Great Movie Sequences

Sometimes, only one scene is enough to make us feel "Yes! This is it! This made the movie for me!" So, I'm just going to share a couple of scenes that made me feel that way.

First up, Kick-Ass

Hit-Girl Rescue Scene: This scene is just simply amazing to watch and it clicked with the inner geek in me when I saw that First-Person-Shooter mode. Then the whole scene gets a much serious tone when Big-Daddy is set on fire. The part with Hit-Girl using the strobe-light and gunning all the bad guys in slo-mo was surprisingly emotional and incredible. Plus, John Murphy's score was used appropriately and hit all the right notes in this scene.

The Social Network

Rowing Competition Scene:

I've read about this scene online and many said it was done very well. So when when I went to see this movie and this scene came up, I sat up with expectations. It just blew me away. The use of lenses was very clever and I have never seen a water-sport competition filmed this way before. It has beautiful cinematography, great editing/close-ups and the additional of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' cover of this classical piece of music made this scene hauntingly amazing. And the last few music notes portrayed the Winklevoss' twins dismay and frustration very well when they lost. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it now while it's still on.

I'm going to rate The Social Network a 9/10... Scripts rarely outshine and this script was execptionally well written. Very unlikable movie though, because there's no one you're really rooting for. Maybe except for Eduardo Saverin...

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans

First week of school was tough, mentally. Besides tuning my body clock to match the timetable of my classes, I was mentally tuning myself to many things. New modules, new rules, new interactions with old buddies.

My head is a ticking time-bomb ready to explode and destroy my life. So much thinking and thinking sometimes just complicates my relationships with people for nothing. Talked to many friends about it and they all said that I am the only one doing this to myself. Realized how true that was. Now, I'm trying suppress all those imaginative thoughts...

Besides, I was mad for a while for the stupid path I got myself into. I want to direct a feature movie before I hit 20... And I'm going to be 19 soon. What the heck?! There was a lot more but I don't want to talk about it anymore. Screw this mess of a life. I'm going to be a paperboy when I grow up.

And I think I can live without friends. I can live among the living and ignore them. Sometimes I can blend in very well, I guess. I am a random person. The best description I have of myself is that, I'm a living encyclopedia of profound nonsense and random info. I am a mixed of personalities. And that is me. Because I am influenced by my surroundings, a sponge if you will. People just don't get my randomness and gets turned off by that, I don't blame them.

I can keep very quiet when I'm awkward, but I choose not to. I can be as animated as I can be whenever I'm happy. When I'm sad, I lay on my bed trying to slip into a coma or something. When I'm nervous, I get uptight. When I'm angry, I seethe. I switch between seriousness and humour with ease sometimes.

Sound like a normal human being eh? Yeah, in a way yes. I don't hide my feelings. In fact, I don't hide my feelings very well. But I'm very good at amplifying them. So I'm theatrical and dramatic and stuff like in the movies. But that's who I am. And I hate for my mumbling problem. Having a really low voice don't help at all... Must be the damned lips!...

Bye and whatever.

The Plan

One of the scenes in a Spaced's episode that just solidifies its position in one of my favourite shows of all time. Very well directed, edited and acted.

Tim and Daisy thinking of what to do to spend the night hanging out.

*Update*

Turns out I can't embed the video here... But I'll try my best to describe it...

They start off their seemingly innocent night of fun by tossing a coin to choose who gets their way as they have somewhat different ideas of how to spend the night together.

Daisy describes hers as taking the train down to a gay western gay bar before popping into the theatre for a play, preferably with a swear word inside the title (Absolute Bollocks). Then they'll head towards a coffee house and discuss the play at a great length. Retiring to a jazz bar, they shall enjoy an elaborate piece of xylophone music and talk about the meaning of life before catching the last train home.

As she goes on about her plan, a photo montage of the events play out with fast cuts and zoom-ins for comedic effect and is fast-paced.

For Tim, he prefers smoking a spliff while traveling to, if I'm not wrong, an indian-oriented bar so they will be high before they order their first drink. They will then proceed to staying there for a couple of hours, laughing like a couple of twats. Then they'll relocate to a low-level high street bar with a neglected jukebox and keep drinking till they A) Fall over, B) Puke or C) Fall over and puke.

