[Review] August Rush

my first acknowledgment of this movie was few months ago, when i saw the trailers and clips on the television. ever since i fell in love with it. yes, because of Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Freddie Highmore factors, indeed. moreover to know that both of them would play guitars and Jonathan would provide his singing voice, once more after the fantastic Velvet Goldmine. i didn't quite catch the storyline of it at first, but the visuals (apart from the beautiful people in it) were beautiful. and Robin Williams also stars in it. this should be one good movie.

and finally, i watched it few days ago with my sister. at home. what i've got from it was more than "good". it's better, warming and beautiful.

it was a very long time ago i've got my chest warmed from a movie called Evelyn, and the very same feeling came rushing again as i watched this movie. the casts gave superb performances. the visuals were gorgeously captured, every second, every minute went perfectly well with the storyline. and the soundtrack ... the music, the songs ... spectacular.

August Rush tells a story about a young boy named Evan Taylor, who was craving to meet his parents again, by following the music his parents made and from voices he hears around him that could connected him to them. Evan was blessed with the gift to hear the "sounds" around him as "music". he was the one who could listen to the sounds made by the noisy traffic in NYC as a spirited bold orchestra. and i envied him for it.

itw as in NYC, where Evan got his name August Rush. a street artist (looked like a cowboy Bono, and portrayed amazingly by the great Robin Williams!) gave him that name when he found that Evan got a fantastic gift with music and sounds, and he would do good as a busker, or a performing artist even.

Evan's parents, Louis and Lyla, met on a beautiful full-mooned night on a rooftop of a building. they were escaping from the party downstairs, and instead found each other. serenaded by the song Moondance from a harmonica played by a local busking artist, they spend the night there. and i envied them (well, her mostly, really!).

i really love the contrast between Louis and Lyla, from musical background, as the movie was mostly about music and the life of Evan. Louis was the lead singer and guitarist of an indie rock band, as Lyla was a cello player from Jilliard music school in an orchestra. it was divine how his ruggedness and her elegance collided.

the ending was a bit predictable, but i really like how the director visualised it.

next, i would review the soundtrack. i'm so in love with it.

[Review] Godaan Termanis - The Sweetest Taboo

yes, people, gue baca chicklit *dances to YMCA*

tapi to be really honest, kalo yg nerjemahin bukan Si Mbak gue juga belom tentu baca ni buku. hihihihihi ... dan juga mungkin karna settingnya di London tea atuh PLUS! ada embmel2 "gay" nya *ga peduli siapa yg gay, tapi demennya membabi buta gini*.

bukunya fun, ga pake mikir *iyalah!* dan ceritanya ngalirnya enak banget (apa karna yg nerjemahin ya? *ahem*komisikomisi*ahem* ). dan sebagai makhluk visual sejati, gue juga gembira ria aja memvisualisasikannya di otak gue gitu.

seperti yg udah di baca di MPnya Mbak Lala, Sadie ngejer Gil ke LA. dan apa yang terjadi di LA itu bener2 bikin gregetan. dari insiden "setengah-mantan-istri", bizzare-trianglenya Sadie-Gil-Tavis (yg entah kenapa gue visualisasikan kaya Rodrigo Santoro) yg bener2 ... bizzare. wah, seru banget deh.

ada satu bagian yg gue suka BUWANGET dari ni buku, yaitu ketika Sadie digeret Tavis ikut reading Romeo & Juliet. sumpah, Mbak! cerdas banget itu translatenya!

tapi membaca ciklit terjemahan ini, gue tiba2 teringat testimonial Yokie untuk skrip novel gue: "Mo, baca novel lo kaya baca novel terjemahan."

emang bener juga kata beliau ...

[Review] Dracula

finally! after nine months of reading i finished it!

the book had so much differences compared to the film. for instance, there was not much appearance of the Count in the book, but it didn't affect the horror feel of reading it. probably since i've seen the film thousands of time, i could visualise what i read easily, yet it didn't make the book less interesting (compared to Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire? ergh.)

i salute Abraham Stoker for writing this piece of horror. even reading it on a broad daylight in a public transport could send the chills behind my neck. i took one star off my rating. or the death of Dracula in the book.
i'd prefer the film's version much better.

really.

[Review] The Picture of Dorian Gray

The artist is the creator of beautiful things.
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.
The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming.
This is a fault.
Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.
That is all.
The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.
The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.
The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved.
No artist has ethical sympathies.
An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.
Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.
Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.
From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician.
From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type.
All art is at once surface and symbol.
Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.
Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.
It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.
When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself.
We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.

