Artsyfutsy's Blog

Hey guys, I’m back with (late) Happy Halloween greetings for everyone! ^^

With the fast-approaching end of the year, we from artsyfutsy will also be getting ready to welcome a new chapter in our oh-so exciting schooling lives: JC. Unfortunately though, this would also mark the end of this blog project (FYI, this blog was started for school project purposes). We will not be closing down this blog but we will not be updating as frequently, only as and when we have interesting material to share with you guys. We would sincerely like to thank everyone for all of your support for this humble blog of ours all this time.

And now, all sad news aside, I present to you our Halloween post:

In a feeble attempt to escape the horrors of revising for the upcoming Higher Chinese O Levels, I am here to give my thoughts on the recently-released horror flick, “The Last Exorcism”.

The Last Exorcism Promotion picture

Here’s a synopsis of the movie:

Taken from Yahoo!:

“When he arrives on the rural Louisiana farm of Louis Sweetzer, the Reverend Cotton Marcus expects to perform just another routine “exorcism” on a disturbed religious fanatic. An earnest fundamentalist, Sweetzer has contacted the charismatic preacher as a last resort, certain his teenage daughter Nell is possessed by a demon who must be exorcized before their terrifying ordeal ends in unimaginable tragedy. Buckling under the weight of his conscience after years of parting desperate believers with their money, Cotton and his crew plan to film a confessionary documentary of this, his last exorcism. But upon arriving at the already blood drenched family farm, it is soon clear that nothing could have prepared him for the true evil he encounters there. Now, too late to turn back, Reverend Marcus’ own beliefs are shaken to the core when he and his crew must find a way to save Nell – and themselves – before it is too late.”

I had been anticipating the local release of the movie ever since I first read about it in 8Days magazine and I must say, it certainly didn’t let me down. Stellar acting by the main cast and a well thought-out plot are inarguably the best parts about this movie. While Patrick Fabian’s portrayal of Reverend Cotton was also noteworthy, it was Ashley Bell that stole the show in her very convincing performance as the possessed Nell. This writer almost wanted to believe that was the case in the scene of confrontation between the Abalam-possessed Nell and Reverend Cotton in the shed where Bell (yes, she really did all the stunts by HERSELF, no kidding.) performed a series of disturbingly inhuman contortions.

Ashley Bell doing a contortionist-esque backbend as a possessed Nell

The plot is also commendable in its depth and creativity. It is different from your run-of-the-mill supernatural-oriented horror flick in that it also incorporates the viewpoint of a person who is actually in touch with the religion instead of just that of an outsider. The cynical attitude of Reverend Cotton towards his religion also makes him an anti-hero, which also sets the movie apart from the usual horror flicks as it gives it a sense of realism, which makes the whole movie even creepier.

That said though, the movie did have some drawbacks in the form its headache-inducing style of filming. This writer had to take a while to get used to the dizzying movements of the camera before she could start appreciating the movie. I also felt that the movie fell just a little short on the scare factor to make it a true, hardcore horror flick; kind of like a really good joke without the final punch line. (Note that I say hardcore, meaning chills-down-your-spine, hair-raising, scream-inducing-ly scary, the kind not meant for the faint-hearted.) The slightly boring beginning and slightly ambiguous ending were also a tad anti-climactic but, personally, I think that the great plot and acting are more than enough to make up for that.

Abalam-Nell glares at Reverend Cotton

On the overall, “The Last Exorcism” is a good horror flick perfect for a scary night out. It is thought-invoking and will definitely leave a lasting impression that probably wouldn’t fade for a while. I highly recommend this movie for horror beginners and gore-haters who are looking for some good brain exercise – it is just spooky enough for newbies to stomach and is one of the rare species of horror films where there isn’t blood splattering and brains exploding with every turn. “The Last Exorcism” truly captures the essence of horror and will undoubtedly be one of the best horror movies you have ever watched.

The Last Exorcism movie poster (for the record, this wasn't done by a stunt double too 🙂

And lastly, a trailer to spook you out 🙂 :

Happy Late Halloween 🙂

~ e3m1n

Hi everyone! I’m back! Been busy with exams and concerts. (I trust you’ve seen the posters of Die Zauberflote around?)

