Hollywood.Com

Here’s a question asking by S.J. Stanczak from Chicago, taken from Rogert Ebert website.

Yo dude, u missed out on “Disaster Movie,” a hardcore laugh-ur-@zz-off movie! Y U not review this movie!? It was funny as #ell! Prolly the funniest movie of the summer! U never review these, wat up wit dat?

And here’s how Ebert respond :
Hey, bro, I wuz buzier than $#i+, @d they never shoed it b4 hand. I peeped in the IMDb and saw it zoomed to #1 as the low$ie$t flic of all time, wit @ lame-@zz UZer Rating of 1.3. U liked it? Wat up wit dat?

Don’t you just love that guy?

On to different question about critic uses cellphone during movie screening, here’s what Ebert think :

When a film critic uses a cell phone, he should be handcuffed, dragged from the theater, shackled to a post in the lobby and pummeled with popcorn until he is greasy all over.

While I am still on ‘Ebert’ topic. It’s a shame that at the movies with Ebert and Roeper has no longer exist. The show still on tv but with two different host. Ebert himself hadn’t appeared to his own show due to his sickness and operation that made him couldn’t speak. At that time they kept using different critics to accompany Richard Roeper (my second favorite critic) until they decided to only use Michael Phillips, who did a GREAT job and I grew to like him as well (*)

Pictures of Kathryn is from StrangeVisitor.Org while Sharon is from SharonSmall.Org

I know Kathryn Erbe because of the show Law and Order : Criminal Intent which happen is one of my favorite show at the moment.

While I know nothing about Sharon Small. Came across to her for switching to some random channel on TV. She caught my attention right away because of her strong resemblance with Erbe. I thought I was the first one to notice that, but some IMDB user already already ahead of me.

Both are actress and has been involved in detective role (in different TV shows of course). They also have several roles on big screen. Erbe however is American Actress while Small is British (*)

Hollywood.Com

Whenever Pixar released a great movie, I always wonder whether the next one will be a disappointment. I’ve been asking the question since Finding Nemo (2003), but I found myself enjoying The Incredibles(2004) so much that I’ve been watching it over and over for God knows how many times. Perhaps Cars (2006) was not as entertaining but you got to admit that it is beautiful to watch so I will not consider it a disappointment as well.

Ratatouille (2007) however, brought back the Pixar we know. It is funny, adorable, smart and original so this time I decided to stop asking the same old question about whether the next film would fail. I don’t want them to fail but I’m afraid now that I am so attached to their works that I would not be able to handle it if they do.

That is then when I first saw the trailer of their upcoming movie, Wall-E and felt a sense of excitement about it. It looked so promising. The trailer featured a robot that reminded me a little of ET (maybe it was because of its size and voice). The narrator said that Wall-E is the only one left on Earth. His duty is to clean up the Earth and I could imagine how lonely he must have felt. I felt sympathy and maybe a little sad towards him right away and from that day on I just couldn’t wait to see Wall-E in the theater. I even prayed that it would not be a disappointment. It has to be great.

When it finally hit the theaters I didn’t get the chance to see it right away but I kept hearing people say positive things about it. Some of them mentioned that it is a movie that kids will find hard to follow and that had me a little worried because Pixar movies are usually kids friendly. Why is it different now?

But there I was sitting in front of the big screen, feeling excited, nervous and anxiously waiting to see the little robot that had captured my heart for months. I finally got to see Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class). He looks even smaller now as compared to the big abandoned city. Wall-E wakes up everyday to do his regular job without complaining. He cleans the garbage that the humans leave behind after they departed from Earth, with his own unique way. He appears like a kid at heart beaming with curiosity with the things around him. Later we learned that he was not actually alone as there was a little bug that kept following him.
The bug however appears more like a pet to him. It is something like the relationship between a man and his dog. But what Wall-E really wanted was a real friend.

At night, he would watch the video of the 1969 musical film Hello, Dolly! The video probably belongs to some of the garbage that he is supposed to “recycle” but had kept it as one of his personal collection among some of the other “valuable” things. We become aware that these are the activities he do everyday and every night for a very long time and to have a real friend is just like a fantasy that probably would never come true.

