The Secret Garden

All I can say is that this is a beautiful movie about magic and friendship. Sounds cheesy I know but it’s true. This movie can’t go anymore wrong except for some parts though. Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is a memorable character, without any doubt.

Mary Lennox tells her story of how she grew up in India without any love or attention from her parents. She can’t even dress herself and she’s ten years old. When an earthquake hit India, killing her parents too, she’s sent to England to live at her uncle’s manor called Misselthwaite Manor. The housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, played by Maggie Smith arrives late to pick Mary up. She calls Mary a “queer, unresponsive little thing”. Poor Mary.

At the manor, the maid, Martha, with an interesting Scottish accent takes care of Mary. Mary also makes friends with Martha’s younger brother, Dickon (Andrew Knott). Mary also tells Dickon about the secret garden, which she found and together, they made it grow into a beautiful, colourful garden again.

Meanwhile, Mary accidentally found her cousin, Colin (Heydon Prowse), who has spent his whole life (ten years) in bed. I think he’s never tried to walk before. He’s adamant that he’s bound to die eventually and seems pessimistic. This makes Mary rather irritated with his behavior and she shows him that she won’t stand for any of his nonsense.

Like what I said earlier, it’s a story of friendship, magic, the discovery of a garden, family, love, etc. You’ll also find the song, “Winter Light” sung by Linda Ronstadt soothing and calming. Well, it’s soothing for me!

This is the 1993 film version.

Stardust: 5 out of 5 Stars!

Last night, I watched Stardust at Gurney Plaza. I expected to be blown away by the film and by right I was! It was a beyond amazing movie. Plus the star-studded cast made it even better. When the DVD is out, I’m so gonna get it and watch again. Oh yeah, I have to read the book by Neil Gaiman too, which is what the movie is based on.

The story begins with Dunstan Thorne who crosses the forbidden wall of Wall in England. The wall is a divider between Wall and Stormhold, which nobody is supposed to go to. In Stormhold, Dunstan meets a captured princess, Una, and I think it’s like love at first sight. He slept with her and returned to Wall.

Nine months later, a baby is delivered to his doorstep, sent by Una. The baby’s name is Tristan. When he was 18 years old, Tristan (Charlie Cox) is a shop boy and he’s in love with Victoria (Sienna Miller) who’s not really interested in him.

At the same time, the dying kind of Stormhold releases a ruby, which he turned into a diamond, and whichever of his remaining sons can capture it and turn it back into a ruby will be king of Stormhold. We then see the diamond/ruby shoot into the sky and suddenly, there’s a falling star. It seems that the ruby/diamond hit a star and both fell to Earth. The star is Yvaine (Claire Danes).

Claire Danes in this movie reminds me a bit of Avril Lavigne!

If I were to tell everything, it would seem too complicated. I was also scratching my head trying to figure out what happened since there were so many incidents happening at the same time. They are all connected to one another anyway and that’s what makes the story captivating.


The no-life ghosts aka dead princes

The cast is just perfect. I like Michelle Pfeiffer’s role the best. She is Lamia, an ugly witch who yearns to be beautiful and powerful, like her two sisters. Besides that, Robert De Niro’s character is plain hilarious! The funniest part in the movie was when he’s dancing in one of his girly outfits in his private chambers while his men were fighting off Prince Septimus and there’s the exciting background music. Oh yeah, the music in this movie is flawless.

I have another favourite part too. It’s where the Yvaine, the star glows when she’s dancing with Tristan. The romantic side of me would say it’s well, romantic. Also, the special effects are terrific! Check it out when Lamia does her magic to build an inn.

Fantasy is really ‘in’ these days. Even famous actors and actresses are acting in them movies. Another example would be The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green (Craig and Green from James Bond: Casino Royale!), which will be released later in December. The Golden Compass was written by Philip Pullman, another popular fantasy fiction author.

Anyway, be sure to catch Stardust. It’s bound to make you laugh even if you’re in the mood to bite off somebody else’s head.

Review: Sebuah Ijtihad

I wanted to blog this post last night but was too chicken to stay up by myself. I went to hide in my room instead and read a book. =)

There was a Malay movie on TV3 last night, ‘Sebuah Ijtihad’ starring Sofia Jane. I don’t usually watch modern Malay movies, only P. Ramlee ones. However, last night’s movie was interesting right from the beginning. Let me tell you all about it in case you haven’t watched.

Ida is a hardworking woman with a son and a good-for-nothing husband. (We only knew he was useless at the end of the show.) She sells beauty products and cosmetics. One night, before leaving for Johor, her house was swarmed with lots of policemen. I don’t know why but all of a sudden, she started rummaging and emptying her bag. Finally, she brought out a plastic packet full of white stuff in it. It’s supposed to be heroine and she had no idea how it got into her bag. Therefore, she was caught, charged, and thrown into jail.

In jail, she was forced to share a cell with 2 other women, Cat and Zek or Zack, I’m not sure of the second woman’s name. Initially, they were on very bad terms with one another. They fought, wrestled, and hated each other. The way Cat and Zack (I’ll use this spelling) behave with each other made me suspect that they are lesbians. But that’s not the point.

Anyway, one day, Ida was thrown into the isolation cell, caught a fever, and returned to her cell with the other two women. From then on, somehow they made an agreement not to mess with each other and became friends.

Zack is in jail because she hit her husband many, many times. He did not die but she wished that he had. If he’d died, she would be in prison for life.

Cat, on the other hand, managed to kill her husband. She said that he brought home 5 to 10 men each night to sleep with her. I’m not each night or only one night. She loved and cared for her husband immensely but he treated her like scum. She is jailed for life.

Luckily for Ida, a lady lawyer is willing to handle her case for free, pro bono style. She is determined to free Ida from the drug charges. There was 2kg worth of drugs in her bag and the mandatory punishment is death by hanging.

When all seemed to fail and everything looks bleak, something else happened. The lawyer noticed a change in Ida’s husband. He wore stylish clothes, had a new cell phone, and was driving with another woman in his new car. He told the lawyer that he’s working as a salesman and thus could afford to buy new things.

I think the lawyer arranged for some photographers to trail and take pictures of Ida’s husband. True enough, he was already going out with another woman. He took her shopping, spent a lot, and touched her a lot. The photographers took lots of pictures of them.

In the end, the husband and the woman were caught one night. The police opened the back of the van and opened up a brown box. There were drugs in it. He was then charged for drug possession.

Ida was set free and promised Cat that she would visit her every month, on Hari Raya and Hari Raya Haji. Zack was released earlier.

And we’ve come to the end of the story. =)