RIFLE RANGE BOY

Jojo Rabbit (2019) When you are young, with the propaganda that is fed to you, you grow up a simpleton. You think the knowledge that had been fed down your throat is the gospel truth and everything else is just farce. Then you grow up. You soon realise that it has all been a smokescreen. The victors and those with might had convinced their way is King.  With the opening of the inner eye, the onus is on you to educate and to spread the word to the ignoramus. But then, no one is going take what you say lying down.  I was surprised that Scarlett Johansson was actually nominated for the Oscars for her role in this movie. Her character is hardly memorable, and she dies before the end of the film. As for the storyline, it is nothing new. It is told from the viewpoint of a 10-year-old boy, Jojo, who is gung ho with joining Hitler's youth Army. Deep inside, he is a pacifist. He has an imaginary friend in the form of a comical Adolf Hitler who cajoles him to do the thi...

Darbar (2019) Are we living lives that are so unfulfilling? Are we trapped in a quagmire of hopelessness and pessimism that destined us to be forever confined in a sticky web of doom and gloom? Are we resigned to the fact we are too intellectually bankrupt to lift ourselves up by our bootstraps? Are we waiting for that imaginary knight in shining armour to magically hoist us out of our rabbit hole of melancholy? Is it possible? Or are we imagining another realm where all our aches, pains and attachments would be magically dismantled?  Perhaps we had fought our fights and had given up. All the power and wealth of the powers that be have disarmed us from the shield of resilience. We have crumbled and wilted to pressure. We are numbed to our addiction to our devices that have sapped our juices to think. Maybe it is not a new phenomenon. For ages, we of the human race have suffered under the tyranny of dictators and power-hungry madmen. And we have seen saviours in the...

About 20 years ago, an uncle of mine (may his soul rest in peace) used to be a regular feature in our household. Living alone, he found great pleasure clowning around with my toddler daughters. With a lot to spare time after retirement and having all his kids (and wife) leave the nest, he spent time gardening and doing his own home improvement projects at a snail's pace.  He was then just passed 70 and was so happy to relate to me how he completed his Penang Bridge Run only in the nick of time, just one minute before the cut-off time. I failed to understand then what his fuss was all about. In my mind, partaking in any competitive event meant I had to end well amongst the top few. I had lived my life with the adage 'a miss is as good as a mile'. Being a good sport, however, I did felicitate him and recommend his feat. Deep inside, I failed to appreciate his joy.  Now with the passage of time, and hopefully wiser, I can see clearly that after a certain age, even g...

Don't F**k With Cats (Netflix 3-part documentary, 2019)  Hunting an Internet Killer I just happened to bump into this as I was on the treadmill and I was hooked. It was not much of love at first hello, but I liked the quite convoluted storyline. It illustrates the twisted nature of human behaviour, but at the same time, there are people who, through their actions, show that humanity has not died. But life, as it is, is never straight forward. In life, Occam's Razor states that 'e ntities should not be multiplied without necessity'  does not solve all puzzles. Things are more complicated than they seem. Simple answers may not be the correct one.  It is not an easy watch and is not for the faint-hearted. Few viewers could pass beyond the first 20 minutes of the show as the subject matter is unpleasant. It is based on a true story that happened between 2010 and 2012. It involved many countries, including Canada, the UK, France and Germany. But I guess when it consi...

The Morning Show (Miniseries; 2019) On the one hand, we want to empower the weaker one. We say do away with barriers. Let there be no fences between the bosses and subordinates. There should be no discrimination between the sexes. At the same time, we realise that hormones rage high in the spring of youth, at a time when everybody wants to set the right footing for their future. The race to perch at the higher branches has become increasingly difficult. The juicy fruits hanging at the top are so luring. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse from the coveted crown of the food chain. Everyone can give their time, dedication and knowledge towards this end. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Players have to dig deep into their bags to confer something quite primal to achieve their goals. What is wrong in a little flirting or exchanging little bodily fluids, they would justify, especially when they look at the bigger picture. Mission accomplished, and everybody is happy. Peo...

Why should I be subservient to you? Why should I bend over backwards to support you? I never asked to be born. I never had the choice of choosing you as my parents. If you two did not get frisky, I would probably be floating around in ethereal world gliding around as an angel or even a bumblebee. Because of you, I am here. Because of that, you think you own me. Loaning me your DNA to use during my worldly sojourn, you think I should be forever indebted. True, you did not need to make all those sacrifices of time, energy and resources to sustain my wellbeing. But you did. Was it really out of selflessness at work or your selfish plan to forever entrap me? Or is the protective maternal hormones? But then, you did not have to do all the things that you did to keep me alive and kicking. There is something called free will. For all the early hour awakenings and the regular sponging of my body when the fever hit the ceiling, I am eternally grateful. To make me forever trapped in your p...

Uncut Gems (2019) Every day we push our boundaries. We test the waters. We want to stretch our luck an extra inch, hoping that it would give better outcomes. When met with resistance, we recoil only to return to repeat the whole imbroglio all over again.    We plead for clemency when our sneaky plan is discovered, knowing very well that it is not for real. Back in our minds, we are aware that it is certainly not the last, even though we say so. We tend to take things for granted.  The only problem is that we realise that the threshold is breached when it is a wee bit too late. By that time, the damage is irreparable, and the point of no return has been reached.  The first Monday of the new year is dubbed as the ‘Divorce Monday’. After months and even years of sweeping the brewing trouble under the proverbial carpet, the events surrounding Christmas and New Year must have had burst the bubble. It is said to be the busiest day for family lawyers when they g...

It was a dark, humid night, and as I was traversing a back alley making it to my car, I stumbled upon a meowing or rather a weak yowling. It turned out to be that a tiny kitten, all drench in muck, was straddling to wherever it was heading to. My heart felt for that tiny creature. No, I did not take the pitiful animal home to nurse it back to health and send it out to the wilderness with a glint in my eye. It is too much responsibility. What went through my mind was what someone told me (or maybe overheard) long ago; that our existence is just a freak accident of Nature. We, the products, have to fight it out to survive to preserve the entity called Consciousness. The consciousness that probably also happened via the accident of Nature. Life as we knew it was just going on without care as simple organisms with hermaphroditical abilities. We dragged on our existence with self-propagation without care. As life became more complexed, there was a need for variation. Nature dictated t...

Killing Eve (Mini-Series, 2018 - present) If you imagine a world where women are in positions of power. And they make life-altering decisions in a cruel world fighting injustices. The villains are not males as we expect, but ladies themselves perform highly sophisticated and well-executed crimes. Males are just there to fill up the quotas. They are just weak characters who can be quickly wrapped around the fingers. They are the male equivalent of bimbos. They are unnecessary. Life goes on with or without them. Sex? They are at the ladies' disposal. The females hold tight the rein that controls their sexuality. Who needs men when all they provide are wild oats that sadly, the female gender has to bear the brunt of the after-effects? Women can give sex with emotional support, minus the physical baggage. Who needs men, anyway? The miniseries is the one you are looking for. All leading roles are by women, including the directors. Men are merely supporting actors, filling up the ga...