Happy Chinese New Year! It’s the year of rat.

Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

May this lunar new year brings to you great health, good luck and abundance of happiness and may you enjoy success in all areas!

It’s time to get back with the family together and celebrate the biggest and most important Chinese festival. Have an awesome reunion dinner by putting aside your mobile phone and have some quality chats with your family members. Greet the elders and everyone else. Wear bright coloured shirt and embark on trips to visit relatives whom we most probably have not seen for a long time.

Spread joy by giving or receiving angpows (you are single, you receive…you are married, you give). Have fun by lighting up firecrackers or fireworks outside, or gather around for a light gambling in the house to check out how good is luck this year. Eat variety of delicious CNY cookies and biscuits and only worry about losing the fats after the festival. Be entertained by watching some light-hearted lunar new year movies.

In general, have fun and enjoy the festival with your loved ones! As per my family’s tradition, we will be usually heading out to oversea for a vacation during every Chinese New Year holiday. I’m now in Egypt for the trip along with my parents and I will be posting the highlights of the trip once I return on 30th January 2020.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

 

SAG Awards 2020 ended with a historic win for ‘Parasite’.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards 2020 had announced its winners on a star-studded ceremony last Sunday. The biggest surprise of the evening was its final prize, the ‘best performance by a cast in a motion picture’ which is won by ‘Parasite’. This is also a news that I very much enjoyed. ‘Parasite’ becomes the first ever foreign language film to win this coveted prize in the history of SAG.

‘Parasite’ isn’t getting any nomination in the individual acting categories and is only nominated for the cast which is the most coveted prize of the night. It managed to win it, defeating presumed frontrunner, ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ and other strong Oscar contenders in the category. Although winner of this prize isn’t quite tally with the Oscar best picture winner as seen in the past decade, but this win for ‘Parasite’ certainly increases its chance at the Academy Awards early next month.

The other 4 acting categories were boring. It is the same set of people winning at every major precursor awards including SAG. So, there isn’t any surprise there and these 4 people (Joaquin Phoenix, Renee Zellweger, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern) can get their Oscar acceptance speech ready by now.

Here below are the full list of winners of the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards in film categories:

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE

Bombshell
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
**Parasite**

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Lupita Nyong’o, Us
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
**Renee Zellweger, Judy**

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Christian Bale, Ford v Ferrari
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Taron Egerton, Rocketman
**Joaquin Phoenix, Joker**

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

**Laura Dern, Marriage Story**
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Nicole Kidman, Bombshell
Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jamie Foxx, Just Mercy
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
**Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood**

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

**Avengers: Endgame**
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

So now basically, the fight for the best picture win at the Academy Awards next month is only between ‘1917’ (won Golden Globes best motion picture drama and Producers Guild Award), ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ (won Golden Globes best motion picture musical or comedy and best motion picture in Critics Choice Awards) and ‘Parasite’ (won best cast at Screen Actors Guild Awards). Sorry for the other 6 nominees. You are left way behind.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ becomes 9th billion dollar 2019 movie and my rank of the Oscars best picture nominees.

‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ becomes the 9th film released in 2019 to gross over US$1 billion in worldwide box office. Well, this is expected. What not so expected is that the movie took quite a long time to reach the goal. It needs almost a month to accomplish that, which is way behind many of its predecessors.

It is a successful movie but when compared to many of its predecessors, it falls behind. Perhaps, people including the many loyal fans it has at its own US market are starting to get tired of more and more sequels not only to this film franchise but also to the others.

As of today, ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ has grossed a total of US$1.001 billion (US$481 million domestic intake and US$519 million international intake). Do you notice the huge amount it made at domestic market and almost similar percentage it gained from the rest of the world. The rest of the world aren’t that hyped or fascinated by Star Wars (including me…I haven’t even watch it yet) and it couldn’t gain any huge interest in China, the world’s current second largest movie market.

It will still do well financially since it managed to join the billion dollar club too. It will end its run somewhere around US$1.2 billion. It is also the 46th film in history to cross the 1-billion dollar mark. 2019 is really a big year for box office. A whopping total of 9 films joining the billion dollar club in 2019 alone. That’s an unprecedented record.

With the nomination list for the upcoming Academy Awards being released recently (can check out my post on that below), I would like to rank the 9 nominees for the best picture based on my personal opinion as what many others have did especially on Youtube. No explanation needed…just my ranking is self-explanatory.