- Oscar Wilde as in the preface of his novel "The Picture Of Dorian Gray" -

i have to admit, the very first reason i read this book was my crush to the character Dorian Gray in LXG (portrayed sinfully gorgeous by Stuart Townsend).

it's about the title-character, 18-years-old Dorian Gray who made a path to exchange his very own soul to his painting's, driven by jealousy when he learned that his painting would never grow old, as opposed to himself who will age day after day after day.

Dorian himself was torn apart between his two best friends: Basil, the painter who made his painting, and Henry, the gentleman who told him about the fates he and his painting would face.

this was the first and only novel Oscar Wilde had released, apart from his plays. being Oscar Wilder, it got a strong homosexual essence, but that's the beauty of this novel. the story was well-written, the language was beautiful, the characters were fantastic. this is how a young hedonist would live back then (or as i would say, ABG)

and the ending ... is how Oscar Wilde would end it properly.

[Review] Butterfly On The Wheel (Shattered: US title)

FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC!!

this movie might be the best thriller film i have ever seen. by this year. even though i admit, my two main reasons to watch it were Pierce Brosnan and Gerard Butler. but turned out their good looks were nothing compared to the whole package of the movie.

i could hardly take my eyes from the screen for the whole movie. it's fast, unpredictable, psychologically disturbing ... WICKED!!

the twist between the characters are spectacular! how a simple thing could lead to your worst nightmare. and how you could never judge someone from their appearance. that someone who seemed to have the world in their hands could fall down to a principal matter, and someone who seemed so simple could do something you never expected before.

the main idea of the case might be simple, but what comes with it was spectacular. the cast was brilliant. pierce brosnan was perfect as the psychopath maniac, he got that cold expression that could send shivers to the back of your neck. and gerard butler had not have the Leonidas look yet. he looked a bit ill, if i may say. definitely not leonidas-y.

Suppi!! lo harus nonton!! babeh gue melempar laki luh dengan mudahnya lalu raja spartan haus darah itu dipukuli!! ahuahauhha!!! ngerrriiii ... !!!
[Alex: ...]

[Review] Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with Franz Ferdinand (Audio)

reading the lyrics of Franz Ferdinand's songs always raised eyebrows. both by the unknown meanings and the smartness of them. it's really interesting how various conversations from an art party in a gallery in Glasgow could lead to an ambiguously bisexual song titled Do You Want To.

then the same man who wrote it made a book about food while touring the world with the band. and he read it on BBC's Book Of The Week.

disguised as a travel journal, Sound Bites tells us about various cuisines that had passed the path of Franz Ferdinand, especially Alex Kapranos, a former chef in Scotland and today's world-famous vocalist, from fugu-fish in Japan to bull's testicles in Argentina.

the way Alex described the meals he had was elegantly sensual, yet it's perfectly placed. it was highly exaggerated, yet it's a spot-on. it was witty, yet it's also curiously amusing.

maybe he was the first person who could make a five-year-old boy's birthday cake sounded so sexy. a fugu fish is something that would be perfect for your fore-play sessions. or perhaps, inviting six-thousand people to have dinner in the lobby of the hotel you're staying sounded like a perfect revenge for the manager.

he could made us feel as if we were there with him experiencing the same travels, foods and feelings. it even comes reflexively to one's mouth the ticklish tingling sensation caused by his allergy to peanuts.

this book was obviously made for the Greek-Scot's velvet voice that was complimented with a seductive English accent with a slight touch of Scottish. every page he read was like a bedtime story-telling. every words slipped out in an innocent sensual way from his tongue and lips. it's hard to keep patience for him to read the next page, and the one after that, and the next after that.

i really can't wait to get my hands on the proper form of this book.

my biggest mistake while listening to the four-part BBC reading was ... doing it in the broad daylight in Ramadhan month.

Immortals [2011]

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

oh my mighty Zeus ...

itulah kesan2 gw setelah kelar nonton film berdarah2 ini.
tenang, saudara2 sekalian yang terkasih dan tersayang, gw masih belum bermutasi jadi manusia yang suka liat darah, koq. terbukti ketika menonton film ini, gw beberapa kali mengernyitkan dahi, karena pusing yang melanda. masih untung sih gak pingsan kaya a certain Scottish vocalist yang jago masak, tapi pas nonton adegan operasi di Dirty Little Things di in-flight movie langsung semaput, black out aja gitu.

di film ini, kita akan melihat asal muasal sang Man Of Steel, Superman, jadi jauh .... JAUUUUUUUUHHHHHH!!!! sekali sebelum bereinkarnasi menjadi ujudnya yang sekarang, Kal-El adalah seorang lelaki Yunani berotot bernama Theseus [Henry Cavill]. dia tinggal bersama ibunya, di sebuah desa yang indah di tebing pinggir laut. ketenangan desa mereka diusik oleh leluhur Ivan Vanko yang marah2 karena pecut sakti mandragunanya dicuri.


