Don't feed the British K-pop fans

It creates flash mobs all over the world, it crashes ticket websites, it has snubbed Britney Spears of an EMA award and it has sold out Madison Square Garden in minutes.

In just a few years, Korean pop music (K-pop for short), with its upbeat-dance-friendly tunes, colourful fashion, dynamic dancing and a ridiculous amount of group members, has seen a great surge in popularity all over the Western world – not least in the UK.

Last night's 'MBC Korean Culture Festival' at the Indigo2 (smaller venue at O2) in London, which featured both traditional and modern Korean acts, saw no exception in the British fans' enthusiasm for everything Korean.

All eyes on the Koreans Photo: Me

The concert, which is a part of 'All Eyes On Korea', a 100 day event promoting and honouring South Korea and its culture, saw 2000 plus Korean culture enthusiasts cheer and scream (mostly the latter) for traditional Korean music acts as well K-pop groups.

While the traditional cultural acts included performances with drums and traditional instruments, dancing and a fashion show of 'Hanbok', traditional Korean dress received loud cheers and woo's, it was obvious that the K-pop performance was the concert's main attraction.

Volume Up: Hyuna from 4Minute Photo:Mine

The first taste of the crowds' excitement came when an introduction video of the first K-pop act, girl group 4Minute, came on the big screen. It could have been a video of one of the One Direction boys getting undressed and the reaction would have been about the same.

Not deterred by the fact that the songs are entirely in Korean (except for the occasional oh yeah's and other nonsensical words) the fans sang heartedly - and loudly - along.

Contrasting the sensual  performance by the five-member girl group, were the comedic duo Norazo - combining funny dancing with humorous singing about everything from Curry to Supermen (I could only assume).

EXO-K performing their title song 'MAMA' Photo: Mine

However loud and excited the audience might have been during these acts (not to mention the dance performances of popular K-pop songs by international dance crews), it was nothing compared to the hysteria that exploded in the venue when 6-piece boy group EXO-K took to the stage. The group, which debuted less than three months ago, performed the most elaborate and energetic dances of the evening to ear-deafening cheers and screams - all worthy the likes of Take That and The Wanted.

The concert is the latest evidence that the British K-pop fans' are not to be underestimated.

Review: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Photo: Columbia Pictures

In total it took me three days to regain my normal (whatever that is) mental state after seeing a midnight preview of The Girl With Dragon Tattoo and another three to be able to even think about writing a review of it.

Taking on the success of the Swedish movie adaptions of the best-selling Millenuim triology, Hollywood now launches its own version of the $200 million worth franchise with The Social Network director David Fincher leading the way.

The first part in the series introduces us to the investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), who comes under fire after publishing a libellous article and therefore takes on an autobiography writing job for a retired business magnate who promises to help the journalist in his libel case. Blomkvist soon finds himself investigating a family murder that occurred 36 years ago and have to take help from the prolific hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara).

Those familiar with the book and the original movie knows that the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is not for the faint-hearted and the American adaption is certainly not an exception. Embrace yourself for a two and half hour of captivatingheart-racing unadulterated brick shitting. Helping you to get completely drawn into the thriller is the impeccable acting by Craig and Mara (already strongly tipped for an Oscar) as well as from Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Plummer.

Despite the fact of having to cram in 500 plus pages into a movie, it still felt awfully long. After the murder case is cleared up we're led on to a seemingly never ending story closure with  sub stories.

The Girl With Dragon Tattoo premieres on Dec 21 in Sweden and Dec 26 in the UK.

Review: In Time

Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake in In Time. Photo: 20th Century Fox

I'd love to start off this review with a cheesy time pun like "time is literally money in In time", but that would be disrespectful to director Andrew Niccol who obviously went headfirst for the task of cramming every possible time pun into a 140 minute movie.