Anyway, I’ve watched both Street Dance and Step Up but both in 2D.
The verdict? STREET DANCE!
Why?

Most of you probably already know that I’m a classical freak and that extends to Ballet. Yes, I LOVE BALLET. Street Dance incorporated Ballet into their break dance routine while Step Up was just pure break dance. &I absolutely loved the final dance of Street Dance. It started out with dancers in white business suits in a gigantic bed covered with blue silk. Ahh contemporary dance. Then it changed to ballet as the 5 of them danced and break dance when everyone else joined it. I love how they manage to bridge the divide between Ballet and break dance which all of you probably know are at 2 ends of the spectrum. It gave me a lot of inspiration and opened up my world. It’s just wonderful how the movie possessed the message that dance is an international language that transcends all boundaries. Dance, in a lot of ways is like Music. Regardless of race, language or religion, all of us understand each other perfectly well when we’re dancing or making music. The once closed minded Ballet Dancers in the show learned so much and improved so much after they accepted break dance. Haha maybe singing more pop songs will help me in Opera 😛 Oh yeah and did I mention that I think they have really good dance moves and the movie soundtrack was fantastic!

Step Up paled in comparision in everything except the plot. It had a more complex and well-developed plot. In other words, a more interesting story while Street Dance’s was relatively simple. The one similarity between their plots was that both had one of their team mates betraying them to join their largest rival house.
The one scene that saved Step Up was the one where they dance in the water at the second round of competitions at the House of Gwai and the most of the techno music gave me a headache. The only redeeming song was Alicia Key’s New York.
Step Up seems to get a lot worse with each new series. The very first Step Up is the best of them all and can probably match up to other dance films like Dance Subaru.

-Sarah

Yes, I’m talking about the third and sadly, the final installment of the series- Toy Story.

The movie, Toy Story 3, is produced by Pixar Animation Studios and I must say that this movie was really awesome. It brings you on an emotional rollercoaster ride. There were many heart-gripping scenes while the toys had their adventurous escapade (from Sunnyside where they were imprisoned by Lots-o-huggin Bear and his gang) however humour is occasionally injected into the movie. I think everyone can relate to this movie well for it revolves around a common topic-leaving the past, and moving on to the future. In Toy Story 3, we see Andy leaving for college and he does not know what to do with his old toys. He ends up putting the toys in his attic but by mistake, the toys ended up at Sunnyside day care centre.

At sunnyside, the toys were imprisoned by Lots-o-huggin bear and attempts to escapde. Of course their adventure was not completely successful. They ended up at the incinerator…

The ending was sweet, though heartbreaking as we watch Andy leaving the toys, and going to college. I almost cried when Andy gave away his toys (even his favourite, Woody), picking them up one by one, introducing the toys to their new owner, Bonnie, and asking her to take care of them. The movie leaves you feeling abit nostalgic.

New characters introduced in Toy Story 3 include Big Baby, Lots-o-huggin bear, Chuckles the clown, the three peas in a pod (which are very adorable!) etc.

This movie is really good, so good that I’m itching to watch it for the second time.

-Miriam

The ocean itself is a mysterious place filled with deep dark secrets, waiting to be discovered. This is true, especially in Taiji, Japan.

‘The Cove’ is an Oscar-winning documentary which tells us all about the brutal dolphin slaughter in a small fishing village in Taiji. This documentary is not like the other typical documentaries that are loaded with endless information. This documentary is one that is filled with tons of raw emotions and it definitely tugs at the heartstrings.

In the documentary, we see Ric O’ Barry, an anti-dolphin activist, struggling to capture photos and videos of the ‘bloodbath’ of the cove in the fishing village in Taiji. The ‘bloodbath’ refers to the bright crimson blood which colours the ocean every morning, during the dolphin-hunting period. Struggling dolphins would then attempt to escape from this bloody mess, but to no avail.