That was probably what life is to Wall-E until the day he discovered a seedling plant. He didn’t know what it was but he decided not to destroy it. In fact, it even became part of his valuable collection.

But how was Wall-E to know that something would happen later that would change everything he ever knew…

A huge spaceship arrived and surprised Wall-E when it landed on Earth one day. Wall-E was terrified but being the curious little robot he is, he couldn’t help but want to find out what was going on.
Then he saw EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), a female (there was no mention about EVE’s gender but judging from the voice and the way she moves we could tell right away) robot.

As compared to the old and rusty Wall-E, EVE looks so modern and high tech. Instead of walking, she flies around and even shoot laser. How cool is that?

Wall-E felt afraid and admiration towards her at the same time. Maybe it was too cheesy to imagine a love story between robots but the Pixar team knew how to do it the right way. Yes, they are robots but somehow you know you just want them to be together.

When Wall-E presented EVE with the plant he found, EVE took it and stores it inside her. But something went terribly wrong and she stopped moving. Wall-E got into a state of panic so when the spaceship came back to pick EVE up, he followed.

The ship brought them to Axiom, the place where the humans are living after abandoning Earth. Here is a place where the humans need not go to work because robots are doing everything for them. It was like as if the humans are vacationing on a cruise of eternity.
The humans here are extremely fat but why? Was it because all they ever do is eat and sleep all day long?

That is not the only mystery because you would also want to know why EVE went to Earth. What else will Wall-E discover from his trip?

This movie is directed by Andrew Stanton who also brought us Finding Nemo, and just like Nemo, Wall-E is charming and adorable. The difference is the lack of real dialogue in Wall-E. It makes sense because the story is created in a robot’s point of view. Having a robot that talks too much would ruin what I felt gave Wall-E its character. To me it is good enough knowing that they (the robots) can feel and have emotions. I wouldn’t have like it if Pixar characterized them too humanly. It would be like seeing a dog acting like a dog only that they can be portrayed as smart, but once dogs start to make coffee for their owner then that would be too much. I am glad Wall-E, EVE and all the robots are still robots.

After watching the movie I now understand why young kids (under 5 years old) may not enjoy Wall-E. This is because there is a lack of really funny jokes and slapstick scenes. The movie is better suited for older kids, teenagers and even adults. I didn’t mind the lack of dialogue. In fact it made me realize that a great story do not need well-written dialogue. Wall-E may only voice things like “Wow” or whistles when he sees something amazing, but Pixar did a wonderful job in having the audience understand his language. He’s only a robot but Pixar was able to express emotions into his eyes. I could almost feel how he felt.

Wall-E is a movie that is great in every way. The characters, the scenes and the animation are perfect to me. I am 100% confident that the Oscar for best-animated picture will be going to Pixar. And to be honest I lost the interest to watch Kung Fu Panda or Space Chimps and maybe any other animation movies that are not by Pixar after watching Wall-E.

People kept saying that The Dark Knight should be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Award but I felt that Wall-E deserves it more. I think this is the one time where the highest acclaim should go to an animated movie.
I mean, who other than Pixar deserves better? This is a company that brought us Toy Story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003), Monsters, Inc. (2001) and The Incredibles (2004).

You be your own judge (Special thanks to Andy who edited and published this on his site).

I accidentally marked the comments from Jane, Rima, Madi, Alison and maybe many more as spam Right now I am still trying to recover those. It seemed I need to wait until my husband got home so he can help me.

