Ashes of Time 1994

Ashes Of Time (1994)

by Cheng Zishuang

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regret. Longing for love. Loneliness. Pain of loss. The central themes commonly found in a Wong Kar Wai Film and they are on full display here in this story which is supposed to be somewhat of a prequel to “Legends of the Condor Heroes”. In addition to his usual central themes, WKW deals with the subject of memories. Memories being the root of all our pain and suffering.

Set in a desert back in ancient China, Ashes of Time tells the story of three out of five of the five leading pugilists in the Louis Chia novel “Legend of the Condor Heroes”. For those unfamiliar with his work, Louis Chia is one of the most popular authors of the wuxia genre. For those expecting a classic Chinese martial arts movie with clashing swords and people flying through the skies and delivering projectiles, this movie is not for you. This should not be classified under the action/wuxia genre but the art film/drama.

 

Probably the most stellar cast ever assembled for a movie in the Hong Kong industry, this movie has the late Leslie Cheung in the lead with both Tony Leungs, Maggie Cheung, Charlie Young, Carina Lau,Brigitte Lin and Jacky Cheung. Each one of them turn in brilliant performances, but what most people would not expect, Tony Leung Chiu Wai was not the star of stars. Arguably, Leslie Cheung was. Playing the charming yet ruthless Ouyang Feng, he manages to give us a glimpse of the pain and inner turmoil which plagues this character. This has led to some western audiences and media touting him as the Asian James Dean, although arguably, Leslie had a much longer and fuller body of work before his early demise. But for me, Maggie Cheung was the one who shone the brightest in what could not be more than ten to fifteen minutes of screen time. In just one scene, she portrays a woman who is clearly broken, filled with regret, desperation and sorrow. She expresses this when you hear her voice of anguish, when she’s staring out of the window in a daze, you know she wishes she could turn back the hands of time and erase the foolishness of youth and through her tears, you see how she knows it’s simply not possible and that eats at her every single day of her life.

 

As WKW’s long-time collaborator, Christopher Doyle distinguishes himself as one of the best in the business as director of photography. Due to the complex plot and characters in the film, one might not like the film on first viewing and might even find it incoherent. But Doyle’s stunning visuals of the changing landscapes of the desert, crafty voyeuristic camera shots and creative usage of lighting makes the film totally unlike a Chinese painting which is based on simple brush strokes and subtle colours but more of a Picasso, bold, disjointed and is either perceived as either marvelous or utter pretentious rubbish, nothing in between. There is a particular scene which I find visually brilliant. It’s when Leslie Cheung is negotiating a contract with the androgynous Brigitte Lin, who’s character clearly suffers from a multiple personality disorder, taking on the personalities of the daughter of the Murong clan who’s obsessively in love with Huang Yao-shi and her over protective elder brother. The scenes with their many dialogues, (between alternating personalities) has a light shining in to the room through a spinning bird cage which reflects golden light and shadows on the two or shall I say three characters, forming spinning shadows of the bird cage amongst golden light which provides a very ambiguous mood to a very ambiguous scene.

 

The film scoring for this film is amongst one of my favourite WKW’s (along with In the mood for love and Chungking Express). WKW claims that it didn’t fit his original vision as much as the redux edition, hence, YoYo Ma taking over the musical helm. I haven’t heard it yet, as for some reason it hasn’t been available in Asia. But the film score for this version was just brilliant for me.

 

Although I absolutely loved the film for all the above reasons, I must admit that a lot of people won’t, as it is an art house film and due to that very nature, it attracts a rather niche audience. After all, it did tank pretty badly at the box office back then. But if you’re a serious about film, I highly recommend this film and that you have multiple viewings as you wouldn’t be able to catch certain intricacies and besides, you do discover something new each time you watch it, be it a certain theme or camera shot. As for the casual film watcher, I still recommend you watch it as long as you like beautiful visuals and are able to enjoy films with a relative slower pace as compared to today’s film world of instant gratification.

 

4 out of 5 burning cigarettes.

 

Superior acting, direction,cinematography, storyline. But not for all.

 

Link to film (Cantonese with dual English and Chinese sub-titles) :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKv0Mu72r4&feature=related

 

 

Guns N’ Roses: Chinese Democracy (album)

I’ve been waiting for this album for 15 years. Or have I?

Entire musical genres have risen and fallen in the time since the last Guns N’ Roses album was released. Without wishing to retread the long and winding history of “Chinese Democracy”, the end result is an Axl Rose solo album in all but name.

