, as her filmography features her works from China, with barely little productions from Hong Kong in her resume. Fans of Shu Qi might be disappointed, as her role does not seems to be vital, though necessary in the story.Confessions of Pain might be just better than average, but at least it is better than other B-productions made in the previous years.

little miss sunshine (2006). directed by jonathan dayton and valerie faris.

decidedly, not enough sleep.

and i was too ambitious in setting the plan of what actually to do, resulting in an almost work-free weekend. heck, i did brush up on faults and fractures, but that's as far as studying petroleum engineering went on a sunday. a lazy sunday it was. i spent better half of the day reading toby young wierd account of his stint in new york "how to lose friends and alienate people" (2002). he's a sloth career wise, or may be he's not new york smart at all, but his social commentary of american contemporary life is amusing if not true, to a certain extent (marriage market, the so called equality and meritocracy, it's humbug).

managed to catch little miss sunshine (2006), funny little story indeed with miserable characters as twisted as we everyday ppl are (im sure i am), and confirms my uneasiness with america's odd obsession with children's beauty pagents. it's wierd to have children parade around as adults. but why do they do it anyway?

and i like steve carrell as the suicidal gay proust expert. you'll like it if you like eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004).

the prestige (2006). directed by christopher nolan.

Angier's ambition, we infer, is to transcend humanly created illusions by drawing on the powers of advanced science, and this takes us into the realms of science fiction and Frankensteinian hubris. The reserved, immaculately dressed Tesla is magisterially impersonated by David Bowie.

After a single viewing, I'm not sure I could describe the order of events in Nolan's film. Yet though one may be puzzled, just as one is by an illusionist, everything seems lucid and leads to a succession of revelations that left me stunned. I was still working out their implications long after leaving the cinema. The Prestige is a dazzling piece of work that left me eager to see it again and to read Priest's novel.

The film is immaculately assembled with magnificently stylised sets by production designer Nathan Crowley, acute editing by Lee Smith and wonderfully atmospheric but wholly unaffected photography by Wally Pfister. They've all previously collaborated with Nolan, in Pfister's case on all his pictures since Following, which Nolan himself photographed.

The performances of Bale and Jackman complement each other superbly and Caine brings a seriousness and dignity to Cutter, a role that combines the best aspects of his theatrical agent in Little Voice and his butler in Batman Begins. As in earlier Nolan films, the women's roles are unrewarding, though Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson do well enough as Borden's naive wife and Angier's duplicitous stage assistant.

If I have given the impression that the film is unduly cerebral or opaque, let me say that in addition to the intellectual or philosophical excitement it engenders, The Prestige is gripping, suspenseful, mysterious, moving and often darkly funny.

-as reviewed by phillip french, the guardian.

harsh times (2005). directed by david ayer.

i wrote this on the train.

comparisons have been made between harsh times and training day, but harsh times is about friendship, loyalty and ambition colliding with addicts, dealers, cops and regular ppl living up to the chaos of LA. yellow filters marked the seedy yellow streaks flashing across the city of angel.

one of them is jim, a walking time bomb waiting for the moment to explode. the odd friends that jim kept are addicts and dealers and a childhood pal, mike. they passed the day in the streets of LA like grown up children looking to steal a candy, supposedly looking for work but actually living a life of petty gangster. the story is sorrowful, the eventuality of self destruction isnt something that jim can avoid. he is shell shocked from the war he had been recently discharged, but refused to admit to it. the machismo front that he is trying to live up to doesnt help, constantly feeling the pressure even from the smallest of things.

christian bale is powerful as jim, too much a chameleon as the deeply unstable jim, posesessively dependent on mike for company. freddy rodriguez of six feet under fame is the loyal mike, who seems to need jim's friendship more than the love of his girl friend, charmed by jim's recklessness and bad influence that he mistakes jim's macho front as being ''a man''. the ending is tragic, and mike must learn to be an adult.

the story is yellow, too close to the audience. the intimacy is uneasy. the pursuit of happiness is a never ending quest, and those not looking for it is truly doomed.

lady in the water (2006). directed by m. night shyamalan.

i regretted not seeing shyamalan's movie lady in the water on the big screen. i've always enjoyed his other movies, and so far has not been disappointed in any one of them. the movie isnt linear in the strictest sense, and it's really rewarding for potential viewers to pay attention cuz this isnt a movie you can watch while eating (or doing laundry etc). what i like about shyamalan is his ability to present something, put it in such a way that is intelligent and more often that not, gives us a glimpse of originality when so many other movies are a concoction of the things that i have already seen (beware, i think it's a good sign you keep surprising yourself). and there are lots of nice shots, which is one of the things that i look out for, be it in the village, signs and unbreakable (to name a few).

he took his time to tell the story. and sometimes the camera is static, which i find particularly irritating in yasmin ahmad's movie.

it's christmas tomorrow. merry christmas.

the departed (2006). directed by martin scorsese.

scorsese is losing it.if the departed wins at the golden globe, then the standards has definitely sunk.the departed is no way comparable to infernal affairs, be it the plot, story telling, even the cast.

i personally believed there's a casting mistake in scorsese's adaptation of the hong kong mole game to the boston landscape. di caprio was too high strung for an undercover, and damon was too 2D, devoid of personal conflicts. casting jack nicholson is too overpowering, because he obtained the lot of the screentime, swallowing the movie and overshadowing the two main characters (of di caprio and damon). which is not the point. the point of infernal affairs was the conflict of 2 men living their lives in a way none of them wants to be. worse, the feeling is like watching a cut and paste job. 70% of the scenes are directly adapted from infernal affairs. the two are so close, yet couldn't be more dissimilar. one can say scorsese made a different movie, but the departed failed to raised to the occasion of previous efforts by scorsese, such as the goodfellas and casino. i have also watched infernal affairs part 3. what i like abt the first and third part is that both movies respect us as the audience. both never tried to overly explained anything, they left it to us to figure out what's going on and this is vastly helped by the good acting displayed (of leung chi wai and lau tak wah). it is subtle, but you cant missed it if you pay attention. i find the departed dwelling on some scenes for far too long than it needs to be as if scorsese wants to be sure that we "get it".

ps: bravo, hong kong films can be a better watch than hollywood stuff sans the gadgets and effects.