In Time is set in a future where everyone's life is dictated by a ticking internal clock - displayed on your arm like a tacky matrix tattoo - which kills you once it hits zero. The only comfort you've got while you earn, steal or have some transfer extra time to you, is that you stop ageing at 25. At the center of this is Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), a good-willing hard worker from the ghetto, who sets out to shake up the system of "the rich lives forever on the expense of the poor" after his mother (Olivia Wilde, yeah really) is cruelly "timed-out".

As much as I love a truly original story idea, I hate being projected far-fetched situations such as a helpless female lead running around in 6 inch heels as if they were a pair of Nike air. The helpless female lead in this case being Sylvia Weis the rebellious rich man's daughter, portrayed by Mamma Mia star Amanda Seyfried who merely convinces us that Sylvia has any guts at all or any facial expressions for that matter.

Timberlake doesn't really meet the Sean Parker standards with his Will Salas neither being rough enough nor affectionate enough. The only one who's leaving this flick with a gold star is Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser. The 32-year-old is impeccably frightenining as Sylvia's 90-year-old aristocrat father.

Apart from time puns, the script (which is written by Niccol) also has a ridiculous amount of oneliners. Only 20 minutes into the movie and the audience have heard enough dowdy oneliners to make 24 Bond movies - leaving the dialogue extremely bleak and cringe worthy.

Despite running out of steam half way and having a pathetic fart as an ending, the concept of In Time together with scattered acting talent (having not mentioned Cillian Murphy, Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki and Matt Bomer) is still impressive enough to be worth a Wednesday evening trip to the cinema.

Review: Les Misérables at Malmö opera

Innovation in new production of Les Misérables. Photo: Malmö Opera

Taking the gloominess and misery on to a whole new level, Ronny Danielsson delivers a visual version of Cameron Mackintosh's beloved Les Misérables that has never been seen before (in line with Virginia prod. in 2008). In a meticulous modernisation, the musical has been given a darker and cutting edge atmosphere - think Tim Burton meets Cats meets Micheal Jackson's Thriller.

Based on Victor Hugo's 1400 paged novel with the same title, Les Misérables tells the tales of the people's misery in the early 19th century France. It centers the ex-convict Jean Valjean's journey to redemption, while being hunted by the relentless Police inspector Javert.

Equipped with a hefty budget, a mini army of an ensemble and a continent of a set, the scenography department was able to conjure up an astonishing set and props, including an enormous turbine and a giant bird cage descending from the ceiling.

The periodic 1830s clothes have been systematically thrown out the window and replaced with black leather dresses, burgundy floor-sweeping coats and tulle skirts. All gothic enough to make you think Helena Bonham Carter would walk onto the stage at any second.

Melted together with a innovative choreography and flawlessly orchestrated music (the electric guitar is more suitable than ever), there's one thing that's certain: there's never a visually dull moment in the show.

However, putting aside the praiseworthy scenography and costumes, one is left with an hoard of dull and uninspiring actors. The performers are amazing singers, there's no doubt about that, and if the audience would've suffered from a sudden collective blindness just as the show started, their performance would've been more than satisfactory. But unfortunate for them, we managed to hang on to our eyesight during the whole show.

Jean Valjean, played by Dan Ekborg, was neither rough as a convict, humble as a reprieved man, anxious as a pursued man, loving as a father nor sincere as a man who wishes to forgive. For Karolin Funke's Fantine it's the same story. Funke's Jag Drömde En Dröm (I Dreamed a Dream) was performed standing upright with her hands hanging on the sides - giving the character as much emotions as a sock.

The Thénardier couple who's usually the comedic essence in an otherwise gloomy musical, was now portrayed as sinister and, to be honest, terrifying. 'Så ska det låta'-host Peter Harrysson does the most motionless (or every now and then rolling on a wheelchair) Mr Thénardier to date. Still, mobility isn't a indication for good acting, but any of that was absent in Harrysson's case as well.

As a shining beacon in a sea of blandness, there's Fred Johanson's spot on portrayal of Javert - authoritive at the right time and perplexed at the right time. With an incredible roaring voice (enough to make every viewer's skin crawl) and just as brilliant acting, Johanson's performance is definitely the highlight of the show.

