Happy Birthday, Daniel Radcliffe!

Today is Daniel Radcliffe's 2oth birthday and he is looking more cool and suave as he grows up.

As an introduction, he is the main star of the Harry Potter movie franchise and is currently one of the hottest young stars in Britain, along with his Harry Potter star-mates, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.




This year saw the release of the long-awaited Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He has turned in a splendid performance and now I can't wait to see the final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

This movie is split into two parts so we get to see Daniel for two more times before both he and the Harry Potter series bow out from Hollywood. I hope to see more of his acting calibre in new films after he completes Harry Potter.

As an actor, it's important to branch out your skills into several different roles in order to get a better acting depth. He has so far acted in some other films like December Boys as well as a musical, Equus.

I have yet to see his other films other than Harry Potter but one day I will catch up with those films. As for the musical, unless it comes to Singapore, I doubt I would be able to watch it ever.

Nonetheless, it's still a Happy Birthday for our favourite wizard!

Movie Watch: Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince

Yesterday, Queenie and I went to watch the latest installment to the Harry Potter movie franchise, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

It was supposed to be a gathering where 3 of us would watch this movie together. However Moonie chose love over friends and decided to watch it with her boyfriend instead of us. I do feel disappointed at her choice since we have been following the Harry Potter movies ever since the first day it was aired.

Anyway I have learned not to ask Moonie to go out with me anymore. Attached people are best left alone. They usually would want to spend all their free time with their partners rather than friends. I'll just let her be. One day it will be my turn. When I have my partner, I will also dump Moonie and choose my partner. Ha! Eh... I gotta get a partner first.

Right.

This post is getting out of topic. I am supposed to write about the Harry Potter movie loh...

Daniel Radcliffe reprises his famous role as the boy wizard in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. By now he has already mastered the art of portraying Harry and in this particular movie, Harry gets to date. Hee... Yep.

There's a kissing scene between Harry and Ginny, Ron's younger sister. The actress, Bonnie Wright, has certainly grown up differently from the days when she was acting in the second installment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Little did we know that her role would turn out to be such a major factor in Harry's life.

It was in this book that Harry fell in love with Ginny for real. For once, Ginny's affections finally gets returned and we get to see a little bit of their romance in the movie as well. Too bad majority of their love story gets cut off but that is to be expected since the book is way too thick to be fully adapted into a movie.

Tom Riddles a.k.a. Voldemort's past also gets revealed through Dumbledore's memory. Riddles' odd question on horcrux finally set the events for Harry's future when he sought to be immortal by destroying all that stood in his way and making little trinkets into his soul carriers.

It is truly scary to see that Riddle could think up such an evil plan at such a young age. No wonder everybody is so scared of him. Even the mention of his name sends shivers down everyone's spine.

However the next book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, seems destined for a better treatment as Warner Bros will release the film in two parts. Well it makes economic sense for the company as the movie is going to be the last huge cashcow in the Harry Potter franchise. After all there are only seven books in the Harry Potter universe and being able to make eight movies out of that is already amazing enough. Furthermore no other recent book series has managed to get adapted fully into movies the way Harry Potter series did. Narnia didn't even come close.

Sadly in this movie, we also witnessed the final moments of dear old Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Personally I liked his character as he has always been so supportive of Harry. At the very last moment, he sacrificed his life for Harry so that Harry could go on to defeat that damn Voldemort. It was fitting that it was Severus Snape that ended Dumbledore's life. I'm sure we wouldn't have had it other way, unless its a natural death.

I am looking forward to the final installments to the movie franchise and I'm sure Warner Bro will do a good job. J K Rowling would not have it other way too.

Anime Movie Watch: My Neighbour Totoro

I know this is a very old anime movie made by Studio Ghibli, way back in 1988 but I saw this movie for the first time today. Right on my dear iPod Classic.




I came across this movie by chance and I am very glad that I have had the chance to watch it. It is a very light-hearted movie that centres around a little family that has just moved in to an old house.

