Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
SEX AND THE CITY 2 MOVIE REVIEW. Much Ado about Overindulgence..
PRESS PREVIEW
In truth, SEX AND THE CITY 2 should be observed as a work of pure escapism.
You’d have to suspend disbelief that, at an economic downtime like now, we've a sinful film that’s overspilling with indulgence and extravagance.
The wardrobe budget alone hits an unbelievable 10 million bucks – splurging on brands such as Pucci, Chanel and Alexander McQueen.
I mean, you have these four middle-aged women, SARAH JESSICA PARKER (Carrie), KIM CATTRALL (Samantha), CYNTHIA NIXON (Miranda) and KRISTIN DAVIS (Charlotte) all draped in haute coutre outfits riding camels in the desert and sashaying in the sweltering heat.
Who are they trying to impress by parading in the oasis without any stylist around?
It’s as ridiculous as you can get.
Yet it can be simple and generous, with dosages of the silliness that make us laugh at life’s incongruities and improbabilities.
You’d have thought the four middle-aged tarts are at it again!
Well yes, SEX AND THE CITY 2 isn’t just spiced with puss glamour
and no, the tarts do have a heart.
For sure it’s still sizzling sex, warts and all …..
plus a journey to exotic Abu Dhabi.
The fun, fashion and friendship a la Arabian Nights are here again to astound us.
The treatment of latent fear – that of loneliness, jealousies and marriage woes are explored with more depth.
CARRIE’s married life is far from being blissful. SAMANTHA is desperately popping pills to retain her youth and figure. MIRANDA is being victimized by her sexist boss. And CHARLOTTE worries about her bra-less, busty nanny.
These tarts may be spoiled, insecure women of privilege, out on a limb.
But like everyone of us, they are fallible and very much alive.
You may rank today, as one of the world’s glamorous pussies and talked-about fashionista,
Unfortunately, time does not stand still,
Sooner than you think, you may have to examine yourself in the mirror for lines and crow’s feet and the word BOTOX comes up in your mind with an astounding capital “B”.
Welcome SEX AND THE CITY 2!
If you are a baby boomer on the doom, this one’s for YOU!
Remember, you can only live once.
For this female-centric SEX AND THE CITY 2, the city gals are desperately toying a break from their mundane fabulous lives.
SAMANTHA encounters a Sheik from Abu Dhabi who wants to fly her to his luxury resort hotel to negotiate PR services and she craftily snares a short all-expenses paid vacation (22,000 dollars a night suite and 4 personal butlers) for herself and her chums.
With all the exotic charm, Abu Dhabi remains a city where women adorn “burqas” and frowns on public displays of anything sexual.
And with a sex-starved vixen like SAMANTHA on the prowl, in a forlorn country, you can surely expect round upon round of explosive fireworks.
This is a film for men who gasp and for women who are drawn to female bonding, fashion and fantasy.
The self-righteous critics may go on bragging and bitching for all it is worth,
but it does not stop the loyalists from patronizing the movie and the producers for planning SEX AND THE CITY 3.
This is what box office empowerment is all about.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
KARATE KID 2010 Movie Review. KUNG FU FIGHTING in CHINA?
KARATE KID 2010 PRESS PREVIEW
For a majority of the die-hard armchair critics, especially those from Greater China, THE KARATE KID is bound to create some major upsets.
For one, this isn’t a film on KARATE and no, it’s not happening in JAPAN.
Rather, the setting is in BEIJING and it’s all about the KUNG FU martial arts.
So where is the focus?
THE KARATE KID is, in fact, a remake and borrows heavily from the original, very successful 1984 classic that starred RALPH MACCHIO and PAT MORITA (RIP) about a bullied youth who learnt to fight back his bullies with the help of an eccentric mentor. It was then about KARATE.
This time around, it’s JADEN SMITH who steps into the shoes of Ralph Macchio with JACKIE CHAN playing the Pat Morita’s role to teach the disciplines of the KUNG FU martial arts to the whizz kid.
Isn’t it great to have powerful parents such as WILL SMITH and JADA PINKETH SMITH as producers who bought the rights to refashion THE KARATE KID film as a star vehicle for their son JADEN SMITH?
Long live nepotism!
To bridge geographical conflicts, the producers are naming the feature as:
THE KARATE KID in USA and certain parts of ASIA.
