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....

Farewell, Ms Lo Hwei Yen

Finally, we have gotten more information about the Singaporean woman who was tragically killed in Mumbai's worst terrorist attack in recent years.

Her name is Lo Hwei Yen, who was a lawyer and was in Mumbai to give a conference talk. Cause of death is listed as: 'Fracture of skull with abdominal injury. Firearm injury.'

A Mumbai senior hotel executive at the Oberoi Trident confirmed that she sustained gunshots to her head and abdomen. It is a cold way of killing.

These terrorists really stop at nothing to ensure they got what they wanted. Which was nothing compared to the loss of human lives. Everything makes no sense in these terrorists' minds. They are probably just as normal as the boy who lives next door. Underneath the exterior lies a mind so shocking that it defies the very existence of humanity.

It is very hard for anyone to accept that their loved one is gone. Just like that. To add salt to the wound, it was a tragic end to a vivacious life. That can't be right. I mean, based on news report, this woman is so lively and so cheerful that she deserve a better fate than this. Life shouldn't ended in this way for her.

She had just gotten hitched and her career was going on so wonderfully. Yet death's jaw snatched her away from life's hand in a snap of a second. There can be no satisfactory answer for this.

C'mon, is there a reason to start a war over trivial matters like race? Why does violence become a necessary negotiation weapon for these terrorists? All the commoners will suffer for nothing. Poor Michael. His life with Hwei Yen had just barely started and now he's all left alone. Thankfully, the strength of family love still keeps him going and I hope he will stand strong and live life once more, this time without his beloved Hwei Yen.

I don't know all these people and I only got their names from newspapers reports. Yet because we all share the same thing that ties us together: our home country, Singapore. Because of that, we are one big family and we give each other support when in times of need. At life's bleakest hour, we rose to the occasion and unite as one family, one heart.

No matter what life has to offer in the future, Singapore will unite and stand behind Michael for we will never condone terrorism. Ever.

Singaporean Died in Mumbai Terrorist Attack

It was reported on the news that one Singaporean had been killed in Mumbai's recent terrorist attack on Tuesday.

Initially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had confirmed in earlier reports that the female Singaporean was unharmed as of yesterday. But at 9.35pm news tonight, the situation had turned for the worst.

Circumstances surrounding her death is still unknown at the moment though her family members had already flown to Mumbai. All we know is that she died a tragic death.

I don't know what all these terrorists are thinking but its totally unforgivable that they took lives away so cruelly. Besides, they were targeting the British and the Americans, what has a Singaporean got to do with anything? The Singaporean probably has the dubious honour of being the first Singaporean to die in a terrorist attack. *sighs*

The main issue that comes to mind is that why the Mumbai authorities couldn't save the hostages earlier? Unless their technology is not advanced enough to take on the terrorists? What could be the reason for Mumbai's failure to contain the situation and the losses?

Even right till now, the situation in Mumbai has not improved. But I don't care about that. I only know that Singapore citizens are not significant enough for India to get involved. Unless we get a satisfactory answer from India's government on their rescue operation failure, we will never have a peace of mind.

The losses are simply not tolerable. Not especially India should have been on the lookout for such terrorist attacks ever since their elections started. This breach of security is a serious issue that needs to be investigated and put in check.

As for the female Singaporean Chinese woman, I can only say that she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one could have predicted that she would come to harm. Not like this. This barbarian way of the terrorists.

We should stand up to terrorism and not allow it to ruin our lives. Every single one of us must do our part to be proactive in preventing terror attacks. Terror attacks are such a lame and cruel way to destroy humanity. What is this world coming to?

I may not be able to do much but at least I can help to spread the message around. We are all human beings, is there a need to treat each other so hostile? Hmmm, actually I am sort of a hypocrite when it comes to equality. I don't have a single good impression of the China people but that does not mean we should launch a terror attack on China.

We should resolve issues through diplomatic talks, not through violence. What does violence acheive in the end? Only more loss of innocent human lives. These terrorists are probably brainwashed to the point where they regards humanity as nothing more than pawns in their games. Stupid, mindless games, I might add.

Besides the disaster in Mumbai, Thailand is also facing its own domestic problems with its people going all out on the streets to wage protests against the current government. Negative news are all the new staples for current affairs news these days.

When will it ever end? We might never have a satisfactory answer at all. Such is the downfall of humanity.

Unless, my own Twinkies comes along and takes me away with him, to live in eternal vampire happiness. Heehee!!! My very own Edward Cullen! Ok, I'm disgressing here.

We need to have more light-hearted moments in our lives. Otherwise we will remain gloomy and life will be something that we DON'T look forward to. That would be so depressing.

Now I'm off to my lala land, together with my Edward, to find light-hearted happiness! Tada!