Movie Mania!

ok, i'm not sure what it means for others, but movie mania for mumbler means being able to watch three movies in one week. yayness.

national treasure: book of secrets
another of your typical year end blockbuster. stars nicholas cage and dianne kruger, along with other hollywood heavyweights such as jon voight, helen mirren and ed harris. this installment of the national treasure movies deals with the mystery of the missing pages of the diary belonging to abraham lincoln's assassin. ben gates finds out that it is linked to the lost city of the inca, a city believed to be one of pure gold. his quest leads him to various countries (france and england) and to pull various stunts like kidnap the president of the united states etc.

nothing spectacular about this show except for the fantastic car chase in the middle of london -- it's mainly a visual treat as the director lets the cgi do most of the talking. jon voight and helen mirren are perfectly cast as the bickering parents of ben gates; the rest of the cast do well to keep the showing going at a fast pace.

my blueberry nights
had originally wanted to watch enchanted, but even though there was only one show at cathay cineleisure, it was fully booked. sigh. wanted to watch patrick dempsey! oh well.

heard quite a bit about this movie (it was the opening movie for cannes 2007), but had never thought of watching it until my dear friend suggested it. this is norah jone's acting debut as well as acclaimed director wong kar wai's first foray into western cinema. it's an ambitious project, and it's apparent right from the start that wong put so much thought into every scene and shot that he actually overdid it. the movie begins where elizabeth (norah jone) first meets jeremy, played by jude law. in their early conversations, wong insists on putting the camera outside the little bakery that jeremy runs. done once or twice, it gives a sort of ethereal feel, but in this case, it was simply irritating.

then afterward elizabeth leaves the bronx where the bakery is, and moves to memphis, where she works as a waitress at a diner joint in the day and a barmaid in the night. at the bar she meets a good tipper in a man (david strathairn) who is heartbroken by his separation from his wife (rachel weisz). arnie literally drinks himself to sleep every night, and one day dies when he loses control of his car. his wife pours out their story to elizebeth, how he was so much older than her, how they met, and how he could never let go of her. she needed breathing space, that's why she left him.

the story takes on a more reckless feel when elizabeth travels to somewhere in nevada and works in a casino. there she meets leslie (natalie portman), a southern belle with a knack for playing poker...and a knack for losing money. one night after losing another thousand at the table, she brings elizabeth to vegas in search for more cash, which she later reveals to elizabeth, will come from her dad. in vegas, leslie gets a call from the hospital saying her dad is dying, but she refuses to believe it. by the time she does, and only at elizabeth's persuasion, does she go to him, but it is too late.

if you're feeling somewhat lost by now, fear not. i hardly understood the meshwork of a story this movie was supposed to have. at nearly two hours long, it was also a test of everyone's stamina and concentration. indeed, mid-way through the show, we were interrupted by a loud trumpet of a snore from an elderly gentleman in the last row, and next to my friend, a lady who was asleep so soundly that she didn't realise her phone was ringing.

my verdict? norah jones can't act. it was a respectable attempt, but that overly bohemian persona was just to cover up the fact that she lacks depth as an actress. jude law was aimless and unrefined because of a lack of direction. the rest of the supporting cast are excellent, given the little script they had to work with. rachel weisz was vulnerable and sultry all at the same time. absolutely loved natalie portman. her spunk and attitude lit up the whole screen, and she brought out the different dimensions to her character well.

as for wong kar wai, the movie is a visual treat. colours and frames are well designed and used, but as a narrative (if there was any at all) this film certainly disappoints.

alvin and the chipmunksthe christmas movie season is empty without an animated flick, and this year, alvin and the chipmunks fills this role. singing chipmunks + struggling songwriter + money-minded record company exec = good clean family fun. the movie opened with an a capella rendition of daniel powter's bad day, and not surprisingly, mumbler was thrilled! and she was not disappointed with the rest of the musical offerings in the movie either. the chipmunks were just so cute and adorable (mumbler's favourite is simon), the story so umcomplicated, the music so catchy, that she left the theatre very satisfied. this is one of the best holiday season movies ever. check out the website of the original chipmunks, where the son of creator ross bagdasarian sr, writes about the origins of the chipmunks and their rise to fame, as well as other trivia (eg alvin, simon and theodore were named after three execs of liberty records back in 1958). it's an amazing and heartwarming read.

so that wraps up my ultra-long movie post. whew. it'll probably be a month before mumbler steps into a movie complex while she reluctantly faces the patho pros.