1 –  Parasite

2 – 1917

3 – Joker

4 – Marriage Story

5 – The Irishman

6 – Jojo Rabbit

7 – Ford v Ferrari

8 – Little Women

9 – Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

I haven’t watch ‘Marriage Story’, and ‘The Irishman’. Hence, I just placed them in such order for now based on the overall scores they had from major review sites and their plot summary. The ranking list above will be updated once I have watched all the 9 nominees.

Many have placed ‘Ford v Ferrari’ as their 9th slot but I’m not. I think ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ is super long and boring and deserves the last spot. I think ‘Parasite’ is easily the best film of 2019 but I don’t think the Academy will reward it with best picture win. The movie will obviously win the ‘best international feature’ (previously known as best foreign language film) but unlikely the top honor (best picture) too. I still hope it will. Based on the buzz now, it’s more likely that 1917 will win it.

The Academy should just list 10 nominees every year. 7-9 nominees each year is just not right.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Less than a week to my trip to Egypt…very excited!

The holiday mood in me is getting stronger and stronger! In less than a week, I will be heading to Egypt for a 9 days 7 nights trip with my parents, a place that I have been longing to visit for years already. We have booked the trip almost half a year ago, and it was such a long wait. Finally, the trip will be here very soon!

Tomorrow will be my last day of work before my long holiday for the trip and also for the concurrent Chinese New Year festival. I am taking a 2-week long break and will only be back to work on first week of February. Who doesn’t like a long break. But after this holiday, I won’t have any more annual leave left.

I have also just received my bonus salary for 2019 and the figure is surprisingly good and is way above my expectation! Now, that’s a very much welcoming news! I do like company that do appreciate the hard work that the employees have done throughout the whole year. This bonus is right on time before my long break and the Chinese New Year celebration.

Recently, I did some quick research on Egypt just to familiarize myself with a bit of knowledge on the country before visiting it next week. I am surprised with some of the general findings that I previously did not know;

• Previously I thought that I would only need to fly for about 6 to 7 hours to reach Egypt via Dubai (transfer). However, it actually requires more than 11 hours (7 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai and 4 hours from Dubai to Cairo). That is far. It’s almost the same distance from Kuala Lumpur to Europe. I thought Cairo is very near to Dubai, but is not.
• There is winter in Egypt. It will be only 8 to 20 degree celsius when I’m visiting Cairo next week. That is quite cold (although not to the point that it will snow). I thought that there will be only summer all year round for Egypt since it is on a dessert. I was wrong.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza is very near to the city (it’s only about 9 to 10 miles away). I thought the pyramids would be very far away from the city as seen from many pictures where the pyramids are the only standing structures in the vast surrounding.

I also watched some Egypt travel vlog from Youtube. I take these information not as a spoiler but as a preview of what I will be expecting to see in my trip next week. Now, I’m looking forward to visit some of the wonderful attractions in Egypt next week and take a lot of pictures!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Full list of nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards (aka Oscars 2020).

When I have just done posting the result of the Critics Choice Movie Awards a moment ago (the awards ceremony was held last evening), the full list of nominations for the Academy Awards is announced.

Here below is the full list of nominations alongside my pick of ‘who will win’ and ‘who should win’ for the 92nd Academy Awards (aka Oscars 2020) scheduled to take place on 9th February 2020:

Best Picture:

“Ford v Ferrari”
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“Little Women”
“Marriage Story”
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“Parasite”

Who will win: ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’
Who should win: ‘Parasite’

Lead Actor:

Antonio Banderas “Pain and Glory”
Leonardo DiCaprio “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Adam Driver “Marriage Story”
Joaquin Phoenix “Joker”
Jonathan Pryce “The Two Popes”

Who will win: Joaquin Phoenix
Who should win: Joaquin Phoenix

Lead Actress:

Cynthia Erivo “Harriet”
Scarlett Johansson “Marriage Story”
Saoirse Ronan “Little Women”
Charlize Theron “Bombshell”
Renee Zellweger “Judy”

Who will win: Renee Zellweger
Who should win: Renee Zellweger

Supporting Actor:

Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”
Al Pacino, “The Irishman”
Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Who will win: Brad Pitt
Who should win: Brad Pitt

Supporting Actress:

Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”
Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”
Scarlett Johannson, “Jojo Rabbit”
Florence Pugh, “Little Women”
Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”

Who will win: Laura Dern
Who should win: Laura Dern

Director:

Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”
Todd Phillips, “Joker”
Sam Mendes, “1917”
Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”

Who will win: Sam Mendes, ‘1917’
Who should win: Bong Joon-Ho, ‘Parasite’

Animated Feature:

“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” Dean DeBlois
“I Lost My Body” Jeremy Clapin
“Klaus” Sergio Pablos
“Missing Link” Chris Butler
“Toy Story 4”  Josh Cooley

Who will win: Toy Story 4
Who should win: Toy Story 4

Animated Short:

“Dcera,” Daria Kashcheeva
“Hair Love,” Matthew A. Cherry
“Kitbull,” Rosana Sullivan
“Memorable,” Bruno Collet
“Sister,” Siqi Song

Adapted Screenplay:

“The Irishman,” Steven Zaillian
“Jojo Rabbit,” Taika Waititi
“Joker,” Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
“Little Women,” Greta Gerwig
“The Two Popes,” Anthony McCarten

Who will win: Little Women
Who should win: Jojo Rabbit

Original Screenplay:

“Knives Out,” Rian Johnson
“Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach
“1917,” Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino
“Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho, Jin Won Han’

Who will win: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Who should win: Parasite / Knives Out

Cinematography:

“The Irishman,” Rodrigo Prieto
“Joker,” Lawrence Sher
“The Lighthouse,” Jarin Blaschke
“1917,” Roger Deakins
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Robert Richardson

Who will win: 1917
Who should win: 1917

Best Documentary Feature:

“American Factory,” Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar
“The Cave,” Feras Fayyad
“The Edge of Democracy,” Petra Costa
“For Sama,” Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
“Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

Best Documentary Short Subject:

“In the Absence,” Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone,” Carol Dysinger
“Life Overtakes Me,” Kristine Samuelson and John Haptas
“St. Louis Superman,” Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
“Walk Run Cha-Cha,” Laura Nix

Best Live Action Short Film:

“Brotherhood,” Meryam Joobeur
“Nefta Football Club,” Yves Piat
“The Neighbors’ Window,” Marshall Curry
“Saria,” Bryan Buckley
“A Sister,” Delphine Girard

Best International Feature Film:

“Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa
“Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov
“Les Miserables,” Ladj Ly
“Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar
“Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho

Who will win: Parasite
Who should win: Parasite

Film Editing:

“Ford v Ferrari,” Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland
“The Irishman,” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Jojo Rabbit,” Tom Eagles
“Joker,” Jeff Groth
“Parasite,” Jinmo Yang

Who will win: Ford v Ferrari
Who should win: Ford v Ferrari

Sound Editing:

“Ford v Ferrari,” Don Sylvester
“Joker,” Alan Robert Murray
“1917,” Oliver Tarney, Rachel Tate
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Wylie Stateman
“Star Wars: The Rise of SkyWalker,” Matthew Wood, David Acord

Who will win: Ford v Ferrari
Who should win: Ford v Ferrari / 1917

Sound Mixing:

“Ad Astra”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Joker”
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Who will win: 1917
Who should win: Ford v Ferrari / Ad Astra

Production Design:

“The Irishman,” Bob Shaw and Regina Graves
“Jojo Rabbit,” Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkova
“1917,” Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh
“Parasite,” Lee Ha-Jun and Cho Won Woo, Han Ga Ram, and Cho Hee

Who will win: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Who should win: Parasite / 1917

Original Score:

“Joker,” Hildur Guðnadóttir
“Little Women,” Alexandre Desplat
“Marriage Story,” Randy Newman
“1917,” Thomas Newman
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” John Williams*“The King,” Nicholas Britell

Who will win: Joker
Who should win: Joker

Original Song:

“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” “Toy Story 4”
“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” “Rocketman”
“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough”
“Into the Unknown,” “Frozen 2”
“Stand Up,” “Harriet”

Who will win: I’m Gonna Love Me Again (Rocketman)
Who should win: Into The Unknown (Frozen 2)

Makeup and Hair:

“Bombshell”
“Joker”
“Judy”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”
“1917”

Who will win: Bombshell
Who should win: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Costume Design:

”The Irishman,” Sandy Powell, Christopher Peterson
“Jojo Rabbit,” Mayes C. Rubeo
“Joker,” Mark Bridges
“Little Women,” Jacqueline Durran
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Arianne Phillips

Who will win: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Who should win: Little Women

Visual Effects:

