You, are the apple of my eye

In a parallel universe, we would have gone back in time to correct all the missed opportunities, all the mistakes that we may have made in life; but in our present reality, all we can do is just look back at those memories, smile fondly and move on with our head held high.

《那些年，我們一起追的女孩》 is a Taiwanese coming of age film that en-captures all the joy, laughter, pain and sorrow of growing up. A tender, heartwarming and touching film that has an incredible heart, it's a realistic and honest reflection of the trials and tribulations of growing up in the 90s, in an era that heralds the burgeoning of the information age, in a world before the influx of the internet and the expanse of technology that it brings. Things were simpler, more innocent then, and you get a sense that without technology, relationships and bonds were more realistic and honest as well.

Its a film that's amazingly well crafted, finely balanced in its ability to shift from incredibly hilarious laugh out loud moments of both unabashedly crude humour that the Taiwanese are well known for and subtle blink-and-you'll-miss-it jokes, to moments that are unbelievably poignant, touching and occasionally heart wrenching. And its ability to straddle both sides of the emotional spectrum lies not just in the palpable chemistry of its entire ensemble cast, but also in the sensitivities of the director/screenwriter/author of the film. There's no doubt that the cast of mostly young twenty-somethings, led by 柯震東 & 陳妍希, have done an incredible job here, but the true success of the film lies in Director 九把刀's directing abilities - the scenes are almost postcard picturesque, the storytelling and pacing were both controlled and elegantly executed, brilliant work from a director who's making his directorial debut with this solid effort.

The ending's bittersweet, but then again, I found it extremely satisfying and realistic. On hindsight, any alternative ending would probably have felt forced and contrite, and the film would probably lose an incredible level of depth and poignancy. Nonetheless, I left the theatre feeling more refreshed and satisfied that I've ever been in a long time.

In life, we are bound to leave behind a slew of missed opportunities and unfortunate mishaps. But the point of growing up is to look back on these memories and regrets, and learn from them and to make sure that when the future comes, we grow with our experiences and seize the moments that would change our lives for the better. The past can never be rectified, but should always be remembered and treasured. At the same time, we strive to live life to the fullest, to create new memories and not regrets. And that, to me is the challenge of life. =)

Oh Oscar, Oscar Oscar!

The Oscars are fast approaching, and I find it extremely ironic that the first ever chance I have to watch them "Live" has to content with the fact that I'm just 8 days away from a potentially life-changing examination. Oh bugger. And did I mention that this year's the first time that Channel 5 isn't screening it 'Live' as well?!? When I get the opportunity to watch it "Live", Channel 5 chooses to screw with me and decides not to screen it! What's up with that! Is this a sign that Karma's just not on my side?!?!

Anyway, there's no secret that I am totally rooting for 'The Social Network' to win Best Picture and Best Director at this year's Oscars. But I wanted to watch 'The King's Speech' as well because I wanted to size up the competition, and also to find out if it was really better than 'The Social Network', considering that it beat 'The Social Network' in so many other major award ceremonies. So I decided to go watch it.

The truth is, I liked it. 'The King's Speech' is an uplifting movie, the kind of movie that Oscar voters definitely love. It reminded me of 'The Queen' that was released a couple of years ago, a film that was incidentally, about the current Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, who just happens to be the daughter of the King featured in 'The King's Speech'. Nonetheless, 'The Queen' also found Oscar gold. 'The King's Speech' has an inspiring and relatively simple plot - the real life story of His Majesty, King George VI's attempt to overcome his outward stammer and inward fears, to find the courage to step out of his father's and brother's shadow and to find the conviction to be a great King and lead his weary nation in her desperate time of need. It is an awe-inspiring and truly humbling tale that sheds new light on the amount of courage, dignity and strength that the British Royal Family must possess to rule. Its hard not to find new found respect for the Windsors, even if their recent and modern antics would provide their detractors with tons of ammunition against them.

