Movie: Men In Black 3

I'm often too burnt from a day's work to write anything intelligent, or write even anything at all.

We all love Men In Black, be it in black and white, animated series or the version with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Maybe it's the slightly morbid fascination with outer space extra terrestrials. Or maybe we just want the MIB's kick-ass jobs, smart Armani suits and Neuralyzers to click in the faces of people we find a pain in the butt. This time, MIB3 incorporated a painfully realistic life lesson into its plot - it is impossible to have your cake and eat it to. You'll have to get diarrhea any other way. It was nostalgically comforting to know that Smith and Jones's onscreen camaraderie continued to work magic despite the MIB movies' long hiatus from the silver screen, though it could have been better if they had better writers working on the script to spice up the dialogues with intelligent banter. Nevertheless, it's a good film for a hearty laugh or two, just not good enough to make me want to catch it in 3D or IMAX.

Dark Shadows aside...

Several hits and misses this week, but I'm glad I'm over and done with it. The process of picking up skills for my new portfolios is good pain, but the struggle to build management skills is... gosh. It's slightly disheartening that some peers are looking to greener pastures out there, I'm optimistic of the opportunities open to me here. The spontaneity of things keeps me wide awake and obliged to be in the know, and sends the adrenaline coursing through every inch of me.

Anyway, have I told you how Johnny Depp seduced the hell out of cinema-goers?

The year was 1752. After rejecting the love of the sorceress Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), Barnabas Collins was turned into a vampire and buried alive. It wasn't until two centuries later that, upon being dug up from his grave, that it dawned upon him that Angelique has replaced the Collins as the dominant company in the cannery industry at the fishing port of Collinsport. In his attempt to settle into the modernity of his descendants and rebuild the Collins' business, he faces up against against Angelique in a love-hate relationship. The only reason to watch this movie... is if you're suckers for Johnny Depp in yet another eccentric persona. I've never had a thing for Tim Burton films, and even more so after watching Dark Shadows. It doesn't matter how many Burton films have given Depp his Academy Awards; you can't weld a stellar cast together with a bad script and expect sparks to fly. Eva Green, Michelle Pfiffer and Depp himself lent nothing more than their names and their futile attempt to work this film. You can't fault Michelin chefs for bad dishes if they begin with the wrong ingredients. I think I've never given a worse review to a supposedly performing cast. 2/5

Movie: Marvel's The Avengers

The 6-month wait for this blockbuster was worth every single IMAX 3D ticket. :)

... largely because we miss Ironman so very much. I wasn't too fond of the odd combo put together to form the Avengers Initiative at first, but each character grew onto me as the plot progressed. Even the least liked Hulk earned his/its way into my all-stars list of accidental superheroes. And thanks to Jack, I gave my first IMAX 3D experience to the Avengers, unregrettably. And the fact that I grew up with these Marvel comic characters and watched almost every single film crafted with them as protagonists made the experience more wholesome - to remember the Hulk as the huge green terror with a soft spot for a particular girl, Thor as the lightning warrior with a terrifying half-brother, Captain America as the involuntary subject of an experiment and Ironman as the chauvinistic playboy who built a suit with an everlasting source of energy. Gosh now I feel like rewatching every single superhero film again.

On the other hand, I've got something to lament about. This. Ugly. Thing.

Excuse me, if I haven't gotten it wrong, Tony Stark drives an awesome Audi R8. Not a Honda.

Can't wait

Following the booking of our flat and securing our ideal home loan amount, I'm feeling more comfortable with discussing about our interior design. I consider it a boon that we'll be handed an empty flat with the bare minimum done, because that means that there's greater flexibility in designing our dream lovenest and we don't have to incur unnecessary costs tearing out stuff that has been pre-done. A preliminary discussion with Jack revealed some of the similar concepts we have in mind, so that's kind of like a good start. I've also been putting Pinterest to great use by using it to sieve out design concepts for quaint kitchens and alternative layouts to make the best out of our pinhole kitchen.

Bulbs are cute and easy to replace, but a hassle to clean after cooking up a storm.

And the great leap... into our 50th month.

As my portfolio is almost finalised and Jack's workload piles up, it's getting increasingly difficult to spare up weekday nights for each other. We're both aware that this first few years in the workforce is going to be a crucial period of make-or-break for our career and, with so many life-changing milestones in the making, we can't afford to be lax or throw in the towel.

And thanks to Kenzo for a lovely present. :)

Movie: Battleship

Where were you?

Battleship had been a pleasant surprise. To be honest, I walked into the cinema expecting another Pearl Harbour-ish flick featuring a heartrending til-death-do-us-part love story between a Marine and a Sports Illustrated model. But the film kept me knitted tightly to Jack throughout the entire 130 minutes with each twist and turn, as the boys (and one odd Rihanna) outsmarted the enemy time and again. Again, you might wish to spoil your own movie experience by reading the synopsis, or you might want to catch it in the cinemas before it ends its run. Oh, and try to do so at GVmax, because it's the only cinema that hasn't disappointed me since Day 1.