More glimmer of lights are Cosette, whose youthfulness and flirtatiousness Emmi Christensson does impeccably, and Anders Gjønnes' vulnerable but idealistic Enjolras.

Hard work is evident in making this production one of its own, and there's no doubt that it could've suceeded becoming a brilliant such, however if there was more focus on the casting and character delivering this production could've have gone the whole way.

Les Misérables (2011) Ronny Danielsson, Malmö opera, Malmö
(Performance: 18/9/11)

(You can't imagine how much I've edited and cut out. Jeesh! Fret not, my full WE comparision and character analysis is yet to be posted)

Malmö opera's open repititon of Les Misérables enthralls hundreds

"Is the second half going to be this f-cking gloomy as well?" says director Ronny Danielsson and the audience burst out in laughs. Danielsson was imitating the Swedish King who saw the Stockholm production of Les Misérables in 1990 and is said to have thought it to be depressing.

Emmi Christensson as Cosette and Philip Jalmelid as Marius

Saturday's (10/9) open repitition of the latest Swedish production of the world's longest running musical "Les Misérables" was a packed one. An hour before the doors opened to the refurbished Malmö Opera, the foyer was already bustling with people.

After a warm welcoming from the director, an overwhelming number of sweatpants-wearing people trots onto stage and organise themselves to their designated spots. The final scene had to be polished.

"When you sing "the chain" everyone has to have come forth," reminds choreographer Roger Lybeck and continues to give further directions on the pace they were to enter in.

Having established their definite curtain call positions, the audience could finally get a taste of the highly anticipated singing. And oh what a singing it was, the harmonization was enough to make even the toughest of guys tremble.

The cast rehearsing the curtain call

The trembling hightens as the genious move to put the orchestra in the back of stage instead of in the pithole, gives the actors the ablility to be touchably-close to the audience. With the glorious vantage point from the 4th row of the center stalls, one got the feeling you were actually on stage with the actors.

The repitition now turned into a sneakpeak of the (close-enough) actual musical as they performed every song from Sörjande kvinnor (Turning) to the Epilogue without any interruptions.

Similar to the West End production, the Malmö production also have a rotating stage centre which gives the play a bustling atmosphere, not least in the Wedding scene. On the other hand, as the barricade was more of a set piece than a prop (different from the WE production), one will have to do without the students climbing and shooting from a platform made of chairs.

At Tomma bord och tomma stolar

Sörjande kvinnor, which is a precedent for Tomma bord och tomma stolar (Empty chairs at empty tables), saw a line of women sing appealingly and gesturing, each behind an empty chair. Marius, played by a backward cap donned Philip Jalmelid, is then wheeled into the dark and smoky stage.


After a less than emotional but a stomach-tinglingly beautiful sung Tomma bord och tomma stolar and Jalmelid's first interaction with Emmi Christensson's Cosette in Everyday, Dan Ekborg enters as Valjean and sings a perfectly remorseful Valjeans confession.

It is followed by the quirky Bröllopet (The Wedding) where the Thénardier couple, portrayed by Marianne Mörck and Peter Harrysson, enters for the first time under applause. In contrast to Bröloppet, the Thénardier Waltz of Treachery was surprisngly bare (on the verge of awkward), but it was fortunately followed by a magnificently powerful Epilogue.

There are no doubts in musical heaven that these performers are well-trained and brilliant singers, what's left to see on the other hand is whether they're as brilliant actors. However, disappointment over the production seems to be as unlikely as the King seeing Les Mis again.

Les Misérables premieres at Malmö Opera on Friday the 16th of September and is scheduled to run until the beginning of February.

Review: Unknown where most is known

Unknown (2011) Photo: Warner Bros

House of Wax director Jaume Collet-Serra taps into the action genre for the first time with Unknown (2011). This $40 million investment takes place in Berlin, Germany where Liam Neeson's Dr. Martin Harris and his wife Liz (January Jones) have come to attend a biotechnological summit. Soon upon arrival Martin is involved in a car accident in which he and the cabbie (Diane Kruger) is flung off a bridge. He wakes up 4 days later with no memory of anything before arriving in Berlin. In all haste he seeks up his wife only to find out that she doesn't recognise him. If that's not traumatic enough, there is also another man in his place, someone claiming to be Dr. Martin Harris and married to Liz. Failing to convince the police he really is Martin Harris, he starts to hunt back his past.

