1995 acclaimed mystery thriller. With not so pleasant imagery all around and some coarse language.

This story follows two police detective, one retiring soon, and one aspiring veteran wannabe, as a series of bizarre murders catch their attention. Very soon, it is revealed to be a diabolical attempt at championing the act of God by a serial killer, who chooses carefully his targets to represent a sin, the seven cardinal sins. And die they will to the very sin that consumes their life.

I guess the story is presented in a riveting fashion, albeit sometimes too slow and moody. And it is always fun to guess how the next victim will die once you realize the fascinating and creative ways some of the earlier victims were murdered, but for others it doesn’t exactly have a parallel, so I wondered if it could have been done even better. (No I am not sadistic, sorry)

But as with such stories, sometimes it gets a bit too predictable. I mean, look at the title, you know you will witness 7 of it by the end of everything. So it is just the long wait for the finale. This is a bit unpredictable. Well, when I watched this I figured someone close to the main characters would be involved somehow, as with most such thrillers coming up with a twist. But I was wrong in how they came into the picture, and the end of it all, caught me by surprise totally. And then it ends, all 7 deaths.

It is supposed to contain quite some philosophical thoughts about the way of life. But I suppose humans are humans… with their own innate flaws and vulnerabilities. Does anyone have the divine right to exact divine justice upon another person? I will leave that to faith and law, and enjoy movies when they come along

7 years old movie, hahaha. But anyway this movie is set way into the future, after a hypothetical World War III, after which the world seeks to prevent another war, for the planet will not survive another more devastating war. World leaders congregate and decided that emotion was the primary cause of such conflicts, and hence drugs were developed to suppress emotions, and all emotional stimulating content was banned.

What is it to live in a world devoid of emotions? You talk to your peers on totally professional grounds. You talk to your family as if it is just a random group of strangers. Hell, how do you even start a family? This is exactly what is portrayed in Equilibrium, where a highly authoritative council controls, or rather removes all emotions from society, at least the portion where they oversee. To achieve the goal, a special task force of Grammaton Clerics skilled in the elusive martial art of Gun Kata was established. To witness the impressive feats of Gun Kata, watch the movie (though I must say this looks very impossible in reality). The Grammaton Clerics remain the weapon to eliminate “sense offenders”, people who has succumbed to emotions.

All throughout the time, there exists “The Underground”, a resistance movement that fights against the council, without much success. The turning of the tide occurs when one of the most deadly First Class Grammaton Cleric missed a round of emotion-suppressing drug, and couldn’t retrieve a replacement at a distribution centre. Emotions start flooding him day by day, and he starts to believe in the power of emotion. Thus begins the quest of a Grammaton Cleric to destroy the council that gave rise to his prominence, and to seek emotion liberation for the world.

Personally I think this is a pretty good watch. Although it feels dark and brooding at times, there are some cool visual displays to see, including wondering how the hell one Grammaton Cleric can survive under massive fire while returning precise lethal shots. And this film tells you to never never abandon your emotions.

Rated R for violence, nudity and language

This acclaimed show 3 years back tells the inter-connected stories of 4 families (1 less related to the rest) across various countries. The setting includes the United States, Japan, Morocco and Mexico. Well, it does appear that it lacks a central plot so this may well turn people off. I must admit that when I finally finished watching this, I was like “is that all?”

On the positives, it has some great cinematography and a distinct look at the different cultures. Noteworthy is also the fact that the story is often shown out of sequence and you don’t really realise until you reach the point where it connects. I thought it is kind of cool and had the unexpected factor.

Plot wise, the Japan portion is very much distant from the rest. It seemed more like its own personal story with just a super tiny link to the rest, which might as well not be important. Overall, the families are victims of fate that build onto itself due to fate of others. BUT it is stupidity in 1 case that sparked it all off… no doubt… A chain reaction soon follows that landed some in unpleasant plights.

Finally, I find it quite disturbing that the Japan part have 2 cliffhangers lying around without being explained. So basically they started revealing some stuffs and then left us with no clue what the truths really were. I’m not about to use my imagination here…

Well anyway it seems to me that this doesn’t appear to be much of a commercial type of show. It might not appeal to the masses. The theme here is complex relations between people close to you, and interconnectivity with seemingly random people.

Surprise surprise… Look, this is a 14 years old movie. Saw this randomly and decided to watched it. It did have some superb ratings anyway, touted by some people as a movie every man should watch.

The movie follows the life of William Wallace (with some historical inaccuracies no doubt). Sir William Wallace now is widely recognized as the greatest Scottish hero ever, and rightly so. He was born a commoner in Scotland, in an era when they were oppressed by the English rule. In an incident when his wife was executed (not sure if this is factual), William Wallace was driven by revenge on the English, but on a larger scale than mere personal strife. It was a battle for freedom.

“Every man dies, not every man really lives.” This was a man not immune to fear, but he fought for something greater than selfish desires. Freedom for the Scots at that time was unimaginable, with even the Scottish nobles succumbing to fear of the English, and to maintain their selfish nobilities. Leading the fight was William Wallace, who rapidly gained a fearsome reputation. Very soon he was knighted, and officially fought against the English under Scottish banners.

