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MPW 2133

MALAYSIAN

STUDIES

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
STUDIES ON MOVIES/FILMS
MR. KAMAL
9TH DECEMBER 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0

OBJECTIVE.................................................................................................................
BACKGROUND STUDIES........................................................ ................................
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................
CASE STUDY..............................................................................................................
4.1 MOVIE REVIEWS..............................................................................................
4.1.1
SUBTOPIC INTEPRETATION.........................................................
4.2 MOVIE SYNOPSIS...........................................................................................
4.2.1
SUBTOPIC INTEPRETATION.........................................................
4.3 ANTHOLOGICAL TOPICS...............................................................................

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4.3.1
SUBTOPIC INTEPRETATION.........................................................
CASTS' BIOGRAPHY........................................................................................
4.4.1
SUBTOPIC INTEPRETATION.........................................................
SEQUENTIAL DRAMA.....................................................................................
4.5.1
SUBTOPIC INTEPRETATION.........................................................
CREWS' INTERVIEWS......................................................................................
4.6.1
SUBTOPIC INTEPRETATION.........................................................
INVIDUAL ARTICLES SUMMARY & ANALYSIS.......................................
4.7.1
MOVIE REVIEWS.............................................................................

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4.7.2
MOVIE SYNOPSIS............................................................................
4.7.3
ANTHOLOGICAL TOPICS...............................................................
4.7.4
CASTS BIOGRAPHY.......................................................................
4.7.5
SEQUENTIAL DRAMA....................................................................
4.7.6
CREWS INTERVIEWS....................................................................
OVERALL INTEPRETATION....................................................................................
5.1 REVIEW ON VARIABILITY OF TOPICS BY THE STAR
5.3 IMPACT OF ISSUES PUBLISHED BY THE STAR ON SOCIETY
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................
APPENDICES..............................................................................................................

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4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7

5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0

LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1: COMPARISON OF THE READERSHIP BETWEEN
NEWSPAPERS........................................................................
TABLE 2: CATEGORIZED SUBTOPICS.................................................
LIST OF GRAPHS
GRAPH 1: ANALYSIS OF SUBTOPICS..................................................
GRAPH 2: TYPES OF FILMS...................................................................
GRAPH 3: IRREGULAR DISTRIBUTION OF THE FILMS...................

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CHAPTER 1: OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to analyse the articles written on films or movies in THE STAR
newspaper for the specified time frame, 1st July 2010 till 30th June 2011. Other than that, the
students are targeted to achieve the following matters:

identify ways and methods used by THE STAR when publishing articles regarding films/

movies
identify the favouritism of the newspaper when reviewing about films
identify and analyse upon the purposes of THE STAR releasing articles on films and why

is it follows such a pattern or favouritism


identify the targeted readers of THE STAR newspaper and the message hidden prior to

the issue being discussed in this report


brain storm a rigorous analysis towards the individual articles on films being extracted
from the newspaper within the time frame

CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND STUDIES


The reason STAR Newspaper was selected as the source of the research based on several
factors. Firstly, STAR Newspaper gives vast update on the film and entertainment field
comparing to other newspapers. NST and UTUSAN Newspaper give more emphasis more
on current issues, global happenings and political issues. Besides that, the entertainment and
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film section of STAR Newspaper is
updated daily. This makes it easier
for the research to be made with a lot
of materials to be found daily.
Thirdly, the language that is being
used by STAR Newspaper could be
understood easily comparing to all
the other newspapers. Therefore STAR Newspaper is the best newspaper to be used as a
source in the film research.

CHAPTER 3: INTRODUCTION
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is
produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using
animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art
form and industry. Films are cultural artefacts created by specific cultures, which reflect
those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a
source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating citizens. The visual
elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films
have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the
dialogue into the language of the viewer. Films are made up of a series of individual images
called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion
that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an
effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction
of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a
psychological effect called beta movement. The origin of the name "film" comes from the
fact that photographic film has historically been the primary medium for recording and
displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture,
including picture, picture show, moving picture, photo-play and flick.

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The reason STAR Newspaper was selected as the source of the research based on several
factors. Firstly, STAR Newspaper gives vast update on the film and entertainment field
comparing to other newspapers. NST and UTUSAN Newspaper give more emphasis more
on current issues, global happenings and political issues. Besides that, the entertainment and
film section of STAR Newspaper is updated daily. This makes it easier for the research to be
made with a lot of materials to be found daily. Thirdly, the language that is being used by
STAR Newspaper could be understood easily comparing to all the other newspapers.
Therefore STAR Newspaper is the best newspaper to be used as a source in the film
research.

CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDY


4.1 MOVIE REVIEWS
4.1.1 ABSTRACT
In general critic is anyone who can expresses value judgment. Critics are common aspect
of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expression of
judgment. Critics can be positive, negative or even balanced. All critics should be regarded with
a

purpose

and

defined

in

the

reviewer

point

of

view.

Critics

include the

arts, performance and public service but may extend more widely to pronouncements on moral
character, group behavior, or any activity involving repute in public life, including war,
broadcasting, academia, politics, science and many more . Critics have constructive or
destructive intent. Criticism can be a matter of building up or destroying reputations. One of the
mostly seen critics is the film critics. Films are analysed

and evaluated individually and

collectively for film criticism.


