Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon Synopsis: (from Yesasia)
His country torn asunder by civil war, ZHAO, a common man heeds the call of duty and from the humblest of roots rises through the ranks on wings of courage and cunning to command an army charged with liberating the land from an evil warlord.

Inspiring by action, honor and a dream of unifying his divided nation, Zhao's heroism becomes legend, but as the years pass and the throne changes hands the war still rages on. When a newly enthroned king decides peace can only be achieved by defeating the warlords once and for all, the ageing Zhao embarks on his final and greatest campaign, a road to adventure that will crown his name in glory for all time.

My comments:
Well, another war epic movie! Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon is still a watchable movie but frankly speaking, I was unfocused during most of the movie and I wasn’t emotionally attached with the characters. Perhaps, I’m starting to numb at these epic movies since you already know that most of the characters will get slayed at the end. However, there are a few scenes that made a bit uncomfortable in this one.

I don’t know much about the story of Three Kingdoms, therefore I was confused at their tactics and it doesn’t help that they introduce a lot of characters like flash but make them disappear like flash too. The action is really too fast this time due to editing, I have a hard time telling who attacked who. Finally, it's odd to find a bunch of ABCs (Maggie Q, Vanness Wu and Andy On) acting in a period movie. I’m sorry but when I see Maggie Q’s face and then hearing her voice dubbed in Mandarin, I felt like laughing! I hope that dear Andy Lau will come back with a modern movie instead next time…

Just a little update

Recap of what I did lately:

Books:
Finished reading Sophie Kinsella’s newest book Remember Me? Other than finding it a feel-good chick-lit, I have nothing to more to say.

I’m currently reading Eileen Chang’s Lust, Caution in French… quite hard to read if you ask me, maybe it's the translation...

I like the book cover so much that I have to post, I mean it's Tony Leung and Tang Wei here!

Movies:
I’m in the mood for aminated movies so I rewatched Shrek, still very cute and funny. Saw Howl’s Moving Castle on DVD by the very great Hayao Miyazaki, still fascinating and lavish but I prefer Spirited Away more. Interestingly, Christian Bale dubbed the voice of Howl in the English version but I watched it in Japanese anyway…

Saw The Dark Knight in cinema yesterday with cousin P and her friends, awesome movie, worth a second watch despite being very depressing and dark.

Music:
Ordered Hins Cheung’s newest album Urban Emotions and Khalil Fong’s Wonderland Live 2008 DVD + CD (bows to Warner!), still patiently waiting for them to arrive. I’ll probably spend a lot on CDs later because Jay Chou is rumoured to release his newest album in August and Khalil Fong in September (I seriously doubt it but I would like to believe it’s true)…

Going By The Book

Going By The Book Synopsis (from http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr)
A string of bank robberies puts the public in a panic and they demand action from the newly appointed police chief to crack down on the perpetrators. In order to appease the residents of the city and carry out his own ambitions, the police chief appoints naive traffic cop JUNG Do-man to infiltrate the world of the robbers.


My comments:
Just a little correction from the above synopsis. Do Man was appointed the role of the robber for a highly publicized training to gain back confidence of the public instead of "infiltrating the world of robbers" as mentioned above...

I find Going By The Book a fun and cool movie! Do Man told his boss that he’ll regret his decision by appointing Do Man as the robber, I bet the boss really did… I had a lot of LOL moments at how Do Man outsmart the cops. Well, don’t take it seriously because in the movie, the cops, the SWAT team and even the negotiator look bad and incompetent. All along, I was worrying if Do Man is so into his role as a robber that he will go for real at the end. But the again, he always says, "If I'm a real robber..." so there's not much to worry. You'll wonder how will he get away from it. Quite speechless at how Do Man chooses to end the training but everything is resolved in a satysfying way. It surely is a happy ending!

L For Love, L For Lies

L For Love, L For Lies Synopsis: (from Wikipedia)
Everything was going well for Ah Bo (Stephy Tang) until recently. After graduating from college, Ah Bo decided to open a shop with her long-time boyfriend, Ah Jun (Stephen Wong Ka Lok), thinking that she would eventually marry Jun when everything has been set up and running smoothly.

