Tag Archives: Natalie Portman

How Did You Celebrate New Year’s Eve?

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This year, I am not going to over complicate my New Year’s resolution.  It would be: read more, write more, play more music, and do more sport.  Other time sinking activities will have to be scaled back accordingly.

We stayed at home on New Year’s Eve, thanks to a laborious walk at Ubin Island the day before.  I got out of the bed in the early morning with my feet feeling sore.  I went back to bed thinking if we were to cycle instead of to walk, my feet would not be that sore.  But then I recalled what happen to those who do not cycle often.  I would rather have a pair of sore feet than a sore butt.

New Year’s Eve fell on a Saturday so we did our housecleaning ritual.  After a home cooked lunch, Cynthia and I spent a few hours romancing with the dragons.  Some readers have the misconception that MMO (massively multi-player online) is similar to the traditional role playing games, whereby you defeat your foes once and once only.  Well, in the world of MMO, we do that again, again, and again.  Very much like a game of basketball.  The court and the rules stay the same.  But the players and the outcomes may not.

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After our movie outing the day before, TK, Cynthia, and I have decided to celebrate New Year’s Eve at my home watching some videos.  TK brought pizza and food while Cynthia bought potato chip and drink.  As for the lucky me, I was tasked to operate the Blu-Ray player.  I suggested to watch the Luc Besson movie “Léon” staring young Natalie Portman.  Cynthia counter suggested Quentin Tarantino’s gruesome “Reservoir Dogs” thinking that it was a comedy.  TK also preferred the blood and gore, for our New Year’s Eve.  In this party of three, somehow I am often outnumbered.

Watching “Reservoir Dogs” requires intense concentration, which we did not have once we started to eat our pizza and talked.  Cynthia and my mother were happily chatting.  TK was also happily chatting and every now and then, playing with his new phone often.  When the title “Mr. White” appeared, they had no clue where the story was heading, except blood and more blood.  I had to explain this is Mr. White, that is Mr. Orange, and he is Mr. Pink, and etc.  Fortunately, the ending was pretty obvious and that did not require much thinking to go ah-ha!  I can understand why “Reservoir Dogs” has become a cult hit.  I doubt TK and Cynthia really love it.

After “Reservoir Dogs”, the night was still young.  So we moved onto our next video.

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If you have not watched “Léon” before and are to watch today, you would probably say, “Hmm.  Natalie Portman acted pretty good when she was 12.”  But imagine you have not heard of this movie, you would probably be amazed and thrown out of your chair at how talented this young actress is.  When I first saw Natalie Portman on screen, I said to myself, “She is going to make it big.”  She does not disappoint me.  Her 2011 “Black Swan” has won the Oscar.  And I had my “I knew it!” moment.  It was sweet.

“Léon” was more violent than I remember.  Watching “Léon” after “Reservoir Dogs”, we had our evening filled with blood and violence.  They are both classic movies, no doubt.  That pretty much sums up what 2011 is, in a way.

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Year 2011 is pretty blah for me.  I hope 2012 is more exciting, in a positive way.  This is how we spent our New Year’s Eve.  What about you?  Did you do something outrageously fun?

Thor – You’ve Been Expecting It, Haven’t You?

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Frankly speaking, the best 3D viewing experience thus far.  I was about to give up on 3D technology wondering why I would want to spend extra dollars to watch a show with color less than vivid, edges at times blurry.  Thor has restored my faith on 3D movies.  They have done right this time.

I vaguely remember some of the audiences upon watching the promotional clip at the end of Iron Man 2 screamed “Thor!”  It was a hammer discovered on a dessert.  Now that I have watched Thor, the hammer is called Mjolnir.  And my geek-o-meter in the universe of Marvel has just shot up by one knot.  At the end of this movie, there too was another promotional clip.  This time, the audiences screamed “Avenger!”  I have been watching Avenger’s promotional clips for what seems like ages.  I wonder when Avenger will be out.