Film criticism can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in
newspapers and other mass media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is
informed by film theory and published in journals. Film reviews can be seen in many ways,
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depend on the way people take it. Traditionally, it has been seen as a way to assess the artistic
merit and public impression of a movie. Nowadays, people use reviews as a new method to
determine whether to view a particular film. This trend has increased and shows a huge impact to
the film industries. Due to that, film studios increase the marketing budgets of marketing to
create market and interest in a movie prior to the opening.
The impact of review can be seen of a films box office performance and DVD rental or
sale can be seen clearly. However, lately using the modern movie marketing using social media
has shown a drastic interest. People are impressed of the trailer and film promotion that are being
marketed. This is when, the impact of review reduce as time passes. Although todays art of
criticism in general does not hold the same place it once had in general public there are still a
number of people who choose the movie to watch base on the reviews made by newspapers or
reliable review websites.
Each review and critic done on a movie is based on personal way of each person. However
having a column in newspaper for this section gives people an overview of the movie. It also
helps viewers to decide on the movie to watch.
4.1.2 SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
Movies cannot be classified as suitable for every age in these days. There are few scenes
which can be categorized as not suitable to be watched by viewers below the 18 years old. This is
due to the concern of bad influence to young viewers. Thus, nowadays a lot of movies suitable or
more precisely made for young viewers are produced such as animated movies. However, this
type of movies is not only viewed by young viewers but also by adults. Some of the movies even
reach the box office state. This can be seen from the success Toy Story movie. Although there
are few movies that reached that level, there are few movies which were not up to expectation.
This can be seen in Megamind. This movies biggest flaw was the incoherent voices with the
characters. 1Disappointingly, Ferrells chemistry with Tina Fey, the voice of love interest
Roxanne, is nothing to hoot about. Fey wouldve been much better off voicing a clumsy
character than a beautiful brunette. There were also critics on a character which is described as
1 Mega-mediocre (2010, Nov 13) The Star Pg:WE32
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tiresome2 Another tiresome character in this heroic effort is Hal/Tighten voice by Jonah Hill.
Hes your stereotypical loser with nothing for the audience to fall back on-not even a modest nice
attitude.
Movies nowadays have a different trend to portray a movie compare to movies from decades
back. One of the ways is to give a cool impression on the characters to the viewers. There are
many movies that follow this trend for the actor or actress as well. This can be seen through the
way they dressed up or the way they act out. This can be seen in the movie Resident Evil:
Afterlife 3 Afterlife does not excel when it comes to realism, which is why you see Alice
running around with perfectly make-up, her hair freshly coiffed and wearing well rounded
clothes, Heck, her clones wear identical, sexy leather cat suits and are armed with samurai
swords. It also picture the movie is far for reality. There are few things which can never be
imagined in the real world. However, Resident Evil is not only the movies which are produced to
be touching the reality line. There is a list of movies which portrays the imaginary world to the
viewers.
Hype on book adaption based movie is being quite a routine nowadays. However the result
normally does not meet the expectation of the viewers especially the viewers who had read the
book. Not only there are a lot of missing parts from the book, the character choices are always
not preferred as well. This might be because it is hard to find a character that can suit according
to the writers description. One of such story is Gullivers Travel which is famous among kids as
their bedtime story. 4 In Gullivers Travel you get Black on steroids- chubby flesh rippling in
slow motion, pants hanging askew to reveal his booty, and squashing a poor Lilliputian under
said derriere. Choosing an actor that does not suit the character would be a problem since the
messages that are need to be delivered would not be delivered to the viewers. Besides Gullivers
Travel, there are few movies criticized as the role brought by the casts does not suit the role they
2 Mega-mediocre (2010, Nov 13) The Star Pg:WE32
3 Evil is Good (2010, Sept 18) The Star Pg: WE25
4 Giant Shame (2010, Dec 25) The Star Pg:WE32
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brought such as Adele: Rise of the Mummy. 5 I blame Adele who is nowhere as near as cool as
she should be. Her demeanor is not so much nonchalant as it is perpetually irritated (and
irritating). As for the role Malikka Sherawat played in the movie Hiss was also criticized badly
as well. 6Apparently some bright spark thought Malikka would be the perfect woman revitalize
the role of the snake woman for modern times, never mind the acting ability nor the screen
presence to fill the shoes of the predecessors.
The movie Hiss, was an effort to bring up the Indian supernatural creature which is snake that
can take the form of human as well. But the there were a lot of flaw in the movie in many
aspect7Hiss fails in almost every aspect of filmmaking, starting with the lame script that often
doesnt make any sense and the often shoddy editing that veer wildly between unrelated scenes.
Although the movie try to picture the actress as an superhero which always helps the women
who are abused, those parts were merely to fill up the voids in the movie. Even the graphics were
disappointing to watch and research for the movie seems to be poorly done since there were
flaws in many facts aspect. 8As for the special effects, they are laughable at best. The CGI snake
swallowing her victims look cartoonish, while the captured male snake is obviously is fake. The
critics for this movie can give an early preview to viewers to not to bring young viewers. This is
important to ensure the young viewers are not receiving any bad influence over such movies.
In the current world, horror and thriller movies have a huge demand among the viewers. The
sudden shock and suspense thrills the viewers for more. But not all the movie from this genre
was able to keep up with the demand of the viewers. 9 His lack of experience in the field is
5 Monster Mash (2010, Nov 6) The Star Pg: WE29
6 Its a Mess (2010, Nov 6) The Star Pg: WE28
7 Its a Mess (2010, Nov 6) The Star Pg: WE28
8 Its a Mess (2010, Nov 6) The Star Pg: WE28
9 Need Seasoning (2011, Jan 8) The Star Pg: WE23
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telling in some telling in some scenes in the movie which lack originality and the sense of dread
which he obviously is trying to induce. However the actress was able to bring the spookiness to
the viewers. 10 Claire Foy, as accused witch, manages to spook the audience with her chilling
tones and supernatural appearance. However, to conclude a movie is horror or thrilling, it needs
the thrill all over the plot. This was not able to be delivered in Season of the Witch. Thus, it
brings the not so impression towards the movie. 11 The performances all around are convincing
but nothing memorable.
Actor being the hero is the norm in the movie since decades back. As the modern world takes
place women being the hero is getting a huge demand on as well. These types of movies are very
common nowadays. However it takes a good and convincing actress to carry out those roles.
Agelina Jolie for instance is a popular actress for a hero or main role. She has the good package
of action, romance and adventurous in her to be brought down to the screen. Some of her movies
are Salt and The Tourist.

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Jolie more than fulfilled the first criteria for a good on the run

thriller- the protagonist on the run must look good running

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And Jolie is my kind of gal.

Though her roles have far less bizarre than Johnnys, this beautiful, sexy woman has proved
herself time and again in roles in which her beautiful sexiness is only incidental to her character.
From this the culture revolution over centuries can be seen. Women are given priority in
nowadays world and been recognized by everyone. This situation is different in years back where
women were not really involved in the industry. Movies like this give inspiration to the women
viewers to be able to walk in to the world where men are dominating and still excel in it. Besides
that, it also shows that women are given the role as the same level as for men.
Salt movie was a fast action pack movie whereas The Tourist was rather a slow going action
movie. However Salt movie is preferred compare to The Tourist since there were few flaws
10 Need Seasoning (2011, Jan 8) The Star Pg: WE23
11 Need Seasoning (2011, Jan 8) The Star Pg: WE23
12 Run, Buddy, Run (2010, Sept 13) The Star Pg: T17
13 Hold the Adrenaline (2011, Jan 1) The Star Pg: WE24
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that are detected. Even the character of Depp in the movie was not as expected by the viewers.
Depps excellent performance in his previous movies had increase the expectation among the
viewers but it was rather disappointing since the character was very normal and slow.

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Depp is

my kind of guy. Over the years he has been a gypsy, a pirate, a killer barber, a mad genius
chocolatier, a Cuban queen and a recluse who has scissors for fingers. I could not imagine him
being boring. There were even more few characters which contribute to the movies slow
performance. This shows the significant of the role that are being carried out. It is also hard for
the viewers to put an actor which have been performing in unique ways to perform in a simple
and normal style.
Action movies have a good feedback from viewers because most of the movies in that genre are
entertaining. One of the movies in that list is Predators. This movie is an alien based action
movie where the fighters go against the fighters. Compare to the older alien based movie the
recently on screen Predator is entertaining have been receiving a good feedback from viewers.
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Thankfully, director Antal has managed to pull it together to make it tight, cohesive, tense

action with the fearsome flavor of the original. The movie Knight and Day is another action
movie which been suggested to be watched. This movie includes action, adventure and romance
as well. Romance is another important substance in movies nowadays. The chemistry of both the
actor and actress are given priority in movies. The romance scene in a movie is considered good
enough if the spark between the actor and actress is seen.

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Dont get me wrong, Diaz and

Cruise are great together, but compared to the golden couple of the past, the duo is kind of blah.
They seem to be better BFFs than passionate partners. Romance is another substance that has
evolved from movies back then till now. Nowadays the romance between casts is shown in more
intense form for viewers. This is when few of the movies are classified as 18SX. These kinds of
movies are added with explicit scenes which is not suitable for young viewers below 18 years
old.
14 Hold the Adrenaline (2011, Jan 1) The Star Pg: WE24
15 The Hunt is on (2010, July 10) The Star Pg: WE30
16 Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2010, July 3) The Star Pg: WE25
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Besides that, there are movie to revive back the forgotten action star from the old
legacies. Expandable features action star from 1980s till 1990s. It was a good effort to bring
back the old memories of the favorite stars back on screen.

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The movies real draw is its cast,

which brings together some of the biggest action stars of the 80s and 90s. Seeing this much
muscle and testosterone in one flick is simply awe-inspiring. This type of movies simply bring
back the old days flashes before viewers eyes. Certain movies have own special memories for the
viewers. Being able to see their maybe childhood star might also bring up some of it as well. As
for Unstoppable both action and family sentiment were blend well to show the important of
family and trust.

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The two sad stories that are fraught with some tension; will have a son he

cant see, and an estranged wife he still loves, while Frank started his day on a bad note with one
of his daughter. Family sentiment could bring a good effect on viewers. Even the way upper
class treats the lower class thinking that they know everything is also a lesson can be learned.

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The working man- personified by Washingtons character-is often more knowledgeable than the
main in a starched white shirt sitting in an office. Discrimination over the class is something
usual in daily life is pictured in a good way and how experience can overcome the theoretical
knowledge was also showed.
Every movie has its good and bad critics as well. However to find a movie which is impressed
the critics in every aspect is hard to find. For a movie to be classified as good, it has to be having
good scripts, cast who brought up the role well, good direction and graphics as well. There are a
lot more criteria need to be fulfilled to meet the expectation of the critics and be able to get a
good review. Some of the movie which made it to that stage is True Grit and Thor.

