movie

Things to do in Hong Kong: Watch a Hong Kong movie

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Lan Kwai Fong – The Movie

lan kwai fong

We went to Lan Kwai Fong the very first night we arrived in HK. It was a Saturday and the place was packed – there were people cavorting on the streets, literally spilling out of the bars. What impressed me the most is despite the close quarters and loads of alcohol, I didn’t see any fights break out.

Dispel the gu wak jai (triad) movies you watched as a kid, man. Hong Kong is totally cosmopolitan now. smirk

telford plaza

Anyway, fast forward to a couple of days later. We woke up with no plans and it was decided that we’ll take the MTR and pick a random station and see what’s there. I reckon it’s a good way to explore HK so that’s exactly what we did. We ended up in the MTR that exits from Telford Plaza and into this futuristic looking cinema.

cinema hong hong

The cinema is built like an edged structure with different colors somehow transported in from the future. It was then then I declared I’m going to watch a movie…in Hong Kong. Hey, it’s one of the things you’ve gotta do when you’re there.

lan kwai fong movie

Watch a Hong Kong movie in Hong Kong. Tickets should be around HKD 50 (RM 20) per person. Expect HK schoolgirls in uniform sitting behind you.

hong kong cinema

We picked a local production called Lan Kwai Fong (although the Cantonese characters apparently says something else). I half expected to be bored coz I was never a huge fan of Hong Kong movies and the ex warned me that it has a very cliched storyline. Hell, if I didn’t know better I would have though she didn’t want to watch it. Heh.

hong kong movie

However Lan Kwai Fong (the movie) surprised me. The plot is very meh but the character development is something I can relate to. I see myself in one of them and my friends in most of the main and supporting cast. Definitely a must watch if you’re ever in HK.

mcl telford

Oh, you might want to visit Lan Kwai Fong first – I found that it increased my enjoyment of the movie tremendously, having been to the places in the movie. 🙂

Terminator Salvation screening

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ts nuffnang

I caught Terminator Salvation screening at Cineleisure just now courtesy of Nuffnang. I’m a big fan of the franchise and I was expecting A LOT from this latest addition to the series. I watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles too and was hoping that it’ll have some references to it…and it did!

ts sixthseal guests

I think everyone on the Terminator Salvation giveaway list came – it was good to meet up with you all! Props to Nuffnang for the 15 pair of tickets. 🙂

ts jess

Anyway, I was there with Jess and managed to get good seats – twin seaters smack dab in the middle of the screen. Awesome! I was a little surprised that there isn’t the usual digicam/cell phone check in counter considering this is a still unreleased movie. It’s a good thing though – the movie premier electronics check in and reclamation takes up a lot of time when exiting the theatre.

ts tickets

However, there was a very strongly worded announcement about no cell phone usage before the show started, which I dutifully heeded since I’m a big fan of the franchise and the last thing I want is to be “escorted out of the theatre” when I’m engrossed with the movie. 😉

ts montage

Back to Terminator Salvation, you’ll enjoy it heaps if you’re a fan of the franchise. The movie started with pyrotechnics and ended with a scene which would probably make you say something along the lines of “I’ve got sand in my eyes” despite being in a sterile theatre. :p I won’t spoil it for you all but watch out for Sam Worthington’s performance as Marcus Wright. He definitely pulled his weight in this production. Arnold was in the movie too, as a cameo, and as nude as the day he was born ala T2, but the creative use of fog hid his appendage. 😉

ts group

However, I think the real star of the movie is Marcus Wright instead of John Conner, and rightly so.

Pun intended.

Terminator Salvation Ticket Giveaway!

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Print-Keyart

I’ve always been a big fan of the Terminator franchise. My first experience was with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I was just a kid then and the movie fascinated me. I managed to find the first Terminator while in uni and caught Terminator 3 when it came out. I also follow Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles with what some might call religious fervor.

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Naturally, I’m looking forward to the next installment in the Terminator series. Terminator Salvation is both a prequel and a sequel (Jesus, the intricacies of time travel) and the trailer suggests that this movie would be nothing short of outstanding.

Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

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Nuffnang was kind enough to allocate 15 pairs of tickets for sixthseal.com to give out to my blog readers. Just comment and tell me your first experience with the Terminator franchise and you’ll get a chance to win a pair of tickets. This is the Terminator Salvation screening so you get to watch it two days before everyone else!

Date: 26th May (Tue)
Time: 9.30pm
Venue: Cathay Cineplex Damansara (Cineleisure @ The Curve)

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I will be using random.org to pick winners so it’s not the first 15 or anything like that. I will shoot a video of myself using random.org to ensure transparency. However, this being sixthseal.com, I am going to give out 3 pairs of tickets (of the 15) to the first three people that can answer this:

Q: In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, John Connor is seen breaking into an animal hospital. What substance was he after?