The title doesn’t so much signify Axl’s opposition to one-party rule in the middle kingdom as his idea of his own endless struggle against overwhelming forces; a more appropriate title would be “Axl Rose: Mein Kampf”. Every song relates his struggle: against ex-lovers, ex-bandmates, record companies, the media and just about everybody else to release this album, keep the name Guns N’ Roses alive and generally stick the finger at everyone who doubted him. In essense, “Chinese Democracy” is about the process of recording “Chinese Democracy” and Axl’s own overblown egomania.

The years of obsessive construction and sprawling vision are palpable.  Each and every track assaults the listener with a phalanx of guitars and arrangements. “Madagascar” is probably the worst offender in this respect, going as far as to sample Martin Luther King (“Free at last”) to a crescendo of guitar solos. Thankfully Axl’s vocals remain as strong and compelling as ever, lending a (somewhat) coherent narrative to what would have otherwise been a cacophony of the last 20 years of rock compressed into 14 tracks.

Fans who preferred the raw intensity of “Appetite for Destruction” over the expansive rock opera of “Use You Illusion” will be less enthused.  On “Appetite”, GNR were defined as much by Slash’s thrusting solos and Izzy Stradlin’s swaggering rhythms as Axl’s wailing vibrato; “I.R.S.” and “Better” come closest to the classic formula.

The angry, decadent rebellion of the old Guns was always balanced by the unsentimental romance of tracks like “November Rain”. On this album, Axl again mixes rage with melancholy. The aggression of the opening one-two of the title track and “Shackler’s Revenge” is tempered by the regrets of “There Was A Time” and “Streets Of Dreams”, while ” This I Love” goes further into an unabashed lament for a love lost but still felt.

But the overall statement is one of defiance; on even on “Sorry”, he declares:

I’m sorry for you, Not sorry for me
You don’t know why, I won’t give in
To hell with the pressure, I’m not caving in

The final track, “Prostitute”,  strikes a more conciliatory note, asking not for forgiveness, but understanding for the tortured state of being Axl Rose and doing what he has to.

If my affections are misunderstood
And you decide
I’m up, to no good, don’t ask, me to enjoy them, just for you

Ask yourself what I would do
To prostitute myself
To live with fortune and shame oh yeah

So is this the album I’ve been waiting 15 years for? Which is not to ask has it been worth the wait – no album could be – but rather, does it work? In the latter half of the first decade of the 21st century – after grunge, Britpop, nu-metal, garage rock, post-punk, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day, the “Macarena”,  Blur, Oasis,  Radiohead, Alanis Morissette, the Spice Girls, “My Heart Will Go On”, Korn, Limp Bizkit, N’Sync, Eminem, the Strokes, “Hey Ya!”, 50 Cent, Kanye, Avril Lavigne, the Arctic Monkeys – does Axl Rose’s vision of rock still hold any relevance? Does this witch’s brew of Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Queen, Hanoi Rocks, Elton John and Nine Inch Nails filtered through Axl’s wailing vocal, countless guitarists and years of remixes result in anything worthwhile?

Ultimately, the story of “Chinese Democracy” is more epic than any of the tracks on the album itself. Is it possible that the world’s biggest rock group can implode, lose all but one of its original members,go through multiple cancelled tour, arrests, lawsuits, lineup changes, Buckethead, 15 years and $13 million in recording costs and complete a triumphant comeback? Ironically for an album which attained mythical status during its gestation period, the question is still: do you believe?

4 Burning Cigarettes out of 5

The Maldives might be underwater, Chelsea Clinton might be running for President and I might be playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2024 on Playstation 8 when the next GNR album is released. I don’t intend to wait a moment for any of those events, but right now “Chinese Democracy” sounds as vital as any rock album released in years.

 

How girls waste time / stupid things girls do

How girls waste time / stupid things girls do
By Cheng Zishuang

This is a list that is rather self-explanatory, aptly named, how girls waste time/ stupid things girls to. Started by Gabriel Seah, it runs down to a whopping 150 bullets points ! Interestingly, it has a large proportion of female contributors, lest you think it’s just another misogynistic rant, well, okay maybe it is, but, entertaining either way.