di sini kita akan melihat ujud Ivan sebelum menjadi lelaki besowar dengan aksen Eropa Timur yang seksi, dia adalah  King Crab Hyperion [Mickey Rourke, yang mukanya aselik antagonis banget!]. ternyata, di masa lalunya, beliau sedikit sirik sama Legolas yang bisa dengan indahnya berseluncur menuruni tangga Helm's Deep sambil manah2, maka dia menugaskan seluruh pasukannya untuk mencari Epirus Bow, senjata sakti mandraguna milik Ares [Daniel Sharman], sang dewa perang dalam mitologi Yunani, yang cantik luar biasa nan gemulai. Hyperion sangat terobsesi pada Epirus Bow, karena ia ingin membebaskan para Titans, yang dikurung oleh para dewa. kalau Hyperion berhasil melepaskan para Titan yang dikurung oleh para dewa, efeknya mungkin akan sama dengan jatuhnya One Ring ke tangan Sauron.

Cavill + Rourke: .............. honestly, woman.

*eLmo lanjutin ngetik setelah benjut2 digebuk Theseus dan dicapit helmnya Hyperion*

right, long story short, King Hyperion memiliki misi untuk mencari Epirus Bow, senjatanya para dewa yang dipakai untuk mengurung para Titans, berjuta2 tahun lalu, ketika Bumi masih pake popok. raja berhelm capit kepiting ini bermaksud membebaskan para Titans, dengan tujuan mengadu makhluk2 yang berwujud macam suku Wachati di Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls itu dengan dewa2 seksi di Mount Olympus sana.

rupanya, Raja Kepiting ini mendendam kepada para dewa, karena pecutnya dicuri Zeus ketika istri dan anaknya terkena wabah penyakit mematikan, para dewa itu tak mau menjawab doanya yang meminta mereka menyembuhkan keluarganya. maka dendamlah dia. tak hanya dia ingin menghancurkan Olympus dan seisinya melalui para Titan [yang hanya bisa dilakukan setelah ia mendapatkan bujurnya busurnya Ares], ia juga make sure semua bayi yang akan lahir di Yunani mirip dia. bagaimana caranya? menghamili wanita2 di sana?

that is too mainstream!
this is how ...


cross your legs, lads.
cross your legs.

yak, lanjut!
tersebutlah Theseus, pemuda desa yang sejak kecil bantu2 jualan tongkat kursus body building [hey, lihat badannya? salah kalau gw bilang dia latihan body building?] bersama seorang pedagang tongkat sihir di Diagon Alley bapak2 uzur di desanya.
dan di sinilah weapon of eLmo's distraction dilepas.




bapak2 tua itu ternyata bukan sekedar pedagang tongkat bapak tua bijaksana semata. tetapi beliau adalah ... ORANG INI.


Gusti Zeus Maha Agung!
apa2an ini lelaki??
kemaren jadi pendeta kurang senonoh yang piawai main pedang dan hobinya pake baju clerical itemitemitem dengan kalung salib segede hoh-hah, tetapi kelakuannya sekarepe dewe, sekarang dia jadi Dewa Zeus aja gitu, yang busananya minim sekali, dada diumbar kemana2, pahanya kekar banget. udah gitu doyanannya mainan pecut sama rante pula!

oh my mighty Zeus!!

dan beliau tidak keren sendirian aja gitu! di khayangan masih ada lima dewa lain yang walaupun tidak se-fabulous beliau, tetapi tak kalah oke. terlihat Emmett Cullen tidak bling2 lagi Poseidon [Kellan Lutz, yang mukanya minta diunyel2] lagi mainan garpu trident sambil pake konde Princess Leia, Athena [Isabel Lucas] yang luwar biasa cuwantek dan menggemaskan, Ares, yang tidak kalah cuwantek namun helmnya yang berbentuk mohawk ekstrim membuatnya terlihat gahar [ih, gw mah ga mau naik Trans Jakarta sama orang pake helm begitu!], lalu ada Heracles [Steve Bayers] yang .... berotot :|



















as Suppi said, when you're a GOD, why make yerself looking like some old beardy man, when you can have the look of ... LUKE EVANS?! *mimisan muncrat ke monitor*

*lap monitor*
not that i mind Sean Bean and Liam Neeson as Zeus, though. especially Liam, when he boomed "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!" in Clash Of The Titans. *eLmo releases her clothes*
and, guess what? Luke was in Clash Of The Titans, as Apollo. so, he got a raise! yaay!


yah, anyway, layaknya hamba2nya, para dewa ini juga kerjaannya leyeh2 nonton sinetron infotainment sinetron kehidupan orang lain kegiatan manusia2 di bumi. sang Bapak Dewa dengan tegas menyatakan kalau dia dan anak2nya tidak boleh pake baju banyak2 ikut campur urusan manusia, kecuali ketika para Titans dilepas.