I appreciate all your comments and thank you for visiting my site and so sorry that this happen

freephotobanks.com

Around a week ago, I finally got my green card. So, now I am on the way on becoming US citizenship. I haven’t decided on whether to become a citizenship or just a green card holder. I still need to learn about the benefit of each.
Becoming US citizenship meaning you don’t need to be bother with renewing your green card and such. Although at least for the next 10 years I don’t need to be worried about that because that’s how long my green card will last (of course I still can renew it).
In other hand, Indonesian government just passing the bill of dual citizenship for children that born from two different nationality parents. I know having children is too far away in our sane mind, but that’s sort of stuff that hold me a bit from trying to get US Citizenship yet. The dual citizenship is something that has been fight for a very long time and I feel bad if my kids wouldn’t use it.
Again, I still need to learn more about the benefit of each option and I HAVE lots of time to do that. It amazed me that next time I renew my green card I’ll be almost 40. Time files twice faster lately.
Anyway, having green card meaning I CAN finally travel outside United States. So, we started making plan to visit Indonesia. If things worked according to plan, we’ll probably CAN go sometimes around summer NEXT year ( I can’t believe that the goal is getting closer and closer).
I also learn that I need to “report” myself to Indonesian Consulate General in order to get free fiscal stamped in my passport. I also need to change my name on it. The good thing is you can do that online, so I shall do mine soon.
The reason is gonna take THAT long because I prefer to go there with Adam. He just started his new job at Geico insurance company and he won’t have enough day off until sometimes next year. The great part, I can take day off whenever I want, so if I HAVE to go by myself, I STILL can.
The not so unpleasant of the trip is the cost of the ticket and the length of the trip itself. Since I lived in Manado, the trip from US to there will take more than 32 hours. Usually you’ll have to spend over night in Singapore (that’s what makes it longer). However the cost of the ticket there so damn expensive. However, all you have to do is buy the ticket, get on the plane and that’s it.
The cheapest way is to go through Jakarta. You still have to BUY another ticket from Jakarta to Manado, but all combines still almost $ 400-700 (imagine what could you do with this extra money in Indonesia) cheaper than from US to Manado only. However, the trip becomes longer. It could take TWO days! Plus the trip back it could take a half of a week of our day off already!
Of course the most important thing of all that I need to be discipline in saving the trip money and so far I still got nothing (I know!). Hopefully I can start saving all my paycheck in one or two weeks. When I reach the right amount, we decide to gonna get the ticket as soon as possible so it will be cheap than getting it too close on the trip day.
Anyway, I am so glad that I have a job. It makes my life less bored. Also, I’ve been getting extra hours lately and I don’t mind at all since I need the money.
My one and only reality show is on also. Again, I am not interested in their drama but I just love seeing the photo shoot and the makeover part. Yes, I like watching America’s Next Top Model.
In more than a week, some of our favorite show will be back on TV. You know like Desperate Housewives and Law and Order : SVU. Law and Order : Criminal Intent will be back on November. Still couple of months away but as I said before time flies twice faster lately so I guess it will be soon to see Bobby Goren again.
My friend, Andy has published my FUN (way more fun than watching The Dark Knight) experience of watching W-ALLE on his website. Click here if you want to read it. I plan to also publish this on this website of course.

The Dark Knight

hollywood.com

After Wall-E, this is probably the second best movie I saw on theater this year. However, I have to disagree with many critics who kept saying that this one is Oscar worthy, except probably for best sound category. Other than that, this is just an “entertaining” super hero movies. I’d say that it’s the same class with Spiderman 3, only with more realistic story.
How about Oscar worthy performance? I also have to disagree with it. Even though Ledger is very good on it, but to me he just act like the other “villain” from comic books. I can’t compare with Jack Nicholson because I haven’t seen his version. I do love the make up on both “Joker” and “Two Face”. This is what makes The Dark Knight better than any other superhero movies, that they try to be as close to realistic as possible. Maybe that is also why Maggie Gyllenhaal cast as Rachel Dawes. I think she fits better as a tough lawyer than Katie Holmes. Although, some people on IMDB kept saying how horribly looking she was. Was she? I am totally sure that half of those people, if they were men wouldn’t mind to have girlfriend that looked like her, and if they were women would killed to have her look. They kept saying that superhero’s girlfriend MUST be attractive. But she does! She probably doesn’t looked like Angelina Jolie, but she isn’t bad looking at all. And let say she is, why on earth that every heroin need to have “hot looking” girl friend?
Anyway, I still enjoy the movie although I was expecting something even BIGGER because of all the fuzz I kept hearing about this movie. Does anyone notice how Bruce Wayne talked when he was Batman? It’s a bit bothered me, but I can understand that the reason he did that so people won’t recognize him as Wayne of course.

