Monsters VS Aliens - review
2:58 PM | Author: Seen.By.Ice.Queen
It was a mad rush to get from the Changi Airport (i left at 1023am) to Vivo City's Golden Village to catch the 1045am Monsters VS Aliens. In tow was my 4 year old son who was arguing throughout the whole journey about the fact that I did not keep my promise to let him take the Skytrain. Hello, mommy had like 22 min to travel multiple kilometres and she's not driving a jet plane! Grr...

Anyways, we got to the ticketing counter a few minutes shy of 11am, with bursting bladders (him and mine) and a promise (to pacify sonny from breaking the skytrain promise) that I'd get him popcorn for the movie.

These are the few moments in my life I'm grateful that there is a culture of late startings for movies in theatres that runs tons of movie advertisements.

We got into the theatre past 11am, after clearing our bladders and buying popcorn, and we managed a catch a few more trailers before the movie began.

Let's start with a run down of the characters. Well, there are the MONSTERS:

Ginormica: This is a regular lass who got "zapped by a meteorite" in her own words, on her wedding day and grew to become a giant lass. The substance, we found out later, that she got "zapped" with was Quantonium.

Dr. Cockroach: One mad British scientist who's extreme experiment went awry and he turned himself into a cockroach in the process. The good news - he's now indestructable like a roach. Bad news - he's stuck with ugly looks and unappetizing food choices (this dude eats garbage)

The Missing Link: Some sea creature that is an Ape-Fish with bulging muscles and water-skills only a fish can manage.

BOB: essentially a blob of goo, he was created brainless (LOL) when fused between gelatin and tomato or something.


Insectosaurus: A gigantic bug that is in my opinion, rather adorable. What with huge innocent eyes and soft rounded bug teeth, how can anyone think he's scary?

And there's.. effectively only one ALIEN that went and clone himself into multitudes:

Gallaxhar: This octopus looking dude with an ape-ish face and an over-sized brain-cap is the ultimate bad guy who wants to conquer the universe or something.


So the gist of the story went that these Monsters were gathered by an intelligence in the US force and was volunteered for services in the form of fighting Alien forces that had invaded planet Earth in a bid to retrieve Quantonium - an ultimate source of power.

The ordinary life of Ginormica (before she became a giant, she was about to marry the love of her life, a weatherman on some news channel) got turned topsy turvy and she discovers her incredible strength and ability to save the earth, literally.

Caught and jailed in some unidentified underground facility along with fellow Monsters, they only found freedom when the US President got them to fight the alien force of Gallaxhar.

Amidst the fighting, the movie was interjected with messages of friendship being the ultimate driving force for incredible power, selfish love, female power etc.

Packed with lots of action, my four-year-old jumped on his seats at unexpected loud sounding attacks and gobbled the popcorn with an intensity of a food eating competitor.

For an animation movie, launched during the school hols (so assumingly targeting kids), Monsters VS Aliens had lines and themes that were too complex for a young child's understanding. Hence alot of the humour was lost. However, I'd recommend it for a family bonding time since kiddo will probably enjoy the animatedness and the lines should keep the parents entertained enough not to doze off mid-movie.

My favourite part: when Ginormica AKA Susan Murphy picked ex-fiance up at the end of the movie and flicked him off while LIVE on camera. (Watch the movie to find out why she did that)

My son's favourite part: when Ginormica put on 2 cars and skated around the streets.

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Bedtime Stories (Review)
4:22 PM | Author: Seen.By.Ice.Queen
My dear friend (aka my son's godma) treated us to Bedtime Stories at GV, Vivo on Saturday.



The movie had to stand the test of 2 full grown adults and a restless 4 year old and that in itself, is no mean feat.

A quick run down of the cast is as follows:

Adam Sandler: (plays Skeeter) The underdog.
Courtney Cox: (Wendy) Skeeter's sourpuss older sis.
Keri Russell: (Jill) Wendy's friend/colleague and Skeeter's arc 'lover'. Green-lover and Miss Perfect.
Russell Brand: (Mickey) Skeeter's bohemian buddy who waits at the hotel and suffers from sleep panic attacks.
Guy Pearce: (Kendall) The ass-kissing hotel mogul wannabe.
Richard Griffiths: (Barry Nottingham) The hotel mogul with a very Trump-like style ;)
Teresa Palmer: (Violet Nottingham) The hotel heiress who totally channels Paris Hilton lol..
Jonathan Morgan Heit: (Patrick) Skeeter's nephew and son to Wendy.
Laura Ann Kesling: (Bobbi) Skeeter's niece and daughter to Wendy.

Sandler leads the show as the underdog of a not too successful, chronically cynical Mr Handyman in the hotel that his old man had sold to a hotel mogul decades ago, in the hope that he could one day take over the reins of running the hotel again (as promised by the hotel mogul to his Skeeter's dad).

While Cox does a great job channeling her Monica Gellar into Wendy with the control freak style and OCD dispositions, I can't help but feel that her casting was rather pigeon-holed.

Keri Russell's character was too nice to be real and bordered on boring for me.

The characters that stole the show, at least for me, were Mickey and the guinea pig, Bugsy. Both generated lotsa laughs to the otherwise overly sarcasm-laced movie. Not the best of themes to allow your little ones to watch (if they even understand the sarcasm in the first place).

Overall though, I'd still say go watch it. If nothing else, then for the fantasy playbacks while the bedtime stories goes on..

Trailer:



Rating
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Flicks for Free anyone?
4:31 PM | Author: Seen.By.Ice.Queen
Saw this TODAY article on where to catch free films. OK, granted that they're not screening the latest films but hey, it sure sounds like fun!

