For AULD LANG SYNE, my dear. We are ushering in a brand NEW YEAR.

To all my dear, dearest FRIENDS who have been sincerely supporting my several online entertainment blogs throughout 2012, I must say that I am truly blessed and touched by your attention.

This NEW YEAR 2013 article is dedicated to each and everyone of you.

Be good, happy and healthy, and stay safe in the coming year !

I am attaching herewith, a personal favorite of mine, a heart-and-soul song AULD LANG SYNE.

Enjoy !

WISHING All My FRIENDS a HAPPY, HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS New Year 2013 !

Ahhh ….

TODAY is December 31, 2012.

Just one more day and the old year leaves.

A brand new year is just around the corner.

Whether we want them or not, the New Year will bring new challenges.

Whether we seize them or not, the New Year will bring new opportunities.

GOODBYE 2012.

Regretfully, it hasn’t been much of a great year but we survived …

HELLO 2013.

The best is yet to come.

Let’s see !

“PARENTAL GUIDANCE” Movie Review. Holy Smoke, it’s One Big Family Mess.

“PARENTAL GUIDANCE” PRESS PREVIEW

As a Christmassy “feel good” offering, this movie somewhat disappoints.

I cannot contain myself, I am not bubbling with joy either, but this is one you either love or loathe.

LOVE

Billy Crystal, Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei share the same billing nest.  Apart from that, there’s little to crow about.

LOATHE

Not a whiz bang, let’s say that the least you expect from this movie, you might actually wind up enjoying more.

“PARENTAL GUIDANCE” is unintentionally one big family mess, with put-on humor.

Here’s the product in a capsule:

 Grandfather Artie (Billy Crystal), who is accustomed to calling the shots, is a typically old school dude.

He meets his match when he and his wife Diane (Bette Midler) agree to babysit their three naughty grandkids. The children’s new-age parents are Marisa Tomei and Tom Everett Scott who have to go away for a work project.

Surely you will be amazed by several unsavory scenes on vomit, pee and poop in this unfunny comedy taking a swipe at a pair of exasperated grandparents who are trying their best to maintain their cool, whilst attending to three bratty kids.

Blame it on the “PARENTAL GUIDANCE” director Andy Fickman who is largely responsible for helming the project.

He tries hard to bowl us over, but thanks to his erractic treatment, the ensemble cast tends to go overboard in the acting department, irrespective of  grim or comedic situations.

Not to mention the predictable script which is pretentious and formulaic.

The movie has a situational sitcom “feel” throughout.

Well, one man’s meat is another man’ s poison.

Now, you be your own judge.

HAPPINESS IS INFECTIOUS. Spread the Cheer.

HAPPINESS IS ALL AROUND US

We may never really know what 2013 has in store.

Should we long for PEACE and HARMONY in the coming 12 months,
we’ll have to work at it.

Nothing comes from nothing.

Happiness, a product of your well being, is a choice,

My bestest pal who often wears a most beautiful smile often cajoles me:

“To live in peace,
We must have inner peace.

To have inner peace,
We must have a pure conscience.

When our conscience is clear and our mind at peace,
We bring peace and bliss to those around us.”

Happiness is infectious,

It’s akin to a kind word or a kind deed, so go spread the cheer,

Here’s wishing all my chums a rollicking, jolly 2013 !

Wishing all MY FRIENDS and READERS a TRULY MEANINGFUL CHRISTMAS!

2012 is coming to a close.

So what have we learnt from the last 12 months?

The FUTURE is, and always shall be, an illusion.

The PAST remains as a memory.

So hold dear to whatever GOODNESS that is in our hearts at this present moment.

Spread the season’s cheer.

Do remember to fulfill the remaining duties that YOU still have at hand.

Here’s wishing all my FRIENDS a truly meaningful CHRISTMAS 2012.

We are heralding in a splendid NEW YEAR 2013.

Tread with caution, in whatever you do.

Stay SAFE !

“JACK REACHER” Movie Review. He’s LARGER than LIFE.

“JACK REACHER” PRESS PREVIEW

Here we go again, it’s TOM CRUISE as the butt kicking badass in “JACK REACHER”.

For jolly good measure too. 

I’ve never been big on TOM CRUISE.

But he is very much in his element playing the iconic anti-hero JACK REACHER, a character created by British author LEE CHILD pow-wowing the baddies and tabling them all to justice.

