7th European Union Film Festival 2006 (GSC)

Golden Screen Cinemas is having its European Union Film Festival again. The list of films:
1.) A Temetetlen halott (The Unburied Man)
2.) Agata e la tempesta (Agatha and the Storm)
3.) Bast i Sverige! (We Can Be Heroes!)
4.) Bye Bye Blackbird
5.) Calling Hedy Lamarr
6.) De Gronne Slagtere (The Green Butchers)
7.) Der Junge Freud (Young Dr. Freud)
8.) Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (The Edukators)
9.) El perro des Hortelano
10.) Grabben i graven bredvid (The Guy in the Grave Next Door)
11.) Grimm
12.) Le Couperet (The Axe)
13.) Lepel (Spoon)
14.) Les Soeurs Fachees (Me and My Sister)
15.) Millions
16.) Mother of Mine
17.) Occident
18.) On A Clear Day
19.) Petites Miseres (Shopping)
20.) Soldados de Salamina
21.) Sschussangst (Gun-Shy)
22.) Stesti (Something like Happiness)
23.) Valami Amerika (A Kind of America)

Dates:
9 - 18 November 2006
GSC Mid Valley & GSC 1 Utama (New Wing)
23 - 29 November 2006
GSC Gurney Plaza

Ticket Price: RM5

To see all the english synopsis of the movies, visit the website here. There's a lot of movies, but I've only heard of some before this, like 'Millions' and 'The Edukators'. Foreign movies are definately a good watch if you're interested in something fresh and new.

Chinese Film Festival - 100 Years of Chinese Cinema, 100 Classical Movies

Lifelong Learning Malaysia is having a 'Chinese Film Festival' event from 29 Oct 2006 to 8 November 2006, free screening movies by many Chinese directors (mainly from the mainland China) throughout the years. There are old movies which I've never heard before, and some new and latest ones which we have watched recently (not too long ago). The best thing about this event is that there are almost 20 different locations across Malaysia for movie screenings, which includes areas from Kuala Lumpur, PJ, Melaka, Perak, Pahang, Johor and Sabah (excluding Sarawak), mostly in the universities and colleges. The movies will be screened in rooms which have projectors, which I presumed are mostly LCD projectors playing the films in discs (hopefully not pirated?). The schedule for the movies and locations can be found here. Don't forget that it's free, no need to purchase any tickets.

'Raise the Red Lantern' (from acclaimed director Zhang Yi Mou) is among the films in the list.



There's also Kung Fu Hustle, House of Flying Daggers, A World Without Thieves, and a whole lot more movies which I have never heard before in my life, obviously because most of them are made in China.

I will need to consult the Hermit's better half who is from Shanghai on which movie to watch.

Azumi (2003)

Summary:
Orphaned in 19th century war-torn Tokugawa Shogun period of Japan, Azumi is found and raised along with nine other orphans by Ji, the mentor. The Shogun, sickened by innocent lives lost in senseless warfare, had commissioned Ji to cultivate assassins that could eliminate warlords before they could strike. (From Y! Movies)

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Cast: Aya Ueto, Shun Oguri
Language: Japanese

User Ratings Summary: (Dated 9th Oct 2006)
IMDB: 7.0/10.0
Y! Movies: B+
RT Users: 64% Fresh

Apple Movie Trailer Link







My Comments:
Samurai eye candy!

Movie Info: Catch A Fire (2006), Starring Derek Luke & Tim Robbins

Summary:
Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence). The political thriller takes place during the country's turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new South Africa of today. Derek Luke portrays real-life hero Patrick Chamusso.... (From IMDB)

Director: Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American)
Starring: Derek Luke, Tim Robbins
Genres: Drama, Thriller, Politics, Religion, War

User Ratings Statistics: (dated 6th Oct, 2006)
IMDB: 8.1/10
RT (user reviews): 100% Fresh

Note:
I think Eye Candy! is slowly moving towards more on featuring independant films, art films, unknown (small-budget) films, foreign films than the mainstream hollywood crap (Piranhas On An Escalator or Bears On A Submarine, anyone? =) ) .