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Ultimately, Thor is a hugely entertaining movie, especially for those well versed in superhero
17 Still Standing (2010, Aug 7) The Star Pg: WE29
18 Thrill Ride (2010 Nov 13) The Star Pg: WE33
19 Thrill Ride (2010, Nov 13) The Star Pg: WE33
20 Thunderous (2011, April 30) The Star Pg: WE23
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canon. However, I couldnt shake the feeling that Thor is mere appetizer served before the main
course. The movie of goddess in action movie was well described as a superhero movie. True
Grit on the other hand is an adventurous, drama and comedy based movie.

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Dead on delivery

by the actors make the line especially delicious. For a film about a manhunt, True Grit
surprisingly makes one laugh out often, and to the Coens credit, the humor never feels out of
place. In the end, it hardly seems to matter if this is a western, drama, comedy or something elseits simply darn good. Comedy is important to release tension. There are many people who love
this genre. They would prefer going for a movie that would make them entertaining. It is a good
effect to include in movies since there are people who watch movie for the purpose of releasing
tension. Laughter is the cheapest therapy a person could give themselves to get a break from the
hectic world.
Demon based story is becoming popular on screen nowadays. These types of movies are
considered as horror movie as well. Demon type of movie brings the thrill of finding out the
hidden devil among the people. Recent movie Devil was a success with a very simple setup; a
lift. However, the setup is utilized well with only five main characters.

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Keeping the number of

characters that come and go, but thats about it. Keeping the number of characters to a minimum
helps to keep the pace of the film taut. The tension build in the movie gives suspense to the
viewer in order to know who the demon is. It inevitably creates the excitement among the
viewers. However it is important to keep the excitement till the end of the movie where most of
the movie fails to do so. 23 Devil has a limp ending, which is kind of disappointing as it eagerly
tries to over explain what has gone on before. This shows how important each part is in a
movie. The movie at a whole has to be satisfying the viewers to be able to enjoyable.
Sequel movie have been common in screen nowadays. It has a special attraction towards the
viewers to be waiting for the continuation of the story. It usually brings a big hype on the day of
21 Go West (2011, Feb 26) The Star Pg: WE28
22 Let the right one out (2010, Sept 18) Pg: WE24
23 Let the right one out (2010, Sept 18) the Star Pg: WE24
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release. Somehow, not every sequel is good as the first one released. The quality of the movie
usually deteriorates as the plot evolves, which ruin the reputation of the movie. As for
Paranormal Activity the movie was a huge hit and the sequel was most awaiting. The movie
beat the norm of disappointing the viewers and once again caught the viewers attention on the
screen.

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For the most part, it does, instead of doing what most sequel do and go down to

bigger, louder, more expensive path, the movie sticks quite closely to what made the first such a
success. The movie was portrayed in a logic way, so that even the viewers can ponder whether
the movie was really a footage left behind or made up. This indirectly gives a goosebump to
viewers.
Movies with the fighting scene could be attractive and sometimes boring as well. It needs to be
properly mixed with the story to keep the viewers entertained. In the movie The Lost
Bladesman the fighting skill has impressed the viewers.

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Of all the fighting sequences, the

most memorable has to be the riveting one-on-one with Andy Ons Dongling pass General Kong
Xiu. Some of the fighting scenes nowadays were put to lengthen the movie. This somehow
bores the viewers since it is unnecessary. Solid performances are also needed to support the
fighting scenes. In order to create a realistic situation the movie should be cast by actor or actress
that can bring the role very well.

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Yen gets to showcase his skills with weaponry as every

adversary battle Guan Yu with a different weapon, allowing for variety, action-wise in this
straight-forward story. A good cast to bring up a role can always give the message the movie
want to deliver to the viewers.
Romantic-comedy movie also has been another trend among producers nowadays. However
there is a minus point in this kind of genre since the stories basically are having the almost
similar plot. It has been a common plot on romantic comedy of the actress could not the right
man for her due to her neuroses. However No strings attached movie beats the norm and
24 Far from the normal (2011, Jan 1) The Star Pg: WE25
25 Loving thy Enemy (2011, May 7) The Star Pg: WE24
26 Loving thy Enemy (2011, May 7) The Star Pg: WE24
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manage to steal the heath of the viewers. The movie shows the modern world relationship among
nowadays societies. In world nowadays people are casual with the word open relationship where
couples are being friends with benefits. This movie shows the progress and stages the couple
goes through to become a real couple. The movie also spreads the message of the importance of
relationship and commitment that is needed to maintain the balance of a relationship.

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The

movies attempt to run gender stereotypes on its head is quite cute. Heres its a guy who falls in
love and wants a commitment, monogamous relationship, while the girl just want to get it on.
Even though the movie gives a lesson on the importance of relationship, the exposure of young
viewers to open relationship could be misleading. Young viewers are easily manipulated toward
the western culture where such things are common among them. However, this culture is not
appropriate in countries such as Malaysia where commitment towards spouse is given priority.
Sometimes young viewers could even take the message that is given in a movie in a wrong way.
It is important for viewers to understand and behave appropriate with the societys culture since
some of things are over looked and not considered to be misleading for young viewers.
Movies which are based on real stories are becoming popular among viewers nowadays with the
unique story that takes place.

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A film can make us laugh or cry, feel tense, happy or terrified;

even make us hot, cold and nausea. 127 Hours makes its audience feel several of these things. It
also does something Ive never known another film to do. Reportedly, it has made audience
members faint. It is entertaining since the plot makes people to wonder the next step the cast
might take. It also make them impressed of the way the problem are solves when knowing it is a
real live story of a person. One of such movie which hit big on screen was 127 Hour. The
movie is a journey and escape of a man who was trapped. Viewers were exposed to the surviving
skill of a person who was trapped for 5 days. It also shows that panic in critical situation would
not bring a solution but only more difficulties. Viewers could learn and apply to stay calm an
always think of solution for every problem that comes in life. The movie has more impact since
it is a real life situation put on the screen. Moreover, it is also pictured that surviving skill is
27 Fling of a Flick (2011, Feb 19) The Star Pg: WE24
28 Rock around the clock (2011, March 5) the Star Pg: We23
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important for everyone to utilize in time of need. Although the surviving skill might be important
for common people who does not hike or go for extreme sports, viewers can take it as important
to learn important hand skill for general living. It has been a norm among people nowadays to
hire people to fix even a small thing in the house or anywhere. It might be easier to give the work
to an expert and pay for the service. However it would be beneficial and cost saving to learn to
do it on own.
Another movie in the same category is Social Network. Facebook is currently the most famous
and widely used social network. The movie was to show the world the story behind the success
of such influential social network. Unfortunately, recently there are some speculations telling that
the plot Social Network is not based on the creator, Mark Zuckerberg background. There are
added stories in the plot to make the plot more interesting. 29 The Social Network may be based
on questionable source material, but that has never stopped anyone from enjoying a bit of gossip
and sensationalism. The story did not portray the main role as a protagonist person which was
interesting for viewers which always get the same plot of the main hero being the protagonist
character. People choose to believe the story of the movie since it is not sure the truth.

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After

all, if it isnt really Zuckerberg on-screen, whose life is it anyway?


This social network influences the communication of people worldwide. Somehow the
advantage of the social network can always be overturn by the disadvantages. Facebook is
banned is several countries such as Republic of China, Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan,
Syria and Bangladesh for certain reason. It is important for users of social network to distinguish
between the pros and cons of using Facebook and the way to utilize it. It depends on each
individual to allow the social network influence them in which path they choose.
Movies with family values are less to be produced and watched by youngsters nowadays. This is
due to the reason that movie on that genre is considered slow and boring for the youngster to
view. One of the movies which show the family ties is The next three days. The movie shows
29 Heartbreak, betrayal, genius (2010, Dec 1) The Star Pg: T12
30 Fictional Take (2010, Dec 6) The Star Pg: T16
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the struggle a family after the wife was caught for committing a murder. The stake was high
when the husband decides to take action to rescue the wife.