Unknown's greatest appeal wasn't perhaps being another "Liam Neeson action flick" but January Jones' movie debut post-Mad Men. Those of the latter would however be mad-tastically disappointed as Jones' character is next to nonexistent.

Alas, the disappointments don't stop there. Unknown is neither as mysterious or thrilling as it wished to be. Not only failing to realise the plot's intriguing potential, they also hugely underestimated the audience's imagination. While we've already figured out most of "Martin's" past, 38 minutes were still to pass before it was revealed in the movie. The storytelling was therefore filled with nothing but laughably see-through mystique and a loads of redundant scenes.

Another great acting waste was Diane Kruger's Gina, an illegal Bosnian immigrant. Why they thought that they should put German Diane Kruger in a movie set in Germany as a Bosnian immigrant is beyond me. Kruger is neither convincing as a Bosnian nor an illegal immigrant, however that may be the cause of the costume designer and make-up people. Giving Diane a messy ponytail and make her wear a tank top and jeans doesn't by far make her look like a ragged poor immigrant. (Then again, can she ever look anything less than flawless?)

With a tedious storytelling and redundant action, Unknown is best kept unseen.

Review: How to love 'A pocket full of Sunshine' by Natasha Bedingfield

Photo: Screen Gems

Being one of the last people in the world to see Easy A (2010) had its up and downsides. One being the long line of praisals of both Emma Stone and the movie's humour which made you feel like an complete outsider for not seeing the comicality in GIFs of Emma Stone shampooing her hair (which people on Tumblr are/were eager to reblog in masses). On the other hand, with all the recommendations and "actually-it's-not-that-funny" comments flying around one couldn't help but to build up quite some expectations of the movie.

However, a severe case of laughing cramps and a loud sing-along to Simple Mind's "Don't You" later, I just wanted to hit the play button again.

Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) is a clean-cut 17 year-old who's not very popular with the guys, or as she describes it: if Google Earth was a guy, he couldn't find me if I was dressed up as a 10-story building. Little did she know that a small lie about losing her virginity to a college student would travel á la Gossip Girl style and reach every student at the school in a matter of a few hours.

Enjoying the newfound attention, Olive agrees to pretend to have sex with a guy friend, to stop people from bullying him for being gay. One thing leading to another, she soon finds herself in a 'pay-me-and-you-can-tell-people-we-hooked-up' business that's just waiting to go wrong.

The brilliance of the movie lies in the novel take on teenage life and the spot-on comedy. Casting aside the overdone boyfriend-revenge, unrequited love and mean girls stories, Easy A explores the impact and hilarity in rumour spreading and the thin line between being a virgin-nobody and a "dirty sk*nk".

With a Diablo Cody-sharp dialogue and a brilliant performance by Emma Stone, Easy A is one of few teen movies that neither makes you want to scratch your eyes or wish you could strangle the movie characters half way through. In fact it's one of the best not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman movies since the Breakfast Club.

(and this is why I've developed a weird fondness of A Pocket full of Sunshine)
Tiffany

Review: Love Never Dies



Photo: andrewlloydwebber.com

Any person's reaction to finding out that Love Never Dies is the sequal to Phantom of The Opera is usually either a frowned brow, a scornful chuckle or simply a long 'What?!' (Mine was certainly the latter)

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's decision to spin-off Gaston Leroux's classical story about the impossible love between a deformed musical genious and his apprentice still baffles people today (that is if you exclude the improbable reason to wanting to heave in thousands of pounds of course).

Set out across the Atlantic in New York, Love Never Dies takes us ten years after the Paris Opera House has burnt down. The Phantom (Ramin Karimloo) and his protegés Madame Giry (Liz Robertson) and Meg (Haley Flahrety) have established themselves at the vibrant funfair, Coney Island.

