Movie ~ Beerfest

First of all, I am a teetotaller and I do not understand the joy a mug of beer can bring. I also do not appreciate the rowdiness of a drunkard but I gave Beerfest a chance due to a review online that it is a very funny movie and I am always game for some comedy.

Beerfest movie poster

The main theme of Beerfest, a 2006 movie, is of course the beer. It starts off with a funeral of the grandfather of two brothers, Todd & Jan Wolfhouse.

Todd Wolfhouse / Young Baron Ludwig (Erik Stolhanske) & Jan Wolfhouse (Paul Soter)

The brothers were then assigned by their grandmother to take the ashes of the grandfather to their motherland, Germany. There, they were exposed to Oktoberfest for the first time.

They were also introduced to Beerfest, an underground Oktoberfest, if you will. In Beerfest, competitions are held to find the champion of beer drinkers every year.

In Beerfest, Todd & Jan Wolfhouse were trashed by their cousins who are Germans and they vowed to return the following year with a team to put up a strong competition.

Landfill

The movie then shows the Wolfhouse brothers recruiting their old drinking buddies, Landfill, Blind Sikh and Steve "Fink" Finklestein. This team of five then spent the following months training on being the quickest and best beer drinkers.

Blind Sikh

Before the year was up, many events followed that disheartened them, and some wanted to quit the team. There were some amusing moments, some bittersweet moments and some risque moments.

Team USA

In the end, Team USA did turn up at Beerfest. After all, their secret family beer recipe was on the line, and they competed against other teams from around the world. The climax was of course, Team USA versus Team Germany.

The crowd cheering the teams on

Which team won and by what way? Watch to find out, although I must admit, I was slightly disappointed with the movie. It was not as hilarious as I expected, from the review that I read. This movie is best watched by beer lovers. Off hand, I can think of a few friends.

Team USA versus Team Germany

Movie ~ Take the Lead

*Take the Lead* movie poster

"Take the Lead" is the latest dance themed movie that I watched. This 2006 movie is inspired by the life of Pierre Dulaine, a professional ballroom dancer, and stars Antonio Banderas in the lead.

Antonio Banderas as Pierre Dulaine

One night, Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas), witnessed a young man wrecking a car in the street and discovered that he is a student, letting out anger on his Principal's car.

The next morning sees him at that school, and having a talk with the principal and offering to teach ballroom dance to the students in detention class.

Detention class

Despite the absurd idea, as the kids are rough and tough and prefer hip hop and rap to ballroom, and despite objections from a teacher who reported this to the Parents & Teachers Association, who believed the students need more time to work on their Math, rather than more dancing, Pierre persevered.

Tango demonstration

The students, who were unresponsive and uncooperative at first, were won over when Pierre made a demonstration on tango and how the dancer can actually use dance and body language to communicate with his partner.

The students were sold to this idea

So the students were taught to dance all the ballroom classics from scratch from salsa to rumba to tango to meringue to waltz.

It wasn't easy as there were criticisms from the advanced level dancers in Pierre's professional dance academy due to the vast difference in class and status but he received support from his assistant.

Despite all the hardships the kids have to face in their everyday life, they kept at it due to the promise of a shot at the five grand that is the prize money n the annual ballroom dance competition.

Extra ballroom dancing lessons

At the end of the term, Pierre kept to his promise of entering the students in the competition where they put up a fierce competition against the other professional dancers. Although they did not win, Pierre managed to cultivate a sense of self-believe in these underprivileged students.

Annual Ballroom Dance Competition

Pierre Dulaine's informal ballroom dance lessons to the detention class gave birth to the "Dancing Classrooms" New York City program with plans to expand to schools across America.

After watching this movie, I am willing to suffer another bout of high school if I could attend such a program in school. My neighbour is a ballroom dance coach too but I never took lessons from him. If only he looked an iota like Antonio Banderas and half as hot as him, I would have taken up ballroom dancing long ago *sigh*

Movie ~ Bend It Like Beckham

*Bend It Like Beckham* movie poster

I watched Bend It Like Beckham, a 2002 British movie, a few nights ago, but I did not have the time to do a review here. That explains the one week lapse in updates. So sorry!

Anyway, this movie is supposedly a Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport. Pardon me, but which is the funny part? Is it the part that Tony said he really likes Beckham? That's the only part that is slightly amusing.

In the beginning of the movie, the actors' British accent needs some getting used to.

As for the rest of the movie, it is quite fast paced and rather enjoyable in some parts of the movie but I have the feeling the movie makers cannot really differentiate a Punjabi from an Indian as the script kept being jumbled up.