“JACK REACHER” ensures you a fun ride, laced with action and dark humor.

 TOM CRUISE again displays his prowess that, whichever angle you may look at him, he commands stoic respect.

 This is a CRUISE brand and he empowers as the movie star.

As both producer and star, CRUISE has developed a potential franchise, a vanity project and a crowd pleaser.

The film opens with a horrific shooting of five innocents, throwing the heartland city into a stare of pandemonium.

The police follow the trail of clues that leads to James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a recent veteran and ham him as the shooter.

Beaten into a coma while in custody, Barr has enough time during his first interrogation to write a simple message:  “Find Jack Reacher.”

Before everyone, such as the district attorney (RICHARD JENKINS), Barr’s lawyer Helen Rodin ( ROSAMUND PIKE), and the lead investigator on the case, Detective Emerson (DAVID OVELOWO), can even discuss how to find Reacher, our hero strides nonchalantly into the police station.

 And as Reacher probes deeper into the case,  he realizes that James might not be guilty after all.

Writer/director CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE blends action, suspense, thrills and comic relief skillfully.

As in any action film, you have to fully suspend disbelief  to fully enjoy this spy thriller.

If you are a fan of TOM CRUISE, then this film should not fail.

“HERE COMES THE BOOM” Movie Review. He’s Ain’t any Boomtown Charlie.

“HERE COMES THE BOOM” PRESS PREVIEW

Here’s a Christmas attraction to look forward to, this festive season, only if you are seeking flighty moments.

It’s a raucous sports comedy wrapped under a corny title.

Nonetheless, it’s still a watchable film carrying on its sleeve a heart-and-soul to bowl you over. Hopefully.

The elements of loyalty and camaraderie are randomly reflected here to tell us that if all else fail, what are friends for?

Despite lukewarm reviews when it was recently screened in the West, it’s more likely to be a movie that will take off in the East.

KEVIN JAMES stars as Scott Voss, a 42 year old nerdy Biology teacher from a little known Boston High School.

His occasional childish pranks tell us that he may still be a child trapped in a man’s body.

As a teacher, Scott is having an exasperating time trying to tame his team of teen misfits.

He returns to his university sport of wrestling to save the school’s music department from being disbanded and to prevent his prissy elderly colleague ( Henry Winkler) from being made redundant.

 Scott volunteers to become a human punchbag competing as a mixed martial arts fighter in a noble act to raise funds.

SALMA HAYEK is the female lead to lend comic relief and a female touch.

“HERE COMES THE BOOM” is a light hearted drama not to be taken seriously.

It’s crafted to amuse , and to induce a momentary escapade from your day-to-day grind.

It’s surprisingly not that bad.

“LES MISERABLES 2012″ Movie Review. LOVE EMPOWERS EVERYTHING.

“LES MISERABLES (2012)” PRESS PREVIEW

 (A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE)

This CHRISTMAS, go watch LES MISERABLES the MUSICAL MOVIE.

It is a striking film with a haunting score that will tug at your heartstrings.

 Oscar-winning director TOM HOOPER (“The King’s Speech”) leads his cast of stars to perform the songs “live” on-camera instead of having them lip-synch to pre-recorded tracks.

Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, LES MISERABLES takes us through a heart-wrenching parable of angst, forgiveness and redemption, in a world shackled by injustice and the lack of compassion.

HUGH JACKMAN plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (RUSSELL CROWE) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (ANNE HATTAWAY) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.

This movie is a fitting tribute on the subject of the timeless resilience of the human spirit.

Yuletide season maybe, but go feel, watch and cry your heart out with the film’s characters, all in the spirit of love.

Love is universal, among other things.

Hope gears you up but it is love that keeps you going.

If you dare stand up in the spirit of  love and fight for whatever you believe in,

Then you dare dream,

Because in eventuality, love empowers everything.

But only if you believe.

Feel the  emotional anguish by the character Fantine as she sings:

“I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted …”

There is grandeur in its scope and scale that will make you sit up.

 LES MISERABLES is a musical that’s both stylish and gritty, with rousing performances from an all star ensemble cast under director Tom Hooper’s relentless direction. Be mesmerized by the exuberant and biting performances of HUGH JACKMAN and ANNE HATHAWAY.

At 2 hour-and-38-minute long, it’s a beautiful and inspiring movie that will linger on your mind long after you leave the cinema, a true musical that must be seen more than once.

Don’t miss it!

To all my readers, a MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012!