As the title suggests, Phantom is still very much in love with Christine (Celia Graham) - the obsessive love of his life whom married another man, and yearns to get her back. Such plans are at work when Christine comes to New York for a special performance together with her now drinking-and-gambling-happy husband, Raoul (David Thaxton), and their neglected 10 year-old child, Gustave.

While Karimloo does a strong and intimidating Phantom, the real star of the show is Thaxton, whose troubled Raoul is impeccably portrayed. After Thaxton's moving performance of the melancholic 'Why Does She Love Me', one would a heart of stone not to root for him in the strife over Christine.

From the inside of the Phantom's tower to a lonely beach, the set is consistently breathtakingly extravagant. One of the most ingenious scene arrangements were the introduction of Coney Island, in which the curtain is used as a projector showing the funfair's surroundings while the actors move behind it, giving the scene a vivid sense of Coney Island's vibrant atmosphere.

However brilliant and stunning the acting and set may have been, Love Never Dies couldn't make up for the dull and overreaching story line - and not to mention the awkward personality changes of the main characters. What's most puzzling is still why they insisted on creating a relationship between Phantom and Christine that never was intended. Adding to the awkwardness is 'Beneath A Moonless Sky', in which Phantom and Christine sing (more or less) word for word about their night together.

How much one may have wanted to know what led to Christine death in Phantom of The Opera, we definitely could've done without.

Love Never Dies (2010) Andrew Lloyd Webber, Aldelphi Theatre, London
Performance: 19/04/11

Tiffany

Review: Actually very super

Picture: Paramount Pictures

I promised myself a while ago that I'd think twice before watching a sci-fi movie (after Knowing) or a movie with a bunch of kids in the lead (after Narnia 3). So what made me throw myself headfirst to go and watch Super 8? 3 reasons: 1. Elle Fanning. 2. J.J Abrams 3. Elle Fanning. (Not even joking)

Super 8 is set out in a small town in Ohio during the late 70's. When 13-year old Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) loses his mother in an accident, he's left battling with the loss and the distant relationship with his police father. Thoughts of his mom were put on hold when his best friend Charles (Riley Griffiths), an amateur movie maker, asks beautiful Alice (Elle Fanning) to star in his latest project. While filming a scene for Charles' entry for a film festival, they witness a catastrophic train crash which releases an unknown creature. Not before long strange things starts to happen in the city.

What I love most about Super 8, is it's story telling. I love the deliberate mystique around the creature, and that as the characters learn more about the creature the more we get to see more of it. The cast is just as brilliant, you know I'm a sucker for brilliant child actors (man, I'm in that age this kind of sentences can be taken wrong), even AJ Michalka was watchable.

I truly enjoyed the movie, I laughed, I cried and I screamed. You know, just as much as I love to be the only person in the cinema screaming out loud I was genuinely, as my friend would say, shitting bricks.

Tiffany strongly recommends.

Toodles.

Review: Kill the pig! Spill its' blood!

Photo: Open Air Theatre

A bunch of screaming 14 year-old boys running around in their underwear, isn't something you would typically pay 30 quid to see. But when it's for a new adaption of Lord of the Flies, it's certainly worth it.

Directed by Timothy Sheader's, this stage adaption of Lord of the Flies is not only impeccably choreographed but also visually stunning.

Based on William Golding's novel from 1954, Lord of the Flies tells the tale of a group of young boys stranded on a deserted island after their plane was shot down. They soon conspire to survive and how to get rescued. With conflicting views on what's the best way to act, the boys soon find themselves in two competing teams. The story gives a frightful insight into human nature at its most primary.

Cleverly staged at Regents Park Open Air theatre, the nature together with the life size broken down plane gives the play an authentic set and ambiance (even the socks hanging from the trees are brilliant). It's in fact so engaging that 40 minutes into the show, one was tempted to jump up and down and join the boys in shouting: "Kill the pig! Spill its' blood!"
The appreciation of the natural surroundings however gradually fades away as the cold of London evenings grows more and more vivid. The audience neither felt any warmer from seeing the cast run around practically naked during the entire second (bless those boys).