One day, Bao met her old classmate Kei Kei (Alice Zeng). Kei Kei, being smitten by Ah Jun; decided to steal Ah Jun for her own, not caring about Ah Bo's feelings. It turned out that not only Bo has lost her love of a lifetime, she also loses her shop.

Ah Bo's good friend, Ah Man (Leila Tong) and long time boyfriend, Ah Fung (Terry Wu). In the meantime, Ah Fung is also two-timing Ah Man with another woman. Although Ah Man does love Ah Fung, she takes him for granted and thinks that he will never leave her. She is also selfish and doesn't want to be tied to a single relationship.
After the break-up, Ah Bo found a job as a make-up artist in the mall. Her boss Ah Kuen broke the news of her engagement and invited everyone out to celebrate. At the party, Ah Bo realized that her boss’s really young fiancee is very familiar. She recognized him as her old neighbor Ah Keung(Alex Fong) but Ah Keung keeps pretending that he doesn’t know Ah Bo.

A month later, Ah Kuen’s wedding was suddenly canceled. Bo found out from coworkers that Ah Kuen’s life savings were all stolen from the fiancee, who also disappeared. Ah Bo unexpectedly met Ah Keung on the streets. Ah Keung already has a new target, Tiffany (Suki Tsui). He finds Ah Bo following him. Ah Bo hires Ah Keung to deceive Kei Kei and let her have a taste of her medicine.

One day Ah Keung met his ex-girlfriend, Ah Yun (Linda Chung). Ah Yun told Ah Keung that her family will move to Singapore. Although Ah Keung had deceived Ah Yun's sister's money, but they weren't angry with him now.

As an experienced liar, Ah Keung successfully courted Kei Kei. Being abandoned by Kei Kei, Ah Jun decided to make up with Ah Bo. But Ah Bo has no more feelings for Ah Jun because deep in her heart, she unknowingly fell in love with Ah Keung.

Ah Man finally felt tired and decided to set up a stable relationship with Ah Fung. But Ah Fung tells Ah Man that he wants to break up. In the past 6th months, Ah Fung was actually secretly dating his co-worker’s girlfriend Ah Min (Miki Yeung). Ah Fung finally decided to let go of Ah Man and chose Ah Min for a new relationship. Shocked and feeling betrayed, Ah Man never thought she would be the one to be played.

In the game of love, there are no rules. Just like in this world, there are no strange love, only strange people.


My comments:
Alex Fong, Stephy Tang and director Patrick Kong reunite again! I expected something bad because their last movie, Love Is All Around, absolutely irked me but L For Love, L For Lies is a better viewing experience. At least compared to their last movie, L For Love, L For Lies didn’t have odd moments. I cannot explain why I like it since I found 90% of the characters unlikeable and Stephy’s character annoyingly naïve (although sympathetic). It still carries the message that love sucks…everyone cheats and lies in love. No one is trustworthy but yourself. Pessimistic huh? Not only that, just when we think that it’s a semi-happy ending for Stephy, the director cruelly bursted our bubble at the last scene…oh man! It has some heart-wrenching moments, so I’ll admit that I did cry. It’s too bad that Stephy never knew all the things Alex did for her. I guess that’s life. Love is about timing and I think they played that point well.

I think that everyone performed good although I still think that Stephy is not a very good actress or maybe I'm bothered by the way she talks ( it seems that I say the same thing about young generation actresses...). Alex managed to give viewers some surprises by acting as a conman, very different from his usual goody, clean and positive characters. The best acting out of the bunch is the most experienced one, Leila Tong…