MOTHER always said there is no such thing as a free lunch. Or a free movie, for that matter. Well, it shows what she knows.

As every true-blue cheapskate will tell you, there is always a freebie round every corner. You just have to look hard enough. And given that the price of a weekend movie ticket now averages around $10.50, we at Today think there is certainly more than enough motivation to look very, extremely, incredibly hard.

To guide you along, we have provided you with our cheat ... erm, cheap sheet on free movies to help ease the rising cost of living, eye-bulging oil prices and that shrinking discretionary household income — no thanks to your recent purchase of a Chanel bag or that ridiculous mine-is-bigger-than-yours LCD flat screen television.

Sometimes, the best things in life are really free.


Asian Film Archive Collection at library@esplanade

WHO: For the Asian film geek or thesis-writing-student.

WHAT: An impressive collection of more than 100 Singapore film titles and 50 Asian films, including local award-winning film-makers such as Royston Tan, Tan Pin Pin, Boo Junfeng and Wee Li Lin, as well as famous South-east Asian film-makers such as Tan Chui Mui, Riri Riza and Thunska Pansittivorakul.

HOW: Trot over to the customer service counter and fill up a request form at least a day in advance. You can also email your preferred timing and movie of choice to epcl@nlb.gov.sg. These reference films must be viewed within the premises so, sorry, there will be no taking of films home. What do you think this is, Video EZY?

But hey, you actually get a comfy private viewing room for two. Think of how much canoodling ... erm, serious film-watching you can get done. Information on the catalogued films can be found at http://vistaweb.nlb.gov.sg or at www.asianfilmarchive.org.

USE THE $10.50 YOU JUST SAVED TO: Cross the road to Marina Square, dig deep in your pocket for that extra 10 cents and get fat on Carl’s Jr Super Star with Cheese combo and CrissCut Fries.

WHERE: library@esplanade, 8 Raffles Ave, #03-01. The Public Reference Library is open Monday to Sunday from 11am to 9pm. Closed on public holidays.



Tuesday Benefit Screenings at House

WHO: For giggly groups of girls getting together or that boozy boys night out.

WHAT: Cheapskate movie buffs have been heading to Singapore’s only spa/restaurant/bar at Dempsey Hill for a while. There is a different theme each week, with the free movie screened every Tuesday night chosen by you. Yes, you. And you won’t be pressured to buy a drink at all.

From making you choose between Brazil or Blade Runner under the Sci Fi Lullaby theme, to showing quirky French numbers including Amelie and getting you In the Mood for Love for Wong Kar Wai, the atmosphere is always light-hearted fun.

To make things a little sweeter (or in this case, spicier) a free bag of curry popcorn is thrown in.

HOW: Why succumb to movie dictatorship? The next time you’re at House, just pick up an official house movie voting form and tick the movies you want to watch for the entire month. There are buckets around House you can cast your votes in, or you could just hand it to a passing waiter.

If you are truly too lazy to get off your free-loading tush, you can also tell them the movies you would like to see in the upcoming months by emailing votemovie@dempseyhouse.com .

You could also simply just turn up every Tuesday and watch whatever someone else has chosen. Beggars, or should we say cheapskates, can’t be choosers.

USE THE $10.50 YOU JUST SAVED TO: Either order the yummy Truffle Fries ($7) or the Sweet Potato Nibblets ($9). Better yet, throw in a few more dollars to get the party started with the Canchanchara ($17) — a little-known Cuban refresher of rum, lime, homegrown lemongrass and honey water.

WHERE: Wassily Room, House — The Social Benefits, 8D Dempsey Rd, Tuesday, 8.30pm.



Under the Banyan Tree: Open Air Cinema

WHO: For everyone and their grandmothers.

WHAT: On every last Friday and Saturday until the end of September, the National Museum of Singapore’s Cinematheque will be screening some of cinema’s most beloved movie classics under the stars, like the much-adored ’80s flicks The Goonies (Aug 29) and The NeverEnding Story (Aug 30), as well as timeless musicals including West Side Story (Sept 26) and The Sound of Music (Sept 27).

HOW: Pack a picnic basket, find a comfortable grassy patch and park the entire clan on a mat. With a cooler of iced drinks and a couple of battery-operated fans to keep the grumpy kids at bay, you’ll be all set.

For updates and enquiries, please call 6332 3659 / 6332 5642 or visit www.nationalmuseum.sg.

USE THE $10.50 YOU SAVED TO: Make that trip to the supermarket to splurge on extra nibbles for the picnic, like eight Mars bars. That will leave you with 10 cents to make a quick pitstop at a public loo.

WHERE: Stamford Garden, National Museum of Singapore.



Singapore Sun Festival at the botanic gardens

WHO: For the creative romantic (read: Dollar-challenged) trying to impress his date.

WHAT: Coming back for a second year after its inaugural start last year, this acclaimed arts and lifestyle festival will be celebrating the marriage of film, cuisine and wine under the stars with three entirely free outdoor screenings.

The chosen films will give you food for thought, such as Lee Ang’s excellent 1995 Oscar-nominated Eat Drink Man Woman (Oct 24), its Mexican-American remake Tortilla Soup (Oct 25) starring Hector Elizondo and Big Night (Oct 26) with Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci.

HOW: All it takes is a bottle of bubbly, a platter of cheese and crackers, strawberries, chocolates, a soft mat, warm blanket — and the inevitable kiss and cuddle is almost guaranteed.

For more information, visit www.singaporesunfestival.c om.

USE THE $10.50 YOU JUST SAVED TO: Take her on another fun cheap date. Like bowling at Super Bowl Marina Square (that’s $8.60 for two) with shoe rental ($1) included.

WHERE: S’pore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Rd.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/270497.asp
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