You’ve Got Mail

dvdtown

I think I’ve seen this movie thousand of times, but every once a while I just wanted to re-visit the experience I had with this one. The chemistry between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are just undeniable. After appearing together in Joe Vs Volcano (which I haven’t seen it) and Sleepless In Seattle, they proof that they’re still good to watch with You Got Mail. I am not really fan of Romantic Comedies, but if it has Hanks and Ryan, I’d say: Bring it on!
Ryan played as this charming Kathleen Kelly, with her life totally dedicated to her children bookstore “Shop Around the Corner”. Until the giant Fox Book Store comes to town with number one target to monopoly the book business. One of the owner is Joe Fox, played amazingly by Tom Hanks who apparently Kelly’s internet pal. They shared stories and just ordinary observation in their daily life then Kelly started to asking her pal, who confessed that he’s a brilliant businessman on how to kept her business alive. The whole story, character and everything about this movie just charming, easy to follow and just made you want to see it at least every holiday. I wonder when Hanks-Ryan-Ephron will team up again.

Sweeney Todd

hollywood.com

“How on earth Helena Bonham Carter kept getting part on almost of every Tim Burton’s movie?” That’s what people kept saying. But I must admit she always plays her part brilliantly and she does have great chemistry with Johnny Depp. Although, it seemed that all her part would also played great by Winona Ryder, but it’s unlikely to happen in million years it seemed.
If you hate violence movie, then you probably shouldn’t seen this movie. If you hate musical then this is not your kind of movie. How if you hate both kind? Then you should stay away from this one.
To me it’s interesting that they mixed musical and very bloody violence movie, although I am not fond with the music they used here. I thought since Burton isn’t working with his favorite Danny Elfman this time, the music is gonna be interesting to hear, but I was wrong.
So, although this isn’t the best one from Burton, it’s still worth to see. I especially like the “gothic” atmosphere that Burton’s create. One of my favorite scene is when Helena Bonham Carter’s character, Mrs. Lovett fantasizing about how her life’s gonna be if she ended up marrying Sweeney Todd. It also has pretty good twist at the end of the movie that probably will make you gasp (I did).

Enchanted

hollywood.com

Another musical movie with no bloody scene (thank god!) since this is made for all ages. It’s actually typical Disney’s movie, about Princess who has dream marrying their prince charming, only this time it involves two world; animation and real world. In other word, they took all the elements we familiar with from Disney’s typical animation (Beauty and The Beast, Snow White, etc) and bring that to “our” world. In some aspect reminds me of the movie “Shrek”.
I wouldn’t say that this movie blows my mind but it also not bad at all. It won’t be as legendary as Disney’s other movies and I’ll probably won’t watch it again, but for a very light entertainment, I’ll stole what Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips said; “Rent it!”

Contact

amazon

I can’t believe I’ve been delaying this in such a long time! This is one of the best movie ever made. The story is just so interesting. Foster played as Dr. Eleanor Ann Arroway, who since a little girl fascinated with amateur radio. She was raised by her father only so when he died it really brought impact in her life.
When she grow up, she becomes a scientist working on the SETI program. Her bigger dream is to make a contact with “alien” from different planet. She still believes that it’s possible. As a scientist, Arroway believes more in fact and of course don’t believe in any sort of religion. It was ironic that she fell in love to a charming preacher played by Matthew McConaughey.
What I like about this movie first about the main story itself on how her effort trying to reach and get closer to different universe but also how they bring faith (religion) and fact (science) together. It’s like they’re trying to show that both aspect is actually CAN work together. It’s hard to think how on earth both can connect while they’re so against each other existences, but this movie tells you how.

