I caught the movie and must admit that I enjoyed it more than "Elysium". Based on a young adult fantasy novel, this movie is the first story out of six books. So if this movie does well, sequels would be made to capitalize on the success.
Lily Collins is not one of my favourite young actresses, especially after I saw her in "Mirror Mirror" as Snow White, but she was alright as the lead protagonist Clary here. The cast included the long absent Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who acted as her father, and the taiwanese actor Godfrey Gao, who mesmerized me with his height and eye liners. Interestingly, there was a gay shadowhunter played by Kevin Zegers, and this is a sign that the movie industry is becoming more liberal and is slowly weaving such non-main-stream minority groups as some of the key characters.
Having said that, I must say the storyline was a tad too convoluted in the sense that there were too many things happening at the same time that there wasn't much time for viewers to digest the story. There was never a time when the pace was too slow that it put the audience to sleep, even right from the beginning. But that could be bad too because I think a movie needs moments of fast action and moments of brief respite.
Anyway, I wonder when the next part would be out.
I read that "Elysium" topped the US box office last week whilst "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" came in second. I watched "Elysium" last week and frankly, I didn't quite like it.
Starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, it tells the story of a world separated into two classes of people in the year 2154. The rich and elite escaped from a deteriorating earth to live in a space station known as Elysium whereas the remaining population were left behind to inhabit what is left of earth. In Elysium, there is no aging, sickness, poverty or poor and each household has a machine that helps to heal the people whenever they are sick or injured.
Matt is Max, the unlikely hero who had big dreams when he was young, who in desperation tried all ways and means to get on board a spacecraft to get to Elysium to use one of the machines to heal himself after a freak accident exposed him to lethal doses of radiation and leaving him with just a remaining lifespan of 5 days.
I am not certain why but I wasn't thrilled by the storyline or acting although I must admit I enjoyed Jodie Foster's portrayal as the mega-bitch Secretary of Defense who tried to take over as the President of Elysium.
Now it's time to move on to the next movie.
This is the sculpture on the flower of love and peace by Ana Tzarev outside the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.
There are a many of these sculptures all over the world and the link is as shown:
http://www.anatzarev.com/exhibitions/international
This was a trial photo shoot of my little princess Sandy using the fish eye lens. She had absolutely no idea what was happening.
I just love to see the orange glow thrown off the clouds from the setting sun in the far horizon.
We picked up the bird's nest on the floor along the promenade and brought it back to the office without realizing there was a nestling, until a colleague was shocked to find it on the metal basket.
We were totally speechless because the nestling, with eyes closed, was about an inch long and still breathing. It must have hatched not long ago and there was no way it would or could survive without the mother. With a heavy heart, I can only use this post to dedicate this short write-up on the nestling, as remembrance of its short fleeting life.
Since "X2: X-Men United" in 2003 when Jean Grey disappeared, a few other X-Men movies were made with Wolverine gaining more onscreen presence. "The Wolverine" made a decade later, is sort of a spin-off movie due to Hugh Jackman's excellent portrayal of the character.
After what appeared to be Jean's death, Wolverine went into hiding out of guilt. His recurring nightmares of Jean beside him, night after night, turned him into a recluse. That was when he was brought to Japan and met Mariko, his love-interest in the comics. I didn't quite like the storyline though, with the Yakuzas and ninjas and the Viper.
For me, the best part of the movie was the easter egg segment, where Magneto and Prof Xavier appeared, and hinted of a huge storm brewing ahead of them, thus uniting both forces together to fight what was coming up.
