Teen turned Queen (to-be)

Queen to-be means Princess, and the Princess in question refers to Anne Hathaway, aptly named Mia in The Princess Diaries. MIA, before she came along, meant Missing In Action, and that might sum up the flaws of this movie; missing in action and motivation.
The movie jumped around a lot, and not always from important bit to important bit. There was plenty, too many, scenes that were uncalled for. A shining example would be the whole dinner scene where Mia sets fire to an arm, gets the Genovean Prime Minister and his wife to mimick her mouthfreeze and trips the drunk whats-his-face man sitting next to her. So she made a fool of herself, was that the point? That was too long a scene to waste on showing what has been constantly established throughout the show - that she's clumsy and uncouth. The dinner scene also manifests one of my biggest gripes with the movie. What was the point of having those bizarre characters like the Japanese/ Chinese man who just says 'No' and laughs at nothing? And what was Jeremiah the red head pick-a-card magician for - except as an impetus for Mia to smear Mandy Moore's cheerleading outfit? And seriously, couldn't the director come up with a better form of revenge than dirtying her clothes?
As far as chick flicks go, this is definitely one of the reasons people smirk when you say you like chick flicks. The Princess Diaries was fun enough, but lacked a wholesome understanding of the material and characters in the movie. Julie Andrews might have upped the show a notch if they didn't have her knighting two buffoons under the Genova Order of the Rose with an emergency brake. That act was utterly lacking in any and all sense and completely moronic. That act was supposed to be the action that humanizes Julie Andrews' cool character and shows audiences that, oh! she has a softer side after all. But all it really accomplished was to make me roll my eyes and turn away wondering why I wanted to watch the movie in the first place.
But now it seems I didn't like The Princess Diaries, which isn't true. After all, I would be a bloody hypocrite if all I did was to criticize the movie when I admitted that this wasn't the first time I've watched it. I'm upset that it wasn't a better movie, and even more disappointed when the sequel didn't improve. A sequel is almost like a second chance to get things right if you didn't in the first (look how the Harry Potter series screwed that up) and the producers completely wasted that chance with Princess Diaries 2. The only reason the sequel was made was thanks to Anne Hathaway, who was very 'watchable' in her debut in this first Princess Diaries. I don't think she was outstanding or brilliant but hey, the awards thought otherwise. I enjoyed her Ella Enchanted performance much, much more. But that movie had rather decent source material - I actually read the book.
So maybe the flaws of The Princess Diaries lie within the source material, that is, Meg Cabot's book. I haven't read her stuff but as far as my knowledge of most chick lit goes, they can really numb any intelligent molecule in your brain sometimes. So maybe it wasn't the director's fault that he chose weird scenes to place weird people saying and doing meaningless things, maybe he chose the best scenes that the book offered. If that's the case, I'm not reading the book.
At any rate, I took away a few things from this movie; mostly quotes that the movie took from elsewhere - "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" (Eleanor Roosevelt) and this long one "Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all." from Mia's deceased father Crown Prince Eduard Christoff Philippe - that's another long one so let's not go there.
I think I'll go watch Ella Enchanted now.

When I watched Harry meet Sally...

...I remember (because I forgot) why this is the classic it is known to be. I also remembered where I got it into my head that men and women can't be friends. And, I will always remember the most memorable line (for me) in the show. "Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was seventy-three!"

"Yeah but he couldn't pick them up."

Harry was lucky to get that line. In fact, he got almost all the good lines in the movie. But he deserved to get them. His delivery was perfect- in timing, tone, conviction. He convinced me that he sprouted those incredible one-liners all his life. And of course, where would he be without that special someone to aggravate with his incessant speech? Sally was good at that - getting aggravated, and she was even better at aggravating, though she had intention to do so, unlike Harry. But the two of them together was...wonderful and I wouldn't imagine any other pair of actors doing a better job. Their natural affinity is something real life couples can only hope to possess.
You don't need me to tell you to watch this show. By now, if you haven't, you oughta be ashamed. You've been missing out on the perfect romantic comedy - one of the few in existence today.