'The King's Speech' works because of the superb acting craftsmanship of its principal cast. Colin Firth is amazing as His Majesty, King George VI. While he looks nothing like the late King at all, his subtle take on portraying the King's complex feelings is just pure genius. Its not the realistic stutter that crowns his glorious performance, but the subtle hints into the King's hidden feelings of fear, pain, anger and frustration that he allows to surface throughout the film, that truly renders him the favourite to win the Best Actor trophy in the upcoming Oscars. Geoffrey Rush's performance as the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue is also brilliant, his confident,eccentric, patient and calm Logue, a perfect foil to the frustrated and conflicted King. Helena Bonham Carter's Queen Elizabeth, wife to the King (and mother of the current Queen Elizabeth II) was surprisingly warm and motherly, which is a welcome change from the usually over the top characters that she likes to play. Nonetheless, she manages to inject a little tinge of cheekiness into her portrayal of the Queen, which is in keeping with the fact that the late Queen was indeed well known for her sharp wit and quotable quotes.

Without this strong cast, the film wouldn't have done so superbly. As a film, it is well made, touching and inspiring, a perfect feel good movie that just spells Oscar gold, though the only gripe I have with it is that it does feel, at times, rather too lengthy and draggy for its own good. Still, it has swept many of the major awards during the pre-Oscar award season, turning it into THE front runner at this year's Oscars, with 'The Social Network', the initial favourite now becoming the Underdog film trying to score an upset. In many ways, this year's battle has evolved into a battle of the Traditionalist versus the Progressive: The traditional, inspiring, grand and stately film that is 'The King's Speech' versus the sleek, intelligent, youthful and slightly radical film, 'The Social Network'.

I'm inclined to support 'The Social Network' in this two way battle. I feel that while 'The King's Speech' was a genuinely good movie, 'The Social Network' was simply downright spectacular. I've never felt so invigorated by a movie in a very long time. It was well crafted, well acted and so brilliantly edited into this incredibly smart, sexy and intense film - such a ground breaking film that made film making feel exciting again. I feel that 'The King's Speech' winning would be a very safe victory. And while it was a great film, it just didn't have that added oomph that 'The Social Network' had. No question about it. It didn't have that extra spark that 'The Social Network' had, and that undoubtedly made me love the former even more.

I feel that David Fincher, the Director of 'The Social Network' should win Best Director as well. I feel that it was more technically challenging to make a fast-paced, frenetic film like 'The Social Network' than 'The King's Speech'. To be able to interpret an awesome, brainy, technically-invasive script like that of 'The Social Network' and to envision the kind of film that it eventually turned out to be is just evidence of the man's incredible talent. David Fincher deserves the Best Director trophy, much more that Tom Hooper, director of 'The King's Speech'.

In terms of who I want as Best Actor, I'm so horribly torn. A big part of me knows that Colin Firth will win it (and understandably so because after watching his performance, he truly deserves it.) But I'm such a huge fan of 'The Social Network' star Jesse Eisenberg, that a HUGE part of me wants him to score an upset as well, even if the odds to that are exceedingly low. But oh Jesse! You are so freaking talented I hate to see you lose! Argh. Then again, you'll probably hate winning and having to go up on stage to make an awkward speech, and with your prodigious talents, you'll probably be nominated again for some other role real soon. So even if you don't win it this year, you'll get it soon! And I'll still be obsessed over you! You and your freaking talent and awkwardness! Sigh.

In terms of Best Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin is going to win hands down for 'The Social Network'. He has swept every single screenplay award and the Oscar is just waiting to be handed to him. His script was AWESOME. JUST FREAKING AWESOME. Such brilliant lines, such intriguing and witty conversations. Double sigh.

Best actress - Natalie Portman for Black Swan. I'm just wondering if she'll go into premature labour while on stage accepting the award. It'll be so cool if that happens!

Hmmmm.... I don't really care for the other awards. Let's just see who wins them on the 27th! Can't wait! Oh Oscar, Oscar Oscar!

"You're not an asshole, Mark. You're just trying so hard to be. "

I know I'm a hundred years too late writing a review of 'The Social Network', especially since the movie was released in October last year, but I've got to admit that I'd only just watched it. (I was feeling manic today after my Psychiatric medicine EOPT and promptly went on a shopping spree: I don't know what got into me, but I spent a total of $310 dollars on books, DVDs and clothes in just 2 hours. I have no idea how I'm going to explain that much purchases to my mum.)

