For Ken Lay, Enron’s Riches Turning to Ruin - New York Times
I’m shocked that Ken Lay hasn’t turned into a pauper yet, after his disgraceful role in the Enron scandal. And its absolutely appalling that Jeffrey Skilling is still in reasonable wealth. That wealth is built upon the misery ordinary folks.
Junebug (2005) 7/10
The film is slow in pacing, but provides a quirky, heartfelt look at at southern, religious family and is an acute treatment of the urban and rural divide.
But all that is secondary to Amy Adams. Amy Adams is absolutely freaking awesome. She won the Special Jury Prize for her unforgettable performance at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and is now nominated for the Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscar’s. I hope she wins because her role as the hypertalkative girl in a woman’s body is incredible. Superlative.
The rest of the film isn’t quite as good as Amy Adams, and the dysfunctional family is not too different from any other dysfunctional family. Still the film deserves recognition simply for Amy Adams.
Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles (2005) 7/10
Even considering the utterly horrid english translation of the mandarin title, this is quite a remarkable film by director Zhang Yimou, who departs from the extravagance of his past few films to return to the basic yet immensely rewarding low-budget effort.
I wasn’t initially impressed by the plot. The first half an hour seemed like a fool’s errand, a stubborn Japanese father going to China to fulfil the wish of a dying son. How cliche can you get? It seemed every bit a sentimental, sugary tale that i was wondering if this was the very same Zhang Yimou that gave us Hero? But Zhang knows how to make a good movie, and wisely chooses Ken Takakura to anchor the film. This veteran Japanese actor is brilliantly stoic, and over time, even the most hardened viewer will begin to like the spirited stubborness of Ken’s character.
By the midway mark, a most miraculous thing has happened: in spite of the cheesiness of the whole setup, i began to enjoy the film. The scene where Ken interacts with the young boy Yang Yang is marks the turning point of the film. And in between, you never fail to be taken in by the breathtaking cinematography of China. By the time the unabashedly sentimental ending comes around, you will be touched, not because it is deliberately manipulative, but because the tale of father-son relationship is told with a heart.
Its not often that a film which starts off on a bad footing and which i didn’t like the beginning manages to enthrall me by the end of the film. But Zhang Yimou, true to his reputation, knows how to make films that speak to the audience. And this is one such film.
Russian Dolls (2005) 4/10
Nice to look at but mostly pointless sequel to 2003’s The Spanish Apartment. The film essentially boils down to a following modern day Cassanova and his various romantic intrigues. The style is overwrought and the direction is like some noobish film school graduate that throws in stylistic tricks for the sake of it. Having said that, i will agree that Kelly Reilly is hot and Audrey Tatou always manages to light up the screen. Beyond that, there really isn’t much to reccommend.
Zathura (2005) 6/10
If you’v watched Jumanji, nothing in the film comes as much of a surprise. Having said that, it has passable SFX and is quite interesting in the middle portion. However the novelty factor soon wears out and the film drags on to the finish line. A watchable but slight film that will nevertheless please the family.
Without doubt, the single most anticipated film of 2006 is Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, which seems to be taking forever to complete. There isn’t even an official poster for it yet. 
Other interesting developments include a new Transformers movie! Tentative release date is 07-04-07, according to its official website. The good news: (1) Its animated by Dreamworks, not Disney. (2) The executive producer is Steven Spielberg.
The bad news: The director is not Steven Spielberg. Instead, they got Michael Bay [The Island, Armageddon] to direct!!! Instantly, my expectations for the film takes a nosedive. I just hope it doesn’t suck. Anyway, here are the other upcoming releases that i hope to catch:
Yes, i know the Spiderman poster looks really cool.
Fateless [Sorstalansag] (2005) 6/10
The gaunt, haunted look of Marcell Nagy will stay with you long after this film is over. The kid is a revelation, as he chillingly potrays the life of one Gyuri Koves, a Hungarian teen who is thrust into the darkness of concentration camps. By the end of it all, Gyuri prevails, but not before a part of him dies in the camp. He is different, changed and alienated from those who do not understand, who do not see what he has seen. They ask of the horrors of Auschwitz, but he would rather remember the few moments of happiness he had.