As for this montage, this blew my mind too. Staying true to Tim's character as a cartoonist, Tim's montage is presented in detailed comic drawings and the camera just keeps sweeping between the events. The last part had me in stitches. The music behind it was very cheeky and exciting, like it was saying this will be an epic night out if everything went according to Tim's plan.

The following scenes just kept the comedic momentum going which resulted a very enjoyable episode, ending with a climax of a finger-gun shootout.

Edgar Wright is more of a niche director. Not many will understand the sheer amount of brilliance behind his works but if you do, you are bound to lead a good life. =D

Right, goodnight readers!

If You Rescue Me

If you rescue me, I'll be your friend forever.

Let me in your bed, I'll keep you warm in winter

Non-Technicolor

Summary of Events

Typical first day. Like the same typical first days for the past 3 semesters. Hi & bye classmates. Classroom still feels oddly disintegrated and cold. There's no warmth to some of these people. I am beginning to question my belief that this class will finally be united by the end of the three years. Maybe it's a sign for me to stop being friendly and all. Time to bring out the frown guns and show these suckers that I mean business now.

But that's no way to be. I am capable of being a complete jerky-jerk but I don't want. All of us have a dark side but that doesn't mean I am the dark side. People get to choose who they want to be and I want to be fighting the forces of evil. So yeah, let's keep the beast chained forever, okay?

Returning back to school and seeing students' faces make me queasy, nervous and feel so lost in the crowd of drones. Most of all, they leave me in a state of desolation. there were a couple of times when I close my eyes, I can see lines and shadows of a human flailing his arms violently in the darkness. Desperately wanting to get out of this postmodern frustration of trying to live my life in an post-secondary institution where most people who are so similar to one another.

I have no idea what I'm talking about anymore. I just know my life in Poly is depressing me and my modules aren't exactly helping me raise my spirits.

Besides that, Zaidah drove to pick me up from Paya Lebar, which was awesome. *Pinches myself* Hey, I'm still not dreaming. She totally drove! She's not bad driver. Maybe I'll take my words about women being bad drivers. Thanks, Zaidah...=D

And I almost had the hots for my lecturer... Ms Karen Chia. She's cute but when her mouth starts talking about business, *yawns* boooorrrrriiinnnnngggg..

All right, see ya folks!

Dead Man or Quitter

Holidays are coming to an end again. Things undone and things untouched. Never knew how much of a quitter I can be. Just yesterday, I could only hang on a bar for only a mere five seconds. Bubbles of blister slowly formed on my palms and I gave up training for pull-ups.

Emotions revisited and revelations found. I can be a dick to my mind sometimes. A good friend tells me I should find the line, don't go over it and also keep the balance in check. Thanks, Andrew, much appreciated. And also to XJ.

My band cancelled both our gigs and now we're venturing into recording a demo. I'm not feeling as enthusiastic as before. And our taste in music is very different. I'm into 60's, 70's rock music. A little pop-rock, more of jazz and indie. And the kind of music I want to make is like unconventional funky music, like a mixed bag of indie and jazz-pop. But the songs they composed are... simple and kinda commercialized like Secondhand Serenade. Okay, maybe it's just that one song (Yo Zaidah, I have a demo of it, you can critique it and tell me what you think!). Heck, I don't even mind if we imitate the first album of Maroon 5's style because they were pretty good then.

And I don't know if I like to be a member of an official band when we get famous. Then again, it all just boils down to my fear of commitment. Dammit! Why can't I get over this stupid phase! Even my plan to make an awesome movie trailer has failed! Anyway, moving on...

I quit my job stint at 7-11's. Never did I know that working at a convenience store is so boring and the pay is totally shite. Nuh-uh, no way I'm spending 8 hours at a convenience store in the early morning of a weekend when school starts. But it's all good practice. At least now I know how you work in a convenience store. And let me be the first to say: I hate closing shifts. It's so darn tedious with all that paperwork and calculation. Especially, stapling all the receipts. Thank God, it's over. Phew...

Now school is starting and more sad news to boot, this semester has no production modules. *Mutters: Just kill me already* It means, more theory and more theory. Drown in a theory sea of business whales and media fish. Whoop-de-doo~! Life is indeed getting better. Moreover, I picked Family and Youth Work as my elective module. I do not want to recall how or why I came to that decision. It's regretful and embarrassing. Like my friend N would say "Suck it up!"