Satsuki is the elder sister while Mei is the younger sister. Together they had lots of fun and share close sibling bonds.

One day, Mei sees a pair of white ears belonging to a magical creature, which eventually led her to Totoro. It was both magical and fun to see how the little Mei interact with Totoro.

Halfway through the movie, Satsuki also gets to see Totoro for the first time, while waiting for her father to come home at the bus stop. Soon the siblings share a close bond with Totoro and it was heartwarming to see how Totoro slowly opened up to them.

When Mei went missing while trying to reach her mother in the hospital, Satsuki was frantic and eventually enlisted the help of Totoro. Totoro got a catbus to search for Mei, which it did.

The movie was very nice to watch as its themes were all about family bonds and sibling bonds. The accompanying music is also very soothing to the ears and makes for an unforgettable experience. I'm glad that I have this chance to watch the movie as I was too young to understand it when it first came out.

Hayao Miyazaki is indeed a genius in developing this movie and I look forward to his movies in future.

Movie Watch: Drag Me To Hell

Last night, I went to watch Sam Raimi's latest movie with Queenie, Drag Me to Hell, at Plaza Singapura's Golden Village.



Since the film is directed by Spiderman's famed director, I can't give this movie a miss. For the most part, it was satisfying as sudden shocks and surprises jumped at the audiences in-between the storyline.

The sound effects are especially good and they succeeded in creating scares and tense atmosphere that made most of the girls in the cinema cringed in horror. But both Queenie and I were not affected as we are seasoned horror movie-goers, so there's pretty much nothing that can scare us.

Still this movie is very realistic and do borders on the ridiculous edge as well. I mean, just how much yucky liquid Sam Raimi is going make that actress swallow just to satisfy his sadistic tendencies?

The poor actress ate almost everything from maggots to flies to saliva to vomit to soil to blood. Just about everything that you can think yucky of, she's done them all in this movie. Poor Alison Lohman.

Overall the movie isn't that bad but the ending is kind of, duh. Our heroine thought she managed to escape from hell's clutches, only to be sent back right into hell by her unknowing boyfriend. And that was right after she went through the process of digging up the cursed old woman's grave and stuck the so-called accursed button right into the mouth.

What can I say, Christine? You are just fated to be in hell. Oh ho ho ho... Yeah~ that's just about it.

On a side note, while I was waiting for Queenie to arrive, I went to Sasa to get my eyebrows trimmed and the service was totally free. Oh boy that was quite a delightful find. However I did bought some items like mascara and facial masks from the shop so it's not as though I am a cheapskate person.

Right so that's just about it. =D

Movie Watch: Angels and Demons

Yesterday, I went to watch the latest movie starring Tom Hanks, Angels and Demons, with Queenie. This movie is based off the best-selling book by Dan Brown with the same name.

Movie Poster

Book Cover

More or less, the movie followed the premise of the book but personally I don't really like the casting of Tom Hanks in the main role of Robert Langdon. I had imagined a much younger Robert. Hanks is way too old for my professor fantasies. Muawahaha!

The movie wasn't that bad but it wasn't particularly good either. I don't get sucked into the movie's plot and the dialogue between characters was bland too. Sometimes Hollywood doesn't get it right and this is one of them.

No doubt the action is there but I just don't feel satisfied from watching the movie. Perhaps my expectations are too high but the feeling that I got from reading the book was much better than this. I was truly enthralled by the book's plot and pacing, something lacking in the movie.

The few comic reliefs in the movie were quite funny but then, they don't lift the movie up a lot. Perhaps I should re-read the book again to get that previous feeling of thrill.

Wow! Lots of great pictures of Daniel Radcliffe on Deathly Hallows Set

This website here has posted lots of yummy pictures of Daniel Radcliffe doing takes on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.






