Memoirs of a Geisha

Zhang Ziyi. A little longer than what you'd expect but I guess if you try to show a book visually, it tends to be. A looong love story. Too bad it has a happyish ending. It has it's ocassional weak moments. You'll need patience.

King Kong

"Oh boy...where do I start..."Somehow I feel even Peter Jackson had the same dilemma. You can literally see him scratching his head going '...umm...the oldies...depression, and yea we can use the proven 'Lord of the rings' theme for a while....what else....it's primitive world...let's throw some 'Jurassic Park'...some '20,000 leagues under the sea'...the 'starry-eyed-poor-girl' theme...and a 'titanic' ending. Oh yea, I almost forgot, throw some kong in there."

God Damnit!! ppl can take only so much in one sitting!

Before Matrix, There was ExistenZ

The Matrix Philosophy (apparently a big deal if u r a 'what-if' person) is quite old. ExistenZ was an honest attempt sans the tech-age pizzazz. Looks crude now but it might have given the same insecure feeling back then. Basically it's an alternate reality video game system. So real you can't tell the difference. You do the math. Nasty 'pod' and nastier 'bio-port'. I read somewhere that 'Death to ExistenZ' slogan has been from 'Videodrome'.

P.S: For non-french speaking ppl like me, the tag line means 'Everyone Plays There'.

Finally....Persona

I should watch it again. One of those 'too much info for one glance' things. Photography so critical. Not only is the Monologue a key psychological factor in the movie, the movie itself appears to be the monotonous work of one man, Ingmar Bergman. I can see why a classic has so many angles. It also leads to a doubt...as in abstract art, what are the chances that we search for something non-existent, trying to interpret a concept that the creator himself did not intend, missing the entire point?

All in all, there are movies and there are MOVIES.

The Girl in the Cafe

Kelly MacDonald (yea, the high school girl from Trainspotting). Subtle yet captivating. Well done movie. Seamless. Gives you a hint of the G8 summit and what it could do. I never really knew what it was about. By the end of the movie it feels cheesy but still once in a while...wouldnt hurt as much. Can't go into the discussion on poverty...it will lead else where. Maybe some other place, some other time. (As usual, we try to avoid miseries or even facts that relate to them)

You Donot Talk About Fight Club

One of my all time favorites, Fight Club, I'm sure makes sense to a lot of ppl. The seemingly crazy theories can only be conceived by Chuck Palahniuk. Credit cards...you dont see the money anymore, everything is a number...you earn a number of something and you spend a number of something. They store numbers under your name and those numbers dictate how much you can ask for. Erase the numbers. Chaos you say? freedom for some, chaos for some....as usual.

Got me to read Choke by the same author. All the weird bits of information that do you more harm than good are nice to know. Theme is always some weird idea and things that revolve around that are just as weird. I guess the catalogue/commercial outlook on life ppl have makes the real thing look weird. Soooo easy to become paranoid. Bobby Fischer...I understand y.

Aeon Flux - She tried...

I guess the catwoman syndrome has restrained ppl from donning skin tight latex. Aeon Flux still sucks. Haven't really read the comic strip, I'm sure 'they' feel let down. Charlize Theron (I am sure that's the only reason for a lot of ppl to even go watch) tried her best but something doesn't click. After North country, Theron-McDormand combo kinda loosens up the situation; doesn't help. Serious lack of grip. Action sequences reminded me of those in Batman Begins...camera moves too fast, too close and you never get to the proper view of what's goin on. Is she getting old?

They handed out free wall posters though (wink wink).

Discover Music You Will Like

Pandora.com, a great website/radio for creating different stations that you can control. Create different stations for different moods and rock on! Classifies music based on a number of (around about 400!!)qualities, tied into Music Genome Project. A good Idea in action.

Apparently I like Mild Rhythmic Syncopations....a lot.

Top 50 Indie Films

Check this out. Weird that the list has reputed 'passion of the christ' and 'terminator' in it. Have seen most of them. Should watch the rest?
Empire Online.co.uk's Top 50 Independent Films