Ric O' Barry, probably one of the guys with the biggest heart ever :')

The horrifying, shocking bloodbath

Yes, one can expect to see such a gory scene in ‘The Cove’. But to me, that is not the worst scene. There is this particular scene which shows a dying baby dolphin swimming towards two divers (from the activist team). The dolphin seemed to know that it will not be able to escape successfully from the inhumane fishermen but still, it swam towards the divers, as if wanting to tell them “Save me, stop this.”

I must say that ‘The Cove’ is really amazing in every single way. It has the plot, the props (High technology, state of the art equipments used), the suspense, the thriller, the emotions. How many movies/documentaries have actually left a huge impact on you? Have you ever watched a movie/documentary which made you felt like changing the world, changing the perspectives of some other people? Well, after watching ‘The Cove’ you definitely would. I hope that all of our readers out there would just take a few hours off on a Saturday/Sunday, ditch your studies or work to watch this documentary. Watching this documentary allowed me to take a step back and it gave me a broader perspective of what is happening in the world. In the beginning I thought that everything in ‘The Cove” was a fake. I thought to myself, “If this was real, then why isn’t the government doing anything to stop the dolphin slaughter?” But the images in this film were too real, too vivid. The dolphin slaughter shocked me and it brought tears to my eyes.

Some of you might find that the scenes this film is too gory and horrifying. But really, do not allow your fears to be one of the reasons why the dolphin species may be extinct in the future. I trust that you will never ever regret watching ‘The Cove’. It has left a huge impact on me and I am sure for you, it will too.

This is the ugly truth that is happening in Taiji. We need to let out this horrifying secret (of the Taiji fishermen) to the Japanese, to the whole world.

If your friends do not know about all these dolphin-slaughters going around, spread the word to them. Even if it is one individual, it does not matter. Because every step you take, will determine the survival of the dolphins.

Think: There might be a day, when these beautiful sea creatures would never exist on earth anymore.

Personally, I did quite a number of researches about dolphins and how we can save them etc. Here are some websites that may interest you:

www.savejapandolphins.org
www.savejapandolphins.blogspot.com
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/272_what_s_wrong_with_swimming_with_dolphins_.cfm

or you could join the facebook group like I did! 😀

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=the+cove&init=quick#!/TheCove?ref=search&sid=1147371427.1111256123..1

Every step you take will determine the survival of the dolphins in the world. Lets protect Mother Nature and prevent it from being destroyed in the hands of the evil.

Save the dolphins, stop this.

-Miriam

Yes, Kathryn Bigelow is the winner of the Avatar V.S The Hurt Locker showdown. ‘The Hurt Locker’ swept six awards from the Oscars, leaving Avatar with no Best Picture nor Best Director.

For the first time in the eight decades of the Academy Awards, Kathy Bigelow is the first female director to win the Best Director Award.  When Bigelow went on stage to receive the award, she said with a stunned look, “It’s the moment of a lifetime.” Bigelow also added, “I’d like to dedicate this to the women and men in the military who risk their lives in a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world. May they come home safe.”

Besides this, ‘The Hurt Locker’ was the lead in this year’s Oscars, taking with it five other awards including Best Director. Some Avatar fans are disappointed that Avatar did not manage to clinch the award for Best Picture and many insisted that Bigelow’s film did not deserve the title.

To be honest, I was quite disappointed when I found out that Avatar did not received the Best Picture Award. Afterall, Cameron has put in a lot of effort in making sure that the film was in high definition and the bright colours and images found in the film really put an artistic touch to the film. However, the judging committee of the Oscars might have a different perspective and I feel that we should fully support their choice.

Check out the Oscar winners here:

Best Picture – The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro

Actor in a Leading Role – Jeff Bridges , Crazy Heart

Actress in a Leading Role – Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Actor in a Supporting Role – Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Bastards

Actress in a Supporting Role – Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Directing – The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

Cinematography – Avatar, Mauro Fiore

Music (Original Score) – Up , Michael Giacchino

Animated Feature Film – Up , Pete Docter

Music (Original Song) – Crazy Heart , “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)”, Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Writing (Original Screenplay) – The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal

Visual Effects – Avatar , Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

Documentary Short – Music by Prudence,  Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

