RIFLE RANGE BOY

Lo Imposible (The Impossible, 2012) Leave it to the film-makers to re-enact even the most difficult of nature's catastrophe, so much so that the survivors re-live and suffer the stresses of the trauma of the event all over again. Like what a 'learned' leader once said, "If Hollywood can make 'Avatar', the powers that control Hollywood can make us believe through all their stories that they wants us to believe! - Holocaust, Osama and all.." In this way, the excellent cinematography made us believe that they actually re-created a tsunami when everything was shot in a giant swimming pool and generous help from computer graphic imaging! This Naomi Watts-Ewan McGregor disaster flick is based on a certain Maria Belon's Christmas family vacation to an exotic tropical paradise location in an island in Thailand. After a peaceful bliss of a Christmas day and family bonding time, tragedy struck the family with 3 young boys on Boxing day of 2004. The lull b...

The Trap, What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (BBC, 2007) #1. Fck you buddy #2. The lonely robot #3. We will force you to be free Like an ant perched upon a dry leaf being led by the whirling currents of water on rainy day and trying to make sense of the twirling world around it, I fall in the same predicament. More and more I discover that the world is neither flat nor round and solutions of the world are neither black nor white! An intriguing documentary by BBC on profound theories that makes us wonder whether mankind is doomed for annihilation. It paints a very pessimistic view of the world around us. It is narrated from the UK perspective. The world leaders advocate freedom and the breaking of barriers of class and inequality in society after the end of WW2. The ill-effects of uncontrolled capitalism was seen with the aftermath of the 1930s Great Depression - WW2. This mantra was chanted all over breaking down caste system and age old social system of the East. However,...

There was a time when members of the fairer sex were expected to stay that way - stay fair skinned, at least for the high heeled, away from the melanocytic activity enhancing UV light and powdering themselves smoothly pretty. They confined to the spectator pen to add splendour to the event but not as contestants. Their participation in international sporting events were only sanctioned by the governing bodies as late as early 20th century. From then on, female contestants competed amongst themselves till some of them actually perform better than their average male counterpart. In 2012, the number of female contestants equal that of the male in the Olympic Games. Fast forward to the 21st century... A new breed of reality based competitions have emerged. A competition where men and women can compete as equals without any handicap given. One competition that I had the chance of viewing was Wipeout. It is a very outdoors physical intensive kind of competition which involves ha...

Lincoln (2012) Director: Steven Spielberg In a recent research done by a TV station, Abraham Lincoln was voted as the most liked President of USA. Even though portraits of him show him as a serious person, it is because of the olden day imaging technique where prolonged posing in front of the camera is needed for a good picture. He was supposed to be a jovial chap, as seen in this movie where he is seen cracking jokes and telling stories to his subordinates. The film shows a time after his re-election when he is trying to cajole the House of Representatives to approve the 13th Amendment which approves abolition of slavery. He is worried that as the 4year old Civil War is drawing to an end, he is worried that the free slaves may be re-enslaved. Even though, the film pictures Lincoln as an undying fighter for emancipation, some quarters claim that he himself was a racist. He only did what he did because of the sheer numbers of slaves and the harsh treatments they were exposed to...