Besides the marvelous stage set, the storytelling and choreography is equally as impressive. The use of well choreographed slow motion and standstill (the latter to tell the two team's stories simultaneously), gives the storytelling a twist and, not to mention, a joy to watch. All of which balances out the mediocre acting from the teenage actors.

However the question of time and historical correctness still remains. While the dialogue is neatly modernised, the laptop on the beach and talk of "the war" leaves us wondering whether the show's a modern take on World War II, referencing to Afghanistan/Iran, or if the laptop was simply misplaced.

Lord of the Flies (2010) Nigel Williams, Open Air Theatre, London
(Performance: 07/06/11)

Tiffany

Review: The kids were not really all right

Even the poster looks more promising.

Having a bit of a time off from billions of school assignments and the internship, I finally sat down and saw The Kids Are All Right (2011) which I bought for my birthday, which was 3 weeks ago. (WIN!)

I actually wanted to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer (which was waaay back when I saw Charlie St. Cloud in the cinema).

The Kids are All Right centers a family of 2 kids and their lesbian parents. We're introduced to a tight and surprisingly well-functioning family (no bullying, no weird kids, no judging looks by neighbours, no nothing). Problems arises as the kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutherson) get in contact with their biological father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo).

Having expected a roaring comedy taking on a novel topic, I have to say I was disappointed (yes with the oscars, grammy and every possible award nominations taken into consideratiopn). Not only was I misled to think it was a comedy but the movie didn't fully deliver the dynamics of a gay couple and their children. Perhaps I'm stereotyping but I just feel they failed to include anything that could potentially be interesting. Or perhaps I'm just grumpy because I was expecting a few more laughs and less butts and moaning sounds.

Sincerely,
Tiffany

Review: Yes, they both reached for the gun

Razzle Dazzle them and they'll ask you for more.

As a celebration of ending the first term on Friday, me and my friend went and saw "Chicago".

Having seen and fallen in love with the Hollywood remake of Chicago (2002), you can surely say I had high expectations of the musical.

The musical takes us to the 1920's when jazz, liquor and dance roamed the streets of Chicago. Roxie Hart, a simple mechanic's wife, dreams of a life on stage and the murder of her lover seems to be just the break she'd always wanted. But surely publicity isn't everything especially if you locked in and fighting over the same lawyer as the jazz star Velma Kelly.

Except for being slightly annoyed with Sarah Soeteart's (Roxie) screechy voice, I was peed-my-pants excited about all the actresses and actors. I particularly liked Vivien Carter as Velma who had the most amazing pipes despite her size. The dancers were just simply brilliant (not to mention the male ones -pathetically hot-)

Unlike the movie, the musical didn't have much of the jaw dropping sets and props, in fact they hardly had anything on that square metre of a stage, which was a slight dissappontment. But all in all it was 2 hours of pure joy. Several times during the show I found myself with the biggest grin on my face, that is when I didn't sing along. (Felt kind of sorry for the Swedish couple sitting next to me though).

"Hello, suckers. Welcome back."

Chicago (1997) Chicago Partnership, Cambridge Theatre, London
Performance: 28/01/11

Tiffany

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Camping

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

If the 15 year-old me would have seen me watching the seventh Harry Potter movie ONE month after the actual premiere, she might have strangled me or at least fainted.

Having been an utterly crazed Harry Potter fan in my early teenage, the first movies have always been fantabulous in my eyes. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 1 (couldn't sound any worse) is the first Potter movie I've seen through unfangirl-eyes. It became clearer than ever that the movies survives purely because of the HP hype itself and the fans of the book.

In this first part of the grande finale, the world is darker and more dangerous than ever before (isn't it always?) with muggle lovers getting murdered, death eater attack in Piccadilly Circus, people being obducted from left to right. Harry, Ron and Hermione have now abandoned Hogwarts to embark on their great journey to search and destroy the horcruxes (items containing pieces of Lord Voldemort's soul). Flung out of their safety zone, they are not only exposed to evil appearing-disappearing kidnappers but also the madness that only comes when people camp together for 4 months straight.