Parminder Nagra & Keira Knightley

Bend It Like Beckham centres around a Punjabi girl who loves to play, and have the talent, for football. But being a girl, and Asian, there was no hope for her to go far in sports and so her parents were adamant of her not playing football, and just concentrate on studies.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Watch this movie to see if Jess (Jesminder 'Jess' Kaur Bhamra) can convince her parents that she can handle both football AND studies, and also non-Punjabi boys :-)

Jess & Joe (the coach)

Bend It Like Beckham helped to jump start the careers of Kiera Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and of course Parminder Nagra.

Victorious

Movie ~ My Big Fat Greek Wedding

*My Big Fat Greek Wedding* movie poster

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is a 2002 romantic comedy film written by Nia Vardalos who is also the main star of the movie. It took me six months to finally watch this and I am glad I did.

Nia Vardalos is Toula Portokalos, an American of Greek descent, who spent the whole thirty years of her life living as her parents wanted her to, and helping out at the family's Greek restaurant.

Nia Vardalos as Toula Portokalos

At thirty and still single without a boyfriend in sight, her parents try their best to match make her with any Greek man, and even considered sending her back to Greece to find a husband.

Toula refused because she knows there's more to life than getting married to a Greek and breeding Greek babies.

At the travel agency

One day, she meets and falls in love with a white American, Ian Miller (played by John Corbett) and all hell breaks lose. Of course, there's objection from the family but Ian Miller loves her so much that he is willing to do anything for her, including adopting her religion and putting up with her boisterous family.

Baptism of Ian Miller

And of course, in the end love prevails but Papa Gus Portokalos thinks that he is still in control of the whole situation.

Papa Gus Portokalos

Quote: Do not let your past dictate who you are but let the past be part of who you will and can be.

This is a feel good movie that is hard to believe. It's sort of like a fantasy movie, where we hope that these events will happen to us but knowing full well that the real world is so much more skewed, unfortunately, but we can dream for that 95 minutes, can't we?

Happily ever after

Korean Movie ~ Love, So Divine

*Love, So Divine* movie poster

"Love, So Divine" is a 2004 Korean romantic comedy staring Kwon Sang-Woo whom I watched in "My Tutor Friend" and Ha Ji-Won whom I watched in "100 Days With Mr. Arrogant" and "Sex is Zero", and will watch in Ditto.

The cause of banishment

Peter Kim Kyu shik (Kwon Sang-Woo) is a seminarian about to be a full-fledged priest when he accidentally dropped a sacred item during Mass, no thanks to his buddy and fellow seminarian, Seon-Dal (Kim In-Kwon whom I watched in "My Wife Is A Gangster").

As punishment, both of them are banished to a small church in a remote town and upon good conduct only will they be able to become priests.

The sassy Ha Ji-Won as Yang Bong hee

Upon their arrival, they meet Yang Bong hee (Ha Ji-Won), a sassy and sexy girl like no other girl they have known before. The following morning, Kyu shik and Bong hee got into a compromising position and it is seen by the Sister.

Kiss (oh oh!)

Bong hee was then ditched by her boyfriend and wanted to fly back to America, where she came from, but her uncle, the resident priest has no personal funds, so Bong hee works for the church for one month to save up on her plane ticket.

Bong hee's trial baptism

Kyu shik, on the other hand, is given the task of getting Bong hee to baptise, or else he won't be able to graduate.

Temptation

However, Kyu shik finds Bong hee so irritating that it brings out the dark side of him that he has to keep making confessions.

Entertaining the kids

Slowly, but surely (this is a romantic comedy), Kyu shik finds himself falling in love with Bong hee, but she is forbidden fruit, while Bong hee continues to pine for the ex-boyfriend.

Quiet chat

Anyway, to keep the story short, Kyu shik is torn between God and girl. Who will he choose? It is not an easy decision for him, obviously.

Tears

Movie ~ The Covenant

*The Covenant* movie poster

The newly released "The Covenant" is touted as an action, horror, thriller movie. Yes, there was plenty of action, but it was not horrifying nor thrilling at all.

In 1692, in the Ipswich Colony of Massachusetts in the United States, five families with unnatural powers formed a covenant of silence. One family, lusting for more, was banished; and everyone thought they were killed.

Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait)

This movie is about the Sons of Ipswich; four young students of the elite Spencer Academy who are descendants of the original settlers of Ipswich, and are bound by their ancestry.

Sarah Wenham (Laura Ramsey)

These boys, Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait), Pogue Perry (Taylor Kitsch), Tyler Simms (Chace Crawford), and Reid Garwin (Toby Hemingway), were born with powers too; getting a taste of it at 13 years old, and ascending fully on the 18th birthday.