Filming has just started for the movie, which is scheduled to be released in 2 parts. Part 1 will be released on November 19th 2010, with the second part following on July 15th 2011. That means we will be getting 3 Harry Potter movies in 3 years straight.

Oh well, I suppose Warner Bros is making up for the postponement of the Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince last year, which is going to be released on July 17th 2009.

In any case, Dan is looking very good in these latest production pictures and I'm sure more pictures will be out once the filming gets really underway. I shall be on the lookout for more!

^_^

Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe on Yahoo! Movies '20 Stars 20 and Younger' List

According to HPANA, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe are listed in Yahoo! Movies '20 Stars 20 and Younger' List.

Apparently, Watson tops the list with her famous role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie franchise. Overall her total domestic box office gross is $1,461,797,64! *gasps* That's hell a lot of money that girl's been raking in for the studios!!!

As for Daniel Radcliffe, he ranks number 2 in the list alongside Watson. He also owes his success to his titular role in the Harry Potter movie franchise. Overall his total domestic box office gross is $1,411,173,590! Slightly lesser than Watson but still an awesome feat. So now we know Warner Bros is actually a super rich studio firm, eh? They have to thank JK Rowling for writing such an amazing book series in the first place. She's amazing, aren't she?

Now I am looking forward to the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie which will be showing in July 2009. Gosh, time better fly faster this time!

Movie Watch: Slumdog Millionaire is worth to watch

Yesterday I went to watch a newly acclaimed and crowned Best Picture at the 81st Academy Awards 2009 recently, Slumdog Millionaire, together with Queenie. A winning film directed by newly minted Best Director, Danny Boyle, it's a heartwarming story about how a boy from the slums win his way to a 20 million rupees prize on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Poster for the movie

Poster for the movie

Dev Patel, Actor for the main protagonist, Jamal Malik

Overall, the movie is neither too serious nor too light-hearted. It has just the right amount of story twists to entertain viewers while ensuring that the plot doesn't sink. I admit that I watched the show mainly out of curiousity generated by the Academy buzz. So many articles has been written about this film and critics have been giving it a glorious report card.

Since there are none other movies that I want to watch, I thought this movie might just be the one to beat the blues. After all, it is marketed as a feel-good movie. Hmmm, I think the feel good part is due to the fact that Jamal has a happy ending together with Latika and that probably makes all viewers, including me, happy at their joy. So our protagonist got his money and the girl, what's there not to like? And of course, being an Indian film, we get to see the compulsory dance routine performed by Jamal and Latika at the movie's ending despite the fact that the director is a foreigner.

Generally speaking, it all seems too good to be true and so when I found out that it's just a fiction story, I heaved a sigh of relief. If you have watched the movie, you'll understand why. Who on earth will get to live a life like Jamal? Or have a bastard of a brother like Salim? I really can't think of anyone.

Good or not, it's all based on personal preferences but still, this movie is worth the movie ticket price. Wanna see how much I pay? See below:



Ahahaha! Yep. S$7.50. Not that cheap nor that expensive. So go watch the movie while it's still being aired. Again, this movie is distributed by Warner Bros so now we really know that they have lots of moolah to spare. LOL. Well Warner Bros has to share the moolah with Fox Searchlight though.

Slumdog Millionaire is now raking in all the money from all over the world. Worldwide total as of Mar. 6, 2009 is estimated at $217,030,943. With all those cash, Warner Bros can comfortably rest its laurels this year. Not to mention that they have another blockbuster on hand, the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. That is a certain huge cashcow for the studio.

As for us lesser mortals, we can only drool at the amount of money that we will never get to see in our own bank balances ever. Haiz....

Happy Birthday, Ronald Weasley!

Today is Ronald Bilius Weasley's birthday. He is one of the main characters in J K Rowling's famous Harry Potter book series. He is the best friend of Harry Potter and is the second youngest Weasley, just in front of Ginny Weasley.