After going through the whole list and comments, yes, I actually did go through point by point, I realised that this list is largely applicable to teenage girls, to a certain extent,Singaporean teenage girls, “62. In RGS, the girls watch sunrises through school windows” , and to a lesser extent: “82. a) Forming families with a mother, father, brother, sister, hubby, darling, maid, pet turtle, pet dog, pet cat, neighbour, sister in law and brother in law and such because they were emotionally abused as children and need a support network, where one’s role is dependent on one’s looks/behavior/sexual orientation. Eg dogs whine and cats are annoying”

Of course, most of the guys out there would agree that this list would hold true to most women on this Earth like “100. An unending preoccupation with marriage/fantasising about marriage”, and, “112. Using PMS and their gender as excuses to get things/get away with things.”

This list wouldn’t be interesting if it didn’t have anything quirky now would it ? So here are a few examples, “12. a) Compulsive email forwarding syndrome, especially “cute”, “sweet” or “meaningful” ones, where the probability of forwarding rises with the attachments’ size, stupidity and/or how annoying they are”, “15. Perfecting printed handwriting (usually small / invisible) / writing in ‘cute’ font (or 6 different colours and pen tip sizes)” , and oh, here’s a good one ! “41. a) Trying to perfect the art of hover pissing because of the erroneous fear that they will catch something if they sit on the toilet seat. In the end they take three times as long but still end up dirtying the toilet seat (encouraging yet more women to hover-piss)”

Like this list, the comments that it has received are plentiful and eclectic. It ranges from the moronic, “2) i like girls. girls are nice. shaddup”. To the insightful, “In my experience, girls are very much like boys until the age of about 11 or 12, when they develop the symptoms as described on your webpage” to the incomprehensible, “the day u make love to a woman with hairy legs is the day u wish u never made that list.” While this one just validates the list itself “*giggle* *giggle*”

You also do have some people who takes this a little too seriously, judging from comments like “what a f**king stupid site
so bloody chauvanistic
i could spend 10mins coming up with a list of 1000 stupid things guys do…
face it, guys and girls are equal..for the guyz who came up with dis site, u can spend the rest of ur bo liao lives alone, for the butch of comment 18, u can go for a sex change and go to hell.(u oso hav CB wat, dun nehow cum and sae us gers)”

So without further ado, I shall present you a link to this list:

http://gssq.entori.net/writings/girl.htm

3.6 burning ciggies out of 5

Entertaining if you’re pretty bored and have time to kill. Some of the points are pretty amusing though some could make you shake your head in utter disgust.

 

Hot Shots (Flame-Grilled Burgers)

Hot Shots (Flame-Grilled Burgers)

by Jegan

There is a legend, that mothers have passed down to their kids for generations in the far reaching Warul Kawa Island. It reads of a man, born into poverty, wanted so badly to enjoy the riches of the richest royals.

He would sit across the road from the castle and observe the activities, almost day-dreaming of himself in the enviable position. But the thought of working hard for his money always left him lethargic and unmotivated. The story then goes on to read of him stumbling upon a map, all muddied up and torn at the sides which illustrated a long trail of dotted lines from one point to another, marked with an “X”. Convinced that what lay before him was the treasure that he have for so long deserved, the man left his family and promised them a triumphant return with endless riches under his arms.

The days passed, then months, digging all day with no money for food, the man was reduced to a frail being. Knowing that his destiny lay right under his feet, the man continued shoveling till one day, his shovel plunked something hard. Throwing it aside, the man summoning his last ounce of energy, got on his knees and began dividing the earth and the first traces of a wooden chest appeared. He then proceeded to open it with his cattle-shearing knife, realizing that after leaving everything and everyone behind, it had all been worth the sacrifice. 

Anxiety and anticipation of what lay in front of him had taken over like a storming front, the man thrust his knife once more, breaking the eroded locking mechanism. He lay there, stunned, almost paralyzed.  “This can’t be” he thought, “Where is the treasure?!”. The disappointment struck like a shard of glass and the pain ached his soul. Collapsing to the soil, the man knew he was drawing his final breaths and the damage from the greed that left everything that meant something to him behind had sunk in. He lived a meaningless life, full of hope for something better and died an empty man.

That hope, was something similar to what I had when I heard about the new burger franchise that had invaded our Island. Hot Shot’s is its name and has its roots in Manila. There’s always a feeling when someone new comes into the fray to offer something not heard off before. The Lamburghini, Real Bleu Cheeseburger and the Kamikaze Burger are just some of the weird names these guys have given their daring burgers. With all the pictures and the ‘About Us’ section of their website going down like the smoothest smoothie you’d ever had, I dragged down 2 of my friends for the experience.

