Laskar Pelangi

A friend recommended to buy this movie when I went to Indonesia recently...
" Hidup di dunia bukan semata2 untuk menerima sahaja tetapi bagaimana kita dapat memberi sepenuhnya..."

A great loss to Malaysia...

As I checked my facebook page today, there have been numerous tributes to Yasmin Ahmad.
I am sad we have truly lost an inspiring person and a film director who was a great ambassador for Malaysia in the film scene.

I have not watched all her movies but the ones I have seen like Sepet, Gubra and Mukhsin have always been thought provoking and manages to capture the simplicity of life and addresses the issues which we do not always like to talk about openly.

I will also miss her ads for Petronas which always has a universal message that can be understood by everyone from all walks of life and of every background and gender.

You will be missed and may you rest in peace---"From Allah she came and to Allah she returns"...-Al Fatihah

Slumdog Millionaire

It's been a while since I had a great movie night until I went to see Slumdog Millionaire.
Yes People- do believe the hype!

This is one of the best movies in a VERY long time.

Before Christmas , I saw the poster trailers of the movie being displayed across the red London buses but didn't take much notice of it. I thought it was just another Bollywood movie.

It wasn't until a friend posted the film trailer on his site which made me want to watch the movie.


The Bayswater crew and I decided to watch the movie at the Everyman Cinema at Hampstead with its comfy two seater couches. I love this cinema-we can get drinks and snacks ordered and brought to us before the movie starts. Due to the lack of parking spaces in the area we didn't have time to enjoy the pre cinema experience but we're hoping to go there again for the next outing -Curious Case of Benjamin Button movie which will come out next week.



Returning back to Slumdog Millionaire movie- it was directed by Danny Boyle who has directed a wide range of movies from 28 days later to Trainspotting to name but a few.


The main cast were not A-listers but this movie is truly magnificient. It is based on a book written by Vikas Swarup about a boy from the slums of Mumbai called Jamal who is on the verge of winning 20 million rupees in the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire but is caught by the police for alleged cheating on the show.

The show goes through a series of flashbacks of his life as he answers each question in the show. The movie focuses on the life for Jamal, Salim (his brother) and Latika (Jamal's love).
It gives us an insight of the way of life living in the slums of Mumbai. As the director describes the slums-it is a thriving environment which is constantly changing in its unique enterprising way.

The real stars of the show for me were the slum kids who played Jamal, Salim and Latika's character when they were kids. These were real slum kids who had been picked by the casting director.
The good thing I found coming out of this movie is these slum kids are now been taken in by charitable organisations and will hopefully be able to grow up and able to achieve their aspirations and dreams. A proportion of the box office takings are going towards setting up a Foundation to help the slum kids of Mumbai.
So please do not go download this movie or buy pirated Dvds because the money you spend in the cinema is actually going to a worthy cause.

The scenery of India is truly maginificient in this movie -the film crew had a tough time filming through the crowded streets of Mumbai but the results were truly spectacular.

Here's a trailer of the movie- Go watch it if you haven't already!
I love this track too by M.I.A

The Holiday

In line with the upcoming holiday season, this movie is a "must see" for everyone.
The Holiday is about two women (Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz) who have been unlucky in love and in search for a break from their current lives. They did a house swap exchange and meet the guys (Jude Law and Jack Black) that they duly deserve during their holidays.



It is set in two different locations: Surrey, London and LA, America. It is a lovely romantic comedy movie...I will not outline the whole story for you but it's such a heartwarming , romantic comedy that will make you have that warm , fuzzy feeling. I even felt teary in a few of the scenes....The views in the Surrey location were beautiful..I just love the movie : the storyline, the locations and the acting. :)



You can tell this movie was directed by a woman director because the script and the whole essence of the movie captures what a woman's thoughts are like especially when it comes to relationships. But I'm not discouraging guys to watch it..I would recommend it to everyone..You won't regret it...heheheh

Movie week

Last week was movie week.....I don't think I've ever watched so many movies in one week......

I went to watch Jack Black's new movie Tenacious D-Pick of Destiny last Monday...if ur a fan of Jack Black and his guitar playing moves then this is the movie for u...but if u don't like rock music or Jack Black then it is probably best to leave this movie out of your "movies to see" list.

There wasn't really much of a plot to the movie but you will be entertained by Jack Black's antics and Tenacious D's music.

The movie,however, can't beat my favourite Jack Black movie which is the "School of Rock" though...the combination of Jack Black's singing and comedy combined with the cute school kids who are all talented kids.....

Tues night was our regular Prison Break night..I thought season 2 was going to end but the series is stopping for a bit for Xmas so the episode we watched was going to be our last episode for a while.
Schofield was still at his best and the episode ended up with another cliffhanger......will Schofield and his bro ever escape???!!!
can't wait for the next episode to come out in January!!!!!

On Wed I went to watch yet another movie Pans of Labyrinth...I wasn't intending to watch it but I was temaning a friend who was raving about the movie.
I didn't really know much about the movie but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a Spanish movie and was one of the movies listed in the Cannes Film Festival. It is set in post war repression and the story evolves around a little girl Ofelia who is fascinated by fairytale stories. She had to face living with her stepdad and looked after her mother who was pregnant with her stepfather's child. We see her facing up to the monsters of her daily life as well as her fantasy life and the adventures she leads in her travels.......

When you think of fairytale stories you might think lovely cute cuddly creatures but this movie was different. The creatures are more geared to reality (if there is such a thing) and the scenes reminded me of Alice in Wonderland but less of the Hollywood gimmicks. I would highly recommend people to see it..despite having to read the subtitles throughout the movie. :)

Fri night was dvd horror night at Meem's, we rented out horror dvds and watched Japanese movie "Pulse" which turned out not to be that scary (but I still shrieked at some parts). The story didn't have much logic to it...it was about these ghosts who are in a different realm. The ghosts had no more spaces in their own realm so needed to go to our realm and used the internet as their way into our world. The ending was confusing and left all of us feeling puzzled and slightly disturbed.

We continued with the horror theme by watching "Ring 2"- I've never watched Ring-(Japanese version) but I've seen the American version which scared me. I was told the Japanese version is scarier so I ended up staying over at the Macready house cuz takut sangat nak balik to my flat alone!!!

Ring 2 was more about explaining what was the history behind Sadako's past...a lot of screaming went on.....(mainly from Meem and me!) during the scene where we see Sadako's mum and Sadako in the room with the mirror( which we see in the video) as well as the scene where we see Sadako trying to catch up with the Professor's student and the little kid up the well. Definitely not for the faint hearted....

On Sunday took a break from the movies.....we went to Liverpool Street Market...did a spot of bargain shopping....got some really good deals with tops and jumpers and spent less that 20 pounds but managed to get a few outfits which was definitely good value for money.

We all then went to the driving range for a spot of golf...the last time I went was before puasa so I thought I probably would have forgotten most of the technique already. I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to hit more of the balls this time. Some of them actually went straight compared to before which I either missed, didn't travel very far or totally went off target.

We ended the day by having dinner at Dosa....tried a different menu this time..went for the mutton parotta.with the famous falouda.....! Yummy!!

But tonight I have to burn off all those calories by going to the gym....

Have a good week guys! :)