“Avengers Endgame”
“The Irishman”
“1917”
“The Lion King”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

Who will win: The Lion King
Who should win: The Lion King / Avengers: Endgame

I wonder how many I got it correct in my prediction this time. ‘Joker’ leads the list with 11 nominations. Before the movie release, no one would expect ‘Joker’ to do so well in awards season besides than just its leading man, Joaquin Phoenix. The movie is also garnering attention in multiple other categories too. ‘The Irishman’, ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ and ‘1917’ are just slightly behind with 10 nominations each. My beloved film of 2019, ‘Parasite’ is doing quite well too with 6 nominations (more than what I was expecting earlier as it is able to score nomination in production design and film editing on top of picture, director, original screenplay and foreign language film now renamed to international feature film).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

 

Critics’ Choice Movie Awards 2020; Same acting champs from Golden Globes and ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ took home best picture.

We are seeing major televised film awards on every weekend now (except Chinese New Year weekend on 25th and 26th), leading to the Academy Awards (aka Oscars) on 9th February 2020. For the last weekend, the Critics’ Choice Awards 2020 was held and here below is the full list of winners in film categories:

Best picture – “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Leading Actor – Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”

Leading Actress – Renée Zellweger, “Judy”

Supporting actor – Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Supporting actress – Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”

Young actor/actress – Roman Griffin Davis, “Jojo Rabbit”

Acting ensemble – “The Irishman”

Director (tie) – Bong Joon-ho, “Parasite”, Sam Mendes, “1917”

Comedy – “Dolemite Is My Name”

Original screenplay – Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Adapted screenplay – Greta Gerwig, “Little Women”

Cinematography – Roger Deakins, “1917”

Production design – Barbara Ling, Nancy Haigh, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Editing – Lee Smith, “1917”

Costume design – Ruth E. Carter, “Dolemite Is My Name”

Hair and makeup – “Bombshell”

Visual effects – “Avengers: Endgame”

Animated feature – “Toy Story 4”

Action movie – “Avengers: Endgame”

Sci-fi or horror movie – “Us”

Foreign-language film – “Parasite”

Song (tie) – “Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” (from “Wild Rose”), “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” (“Rocketman”)

Score – Hildur Guðnadóttir, “Joker”

It is a joke seeing ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ winning best picture at the Critics’ Choice. It doesn’t even has the highest critics score from Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritics when compared to the other nominated films. I find the movie too long and boring and don’t see how critics view it as the best film of 2019. That’s crazy. Best picture should goes to ‘Parasite’.

As for the acting champs, they are basically the same group of people winning at the Golden Globes the weekend prior. So, it is now obvious that these 4 people will go on to win the same at the coming SAG, BAFTA and OSCARS. There wouldn’t be any surprise anymore since they are the frontrunners who are way ahead of the others.

This Critics’ Choice also dropped out major hints that ‘Joker’ is going to win also for score, director will be fight between Sam Mendes and Bong Joon-ho (sorry for the others), and Roger Deakins is going to win cinematography again for his work in ‘1917’. ‘Parasite’ is a lock for foreign language film win while it is also now among the frontrunners for best picture (together with ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, ‘1917’ and ‘The Irishman’). However, it looks like Hollywood is still not ready to have a foreign film winning their coveted best picture prize although it is highly deserving.

Next awards will be the Screen Actors Guild Awards 2020 to be held in the coming weekend.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Kenneth Ma and Kara Wai becomes TV King and Queen at TVB Anniversary Awards 2019, while ‘Big White Duel’ took home best drama.

After postponement for a month, the TVB Anniversary Awards 2019 is finally here to honour the best of Hong Kong’s TVB series in 2019. The star-studded event hosted by Carol Cheng, Karl Ting and Mak Mei-yan saw presentation of various awards in nearly 3 hours.

Here are the full list of winners for TVB Anniversary Awards 2019 (except non-drama categories) along with my opinions:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Lau Dan

Opinion: Happy for him in winning this award. This is also his big birthday gift as he will be turning 76 tomorrow. With career spanning over 50 years and involvement in over 50 series, Lau Dan certainly deserves this recognition.

Most Improved Male Artiste: Owen Cheung

Opinion: Didn’t see any of his performance last year. He won mainly because the competition for this category is very weak this time. I do like his role in ‘Legal Mavericks’ few years ago.