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There is nothing more dangerous

than a man who has everything to lose. The movie speaks on the importance of family ties and
the commitment involved it. This is an element which are lacking in nowadays society. People
tend to start a relationship without thinking the later part of the relationship. Thus, they could not
manage and maintain the relationship. There is a lot of divorce and separated cases among
spouses, and this number increase as year passes. Viewers should take such movie as an
inspiration to value the ties among family members and the relationship formed for them.
However, taking the misleading message from the movies also can be bad influence.

32

She tries

to commit suicide, so John figures its now up to him to break his wife out of jail. The movie
was meant to show the commitment and love among the spouses, not to against the law. Some of
the movie pictures the desperation act of peoples that should be done in more proper way rather
than breaking the law.
In conclusion, critics gives a good and bad feedback on the movie overall. It also emphasize on
the need and effect of the movie to the society. Movies affect ones culture and society in many
ways. It is important for society to utilize the critics for movies to allow the young viewers to
watch it on screen. Since the young viewers are still in easily influenced age it is important for
the society to mold the young ones in a proper way. The young viewers have to be mature
enough to decide the good lesson that can be absorbed from a movie and thing which need to be
avoided for their own well being. Besides that, critics also give an overview on things that need
to be improvised to produce a better movie. Since STAR is only published in the country only,
local film industries can take the critics as a way to understand the need of the viewers.
Moreover, the local film industries can see the needed element for a film through the critics of
other film in the same genre. The advantage of critics can be use to mold the local film industries
to move to a better level, where they could compete against the Hollywood or famous film
industries.
31 Fest of implausibility (2010, Dec 4) The Star Pg: WE33
32 Fest of implausibility (2010, Dec 4) The Star Pg: WE33
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4.2 MOVIE SYNOPSIS


4.2.1 ABSTRACT
The movie synopsis is one of the best things for any type of moviegoer. Anyone who is not
familiar with a movie will look toward the movie synopsis to figure out exactly what the movie
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is about. The synopsis states the main events or parts of a story and it gives an outline and
description of what happened in the movie. The movie synopsis will give the basic plot details
without giving all of the different types of information that would ruin the movie for us. movie
synopsis answers the who, what and how questions about a movie and establishes the other
major characters and their lines of conflict, what is at stake for these characters, the setting in
time and space, and the major turning points of the story. The key element of any synopsis is a
clear indication of the storys structure. That is, how the story begins, develops and ends. The
synopsis sometimes reveals the end to convince readers that there is a logical, dramatic outcome
from it. Basically, synopsis includes the event, without which the story would not begin; the
decisions and actions the characters make in pursuit of their goals; the obstacles and barriers they
encounter and what they do about them; whether they win or lose; and where we leave them in
the end. Despite its very compressed form, the synopsis does give the reader a sense of the
characters because it includes their key choices and actions. And in a drama, choices and actions
define character. The reader of the synopsis will want to see that the story develops and builds
with rising tension, ever more loaded conflict and something of value riding on the outcome.
4.2.2 SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
Based on the articles on the movie summary, we can see that Star newspaper normally
publishes the synopsis of the newly released movies or the movies that will be released soon at
that point of time. They newly released movies are those already screening at the cinemas at that
time. Based on the synopsis of the movies, we can classify them according to their genres.
In film theory, genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from
which films are constructed. Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories,
classifications or groups of films that are recurring and have similar, familiar or instantlyrecognizable patterns, syntax, filmic techniques or conventions that include one or more of the
following: settings, content and subject matter, themes, mood, period, plot, central narrative
events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, or recurring icons.
Movie genres include action movies, romance movies and comedy movies. Often, movies can
overlap in genres such as romantic comedy, action adventure or crime thriller movies.
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From the articles, it has been observed that one of the popular film genres are action
films. Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes are thrust into a series of challenges
that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases. They occasionally have a
resourceful character struggling against incredible odds such as life-threatening situations or an
evil villain, with victory achieved at the end after difficult physical efforts and violence. It also
usually includes high energy, big-budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, fights
and escapes. For example, the movie Faster is classified as action movie as the movie is mostly
about

33

an ex-con who sets out to avenge his brother's death after they were double-crossed

during a heist years ago. His life turned harder by life in prison as his mission is put in jeopardy
by veteran cop and a hit man who started hunting him down. Even in the movie Ong Bak 3,
34

Tien, the main character has to fight against a powerful enemy to release his friends and stop

the kingdom of fear of Bhuti Sangkha.


It has been claimed by a psychologist that action movies can be advantageous to our
emotional health. For people who are always stressed out, watching action films is a great way to
end the day. The feelings of exhaustion will be forgotten once you see how the earth was barely
conquered by aliens if not through the efforts of the courageous protagonist along with his
beautiful love interest and a number of his loyal friends. When watching these types of flicks,
your brain cells are stimulated with the fight scenes that you get to see. This is especially
beneficial when you are feeling a bit sad or depressed.
Besides that, another film genre that can be seen from most of the synopsis articles in
Star Newspaper is adventure films. Adventure films are exciting stories, with new experiences
or exotic locales. Adventure films are very similar to the action film genre, in that they are
designed to provide an action-filled, energetic experience for the film viewer. Rather than the
predominant emphasis on violence and fighting that is found in action films, however, the viewer
of adventure films can live vicariously through the travels, conquests, explorations, creation of
33 Tales of A Sensitive Buffalo (2011, January 15), The Star, PN WE31
34 Final Showdown (2010, July 15), The Star, PN T20

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empires, struggles and situations that confront the main characters, actual historical figures or
protagonists.
Modern adventure films, some of which have been successful blockbusters, have crossed
over and added resourceful action heroes (and oftentimes heroines). Thor movie is one example
of adventure film as the movie revolves on 35Thor, a young warriors adventure in claiming back
his power and position after he is banished to Earth by Odin his father. He will only be able to do
so after he fulfils his destiny and becomes worthy of his godly position in Asgard. Gullivers
Travel also falls under this category as this movie is about Lemuel Gulliver,

36

a perpetual

underachiever and wannabe travel writer at a New York newspaper. When he finally makes an
effort to actually venture out the city to write a travel piece, a storm-tossed voyage lands him on
an island inhabited by tiny folks called Lilliputians. These movies really bring us together with
the adventure of the character in the film.
Comedy films are also another common film genre among all the films. This is a genre
of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the
audience (Dirks, 2002). Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse
and entertain the audiences. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending. One of the
oldest genres in film was comedies. Comedy, unlike other film genres, puts much more focus on
individual stars, with many former stand-up comic transitioning to the film industry due to their
popularity. While many comic films are light hearted stories with no intent other than to amuse,
some contain political or social commentary. One of the movies from our articles that can be
categorised as comedy film is Little Fockers. The director mentioned that 37our jaws will drop
watching the love-hate relationship between Jack and his father in law, Greg.

35 Thunderous (2011, April 30), The Star, PN WE23


36 Wild Rides (2011, December 31), The Star, PN T16
37 Wild Rides (2011, December 31), The Star, PN T16
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Another comedy movie which is found among the articles is Despicable Me. This
computer animated comedy movie is basically about a mysterious criminal mastermind, Gru. 38It
would be really despicable to watch the hilarious and heart warming story about a super-villain
who may not be as bad as he seems. There is also one local movie falls under this genre which is
Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah. Things get very interesting in Husins village when the village
is haunted by strange occurrences, despite the burial of Mak Limah, his neighbour. 39The director
has said, If you want to go the cinema to be entertained and have a good laugh, thats what you
will get from Hantu Kak Limah. A person who seeks a relaxing time with the family can watch
comedy movie as it can be viewed by all members of the family and this will in turn help to
increase the bonding between members of the family too.
Nowadays, science fiction films are also very famous and we can see more of this type of
movies being produced mainly by the Hollywood directors. This is mainly due to the
advancement in technology. Science fiction films are usually scientific, visionary, comic-striplike, and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film
production design, advanced technology gadgets, scientific developments, or by fantastic special
effects (Dirks, 2002). These films are complete with heroes, distant planets, impossible quests,
improbable settings, fantastic places, futuristic technology and unknown and inexplicable forces.
Many other science fiction films feature time travels or fantastic journeys, and are set either on
Earth, or in outer space.
Inception is one movie clearly shows the application of science fiction.

