CINDERELLA

This is the latest fairy tale that came to the big screen.

Starring Lily James as Cinderella (Ella), Cate Blanchett as the wicked Stepmother (Lady Tremaine), Richard Madden as Prince Charming (Kit) and Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother. This 2 hours long movie followed true to the storyline, unlike the many such as "Into the Woods" which were screened of late.

To me, the best part of the movie wasn't the romance between Prince Kit and Ella, which was saccharine sweet, but the fantastic portrayal by Cate as the stepmother. She proved to be my screen goddess once again. Every role she steps into, she does it so naturally and convincingly. In this movie, she was every bit the much hated and wicked Stepmother everybody will grow to loathe.

Oh, I am beginning to see a trend in society where every young girl wants to become a princess. Who would eventually emerge as the real princess(es) where courage and kindness triumph all the hardships?

Ella's first encounter with Kit, the "apprentice"

Cinderella going to the ball in her pumpkin carriage

Helena Bonham Carter as the strange Fairy Godmother

Lady Tremaine and her two loathsome and shallow daughters

if only looks could kill, Cinderella would definitely be dead

a side profile of the two leads

Nonso as the Prince's aide

SEVENTH SON

I was thinking I should post about this today because I would be extremely tied up for the next two weeks.

Starring Ben Barnes as the titular character the seventh son of the seventh son Thomas Ward, Jeff Bridges as Gregory the Spook, one of my favourite actresses Julianne Moore as the evil witch and dragon Mother Malkin, Alicia Vikander as Alice, Kit Harington (lead actor of last year's movie Pompeii) with a brief role as the apprentice Billy Bradley and Olivia Williams as Tom's mother Mam who is a good witch, the simple storyline was a letdown to me.

Thomas, the son of a good witch and human, was sort of destined to be an apprentice to help the supernatural master the Spook to kill a dark witch, who was once Gregory's ex-lover. What is a movie like this without a love relationship, hence the character Alice, who was the daughter of another witch and human, and Thomas fell in love with each other. Anyway, that was besides the point and I hardly think it was a pivotal part of the movie.

Interestingly, Kit Harington had a small part to play at the beginning of the movie and died shortly after being killed by the dragon. This was another recent movie of Julianne Moore's but I wasn't quite impressed with her character and role. Ben Barnes was just there to look good. I did find Mam quite an interesting character though.

Anyway, I don't think this is excellent box office material, which kind of explains why it wasn't released in December 14 with the bigger blockbusters.

Billy ensnared by the dragon's tail.

the witch in human form

Thomas and Gregory

Alice and Thomas

Mam who sacrificed herself to save the village

POMPEII

The movie "Pompeii" was based very loosely on the volcanic eruption in 79 AD of an ancient Roman city near modern day Italy's Naples. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius killed almost 20,000 people and buried its inhabitants under 4-6 m of ash and pumice. For 250 years, Pompeii has been a popular tourist attraction and is listed as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites with annual visitorship of almost 2.5 million people.

Starring Kit Harington, Emily Browing, Carrie-Anne Moss and Kiefer Sutherland, it tells a romance story of Milo, the remaining survivor of the Celtic horsemen tribe which was massacred by the brutal Roman leader Corvus, and Cassia, the daughter of the city ruler of Pompeii.

The ruthless Corvus pursued Cassia from Rome to Pompeii in an attempt to make her his bride. While trying to escape from Corvus, she was rescued by the grown-up Milo, who had by then become a gladiator known for his fighting ability, and they both fell madly in love with each other. With the help of Atticus, a champion gladiator, Milo tried to overthrow Corvus and their battle ensued and culminated with the explosion of the volcano. The ending is not unexpected, documenting the city's destruction and decimation under the prowess of nature.

I have no complaints about the movie although I didn't think it was box office material.

Kit Harington with his great abs and windswept hair

A brooding looking Milo

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the champion gladiator Atticus

Cassia and her mother

The hateful and corrupted Corvus

Sasha Roiz as Corvus's henchmen Proculus

GARDENS BY THE BAY: FIRST ANNIVERSARY

I just came back from an evening of celebration from the Gardens by the Bay.

Today marked the first anniversary of the gardens since opening its doors to the public a year ago. The gardens also received 5 million visitors last Friday and a hamper was given to the lucky 5th millionth visitor. We put a mask over one of the teddy bears to provide some humour. Time really flies and it has been a year now. Fortunately the haze cleared up a couple of days ago to make this first anniversary event possible.

The anniversary programme began around 5 pm when we saw loads and loads of buses carrying residents from the West Coast GRC and Sembawang Constituency arriving at the meadows where the outdoor event and concert was held. The weather was surprising good and there was a light cooling breeze considering a week ago the haze level reached PSI 400. When the evening wore on, there were performances by Li Feihui, the finalists of the singing talent competition "The Final One", followed by that of the Singapore Idol fame Taufik Batisah and our very own local songstress Kit Chan, who ended the evening with 4 songs.