The Girl Who took the leap into my heart

I can't decide whether I like bittersweet endings, like this one in The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, or not. When a fantastical magical adventure unfolds into a subtle first romance for the heroine and the hero, I cannot, for the life of me, choose an ending with their innocent faithful promises that they will be together in the future, or an ending with them getting together! The problem with the latter is how obviously trite it is - which spoils the whole fantasy of it all. But the problem I have with ending on the note of deep yearning to be together in the future (beyond the movie) is that I yearn as much as the characters do, for them to get together, and it just breaks my heart.
Yes so I cried watching The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I'd like to know which romantic fool didn't, and I congratulate those who successfully resisted the tears. But I liked crying at the utterly sentimental and earth shattering moment when Chiaki (hero) pulls Makoto (heroine) close and makes his promise to her. I want a poster of that moment to always remind me how sweetly beautiful this film is.
This film was good at that - being sweet and innocent, just like that first taste of love we all had. You will be transported back to the good ol' days at school, where the greatest heartache was watching that handsome boy with the 'tao' attitude walk up to another girl. The gentle mood captured in the film is akin to that of walking through a park on a summery day with someone you want, close to you.
That is how the movie gets away with its lack of logic in its time-travelling explanations. The theories of time-travelling weren't elaborated, they weren't investigated, much. But you don't really care. You don't feel a burning need to know the science and math of the hows - you just want to see the consequences.
Consequence is very much the focus of this animated film; consequence of decisions when you have certain powers; to be precisely precise - the consequences of playing with time.
Do NOT expect a Butterfly Effect movie - and thank heavens for that - because no matter how much Butterfly Effect was a tolerable enough movie, this film is so much more intimate and grounded in the naivete of one young girl's handling of the people in the world around her. As she learns of the clash between reality and her impractical beliefs in innocence. she gradually builds up her courage to take the one leap she had never dared to: the leap into the realm of love.
Love drives this film - love of the characters for the familiar faces they bring to mind, love of the world that, like our own, possessed that bit of magic for some to stumble upon, or those brave enough to seek it. And love, in its purest form shared between two people who believe, and have faith.
If you've run low on your own supply of faith in the miracle called love, or you just want to be reminded again what it was like to fall for the first time, then take a leap with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and be ready to fall, all over again.

What a Creep

The creep in Creep is a real mean baddie with a penchant for sharp objects caught in vital organs in the human body. This horror / thriller flick is a great squealer and stomach-churner, with its many moments of splashing blood and staring into the face of an inhuman fiendish grey-skinned, hunchbacked deformed... thing. Kudos to the make up and costume people of Creep! Even upclose, the obvious wrinkles in the skin suit on the actor could very well be taken to be real loose skin hanging off the... thing.
Creep worked because one fear of every person who has taken the subway, underground, metro, MRT, etc before is that something lurks down in those tunnels. Something that will find you when you close your eyes and miss the last train home. Something that is ugly, that likes meat and blood, and will drag you into the foul pits of the city - not hell, but close - the sewers.
Another reason why Creep was so great was its witty dialogue and natural cast. They may have been acting as themselves for all I know, because that's what it felt like. Oh and the inclusion of the Irish man is so clever because everyone knows, having an Irish or Scottish accent in your film is sure to makes things fun. It did. I really really liked the irishman, for many reasons; one of them being his devotion to his fellow homeless partner and his foolhardiness to go running off after a blood trail into unknown depths.
The only problem I have with Creep is its ending! It was a nice touch to end on a bittersweet-ish, sardonic kind of note, but it left you hanging and unsure. It was hinted at briefly that the creep was one of the mutated babies born and bred in the underground labs, but there was so much more that could have been done to mine this back story. Why were there labs underground? Who was the doctor? Did he create or simply help birth these creatures? Because if it was the latter, can you imagine what kind of statement could be made about the city and how poor mothers are forced to go underground to birth their pitiful deformed babies and leave them there to rot? Very importantly, are there more? After all, there were a number of cribs and a wealth of tunnels that could harbour these dark creatures.
At any rate, Creep did well in engaging, frightening and grossing you out. It could have gone one step further to haunt you, if the movie had learnt from the creep who struggled to eke out its existence unlike his bottled, unborn brothers and sisters. Creep, the movie, bottled itself in nice and tight: incomplete but a nice specimen to put on display and appreciate every now and then.