The film is shot with visual flair, and the colors slowly fade into a monochromatic dullness when Gyuri is at the concentration camp before regaining the color after the prisoners are liberated. The directing and the soundtrack are also fairly good, and boasts of an excellent performance by Marcell Nagy. So why then, am i not enamoured by the film? For all its technical brilliance, the script simply wasn’t engaging. It didn’t have the soul of Schindler’s List, or the heartbreaking performance of Adrian Brody in The Pianist. It didn’t say anything or show anything that previous films have done. While it was a good film, it didn’t transcend the medium and resonate with the audience. And that is its greatest failing. Simply put, it didn’t have a compelling script.
The Family Stone (2005) 7/10
In spite of the cliched, predictable plot, this Christmasy family fare was an enjoyable film. Certainly, one could expect the saccharine happy ending and the predictable love quadrangle even before the halfway mark. The plot is filmsy and inconsequential, but the real delight lies in the solid ensemble case that has excellent chemistry. Sarah Jessica Parker overacts a tad as the overly uptight romantic interest, but still manages to steal the limelight whenever she is onscreen. Clive Owens perfects his swarmy Cassanova persona while Claire Danes is simply luminous. Rachel McAdams seems to revel in her bitchiness and the ever so dependable Diane Keaton is always watchable as the matriach of the house. Because of these enjoyable performances, i’ll even forgive the stock ending and manipulative coincidences.
Lie With Me (2005) 6/10
A provocative and tantalising film, Canadian director Clement Virgo pushes the boundaries and scores solid direction and excellent performances from leads Lauren Lee Smith and Eric Balfour. Lauren Lee Smith in particular is absolutely smouldering and has explosive chemistry with Eric. Unfortunately, the script is unfocused and unnecessary subplots like the one regarding Lauren’s divorcing parents or Eric’s ill father bog down the film. Clement Virgo tries to infuse a moody, dreamy feel to the whole film, but needless detail like the abovementioned parents goes against his intention. You don’t see Wong Kar Wai trying to introduce needless characters to In The Mood For Love, do you? What Clement Virgo is trying to do here is to do a sexually charged version of modern love in the vein of mood driven movies such as ITMFL or Lost In Translation. Unfortunately, he lacks the subtle nuance and streamlined script and the attempt to let the film be driven by mood doesn’t exactly work. Whilst Lie With Me has a great performance by its two leads, it is ultimately let down by a weak and unfocused script.
 | You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis.
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 | You scored as atheism.
You are… an atheist, though you probably already knew this. Also, you probably have several people praying daily for your soul. Instead of simply being “nonreligious,”
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| You scored as English. You should be an English major!
Your passion lies in writing and expressing yourself creatively,
and you hate it when you
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Link here.
I had fleetingly contemplated a degree in English Literature.
FAQ: Intelligent Design, Designer, Irreducible Complexity and Irreducibly Complex
Is there anything Intelligent Design tells us about the Designer?
* Yes, Intelligent Design says there is an Intelligent Design and an Intelligent Designer.
# Isn’t Intelligent Design just Creationism?
* Definitely not. Creationism says that an Intelligent Creator created life. Intelligent Design says that an Intelligent Designer designed life. And just because most of our proponents are creationists, promote creationism, and do not understand any part of the theory of evolution or even Intelligent Design does not mean we are promoting Creationism.
Via TF.
Vote Due on South Dakota Bill Banning Nearly All Abortions - New York Times
It has begun. Not long after Samuel Alito takes over as supreme court justice, conservative anti-abortionist are once more trying to topple Roe v. Wade in their deluded religious fervour. Overuling Roe v. Wade will literally erase decades of progress in human rights and feminism, and is a regression for America socially, culturally and politically.
Let’s hope logic wins over blind rhetoric this time, just as it did in 1992’s Casey v. Planned Parenthood.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) 8/10
“It had taken Enron 16 years to go from about 10 billion in assets to 65 billion in assests; it took them 24 days to go bankrupt”
Yet another fascinating documentary from 2005, Enron is proof that reality can be more compelling than fiction. The tale of corporate hubris brims with greed and arrogance, a searing indictment on the modern day fantasy called Enron. Nowadays synonomous with corruption, greed and failure, its hard to imagine a time not so long ago when Enron was the poster child of corporate America, the company that was feted by no less than Fortune magazine and boasted ties with the Bush family, no less.
But all that came crumbling down in one of the biggest corporate fraud and bankruptcy in American History. While Enron is ostensibly a documentary, it is also a morality tale and a horror story. Watching Enron crash and burn, and the actual footage of Enron CEOs lie through their teeth, encouraging their employees top buy Enron shares while secretly offloading their shares will make any sensible person bristle at such wanton greed.