40

In a world

where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief
is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date. Another
science fiction movie that was released in our research period is Tron: Legacy. This movie is
about 41a son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital
world that his father designed. He meets his father's creation turned bad and a unique ally who
38 Whos Bad (2010, July 3), The Star, PN WE24
39 Restless Spirit (2010, December 13), The Star, PN T19
40 Dream Project (2010, July 11) The Star, PN SV4
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was born inside the digital domain of The Grid. Priest is post-apocalyptic science fiction that
mostly revolves around

42

a priest who disobeys church law to track down the vampires who

kidnapped his niece. All these movies apply science-based depictions of phenomena that are not
necessarily accepted by mainstream science.
Another genre of film that we came across in the articles is horror films. Horror films are
unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, to cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our
hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at
the same time in a cathartic experience (Dirks, 2002). They deal with our most primal nature and
its fears, our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation and our revulsions our. They also deal
with our fear of death and dismemberment, terror of the unknown, loss of identity, or fear of
sexuality. Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us
are featured in the horror genre. Paranormal Activity 2 is one example of horror movie. This is
sequel to Paranormal Activity 1 which was released in 2007. The scares in Paranormal Activity 2
are not as frequent or always as well built as the original films, but those that exist are still pretty
effective. 43This movie may not give us nightmares, but we can certainly anticipate goose bumps.
Horror films effectively deals with the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming
events.
It is a proven fact that people love to be scared by horror movies. Some of the most
horrified faces are portrayed in the best horror films of Hollywood, which are much liked by
people. They simply love to watch the repulsive aliens and the blood dripping down the
horrifying face. Watching such scary flicks, just for entertainment, is quiet acceptable, provided
we do not empathize the situations depicted in what we have watched. A visible effect of horror
movies on both children and adults is anxiety. It is characterized as a long-term effect on
children, which may even linger into their adulthood. As a result of watching the situations
portrayed in the horror movie, the person may develop a phobia towards animals such as
41 Not The End of Line (2010, December 18) The Star, PN WE36
42 Promises, Promises (2011, May 14) The Star, PN WE30
43 Far From Normal (2011, January 1), The Star, PN WE25
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mammals, insects, reptiles, fire, flood, water, blood, injection, injury or height and enclosed
spaces (Lifestyle Lounge).
Thriller and suspense film is also popular movie genre among the audience especially
youngsters. These are types of films known to promote a high level of anticipation, ultraheightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense
films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics
and features. The tension usually arises when the main character is placed in a menacing
situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible.
Black Swan is a good example of this type of movie. 44In this psychological thriller, a ballet
dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan,
Princess Odette but suspense arises when slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more
like Odile, the Black Swan. Another good example of this kind of movie is Unknown. This
mystery-thriller movie is about

45

a man who awakens from a coma, only to discover that

someone has taken on his identity and that no one, not even his wife, believes him. With the help
of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is. These movies really showcase intense
excitement and build up anticipation of things to come.
Thriller movies, unlike other common genres, have the powerful effect to be able to
influence our brains. It works in a way that watching these movies can slowly plant a unique
logic into our minds that enhances our ability to think deeper and smarter. From the scientific
point of view, movies like detective, murder or adventure can actually enhance audiences'
attentiveness and observational abilities. This is because they are capable of stimulating the
vibration in the human's nervous system by injecting massively the electrifying sequences.
Movies of thriller genre are more beneficial than one would have thought. In fact, spending time
to enjoy thrillers are way better than giving time to other genres which could bring nothing much
but just a momentarily effect. However, anything exceeding moderation is harmful so do not

44 The Dark side of Dance (2011, February 26) ), The Star, PN WE29
45 Reason Unknown (2011, March 12), The Star, PN WE24

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overindulge in those movies to ensure that the positive effects do not transform into negativities
to poison your mind (Cornell, 2010).
In addition, romance film is also a movie genre that could be identified from the articles on
movie synopsis. Romance films are love stories and the romantic or affectionate involvement of
the main characters usually a leading man and lady and the journey that their love takes through
courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot
focus. Oftentimes, lovers in romantic dramas face obstacles of hardship, finances, physical
illness, racial or social class status, occupation or psychological restraints. Eclipse is one of the
movies which falls under this genre.

46

All the romance, beauty and style of the

original Twilight movie is back in this movie with some awesome special effects and great love
triangle scenes between Edward Cullen, Jacob Black and Bella Swan. No Strings Attached is
another example for the romance genre. 47
Romance movies or romance-based movies are increasing in popularity, this is not only in the
United States but also on a worldwide scale and in the same way, and their popularity is
increasing. In addition, soap operas with a romantic theme are also increasing in popularity.
Based on a research, romantic movies can have a measurable physical effect on people. Watching
a romantic movie can boost progesterone levels more than 10 percent and bring couples closer
together (Serwach, 2004). Romance movies are good to watch any time. They provide viewers
with an enticing time as they incorporate the themes of love and romance. These movies usually
have a great impact on viewers since at the end of the day many adults as well as kids learn a lot
from them.
Romance movies have both a positive and negative impact on viewers relationships. In a
positive perspective, these movies teach their viewers to be persevering, forgiving, understanding
as well as cooperating. They also impact positively on how viewers think and treat hardships in
their relationships. By watching these movies viewers come to understand that love and
relationships are not a bed of roses and that each of the involved parties needs to put in some
effort in to the relation as well as endure or make some sacrifices in the process. Romance
46 Total Eclipse of The Heart (2010, July 1), The Star, Pg WE31
47 Fling of a Flick (2011, February 19), The Star, Pg WE24
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movies also do have a negative impact on a significant proportion of the viewers. The actors in
those movies look like they are destined or made to be together. This creates an idea in the
viewers minds that love or falling in love is something that is automatic, and that actually shoots
up at first sight. Romance movies are usually very good to watch, not only do they help the
viewers to relax and catch up on good times, they also help promote the movie industry
substantially. Due to their increasing popularity, they have also boosted the fashion industry,
since people usually like to associate with the dressing mode of the popular actors in the movies.
Biography films are movies that are the dramatised version of a real persons life, or a
representative of their life, which often capture either a historical moment in time or perhaps
document their entire life. These films are meant to be a representation of the central characters
life, and not necessarily a historical account. Generally, biography movies are used to reflect
both the extraordinary events of an individuals life and also the world that surrounds them. The
movie Fair Game 48is based on Valerie Plame's memoir, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My
Betrayal by the White House. In this well done biography thriller, two US civil servants discover
what it is like to face the wrath of a corrupt White House. Watcing biographic movies especially
of legendary individuals help the viewer to learn the art of living and understand better about the
person.
As a conclusion, each movie has its own specific genre and some of them can even have a
combination of few genre types. Everyone also have their own preference of these genres and it
is normally based on some criterias like gender, age or ethnic difference. There are people who
love the hard core action and there are some who prefer the slow paced drama. Many people may
be turned off by a movie because of the genre it is in. Genre is a very important component of a
film, because it defines which direction the plot line will go and allows you to prepare yourself
for that film.