Winners of 19th Golden Melody Awards

I’m been anticipating this award show for some time because Jay, Khalil and Gary are nominated. Because of this award show, I refused my mom’s offer for a 2 days shopping tour to Toronto and I even had this insane thought of skipping work to watch it live (which I didn’t off course :s)! I saw the partial winner list this morning before heading to work. I know that Jay grabbed some awards but the Best Male Singer Award wasn’t announced yet so that was all I was thinking during work. I didn’t get the chance to watch the award ceremony yet however, I’m glad that Jay is the big winner BUT he wasn’t there to accept the awards…boo! I’m also happy that Gary won Best Male Singer Award but I’ll be happier if Khalil won…better chance next year! Here’s the partial winner list:

■ 最佳年度歌曲獎
- 無與倫比的美麗《無與倫比的美麗》／林暐哲音樂社
- 達爾文I《Goodbye & Hello》／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 青花瓷《我很忙》／杰威爾音樂有限公司
- Love Song《Wonderland未來》／華納國際音樂股份有限公司
- 逆光《逆光專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 一眼瞬間《STAR專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司

■ 最佳國語專輯獎
- 無與倫比的美麗／林暐哲音樂社
- STAR專輯／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 逆光專輯／科藝百代股份有限公司
- Goodbye & Hello／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 拉活…／新力博德曼音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 我很忙／杰威爾音樂有限公司

■ 最佳音樂錄影帶導演獎
- 徐筠軒／左邊《無與倫比的美麗》／林暐哲音樂社
- 陳宏一／學會《Ivana首張國語創作專輯》／種子音樂有限公司
- 周格泰／崇拜《崇拜》／相信音樂國際股份有限公司
- 區雪儀／WHY《范曉萱+100%樂團 / 2007突破影音專輯》／吃草的魚傳播有限公司
- 鍾偉權／我就是這樣的《我在存在》／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司

■ 最佳作曲人獎
- 吳青峰／無與倫比的美麗《無與倫比的美麗》／林暐哲音樂社
- 蕭煌奇／愛這首歌《真情歌》／黑色吉他工作室
- 曹格／一眼瞬間《STAR專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 蔡健雅／空白格《Goodbye & Hello》／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 周杰倫／青花瓷《我很忙》／杰威爾音樂有限公司
- 林倛玉／慶幸有你愛我《慶幸擁有》／華納國際音樂股份有限公司

■ 最佳作詞人獎
- 葉國居／髻鬃花《髻鬃花-鄭朝方的文學音樂》／新福休閒股份有限公司
- 廖瑩如／逆光《逆光專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 小寒／達爾文I《Goodbye & Hello》／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 張懸／畢竟《親愛的...我還不知道》／新力博德曼音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 方文山／青花瓷《我很忙》／杰威爾音樂有限公司
- 齊秦,張震嶽／思念是一種病《OK》／滾石國際音樂股份有限公司

■ 最佳編曲人獎
- 吳青峰，史俊威，謝馨儀，劉家凱，何景揚，龔鈺祺，林暐哲／無與倫比的美麗《無與倫比的美麗》／林暐哲音樂
- 社小安／特務J《特務J專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司
- Martin Tang／逆光《逆光專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 陳建騏／崇拜《崇拜》／相信音樂國際股份有限公司
- 黃中岳／達爾文I《Goodbye & Hello》／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 涂惠源／起床歌《Super Sunshine》／滾石國際音樂股份有限公司
- 鍾興民／青花瓷《我很忙》／杰威爾音樂有限公司

■ 最佳專輯製作人獎
- 黃連煜／2007 BANANA／貳樓音樂工作室
- 曹登昌／依拜維吉／詮釋音樂文化事業有限公司
- 蔡健雅／Goodbye & Hello／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- Terry Chan／拉活…／新力博德曼音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 曹格、涂惠源／Super Sunshine／滾石國際音樂股份有限公司

■ 最佳單曲製作人獎
- 鍾成虎／pussy《pussy》／好小氣音樂工作室
- 陳建良／傻瓜《熱浪》／種子音樂有限公司
- TANK／反恐小組《延長比賽》／華研國際音樂股份有限公司
- 阿弟仔／特務J《特務J專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 馬毓芬／一眼瞬間《STAR專輯》／科藝百代股份有限公司