Irish Nacho’s ($6.50)

We ordered the Irish Nacho’s first. These guys make it fresh so you’ve got to wait like about 5 minutes at least before anything gets ready. So after it arrives and just about to tuck in, we realize that there’s only 4 pieces of crisscut fries. The toppings were pretty basic, your normal Salsa with cheese and beef on top. Nothing special. To taste, the fries left an oily residue on your lips and in your mouth that not even the mustard could distract. It just wasn’t worth it.

The Burgers

We go on to order our burgers, the Crispy Burgermelt and the Real Bleu Cheeseburger. After waiting for another 10 minutes, the burgers are ready for collection. First thing it reminds you off is MOS Burger. The burgers aren’t as big as those from Botak Jones or I dare say MacDonalds.

Our buying dissonance is then made worse by the fact that the buns totally eclipse the patty’s, for both the burgers (nothing like the pictures). Are you kidding me? With the patty thin, the bun thick and a generous dollop of Bleu Cheese in mine, it felt like I ordered a Bleu Cheese sandwich with a hint of beef. It was preposterous. The other burger was no better; the patty was too small to make any degree of impact on us.

And this brings to question, what makes a burger? For me, the patty is the deal-breaker. Nothing else should distract you from it. I left Lau Pa Sat feeling I had just wasted a good majority of my $10 note on a pathetic excuse for a burger joint.

To be honest, I placed quite a bit of hope on Hot Shots. I thought, at last a worthy competitor to Botak Jones (which I still love), a small player not afraid to fight the man, a renegade almost, but the experience leaves me sorely and bitterly disappointed. Just like the man in the story.

1.5 burning cigarettes out of 5

Just throw in another 2 dollars and get your Botak Burger with Cheese Set. If you guys are looking for a much cheaper alternative or just have time on your hands, I would strongly suggest heading across the causeway for a Ramly instead. 

*story is fictional

 

Layla cover by some strange Japanese band

Layla cover by some strange Japanese band
by Cheng Zishuang, Ewan and Alex Yap

Cheng Zishuang:

Let me just start off by saying that this is so bad that it’s funny. When I heard the opening guitar riffs, I thought to myself,”probably your typical cover kinda shit” BUT, when the vocals came kicking in, I just burst out laughing at how bad this is.

By the way, I found this on youtube under my recommended videos thing that youtube has. Good job there guys. But yes, back to the video, it wouldn’t be half as bad if the singer’s diction wasn’t so fucked up, so at this point, I do wonder, if you get a 5 year old kid who speaks English decently, would this even be half as bad?

I really wish I could let Mr Clapton himself view this just so that I can watch him choke on his own blood that he spewed out from this complete butchery of a classic song.

0.00001/5 Burning Cigarettes
I think I might even be kind by giving this rating.

Ewan:

F*** you Zishuang! The video isn’t funny! ITS JUST BAD! Its not fun watching the video… Although its funny thinking back on it and when you think, “Hey.. its funny.”… You go back and watch it again and you feel like puking from your ears.

The intro of the song had too much distortion and slightly out of tune, which is alright. I thought it might be bearable and sat there waiting for the vocals to kick in.

WHAT THE HELL IS HE SINGING?! You know how some vocalists mumble and yet still sound good ala’ Pearl Jam? Well, this guy sure ain’t one of them.

“Layla! mphmphummmump jeep my jep jeep!” That so doesn’t sound like ‘Layla, you’ve got me on my knees.’ (the actual lyrics from the first line of the chorus).

I could only last for two minutes till I had to search for the original piece of music on youtube. I really wish that Mr Clapton himself will NOT stumble upon this video. I’d want Mr. Clapton to still have his ears completely intact.

5/5 NOT EFFING BURNING CIGARETTES
if it WERE burning then it’ll be

-5/5 Burning Cigarettes
note that its minus five. I’m sorry Zishuang for passing you sometimes random links. You’ve got me with this link you passed to me.

Alex Yap:

More than any other artist, Eric Clapton embodied the supergroup & guitar god aesthetic of the 70s. This was the pre-MTV, pre-iPod, pre-internet, pre-home computer, pre-cassette era, when music was an altogether less accessible, and therefore more mythical, commodity. Accordingly the stars who made the music were treated with a seriousness and reverence seems almost archaic today.

This is the age of YouTube, American Idol, Guitar Hero, DIY-superstardom and instant/disposable celebrity. Anyone can be a star from their own living room – with an audience of 24 million. A Japanese covers band wailing their way through a classic track with more energy and enthusiasm than Clapton has managed for decades is in perfect keeping with the spirit of the times.