More to come : Porco Rosso, Memento, Rambo, Journey To The Center of The Earth, Inside Man,
Miracle Mile, 10.000 BC

Usa Network

Saw the last episode of Criminal Intent with Chris Noth (Mike Logan) last night. I usually don’t mind to skip his episode (prefer the dynamic between Goren/Eames), but since this was gonna be his last before his second exit (his first when he was still part of the original Law and Order) so I decided to watch it.

I AM glad I did. It was amazing! I am not gonna try to review it or whatever because ONCE I did that then I will feel obligate to review TV show I watched then I’ll never catch up with other things.

I hope I am not betrayed Goren by saying that the episode with Logan was the best of this season even beats the ones with D’onofrio and Erbe. The script, the plot are perfect. Usually you can sort of guessing around or at least have prediction on who’s gonna be the suspect, this time they hide it VERY well you just have no clue at all.

The story about Wheeler (Logan’s partner) was amazing too and at first I just started to think how on earth they have a different story specially for her and worried that somehow it’ll connect in such a non realistic way. It DID connect but in making sense kind of way.

I’m glad they end Logan’s story that way. They don’t kill him off, they don’t really fired him or even put in jail. Basically not as dramatic as what they wrote for Jesse L Martin character in Law and Order.

Can’t wait to see Goren-Eames episode as well. From the teaser it seemed so dramatic. But that makes me worried that somehow the writer will try too hard and ended up ruining the episode. Let’s hope I am wrong.

Yesterday, while enjoying my day off, I heard the news about Festival of Sail right here on San Diego. What caught my attention was when they mentioned that they have the ship from Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Master of Commander. I thought that it’d probably great to write about it to Manado Post, so I took a bus right away and get some picture. I’ll post some maybe in a few days because very soon I need to take a bath and off to work (*)

First I got a job. It was DAMN hard at first because it involves American money and even though I’ve been living here for almost three years never occurred to me to learn about money. Every time I bought something that cost like $ 8.50, I wouldn’t care if I have 50 cent, I’ll save my time by paying $ 10 and never really pay attention to change (I still took it of course but it went direct to my pocket).

However, with my new job, I MUST know about money. Not only that, I NEEDED to learn about checks too. I was so stressed out on my first days, it made me just want to focus on learning about money and everything job related and quite abandoned this blog.

Even though I worked for sometimes only 4 hours, I felt ache all over me, my body, mind and soul.

But that was then. Now, I don’t really have problems with all of that stuff. It’s true that once you keep doing the same thing everyday, it’ll becomes your habit and suddenly it wasn’t that hard anymore. I still needed help for certain things sometimes, but so far I don’t stress up anymore. I plan to stay there for a while.

My husband also get himself a new job. He still on training and it seemed he liked it very much, especially for the benefit that they offered. He even said that he probably will stay in this job forever!

To celebrate our new beginning in life, we went to see three movies that we’ve been delay in a while; Journey To The Center of the Earth, The Dark Knight and of course… Wall-E! I’ll write about those once I have time.

A week ago, I got letter from USCIS. They return my medical exam document because my doctor signed it on August 1st and apparently they have DIFFERENT form starting that day so I NEEDED to go back to doctor and ask him to rewrite the document. It basically just copy from the old to the new one.

I wasn’t that exited to see the doctor because he has been such a pain in the ass.

The reason we (my husband and I) saw him at the first place because he charge cheaper than other doctor, although probably only $ 5-10 cheaper.

We went there for the first time I think around a year ago. He is a Hispanic guy who seemed doesn’t really know English that well. I usually don’t mind as long as you nice. I myself still have difficulties communicating in this language, so why judge others?

The problem is he was so rude and just getting on our nerves. He didn’t listen to what you have to say and even when you actually agree to what he told you, he would yell, “You’re NOT listening!”

At that point all we want was to get all things done as quick as possible so we don’t need to see him anymore. Unfortunately when we first sent the document, the USCIS CHANGED the cost from 400 to more than 1000. So, we had to delay.

When we got the money, we sent the document back. Then I got mail from USCIS for my green card interview. Everything seemed work so well, except for some reason our doctor wrote that “I don’t meet the vaccination requirement”. We asked the woman who interviewed us why he wrote such thing and she said she didn’t know the reason and the only way to find out was to see him again and asked him to change it.