■ 最佳國語男歌手獎
- 陳奕迅／認了吧／上華國際企業股份有限公司
- TANK／延長比賽／華研國際音樂股份有限公司
- 信／我就是我／艾迴股份有限公司
- 楊培安／楊培安II／擎天娛樂事業股份有限公司
- 曹格／Super Sunshine／滾石國際音樂股份有限公司
- 方大同／Wonderland未來／華納國際音樂股份有限公司

■ 最佳國語女歌手獎
- 張惠妹／STAR專輯／科藝百代股份有限公司- 孫燕姿／逆光專輯／科藝百代股份有限公司
- 梁靜茹／崇拜／相信音樂國際股份有限公司
- 蔡健雅／Goodbye & Hello／亞神音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 莫文蔚／拉活…／新力博德曼音樂娛樂股份有限公司
- 蔡淳佳／慶幸擁有／華納國際音樂股份有限公司

■ 最佳樂團獎
- 櫻桃幫／乖乖／環球國際唱片股份有限公司
- 這位太太／是誰／喜瑪拉雅音樂事業股份有限公司
- 蘇打綠／無與倫比的美麗／林暐哲音樂社
- 旺福樂團／旺福 青春舞曲／豐華唱片股份有限公司
- 范曉萱+100%樂團／范曉萱+100%樂團 / 2007突破影音專輯／吃草的魚傳播有限公司
- 拷秋勤／拷！！出來了！！！／參拾柒度製作有限公司

■ 最佳演唱組合獎
- 大嘴巴／大嘴巴同名專輯／環球國際唱片股份有限公司
- 南拳媽媽／藏寶圖／阿爾發音樂股份有限公司
- Soler／Soler《X2》／上多利國際娛樂有限公司

■ 最具潛力新人獎
- 蕭賀碩／碩一碩的流浪地圖／碩果音樂工作室
- 閻韋伶／傻孩子／上多利國際娛樂有限公司
- 呂莘／心動的時刻／喜國娛樂事業有限公司
- 羅思容／每日／大大樹音樂圖像有限公司
- 吳听徹／徹夜未眠／我董娛樂經紀有限公司
- WOW／頭號人物／新力博德曼音樂娛樂股份有限公司

■ 演奏類 最佳專輯獎
- 托斯卡尼 我想起你／風潮音樂國際股份有限公司
- 絲竹空／絲竹空爵士樂團Mr.比布／彗智數位影音有限公司
- 不能說的˙秘密／杰威爾音樂有限公司

■ 演奏類 最佳專輯製作人獎
- 李欣芸／托斯卡尼 我想起你／風潮音樂國際股份有限公司
- 彭郁雯／絲竹空／絲竹空爵士樂團
- 周杰倫／不能說的˙秘密／杰威爾音樂有限公司
- 阮丹青／阮丹青 陽光海岸／典選音樂事業股份有限公司

■ 演奏類 最佳作曲人獎
- 李欣芸／西伯利亞的風《鹿女 永恆的追尋》／肯園國際股份有限公司
- 章世和／神鍠震九疆《霹靂開疆紀原聲帶》／無非文化有限公司
- 周杰倫、Terdsak Janpan／琴房《不能說的˙秘密》／杰威爾音樂有限公司
- 阮丹青／陽光海岸／典選音樂事業股份有限公司

The very exciting moment (takes a lot of time to load...):

Forensic Heroes II

I saw Forensic Heroes back then and I remember liking and enjoying it. So, how is Forensic Heroes II (TVB, 30 episodes)?

Forensic Heroes II Synopsis: (from Wikipedia)
Every contact leaves a trace
Every clue serves as a silent witness against crime

Bomb disposal expert Yeung Yat Sing (Kevin Cheng Ka Wing) returns from England to visit relatives and he comes across a grenade case by accident. With his tactful and level-headed approach, Sing is highly appraised by Senior Chemist Ko Yin Pok (Bobby Au-Yeung Chun Wah) and is being invited to join the Forensic Division. In a little while, Sing becomes the division’s rising star. By work, Sing gets back in touch with his long-lost best friend Koo Chak Sam (Frankie Lam Man Lung). Sam serves as a forensic writer and he is going to get married soon.

