I shall call this the Korean “American Pie”.

Wet Dreams. Masturbation. Crashes. Boys will be familiar with these. Older guys will remember their adolescent days.

4 boys just cannot stop fantasizing about their Maths trainee teacher Ms Kim (Kim Sun Ah). They bet on who can hold her hands, see her underwear, and eventually ‘root’ her first. Ms Kim, on the other hand, is in love with her own teacher.

I wondered why were my secondary school days so typical. My Maths teachers were grouchy aunties who were covered up by dresses similar to my table cloth. Neither did I hump pull-up bars with my fellow friends.

I couldn’t stop laughing and will start to look at cup noodles, melons and liquid paper differently from now on, all objects of ‘desire’ (think American Pie’s apple pie). This plump guy who gets a hard-on whenever he hears any word similar to ‘pussy’, is especially funny.

Wet Dreams - A good, funny yet innocent piece about growing up.

Best Film: Kung Fu Hustle
Best Director: Derek Yee (One Nite in Mongkok)
Best Actor: Tony Leung (2046)
Best Actress: Zhang Ziyi (2046)
Best Supporting Actor: Yuen Wah (Kung Fu Hustle)
Best Supporting Actress: Bai Ling (Dumplings)
Best Screenplay: Derek Yee (One Nite in Mongkok)
Best Asian Film: Old Boy (South Korea)
Best New Performer: Tian Yuan (Butterfly)
Best New Director: Wong Ching-po (Jiang Hu)
Best Art Direction: William Chang, Alfred Yau (2046)
Best Action Choreography: Yuen Wo-ping (Kung Fu Hustle)
Best Film Editing: Angie Lam (Kung Fu Hustle)
Best Costume/Make Up Design: William Chang (2046)
Best Sound Design: Steven Ticknor, Steve Burgess, Rob Mackenzie, Paul Pirola (Kung Fu Hustle)
Best Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Lai Yiu-fai, Kwan Pun-leung (2046)
Best Visual Effects: Frankie Chung, Don Ma, Tam Kai-kwan, Franco Hung (Kung Fu Hustle)
Best Original Film Song: "This Way, This Way" (McDull, Prince De La Bun)
Best Original Film Score: Peer Raben, Shigeru Umebayashi (2046)

The Woman plays today, mistake me not, No Man in Gown or Page in Petticoat.

Kynaston (Billy Crudup), a man who plays woman on stage, feels like a woman, and sleeps with a man. Maria (Claire Daines) is his adoring dresser, which imitates him acting as a her.
King Charles dictates that stage doors will be open to women. Maria takes Kynaston’s role as Desdemona, while Kynaston finds himself in a situation where he has to act man.

Hmm... Very interesting, especially the bed scene between Kynaston and Maria. Maria asked “How do you exactly do IT?” Kynaston, who is the ‘woman’, shows another woman, how to be the woman.

“Shakespeare in Love” meets “Tootsie”. Crudup may not be the chioest drag-queen, but he was delightful to watch. How I miss Claire Daines too. A pity this will be not the kind of mainstream movie people would watch. The movie was also brought in about half a year late to Singapore.

It’s fun more than funny, like a playful play. Could have explored the gender issues a lot further. I just needed to feel more. Friend in fake angmoh accent, “But it was witty.” "Yah, agree!"

Stage Beauty – A pity not everyone appreciates such beauties.

We used to be camp mates. I remember the times when he went around look for good looking guys in camp to cast them for his next short film. (I am too ugly to act anything for him lah.)

Years latter, he has become one big thing, being the only Singaporean to be named by TIME magazine as one of its “Asian Heroes”.

0104 is a showcase of some of his short films including 24 hours, Mother, Hock Hiap Leong and the more recent Careless Whisperer and Cut.

“Cut” was hilariously funny, with Neo Swee Lin as an ‘auntie’ from the censorship board who looked just like Teo Piak Choo / Edna Mode. She was pursued by a pirate VCD vendor. The ending was an Abba meet Count On Me Singapore meet cabaret show meet hunk galore spoof. I think it’s cheo dao peng and si bei song ah.

Singapore Idol reject Careless Whisperer in a love film. Somehow I felt sad for him after watching. I think there is a “careless whisper” in all of us. We try our best, crave to showcase our talents and we think we are good. But people think we are nuts and deluded.

My personal favourite was “Blind Trilogy”. From somebody with audio background, this piece means a lot to me. Ending it off with Corrine May’s “Fly Away” almost brought a tear.

Si bei ho cheo, yet si bei sad can? Plus fellow Singaporean, ex-army mate, must support mah! (Though I must add that Royston is considered luckier than many other struggling local film makers. He is indeed blessed to have many friends helping him.)