We went to see him then he explained everything which of course seemed to us sound like a foreign language, so when we asked question he’ll said, “YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!”

It turned out that I need to get Varicella vaccine and since my HIV test already expired I need to get new one. The doctor said he won’t charge us too much this time.

Days before I went to get the vaccine, we called him to ask how much he want to charge us and he said $ 60.

When we saw him again he completely forgot on what he said on the phone. He ended up charge us $ 100. At this point, we just want to get everything done as soon as possible so we don’t have to deal with him anymore. So, yes we paid him $100

A week ago, another letter from USCIS came. Seemed that we need to SEE that stupid doctor again. With a speaker phone on, my husband called him and mentioned about OUR situation, that we need him to rewrite the document and such…

The doctor kept interrupting by saying, “Didn’t I told you that before? I did tell you that before, right”. We’re pretty clear that he never told us that thing before, but there isn’t any point to tell him because he’ll dominate the conversation and like I mentioned before won’t listen to what you have to say.

And, of course when my husband said something, he again would said, “YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!”. So, then my husband just asked how much we need to pay him this time. He said, not much just $30.

My husband asked when I can see him, he then paused a bit (probably checking his computer). He said that he didn’t have his assistant with him so he need to do the scheduling by himself. He said, what about Tuesday at 9 am? My husband agreed and hung up the phone.

On Tuesday, I woke up early so I can go to the bank and cash some money. I took around $ 100 (5 bills of twenties). So I went to get a drink so I can get 10 dollar bill. My plan is to keep the rest in my hiding pocket inside my bag and only prepare $ 30 (one bill of 20 and one bill of 10) in the front pocket. So, when he tried to charge me more then I’ll show him that’s the only money I have. Although, I kinda ready to pay him more just in case.

So, I went to his office, open the door and went inside. I didn’t see anyone there but I could hear him talking (although it’s more like a yelling) to his assistant. From the way he talked to her seemed she still on training. When they came out, I didn’t recognize the assistant, so I was right that this one is still new. I just realized that every time we went there he always had different assistant. I seemed to know why now.

When he saw me he seemed surprise. He asked who was I and I explain about the document that he needed to rewrite. He seemed to remember me now and then asked me to hand it. “Next time make appointment first, like you see I am in the middle of something.”

I didn’t even realize what he said until he disappear from my sight. What? Make appointment first? I DID!

Few minutes later he comes back and started rewriting the document. He said that I am lucky that the woman he should meet today seemed late. I didn’t respond although I really wanted to. From the way he handle things, he seemed like a very impatient (and not that bright either) person. so I decided not to interrupt him because I don’t want to cause him making any more mistake in my form.

By the end, he charged me only $ 30, just like he said. I was relieved.

I also got another mail from USCIS that told me they will send my permanent resident card (green card) in three weeks and it won’t expired for 10 years! I was pretty surprised because I heard some people first green card usually only last for two years then they will get another one that last for 10 years. Although then I get another letter which said that they still need to wait my OTHER medical document before they can process that.

So, soon I am gonna head off to post office and mail that stuff. I might also go to the library and sign up for a card. I’ve been reading lately the last two books I read is Life With My Sister Madonna (I always like reading memoir) and a fiction novel by Haruki Murakami called Sputnik Sweetheart. I won’t really recommend anyone to read the memoir about how Madonna’s brother tell bad stuff about his sister but I definitely recommend the other one.

Oh, I just hate the fact that Half Blood Prince has to be delayed for… more than a year!!! I was so looking forward to it. I guess I always like to have something to look forward and hate it when they took it away when it’s closer to you.

Soon, Law and Order:CI will be on it’s season finale and don’t know when it will be on again. Chris Noth left comes Jeff Goldblum. Glad that D’onfrio and Erbe still around though especially since their episode are the ones that I watched mostly.

