A Movie a Week makes my Wallet Weak
26th June 2005, Sunday
The highlight of today is Benny & June's wedding ceremony at Rasa Sentosa in the evening, more on the report tomorrow...
Went for yet another movie session last evening, which is an impromptu decision as we realised at La Tendo that yesterday was Chan's birthday as verified by Ferris and Ziwei which leads to a pretty heated discussion of going for a karaoke celebration after the movie "Initial D"; thus both me and Tay chan who first rejected the idea of watching the Hong Kong production, later was roped in, much thanks to the treat by Chan himself...
The generous birthday boy himself said to me on MSN the statement featured on the title of this post which is all so true...
I was never a movie buff in the first place, and the ticket price hike to as dear as $9.50 on weekends almost certainly killed the thought of the nation's favorite past time...
However with the influence of the clique and company, as well as the allure of some good movies, a little indulgence starting to propogate into a weekly affair...
Firstly "Batman Begins" last week, "Initial D" this week, follows by the Japanese romance box office hit, "いま、会いにゆきます" sometime in the coming week, then the highly anticipated Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise s' baby, "War of the Worlds" probably next weekend, it is starting to take a toll on my wallet, as I have to dig deep to see how long can I sustain such indulgence...
Anyway the manga/ anime based movie about a wonderkid car racer which original anime series took Asia by storm years back is not too bad a show despite me and Tay chan had to endure the entire ride only 3 rows away from the screen, which did incur some car sickness in me after all the high tempo acceleration...
3 points I really like the show:
1. The entire show was taken off the backdrop of the real Akina Yama (Mountain) in Gunma Prefecture, which really capture the essence of the dangerous race track used by the racers... Of course the frequent site of Lawson was a joy to a "Nihon-buff" like myself...
2. The cars used are really slick starting of the lead, Fujihara Takumi's tofu (beancurd) delivery car, Toyota Trueno GT-Apex (AE86) which is a high performance work-horse which exceeds many racers' expectations.. Then come the other race vehicles like Takeshi's Nissan Skyline GT-R, Ryousuke's Mazda RX-7 III (FC35) and finally Kyouichi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III (CE9A) which sure makes local ah beng racers yearning to own one at the end of the show...
3. The splendid & innovative cinematography for the entire race seqeunces... make sure we get the low down of the intensity of the racing inside and outside the cars, and ensure we are not just watching another usual round of F-1 Grand Prix.. One of my fave part is the part when Talumi's AE86's engine was taken to the limit and it totally fails on a fustrated Takumi who was taunted by the professional Emperor racers led by Kyouichi
As for the actors themselves..
My fave are the comedians which kept the audience laughing in the midst of endless car racings...
Chapman Toh as Takumi's best friend, Itsuki was your usual spoile brat yet someone yearning to carve a name for himself.. His antics really was unconventional and humourous.. Kenny Bee who acted as his father and the owner of a petroluem kiosk was a very stale character unlike Takumi;s father, Bunta acted by the omnipresent Anthony Wong who is an ex-racing legend on Mt. Akina and became a self-destructive alcholic when his wife ran away from him...
He played the role of a mentor to Takumi very well...
The only flower in the bush, Suzuki Anne (as in An-ne) whom I last saw in "The Returner" as Natsuki was a social escort forced by circumstances and did well as a typical Japanese jyou-sei (lady) in which common, weak-minded guy (including myself) woh crumble and go ga-ga over...
However I felt there are better choices out there for sure...
Finally the eye-candy racers... My fave is the cool Ryousuke acted by Edison Chan... Takeshi who was badly beaten by everyone else is protrayed by Shawn Yue who looks lecherous with the moustache and that awful, over-sized black sports suit...
Jordan Chan appeared in the latter half of the show as the professional racer, Kyouichi had a fashion disaster himself in 80s rock punk (think Billy Idol) with metal studs on his leather jacket..I really doubt it would be comfortable when racing under the heat...no wonder he lost almost immediately...
Last but not least, the Taiwan prince of Hip Hop, Jay Chou on his theatrical debut as Takumi...just 3 simple words to describe his performace..":He can't act".
I rest my case....