THE BEST KID in JAPAN
THE KUNG FU KID in CHINA
THE KARATE KID provides wholesome family entertainment for Jackie Chan’s and martial arts fans, a far cry from the current deluge of 3D and animation offerings.
DRE (JADEN SMITH) is a much sought after kid in his district of Detroit. His confidence takes a beating when his single mother is relocating to BEIJING in the course of work.
In CHINA, DRE has an eye for pretty school student MEI YING but his attempts at friendship are thwarted by big bully CHENG and his fellow cronies who attempt to make his new life unbearable for him.
He learns KUNG FU from MR. HAN, a building maintenance man who takes him under his wings in the hope of getting him in shape for an upcoming martial arts tournament.
MR. HAN is a man of staunch principles. His way of KUNG FU is all about self-defense and not the art of fierce punches and parries.
He imparts the practice of focus, obedience, inner strength and in doing so, this East-versus-West barrier is lifted as the film’s sincerity and poignance paves the way over gaps in plausibility and logic.
JACKIE CHAN is memorable as MR. HAN, and could be his best acting role in Hollywood to date.
JADEN SMITH may be pint-sized for his age, but he is a cutie who delivers the chops!
We are also treated to colorful Chinese backdrops of rural villages, temples, the scenic Wudang Mountains and the unmistakable Great Wall.
And JACKIE CHAN is didactically inspiring when he impresses with his deliverance of Buddhist aphorisms, always with warmth and humor.
It’s like telling us that we are so used to seeing external training that we forget inner training, the training of ourselves.
We like to train other people and forget to train ourselves.
We tend to take it for granted that we are always right, and others are in the wrong.
Kudos must be accorded to film director HAROLD ZWART for this 2 and half hours of family action drama that stays close to the principles of KUNG FU.
Not easy for a Hollywood director to empowers the “ASIAN” mind, but he does it with aplomb where many failed to tread.
IT’S A FILM OF UNDENIABLE WARMTH AND CHARM.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
LOVE IN A PUFF 志明與春嬌 Film Preview. Can LOVE blossom in an Alleyway?
PRESS PREVIEW
Excuse me, this reviewer does not smoke.
Maybe he puffs, ever once in a while.
So what’s the big deal?
Let’s say when you smoke, you inhale deep whiffs of nicotine.
The poison goes deep into your lungs and stays, until that rainy day comes when you are feeling queasy for want of fresh air, and medical help, of course.
What if you just take a puff?
Did someone say that puffing is a lighter form of inhaling where the deadly nicotine is not totally “sucked” in?
Is this is a senseless dig at safer smoking?
Or is it just a stupid rationale aim to justify smoking logic?
All over the world, we are reprimanded not to smoke in air conditioned places.
So for a quick puff, you gather in the open alleyway with your regular smoking partners to light a cigarette, relieve temporary stress
and to exchange bits and pieces of sultry news.
This is LOVE IN A PUFF, a film made for SMOKERS, about SMOKING.
Directed by PANG HO-CHEUNG, it has been classified as a Category 3 film in Hong Kong, thanks to a profusion of disturbing smoking scenes and the vulgar Cantonese euphemisms.
Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue star in this exceptional vehicle which tries to be “different”, dwelling on TOBACCO, a taboo subject.
Miriam is this cosmetic salesgirl called Cherie. She is falling out of love with her live-in boyfriend.
She meets this cute advertising boy called Jimmy (Shawn Yue) in the alley who later becomes a smoking partner over the communal ashtray. Now, Jimmy has just broken up with her flighty girlfriend and is seeking companionship.
Love entwines, in an unlikely environment, amid puffs of office gossip.
This is when “sentiments are stirred”, where the gal eventually moves away from the madding crowd to her own secluded alley with this boy, to banter on delicate matters of the heart.
They SMS each other, go on night sprees, light a lot of cigarettes and then fall in love.
All these, depicted in a crash course of 7 days.
Ask any smoker ….. all the savory gossip, jokes and dirty stories are best shared during cigarette breaks, since the smoking law prohibits smoking in indoor areas, public places, restaurants, even karaoke lounges.
Is this an arresting movie?
Well, yes …..the Director has injected interesting docu-style “first person” interviews where the leads and others opine about love and relationships.
And no, Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue do seem to be an odd pairing.