This recalls the awesome karaoke scene rendition of “God Saves The Queen” in “Lost In Translation” – way more punk than any Sex Pistols reunion could ever be. I can’t make out a word apart from “Layla”, he may be singing in Japanese for all i know, but he’s into it, the band are into it, the crowd are into it – so rock on!

3.5 burning cigarettes out of 5

I can’t wait for Clapton to appear as a downloadable bonus character on Guitar Hero.

 

TOKYO!

TOKYO! TOKYO! TOKYO!

Tokyo! Yes Tokyo! It doesn’t take a genius detective to figure out what this movie is about. Tokyo is a triple dosage of japanistic (is that even a word? Who cares eh?) tales. Set in Tokyo and directed by three different directors. 90 minutes plus of three dramatic short stories. Each one so different from one another.

Let me walk you thru the three stories with some minor spoilers abound:

Interior Design, directed by Michael Gondry, tells a tale of a young couple who move into their friend’s miniscule apartment in search of a bright future. I didn’t expect much from when the story started, mainly because the introduction sort of makes the guy seem like a bum but as the story went on… it turned out that the ever loving girlfriend was the real cancer in the tale. She runs away after feeling unwanted and slowly turned into a chair. The guy becomes a film maker and their friend gets it on with her own boyfriend.

This short story does carry a message or a basic theme, “Finding your place in the world.”. It may be a chair where everyone will just sit on you or a film maker who makes artsy horrid films.

Merde was directed by Joon-ho Bong… i think…. I’ve got nothing much to comment on this as I was dozing off during the first 8 minutes of the story. IT WAS THAT BORING. The introduction was very promising but the rest of the story was very draggy and it made me feel utterly bored and restless. The story as far as I know was about a mysterious man (who looks like an irish monster) who spreads panic throughout the streets of tokyo by means of eating inanimate objects and throwing grenades around. I thought the story was going to be about an old war veteran who got stuck after some japanese bombing but I fell asleep. There was a lawyer who could speak the exact same language as Merde (Merde was his name and he speaks in some odd language).

The story was about an ugly racist. Thats all I got. Thank the big man above for the next short story.

Shaking Tokyo was directed by Leos Carax… or Joon-ho Bong… either one of them… This final short story was the redeemer of the whole movie since Merde was really boring and bad. The story revolves around the life of a Hikikomori, someone who withdraws himself from the entire world except for regular phone calls to order things. Its a sweet love story that I would strongly recommend this story to everyone. I wouldn’t spoil this for anyone so….

There’s a reason why Shaking Tokyo was the last of the 3 stories and its evident from the story that its a DAMN GOOD ONE! Seriously… the way the guy runs is very cute and the girl he falls for is pretty hot and cute. A girl with tattooed buttons? Aside from the love story, it also highlights the current trend of the world right now. Beside the fact that people stay in because of an earthquake, it also shows how people would rather stay in and live out their lives compared to spending their time outside.

All in all, TOKYO! is a good movie. Sleep thru the second story and you’ll be fine.

4 out of 5 Burning Cigarettes

Merde deserved a -50 out of 5 burning cigarettes but the other two stories made up for how much it sucked. Oh, I forgot to mention…. The movie is in Japanese.

 

Election of Barack Obama (Historical Moment)

Election of Barack Obama (Historical Moment)
By Alex Yap

In a room on the 9th floor of China World Hotel, Beijing, flipping between CNN and BBC. That’s where I was when Barack Obama was projected as the next president of the United States by the major US news networks, triggering a wave of global celebration. And for a while the centre of the world shifted to Grant Park, Chicago, where Obama appeared delivered his victory speech to the assembled crowd of thousands and a wider audience of perhaps billions.

A epochal event? Maybe, certainly the nearest to a “where-were-you” moment for the world since 9/11.

In truth, worldwide Obama-mania is as much a repudiation of the colossal incompetence and arrogance of the Bush administration as an endorsement of the man who will be America’s 44th president. People celebrating in Kenya probably knew nothing of his policies on trade or the environment; his fans in Obama, Japan, were drawn by his name more than anything else. For most of his international supporters, his attraction is largely based on the fact that he is black (or rather, not white) and not named Bush. Beneath the megwatt charisma and impressive oratory, Obama remains a junior senator yet to complete his first term in congress, who’s rhetoric and policies suggest nothing other than a centrist of the Democratic party.