48 Twisted Truth (2010, December 1), The Star, Pg WE34


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4.3 ANTHOLOGICAL TOPICS


4.3.1 ABSTRACT
Anthological topic which is also known as general is one of the subtopic which will be discussed
in this film topic. It covers all types of movie genre such as action, horror, romance and many
more. Most of the article for this sub topic, which is extracted from The Star newspaper
reviewed on same types of movie genre such as for horror movie, the discussion will be on few
horror movies. Unlike there are some article discussed on sequel movies which will be in
combination of few types of movie genre such as Harry Potter and Saw. Moreover, there are
some articles which focus on different field such as sports movie, health movies, documentaries
movies, Irish movies and many more. For example the article on the sports, the author listed
down some of the box office movies which involve sports mainly such as Karate Kid and Iron
Lady. Other than that, trend changes from 1930s until latest movies also discussed in few articles.
This general subtopic is categorized into ten groups which are:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)

Sequel movies
Fantasy movies
Fairy Tale movie
Female Action Hero movies
Relationship movies
Horror movies
Documentaries movie
Sports Movies
Health Movies
Irish movies

4.3.2 SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

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Sequel movies are popular since 60s until now where it is a follow-up film to a successful movie.
Sequel movies are eye-catching to creators and to publishers because there is less risk involved
in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing new characters and plot.
Besides that, audiences are sometimes enthusiastic to know more stories about popular
characters or settings, this makes the production of sequels financially appealing. In The Star
newspaper, random collection of mid 2010-mid 2011, there are three articles discussed on sequel
movies which are considered many for this sub-topic. According to the Coming back for more
article49 and Sequel in store50, the content mainly about the recent sequel movies such as
Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Saw, Tron and Paranormal Activity. All these sequel
movies are from different movie genre. The most popular among this sequel movie is the fantasy
genre because more demand from worldwide especially Harry Potter. Furthermore, there are
also few sequel movies which the gap between the first part and second part is long almost above
20 years gap such as the first part of Tron (1982) and the second part is Tron: Legacy (2011). Not
only that, there are also some sequel movies where there are few parts in series such as Saw. This
is because the first part of Saw is released in 2004 until the last part is released in 2010, the list of
the movies are shown as below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Saw 1 2004
Saw 2 2005
Saw 3 2006
Saw 4 2007
Saw 5 2008
Saw 6 2009
Saw 7 - 2010
Rev it up is another article which discussed about The Fast and Furious sequel movie.

In this part, the author reviewed from the first part until the present part and even the changes of
character in this sequel movie. By reviewing in this way, the reader who, have not watched the
previous part of movie can understand the latest edition without watching the previous edition.
The similarities of these three articles on sequel are the author mention about Harry Potter
49 Coming back for more. (2010, September 21). The Star pg.T16
50 Sequels in Store. (2010, September 21). The Star pg.T17
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movies. This can be seen in article51 While the Harry Potter film series is also coming to an end
with two parts Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, it is certainly not due to declining
interest and also article52 Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 is No.8 now. From
here, we can see that, Harry Potter is one of the famous and box office sequel movie compare to
any other sequel movies.
Apart of these sequel movies, there are also fantasy movies also known as superhero
movies. Superhero films are action, fantasy and science fiction film. It is usually focussed on the
action of the superhero, the individual who have special power and ability and protect people.
These films are always action oriented with the special power and ability. In Reliving the
moment53, the author listed down all the box office superhero and fantasy movies. The movies
are Star Wars, The Lord Of Rings, Batman, Superman, and Star Trek. If we analyse this article,
most of these movies are also sequel movies and this shows that fantasy movies are more popular
for sequel movie. Other than that, all these movies are action movies where there is love scene
too. This is because, the main criteria of superhero movies are the story needed to be both action
and romance. The action should be fantasy such as the hero will have a special ability. For
example in Superman the hero will have the ability to fly and with using his special ability he
will defeat the evil people. This type of movies usually will be the childrens entertainment at the
same time it gives more bad impacts to people especially the children. This is because, children
are easily get influenced by super power and believe it easily the existence of this power.
Similarly, there is also an article reviewed on Fairy Tale Invasion54. In this article, we can
see the Hollywoods latest trend is taking childhood classics and reimagining them with a
modern sensibility. Fairy tale is a short story that involves magic and enchantments and usually
will have prince, princess, giants, fairies and many more interesting characters. When this folk
51 Coming back for more. (2010, September 21). The Star pg.T16
52 Rev it up. (2011, May 5). The Star pg.T22
53 Reliving the moments. (2010, July 6). The Star pg.T20
54 Fairy tale invasion. (2011, May 9). The Star pg.T22
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story is transformed into latest style, there will be a changes on the characters and settings too.
This can be seen in Twilight movie,55 Stephenie Meyers series of Twilight novels, which
already has spawned three hit movies, takes many cues from the genre there is forbidden love,
evil monsters, creepy forests and the promise of happily ever after. Classic fairy tales inspired the
Twilight movies. This proves that, when the fairy tale story is transformed to latest trend version,
the demand for the movie or the story will increase. Not only that, this new version of fairy tale
movie is also sequel movie where there are more than one episode for this movie. This is really
gives good feedback for the movie and the story line. In order to avoid the existence of fairy tale
which was used to be bed time story, we can transform the fairy tale in this method. Although it
is not the original, but the base story is still there with latest trend.
Trend not only changes the fairy tale but also the sexiness of the actor and actress in
Hollywood films. This is mentioned in the article Trend Setters56, where the author describe the
level of sexiness changed from 1930s until the latest movie. Mainly in 1930s, smoking is
considered as sexy for both male and female actor. Then when the time passes, huge bulging
muscles became a trend of sexy for males. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester
Stallone are considered sexy during 1980s for their fit body. After that, during 90s, the sexiness
changed to male models with fangs especially for vampire movies. This can be seen in The Lost
Boys acted by Brad Pitt and Interview with a Vampire acted by Tom Cruise. Now the latest trend
of sexiness is vampire romance. This can be seen through Twilight movie, where now days
teenage girls would rather date with vampire, it already reaches until this extends. Besides that,
there are also latest trend of sexiness for actress where bald head is considered as sexy for them
where Natalie Portman acted bald head in V for Vendetta. Other than that, tattoo also considered
as sexy on both male and female actors and this influence the fans to put tattoo on their body
too.57 We also have Angelina Jolie to thank, (Wanted, Gia, Gone In 60 Seconds) whos heavily,
authentically inked body caused many impressionable young women to experiment by inking
55 Fairy tale invasion. (2011, May 9). The Star pg.T22
56 Trend Setters. (2011, March 7). The Star pg.T20
57 Trend Setters. (2011, March 7). The Star pg.T20
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their bodies. If we analyse the trend of the sexiness from 1930s until today, we can see the vast
changes and transformation on people. These really influence the people to follow it and make it
fashion. For instance, tattoo is already too common among both male and female especially the
teenagers. They are easily influence by the movies especially the latest trend.
There are both pros and cons to follow the trends in the movies. The advantage is, we will
be up to date in trend and not left out in the fashion world. But the disadvantage is not all trend
can be followed, some might harm for our health. For instance, smoking is not good for our
health but since it was considered as sexy in 1930s, it became very common among all the
people until today. If we analyse the sexiness trend list, both men and women have the same
level of sexiness, it is just the way they are bringing out their sexy style is different.
Women not only make changes on sexiness trend but they also act as the lead role in
movies. This can be seen in article58 , where the author mentioned Tough women dominate the
silver screen nowadays, but these are truly the ones youd want to avoid in a dark alley at all
cost. This means that women are physically strong enough to be in the fighting scene in action
movies especially. Fr instance, Angelina Jolie acted as the lead role in Lara Croft, Linda
Hamilton acted as main role in Sara Connor and Michelle Yeoh acted as a hero in Yu Shu Lien.
This shows that, women are not discriminated in the cinema field and they are given chance to
act in the main role. The best part is, it is also supported by the audience because the movies are
mostly box office movies. Other than that, by doing this, women are proving that they are
confidence and skilful to take the main role. This is because it is not easy to act as the main role
especially in action movies where there will be a lot of fighting scenes. They managed to learn
most of the skilful fighting steps to act in the action movies although it is hard for women
compare to men. Another reason to make the women as the main role is to make the women
outside feel more confidence and gives inspiration for them to protect themselves. This really
gives good impact for women especially.
Another inspiration movie will be the sports movies. Sports movies are actually the
movies which focus mainly in any sport such as martial arts, football, basketball and many more.
These types of movies are good because it gives inspiration for everyone to involve more in sport
58 Menacing ladies. (2010, September 13). The Star pg. T18
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since it is good for our health and also co-curriculum. According to the article59, the author
reviewed the movie as The Karate Kid is probably my most watched sports film as a child.
More recent viewings have made me realise how important this film is to the sports film genre,
despite its cheesiness. From this review, we can see that this movie really influence the children
especially to involve themselves in the sports.
Moreover, this movie teaches us the moral value of confidence, where we should not
loose our confidence in any situation although we are alone. In that movie, Jaden Smith will
learn karate in short time but with full commitment and win in the finals meanwhile his main
competitor will learn since he was young but lost in the competition. The main reason of the lost
is because his intention is bad due to the influence by the master. Furthermore, the main point is
the focus, when there is focus with full mind, we can succeed anything according to this movie.
It really gives a lot of good value in this movie.
Furthermore, according to the article60, there is another movie about transgender, A
unique sports film that hits closer to home would be the Thai film, The Iron Ladies. Based on a
true story, the film is about a mens volleyball team comprising transgender or gay athletes. The
film did pretty well in Thailand and even made it to international festivals. This movie really
encourages the transgender to be more active in sports and reveal their talent no matter if they
are transgender. It really teaches good lesson so that people will give respect to the transgender
and not to discriminate them in the society. Sports are a wide field where there no limitation for
any gender, no matter any sports, any gender can involve in that, and there is no discrimination
in sports. For example, football was initially was played by males only but now it is also opened
for women. Transgender is also a gender which we need to give respect and chance to involve in
sports because they are also human being. We should have the sense of humanity to treat all
human being as same or equally in this world. In addition, sports activity is to enhance our health
and all the human being in this world have the rights to get involved in sports.