Most Improved Female Artiste: Kelly Cheung

Opinion: Saw her in ‘Big White Duel’, ‘Barrack O’Karma’ and ‘The Man Who Kills Troubles’ last year. Wow..she really has a lot of projects recently. Not a surprise that she is winning this. Her acting feels natural and she is really beautiful-looking.

Best Supporting Actress: Candice Chiu (Barrack O’Karma)

Opinion: Happy for her. I like her performance in ‘Barrack O’Karma’ but didn’t expect this kind of role (as a psychopathic mum) to win but she did. It’s her first nomination and she got it. Even she herself is very surprised.

Best Supporting Actor: Kalok Chow (Come Home Love: Lo And Behold)

Opinion: Didn’t saw his performance in long-running ‘Come Home Love’ series. It’s his first nomination and he won it (similar case for Candice). Very surprised with TVB preferring to award more lesser known artistes this time. 

Most Popular On-Screen Partnership: Joel Chan & Selena Lee (Barrack O’Karma)

Opinion: Excited for this pair to win. Joel & Selena’s chemistry is very impressive in ‘Barrack O’Karma’. Their love story in the drama is captivating and this first-time on-screen pairing created wonderful spark. 

Best Drama Theme Song: ‘Let Love Fly High’ by Pakho Chau (Wonder Women)

Opinion: I felt the song is just fine in my first time hearing it. However, after listening to it few more times, I enjoy it more and more It’s a nice song and fits very well to the ‘Wonder Woman’ series too. I particularly like the kids who present the award in the ceremony. They are so cute.

Most Popular TV Male Character: Pakho Chau (Wonder Women)

Opinion: I do like his character in ‘Wonder Woman’. A young, handsome, caring and kind character. Who will not like it? But I didn’t expect him to win honestly. 

Best Leading Actor: Kenneth Ma (Big White Duel)

Opinion: Wow! wow! Finally! After nominated for 12 times in the past, finally it’s time for Kenneth to win best actor. Although he is seriously overdue for this award, but I think his performance in ‘Big White Duel’ is average only because there’s nothing much to shine in his role in that drama. Anyway, very happy for him. He always missed out on this award every single year by a small margin and now he got it!

Most Popular TV Female Character: Selena Lee (Barrack O’Karma) & Miriam Yeung (Wonder Women)

Opinion: I’m shocked with this double win (never before in TVB). This is so obvious to please Miriam who attended the later part of the ceremony as a consolation prize. She is good in ‘Wonder Women’ but not worthy of an award because the role is tailor made for her hence she does not need to put much effort in it to be honest. On the other hand, I’m glad that Selena finally win her first ever individual award at TVB Anniversary Awards. However, I much prefer her to win best actress because she is really phenomenal in ‘Barrack O’Karma’. 

Best Leading Actress: Kara Wai (The Defected)

Opinion: Kara Wai is three time best actress winner at Hong Kong Film Awards. A very notable film actress who didn’t win anything yet at TVB which is quite absurd. So, I already knew she is going to win this and as expected, she does. She is good in ‘The Defected’ but I felt Selena is a better choice. I actually find Kara’s expression is a bit rigid in ‘The Defected’, but well, she has to win this.

Best Drama: Big White Duel

Opinion: The last major award and the most disappointing one. I find ‘Big White Duel’ boring actually. I don’t like this drama and yet it won best drama. The drama lacks suspense and thrill, and its content is quite dull and empty. ‘Barrack O’Karma’ should have win this by a mile. 

‘Barrack O’Karma’ and ‘Wonder Women’ are the biggest winners of the evening with 3 wins each. ‘Big White Duel’ took 2 wins including ‘Best Drama’.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

CNY shopping and watched my first 2020 movie in JB.

Just when the Christmas and New Year celebrations had just ended a moment ago, Chinese New Year festival is already around the corner. CNY is now just two weeks away and it’s time to do some CNY shopping!

It will not be value for money if I do my CNY shopping over here in Singapore since everything here costs more and also due to the higher currency value. Hence, me and my friend decided to head over to Johor Bahru (JB) for the shopping instead. This times, rather than going to the usual JB City Square Mall right besides the checkpoint, we decided to visit the JB MidValley Southkey for the first time.

It is a huge mall with beautiful interior spaces and contains huge variety of stores and restaurants. I would prefer to visit this mall next time I’m coming to JB although it is a distance away from the Causeway checkpoint. I treat myself 4 new shirts and a watch that I immediately fall in love in my first sight. And there goes over RM800 off my wallet (the ‘Solvil et Titus’ brand watch itself already costs near to RM550). I do like watches and with this purchase, I now have 3 watches. One for working days, one for weekend and one for spare. Haha…No more new watches from now on.