I also get myself three new shirts, one shoes (for work purpose) and a cool bag. Well, it’s fun to finally be able to spend money from your own hard work. Soon, we gonna start saving especially for our Indonesian trip.

RottenTomatoes.Com

Francis Ford Coppola surely is one of the biggest names in movie history and I am totally aware of that fact. However, something kept me delaying from watching his masterpieces such as Godfather or Bram Stoker’s Dracula Dracula. So, for a long time, I only knew his great reputation but that’s all about it.
Then Apocalypse Now Redux came one ordinary day in the mail. I didn’t even choose for that. It was my husband but I watched it anyway. I finally understand why Coppola is considered one of the best director of all time.
It started with such a disturbing scene. The half naked Martin Sheen appeared on the screen, seemed drunk and… disturbed. He was very young, but it made sense because this is such an OLD movie. From IMDB, I learned it was made on 1979 (the year I was born), so it was almost 30 years ago!
Sheen played as Captain Benjamin L. Willard. During his “hangover” moment somewhere in Saigon, some armies entered his small room and told him that there was a secret mission to Cambodia waiting for him.
My first reaction was how come army would sent an insane guy to lead a mission that supposed to be dangerous, so secret that if something went wrong it would consider never happened.
Then it became clear. The mission seemed as crazy as Willard himself. In fact, towards the end of the movie that Willard was so normal compare to Colonel Kurtz.
Kurts was THE target of his mission. Willard had to find him then kill him. He learned that there had been previous mission that failed miserably, when the leader of that mission decided to join with Kurtz instead.
With Kurtz files on his hand, Willard (and the audience of course) learned that Kurtz seemed like a perfect soldier with a great track records. What made this guy dangerous? Why he need to be killed? Although the most important fact was what makes he had so many followers now?
Kurtz was played by Marlon Brando. However, don’t expect to see him THAT soon. It will take a while before the audience finally get a chance to see this character.
The trip to find Kurtz are so fascinating. There was scene where Willard met this eccentric photojournalist played brilliantly almost with no flaw by Dennis Hopper, partying with American troops in some based down the river while watching the performance of some Playmate of the year, or the simple conversation between Willard and his crew (one of them played by a very young Laurence Fishburne).
But of course the scene that everyone waited the most is how Willard met Kurtz. The only thing I say that I could see why Coppola choose Brando to played Kurtz. He is one of the most fascinating character ever brought to screen. Charming but cruel at the same time. I personally think he was creepier than Hannibal Lecter.
All I can say is prepare with such a disturbing scene. Soon I learned that one of those scene not made by special effects or with dummies, but it was real. I won’t mention which but it surely why this movie not on PETA’s list of favorite movies. Of course the big question was about Willard’s mission. Will he be able to kill Kurtz? Or instead join forces with him?
I got the same feeling watching this movie as I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perfect movie although you need to have a really fresh mind to be able to enjoy and appreciate such long movies.
Just like “2001″ dared to show off their capability in making such a “High Tech” movies where the technology as not as advance nowadays, so did this one.
I always thought that Saving Private Ryan was the most war detailed war setting movie, but now I have to put this movie along the list, probably even higher consider it was made at 1979.

More to come: Contact, Porco Rosso, Inside Man, Miracle Mile and Memento.

Hello, I am finally back and surprised that my friend Alison has awarded me the award above. I feel so honored.

Even though I am back I won’t be active for a little while at least until I am getting used to my confusing (and often change) work schedule. Yes, I got a job now. It’s probably not as cool as my previous job but it’s pretty exiting since this is my first job ever in US.

I wrote my experience on getting this job on the site called Kompas Komunitas (Koki). You can read it here

I also wrote another funny experience of mine here. Both stories were in Indonesian though (since the site mainly is for Indonesian readers).

The other things that I’ve been doing is taking pictures and upload them on Flickr and you’re very welcome to see it.

I wanna thanks to my readers who are willing to take a little time from their very busy life to come here only to hear me whining or complaining about stuff. I really appreciate it. I’ll return all your comments very soon but now I need to get ready for work ( I still can’t believe that I actually HAVE a job!).

Talk to you later!