Anyway, one of the DVDs I bought just happened to be 'The Social Network'. I just finished watching the film (instead of dutifully sitting down and continue the mugging for my impending, DARE-I-SAY-IT, EMMM-BEEEE-BEEEEE-ASSSSSS examinations) and I just got this sudden urge/impulse/inspiration to blog about it. Yes, I absolutely freaking loved the film (because its such a typical film that nerds like me would like). Its such a brilliant film, well made, well scripted, well acted out. Perhaps the only weak point was the fact that Justin Timberlake was in it and I sincerely hope that he'll just stay with his day job of singing. Barring that, it was perfect. Jesse Eisenberg was GENIUS, just pure talent and genius oozing out of his every pore. Andrew Garfield was so genuine and sympathetic as the best friend who got betrayed big time that I REALLY wanted to punch everyone for him.

No one will ever know if the events of 'The Social Network' were real. Chances are the gist of it was true, but the details were overly dramatized for the sake of adding lots of extra oomph to it. The film portrays Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg as a socially awkward, stunningly brilliant, somewhat conniving, manipulative ass-hole. I highly doubt that the real Zuckerberg is that flawed an individual. Nonetheless, despite all the flaws that Movie-Zuckerberg had, the last scene betrays the fact that this was a guy who was utterly lonely in this world. He created a phenomenon that was meant to make it easier for everyone (and anyone) to connect with each other, but the greatest irony was that he had absolutely no one to connect to. I found it so heart breaking when he starts to realized it after betraying his one and only best/true friend. But its the last scene of the movie, when he truly realizes that all he wants desperately is to be accepted and to be forgiven by the girl who started this whole chain events, that particularly shines. Its so poignant, absurd even, but strangely, so touchingly moving.

For all its technical brilliance and intelligence, "The Social Network" is a movie that's especially good because it has a heart to it and its so relevant to. It takes something that's so ubiquitous in our life right now and uses it to juxtapose the opposing ideas of alienation and connectivity. Its a social commentary on the state of communication today, how the advent of social media has effectively given people a means of shielding themselves from the true need to communicate with one another, and in certain ways, caused a destruction in the ways of communication. We like to see ourselves as being more connected when we use such devices like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Friendster but all we are doing is simply typing to an inert machine that says things only because we are directing it to. Where's the sense in that? And isn't it ironic that the greatest revolution in connecting people was created by an individual who had so much problems relating and communicating and just connecting with the majority of the people around him?

That said, I think the reason why I was so particularly affected by this film is probably due to the fact that I see aspects of myself in Movie-Zuckerberg. First of all, I would like to clarify that I'm nowhere as intelligent and brilliant as he is, because the last time I checked, I'm most definitely not. Secondly, I would also like to think that I'm nowhere as manipulative and rational and stone-heartedly cold as him (though I'm probably as sarcastically mean as he is.) Lastly, I do not think I am as socially inept as he is (And I sincerely hope that to be true.) That said, the way Movie-Zuckerberg deals with people, the way he hides behind the layers of codes and codes like they serve to be some sort of divine protection, the way he uses sarcasm as a weapon, his somewhat callous attitude with regards to sacrificing personal relationships to further his own cause or desires, somewhat reminds me of... well me. I don't think I'm as crystallized as he is, but the same modus operandi seems to be in order. Just the skeleton, but not the flesh.

The truth is, like Movie-Mark, I use nonchalance, avoidance, cold-biting sarcasm as a defence (?offense) mechanism because I'm afraid of interacting with people really. I flutter around, hoping no one sees/notices me, and when they do, I've got this compulsive urge to just say some wise crack that instantly freezes everything and therefore allows me to ran away from the situation. And even when I'm around people I'm familiar with, I still have to fight the urge to say something or let an expression slip because sometimes I wish I weren't in a social situation. People don't seem to notice it, but most of the times, I wish I could just coop myself at home and dabble with my computer all day.