Short Film (Animated) – Logorama, Nicolas Schmerkin

Short Film (Live Action) – The New Tenants , Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Makeup -Star Trek,  Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

Art Direction – Avatar, Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)

Costume Design – The Young Victoria , Sandy Powell

Sound Editing – The Hurt Locker , Paul N.J. Ottosson

Sound Mixing – The Hurt Locker , Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

Film Editing – The Hurt Locker , Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Documentary Feature – The Cove , Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

Foreign Language Film – The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Argentina, Directed by Juan Jos’ Campanella

I would  like to comment on the winner of the Best Supporting Actress, Mo’ Nique from the film ‘Precious’ (2009, Lee Daniels). If any of you have read her life story, you will know that Mo’Nique had been sexually abused  by her eldest brother during her childhood. She said that during the filming of ‘Precious’, she channelled her unfortunate experiences into her role as Mary. I have not watch ‘Precious’ but after reading some articles I found online, I feel that it will be a great film for teenagers to watch as it would call out to teenagers on the awareness of some social problems that the director had touched in his 110 minutes film.

Overall, I feel that the Academy Awards 2010 was a mixed of disappointments and pleasant surprises but nonetheless, it has definitely started the year with a big bang! Lets look forward to next year’s Oscars and better movies to come in the year!

For additional information, , you may like to click THIS which contains the latest updates about the Oscar Awards 🙂

-Miriam

Cameron V.S Bigelow,

Avatar V.S The Hurt Locker

The Academy Awards or also more popularly known as the Oscar Awards, will be having its 82nd ceremony on March 7, 2010. The hosts of the ceremony for this year will be Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. There’s only ONE day left before the Oscar and there’s been much anticipation about the fired up competition between James Cameron and his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow and their films “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” respectively.

Both “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” has each received a total of 9 nominations, leading this year’s Oscars. Besides, both movies will be up for the Best Picture Award and Best Director Award. According to Golden Village’s online poll, 77.71% of viewers have voted for Avatar to win the Best Picture Award and 73.17% voted for Cameron to win the Best Director Award. However, directors from the film industry expect a turnover for the Best Director Award, predicting that Bigelow’s Iraq-based film will secure her an award for that category.

I feel that there is no doubt that Avatar is going to win the Best Picture Award. Having invested on a number of mind-boggling visual effects that took more than a decade to develop, Cameron has managed to bag home the awards of Production Design and Special Visual effects at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Also, the blue-skinned Na’vis have seemed to win the hearts of many, young and old alike.

However we might expect a different result in the case of the Best Director Award. Bigelow has touched on various heart-breaking issues in her film, which earned her the 2009 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film. This is the first time a female director has even won. If Bigelow wins this award tomorrow morning, she will be the first woman director to win an Oscar Top Prize. However we must also take in mind that the committee of the Academy Award has banned Nicolas Chartier (Producer of The Hurt Locker) from attending the ceremony and we cannot have high expectations that Bigelow is going to take homethis award tomorrow morning.

What’s your take on this? Do comment on this post to share with us your views and opinions.

For those who wants to watch this showdown LIVE at the comfort of your very own home, you guys can tune in to Channel 5 from 9.30 AM to 1.00PM (8 March, SG). Fret not if you aren’t free in the morning as there will be a re-run of the ceremony from 10.30PM-2.00AM. Also, you guys may want to catch the Pre-Academy Awards at 6.30 PM. Do get your tissues/confetti ready for the intense competition between Cameron and Bigelow tomorrow. Stay tune to our website as we will be bringing you more updates on the Oscar Awards!

-Miriam

Sigmund Freud. Florence Nightingale. Napoleon Bonaparte. Marie Curie.

A single look through these names and many would recognize them. They are the names of famous people who have left behind their marks in history through their contribution to humankind in their fearless exploits and groundbreaking discoveries.

Enter the world of St. Kleio Academy, where the clones of these famous historical individuals are raised and educated to inherit the legacies of their originals. Stuck right in this bastion of genetically engineered students is Shiro Kamiya, an ordinary boy whose father is a teacher in the academy. Being a non-clone, Shiro finds difficulty fitting in with the rest of his elite schoolmates, who see him as an anomaly in their freak show of a school. And while Shiro is struggling to integrate himself into the school’s social pyramid, tension begins to build up within the campus walls as the wheels of fate are set in motion with the assassination of one of the alumnus, the clone of the former President of America, J. F. Kennedy.