Hint: I posted about it on my blog in 2004. I used to have a prescription for this. It’s not in common use nowadays. If you can find the post in question, veritas takes off his (rather dusty and old) hat to you. 🙂

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It’s okay if you don’t know the answer, just comment and you can snag the 12 other pairs of tickets. Bring your date and be the first in Malaysia to watch the movie!

15 pairs of tickets to the Terminator Salvation await you! See ya at the screening!

Star Trek premiere screening

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st me cindy

I caught the Star Trek premiere screening at Cineleisure just now. I got the tickets from Nuffnang and went with Cindy, who’s not a very big Star Trek fan, which I only knew until after the movie. I personally love the franchise. I grew up watching ST: TOS and ST: TNG and proceeded to Enterprise (for some reason, I never did get into ST: DS9).

st booth

The Star Trek movie is set before ST: TOS (The Original Series) and would appeal to all Star Trek fans. I was captivated throughout the entire movie. On another note, I would love to watch a horror movie with Cindy. Your reactions damn priceless la. LOL!

st tix

Anyway, I’m not going to spoil the movie for you, but the entire cast was awesome. I like the young Spock and I love Kirk in this movie. There were even props where you can take a photo (for free, and they give you a poster and a magazine to boot) at a replica USS Enterprise bridge with the Captain’s seat.

st uniform

Beam me up Scotty!

st captain

…to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Punisher 2: War Zone screening

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outpost

Thanks to Nuffnang, I managed to catch Punisher: War Zone 10 days before everyone else. It was a screening held at Cineleisure last night (just now?) and I’ve got to say, this has gotta to be the best screening ever.

nuffnang

The pre-program was held at Outpost and we all met up there before going for the movie. The drinks were all half-price and there were PS2 Punisher games and board games available.

hitomi

I met Hitomi there who posed me an extremely difficult question that challenged my gray matter to the point of incapacitation. :p

bouncer

There were two people in costume acting as bouncers of sorts…a very nice touch, which was not just cosmetic – more about that later.

contest

Contests were also held – two mannequins were the targets and we were given a toy gun to shoot darts at the targets to win schwag, which includes Punisher 2 T-shirts and duffle bags. I joined the second round and snagged me a poster of Punisher: War Zone. It was a whole lot of fun.

group

…that’s not the end of it though. As we filed into the cinema and the trailers started, the two guys in flak jackets suddenly entered the cinema with flashlights shouting that Frank Castle is in the premises.

There was a whole lot of commotion and they ended up arresting The Punisher (before he made a timely escape) in front of the theater. It was a staged and choreographed event but they managed to pull it off so well (and it was unexpected) which made it interesting.

Then someone announced that a bomb has been planted under one of our seats, which set us scrambling to see if the explosive device is indeed under our designated seats. It turns out that Debra who was sitting at the seat adjacent to mine was the lucky one.

bomb

There was a bomb-squad style “cut the wires to disarm the bomb” stunt and Debra got to keep the ignition device. This has gotta be the best PR stunt pulled ever.

Anyway, back to the movie, it was great! If you loved the first Punisher (or Marvel comics stuff, vigilante movies, or films that involves violence and gore) you’ll love this iteration. There were a couple of great quotes in there, my favorite being straight from the good book – “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” from Matthew 7:2.

Overall, it was an entertaining popcorn movie and I won’t have any spoilers here since it’s not going to be released for another 10 days but the best scene is Jigsaw recruiting all the Asian, Latino and African American street gangs for his cause.

The only flaw in the movie is the excessive censorship applied. There were liberal cutting of scenes – the Good Parts (TM) involving gore and violence were all subjected to the judicious scissors of the good people at the film censorship board. It was quite noticeable and a bit of a letdown but I give this movie two thumbs up (primarily coz I loved the first and I like vigilante movies like Boondock Saints).

zoe

This is Zoe, my guest. Say Happy Birthday coz she just turned 16. 🙂

knife

I even won a Punisher: War Zone combat knife for my slogan. It was “If I’m the Punisher, I’ll punish….Obama coz he’s not what he seems. It’s the greatest disaster of all time. Great PR, great marketing tactics, but he’s actually the Antichrist in disguise. The end is nigh!“ and I explicitly stated that I wanted the adventure knife coz I was getting mugged all the time. 😉

Unfortunately, this “adventure knife” would be relegated to cutting my fingernails and filing it down so it doesn’t hurt when I have an itch to scratch. 😉

I think it’ll be mighty useful for that. 🙂

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans

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lycans booth

I went to the Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans premiere screening last night courtesy of the good people at Nuffnang. It was held at Cineleisure at The Curve and security was pretty tight since the movie will only be released on the 22nd of January.

lycans nuffnang

There were people in RELA uniforms (?) patrolling the cinema throughout the movie, which kinda adds to the viewing experience. Heh!