I've never been someone who handles one-on-one relationships properly. I prefer interacting with people as a group, because I much prefer reading cues among people, than reading cues of an individual. It gives me more room to maneuver and possibly slip away unnoticed. I also fear one-on-one connections, because I really suck at them. On one hand, I've always wished I'd one best friend, like Mark's Eduardo, who trusts you implicitly and is always there to watch your back. But I know that I secretly fear such relationships, because to me they represent one way streets that are so hard to turn back, especially when an accident happens and you are caught in a jam of a car wreck. And I know because I've screwed up one or two of such relationships before and I know that I'll rationalize them to no end, and I'll conclude quite stubbornly, (whether I'm right or not), that I'm not at fault and that I refuse to be caught in such emotional quagmires and I'll turn my back and walk away forever. Sort of like how Movie-Mark walked out of Movie-Eduardo.

So I have my GROUPS of close friends. My many cliques that I maintain (whether via mental segmentation or actual physical segmentation), groups of people that I enjoy interacting with, feel familiar and comfortable with. Groups which allow me more room to maneuver, to hide behind humour, to defend myself, to retreat in fear. Because I sometimes fear connection. I really do. But yet, like Movie-Mark, I sometimes desperately desire it too.

I'm highly aware of the fact that this has degraded into a rambling about me and my issues. I apologize for these incessant, unnecessary ramblings. But when a movie as good as the Social Network comes along, its hard not to be stimulated by it. Hence the ramblings.

I suddenly find myself unable to find more things to add here. I've ran out of things to comment of. I think I'll end here.

Awkward.

dragons, down the rabbit hole

I recently had the time to watch not one, but TWO visually stunning movies, in 3D no less! But while both were visually a treat to watch, one was crap, while the other was fantastic.


Ever since I had first caught wind of the fact that Tim Burton was set to film his own adaptation of 'Alice in Wonderland', I have been dying to watch it. I mean, who better to film such a whimsical, eccentric tale as Alice In Wonderland, than the master of eccentricities and quirkiness himself, Tim Burton! Stunning cinematography and visual effects aside, Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' is a horrible disappointment. A tragic failure. A movie so ridiculously bad, even the acting prowess of a stellar cast which includes the likes of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway can't save. I watched 'Alice' feeling like I was watching a kindergarten play that was created haphazardly in a matter of hours - it was disorganized, it was frenetic, it was nonsensical. Maybe that was the whole point of the movie really, to be as nonsensical as possible - afterall, it is WONDERLAND, a place where everything and anything seems possible and liable to go awfully wrong. But know, it was a painful experience watching this movie and I had to struggle to curb the urge leave the theatre half way through it. Honestly, its been a long time since I had ever felt this way with regards to any movie! A great achievement really!

ANYWAY, the main thing I hated about 'Alice' was the way Tim Burton turned an original movie that was whimsical, kooky but sophisticated into a superficial, pointless retelling that had no heart to the story at all. The script was the killer - the plot was paper thin and highly highly contrived, the lines were awfully bad, the jokes were awfully flat. It didn't feel like there was a story at all, which is awfully sad because every good movie tells a fantastic story. Without a good story, your movie sucks really. At the end of the day, there just wasn't any point with this retelling of the classic story of 'Alice' at all. Just a pointless, unnecessary movie - it feels as though Tim Burton only made this movie to jump onto the 3D bandwagon made popular due to the tremendous success of Avatar so as to make tonnes of money. If doesn't feel as though he placed much effort into making this movie at all. Ultimately, what you get is a film that's perfect on paper, but went awfully wrong in its execution. Definitely one of the biggest disappointments of all time.


Now onto the film that I ENJOYED! Dreamworks' 'HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON' is FANTASTIC. I think I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Avatar! While it certainly left me wishing the movie was longer than its actually length, and also hoping that sequels would be produced. But anyway, this movie totally rocks my socks and I strongly recommend it. I'm so glad I got to watch this movie before flying off to the UK and US though, because I don't think I would be willing to fork out money to watch movies in these countries - movie tickets cost a bomb there!