Thor is the god of thunder (played by Hemsworth), cast down from his celestial realm to our world due to some classic family politics.  The fantasy realm is a beauty to look at, especially with those 3D glasses.  And to help us to connect to to these celestial beings, we have Natalie Portman and her two science team members who witness Thor falling from the sky.  The encounters between them are lighthearted and hilarious.  And it was fun to see Natalie and her girl friend swooning towards Chris Hemsorth’s look and body.  Gosh, I so want to have a body like that!

Girlfriends (or love subjects?) of the superheroes are usually quite useless or powerless in the stories.  Thor is no exception.  I really wish that something could have happened between Thor and that warrior princess lookalike character.  If I was the story writer, I would find a way, one way or another, to let the girl wields some massive power towards the end, to save the dude who saves the world or to save the world herself.  Better still, sacrifice herself in the process.

I like it that in Thor, the story flips between the celestial realm and our present realm.  I am unsure if there will be a sequel.  Judging at the positive reception, I reckon there should be one.

No Strings Attached – And The Portman Fever Continues

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I was expecting worse, partly influenced by the mixed reviews.   But as a fan of Portman, it would be a crime to give “No Strings Attached” a miss.  I do not love her less after watching this romance comedy.   Natalie Portman remains as a versatile and witty actress.   And she has good chemistry with the leading actor Ashton Kutcher.   It is unfortunate that the script is less than inspiring.  Is it the scriptwriter’s fault?  Or is it because some of us cannot relate to the topic of casual sex?   A few minutes into the show, a younger version of Portman tells a younger version of Kutcher that she does not believe in loving someone forever.  Shortly after, a younger version of Kutcher shyly asks, “Can I finger you?”   That pretty much set the tone – script-wise – on where this film is heading.

Less than inspiring script aside, “No String Attached” does have its fun side.  I found myself laughing lightly throughout the movie.  Portman plays a doctor who has little time for romance.  And here comes Kutcher whom Portman has seen occasionally over the last 15 years, who agrees to be her friend with ‘benefit’.  You can’t really read too deep into the story because you can more or less predict where it is heading, as in most of the romance comedies.  If there is one takeaway point, that would be: being in love could be painful but it is better to feel love than living a life without.  In today’s Singapore, this seems to be so relevant.  Especially when we finally realize that the root cause of the falling birth rate could well be people not falling in love enough to get married.

Now that we have watched “No Strings Attached”, after that phenomenal “Black Swan“, I am looking forward to watching “Thor”.  Yet another movie with Natalie Portman in it.

Black Swan – How I Love …

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Chinese New Year is a time we spend it with our family and in our case, ‘extended’ family.  At the stroke of midnight, Cynthia, our gaming buddy Mark, and I were in our goblin form (with two others) battling gnomes and machines inside the dungeon Gnomeregan.  We did not notice the time until we saw the long list of warm wishes flowing from the guild chat window.  On the second day of New Year, we met my sister, her husband Benny, and little Bethany.  On the first day of New year, Cynthia, our movie buddy TK, and I watched “Black Swan”.  I have extremely high expectation on this movie because first, I am a huge fan of Natalie.  I love her performance since the beginning, when she partnered with Jean Reno in the 1994 Luc Besson movie.  Second, I am a huge fan of Tchaikovsky, especially his ballet piece – Swan Lake.  I used to have several versions of Swan Lake recorded by different conductors and orchestras in cassette format.  You may think that a classical piece is a classical piece and they are the same.  But they are not.  When you are used to the rhythm and the details of a particular recording, listening to a different one can be – initially – excruciating.  I could write on and on about Swan Lake, the classical music.  And Swan Lake, the ballet.  But let’s go back to the movie, “Swan Lake”.