In the movie adaptation, he is played by Rupert Grint. Some pictures of the actor are shown below:

Rupert Grint

Rupert Grint with Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

From left to right: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Hmmm, they always seem to be standing in the same order, don't they?

Well, actually Daniel Radcliffe is my favourite actor out of the 3. But his birthday is in July so I have to wait till then before I can gush about him. Anyway I found some pictures that are backdated to 2001, when they first appeared in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:

From left to right: Rupert, Daniel and Emma

From left to right: Daniel, Rupert and Emma

They are so cute, aren't they? Now they have grown up so fast and by the time Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince arrive this July, they would have been adults, in western terms. Man, I can't wait for the movie to arrive!!! Warner Bros better not delay the movie again. Grrr...

Release Date Confirmed for Third Twilight Movie

Whoa! It has been reported that the release date for the third Twilight movie has been announced by Summit Entertainment.

The date is 30 June 2010. As for the second Twilight movie, its release date is 20 November 2009, which is this year. Robert Pattison, star of the movies, has even barely start the filming of the second film.

How on earth are they going to make the third film in such a short time? Well I have no idea but it remains to be seen whether the quality for these films will turn out to be as good as the Harry Potter movies by Warner Bros.

Churning the movies out in such a short period of time would require enormous amount of capital, something which is not lacking for Warner Bros. However for Summit Entertainment, it might be quite a different story.

Perhaps the first movie has given the studio some windfall and so it dares to make all these release dates.

Oh well, whatever the case, let's wait and see how they can meet the deadline. After all, Hollywood always uses the postponement tactic when they fail to meet deadlines.

New Half Blood Prince Movie Posters

According to HPANA, there are some new high resolution movie posters released for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

They look quite mysterious and gloomy at the same time. See the pictures below for illustrations.

Professor Dumbledore

Harry Potter

According to the date printed on the poster, the upcoming movie is slated for release on 17 July 2009. Oh man, I can't wait for the movie to arrive soon! It was supposed to be released last year but Warner Bros changed its mind. *sighs*

Anyway, Daniel Radcliffe looks so cool in this poster. He has certainly grown into this character ever since he first started acting as Harry Potter when he was just 11 years old.

Let's hope the new movie will surpass its predecessors and create new records for the Harry Potter franchise.

Whoa! Robert Pattison in USA Today's Top 100 People List

Harry Potter's Page has posted that Robert Pattison has just made it to the USA Today's Top 100 People list this year.

Pattison is placed at number 20 on the list. Reason is listed as follows:

His glistening skin distracted millions of teen girls this year, and it's safe to say the Twilight franchise will transform the actor into a superstar. Even if the sequel bites, Pattison's hair is a box-office cash machine.

So, will he be able to match Daniel Radcliffe of the Harry Potter movie franchise? It remains to be seen as Radcliffe is not included in the list this year. This is probably due to the fact that the latest Harry Potter film's release has been pushed back to July 2009 and so, his influence is not as great as Pattison's this year. After all, Stephenie Meyer's vampire series has hogged the limelight this year and it's no surprise that the movie will do the same.

On a side note, the HP Page also reported that Pattison had just recently cut his famous Twilight hair into a super short cut. Here's a comparison of his hair:

Before: His famous Twilight haircut.


After: His new super short haircut. Btw, those words are not written by me.

I could still remember the time when he was first cast as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He was quite a relatively unknown actor before being casted in the Harry Potter movie. Here's how he looked while portrayed as Cedric:




Heh heh... he certainly looks very different back then, eh? Now with the enormous success of Twilight, his career can only go up and up. Besides, I doubt he could return back to the Harry Potter franchise movies as his character, Cedric Diggory, had already been killed off in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though he still appeared in flashbacks in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Will we be seeing more of this rising young star? I think so but he has to be careful not to be typecast permanently as Edward Cullen. Otherwise, he would never be recognised as anything else except as Edward. That would be a disaster for an actor, I believe.