'How to train your dragon' has quite a classic, simple storyline. Its your typical coming of age story, about a young Viking boy called Hiccup who find's himself as sorta an outcast in Viking society: here he is, a smart, funny, scrawny kid living in a society of brawny, gruff, uncouth Men who hunt dragons for a living. (Sorta like me living in this world really. Sigh.) As he desperately tries ways to fit in by attempting to kill a dragon, he unwittingly befriends one and ultimately changes the course of his tribe's existence and becomes the hero that he was destined to be. Its a very very overused but realistic story, the subplots of Boy&Pet, HeroicFather vs WimpySon and GeekgetsFierceGirl also adding to the cliche factor of this movie. But what it has, is amazing depth and heart. I think every human looks a good story about relationships, whether its between Boy&Girl, Child&Parent, Man&Beast or in this case, all three kinds of relationships. Everyone would come out of this movie wishing he had his own Night Fury to fly on. But its not all a happy ending fairy tale - I love the bittersweet ending of this film. Its not tragic, but there's a tinge of realistic sadness at the end of it.

The visuals in this film are just awesome. The long epic shots of Hiccup riding his dragon Toothless are reminiscent of the beautiful aerial shots of Jake flying in his Banshees in Avatar. In fact, come to think of it, the plot of 'Dragon' is sorta like that of Avatar! But that aside, 'Dragon' is a good film too, because it also preaches so many other things that are relevant to modern society - Peace vs Violence as a way to settle problems, respecting nature vs destroying it, intelligence vs brawn. I think everybody should strive to be like Hiccup. Very often society doesn't need another person who conforms to it - what society really needs is someone who dares to be a radical, who dares to be totally different, who dares to move in the opposite direction, to take that bold step to be somebody different - and in doing so, discover that life and society doesn't always have to be the way it is. As Hiccup exclaims in the movie about the dragons, 'everything we know about you guys is wrong!' I think there are many truths out there that are only temporal and will eventual be proven to be wrong. Its up to those rare few with THE GIFT to revolutionize the way we see, do or think.

Ultimately, 'How To Train Your Dragon' is a film that appears childish on paper, but is extremely mature in its execution. Its a film that's adventurous, fun and a delight to watch. I hope that we'll see this dragons again because they provide a hell of a roarin' good time.

when dreaming is better than reality

"There are many dangers on Pandora, and one of the subtlest is that you may come to love it too much." - Dr. Augustine Grace from 'Avatar'

James Cameron's 'Avatar' is probably going to be one of the best movies I've ever watched in my whole darn life. I had heard and read so much about this movie before going to watch it that I was initially worried that I would be disappointed by all the hype it had generated. Well, it certainly didn't disappoint! To quote Jake Sully, it was simply "Outstanding!"

There are so many reasons why 'Avatar' was such a fantastic movie. First of all the cast was fantastic, especially those acting as the Na'vi. I think Sam Worthington acted very well in this movie and there's no doubt that he is in for super stardom. This film would catapult him to the echelons of Hollywood and I think we have just witnessed the rise of a new action superstar. His portrayal of Jake Sully made the hero very likeable, and you feel for him when he faces so many life changing experiences in the movie. Zoe Saldana's portrayal of Neytiri, the Na'vi princess was also fantastic - her flashes of pure joy and anger, her snares, her posture was so convincing that she brought a potentially difficult character to life. Stephen Lang plays Miles Quaritch, the crazy warmongering Colonel with such a single minded determination that its hard not to want him dead, chewed and torn into a million fragments by a dozen Banshees and ultimately passed out into a sea of excrement. Other notable performances by Sigourney Weaver as scientist-mentor Dr Augustine Grace and Michelle Rodriguez as Helicopter pilot Truddy also add solid performances to the fantastic ensemble cast.