Competantly edited with a decent soundtrack, the film goes abit overboard in trying to draw connections between Enron and the Bush administration but merely manages allusions without concrete proof. It is at its strongest when it uses actual footage to speak for itself, and no scene is more damning than the words of the CEOs themselves. More importantly, it is presented in such a simple, and easy to understand narrative that even a layman can more or less understand how Enron managed to cook the books and inflate profit.
While other films like Syriana try to draw connections between oil and corruption, with little success, Enron simply tells a devastatingly true story that is unwavering in intensity. The characterisation of the main players of the scandal: Skelling, Lay, Fastow et.al will both disgust and fascinate you. This is the film you absolutely have to see before you make another investment, or invest in a company’s shares.
Watching Enron is like watching a car careen out of control before erupting into a gigantic fireball and taking everyone with them. We derive a certain kind of vicarious pleasure in this modern day horror story of capitalistic meltdown that is far more thrilling that watching the earth freeze over in The Day After Tomorrow. An insightful and compelling tale which is highly reccommended.
:: SingTel :: - Consumer - Testpapers
You know that Singapore is a grades obsessed nation when even freaking Singtel provides online test paper service! Wtf! Since when did Singtel branch out? As if there isn’t enough workload/stress/homework kids face.
The New World (2005) 8/10
Terrence Malik’s long and rambling The New World is at times maddeningly dull and so decidedly pretentious that it frustrates you. The story lacks focus and the pacing could easily have been tightened. And yet, this does not detract from the fact that The New World is a most remarkable film, a near-masterpiece, even. Not surprisingly, at least one review has hailed it “a welcome act of artistic lunacy and a messy masterpiece that deserves a life well beyond the current awards season.”
The New World is the film The Last Samurai would have been if it had a better director, better cinematographer and a good leading actress. Although the plot seems at time to simply meander, this romantic tale about the star-crossed lives of Pochantas and John Smith is relentlessly intruiging. And that is mainly the result of newcomer Q’Orianka Kilcher who performance is simply a tour de force. Hard to believe that this young actress can be so good, but seriously, i’m frankly amazed that she wasn’t nominated for at least a best actress Oscar. If Keisha Castle-Hughes could get a best actress nomination for Whale Rider, why not Kilcher? Especially when this year’s Oscars have some dubious nominations, like Judi Dench and Keira Knightley? In fact, Q’Orianka Kilcher puts in a better performance than current Best actress favourite Reese Witherspoon. Simple thought excercise: Imagine Resse Whiterspoon in Walk The Line, multiply the awesomeness factor by 2 and you roughly get Kilcher’s performance in The New World. It is no understatement to say that this 15 year old single-handedly carries the film on her shoulders, acting alongside veterans Colin Farrell and Christian Bale, no less. She has that right mix of youthful spirit and playfullness in the first half, and that reined in melancholy in the second half.
Visually, The New World scores, and the background cinematography is one of the most vivid and beautiful set in years. It is as if Malick had discovered an untouched Eden to film this film in. And stylistically, although Malick is fond of opaque and existentialist scenes, the film manages to flow in spite of Malick’s excesses. Granted, the film plods at times and the second half is decidedly weaker, but there is a certain brilliance behind The New World that is hard to deny.
Pride And Prejudice (2005) 7/10
Jane Austen’s timeless tale is once more adapted to the big screen. While the best Austen adaptation remains Ang Lee’s 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, Director Joe Wright’s film remains commendable effort. At the very least, its much, much better than Bride and Prejudice, a film that would leave Austen purists foaming in the mouth.
The set design and period costume effectively transports us to the Victorian milieu, and the strong ensemble cast shines, including Keira Knightley, who is good, but not that good as to deserve a Best Actress Nomination. As for the plot, who isn’t familiar with Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? Thus the plot moves in the way i expected it to move.
An enchanting film that shines with solid performances and directing, albeit a tad predictable.
RIAA gets greedy and hypocritical. Not that any of this comes asa surprise.
Simple rule of thumb: If your computer can’t play the latest games that are released, it sucks.
Just a random movie junkie. There is nothing interesting here. Move on. Site Best viewed with Firefox. Nothing works here, no point trying. Some links are broken. Use the calendar to navigate.Comments will be moderated due to spam.
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