Failing to convince me of the actual danger of the situation, the movie could neither attain my interest for 2 and a half hour. Why they thought it was necessary to have Harry and Hermione dance utterly awkwardly, was and still is beyond my comprehension. The movies doesn't throughly explain why the trio had to camp and wait around, without which it simply looks like our heroic group think they're able to  randomly stumble upon a horcrux by camping around.

Although most of the movie was spent on showing how the trio get on each other nerves while camping, the movie is actually fairly exciting.


Mischief Managed,
Tiffany

A heart full of Les Misérables

It's not Lei Mise-raw-ble. Actually pronounced Le Mize-rah-ble, this 25 year running musical truly lives up to every spat of expectations I had. And believe me they were yey high.

For you who haven't read Victor Hugo's 900 page novel (if it was 700 page less I would), here's a recap; it's the early 19th century and the French people are mad at the state (seriously when are they not?). It goes so far that a group of youngsters prepare revolution. The story centers Jean Valjean, a troubled man struggling to put his past as a convict behind him, but it's not easy when your arrester is still hunting you like hounddog after all these years. However as the story evolves there are more substories with various characters, such as an orphan girl who Valjean raises as a promise to her mother, a young revolutionarian torn between battle and love and a greedy innkeeper.

The story seriously pushes the boundaries of being illegally sad (Mr Hugo must have been thorugh some serious shit in his life). The characters' misery is so emminent and overwhelming, your overly-stressed-demanding life appears as a charmed. Folks with hearts of stone might even shed a tear to Fantine's "Come To Me".

How depressing the story may be, the fantastic music (despite the depressing lyrics) keeps us from falling into deep depression. My Last.fm is an great example how the music captivates and makes you sing out loud whenever and wherever. In the interval my sister remarked that they never speak, not a word, they sing all their lines. For me the singing and conveying the lines at the same time felt so natural I didn't even noticed.

Not your typical happy-go-laughing musical, Les Misérables has a wonderful moral and mindblowing music. I strongly recommend.

Cheers,

Tiffany

Oh, Zachary

So me and my friend saw The Life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud, using Orange Wednesday and all (the ticket was £2.80, freakin' £2.80!).

For me it felt as if I knew everything about this movie already, having gone to the premiere and watched the trailer 9576 times on repeat on the big screen there. But as a steadfast Efron supporter (note support-er!) I wouldn't think for one second of not seeing the movie.
All in all we see Efron in a deeper and mature role as Charlie St Cloud, the golden sailor boy with his whole future planned out (hello Stanford yo!). However, his whole world falls over board when he gets into a car accident killing his younger brother, Sam. As a sign of his incapability of forgiving himself he sees Sam (in spirit-memory shape). Charlie makes a promise to see him every day at sunset.

I knew this was a major bawl movie (I cried just seeing the trailer for the 1st time, ok?!) so I was warned and prepared..or so I thought. Although Zac does the happy, dancing teen role so well I must say he almost does the broken, remorseful brother even better. It was heartbreaking really.

But I have to say other than the gripping beginning there wasn't much to the movie. It was bland and fairly predictable. The only thing that kept the movie somehow interesting was the guessing game of whether Charlie really was seeing his brother or if he was a complete nutjob.
Apart from Zac I also thought Augustus Prew did a really good job as Charlie's wacky British slash Australian friend.

Cheers,
Tiffany Phan

Crap times two

A movie title ending with a "2" is uttermost seldom a good idea and Camp Rock 2 is an excellent example of that.

When the last movie left us wondering if Disney could possibly churn out more shallow, brain-dead movies, Camp Rock 2 takes shallow brain-dead movies to an whole new level, shallow brain-dead movies times two. with a shallower story, even weaker characters (if that even was possible) and worse acting.