Yet in history and politics, as with anything else, the perception is at least as important as the reality. The crux is this: since its founding in 1776, America has risen to the the position as the dominant power in the world with a leadership and ideology of men of European (principally Anglo-Saxon) descent. That dominance is seemingly receding on all fronts, and by 2050 white Americans will no longer be a majority. The election of Obama stands as both a watershed in the American history in itself, but also harbinger of it’s coming “post-white” future.

President Obama will inherit an economy in recession, two protracted wars, parlous government finances, mounting nation debt, growing social divisions and health care and pension systems in dire need of reform. Globally, he must grapple with long-term trends of a decline in American power, a global economic downturn and encroaching environmental and resource pressures. Obama will have his honeymoon period, but the rest of the world has a love-hate affair with America; his personal superstardom notwithstanding, Obama’s image will inevitably come to reflect this.

But for now, Obama is the canvas for the hopes of America and world – new, young, exciting, untainted by past failures – a white knight who’s father happens to be from Kenya. For America, Obama offers a catharsis for the past 8 years of a failed and unpopular presidency and a new chapter in its racial history. For Western liberals, a redress for the injustices of the colonial past. For Africans, pride that one of their own has become the most powerful man in the world. For the Muslim world, the hope of a more enlightened approach to the problems in the Middle East. For people across the world, a example of the power of democratic action to break the boundaries and bring about change.

If the attacks on the Twin Towers were the world’s moment of collective dread, Grant Park was its moment of hope that the lessons of the past 7 years have been learn, and America is ready to turn a page on a troubled chapter in its history.

Current rating: 5 Burning Cigarettes out of 5

Historical rating: ?? Burning Cigarettes out of 5

To quote Zhou Enlai on the French Revolution: “It’s too early to say”. If Obama were a rock star, he would have just released the ultimate debut single – we’ll have to wait and see if the album is any good.

 

Quantum of Solace

Quantum Of Solace
by Cheng Zishuang

For anyone expecting this to be anything like it’s predecessor, Casino Royale, don’t. Casino Royale was a film that explored the character and took time to develop a plot. Quantum of Solace is an action packed popcorn flick with hot chicks and flying bullets, not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s all about expectations.

What the two films have in common is the decision not to include “Q” and his gadgets, Judy Dench remains as Bond’s superior, “M”, there’s a certain realism when it comes to the wardrobe i.e not having Bond on the beach in a suit and Bond is still a cold blooded killer with a taste for the finer things in life.

Do note that this review is coming from someone who’s a big fan of the literary Bond written by Ian Flemming so it might be overly critical.

Daniel Craig as James Bond

First of all, I really do wish that he had dyed his hair as like many at first, I still have an issue with Bond being blonde, I really have no idea as to what is the point of this. Secondly, I can appreciate the fact that Mr. Craig has put in an enormous amount of effort into his physique which is very impressive, BUT, can any of you really imagine a secret agent having the time to spend two hours in the gym five times a week, eating six small meals a day(carefully picked meals to meet nutrition requirements) and drinking protein shakes every min or so just to maintain that physique ? The film makers rebooted this franchise to give it an element of realism and this, I feel is highly in contrast with that. In addition to that, Ian Flemming wrote Bond to be roughly six feet tall and a hundred and sixty pounds, that doesn’t exactly sound like the Bond we see on screen today, so this isn’t exactly the same as Christian Bale bulking up for the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne.

I must admit I’ve only viewed three of his films, being Casino Royale, Layer Cake and Quantum of Solace, and what struck me was that he was exactly the same guy in all three of his films. I mean if there’s any huge Daniel Craig fan out there who’s seen all of his films and theatrical performances, or close to all, I would really be interested to hear what you have to say.

James Bond was written as abit of a chauvinist but revealed his soft spot once in awhile with a special woman, that was believable with Vesper in Casino Royale, but I didn’t quite agree so with Camille in Quantum of Solace, or did the film makers ever intend for that to be so. I must say, Craig plays the part of a man who gets the job done no matter what, extremely well. The part whereby he is supposed to be this suave womaniser ? Not really…. his scenes with the two lead actresses come off as very unnatural and not very charming to say the least. To compare him to Sean Connery would be very unfair of course, but since he took on the role, he would have to expect this coming. Here’s a quick 29s look at the original Bond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNLF0kWBvp0&feature=related

On the whole, I would say Craig was a better Bond then Roger Moore and this does not even warrant a discussion, slightly better than Brosnan due to the fact that he looks and feels much more like an ex-military man turned secret agent but still a good rung or two below Sean Connery. Satisfactory but not particularly brilliant.

