Wednesday, January 11, 2012

next riviu

gonna write on Sucker Punch next.

ha.. do you guys have any movie in particular that you want for a review?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Ombak Rindu

...or loosely translated as "Waves of Longing".


the Trailer:


the OST:


oh well, i've watched this movie last night and got mixed feelings regarding this novel adaptation.

The Plot:
Izzah (Maya Karin), an orphan girl was sold to a night club by her cruel uncle. there, she was raped by Hariss (Aaron Aziz), a young businessman who happened to be the club owner's friend and benefactor. due to Izzah's plea for help, Hariss bought her from the Club to be his mistress and brought her back to his Ombak Villa. being a pious girl, Izzah pleaded for Hariss to marry her instead and she agreed to claim nothing whatsoever from him. reluctantly, Hariss did as she asked and they were married secretly.

at first Hariss was a cruel, egoist and abusive husband. nonetheless, the meek submission of Izzah made him fall in love with her. so when Mila, his childhood friend went back from abroad to finally have the wedding of her dreams, Hariss refused. he admitted to Mila that he was in love with someone else and won't be able to love Mila even if they proceed with the Wedding. Mila insisted that they proceed with the wedding as she's in love with him and had set on marrying him since forever. being a celebrity herself, the media would be frenzied if her much publicised wedding-to-be is cancelled.

Hariss' overbearing mother, Datuk Sufiah even intervened and forced Hariss to go on with the Wedding that she could tolerate the idea of Hariss keeping Izzah as his mistress, working at Hariss' office.

Izzah was at first saddened that Hariss is marrying Mila but she consoled herself by going back to her hometown and met Mail (Bront Palarae), her friend and ardent admirer. her uncle is gone, her aunt died after the operation to remove her cancer.

Harizz was unable to return back to visit Izzah after his second marriage. however a chance meeting with Izzah at Pak Dollah's house, his driver, reunited the lovers again and the secret of their marriage was made known to Pak Dollah (Zaidi Omar) and Mak Jah (Normah Damanhuri). from thereon, Mak Jah embraced Izzah as family, pitying her condition as the secret first wife.

however, all hell's break lose when Hariss was involved in an accident. izzah was prohibited from having any contact with her husband by Datuk Sufiah. Hariss was kept isolated at his home and barred from having any contact with Izzah. to make things worse, Datuk Sufiah turned Izzah out of Ombak Villa with nothing on her back except her clothes. broken-hearted and at loss as Pak Dollah and Mak Jah were away performing Hajj, Izzah returned to her hometown.

there she met Mail and together they returned to KL and stayed at Pak Dollah's home as Mail is going for an interview at KL. being followed by a private investigator hired by Datuk Sufiah, Izzah and Mail were photographed together in a compromising position though they were innocent. the picture was showed to the convalescing Hariss by his mother.

Hariss went berserk due to Izzah's betrayal and when they met at Pak Dollah's house, Hariss vented his anger on Izzah in front of Pak Dollah, Mak Jah and Mail. he left and Izzah fell as she tried to pursue him, bleeding. fortunately the baby she's carrying survived. she however resolved on returning back to her hometown.

Pak Dollah, sympathetic to Izzah's fate, went to see Hariss to square things off. in front of Mila and Datuk Sufiah, it was revealed that Hariss was actually Pak Dollah's son with Mak Jah. he was given as a baby to Datuk Sufiah when the 3rd baby she bornt was also a stillborn. Her husband had pleaded with Pak Dollah for Hariss in order to avoid Datuk Sufiah from being demented with the loss.

Hariss repented and he went to seek Izzah at her hometown. they reconciled and Mila, upon knowing the real story, that Izzah was the first wife and she the second fiddle, decided that she will ask for divorce from Hariss, regardless of her deep feelings for him.


the Riviu:
i felt stunted upon absorbing the story as i had read the original book at first. i used to love the novel, some 11-ish years ago. hariz was the ultimate male, when he repented. but as i read the book again, in year 2012, truly, the story both in the book and film doesn't quite gel off nicely.

Izzah was depicted as weak, submissive and meek both in the movie and book. and Hariss in the movie, the transition into a loving husband was given not enough details. as if the viewers were given the fact that after a while he loves Izzah, and just meekly we have to accept that fact.

Izzah and Hariss were not given enough character development in the movie, unlike Izzah and Hariz in the book. that is why i think i can accept the way Izzah clinged to Hariz in the first place, and Hariz to fall in love with Izzah after years being together. Izzah and Hariss on the the other hand, were only given few bits of this and that, namely months to admit their love, in front of the rocks and the waves no less.

as for Mila, her character in the movie was much much better compared to in the book. we were made to understand that she really loved Hariss and the decision at the end to terminate the marriage was not easy. for that, we rooted for Mila. except for her ugly make up at the airport, hu hu.

all in all, i felt that the book is much better that the movie. the bits left out in the movie made it hollow and pretentious. however the redeeming qualities of the movie is in the form of the character development of Mail and Mila who were the favourite characters in the movie.

plus, the movie has too much discontinuity as proved by the Bloopers here. memang perasan pun sikit sebanyak but this site spot more. i wonder how Izzah could afford to buy the watch that she gave to Hariss on their wedding day.

oh well, the movie is cheesy and i could only award 2 and 1/2 stars.. sorry eh. Hariss is too much worldly with no scrap of religious inclination. the book too only contributed the last chapter to depict that Hariz was thankful to God for having Izzah in his life. kiranya sempat bertaubat jugak lah.

anyhow Aaron Aziz seems to be a perfect choice for Hariss whilst Maya Karin seems stunted. it's better if the part went to Eja, even though she does look old a bit, her emotional range can be seen to be more than a tea spoon, so to speak. but then Izzah's character is only of a meek, submissive female (slave), so better to have a more presentable face la kot.

the Photos:
Mail is soooo super sweet :D style tudung Izzah plak super duper horrendous!