Look at Daniel Radcliffe. He has since branched out to act in other movies such as December Boys and also acted in musicals such as Equus. Thus, Radcliffe proved to the critics that he is not just a one-time boy wonder but a serious thespian to be reckon with.

Too bad I won't be able to see Equus as it is currently not staged in Asia. Hmmm... Besides, the naked scenes would have made it impossible to premiere in conservative Singapore's theatres.

So, between the 2 guys, who will prevail? For me, I will always support Radcliffe as I am very impressed with his performance in the Harry Potter movie franchise. As for Pattison, his acting is nah. Oops.

There you go. My few cents worth. Keke....

Twilight Gallery

For those who are wanting more of Twilight's cast, I have found a gallery which has quite a number of pictures which mostly includes Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart.

Click here for the site.

Most of the pictures are taken on the set of Twilight and some of them featured light-hearted moments between the 2 main leads. A sample is posted below:




So go feast your eyes on the pictures and hopefully more pictures of the movie premiere can posted online too.

Kudos to the web!

Boring Superman

After watching the TV premiere of Superman Returns on Channel 5, I can only conclude in one word: Boring.

The film ran way too long with the plot going nowhere in the first half of the film. It ding dong between the past and the present of Superman's life. Then the super bad guy turns out to be, well, not very bad after all. Though this bad guy does have the ambition of killing billions of people with a newly created landmass that contains kryptonite and will destroy Earth's existing continents. Thus making Lex Luthor into the new owner of such a landmass.

The film starts to get a little better at the back with some action but then it drags again towards the part about the love triangle between Superman, Lois Lane and Richard White. Superman seems to get it easy all the time. Plus he always manage to get to the dangerous situations at the right time to save people.

This is unlike Spiderman, who has to fight conflicts within himself for most of the time even though he's a hero. For Spiderman, it would always be "with great power comes great responsibility". For Superman, I only see his pain at losing Lois Lane. Hmmm... nothing much to compare here between the 2 heroes.

Although I do wish that Superman would clear up his dress sense and start to wear his underwear inside his clothes. It looks so weird sticking out.

All in all, this movie is pretty average and does not really impress me much. I would still prefer to watch Spiderman movies over this Superman anytime.

Here I come, Peter Parker and Tobey Maguire!

Movie Watch: Superman Returns

And now I'm watching an old movie which is premiering on Channel 5 tonight at 7.30pm. It's titled Superman Returns and is directed by Bryan Singer.




A short synopsis from imdb.com is posted below:

--
For five years, Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away from Earth, coaxed into space by a belief that Krypton may still exist. Finding nothing, he comes back to a changed world--not only has terrorism become rampant, but Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has married, started a family, and won the Pulitzer for her piece "Why the World Doesnt Need Superman." After a stop in Smallville to see his adopted mother (Eva Marie Saint), Superman is back in Metropolis, and Clark Kent has his old job back at the Daily Planet, with everyone still incredibly oblivious to his alter ego. But where theres Superman, there's Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), and he is likely to be planning something dastardly--in this case, using a piece of pilfered kryptonite to grow an entirely new continent that he will control.
--

I have not watched the movie before and so when Channel 5 decided to premiere the movie, I thought it was a good chance for me to watch. Hopefully it would be as good as those Spiderman movies. I adore those Peter Parker movies, especially when Tobey Macguire is casted as the tragic superhero.

w00t!

New Moon Gets a New Director

According to this report, the new sequel to the hugely successful Twilight, New Moon, will be getting a new director, Chris Weitz.

Director Chris Weitz. Hm, doesn't look very good, imo. LOL.

Stars of Twilight, Robert Pattison & Kristen Stewart.

His previous work included The Golden Compass, which was a box-office bomb. At least, that was the case in Singapore. Hmmm... would he be a suitable steward for New Moon? That remains to be seen.

So far, I still have yet to see Twilight in the theatres although sneak previews are out. I'd rather wait for the official release of the movie which is coming this Thursday. What's the difference between sneak previews and the official release anyway? I still don't get it.

