Stardust

This movie starts off with a young Englishman, Tristan, who sets off to find a falling star to prove his love to the girl of his dreams.

To do that he has first cross the 'Wall' which separates his town with the unkown. He managed to locate the falling star, who turned out to be a human, a pretty lady, Una. Yes, she is the star he has to bring back to his town.

But, it isn't that easy, as he has to fight off the rest - from princes & withces, who are all after the girl's heart. Their adventures fighting off them, plus the adventure with pirates on a flying ship gives this movie a wonderful heart-beating experience. Of course, the sound effect plays a part too.

Imagine a movie filled with magic, fantasy, plus a dose of reality - which is the current trend set out by movies like LOTR and Harry Potter. There are fightings, killings, lots of chasing (after the star's heart) and yet there is romance and comedy.

The more matured stars shines here - Michelle Pfeiffer in her witch role clearly steals the show with her charms & wit, while Robert De Niro pulls off a dual role.

With beautiful settings and though a little predictable script, this show is a great watch.

Bee Movie

When the main bee character, Barry, started to talk, it sounded so familiar I couldn't remember who it was, but I've heard that voice before... and it was not only the voice. Somehow, the bee seemed to represent someone in real life... yes, it is Jerry Seinfield, from the Seinfield sitcom.

Here, he voice-over a new graduated bee, who has to look for a job in the bee-hive, which is a job for life. He couldn't decide, as one, there were too many jobs, but more so he fancied seeing the world, out from the hive.

His eagerness lead him to meeting a lady whom he became best friends with, and were to later sue the humans for stealing honey & selling/ consuming them. With all the honey in the world now back with the bees, they had more than sufficient, and stopped working altogether. This creates the problem whereby the bees stop pollinating the flowers, and which then affects the human race (eg. no more flowers for sale).

Of course, then the task fell back to Barry to solve the problem, which in cartoon style, of course he did!

Done in a light hearted animation cartoon, this movie falls in line with Dreamworks style of more humour with some snippets of lil heart warming scenes.

It's refreshing to see Jerry take up this Bee role and it's a timely opening for the Christmas/ year end season. Nice for kids, families, and those who just want a break with humour and fun :)

Pleasure Factory

The star of the movie is not the actors or actresses, but mainly location Geylang - the glaring red-light district of city conscious Singapore.

I am ok with watching art movies, but this art movie seems too arty - and too lost, with many different characters in different settings, and many not contributing to the message. Even if it does, it takes too long for the message to get accross - you can actually close your eyes for a full 10 seconds and nothing has changed in that scene!

For an acclaimed director, with Chang & Eng and the blockbuster Beautiful Boxer, this seems a very big letdown. Pleasure Factory seems much more like a student's project or a first time director at most.


Unless you come from Singapore, or you are curious on Singapore's red-light district, this movie will not garner much interest except, maybe apart from its soft porn flicks. Minus Geylang, and this movie is just like any movie taken in any other red-light district in any country.


But, of course, if you think hard enough & endure the movie, you'll get Ekachai's message - the difference between love & sex. But to go through such length & 'torture', it's much better to simply visit the district itself.