Direct Trailer Downloads:

US Trailer

UK Trailer

Movie Info: The Queen

Summary:
A revealing, witty portrait of the British royal family in crisis immediately following the death of Princess Diana. The setting for this fictional account of real events is no less than the private chambers of the Royal Family and the British government in the wake of the sudden death of Princess Diana in August of 1997. In the immediate aftermath of the Princess's passing, the tightly contained,... (From Y! Movies)

Directed By: Stephen Frears
Starring: Helen Mirren, James Cromwell
Language: English
Genres: Art/Foreign and Drama

User Rating Statistics (Dated Oct5, 2006)
RT: 100% Fresh (User Ratings)
Y!: A-
IMDB: 7.7/10.0

GSC Reloaded

GSC Cinemas is having it's GSC BLOCKBUSTER RE-RUNS again this year, and if you have missed any of the shows listed here, you can catch them again in the cinemas. Here's the list of the re-runs:

1.) Cars
2.) Da vinci Code
3.) MI 3
4.) Krrish
5.) Dragon Tiger Gate
6.) Rempt-It
7.) Poseidon
8.) The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift
9.) Superman Returns
10.) X-Men: The Last Stand
11.) Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

RM 5 only for all shows!

Man, I'm like a GSC Promoter :P

Movie Info: Laberinto del Fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth)

Set in 1940s Spain against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain, a fairy tale that centers on Ofelia, a lonely and dreamy child living with her mother and adoptive father, who is a military officer tasked with 'ridding the area' of rebels. In her loneliness, Ofelia creates a world filled with fantastical creatures and secret destinies. With Fascism at its height, Ofelia must come to terms with her world through a fable of her own creation. (From Y!)

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Maribel Verdu, Ariadna Gil
Language: Spanish

User Reviews:
IMDB: 8.4/10.0
RT: 100% Fresh

Trailer Comments:
Looks good with a dark setting. It's from the same director as Hellboy and Blade II, so expect it to contain weird characters and stuff.

Kids, Don't Try This At Home

(This post is dedicated to Samuel, whose injury had inspired me to create this post. Get well soon!)

Heard of parkour? Well it's something which you really shouldn't try unless you're the hyper type, and dreams to become a ninja as your ambition. Here's the definition of parkour from Wikipedia:

Parkour (IPA: [paʁ.'kuʁ], often abbreviated PK) is a physical discipline of French origin in which the participant — called a traceur (/tʁa.'sœʁ/) — attempts to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible, using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves. The obstacles can be anything in the environment, so parkour is often practiced in urban areas because of many suitable public structures, such as buildings, rails, and walls.

Well there you go. My purpose is not to promote this dangerous sport (again, kids, don't try this at home) but to introduce few movies which are related to it:

1.) Yamakasi

Synopsis from Y! :
Nines-year-old Jamal is injured in a fall and must have a heart transplant within 24 hours to survive. Jamal's poor family desperately needs to come up with $58,000 to pay the Heart Transplant Corp (HTC) for the operation. The Yamakasi, a group of daring urban acrobats, come to the rescue, burglarizing the homes of the rich HTC board members to pay for Jamal's operation.

2.) Banlieue 13 (District B13)

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.

Oh, by the way, both of these movies are in French. I've personally watched Yamakasi before, but it wasn't so great, except for the cool stunts. I'm planning to watch B13 , even though the reviews weren't so great, but I've heard that the action is ground breaking (Transporter + Ong Bak).


Still shot from B13

Heard of any other movies related to parkour? Don't hesitate to share here...

Theatre: Frankenstein in Love (27 Oct to 3 Nov)

Being used to feast my eyes on whatever that is projected on the silver screen, I've always welcomed a break from the cinema, to watch live acting and performances by real actors on stage. Even though I like theatre/performing arts, I've never always indulge in it too much, because sometimes the entrance tickets could cost you a bomb. But it's always a good thing to watch good plays by your local talents (Ari Ratos rocks!).

The upcoming play in my menu will be Frankenstein in Love, with Rashid Salleh and Patrick Teoh as part of the cast. Playwright is by Clive Barker, the horror writer. Here's the jist of the story:

It is the last few days of the world. Human life has become meaningless as mass genocide and sickness spread throughout the land. Revolutionaries loot and pillage for answers, the faithless betray the faithful, the dead refuse to die and one name stands out amidst the screams...Frankenstein.

A sprawling collection of variations on the idea of human vivisection and reconstruction set in a grim, Gothic world of putrefaction. An unlikely place for love to emerge...but it does, forming a bizarre, tragic love triangle between the creator and his creations.
(more info in the blog and klpac site)

Yummy! Hopefully I won't miss this play. So far I've only watched two theatre shows:
1. Sweet Nothing (2002)
2. The Fastest Clock in the Universe (2006)

The simillarity between these plays is that all of them are have dark settings/background/storyline. It's fun to watch dark shows...