59 Scoring reel goal. (2010, August 9). The Star pg. T14
60 Scoring reel goal. (2010, August 9). The Star pg. T14
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Apart of sports article, there are also few article in this newspaper reviewed on health
movies. The health which is meant here is the chronic disease such as Schizophrenia,
adrenoleukotrophy, HIV and many more. Basically most of the disease we realize the existence
through movies where they portray the disease in detail and the effect on the patient. It is also
quoted in the article61, The sense of frustration and triumph of those struggling with sickness
have been aptly captured in many films that have been brought to us by Hollywood over the
years. In this article, the author has listed some award winning movies which related to health
from 1957 until 2010. The list of the movies is shown as below:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

1957 The Three Faces Of Eve (won for Best Actress)


1988 Rain Man (won for Best Picture)
1989 My Left Foot (won for Best Actor and Actress)
1990 Awakenings (won for Best Picture)
1992 Lorenzos Oil (won for Best Actress and writing)
1993 Philadelphia (won for Best Actor)
2001 A Beautiful Mind (won for Best Picture)
2010 The Kings Speech (won for Best Motion Picture and Best Actor)

These types of films usually are inspired by or based on real people and their lives. Mental health
issues are not common health issue, it may cause death for the patient if they reach the final stage
of it, but for certain patient the disease will cure slowly. For instance, in Lorenzos Oil, based on
true story, the patients parents will found out the medicine which is the Lorenzo Oil and it only
works for their son. Meanwhile other patient who suffers for the same disease, the oil never
works for them. 62Lorenzo has adrenoleukotrophy, which is an inherited disease that slowly
damages the myelin sheath on the bodys nerves, as well as the adrenal glands, through the
accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) in the body. If analyse all this health
related movies, it will be the award winning movies. This is because, most of the stories are
based on true story. Moreover, this type of story really influences the audience emotionally and
attracts them to watch it. Not only that, it also open our mind to accept them as a normal people
(healthy people). Most of the patient prefers to live normal in their life but they could not do so,
the feelings of being them are very pain and it emotionally disturb the audience especially.
61 Health in the movies. (2011, February 27). The Star pg.SF2
62 Health in the movies. (2011, February 27). The Star pg.SF2
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Besides Health in the movies article another health movie is anxiety disorder movies which are
Claustrophobia. Claustrophobia is phobia of enclosed spaces and no way out. According to the
article63, the author listed few movies which involve this phobia. The list is as shown below:
1. 1968 Night of the dead
2. 1979 Alien
3. 1981 Das Boot
4. 1990 Misery
5. 2001 No Mans Land
6. 2002 Panic Room and Phone booth
7. 2003 Open water
8. 2005 The Descent
9. 2009 The Canyon and Moon
10. 2010 Frozen and Lebanon
Claustrophobia can be sense through the symptoms of feel trapped in close area, for instance in
Panic Room, acted by Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart, they portrayed the situation of being
trapped in a room called panic room. They will hide in that room to avoid the band of
criminals who break in their house. The worst part is Jodies daughter Kristen will be sick due to
the trap in the room. Sweating, shake and experience heart palpitations are the symptoms for
claustrophobia. There are some claustrophobia movie are based on true story. For example, 127
hours, the guy will trap himself in between rock where no people will enter that place. His left
arm is stuck in between two big rocks where he have only blunt knife, less water and camera
with him. He will trap there for 127 hours without food and any help. He will hallucinate a lot
during day and night time because of this claustrophobia. Moreover, due to lack of food supply
and energy in his body, he tends to became very weak. These types of movies, usually attracts the
audience because mostly are based on true story such as 127 hours.
Besides health movies, there are also some articles discussed on relationship matter movies such
as Knocked out64 and Surviving the split65. The similarities of this both article is the author
63 Claustrophobia. (2010, December 20). The Star pg. T22.
64 Knocked out. (2010, September 20). The Star pg. T18
65 Surviving the split. (2010, September 27). The Star pg.T18
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discussed on romance genre. Romance genre films are love stories, affairs, emotion, affection
involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or
marriage. Most of the time, lovers in screen faces obstacles, finances, physical illness, racial,
social class status, occupation, psychological problem and many more. The difference between
both articles is knocked out discussed on romantic and comedy while surviving the split
discussed on break up. This can be seen in surviving the split article66, Break-up films dont
specifically have to be about break-ups but deal with what happens after the split. Break up and
get new love is considered normal in any relationship but the feelings that need to be got through
are tough. For example, in Eat Pray Love, which is based on true story, tell us the life story of a
woman acted by Julia Roberts. In that movie, Julia is a divorcee, where she will travel around the
world to get rid of the pain of break up. As she travels, she learns a lot of thing from people and
the way of life especially when she went to India and Indonesia. Finally she will find her love
and live happily ever after with her soul mate. From here we can analyse that, relationship is not
permanent and it can fade if we never maintain it.
Unlike relationship movies, there are also horror movies which are designed to frighten and
invoke our hidden worst fears. Normally, it will be terrifying, shocking finale, and entertaining is
at the same time in a cathartic experience. In the Star Newspaper, from the random article, there
are two article reviewed on horror movie list which is Unwelcome guest67 and also From Tabloid
to celluloid68. Both of these articles discussed on the list of horror movies according to the
category. For example in Unwelcome Guest article, the author categorized the horror movies
according to the setting of the movies such as haunted apartment while in the other article the
author listed down the Thailand horror movies. Besides that, compared to Hollywood horror
movies, Thailand horror movies are way more horror and spooky. This is because, in Hollywood,
there are variety of movie genre will be released so the productions of horror movies are lesser

66 Surviving the split. (2010, September 27). The Star pg.T18


67 Unwelcome guest. (2010, December 13). The Star pg. T18
68 From Tabloid to celluloid. (2010, November 3). The Star pg. T20
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compare to any other genre such as action movie genre. Meanwhile, in Thailand, horror movie
genre is more compare to any other movie genre.
Then, there are also documentaries movies in the cinema especially in Hollywood world. As
mention in Real connection article69, Documentaries have always been a favourite of film
critics. Every year at Sundance (which has just announced a new Documentary Premiers section
for established film makers) it is an open secret that if critics had their choice, they would rather
see the films in the documentary competition than dramatic things. From here it is proves that
documentary movies are also considered one of the main movie genre and it is given more
opportunity to make more movies on this genre. Moreover, this genre movies, usually based on
true story and we can learn something from it. In addition, this type of movies, will not give
profit for the movie production and this discourage the directors to direct any other movie genre
since the audience gives more attention for other movie genre.
The final category for this general sub topic is Irish movies, this is not considered of any movie
genre but according to the Shamrockin good films article70 , the author listed all the Irish
movies. This can be seen in the article, Here is an early St Paddys day for you: A list of movies
that will have you seeing green. It means the author portraying Irish as green world and most of
the Irish movies the setting will be greenish due to the environment of the country. The list of
Irish movies is shown as below:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