Through the lives of these clones, Suekane Kumiko explores the consequences of the highly controversial technique of cloning in this manga. This is not the first series that has a cloning-based theme (Clone High, anyone?), though what sets it apart from others is its plot. Chock full of suspense and mystery and equally balanced with humorous moments, this manga is one that has much potential. While it is not as action-packed, fans of Fullmetal Alchemist or D.Gray-man would definitely like this manga, which has similar psychological themes.

Another plus point of the manga is that the characters are fairly well-developed. Though, as with every campus-set stories, there will inevitably be a few stereotypical characters –the typical stuck-up-her-nose beauty queen, for example–, readers will be glad to know that the main characters have at least a certain depth to them. Shiro also makes for an atypical protagonist; he is an ordinary –and somewhat of an airhead– boy with no special abilities or particularly redeeming trait, unlike the protagonists of most stories which usually have some enhanced ability of some sort to help them (though, as seeing the story is set on campus, having magical powers would be rather redundant).

All in all, this manga is a well-developed one that is truly worth a read. Educational and thought-provoking, the book would definitely leave a lasting impression on the reader. Though this series is rather new and it might be a little too early to say that later chapters will definitely turn out well, the manga certainly has the potential to become another hit.

Interested readers can go to this site to read the manga (quite a pity but Onemanga and Mangafox do not have the series): http://www.sigikki.com/series/afterschoolcharisma/index.shtml

And as for Singaporean readers, you’re in luck! Chuang Yi Publishing has already printed out the translated version of two volumes – you can get a copy at SGD8.90 (expensive, I know) or go to a manga café to read it.

Have a nice day and happy reading 🙂 

~e3m1n

A Blood Pledge (2009) is a horror movie directed by Lee Jong Yong. It is the fifth in the series of South Korean horror films set in an all-girls high school, which began from ‘The Whispering Corridors’ (1998). The cast of the movie consists of: Son Eun-Seo as SoYi, Jang Kyeong-Ah as EonJu, Oh YeonSeo as Yujin, Song Minjeong as Eunyeong and Yu ShinAe as Jeongeon (EonJu’s younger sister).

The movie deals with taboo issues such as parental violence, teenage pregnancy, bullying and betrayal. Blood Pledge is about four students who swear their friendship with a blood pact and promise each other that they will die together. The movie starts with a gruesome scene where EonJu is being flung down from the roof of the school’s chapel and her body lands right in front of Jeongeon. Jeongeon decides to investigate the cause of her sister’s death and learns about the blood pact. At the same time, EonJu comes back to haunt the rest of her friends as her other friends did not follow the promises they made written on the pact.

The director did not really go into depth about the taboo issues and only show glimpses of how these issues can affect one’s life. Also, a shortcoming in the movie was that the plot was neither here nor there, and the ending of the movie was not really convincing, hence leaving audiences unsatisfied with the movie. Another flaw in the movie is that the time sequence was really poor. There were numerous flashbacks in the movie which made me confuse about what was happening in the movie.

Shortcomings aside, I think the director should receive some credit for the ambience created in the movie. One of the most common camera technique used was the ‘sweeping’ technique where the camera sweeps across the roof, catching views off guard as EonJu’s ghost suddenly pops up in front of the camera. The ominous, eerie orchestral music compliments the camera techniques used. There is not much to expect in the physical appearance of the ghost as this movie also follows the trend of stereotyping Asian female ghosts as those with dark long hair and pale skin.

This South Korean film has been sold to distributors from South-east Asia and it has also been reported that there might be possibilities of remakes of the film.

A Blood Pledge is great for those who are looking for a movie to give them a slight shock or a nightmare, however if you are looking for a more in-depth horror movie, it would be advisable to give this movie a miss.

You can watch the official trailer  here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yutvPl3ohWI

Rating: 5/10

-Miriam