wAntAn productions

Woah... I reckon it's been 2 weeks since my last blog (too lazy to check). So what happened? One word sums it all - work.

I've been leaving the office past 9pm for the past 2 weeks and working on Saturdays on at least one occasion. While I am whining about the long hours I know for a fact that there are people more unfortunate than myself. People who work much harder for much less pay. Such is the fate of my colleagues in my previous workplaces :)

I hope to get some relaxation time this coming Friday be it Starcraft, clubbing or having a ride in Ben's new car (*hint, hint*). This is despite the fact that Saturday is a full working day for me. Oh well... overused phrase as it may be - "we'll see how it goes".

Finally got my hand on this highly anticipated Hong Kong production.

Jiang Hu stars Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Shawn Yue and Edison Chen. Important characters are also played by the likes of Eric Tsang and Chapman To thus it's only natural that people are tempted to compare this film with the Infernal Affairs trilogy. Not that a comparison would be fair however. They are very different movies.

Jiang Hu is follows triad boss Hung (Andy Lau) and his left hand man Lefty (Jacky Cheung) in the span of a single night. It's an eventful night. Someone's plotting to assassinate Hung. Could it be his 3 liutenants or his trusted friend Lefty? Whoever it is the killer's been set loose and time is running out. Will Hung make it through the night unscathed?

Jiang Hu is very light on story and heavy on flashy images. Every significant character has their individual style just about everyone looks cool in the movie. So this is another cool-HK-triad movie, eh? Well it's certainly made to look cool and the final sequence is very well shot (IMHO) but it's just a movie without a soul. Where's the story?

It's been a trend somewhat to throw in a twist or two into movies (a trend popularised by The Sixth Sense). Well Jiang Hu's shocker moment comes right at the very end and it's quite a big one. I certainly didn't see it coming. However... it's not enough to make up for the non-existant story.

One interesting tidbit... I was in a DVD shop a week ago and the proprietor told me that there are two endings for Jiang Hu. One for Malaysia and another for Hong Kong. While this is not uncommon (Young and Dangerous and Infernal Affairs had different endings in different countries), I certainly do not think this is true. According to the proprietor Andy Lau's character ends up in jail in the Hong Kong version while in the Malaysian version he ends up dead. Having watched the movie... I must say if you think that Andy Lau ends up in jail in the end of the movie then you haven't watched the movie properly... hehe

So is Jiang Hu worth the time? Sure... if you have the time to spare go watch it. It's not a great movie but it's certainly a watchable one.

Friday nite:
Lost control of my car near Jalan Duta roundabout while avoiding (of all things) a stray dog. Luckily it was past midnite and there weren't many cars around plus I wasn't speeding. Managed to escape with a bruised ego and perhaps a little burnt rubber.

p.s. the dog escaped shaken but unscathed

Saturday evening:
Was cruising along the Bukit Jalil - Puchong highway till I met with an unusually terrible congestion. Cause of congestion? A motorbike rider was run over by a car. The front of the car was terribly crumpled and the motorbike lay crushed beneath the car. About a meter away lay the limp (and I suppose lifeless) body of the motorbike rider. Face down on the tar road drowning in his own blood.

I've been avoiding that road ever since... it's creepy.

I watched Spider-Man 2 at GSC Midvalley earlier this afternoon. It's seriously good. I was thinking of writing a review of sorts for today's blog but came to the realisation that I had about as much writing talent as a bunch of monkeys hence I'll bore you instead with a list of similarities I found between the first movie and the sequel.

1. Just about everyone from the first movie makes an appearance in the second movie (even those who died in the first movie).


2. Stan Lee makes a cameo again.


3. Mary Jane gets wet again and reveals a little too much o_O


4. Spidey attempts to rescues a girl in a fire engulfed building again.


5. There's another New Yorkers unite scene.


6. Spidey's costume gets seriously damaged again (he must have excellent sewing skills to fix all those holes so neatly).


7. Spidey takes another woman for a web slinging session.

Best things about the movie

1. A larger serving of character development (makes the film so much richer).


2. A great villian. Seeing Doctor Octopus in action made me shed tears of joy.


3. Violence (mostly implied) has been upped. This is good because it brings into the film an element of reality.


4. Improved computer generated imagery. Despite that... it's still very much fake but I've always been very forgiving about this.


5. A hero (and villian) with financial problems... how often do you see that?

do yourself a favour... go watch it!