Having said that, this is my last semester with all these wonderful classmates, some great valuable friends and some not so great classmates. After this, we're all going to split and I don't know, maybe we won't ever see each other again. Even though we are one bunch of crazies, but these qualities make us a very special class indeed. Without these interesting characters, how fun can classes be?

So I'll be treasuring every one of them whenever I can. =)

I will neither quit or die. I will survive this semester, bitches. Come on! You guys know you can too. >=D

Saddest news of the year --> Scott Pilgrim is not getting released in Singapore.

Happiest news of the year --> Edgar Wright tweeted my video.

Ooohh, irony at its best...

Hallucinations in Sleeps

I have finally seen The Science of Sleep. It was a great movie, no doubt. Not one of cinema’s finest, definitely. But it had a certain restrained charm to it. No one else would like the movie besides me. I mean, first, you have to enjoy Michel Gondry’s previous works but I’ve only seen Eternal Sunshine and I really loved that movie.

Gael Garcia Bernal gives a very convincing performance of whimsicality and his expressions throughout the movie is just gold. I like how the movie was filmed using a hand-held camera and the music that accompanied the movie gave its vibe of insanity conceived in a mind of a lucid dreamer.

What I love about this movie is that I can relate to Bernal’s character easily. I’m no lucid dreamer but I’m in tandem with Stephane’s comment on dreams. I remembered that it was about how dreams came about from our interactions with objects or people and the emotions that comes along with it. I couldn’t agree more.

I used to have dreams that are just purely insane and I’m really embarrassed about some. Once, I dreamt about kissing this good friend of mine after a date. I woke up feeling overwhelmed and super embarrassed. I remembered we had an awkward first one before we did an even more serious kiss with tongue action…Let’s just end it at here.

I had another dream about hanging out with my Dad on the train and people were like eyeballing at him because he cheated on Mom. Some girl on the train called him a loser and she alighted in a hurried fashion.

I gave chase, obviously. I ran as fast as my dream-legs could carry me. After a good 5-10 seconds, I caught up with her and shoved her down on a flight of stairs. Seeing her pained expression as her whole face hit the stairs gave me no other better satisfaction. It felt good. Because, no one calls my Dad a loser except for me.

Dreams often exaggerate and amplify emotions but they always tell the truth about a person's desires, don't you think? And these conjure up images and sounds you don't usually see in your real life. I don't about you but I'm basing this theory on my own experience. And this epiphany came about when Stephane said this line: In dreams, the emotions are overwhelming. Which I totally agree again!

All I know, I love dreaming despite the fucked-up stuff I've dreamt. To be able to dream is a bliss I treasure very much. It unlocks a new existence of a world that my mind with its normalcy wouldn't imagine.

...

...

...

I will not let my stupid feelings come between our friendship!

Blue Wigs

This is one heck of a montage of a photoshoot with one of today's talented young actresses.

I love the edit in this video...It's mesmerizing!

Dreams Like These

I was watching a good 30 minutes of this movie called The Science of Sleep on Youtube and this scene was brilliantly executed. The music, animation, motions and emotions... Gotta hand it to Michel Gondry for the surreal visuals and also Gael Garcia Bernal (Stephane) for following up with an inspired-quirkiness of a performance.

Okay, before you watch this clip, I'll set it up for you.

Aspiring artist Stephane, the cute Mexican dude, does a job that he detest and gets mocked at for his absurd art. After his first day, he goes to sleep and dreams about his deepest thoughts and desires..

Here is the result of that dream...

That's one of the most fascinating way to use a photocopier machine... The portrayal of sex on it was childishly funny.

Goodnight and dream tight, people... ;)

The Science of Sleep

"First, I'll show how dreams are prepared. Love, friendships, relationships and all those ships..."

Directed by Michel Gondry, his unique visual flair has been bleeping on my radar ever since I deeply appreciate his work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Though Hollywood's favourite screenwriter Charlie Kaufman wrote the script, you can't deny Michel Gondry has a knack for creating visually-moving set-ups.

I thought Eternal Sunshine has one of the brilliant and most sincere screenplay ever written. In other related topics, I fear Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet will stink...=(

Oh yeah, film editor Sally Menke passed away. She had always been editing Quentin Tarantino's movies ever since his first movie called Resevoir Dogs. Their mutual understanding and appreciation for each other has always provided great cinematic entertainment. Without her, Tarantino's movies wouldn't be cut to almost perfection.

The cinema industry has indeed lost one of their finest women... =(