Apart from the cast, I was also simply awestruck at the amazing detail and depth James Cameron had invested within this movie to create a universe as realistic as Pandora. The technological achievement is just astounding, the level of creativity simply amazing. Watching the actors performances being fully translated onto the computer generated Na'vi was just an amazing feat of technology that was just awe-inspiring. Every motion was so fluid, every emotion so brilliantly captured that you really don't think that its computer generated at all. And the cinematography, the landscapes were just AWESOME. Seeing those scenes of Jake and Neytiri flying through the amazing backdrop of floating mountains and waterfalls was like poetry in motion. Fantastic!

But for all the technical breakthroughs that the film has managed to attain, I would think that the strongest draw for me is the epic tale that it so seamlessly puts together.

'Avatar' has a relatively simple plot. It is no 'Sherlock Holmes' (another film I managed to catch this week that's quite good, but not as fantastic as Avatar!) in terms of its plot twists and convolutions. It has a very predictable plot filled with characters that have stereotypical personalities and serve their typical functions in such a story. Some would even label it as 'Pocahontas in Space'. But despite its simple plot, I found the movie strangely touching and inspiring; in the hands of a lesser director, such a run of the mill, almost cliche story would appear ridiculous, but in the hands of a master like James Cameron, it became an epic tale with a heart.

The story has so many elements to it, so many layers of depth that it really is a masterpiece. On the surface, its the usual tale of Nature vs Machine: of the importance of respecting our natural world, of protecting the balance of nature and life, of the triumph of mother nature over the corrupted, polluted world of mankind - themes all too familiar to us, the generation that has to deal with the very serious notion of global warming and a dying planet. But dissect it further and you'll realize that its also a story of one man's own desire to free himself from the hopelessness and dredges of a life that no longer has any meaning to him.

Here you have Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine with nothing to look forward to with regards to a life on earth, who decides to embark on this project for a fresh start in another planet: and look what at what he gains! A whole new life, one ultimately so much more beautiful and exhilarating that the life back on earth, trapped in a wheel chair; a life that he truly comes to love. Its a story of rediscovering oneself and rebirth, and the scene where Jake Sully first uses his Avatar body and discovers he can walk again has to be one of the most touching scenes in the movie ever - you can almost feel his joy on being able to walk, run, jump, feel with his feet again! It was amazing.

I think everyone out there hopes to have a means of escaping from reality and one of the reasons why 'Avatar' is proving to be so popular is the fact that it provides some sort of escapism that we so dearly desire. Wouldn't it be perfect if we could just plug our consciousness into a mainframe and live our lives in an alternate body in another beautiful universe? Its a twist on the concept first introduced in the Matrix, but in that case, the universe we end up getting plugged in is a form of slavery. Pandora however, is the opposite - it represents a beautiful world of freedom and infinite possibilities, one in which you can fly atop great ferocious flying beasts, prance through beautiful bio luminescent forests or witness stunningly beautiful waterfalls and floating mountains. To be able to escape to such a world, even if its just for 160 mins, is just awesome. I would be willing to watch it another time just to recapture that magic all over again!

"Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream." - Jake Sully from 'Avatar'
I love this quote from the movie. Its true isn't it? Sometimes, you enjoy the world you are in while dreaming, so much so that its a pain to return to reality. And the boundary between reality and dream scape is blurred indefinitely. But ultimately, dreams are just dreams, and we can't live in them for eternity. We aren't as lucky as Jake Sully who was able to transfer his soul from a horrible dream into a Utopian reality. Perhaps one day, we will be able to relive our lives by plugging our consciousness into a new body, but before that day arrives, we have to make do with living in our current realities and re-watching Avatar and its sequels to come, because that's as close to utopia that we can get.

500 days of Summer

This is NOT your average love story. Its a story that focuses on the deconstruction of a relationship.

I absolutely loved it, because its quirky, non-conventional and bittersweet. It has amazingly likeable leads who you can't help but root for. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's acting is the highlight of this film - his subtle portrayal of a sensitive man who is vulnerable both in and out of love was just excellent! I want to say more, but my mind's totally fried from long hours of sleep deprivation. Dude, this film just rocks!