Besides than shopping, we also went for movie. For movie, we head back to JB City Square Mall to watch ‘Underwater’ due to the movie timing. This movie is my first movie released this year that I have watched. The film follows a group of scientists at the bottom of the ocean who encounter a group of creatures after an earthquake destroys their laboratory. It starred Kirsten Stewart, Vincent Cassel, T.J. Miller, etc.

I would expect this kind of film to have a pretty draggy and boring beginning for a time to introduce and get us to know the characters. However, I was wrong but it was a good move to get the action right from the beginning. Few minutes after the first scene of the movie in a bathroom, things started to get intense already. And from there on, I was kept to the edge of my seat till the end with suspenseful story development, multiple claustrophobic scenes and several jump scares as expected in this type of movie.

We certainly do not need lengthy characters’ development for this movie genre so that we can get immersed into the action straight away and this movie just did that right. However, I still find that the movie still follows too much on a standard formula (for this type of creature film) without anything fresh or new put to the table. It reminds me of another similar film few years ago called ‘Life’ (movie about alien hunting people on a spaceship…do not mistaken this with ‘Aliens’ films). ‘Underwater’ is an engaging science-fiction horror film although its story still felt slightly lazy with similar formulaic content. It could have been better if they explain more on the creatures too. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Underwater’ a total of 7.3.

(Last two images in this post are from various online sources)

Golden Globes 2020: ‘1917’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ win big.

The first major televised Hollywood film awards ceremony of the year, the 77th Golden Globe Awards took place yesterday with Ricky Gervais hosting it again (it’s his fifth and final time). I watched some of his jokes at the ceremony today and I really think it should be his last time hosting (most of his jokes fall flat and not humorous) too. Someone please get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler back.

Here’s below the list of winners for all the film categories (I only pay attention to film categories and I don’t watch US television series):

Best Motion Picture — Drama

• 1917
• The Irishman
• Joker
• Marriage Story
• The Two Popes

Comment: So far I have only watched ‘Joker’. I would love to watch ‘1917’ especially after this win. A war film shown in one continuous shot…that is already brilliant. 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama

• Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
• Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
• Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
• Charlize Theron, Bombshell
• Renée Zellweger, Judy

Comment: Well deserved win for Renee Zellweger. She is fantastic in ‘Judy’. The captivating final scene of the movie helped a lot.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama

• Christian Bale, Ford v Ferrari
• Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
• Adam Driver, Marriage Story
• Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
• Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Comment: Glad for Joaquin Phoenix. He is phenomenal in ‘Joker’. His laugh, gesture, posture, speech and expression in the movie are top notch acting.

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

• Dolemite Is My Name
• Jojo Rabbit
• Knives Out
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Rocketman

Comment: I don’t enjoy ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’. I find it boring. Would prefer ‘Jojo Rabbit’, ‘Knives Out’ or even ‘Rocketman’ to win.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

• Ana de Armas, Knives Out
• Awkwafina, The Farewell
• Cate Blanchett, Where’d You Go, Bernadette
• Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart
• Emma Thompson, Late Night

Comment: Happy for Awkwafina. She is the first Asian actress to receive lead actress award at Golden Globes. History made! Luck is on her side too as this category is particularly weak this year.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

• Daniel Craig, Knives Out
• Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit
• Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Taron Egerton, Rocketman
• Eddie Murphy, Dolemite Is My Name

Comment: Deserving win for Taron Egerton too although many would prefer Eddie Murphy or Leonardo DiCaprio to win. Taron Egerton portrayed Elton John quite convincingly to my surprise.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

• Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
• Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
• Al Pacino, The Irishman
• Joe Pesci, The Irishman
• Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Comment: Votes split between two actors in ‘The irishman’. ‘The Two Popes’ didn’t get enough publicity. Tom Hanks is solid as usual, but too usual. So, that’s it; Brad Pitt, you get your trophy. 

Best Original Score — Motion Picture

• Little Women – Alexandre Desplat
• Joker – Hildur Guðnadóttir
• Marriage Story – Randy Newman
• 1917 – Thomas Newman
• Motherless Brooklyn – Daniel Pemberton

Comment: Beautiful score in ‘Joker’ and I can’t compare too since I have not watch the other nominated films.