I would prefer to classify “Black Swan” as a drama and a psychological thriller, rather than an erotic thriller as marketed here in Singapore.  It is ironic because after the censorship – noticeable on that girl-on-girl scene – what is left is a series of fast forward awkward looking shots.  But look at the brighter side, two decades ago, seeing two girls kissing on screen must have been unthinkable in Singapore.  Perhaps two decades from now, adult viewers can enjoy artworks closer to the original form.

The story of “Black Swan” is surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) simple and straightforward.  There is a loose tie in with the ballet’s story development too.  Ballet dancer Nina – played by Natalie Portman – is going to be the swan queen, dancing the roles of both the white and the black swan.  Does perfection require technique and control?  Or rather, passion and letting go?  It is a story of one lead ballet dancer’s struggle to embrace the opposing roles and her transformation from the white swan to both the white and the black swan.  Natalie Portman is a brilliant actress.  Some scenes on how she methodologically goes through the ballet training are almost too painful to watch.  The result is authentic.  You can see that she has put in a hundred and ten on this movie.

From the choreography and filming viewpoint, of the few ballet scenes on screen, I felt lifted watching them (according to Cynthia, I was shaking).  Partly because I have already loved the music (and the actress).  And partly because of the special effects added to some of the scenes in making them more than what we seen on a real life ballet stage.  I am not a ballet dancer and am unable to comment on the technique of the actors and the actresses and their doubles.  From what I have seen on screen, I am convinced.

Will the Oscar voters agree with Natalie Portman that this is perfect?  We will have to wait and see.

The Other Boleyn Girl – How Accurate I Wonder

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The Other Boleyn Girl

Knowing that I was about to recover from my flu, Cynthia tapped onto the Sunday morning paper and said, “I want to watch number 1, 2, and 3.”  “What’s number 1?” I asked.  She said something and I replied, “Huh?  What boleh girl?” (‘Boleh’ in Malay means ‘can’, which ironically is not too far from the plot).  It was not as hilarious as my friend TK whom we met later at the cinema.  He joked: The Other Boon Lay Girl.  (‘Boon Lay’ is a small housing estate in Singapore.)

“The Other Boleyn Girl” has both the talented Natalie Portman (TK and I are big fans of her) and the beautiful Scarlett Johansson as the main actresses.  To top it up, Eric Bana (my favorite Hector of Troy!) played King Henry VIII.  I had no idea what to expect from the movie and I came out of the theatre feeling a bit more aware of some of the important events in England such as the breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church and the birth of Queen Elizabeth I.  I certainly had no idea the importance of the role played by Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn – the sisters acted by Natalie and Scarlett.

The life of King Henry VIII is rich and complex.  Married six times and having a few mistresses of his own, “The Other Boleyn Girl” portrays only a facet of his life – his affair to Mary Boleyn and his marriage to Anne Boleyn.  If the film sticks to the original intend and tell a story from the other Boleyn girl’s perspective – that is Mary played by Scarlett – it may have been more focused and intense.  But we all know how captivating Natalie’s acting can be and she does have a lot of air time in the movie.  In that sense, I am not sure if I was watching The Boleyn Girl instead.  Validity of the historical accuracy aside, I too find the casting of two Americans and an Australian with little or no British accent to play these main English characters odd.

There is little doubt that the acting is great.  And Natalie Portman is such a versatile actress.  If you try not to think too hard on what one man would do just to get a baby boy of his own or how all of these was a bloody mess due to one man’s lust, it is actually quite an entertaining romance drama to watch.  “The Other Boleyn Girl” does seem to me like a prequel to the more epic movies “Elizabeth” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”.  In such, the reminiscence of Natalie Portman’s role as Queen Amidala as sequel to the epic movies of Star Wars episodes is quite startling – to me at least.

Somehow there is a yearning within me to learn what exactly happened to Anne and Mary’s lives during their time.  The plot of the movie may not have done the history justice.  And I wonder, will the filmmakers hundred years down the road be fascinated by the stories of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and make a movie out of their lives?  One thing I am sure is: royal scandals sell – especially ones that come with sex and blood.