Desolation tones

'Desolation Jones' is aptly named. A graphic novel tracing the mission of Agent Jones - sole survivor (to date) of the Desolation Test now turned community agent - to recover lost Hilter porn videos for a wheelchair bound retired Colonel, it is cadaverous as it is treacherous. As the plot twists through dark alleys and shadows expose their true identity, the torrid activities of secret agencies and their agents are revealed. Creating an L.A teeming with more sordid activity than we think, with skies greyer than the wrinkled paper-excuse-for-skin that hangs on Jones' tortured body, and with bartards more yellow than Jones' bestial eyes, writer Warren Ellis gives more than just a gripping narrative. He prods at the idea of humanity just as those scientists prodded and poked Jones' body when he was retired from the secret force due to inability. However, his prodding and poking birthed little due to insufficient exploration. Insufficiency is the pitfall of this novel, because even its plot was really just a simple simple story that takes unnecessary turns and bends. The characters, save for Jones and one 'gamely' prostitute, were insufficiently developed and served as fodder for Jones' trigger-happy instincts at the end.
The dialogue is macabre and enjoys being such. The art is of the same nature, and completely indulgent in dispensing blood. Artist J.H Williams III hides gore behind a veil so well you actually enjoy the fight scenes. Blood seems to be a fitting muse for Williams, judging from the way he uses it so artfully. And who would think one who knew the intimate ways of manipulating blood into an artist tool would draw angels as beautifully as he did? The angels Williams plucked out of the visions of Jones' deranged mind, and put in full glory of colour and splendour as they rise above L.A's sewers and waters to heights unattainable, inspire hope in your soul. Hope for Jones' desolate and lost soul to be redeemed and revived to meaning.
Desolation Jones reminds me of Preacher, but only as a foetus with the potential to grow into the fully-developed brainchild that Preacher is.

10 things I love about...

1. Julia Stiles' most memorable role, so far, as the most enviable of shrews (for her male squeeze), oozing white hot sarcasm wrapped in her razor sharp wit.

2. Features many many Heath Ledger toothpaste commercial smiles.

3. Heath Ledger's rendition of 'I love you baby' rewrites the 'how-to-be-romantic' book, among other moves.

4. Brilliant, apt and completely indulgently fun soundtrack. Thanks in large to the classily-named 'Letters to Cleo'.

5. Paint Ball parks have never looked more tempting for romantic foreplay, especially if we all get to share that kiss with Ledger.

6. The coolest Lit teacher cum rapper ever.

7. Bianca's (Larisa Oleynik) face off with Joey 'Eat-me' Donner (Andrew Keegan) at prom - little victory for the feminist movement.

8. One of the most fun, enjoyable, Shakespeare inspired scripts.

9. Some of the best undercutting comedic moments in chick flick history.

10. It's not everyday you find a movie that will lift your day no matter how often you watch it.

Never(any)where

True to Mike Carey style, from my experience with Lucifer, this graphic novel adapted from Neil Gaiman's novel takes you on a journey of learning through London Below. Carey weaves a spell of magical realism as the world of London Below creeps in and out of London Above.

Door, the heroine, escapes into London Above from pursuers who were at first, faceless and nameless to her. She pleads for help from Londoner (Above) Richard Mayhew, who takes his first-ever initiative and decides to help. This decision drags him into the in-between realm caught between the two Londons where London Above does not see or recognise him, and London Below spurns him. In a bid to retrieve his life in London Above, he follows Door on her quest to avenge her family, who was killed by those nameless, faceless pursuers of hers at the start. On the way, they encounter death, battle with The Beast, fight with their inner demons and are double crossed, but behold the twist - Door knew all along she was walking into a trap and managed to trick the mastermind villian to his end.

In some ways, the plot of this graphic novel shadows Constantine the movie (Keanu Reeves) - the depressive would-be hero character and the twist in the identity of the villan share uncanny similarities to the movie.

I have yet to read Gaiman's novel, but I can bet that this graphic adaptation is skimming on the details that I know Gaiman's work to contain. This 'Neverwhere' was curt and short on the nuances that would complete the portraits of these worlds which would allow the reader to be fully transported into the magical reality in the story. Perhaps this read would be best with prior knowledge of Gaiman's original novel, but for me, the best is to follow up on that.

Still, Carey's 'Neverwhere' is interesting enough to enrapture you for the course of the adventure Door and Mayhew face, but once over, it is not likely to stay anywhere in your memory.