The chemistry ain’t there, they just don’t seem to “match”.
There’s a respite at the end of the movie.
Giving up smoking?
Yeah, with true love, you need no nicotine.
You may seek the camaraderie of other smokers,
and all the other psychological cravings develop later to take away the pain of sadness, boredom and depression and so on.
Love maketh the world go round.
And SMOKING is not amongst them,
not one of the golden rules.
You have seen better days,
So quit smoking, chum!
Friday, May 28, 2010
STOP PRESS! IF TOBACCO DOES NOT KILL, WHAT ELSE WOULD?
Too unfit to run: Two-year-old who smokes 40 cigarettes a day puffs away on a toy truck
REALLY KOOL DOES NOT USUALLY CARRY OTHER PEOPLE'S NEWS, BUT WE'VE GOT TO STOP FOR THIS ONE.
Last updated at 2:59 PM on 27th May 2010
At just the tender age of two, Ardi Rizal's health has been so ruined by his 40-a-day habit that he now struggles to move by himself.
The four-stone Indonesia toddler is certainly far too unfit to run around with other children - and his condition is set to rapidly deteriorate.
Truck on bad habits: Ardi Rizal
sits smoking on his favourite toy at home in Musi Banyuasin, Indonesia
But, despite local officials' offer to buy the Rizal family a new car if the boy quits, his parents feel unable to stop him because he throws massive tantrums if they don't indulge him.
His mother, Diana, 26, wept: 'He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.'
Ardi will smoke only one brand and his habit costs his parents £3.78 a day in Musi Banyuasin, in Indonesia's South Sumatra province.
But in spite of this, his fishmonger father Mohammed, 30, said: 'He looks pretty healthy to me. I don't see the problem.'
Ardi's youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 per cent of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of those active smokers.
The percentage of five to nine year olds lighting up increased from 0.4 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent in 2004, the agency
reported.
Gun smoke: Four-stone Ardi puffs one of 40 cigarettes he smokes a day while toting a water pistol
A video of a four-year-old Indonesian boy blowing smoke rings appeared briefly on YouTube in March, prompting outrage before it was removed from the site.
Child advocates are speaking out about the health damage to children from second-hand smoke, and the growing pressure on them to smoke in a country where one-third of the population uses tobacco and single cigarettes can be bought for a few cents.
Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's child protection commission, blames the increase on aggressive advertising and parents who are smokers.
'A law to protect children and passive smokers should be introduced immediately in this country,' he said.
A health law passed in 2009 formally recognizes that smoking is addictive, and an anti-smoking coalition is pushing for tighter restrictions on smoking in public places, advertising bans and bigger health warnings on cigarette packages.
Puff baby: Ardi blows smoke while trundling around on his truck
But a bill on tobacco control has been stalled because of opposition from the tobacco industry.
The bill would ban cigarette advertising and sponsorship, prohibit smoking in public, and add graphic images to packaging.
Benny Wahyudi, a senior official at the Industry Ministry, said the government had initiated a plan to try to limit the number of smokers, including dropping production to 240 billion cigarettes this year, from 245 billion in 2009.
'The government is aware of the impact of smoking on health and has taken efforts, including lowering cigarette production, increasing its tax and limiting smoking areas,' he said.
Mr Mulyadi said a ban on advertising is key to putting the brakes on child and teen smoking.
'If cigarette advertising is not banned, there will be more kids whose lives are threatened because of smoking,' he said.
Ubiquitous advertising hit a bump last month when a cigarette company was forced to withdraw its sponsorship of pop star Kelly Clarkson's concert following protests from fans and anti-tobacco groups.
Always having a break: Ardi, who is rarely seen without a cigarette, insists on the same brand, costing £3.78 a day
However, imposing a non-smoking message will be difficult in Indonesia, the world's third-largest tobacco consumer.
Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, a member of the National Commission of Tobacco Control, said Indonesia must also address the social conditions that lead to smoking, such as family influence and peer pressure.
'The promotion of health has to be integrated down to the smallest units in our society, from public health centres and local health care centres to the family,' he was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe on Friday.
Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih conceded turning young people off smoking will be difficult in a country where it is perceived as positive because cigarette companies sponsor everything from scholarships to sporting events.
'This is the challenge we face in protecting youth from the dangers of smoking,' she said in a statement on the ministry's website.
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