MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL

Today's weather - sunny

The first Mission Impossible was screened in 1996 and the 3rd part was shown in 2006. This Tom Cruise vehicle is finally here after 5 years but I wasn't too thrilled to watch it. After watching so many movies for so many years, I guess it is hard to get me excited anymore unless it is really good.


As before, Tom plays the IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who is once again in hot soup. Together with Jeremy Renner of "The Hurt Locker" and Paula Patton, they went through seemingly impossible tasks in Dubai, Mumbai etc to prevent the launching of a nuclear missile that is expected to set forth the next stage of the human evolution.


I wasn't too thrilled by the storyline and acting but I was actually more amazed that Tom Cruise looks visibly older than before and his body, though seemingly muscular, was also sagging badly in various places. See what time can do and has done to someone who was once so young, fresh and virile looking when he first started out in the entertainment industry. Call me superficial but I guess we should never take our youth for granted because it is only there for a short while only. Before we know and realize it, it will be lost with the snap of the fingers.


Anyway, there was a brief cameo by Josh Holloway from the TV series "Lost", who lopped off his long tresses, and died within the first few minutes into the movie.

A CHINESE GHOST STORY 2011

I think for those who watched the original classic 'A Chinese Ghost Story' starring the late Leslie Chueng and Joey Wong, they would catch this latest remake starring Louis Koo and Liu Yifei. Well, at least I did.


There was a slight change in the storyline. In the original, the female ghost Joey was in love with only Leslie after encountering the decent scholar who tried to rescue her from the demon-hunter and touched her heart with his pure love for her despite knowing that she is a demon. In this remake, Liu Yifei played the sweet and innocent looking ghost, but she was caught between an old love, Louis the demon-hunter, and the new love Yu Shaoqiang. If you find the twood-twood scholar familiar, that is because he recently starred as one of the monks in the movie 'Shaolin' played by Andy Lau and Nicholas Tze.


Whilst the latest version boasts beautiful cinematograhy and authentic scenery with mainly chinese mainland actors, the original's appeal is irreplaceable. I don't think anyone can forget the wonderful pairing of the charismatic Leslie and beautiful Joey as the on-screen human-demon couple, with a tragic ending, torn apart by their differences in existence. While I don't dislike the new version, I also don't necessarily think all new things are always better than the older ones.

GHOST 2011

I watched 'I Am Number Four' recently but I decided not to post about it because it was like a lot of other chick flicks with a similar storyline - a good looking and a pretty girl fall in love but they have to overcome huge obstacles in order to get together e.g. Twilight, Vampire Diaries.

Anyway, this post is about the movie remake of the classic 1990 'Ghost' starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. It is always very dangerous to make a remake version of an original movie or song. It is inevitable for the audience to compare the original and the newer versions to see which is better or worse. Just like Simon Cowell said on American Idol, more often than not, the cover versions are not as good as the original. But sometimes there are exceptions.

However, this is not one of them. This Japanese version starring Korean actor Song Heung Heon and Japanese actress Nanako Matsushima as the leads Juno and Nanami fell so flat that it could not go any lower. It has to be one of the worst movies I have seen so far, especially when it was from these two distinguished stars. The plot is so unbelievable, predictable and wafer thin that a leaf can cut through it. They copied the original right down to the pottery scene, song 'Unchained Melody' and the main difference is the dead protagonist is the female lead in this japanese remake instead of the male in the original movie.

At 36, Nanako looks tired, especially around the eyes, compared to the more youthful looking Song at 33. When Nanako appeared initially, I almost thought Sadako, the ghost in the more famous 'The Ring', would appear out of the corner of my eye. She was much more convincing as a ghost-plagued mother in that movie series than in this as a CEO of a billion-dollar making company. Song's performance wasn't much better and I couldn't feel his grief in the death scenes when he found his newly wedded wife Nanami murdered and thereafter. All he did was to show his lovesick puppy eyes whenever there is an emotional scene.

And don't even get me started on the psychic. In the original, Whoopi Goldberg was simply out of this world. To me, she was the success story behind the movie because for weeks after, my classmates and I were still laughing in stitches over some of the scenes involving her. She was absolutely the scene-stealer even though that was the first time I saw her. She was so hilariously natural and good that it spawned some other comedies after that e.g. Sister Act. In this japanese movie though, the psychic looked ridiculously stupid than funny.

They even dared to play the oldie but hauntingly beautiful song 'Unchained Melody' by the Righteous Brothers from the original movie. 9 out of 10 times, the cover versions are more inferior and sad to say, this one has no depth.