Izzah and Hariss looked on as Mila left them. ewwah.. xde ucapan terima kasih ke Izzah? Hariss? lepas macam tu je... kesian sama Mila eh.

the numerous funny skits made from the OR scenes, hahah..

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Telemovie: Mimpi Biar Sampai Ke Bintang


for a change, i'd like to write on a Malay Telemovie that is currently my favourite: Mimpi biar Sampai ke Bintang or loosely translated, Dream up to the Stars. in layman's expression, if you dream, dream high up to the Stars. even if you cannot reach the star, at least your dream might touch the sky.

the Trailer:


the Movie:


the Plot:
a simple love story between a guy of millionaire background and a girl from working class. their love story blossoms even though they pretended to be the opposite of their real life standing. Alya (Elfira Loy) was a good daughter who helps her single mom at the market, selling chicken. Her life however was always plagued by her exasperating younger brother (Ezzrin Loy).

Andy (Randy Pangalila) on the other end was an Indonesian guy coming from a rich family and thoroughly disgusted with the fake people who flocked around him for selfish reasons. his life at home is no sweet-smelling affair either as he always locked horns with his stepmom (Hanez Suraya) who often sugar coats her claws into Andy's back whenever possible. She in fact persuades Andy's father to sack Mak Yam (Didie Alias) as the home help just because the latter found out about her infidelities.

Alya, due to the machinations of her bubbly, kind-hearted rich friend, Kinah (Sharifah Sakinah), was falsely promoted in FB as a rich person in order to snag a wealthy suitor. meanwhile Andy on Mak Yam's advice passed himself off as a guy who worked for his mother.

Andy and Alya connected through FB and went out on dates. Andy was attracted to the fact that Alya is by no means snotty and really down to earth. As for Alya, she is smitten by Andy's devotion to Mak Yam whom he passed off as his impoverished mother.

they fell in love and later, Andy came clean. Alya was ok about the deception as she also found out the truth about him earlier. however, when her side of truth became public, Andy went berserk and humiliated her.

in the end, due to Kinah's meddling, Andy realised his fault and went to seek Alya's forgiveness.


the Riviu:
i love this movie as it is quirky and wholesome. the girl was attractive and really down to earth. even though her mom always put her little brother first, and not even considering to let her continue with her studies after SPM, still she obeyed.

as for Andy, he is the eye candy, i suppose.

the crowd pleasers of this telemovie however are Kinah (Sharifah Sakinah) and Mak Yam. seriously, they are really funny, dow! kinah does exhibit loyalty, level headedness and kindness, regardless her sukatimakbapak dia version of English. as for Mak Yam, yup, she's funny in the deadpan way, especially the scene when Kinah and Alya visited her house on the first date with Andy.

all in all, this telemovie is my favourite local production of the year!

Monday, January 2, 2012

A Christmas Kiss

the Poster:

the Trailer:


The Plot:
Wendy (Laura Breckenridge), a downtrodden aspiring interior designer working for a bitchy boss, Priscilla Hall (Elisabeth Röhm) was caught in an elevator shutdown with a handsome stranger. a few bumps down the storeys, they shared a kiss and sparks flew off. once the elevator opened, Wendy just fled. she somehow related the incident to her roomamtes, Caroline (Laura Spencer), an aspiring actress working part time at the Cafe and Tressa (Jerrika Hinton), a wardrobe manager at the Boston Theatre. Wendy lamented that she won't be able to find the stranger again. however if fate wanted them to be together, they'll bound to find each other again.

and yes, they met again. Adam (Brendan Fehr) was Priscilla's oft-travelling boyfriend who is back in town to spend the holidays as well as watch the opening night of The NutCracker showing at the Theatre that his family is sponsoring. but unfortunately Adam didn't recognise Wendy as she was all decked up on the first night they met. dejected, Wendy just accepted the fact that he's off the list. besides, Priscilla keeps trumpeting that Adam is going to propose to her on the night of the Nutcracker opening at the party he's having at his apartment. the party that Priscilla supposed to design the decor but ending up taking the credit for Wendy's works.

wendy kept allowing Priscilla to browbeat her, despite the advise from her friends. but in the mean time, due to some mishap suffered by Priscilla, Wendy got to spend some time with Adam whilst decorating his home for the party. and Adam kept having doubts about Priscilla as they don't share the spark he shared with the girl in the elevator. nonetheless, Priscilla got back before the party and spotted that Wendy had been sharing some time with Adam. wendy was fired, and Priscilla bulldozed Adam into agreeing on their sham of an engagement.

on the night of the party, Adam realised that it was Wendy who is the right person for him. in the final showdown between him, priscilla and Wendy, Wendy stood up to Priscilla and confessed to everything, that it was Wendy who designed everything that struck a chord in Adam's heart, and that she's in love with him. but as he was blind to all that matters, Adam deserved Priscilla.

as Wendy left, Adam called it quits with priscilla, took the ring back, and pursued Wendy in the elevator. as it is, they made up.


the Riviu:
the story is a typical rom-com comedy. what really stood up to me is the friendship that Wendy had with her roommates. they are cool! as for Adam, his acting is quite stunted. hmmm.. i was a big fan of him during Roswell times. Wendy was nice. she played her part well. as for Priscilla, she's really bit*hy, we're happy to hate her.

apa-apa pun, layan je la :D