After watching the film, I can't help but feel a sense of gratification. Love, is just a fantasy. A fantasy that forces us to have amazingly high expectations of what we hope Love will be, but then the brutality of reality will always make us realise how silly our thoughts were. As the titular character in the film, 'Summer' so coolly explains - 'Life happened. And Love was gone.'

This film is for all the self professed nerds out there who have problems finding or understanding that tricky little concept that we call 'Love'. I wanted to watch it because I felt that I might be able to identify with the film's lead. I came out of it feeling as if I've lived through all my failed attempts at contemplating 'Love' all over again. Such is the nature of it all - we males of the new-age-geeky-nerdy-emo-i'm-so-sensitive-and-sweet generation have such an amazingly stupid way of destroying our own relationships because we just read too much into the silliest of things. Its absurd really, but its true. The film captures nothing but the truth.

The truth is, as much as I would love to deny it - I'm still a geeky, nerdy, socially awkward guy living in today's ultra-fast paced modern society, and I totally dread dipping my toes in the ocean of modern day romances. God Save Me.

dark secrets revealed!

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince was always one of my favourite books from the Harry Potter series. I remember reading it in J2 and being absolutely blown away by it! Because of this, I had very little expectations of how movie 6 would be, simply because I disliked most of the movie interpretations of the books: not because the acting was bad or the feel of the movies weren't good, but the way the original story was cut and butchered to condense all the amazing subtleties that only literature can bring into the films. It has been a long wait for movie 6, and I must say I have lost quite abit of the passion and excitement that I used to have with regards to all things Potter, and I think I shocked a number of friends when I admitted that I have yet to catch the movie til today. Its probably the first time where I DIDN'T catch a HP movie within the first three days of its release!

Anyway, I finally caught the movie today! Movie 6 was admittedly, surprisingly good! As a Potterite, I will always have things to gripe about, but as a whole, it was still quite a well made movie! The acting was good, the dark feel of it perfect, the vision of the world quite accurate. What I didn't like was of course, the usual issues of how the screenplay cut out important plotlines, scenes and lines. I absolutely didn't like the scene of the burrow being incinerated. I felt it was absolutely redundant, and the time spent wasted on that scene could have been used instead to film the original ending in the book, which featured a battle in the astronomy tower of Hogwarts. I also had an issue with the intense focus the film had on the whole teenage romance thing. I felt the film-makers were focusing too much on what was supposed to be a minor subplot in the books; they were banking on something that was definitely going to be appealing to the crowds, and completely neglected what was the main focus of the novel: that of Dumbledore's and Harry's evolving teacher/student relationship, and the way they finally worked together to unravel the mystery of Voldemort's immortality.

I find it a pity that the whole affair with the memories was brought across in such a seemingly flippant way, but to bring all those chapters from the novel into life is going to be an impossibly boring task. It would have definitely been much more entertaining to focus on the hilarious situations that teenage love would bring about. Still, I find it sad that there was so little focus on Dumbledore in this movie. I think he had too little scenes, so much so that I don't feel like the audience actually got a chance to feel for him. I don't think many people even cared that he actually died. His death didn't feel emotional enough. Yeah, that's it.

Still, there were things I did like. Jim Broadman's Horace Slughorn was well portrayed. Daniel Radcliffe's Felix-Felicis-Intoxicated-Harry and Rupert Grint's love-potion-intoxicated-Ron were both simple HILARIOUS. Alan Rickman's Snape was once again, played to perfection. Lavender Brown and Cormac McClaggan were both so well portrayed that I cringed whenever they appeared. Young Tom Riddle was creepy and a picture of controlled evil, just fantastic. And the whole cave sequence was actually quite well portrayed, except for minor changes here and there, and how some heart-breaking lines from the novel were left out.

All in all, it was quite a good movie. As a whole, it was one of the better Harry Potter movies made, but of course, not perfect. None of the movies can ever be perfect, because none of them will be able to capture the magic that the books bring. Its just so different reading it, and letting your imagination run wild. I think these movies help enhance my original impression of the world that the books are trying to create, but in the end, nothing beats one's own imagination when it comes to fantasy. Now all I want to do, is to read all 7 books over again.