Bond Girls

In this installation we have Olga Kurylenko, Ukrainian born actress who plays a Bolivian Spy, Camille, who like Bond, is out for vengeance and Gemma Arterton who plays Agent Strawberry Fields (Beatles tribute?).

Both are extremely gorgeous and sexy, but other than that, they don’t seem to offer anything else, which one might argue that this actually keeps in line with the original Bond films, but I did think that there was supposed to be a development here, like what we saw in Casino Royale, a bond girl who had character (being able to kick-ass does not make a bond girl more “modern”) I was hoping for one that was as witty and charming as Vesper and could challenge Bond at the same time. Although I must say, personally, I do find these two Bond girls more attractive.

Villain

We have Mathieu Amalric who plays Dominic Greene, an environmentalist who’s really an amoral businessman exploiting the poor to his benefit. Sounds like a typical villain in an action film ? It is, the character is has no depth and it’s sole purpose is just to be an evil bastard who Bond gets to stop, naturally. But it’s saving grace is that it’s played by actor who carries off this role so well, that you don’t get bored with it.

Film making

Marc Forster has taken over the realms of the Bond franchise at the recommendation of Daniel Craig. Tom Ford provides most of Bond’s wardrobe at the recommendation of Daniel Craig and Daniel Craig is pulling in twice the amount he commanded in Casino Royale. One has to wonder how much power he wields in the making of this film.

As mentioned earlier, the film makers have chosen to go down the route of a typical pop corn flick, much to the disappointment of many who expected a film more like Casino Royale.

Well, Bond does manage to find a dinner jacket to fit him perfectly in the most improbable way in this film as well, but not in the same style as when Vesper “sized him up”.

Running at 106 minutes, one has to wonder how much can a film develop ?

The film starts off with a car chase scene that wrecks Bond’s Aston Martin DBS into a complete mess followed up by Bond chasing a villain down crowded streets, on roofs and swinging up and down ropes, all with shaky fast camera shots much reminiscent to Nolan’s Batman Begins fight scenes. This goes on for like about 15 minutes of screen time. I can’t say I really enjoyed watching the messiness nor could I really get what they were trying to convey, if they were trying to convey anything.

There’s a boat chase scene in addition to the earlier car chase and somewhere in between that, Bond gets on a motor bike to follow Camille and somewhere towards the end, the film makers have even managed to insert in a plane dogfight ! With old World War 2 style planes nonetheless ! The director claims that this is a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock (I’m thinking North by Northwest). So you really have a good idea which direction the film is going in.

This time round, the film makers have decided to include the gun barrel opening sequence, in a rather 60’s psychedelic style with the silhouette of naked ladies dancing around and Bond in his dinner jacket walking around aiming his gun at god knows what.

I also realised that there wasn’t anything particularly memorable in this film. As in, there wasn’t an iconic scene. The previous installation had Bond putting on the dinner jacket for the first time, the inside joke on “martini shaken not stirred” the “Vesper” drink and the ending scene.

Wardrobe

Now what’s a Bond film without the wardrobe ? This time, Tom Ford has taken over from Brioni and has produced some pretty beautiful outfits for Bond. The British tailoring industry has taken this as a slap in the face as Bond would be wearing American clothing, although I’m not sure why there wasn’t such an outrage as to when Bond wore Italian.

As a fan of the literary Bond, I do wish that Bond wore Savile Row bespoke suits but pragmatically, it just isn’t possible to produce so many bespoke suits on a large scale for modern film stunts and all. Nowadays, they need about 30 of the same suits to go around for the actor and film stuntmen and the doubles as opposed to Connery’s time.

Having said that, Craig’s suits and casual wear were classic and looked good. Although I must say it is interesting to see Bond in jeans.

Film Scoring

Nothing note-worthy here and to quote from the great Noel Gallagher “It’s a p***take that the greatest British agent of all time has to be soundtracked by a bunch of f***ing Americans.” “I’ve written a couple of theme tunes. They haven’t got very Bond-esque titles, so I would have to tailor the title accordingly.” “The latest one that I wrote, I listened back to it thinking, ”F***ing hell, man! That’d make a f***ing great Bond theme’.”