I rarely criticize a movie but seriously, this one is so bad and one needs to see it to believe it. If the original is a 10, this one is just a 1. Okay, I am too mean but it would at most be a 3 for me. If one has seen the best, in this case the original 1990 'Ghost', then one would know how terrible this one is and it would never come close to the former. Watch this for one reason and one reason only - if you are a fan of Song Heung Heon and Nanako Matsushima.

GHOST

It is another nostalgic night. Right after "Pretty Woman", I was reminded of "Ghost" also released in 1990 starring the recently deceased Patrick Swayze, then very refreshingly beautiful Demi Moore and the very funny Whoopi Goldberg. Unless you are too young, who could forget this movie which topped the US box office takings in the year 1990.

The pottery scene was most classic and the memorable song "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers also came to mind. 2 video clips of the song and a link to the movie are attached below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(film)

HUNGRY GHOSTS FESTIVAL

A friend told me recently that he knows someone who could see ghosts. According to him, this friend mentioned that during this 7th lunar month, there are a lot more ghosts between the 1st and 14th. In fact, his whole family sees ghosts.

Call me superstitious, but I decided not to post anything about this until today, because it is the 15th day of the month. It is the night when the moon is full. I do not know why but I tried to link up to many websites on the subject 'asian hungry ghosts' but until now, the messages I got were my browser could not connect to these sites. Is it a coincidence or what? Early this month, Lillian Too's email reminded me not to stay out late at night and even my sister also reminded me to go home early.

Anyway, my friend's explanation seemed to differ from what most asians believe, which is the gate to hell opens on the 15th for one whole month, to allow the hungry ghosts to roam in our world to feed before they return to the netherworld. That is why during this month, we see the religious offering food, joss sticks, hell paper and paper houses etc to them and the air smells of burnt paper. This is also a noisy time of the year because there would be 'getai' performances everywhere especially in the heartlands, where performers on stage entertain the crowds with their elaborate outfits and drama, and the wandering ghosts so that they do not create havoc for their human counterparts during this month.

Actually, I told my friend I have lots of questions e.g. like theoretically if my grandparents were reincarnated, then burning the above to them is of no use, and whether my dead doggie Bell is still lingering around, but I guess I will reserve these not so burning questions until another time. By the way, if the food is an offering to them, why would people eat the food after that?

GHOST WHISPERER

I am a great fan of the current American TV series ‘Ghost Whisperer’ since season 1. It has been running on TV for quite some time now.

A lot of TV series that ran for many seasons e.g. Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all started off with a great plot but over time, the script writing got a bit tired and viewers were treated with a formulaic but dry storyline that dragged on for years before they finally ended their run. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the above TV series very, very much. Anyway, back to ‘Ghost Whisperer’.

Essentially, the series is about the lead protagonist Melinda Gordon (actress Jennifer Love Hewitt from ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’), a small town girl resident of Green View gifted or cursed (depending on how you look at it) with the ability to see ghosts since young. She actually has a greater calling than just being a ghost watcher.

Frankly, this is not your typical ghost show with vengeful spirits that go around scaring people. It is much more than that and actually has a plot, and a great one too (at least up till now). The writers built on the dead to weave their interesting stories, and it is actually more about life, love, relationships, friendship, humanity, death, trust and faith etc. There were many episodes which I shared and could relate to what she was going through in emotions and I actually shed tears over the sad stories and endings.

Week after week, viewers watched how she grappled with her own issues and went around helping the earthbound spirits (that was what the ghosts were called because they had some unfinished business to settle) resolved their issues before crossing over to the light (heaven) and helped the victim’s families come to terms with their passing. She often had to deliver the good/bad news to the families that their beloved ones were still lingering around and there were often a lot of negative emotions e.g. shame, guilt, disbelief, to deal with but it often ended well for the ghosts as most of them eventually crossed over.

There were some dull moments when the script writers probably ran out of ideas but overall, it is still good with a lot of cliffhangers in most episodes and seasons that make viewers like me beg for more. It doesn’t harm that she always manages to look so pretty in every frame despite everything that she went through and how sad she looked and felt. I think this is her best movie/TV role thus far.

Something or someone evil is hatching a sinister plot that will claim a lot of victims and wants her out of the way as she is an important key to save the souls. In her search for the truth, in this latest fourth season, her husband Jim became a death victim himself and viewers watched how he defied all odds not to cross over and possessed a dead victim so that he could always be with her. It didn't end there because he did not remember anything about his past and she was all torn up trying to get back with him and struggling at the same time to help others. That’s all I can share for now as it is still showing on TV.

I hope the viewers like the show as much as I do and catch it while it is still showing.