Your Budget For Movies

Sometimes working life can be quite routine and tiresome, so it's a good way to break free from reality by going into the movie world. It's definitely not about escaping the reality, but to give yourself a break and just relax. No harm done at all.

But there's a catch to it. Each week without even noticing it, I've spent at least one night watching movies in the cinema. It takes a great toll out of wallet, if you think about it. If you spend about an average 9 ringgit every week for a show, overall it would total to about RM400-450 a year. That's quite an amount of cash, which could be used for something else.

For me, it's not really an issue since I like movies a lot. I don't really shop for clothes , and I don't spend a lot on gadgets and stuff. No harm done at all, if you just watch one movie per week.

So, what's your annual budget for movies?

Okay. Now if only I can watch 2 movies every week. My next plan would probably be a bank heist, to increase my budget.

I Want To See...

Forget about Transformers, Shrek 3, or Harry Potter. I'm not going to go wild and dance like a madman when the release dates for those movies comes closer. Okay, my childhood was pretty normal as I do watch Transformers on the weekends. But somehow when the idea of a live action movie came out, it didn't really put me into a state of anticipation.

So, what are the movies that which I'm eyeing at, you ask?




Sunshine
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada.
Release date : 12 April 2007 (Malaysia)

Danny Boyle is absolutely the most coolest British director which can dish out movies with different genres every time, UK-style. From a zombie-flick (28 Days Later) to a comedy/drama about a kid who stumbles upon a fortune (Millions), his work is absolutely creative and marvelous. 'Sunshine' is sort of sci-fi and adventure, set in the future, and it's about a group of astronauts' mission to save the dying sun. I bet Cillian Murphy's (Red Eye, Batman Begins, 28 Days Later) performance will not disappoint. A word of caution though, Boyle's movies may be stylish and cool, but I feel it might not appeal to all audiences.



The Namesake
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Kal Penn, Zuleikha Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Jacinda Barrett
Release date: 10 May 2007 (Malaysia)

Read this post.




28 Weeks Later
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau Jr, Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Catherine McCormack
Release date: 17 May 2007 (Malaysia)

A sequel to Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later', the story continues on 7 months after the events of the great infection which had destroyed almost the entire Britain. The director for this film sequel has changed, but Danny Boyle is still with the production team. The cast has changed as well, no more Cillian Murphy! Personally, I do enjoy '28 Days Later', because it's not your average 'Zombie-movie'. Anyway, I do hope one thing hasn't change: lots of Zombie-action in this movie. Let the Zombie party begin.




Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Chow Yun-Fat
Release date: 24 May 2007 (Malaysia)

Pirates on a cliffhanger, anyone? I hate movie-cliffhangers, they just leave you nowhere at the ending (think Matrix Reloaded). I do hope that the following last installment of 'Pirates' will not disappoint. The main reason why I'm still watching 'Pirates' is because of Captain Jack Sparrow, or Johnny Depp! He'd earned my vote as one of the interesting movie characters around. Not entirely portrayed as a hero nor evil villain, Jack Sparrow is down-to-earth cool!



Got eye?

New Layout and Header

I've decided to change my blog's layout. Spanking new look? Not really, but it's just another simple design which I've picked from Blogger. Plus, I've also added a top header image for my blog, featuring 'Pale Man' from Pan's Labyrinth. He's got to be my favorite character from the show! He's cool!

All right, for those who use RSS readers to read my posts, just visit my blog's address to see the site, because it's most likely that you can't see the site design using the feed reader.

A Very Long, Long List

I have a very long, long list of movies which are waiting for me in the queue to write their reviews. Here it goes:

1. Babel
2. The Protege
3. Ghost Rider
4. Rocky Balboa
5. Apocalypto
6. Borat
7. 300
8. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
9. Mukhsin
10. The Departed
11. Pan's Labyrinth (catching it tonight)

More Spices Please!

Following a slew of movies closely related to the great land of India in my blog posts, I continue with a short preview on a promising movie called 'The Namesake'. The movie is about an American-born Indian named Gogol, on his life in the States. It is a story about the search for his identity, torn in between his Indian heritage and American ways.

Here are some facts for you. This movie is directed by award winning Indian director Mira Nair, which gave us critically acclaimed movies like 'Monsoon Wedding' and 'Vanity Fair'. Look closely and you'll see the paddy stalks/leaves on the movie poster (which represents different awards and nominations for the movie itself) and you'll know what to expect from this kind of movie. You see, movies like these are meant to get nominated and win awards, so they are quite serious movies at times. But I was thrilled to know that Kal Penn (Van Wilder, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Epic Movie) is acting as the main character of this show. Well, this movie should be a more serious one so it would be a slightly different Kal Penn on screen, and I'm just curious to see how he performs.

Anyway, I feel this should be worthwhile to watch. If I choose not to see 'Water', I might go for this one instead. According to Cinema Online, the show is scheduled in Malaysia for a 10th May release, which might not be accurate. So, keep your eyes open and let me know if the date changes.

'The Namesake' scores a 75% freshness on Rotten Tomatoes. (Up to date: March 16 2007)

We Have Won... NOT!

BMW has announced their top 10 shortlisted favorite films, and you can go see it here. Our short film was not selected, as I have thought so. Most of the top 10 shortlisted films are produced by people who are involved or related some sort in the film industry, so experience counts. Nevertheless, it was fun doing it. We've uploaded to YouTube, and you can watch it here. Just don't leave any rude comments please :P

BTW, I'm not inside my film as one of the actors. I was actually the cameraman doing most of the camera work, but I forgot to include myself for one of the scenes where I appear as a cameo.

If you're looking into the BMW website for the top 10 winners, check out the film titled 'Westbound'. It's pretty good I think. I like! Nice!

Cultural Learnings of India Make Benefit 'Boleh' Nation of Malaysia

Recently, I've acquired a book called 'Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found' written by Suketu Mehta. It was a good bargain from the recent stock clearance and I've been eyeing on this book for quite some time, not buying it earlier because I was waiting for the right price. It's basically part journal and part essays & travelogue book on India/Bombay. It's a good book, definitely not an 'Oscars' material, but it has its interesting moments inside. But why the interest in India? Well, I'm the kind that reads books with a great diversity of topics (all but not chick-lit please). I wouldn't even mind reading back the children's books like Enid Blyton. So, as long as it's not too boring, I'll read that book. Same goes with films, I practically dig all kinds of it (even the slow-moving art films), all but not horror (no please!).



Recently I've discovered a Hindi film which will be shown soon (15 March 2007) in GSC International Screens, and it's called 'Water'. Somehow it got me interested to watch it. 'Water' was nominated for the recent 79th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it didn't win. The director for this movie is Deepa Mehta. If you didn't know, there's also 'Earth' and 'Fire' by the same director, so it's sort of an elemental trilogy. All these films are not connected though, but they all share the same background: India. They explore different interesting issues: sex, marriage, adultery, homosexuality, etc. Some of these films are known to be controversial and might have been banned in some countries, even in India itself.

It would be great if I'm able to watch all three of the 'elements trilogy' of Deepa, since I'm a foreign language film-nut. I've watched Hindi/Tamil movies in cinema before, but I'm not sure whether they have the obligatory dancing scenes in 'Water'. As long as they have English subtitles down there, then it should be okay.