Mini-Beaming through the Darkness

Still adapting in the Genghis Khan land and being exhausted from the dusty city Ulan Bator, what is good in the late night for some relaxation and fun? Three computer geeks, putting our heads together, figured out the best ways to set up my mini-projector in our “dorm” room. I purchased Samsung’s SP-H03 a couple of days before leaving Seoul. It is the size of my palm, and it’s hard to imagine a pico projector more functional and portable than this design.

Shooting to the ceiling…

Beat that! If you look carefully, the screen is about the size of my bed! We pretty much have a theater in our room! How sweet.

We watched 30 Days of Night (Josh Hartnett, Melissa George). It was not intimidating nor frightening. But the lover’s sacrifice in the end was stirring. I’ll perhaps give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Dream within a Dream

The most intriguing and mind-bending movie of the decade, or perhaps ever, Inception has had the largest buzz among netizens even before its release on July 16th. I had planned to blog about this movie for weeks, but I was more interested in finding answers from other blogs than to write one myself. Yet again it’s irresistible when a movie tops your all-time favorite list :).

First and foremost, was Cobb dreaming or was he awake  at the end of the movie? I believe that Chris Nolan intended this to be open-ended, yet I leaned towards “dreaming”. I visited one post where voters split on dreaming vs awake opinion. Yet again, this movie isn’t about answers, or whether you guess it correctly or incorrectly. It is about a concept that human beings believe possible but only achievable through imagination. It might have happened a few times in my dreams, maybe incepted by God, but dreams are easily forgettable. I’ve had dreams that reached climax, and with some sort of “kick” I would forget about it the second I wake up. I’ve definitely had a dream within a dream, but I cannot recall a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream, needless to say I had no control in my dreams.

What I love so much about this movie is its ingenuity. I’ve read reviewers over-complicate this movie and the analysis tends to fall too deeply. I don’t think I was able to follow the plot in entirety, but the movie was like a dream I didn’t wanna wake up from. And I’m definitely going to watch it again in theatre.

Inception also presents a powerful and interesting cast. LD definitely tops the list; Michael Caine and Tom Berenger are renowned veterans while Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ken Watanabe add another dimension to the movie with more than enough dimensions in its storyline. What was more interesting to me was how Chris Nolan seemingly teams up with some of these actors in series. Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy are in both Batman movies, and Ken Watanabe was in the first one as well. Christian Bale is not in Inception, but he repeatedly stars in Chris Nolan’s movies, take Prestige for example, which was also a very smart film. I can’t wait to see the next sequel to Batman. I am also looking forward to another collab of Chris Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio. That shall be awesome no matter what kind of movie it is.

Now, let me talk about Leo D for a bit.

I’ve been a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio for a long time, ever since I was a kid and needed subtitle to understand. I think the first movie I watched with him in it was Basketball Diaries in 1995. But it all started with the modern spin-off of Romeo and Juliet when I was finishing up my elementary school and it was enjoyable for an innocent boy. (Although I think I had crush on Claire Danes during the movie.) Then, the more I watch his movies, I continued to be inspired by the way he completely zones into his character and loses himself. No one will forget Titanic, but my all-time favorite movie was Catch Me If You Can.

I truly hope Leo D wins his Oscar for Best Actor this year. He deserved it already with Departed or Blood Diamond in 2006, and perhaps with his past accomplishments in leading role prior to that year.

So, back to Inception. It was a mesmerizing pleasure indeed and I’m ready for a repeat!

Get Him to the Greek!

This movie was awesome. A lot of obscenity, but definitely a fun ride. Almost as hilarious as The Hangover. I also liked Aldous Snow’s music in this movie.

Two Thumbs up!

Avatar

I watched Avatar last week on 3D, and I think it was worth every penny because i watched it on 3D. The storyline was somewhat predictable and the ride seemed a bit tedious, but the graphic work was astounding.

My rating :