The highlight of today is Benny & June's wedding ceremony at Rasa Sentosa in the evening, more on the report tomorrow...
Went for yet another movie session last evening, which is an impromptu decision as we realised at La Tendo that yesterday was Chan's birthday as verified by Ferris and Ziwei which leads to a pretty heated discussion of going for a karaoke celebration after the movie "Initial D"; thus both me and Tay chan who first rejected the idea of watching the Hong Kong production, later was roped in, much thanks to the treat by Chan himself...
The generous birthday boy himself said to me on MSN the statement featured on the title of this post which is all so true...
I was never a movie buff in the first place, and the ticket price hike to as dear as $9.50 on weekends almost certainly killed the thought of the nation's favorite past time...
However with the influence of the clique and company, as well as the allure of some good movies, a little indulgence starting to propogate into a weekly affair...
Firstly "Batman Begins" last week, "Initial D" this week, follows by the Japanese romance box office hit, "いま、会いにゆきます" sometime in the coming week, then the highly anticipated Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise s' baby, "War of the Worlds" probably next weekend, it is starting to take a toll on my wallet, as I have to dig deep to see how long can I sustain such indulgence...
Anyway the manga/ anime based movie about a wonderkid car racer which original anime series took Asia by storm years back is not too bad a show despite me and Tay chan had to endure the entire ride only 3 rows away from the screen, which did incur some car sickness in me after all the high tempo acceleration...
3 points I really like the show:
1. The entire show was taken off the backdrop of the real Akina Yama (Mountain) in Gunma Prefecture, which really capture the essence of the dangerous race track used by the racers... Of course the frequent site of Lawson was a joy to a "Nihon-buff" like myself...
2. The cars used are really slick starting of the lead, Fujihara Takumi's tofu (beancurd) delivery car, Toyota Trueno GT-Apex (AE86) which is a high performance work-horse which exceeds many racers' expectations.. Then come the other race vehicles like Takeshi's Nissan Skyline GT-R, Ryousuke's Mazda RX-7 III (FC35) and finally Kyouichi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III (CE9A) which sure makes local ah beng racers yearning to own one at the end of the show...
3. The splendid & innovative cinematography for the entire race seqeunces... make sure we get the low down of the intensity of the racing inside and outside the cars, and ensure we are not just watching another usual round of F-1 Grand Prix.. One of my fave part is the part when Talumi's AE86's engine was taken to the limit and it totally fails on a fustrated Takumi who was taunted by the professional Emperor racers led by Kyouichi
As for the actors themselves..
My fave are the comedians which kept the audience laughing in the midst of endless car racings...
Chapman Toh as Takumi's best friend, Itsuki was your usual spoile brat yet someone yearning to carve a name for himself.. His antics really was unconventional and humourous.. Kenny Bee who acted as his father and the owner of a petroluem kiosk was a very stale character unlike Takumi;s father, Bunta acted by the omnipresent Anthony Wong who is an ex-racing legend on Mt. Akina and became a self-destructive alcholic when his wife ran away from him...
He played the role of a mentor to Takumi very well...
The only flower in the bush, Suzuki Anne (as in An-ne) whom I last saw in "The Returner" as Natsuki was a social escort forced by circumstances and did well as a typical Japanese jyou-sei (lady) in which common, weak-minded guy (including myself) woh crumble and go ga-ga over...
However I felt there are better choices out there for sure...
Finally the eye-candy racers... My fave is the cool Ryousuke acted by Edison Chan... Takeshi who was badly beaten by everyone else is protrayed by Shawn Yue who looks lecherous with the moustache and that awful, over-sized black sports suit...
Jordan Chan appeared in the latter half of the show as the professional racer, Kyouichi had a fashion disaster himself in 80s rock punk (think Billy Idol) with metal studs on his leather jacket..I really doubt it would be comfortable when racing under the heat...no wonder he lost almost immediately...
Last but not least, the Taiwan prince of Hip Hop, Jay Chou on his theatrical debut as Takumi...just 3 simple words to describe his performace..":He can't act".
I rest my case....
Japanese word of the day: 車 ~ku-ru-ma~ (Cars) Nice ones featured even for a non car lover like myself...
posted by Kei at
11:18 AM
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