Our teenybop stars return to Camp Rock all jumped up on joy, hopes of romance and all of the usual PG rated things. However the smiles quickly fades as they learn that a new camp, Camp Star (I know they really killed themselves with innovation) across the lake wants to compete with them. On top of it they even convince Camp Rock staff and campers to come over to their camp.

Major pressure is put on Camp Rock to stay open and not least the sing off with Camp Star in the end of the summer.

Different from the first movie the sequel hoped to become a "real" musical movie with the characters unaturalisticly breaking out in song every other minute. With the 90 minute movie crammed with songs, it has left almost nonexistent space for a story, character personalities or even dialogue for that matter. I don't think any character spoke for more than 3 minutes at a time. Seriously.

When the first movie failed to convince us that Shane (Joe Jonas) and Mitchie (Demi Lovato) were actually romantically interested in each other. Apparently when the real world see friendship the Disney world see boyfriend-and-girlfriend relationship. The sequel also failed to show their romance until the very last ten minutes of the movie givng us all a "Oh, they are not siblings"-moment.

Although I personally thought the Nate (Nick Jonas) and Dana (Chloe Bridges) were super cute, this relationship also lacked affection and any kind of reality anchoring.

To be honest if a movie could possibly be any more shallow than Camp Rock 2, it shouldn't be classifed as a movie.

Truly yours,

Tiffany

The toys are back in town

I finally got to see Toy Story 3 the other day (in 3D English version). Verdict? Awe.....wait for it...some! (Couldn't help myself)

As I've said I literally grew up with an overplayed Toy Story VHS on Cantonese. (I had a great childhood, you see). And 15 years after I never thought I'd still be quite so excited about a triquel.

One thinks after 2 movies there can't possibly be another sane good story living up the high expectations (unless it's book based movie, but that's another story). The plot is familiar, the toys are afraid of being replaced or abandoned (some cases both). But the screen writers amazes us once again with an wonderfully unpredictable, innovative and funny story.

Appropriately, this movie tells us about the kid, Andy, being grown up and is about to start college. The idea of being thrown in the trash was imminent and the toys decide it was better to be donated to the kindergarden nearby. It's all sugar and rainbows until they realized they had being placed in the small children's department, where toys are being brutally played with.

Gosh, I laughed and I cried, it just kicked some major ass. XD I strongly recommend.

Btw, anyone know why Totoro was there?

Ciao,

Tiffany

Will that be all, Mr Stark?

(As I post this I'm so high on sleepyness I don't know why I'm doing this. It's part of my portfolio. Jenny I don't really mean it.)

In the success of Batman, Spiderman, Fantastic four and the whole bunch of comic-book leotard dressed heroes, comes Iron Man (2008). With less of the leotards and more of a flying robot suit, Iron Man is best entertaining for comic-book nerds and 14 year old boys.

The movie centers Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), an egocentric, multi billionaire, womanizing weapon developer (which also can be translated into every guy’s dream).

Life is a ball for Tony until he gets kidnapped by Afghan terrorists, get a blue shining pacemaker-like device operated into the chest and forced into building a super missile weapon for the terrorists. Together with another captive he secretly builds a robot suit to help them escape (I’m sure a robot suit is the first thing that pops into your head when you want to flee from terrorists).

After a not so teary death of his construction companion and the realization that his weapons were actually used to kill people, he has a change of heart. No more weapons, he wants to help people now. With that said the whole first hour of the movie is already gone.

Despite a great performance by Robert Downey Jr., the movie falls short in too many places. While the cliché one liners, including “Keep the skies clear” and “I am Iron man”, made male viewers in the age between nine and 14 think ‘Wow, Tony is badass’, they almost made me want to throw up and a chair at the TV screen. Not even the funny lines went all the way home, they felt so rehearsed I’m sure I could see the reflection of the script in their eyes.

I can see that they were trying to pull a Batman begins and that’s why 90 minutes of the 121 min movie was spent on looking at Tony building the Iron man suit rather than him actually doing something with it. As an individual movie Iron man is just too little too late.

Will that be all, Mr Stark?
We do hope so.