However, fate was cruel as his downfall came about not from the enemies, but from his allies. A super cruel execution followed, and his severed limbs displayed in corners of the English Kingdom to deter would-be uprisings. On the contrary, William Wallace who refused to succumb to English rule even at his dying breath, was such a figure of inspiration that it sparked Sir Robert Bruce, then ruler of Scotland, to finally initiate with all his abilities a Scottish resistance movement that eventually paid off.

Hail Sir William Wallace. This is truly a man deserving of respect, inspiring courage and purpose. What is life if it is without freedom? Having read up abit, I am impressed by the exploits he displayed. Leading peasants to crush professoinally trained armies, routing fearsome heavy calvary charges, and moving into English territories to sack their castles and cities. Unthinkable acts by even Scottish nobles at that time. He leads to serve, and serves to lead. 1 word: Hero

I find inspiration in this story. An extraordinary man, in extraordinary times, attempting an extraordinary operation, codename Valkyrie. This coup to eliminate Adolf Hitler and install a new government is not exactly well known in popular culture until this movie portrays an adaptation of this historic plot.

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a rather well decorated officer of the German army believed in a greater world without Hitler. Having lost an arm, two fingers and an eye to war, Stauffenberg just wanted to avoid more deaths in a pointless war against the Allied forces. He believed fervently in his principles for common good, even if it meant he would risk his life to commit high treason. And so, along with some other allies within the government and army, a remarkable plan was hatched to seize power and destroy the tyrannical regime of Hitler, in the process seeking truce with the Allied forces.

July 20, 1944, a most impressive German Resistance Movement kicked into gear… Stauffenberg personally planted a bomb in a briefing which included Hitler, then initiated phase 2 of the movement, Operation Valkyrie. Valkyrie involves mobilising the reserve troops in the event that all communications was severed with the army high command to assume control in Berlin and all the important German headquarters in Europe. Interestingly, Valkyrie was a pre-agreed operation by Hitler to retain power in the events of internal strife, and it is now used as a weapon to stage a coup against the man himself.

While history has shown that the attempt failed to destroy Hitler and his regime (the show suggested that it almost came close to a success, much much closer than history was), I believed Stauffenberg remains a pillar of motivation and inspiration to many people. This is an unsung (could-be) hero that we all ought to respect. Hail Stauffenberg!

Well, usually I pick my fair share of “high-level” movies, some of which aren’t really well-known coz they are not really the type of commercial shows you expect. But this time, this Franklyn… I dunno, it is too much perhaps. You can say I start to get lost early in the show. Perhaps it is too artistic for me.

The story parallels 2 worlds, 1 in London, and 1 in a seemingly futuristic metropolis, named Meanwhile City, a dark forboding place of religious fervor where one must have a faith to avoid persecution from the authorities. Faith, as they understand, is a way to keep a person in check. This is where one of the characters come from, a vigilante masked man with no religion, seeking to kill a mysterious person called The Individual he believes is responsible for the death of a poor little girl.

Meanwhile, in London, the story follows 3 other characters who seemingly has nothing to do with one another. There is a dejected young man looking for a love to replace the one he lost, conjuring up an imaginary childhood friend to fill the void. I guess it is some kind of psychological disorder. Next, there is this arts student whose artistic style has approached extremism and dabbles with suicidal intents, partly fueled by antagonism with her mother. There is also this father who is looking for his son who had not been home for a long time. His son is supposedly a fugitive under possession of illegal firearms.

It is this part where I am really confused, as to what the link between them was. In any case, the masked vigilante came to London, a place he calls “the world above”, at least that was what I recalled it as. For some reason, crucial elements in the story seem to suggest that he is the missing son, but I’m not too sure. It is just too messy and not explicitly stated.

Eventually, the 4 characters come together to a single location where finally their purpose in one another’s life is seen. But then as it draws to a close, I seriously do not know what to take home from this story. Lets just say I couldn’t appreciate the level of art.

成龙 饰 Jack / 蒙毅
Kim Hee Seon 饰 玉漱公主
梁家辉 饰 William

Can you believe it? I only watched this now, like 4 years after it went on the big screen. Hahaha… I can imagine all the faces of disbelief right now, but indeed I had waited for the TV premiere in my home country.

By now everyone who wanted to watch it had already done so, at least I assume that. So there is not much point in any kind of review from me! So I’ll make it short and sweet. Number 1, it was hilarious looking at Jackie Chan donning heavy chinese ancient armours and using sword stances as opposed to his usual opportunistic acrobatic arts. The latter is still present in the portrayal in the present life, but I thought he looks kinda funny in those clunky past life moments. Still, on the overall, there are still some pretty impressive action sequences, though they are by no means as good as those of his older Chinese blockbusters. Don’t blame him though, age indeed catches up with him.

Number 2, the whole fantasy part about the whole floating mausoleum thing is fresh, but kind of illogical. I guess the team just wanted to produce a unique experience staging the final fights in an area with zero gravity. But think about it this way. If the court officials and princes wanted to get rid of Emperor Qin, why bother leaving him with such an elaborate heaven on earth? Just friggin’ hog the meteorite for awesome displays of power so you can trounce Liu Bang and Xiang Yu isn’t it? Thus, I find it a moot point.

Number 3… what else? +1 for Kim, hahaha… beauty!