Avalon

Reviews

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Decided to do a review once again, since well, I am bored and the time has come for yet another one, since well I have been quite an idler...

Disclaimer: This is done not to incur the wrath of those who have been busy with work.

Movies

Resident Evil 3 : Extinction

Didn't exactly plan to watch it even though I did follow this series. I remembered I was mildly terrified after watching the first installment at my friend's house back then during secondary school days. I had a hard time eating chicken rice during dinner that day. Fast forward to the second episode Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse which was released in J1 or J2. I thought it wasn't that scary anymore. The occasional horror was there, but either I have grown used to seeing swarms of undead feeding on human flesh, or I have ingested the idea of a horrible virus wiping out humans but life has got to move on for the survivors aka the heroine and survivors, because it wasn't as traumatising as the first episode.

As for this newest production of the RE franchise, I could only say the show was entertaining. The production crew probably carried on with the same formula they used to make the previous two movies. There wasn't alot of character development. As usual, Mila Jovovich goes around thrashing all the unfortunate undead who happened to be in her way. So while the human survivors are dying at a hopelessly shameful rate, she continues to be the alpha female and saviour of the lot. And there is, as usual, a face-off with the last boss at the end of the show just like in the games. Overall, the movie is entertaining, if you like action scenes involving twisted heads, decapitated bodies, or secretly shares sadistic pleasure seeing the femme fatale kickass. The ending does hint at a possible and probable (based on box office results of course) sequel so this may not be the end of the RE series after all. (there were rumours of it being a trilogy) Quite a mindless Hollywood thriller flick, unless you want to associate the theme with the science and ethics argument and start worrying when it will be end of the world for the humankind...

Lust, Caution

Yes, yes, with all the hype over the 9 minutes sex scenes that were cut away by the local censorship board, (Thank them for their constant efforts in ensuring the people, especially younger ones of the country are shielded from gratuitous sexual content...) the show has already undergone media overexposure even before it was officially released.

Still went to catch the clean, filtered NC-16 (friends were like saying it was a huge drop from r21 to nc-16) version, since there was ready company. Lust must be suppressed when one is having a promiscuous affair during a time when one's country is in turmoil. At the same time, when one is in love with someone who is carrying out a dangerous mission, one has to exercise caution and draw that line between love and duty. The story is about a drama society led by Kuang Yu Min (starring Wang Lee Hom) which goes all out to nab Mr Yee (Tony Leung, the name itself is box office appeal), a traitor who works for the Japanese during the resistance against the Japanese in 1938. Wang Jia Zhi (starring budding Chinese actress Tang Wei), a first year Hong Kong university student, was roped in to play the pivotal role of infiltrating the home of Mr Yee and his mahjong-playing wife and get close to Mr Yee to target him for assasination. But Yee, being a crafty and cautious man himself, avoided death at the last minute.

Fast forward to 1941 Shanghai, when Jia Zhi is now a poor student living with her aunt. Kuang, now an agent of the resistant party, made his appearance and informed Jia Zhi that Yee was now in Shanghai, and persuaded her to reactivate the mission of assassinating Yee by seducing him and letting down his guard. However, Yee, being the sly fox he was, was proving hard to kill. And the more Jia Zhi gets entangled in a relationship with him, the deeper she falls for the man. Realising the situation she was in, she pleaded with the organisation to complete the mission fast...

如果说梁朝伟是演得得心应手，汤唯的演技应该说是层出不穷。一会儿是外表文静，温柔善良的女大学生，转眼间就变成手段精明，聪明内敛的贵妇麦太太，穿梭在上流妇女中间，还肩负着勾引易先生，取其信任的使命。戏里戏外，她皆是韬光养晦，直到时机成熟，才来个不鸣则已，一鸣惊人。果然是戏中戏。电影中，她是个演员，只不过把舞台扩展到人生中。从她为了接近易先生而与男同学初试云雨，只为了解如何行房，就已不单是为艺术牺牲，而是为革命贡献。没看过原著，但从汤唯版王加芝，我看到一个女人的坚定、顽强、迷失、错爱、和最后功败垂成的无奈。邝裕民是爱着王的。王有多爱邝，只有她知道。他们却是尽力去压抑。至于王对易先生，除了欲，其实藏着多少戏假情真？也许有人会归咎电影的肉欲镜头遭删剪而无法解释出王对易逐渐产生的爱。但至少，听她脉脉含情唱《天涯歌女》，和在最后关头放走了易先生那幕，那瞬间她是爱着易先生的。

看完了只是觉得有点沉重。或许王力宏《落叶归根》唱到的“几分忧郁，几分孤单，都心甘情愿。”，多少点到了电影的几分落寞哀伤。

Songs

Listened to F.I.R's new album, Love Diva, and was thoroughly impressed. Never was a big fan of them and I personally feel their second and third albums aren't as fantastic as the first. But this fourth album definitely created a new sound for Faye. 《爱过》plays testiment to her wide vocal range, especially when she hit the super high notes towards the end. 《需要你的爱》is a duet with Xin and is currently being broadcasted quite frequently on the radio. But the song which really got me awed is the second track 《第十行星》. Superb musical arrangement supported by Faye's powerful vocals. Definitely must listen to this.

And that is the only new album I have kept in touch with. I have been into retro and Jap music. Had been listening to 《Sorry》by 苏永康, after hearing Chen Wei Lian sing it on 快乐星期天. Wei Lian sure wowed me with his version of the song, so much I dug up the original version almost immediately. Those who miss his performance can go search on youtube. (like what else) Typing his name along with the show title will do the trick.

Envoy of the Stars @ 7:06 PM
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