Their power is so addictive, so seductive, they tend to abuse it, but each time it is utilised, it consumes the body's energy, and the body will age rapidly, unnaturally.

Their secret is threatened when the body of a fellow student is discovered one night after a party. Who was the one who killed the student using this dark force?

Chase Collins (Sebastian Stan)

"The Covenant" starts off pretty slowly, apart from the rock music at the party in the opening scene and the subsequent car chase. For the next thirty minutes, it was like "walk, walk, stand, stand". The action only starts when the antagonist is revealed in the later part of the movie.

Ring of fire

Most of the movie was filmed at night, in the rain. Caleb's home, the Spencer Academy and the students' dorm are all old rambling buildings that will give anyone the creeps, even without the dark force or the creepy crawlies.

Caleb flying through the barn window

Although it is said that these boys have the "power", to me, it looks more like witchcraft. It is an over-rated movie. Just think pretty boys playing Dragon Ball Z.

Movie ~ Friends With Money

*Friends With Money* movie poster

"Friends With Money" is a 2006-released Hollywood movie. I don't know what to make of it. If it's a drama, it's not deep enough. If it's comedy, there was no funny dialogue."Friends With Money" focuses on three married ladies and their single friend, Olivia (Jennifer Aniston). The three married ones are financially comfortable, one is even so wealthy she can afford to give two million dollars to charity, while Olivia is an 11th grade teacher turned housekeeper.

Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) the housemaid

I have watched Jennifer Aniston in quite a number of movies, most recently in "Along Came Polly" and "The Break Up". In them, she was OK since she cannot really be a silver screen star, maybe it's because of her stature. "Friends With Money" is by far the worst. Casting her as a housemaid is as believable as casting me as the Prime Minster of Malaysia.

The three married ones have martial and social problems while Olivia has financial AND "trying to find Mr. Right" problems. One wonders where and when Olivia started to befriend these three ladies since the age gap is at least ten to fifteen years.

And in one scene, Olivia called up all her clients to tell them she is not going to work as a housemaid anymore, but the plot didn't even reveal how she can afford not to work. Suddenly she's using her much treasured face cream as foot cream. Did she strike lottery or what? LOL

In bed with Mr. Filthy Rich

In the end, Olivia met a not-so-good-looking guy, and slept with him pronto when he revealed that he is super rich. Olivia became so filthy rich that she is even richer than her friend who donated two million to charity. OK, I added this last line :-)

Scumbag

Anyway, I don't know why Jennifer Aniston took up this movie in the first place. Olivia uses her client's dildo, make love on her bed, nick her USD75 face cream, sleeps with a scumbag who takes a cut off her housekeeping pay, is obsessed with a married man who was her lover for two months, etc. In short, this script doesn't fit her and there's no room for her to expand.

Korean Movie ~ My Tutor Friend

*My Tutor Friend* movie poster

"My Tutor Friend" is a 2003 Korean action romantic comedy based on a series of story published online by Choi Su-wen, an English literature major.

"My Tutor Friend" later became a a popular monthly printed comic series and from there, resulted in this movie.

If I were to sum this movie up in one sentence, it would be "Not-so-young spoilt rich brat unexpectedly falls in love with country bumpkin." Don't be misled by the movie poster above, though. There definitely wasn't a "Mike Tyson" situation.

Korean heart-throb Kwon Sang-woo

Kwon Sang-woo is Kim Ji-hoon, the spoilt rich brat recalled from America, who is two grades down, and still trying to complete high school at 21 years old.

Tuition time

Already a truckload of tuition teachers have given up on him, when Choi Su-wan (Kim Ha-Nuel), a second year university student majoring in English takes up the task at the insistence of her mother, to lessen the family's financial burden. Su-wan's job is to make Ji-hoon study for two hours a day for three months. And that pay will be enough for her fees for the new semester.

A posse of highschool airheads

As if being bullied and intimidated by Ji-hoon is not enough, she has to deal with Ji-hoon's airheaded high-school girlfriend who thinks Su-wan is out to hook up with Ji-hoon.

After running in to a lot of trouble and threatened to be deported to America by his father, Ji-hoon strikes a deal to score a minimum of 50 point average in the finals. That is a daunting task when his average has been 8 only all these while.

Choi Su-wan dancing in the annual festival

Even his tutor, Su-wan doesn't think he can do it, and bets to dance in the school's annual festival IF Ji-hoon can score above 50 points.

All's well ends well. Su-wan and Ji-hoon get together finally, after all the cat and dog fight. No tragic ending, thank god!

Trivia: Choi Su-wan's mummy was also the mummy of Kim Sam Soon in My Name is Kim Sam Soon and Nam Jung-eun in Attic Cat.