Best Director — Motion Picture

• Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
• Sam Mendes, 1917
• Todd Phillips, Joker
• Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
• Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Comment: Sam Mendes winning this is quite a surprise as there are at least two presumed frontrunners in this category; Bong Joon-ho and Martin Scorsese. Anyway, good for Sam Mendes. This raises his chance to win best director and best picture at the Oscars next month.

Best Original Song — Motion Picture

• “Beautiful Ghosts,” Cats – Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Taylor Swift
• “I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” Rocketman – Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
• “Into the Unknown,” Frozen II – Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez
• “Spirit,” The Lion King – Music and Lyrics by Timothy McKenzie, Ilya Salmanzadeh & Beyoncé
• “Stand Up,” Harriet – Music and Lyrics by Joshuah Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo

Comment: In a moment I thought ‘Into The Unknown’ would win. I’m alright with a song from ‘Rocketman’ winning. Why is ‘Speechless’ from ‘Aladdin’ not even getting a nomination here?

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

• Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
• Annette Bening, The Report
• Laura Dern, Marriage Story
• Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
• Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Comment: Happy for Laura Dern. She is a great actress who is underrated. Make the way for her to win the Oscars next month!

Best Motion Picture — Animated

• Frozen II
• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
• The Lion King
• Missing Link
• Toy Story 4

Comment: Oh..wow! This is surprising! Before this announcement, I would have placed ‘Missing Link’ at 4th or 5th place. And now, it came out on top defeating heavy favourites like ‘Frozen 2’ and ‘Toy Story 4’. Maybe HFPA is really tired of sequels.

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture

• Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach
• Parasite – Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won
• The Two Popes – Anthony McCarten
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
• The Irishman – Steven Zaillian

Comment: ‘Parasite’ should win this. What’s the love with ‘Hollywood’? I can’t understand.

Best Motion Picture — Foreign Language

• The Farewell
• Les Misérables
• Pain and Glory
• Parasite
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Comment: A 100% sure win for ‘Parasite’ here. Just a single win here for this film seems unjustified too. This film deserves more recognition and hope it did well in the Oscars next month.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Awesome new year 2020 countdown at Marina Bay!

Happy New Year again! I woke up quite late today as I just returned home at 2am last night after attending the massive new year 2020 countdown event at Marina Bay, Singapore. It was a very fun and memorable experience as it was also my first time seeing Singapore’s new year fireworks.

Me and my friend reached around the Marina Bay at about 6.30pm and the place was already very crowded. Many people have already booked their spot along the waterfront for the best view of the fireworks in the evening. We considered ourselves being there slightly late already. Anyway, we still managed to get a good spot along the Jubilee Bridge and we only takeaway our dinner to catch that spot early.

Even the view of the surrounding before the countdown event starts was already amazing with the sight of the glittering skyscrapers at the CBD, Merlion and Fullerton Hotel, Marina Bay Sands and Helix Bridge, Singapore Flyer and Esplanade. By 9pm, the whole Jubilee Bridge is packed and was already barricaded to prevent overcrowding (I can’t even get out to to go to the washroom). Felt like we were all animals locked in a cage waiting for release…haha.

First set of fireworks goes off at 9.30pm. Then, there are a number of live performances, light projections and circus act around the waterfront to start off the countdown event. Fireworks display officially went off from 10.30pm onwards…all the way to 12am for the finale. This is the longest ever fireworks display I have ever seen (1 hour and 30 minutes!). At first, I thought that fireworks will only begin at 12am for typical countdown event. Conclusion; Singapore is rich!

We were actually more fascinated by the flying drones show than the fireworks display itself during the event. I was captivated by the different animated patterns that the 500 drones manage to create on the sky. The sight was simply wonderful and breathtaking!

Finally it’s 12am after we were there waiting for over 5 hours. The moment that we have anticipated for long. The surrounding exploded into massive noise and cheers when clock strikes 12am and it’s now officially year 2020. The fireworks ended few minutes later with an epic finale that got us jaw-dropped.

Then, seeing the massive amount of people leaving the area after it all finished also made me jaw-dropped again. The crowd is insanely huge. Fortunately, the MRT will be extended to 2am for the night. We waited a while for the crowd to disperse before we leave. That’s the reason why I only managed to reach home at 2am.

It was really a fun, spectacular and memorable way to end 2019 and start off 2020 with a bang!