[entah kenapa, ketika ngetik ini yg kebayangnya begitu Titans dilepas, para dewa akan direpotkan dengan alay2 grupis band KWnya Peterpan. hih!]

tentu saja anak2nya Zeus yang maha ganteng ini tidak nurut.
mulai dari Poseidon yang bikin tsunami lokal, kemudian disusul Ares yang membantu Theseus dan si Phaedra [Freida Pinto] melarikan diri dari penjara garam [sehat amat ya penjaranya?]. sayang sekali Ares kegep ngebantuin manusia, dan dihukum pecutlah dia sama Bapaknya. sampe mati.


di sini agak bingung sih, bukankah dewa2 itu immortal, seperti judul filmnya? tapi koq bisa mati ya? apa karena yang mengamuk itu Bapaknya, jadi bisa?
entahlah. hanya Tarsem Singh yang tahu.
yang jelas sih gw agak2 ogah juga ya diteriakin "PROVE ME RIGHT!!" sama lelaki yang bentukannya macam Luke Evans sebagai Zeus.
............................... or maybe not.
*crut*



right, speaking about Tarsem, sutradara yang satu ini ternyata manusia di balik The Fall. gw belum nonton sih filmnya, baru liat trailer-nya beberapa tahun lalu. tapi gila deh, trailer-nya aja tuh udah bisa bikin kejet2 saking kerennya! sayang saat itu gw belum mampu untuk nonton di bioskop tak berangka, yang saat itu harga tiketnya masih bikin nangis. hiks.

begitu pun Immortals ini. walaupun aura 300-nya kenceng banget, tapi tetap aja film ini gak keilangan kemegahannya sebagai sebuah film yang loosely, VERY loosely based on Greek Mythology.

gw suka banget pemandangan desanya Theseus. oh my mighty Zeus! apakah di Indonesia ini ada desa seperti itu? indah banget! penjara yang terbuat dari garam itu juga keren, dan adegan2nya di sekitar tempat2 itu pun indah2 pisan! dan, of course ... Olympus. walaupun gw mungkin gak akan mau berada kurang dari 10m dari ujung tempat itu ya :|


klimaks film ini, bagi gw, adalah ketika para dewa akhirnya gontok2an sama sekelompok suku Wachati itu. brutal! tusuk sana, tusuk sini, gorok sana, gorok sini. hadoh, gw nontonnya udah urut2 kening aja saking kliyengnya liat darah dimana2!
penampilan para dewanya ketika perang ini, sayang sekali, udah sedikit bersahabat sama kain, walaupun paha2 kekar itu masih kemana2 ... *gigit paha Zeus*


gw suka banget koreografi pertarungan gods vs. titans. gerakan2 gemulai nan indah para dewa sangat kontras dengan gerakan2 para titans yang kaya monyet rabies dikasih kopi segentong. and Tarsem really made sure people would see the difference. bravo!

di sela2 pertarungan ini, kita bisa melihat bagaimana piawainya Yang Dimuliakan Zeus bermain rantai. rantai aku, Zeus ...

right.
jadi itulah review saya mengenai Zeus, eh, Immortals.
ya ... Zeus .... Bapaknya para Dewa yang gantengnya astaghfirullah, subhanallah itu.
dada kekar .... paha kekar ... kekar semua deh!
apakah saya sudah bilang kalau yang jadi Zeus itu orang ini?

*JROWODH!!*

ps. Zeus poster of Immortals and mad Zeus came from lukeevansfan.tumblr.com
image of Theseus came from scifi.about.com,
image of King Hyperion came from iteramo.com,
picture of nut-breaking was stolen from Suppi's MP,
image of old Zeus and Theseus came from moviespad.com,
image of titans and Olympus came from latinoreview.com,
image of ZEUS came from hollywood-spy.blogspot.com,
image of Poseidon came from movies.about.com,
image of Athena came from deskofbrian.com,
image of Luke Evans Zeus came from movietuna.com,
image of Ares and Athena in Olympus came from popcornaddiction.com,
image of Zeus whipping Ares came from ropeofsilicon.com,
image of gods at war came from beginningandend.com,
image of Luke Evans came from .... my WinchesterPhone :|