When I heard the Bond theme for this film, I was thinking what Noel’s would be like.

2.9 Burning Cigarettes out of 5

If you’re just looking for an action film to watch, this would prove to be rather decent. But, if you’re looking for something a little more than that, or have been looking forward to this for some time as a fan, you might be sorely disappointed.

 

Chinese Democracy (Single)

Chinese Democracy (Single) 
by Cheng Zishuang

The album that was 17 years in the making is finally going to be released in stores on the 23rd of November 2008.Like many of you, I was pretty much convinced that the chances of the album going to materialise was as much as China becoming a democracy. To quote the band’s managers Irving Azoff and Andy Gould, “The release of ‘Chinese Democracy’ marks a historic moment in rock ’n’ roll,”.

I don’t know what to make of the above statement, given that it’s really just Axl and his hired guns. But anyway, they have released a studio cut (not the studio leaks) of the title track already before album release. The song is also available on Youtube.

Expecting an industrial metal sound over-laid with synthesisers, I was pretty curious but cynical that anything good might come out of this as I was listening to some muffled recordings of people conversing in Mandarin followed up by some palm muted guitar riff, but, much to my surprise, I was greeted with some good ol’ rock n’ roll heavy guitar power chords which was pretty catchy.

Axl’s familiar scream came crashing in and I was half expecting a classic GNR track (not that I’m saying that it wouldn’t be good if it weren’t). The rest of the song leading till the guitar solo was not too bad, as in, I wasn’t bored. Problem is, when I got to the solo, I thought it kinda sounded like what Slash would do, but not do. In other words, Bumblefoot (yes that really is his pseudonym) was trying to imitate Slash but didn’t really do a good job with it.

Vocals were pretty muffled, but I’m guessing that’s just to hide Axl’s now deteriorated voice. Lyrically, I don’t know what to make of it. It doesn’t strike a chord with me at all nor does a particular line stick in my head.

Not to compare …. Okay fine ! I can’t help but doing so, but I definitely think that Axl’s old chums at Velvet Revolver released a much better first single in “Set me Free”. Having said that, I wouldn’t say that Chinese Democracy is absolute rubbish either. Just that, I don’t think that Axl is going to re-capture his former glory anytime soon.

3 burning ciggies out of 5

Reason for this is that I think it’s a very average song that doesn’t stand out in any shape or form other than the fact that it’s by “Guns n’ Roses”. Ironically, this elevates expectations, if Axl released this as a solo, it could get a slightly higher rating, but then again, I doubt so.

 

Batman: Gotham Knight Review

Batman: Gotham Knight
by Ewan

Batman: Gotham Knight comprises of six different stories of The Batman done by over four different japanese animation studios detailing the Man, the Myth and the Legend. All set around the time when Batman was still green in the crime fighting business. It goes from gang wars to some of Gotham’s deadlier villians such as Deadshot, Scarecrow and Crock Ock.

Aside from earlier animations done in America such as Batman the Animated Series and The Batman, this current DVD filled with Batmation is anything short of a visual delight (thats if you do appreciate Anime). The stories are great, the animations are great and the DVD extras are wonderful (I’ll get to the DVD extras a bit later).

Each chapter not only shows how vulnerable he can be but how invincible he can be as a character. How often can you get a chance to see Batman bleed ever so often in one single story. The stories and the angles are dark and interesting. How he learnt to be the man he is born to be or how he became the man he is now.

As for the DVD extras on the 2nd DVD, its quite nice…. to say the least. There was a tribute documentary on Bob Kane as well as a couple of Batman the Animated Series Cartoons. I liked the Bob Kane bit, it truly showed how he was just like Bruce Wayne sans the billions of dollars.

I do have a few problems with the DVD though. I didn’t like how Bruce Wayne was made out to be your typical anime guy. Long Shiny Hair? Glassy Eyes? That Boyish look? (Ref. to ‘Field Test’). How about Kevin Conroy for the voice of Batman? It totally didn’t fit most of the animations.

Aside from those few, I think that the DVD is a MUST BUY… IF you’re a Batman fan. If you do decide to buy the DVD then please switch the Audio to Japanese and turn on the English Subtitles, it’ll do a world of wonder for you. Basically because the Japanese voice casting suited the animation much more than the American ones which would just make you feel slightly out of place.

 

I’d have to give this DVD two ratings:

If you’re a Batman Fan: 4/5 Burning Cigarettes

If you’re NOT a Batman Fan: 3/5 Burning Cigarettes