Accidentally, Sum’s fiancée Lam Ding Ding (Linda Chung Ka Yan) is killed in an explosion and Pok’s police girlfriend Leung Siu Yau (Yoyo Mung Ka Wai) also loses the ability of holding a gun in the incident. Yau’s duties are passed to Ma Kwok Ying (Charmaine Sheh Sze Man) from the Narcotics Bureau. Both Sam and Sing find Ying extremely charming with her smart and unfathomable characteristics in case handling.

Integrating laboratory techniques, logical reasoning, and forensic knowledge, the trio strive to fight against crimes tremendously. As they get to know each other more and more, the entangled triangle of love also starts to hinder their working relationships…

Cast:
Bobby Au Yeung as Ko Yin Bok (Timothy)
Yoyo Mung as Leung Siu Yau
Kevin Cheng as Yeung Yat Sing (Ivan)
Frankie Lam as Koo Chak Sum (Sam)
Charmaine Sheh as Ma Kwok Ying (Isabella)
Linda Chung as Lam Ding Ding
Raymond Cho as Shum Hung
Florence Kwok as Mok Suk Nuen (Yvonne)

My comments:
I still remember bits and pieces of the first installment and if you didn’t watch the first, watching sequel is not a big problem. In Forensic Heroes II, it’s the same cast with Charmaine Sheh and Kevin Cheng joining. The leading actress is actually Charmaine rather than Yoyo since Yoyo leaves at episode 17 and comes back at episode 27…Furthermore, I have the impression that Charmaine is the real lead in this drama, more lead than Bobby, which I’m a bit bothered…

I’m not a fan of sequels because from past experiences, sequels normally kill the original. The one and only sequels I liked were Files of Justice II and III. Forensic Heroes II unfortunately is not a good as the first one. I learned something from watching these TVB detective series. When someone who is not from the regular cast appears, that person is either the victim or the one who commits the crime. When there are a few suspects at the same time for viewers to guess, that’s fun but that didn’t apply here. Maybe because it’s a drama concentrating on forensics processes rather police mystery therefore, the cases are predictable; you can easily guess who did it and sometimes, the motives of the crime as well. Only the last case was unpredictable. So what do we get here? A show-off of forensic labs and a bunch of technical terms that we hear now and then forget a minute later…

Is it only me? I feel a total lack of chemistry between the cast as couple or buddy. Bobby and Frankie had better brotherhood chemistry last time but this time, I didn’t feel it and even more so with Kevin joining. Same thing with Bobby and Yoyo, they had more chemistry last time while this time, I didn’t feel anything probably because they are not together a lot in this drama. But one thing I like is that they didn’t add a third party in their relationship. Charmaine, Kevin and Frankie have a very interesting relationship because Kevin and Charmaine seems to be fated but Charmaine and Frankie have more in common however, once again, no sparks between them. I have to complain about the lousy ending. It’s not the ambiguity of it, it’s more Charmaine’s surprising pregnancy that doesn’t fit how her character went all along and call me cold-blooded, I wasn’t touched by the end. I really didn’t care much for Charmaine and Kevin’s characters…they are uninteresting.

So, overall, I’m a bit disappointed by this drama and I guess that there’s a high chance of a Forensic Heroes III in the future…please don't...!

* Themesong of the drama

Playlist of early July

Hoho Canada Day = Holiday! :p

- 有時寂寞 - Kelly Chen => Kelly’s previous songs were pretty forgettable but this song is really fresh as it’s the type of song that I imagine Twins would sing. I like this lazy feel.

- 心火相傳 - Kay Tse, Kary Ng & Raymond Lam (feat. Fama & Khalil Fong) => Soulboy is on fire because he’s really productive this year! Khalil wrote this themesong for RTHK’s Solar Project this year, very summer feel and has positive and uplifting message. It’s a fresh collaboration of the singers.