=)

Twilight director won't return for Sequel

According to this report, Twilight's director, Catherine Hardwicke would not be returning to direct its sequel, New Moon.

It was quoted as saying that due to timing differences, Hardwicke had to bow out of the commitment. Some say that Summit Entertainment wanted to do the sequel as soon as possible, given that the current Twilight movie is doing extremely well at the box office.

For Hardwicke, whose previous films include Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, had the highest opening ever for a female director when Twilight made nearly $70 million in its first weekend. It has grossed over $138 million in three weeks.

Twilight will officially open in Singapore on 18 December 2008 and that's when I will be watching it along with maomao. She's very excited over the movie though she has been claiming otherwise.

So for me, it remains to be seen whether the film is really that good or I should just concentrate on Harry Potter, whose next film release will be in July 2009. Boy, that's such a long, long time. Warner Bros better catch up quickly if they want to beat the Twinkies in their movie debut. Hee...

=(

Movie Watch: Go, Wall-E, Go!

Yesterday, I watched Walt Disney's new animation film, Wall-E, with mayi and maomao at Plaza Singapura.

The film is a very fun and touching story on WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), which has its own feelings and learns to mimick after human beings. He was left behind on an abandoned Earth which is polluted beyond hope. Yet, day after day, he would work to clear the pile of rubbish, collecting little tokens to be kept at his home.

Soon after, he came across EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), which was brought to Earth by a spaceship. And so, the viewer gets a robotic version of love that transcends all boundaries and space.

Wall-E is extremely likable as a kind robot who would sacrifice himself for Eve's directive. Together with Eve, they managed to get the humans to return to Earth and save it. Beyond the film's fun adventures lies a simple message that only we can save our Earth from pollution.

This film is truly good and when the DVD release comes, I will buy it for remembrance. So, as usual, I have attached pictures from the Internet of the movie for fun:

















After the film ended, all 3 of us went to Chinatown for some korean dinner where xin would join us. The little eatery is located along Mosque street and it was very crowded when we arrived at the place. Luckily for us, we managed to get a table before another huge crowded descended on the place. All of had ramen for dinner and I ate lots of kimchi, much to my stomach's delight.

I have been craving for kimchi for a long time and this dinner hit the right spot very well. Mao stayed for a short while before going home as she wasn't feeling well. And so the remaining 3 of us walked to Central after dinner for a cuppa of coffee before heading for home.

I suppose after tonight, it would hard to get anybody out as everyone would be too busy with their lives to bother. And so, I shall end my writing here.

Harry Potter game delayed too

Now the effect from the postponed Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has finally rolled over to the HP game franchise.

According to this report from Los Angeles Times, Electronic Arts (EA) has decided to delay the next installment for the HP games but no date was stated in the report. Although I am not a big fan of the games, I do feel a little annoyed at all these delaying stories.

Does it do any actual good for the companies involved? If they are bent on hurting their own reputations, so be it.

Just don't try to pin the blame onto the consumers when their sales take a dip, that's all.

Coffee Prince Actor Lee Eon Dies in Accident

Oh gosh. Yet another tide of bad news again.

This time round, it's korean actor Lee Eon of Coffee Prince fame.




According to this report, he was on his way home after a party when he crashed onto a guardrail of an overpass while riding his motorcycle.

He was 27 and a rising star in Korea at that. He became popular after appearing in Coffee Prince as a simple-minded but loveable Min Yub whose undying love had become a talking point in the show.

These days, stars often met with an untimely deaths and it has happened way too much. First, it was The Dark Knight's Heath Ledger who died of drug overdose. Then Harry Potter star Robert Knox was fatally knifed to death while trying to protect his brother from gang bullies. And now, this.

The entertainment world has suffered many terrible losses this year and both eastern and western artistes are not spared.

May their souls rest in peace.

=(