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Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans is actually a prequel to the first two series. It goes a lot into the history behind the vampires (OMG! They’ve been with us since eons!) and the character development of Viktor (which you’ll remember from the first Underworld). You’ll get to see Sonja (Rhona Mitra) generally kicking ass and chewing bubble gum (except bubble gum wasn’t invented yet) at that point.

lycans keychain

I managed to get an Rise of the Lycans keychain and a poster of the movie. =D

lycans-poster

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans will be in cinemas starting from the 22nd of January. I won’t spoil it for you, but don’t miss it if you’re an Underworld fan. I loved the movie! I’ve been a big fan of the franchise ever since I watched the first two back to back in Melbourne.

Superhero Movie

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superhero movie

Superhero Movie was one of the worst movies I saw in recent memory. I caught it in one of the theaters in a shopping mall in Miri since we didn’t have anything to do until dinner. Superhero Movie is from the same producers of Scary Movie, Epic Movie etc and is a parody of the genre.

superhero movie pirate

The primary influence is from Spiderman but I also caught references from the Fantastic Four, Superman, X-Men, The Fly (which is not a superhero movie per se but a darker sci fi flick), and Batman Begins. It’s got a lot of laughs out of the audience but it’s relies a lot on cheesy slapstick humor which I guess I’m a little too high brow to appreciate. 😉

superhero movie tix

Oh well, at least it’ll only waste about 60 minutes of your time. That’s how short the movie is – about an hour of footage before the credits roll.

What did I do yesterday?

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tastreet.jpg
Take Away Street

Hmm…lemme think. Just give me a minute here. 🙂 Okay, the day started when a went for lunch with Daniel
[geocities.com]. A big thank you to him, he’s the reason why
sixthseal.com has photos again (albeit for a while, coz he’s going back
in a day). He has a digicam too (Sony DSC-F707) and I borrowed it to
take some photos, so yeah, photos are available for a short time. 🙂

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The interior.

Anyway, he told me of this place called TakeAway Street in Wisma
Sanyan where every main meal is just RM 1.50 and every drink is just RM
1. That was last month though, the prices have been raised since then.
I had the Taiwan Noodles (which tastes suspiciously like Maggie Mee
Curry Flavor) for RM 2.50, meat stuffed kompia with gravy for RM 0.50,
egg cooked in soy sauce (lu tang in Chinese, what’s the English
equivalent?) for RM 0.50 and kopi peng for RM 1.20.

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My food posts are definitely not as good as mum mum
[blogspot.com], so if you’re interested in food, head over to Wena’s
site, it’s GREAT! Always makes me hungry, photos and descriptions of
all kinds of food. She’s from Kuching (about 400+ km from Sibu) and
I’ve lived there for 8 years total (7 during childhood, 1 in college)
and I visit very often so yeah, I’m familiar with most of the places
she mentions. Great food blog, go visit! I’ll like to think of her blog
as “The Best Food Related Blog in Malaysia”. On a narcissistic note,
and borrowing from Phua Chu Kang, I’ll like to think sixthseal.com is
the best drug related blog in Malaysia, Singapore and some say
Australia. 😉

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Terminator 3 – I took a shot of the screen inside the cinema.

Anyway, let’s see…after that I borrowed Daniel’s digicam to do a bit
of photography, as you can see from the photos of the Knuckles Soccer
photos below. A couple of us went to watch Terminator 3 later at night,
it was the 8:45 pm one, they only charge RM 5 on Wednesday. After that,
it’s off for drinks at SRC, the people I remember there (besides me) is
Alan, Bing Jong, Johnny, Daniel, Christopher, Niny, and Ing Tai. Hey, I
think I remembered, it’s easy to visualize the table and go
counter-clockwise. Heh. Er…not much was remembered after that due to my
excessive alcohol consumption to celebrate my results. So yeah, that’s
my day yesterday.

A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love.

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I went to Chadstone this afternoon with Jimmy and got myself a ticket to the first screening of
Star Wars Episode II. I did call them yesterday and they said there were about 180 tickets left.
However when I went in today, the attendant told me the tickets were all sold out. Luckily they
opened up another session, so I did get a ticket. wh00t! Interesting tidbit – Since Australia is
faster (GMT +10) than most of the world and George Lucas wanted a worldwide same day release on the
16th of May, we get to see it faster than most of the world. =D Note the ticket, it says 15th of
May 11:59 PM. *gloat*

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