Simple Story made complicated. A sequel to Get Shorty, and to cut long story short….. A film producer Chili Palmer (John Travolta) teams up with music producer Edie (Uma Thursman) to groom talent Linda Moon (Christina Milian) in a star.

In between there are murders, crimes, Russian mafias, nasty managers, a gay bodyguard, Danny DeVito, Aerosmith, Black Eye Peas, Cedric the Entertainer, OutKast… who else?

This movie reminds me of a Chinese New Year house visiting. People coming in and out. “What are all these people here for?” And you get bored after a while.

I slept a moment during the dance scene between Travolta and Thurman. Too irrelevant and too long. I felt the movie wasted these 2 stars, especially Thurman. Somebody has to save Milian’s sliding career. She can sing, but so what. The movie fails to bring out her personality.

The funny guys are The Rock and Vince Vaughn (from Dodgeball). One’s a aspiring-actor gay bodyguard, the other his dense ‘chee ko peh’ manager. I thought Steve Tyler was quite a spot too.

Be Cool – Not really cool but go for it if you love stars, the Rock, and whole lot of fun.

Yu Xiao Bao (Anthony Wong) is a sinseh who loves bragging about his heroic pass as an agent. Reminds me of my own dad who is a sinseh too. Children Ah Hao (Stephen Fung) and Fang Fang (Charlene of Twins) think it is bullshit. Ricco (Michael Wong), a wheel child bound ex-millitant swears revenge on an ex-agent Dai Zi Long. Only Xiao Bao knows his whereabouts which puts his whole family in grave danger.

2 thumbs up for this 2nd directorial effort by Stephen Fung. I am very envious. He is young, talented, has baby smooth skin and hair, and a gorgeous girlfriend. (I am digressing.) Talking about direction, I loved the camera angles, pans and transitions.

Having Twins in a martial arts flick is really eye-catching and yummy. (Think chocolate ice cream) My mei-mei commented Daniel Wu could have fought more, which I realized latter he had an injury.

A lot of HK films are on kungfu though. Hope this will not be the trend, it will be a pity though. I think HK cinema can offer more.

I liked it! Quite entertaining and you can leave your brains out at the same time. Just too bad the story line is predictable. Having Michael Wong act as an angmoh too? Hmm.... His son is amusing though.

House of Fury: Eye candies, kungfu, and humour can’t go wrong.
BanBan gives 3.25*

Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is back from her beauty pageant. And she has become a star of her own. FBI makes her a spokesperson and celebrity. Her good friend Miss USA Cheryl and emcee Stan are kidnapped. She has to first settle differences with her buddy (Regina King). You know the ending. Yes, you know it. “World Peace” – literally.

No pageants. No Benjamin Bratt. No Michael Caine.

Being the producer, Sandra thought she could make do without them. How wrong she is.
Sack the scriptwriter first.

Caine is replaced by (you know it) a gay pink-shirt wearing, flamboyant, dressy guy who drags himself at the end. How lame and flat. Enough of stereotypes.

Watch if you love dump blonde jokes. It's funny and entertaining in a way. I still love Sandra Bullock. If you watch it to revive the moments of Part 1, all I can say that the Magic is lost.

Miss Congeniality 2: Tripped and Not-so-fabulous
BanBan gives 2.5*

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Spanish-speaking Flor (Paz Vega) joins the Claskys to be their maid to help her daughter through school. Meet the Claskys: The sensitive father-cook John (Adam Sandler), the hypersensitive mother Deborah (Tea Leoni), the alcoholic mother Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), and a pair of daughter and son.

Flor doesn’t speak a single bit of English. But communication has no boundaries. She starts to form a special bond with John through the love of their children.

I watched the trailer and thought “Oh boring!” The trailer does injustice to the show. It explores many issues, cultural differences and more. I awe at how many different issues can be dealt subtlety through just one movie.

It was refreshing to watch Adam Sandler in a different kind of role. Another drawer was Paz Vega. She is simply stunning, Penelope Cruz and more.

Some of the lines are very close to the heart. Loved the conversation between Deborah and her alcoholic mother. Made me think of myself and my parents.

Also thought of maid issues in Singapore. This story will never happen here. The maid will most likely be abused by the family, if not the wife for overly suspicious. Insecurity? Why can’t maids be part of the family?

Spanglish – Sensitive, Sentimental and Superb. Sensitive in dealing with cultural issues; sentimental in exploring characters; and the cast is simply superb.
BanBan gives 4.25*.

Hi there. This is my first blog entry. Decided to dedicate it to movies, since I love watching movies so much.

So, what's the difference between this movie blog and the rest? Well, I guess it will be very personal, how a movie can affect me, or how it can even reflect my life.

Though I do movie reviews elsewhere, I believe a blog will allow more communication and sharing of ideas. You may hate what I love. No problems at all. Feel free to contribute. Be personal! Tell me how this movie relates to you.

Welcome to The Movie Club...