The war of the buttons


My left foot
Once
The secret of Roan Inish
The snapper
The secret of kells

In conjunction of St Patricks Day, which is a celebration of the Irish people around the
world, the author reviewed on some of the Irish movies. St Patricks Day is celebrated on March
17. The Irish have observed this day as a religious day for over a thousand years. Moreover,
69 Real Connection. (2010, December 28). The Star pg. T19
70 Shamrockin good films. (2011, March 14). The Star pg. T21
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during this celebration the Irish people will wear green costume as their tradition. The author
listed the movie list for the St Patricks Day celebration, this can be seen in the article71,In the
spirit of St Paddys, what we have today is a list of feel good Irish films, rejoicing in a peoples
humour, family, legends and plain old good-heartedness. Although St Patricks Day is not our
country celebration day, but still the author focus the overseas celebration and expose the people
here about other country celebration. Through the movie reviews in The Star newspaper, the
people can even learn and know about other culture and celebration around the world.
As overall, there is only one article was reviewed on Asian movies compare to Hollywood
movies for this general sub topic. This shows that, The Star newspaper mainly focus on
Hollywood movies. Moreover, most of the articles, the author listed the movies from old movie
to the latest to show the trend changes especially. Furthermore, by doing this general description
on these movies, the author attracts the readers to watch the particular movies especially the
sequel movies.

71 Shamrockin good films. (2011, March 14). The Star pg. T21
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4.4 CASTS' BIOGRAPHY


4.4.1 ABSTRACT
Biography is simply the history of a lifetime. It narrates the most important facts of someones
life, his or her childhood, adolescence, military service, wars he or she lived through, educational
background, professional life, marriage, children, and most outstanding achievements. Biography
also tells anecdotes, memories, trips and dearly cherished moments. It is our most precious
legacy to the world and mainly to our family. A biography involves a whole life, building a
bridge between generations, bringing us close to our grandchildren, great grand children and
future generations, planting in their hearts the pride of belonging. Celebrities from the movie
industry will also have their own biographies, as they are also normal human beings who
undergo some series of events that make up their life histories. Different celebrities would have
different biographies. In this research on biographies of the celebrities from the movie industries,
we would like to compare the difference between the actors and actresses from different type of
character that the actors and actresses usually play in movies.
4.4.2 SUMMARY & ANALYSIS
This comparison is done on a middle aged comedian (Jack Black), a veteran actor (Bill
Murray), a middle aged action and romance actress (Angelina Jolie), a middle aged action and
romance actor (Johnny Depp) and a young lady actress (Lindsay Lohan). All of them have their
own specific roles in movies which suit their personality and often analysed the roles played by
these actors and actresses mostly are same genre of acting. From the biography we know how the
celebrities with different character that they play in the screen, go through their normal life.
Based on the biography of the middle aged comedian, Jack Black , he was born in Santa Monica
on August 28 196972.He attended Culver City High School before transferred his study to
Crossroads High School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica.Upon convinced that he really
could act, Jack thus decided to take theater major at UCLA. Jack Black got married to since 2006
and is with 2 sons. He is also a band member of Tenacious D. Jack Black acted in many movies
72 Black Is Back, Star Newspaper, page T3 (Friday 17th December 2010)
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since the 1990s. The movies that he had acted are, Demolition Man, Waterworld, Enemy of
the State, Crossworlds , Johnny Skidmarks, High Fidelity, Saving Silverman, Shallow
Hal, The School Of Rock ,Envy, King Kong, Nacho Libre, The Holiday, Be Kind
Rewind, Margot At The Wedding, Kung Fu Panda and The Gullivers Quest.
Based on the biography of the veteran actor Bill Murray, he was born on 21 st of September, 1950,
in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago 73. Bill was married to Margaret Kelly and Jennifer
Butler. He attended St. Joseph grade school and Loyola Academy. During his teen years, he
worked as a golf caddy to fund his education at the Jesuit high school. Murray attended Regis
University in Denver, Colorado, taking premedical courses. However, he quickly dropped out,
returning to Illinois. In 2007, however, Regis awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humanities
degree.Bill Murray has acted in movies since 1970s. His movies were Meatballs, Where
Buffalo

Roam,

Caddyshack,

Stripes,

Tootsie,Scrooged,

Ghostbusters,Wild

Things,Charlies Angels, Craddle Will Rock, Hamlet, Osmosis Jones, The Royal
Tenenbaums, Lost in Translation, MAD and Moonrise Kingdom
Based on the biography of the middle aged action and romance actor Johnny Depp, he was born
on June 9 1963 in Owensboro,Kentucky74. A year after his parents' divorced, Depp dropped out
of high school to become a rock musician. He was with the The Kids, and slowly he ventured
into the movie business. His acting career started in 1984. His movies were A Nightmare On
Elm Street, Private Business, Slow Burn, Platoon, Cry Baby, Edward Scissorhand,
Arizona Dreams, Benny and Joon, Ed wood, Nick Of Time, Dead Man, Don Juan De
Marco, Cannes Man, Donnie Brasco, L.A. Without Map, The Ninth Gate, Sleepy
Hollow, The Astronauts Wife, Blow, Once Upon A Time, Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the
Caribbean: At World's End, Public Enemies, The Tourist, Rum Diary, Jack And Jill,
Hugo, 21 Jump Street, and Dark Shadows.

73 Taking A Shot, Star Newspaper, page T36 (Thursday 23rd December 2010
74 Intro, Star Newspaper, page T34 (Thursday 30th December 2010)
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Based on the biography of the middle aged action and romance actress Angelina Jolie 4, she was
born on the June 4th 1975 in Los Angeles75. At the age of 14, Jolie dropped out of school and
wanted to be a funeral director and slowly she began modeling. Started her acting career in 1982.
Her movies were, Lookin To Get Out, Cyborg 2, Without Evidence, Hackers, Love Is
All There Is, Mojave Moon, Foxfire,True Woman, George Wallace, Playing God,
Gia, Lara Craft Tomb Raider (I and II), Beyond Borders, Taking Lives, Alexander,
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Wanted, Kung Fu Panda, Challenging, The Salt, The Tourist,
and Kung Fu Panda 2.
Based on the biography of Lindsay Lohan,she was born on July 26 th 1986 in New York76.
Everyone in Lindsays family has a background in the acting and film industries. She started off
as a model in Calvin Klein, became a singer and then ventured into the acting business. Her early
years in the movie industries were glooming and everyone had high hopes that she would go far
in the movie industries as she was very talented. But unfortunately, due to some misbehavior and
some unfortunate events, she could not make it big in the movie industry. However she is given
chances to rectify herself and gloom again in the movie business. She started her career in the
film industry in 1998. Her movies were The Parent Trap, Life-Size, Get a Clue, Freaky
Friday, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Mean Girls, Herbie:Fully Loaded, Just
My Luck, A Prairie Home Companion, The Holiday, Bobby,Georgia Rule, I Know
Who Killed Me, Chapter 27, Labor Pains and Machete.

75 Intro, Star Newspaper, page T34 (Thursday 30th December 2010)


76 Lohans Fall From Grace, Star Newspaper, page T14 (Friday 9th July 2010)
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4.5 SEQUENTIAL DRAMA


4.5.1 ABSTRACT
Drama in specific means performance. The term comes from a Greek word which means action.
It is derived from to do, to act. The enactment of drama in theatre is performed by actors on
a stage before an audience. The structure of dramatic texts is directly influenced by the
production and reception, unlike other form of literatures.
The early modern tragedy Hamlet by Shakespeare and the classical Athenian tragedy Oedipus
the King by Sophocles are among the masterpieces of the art of drama. A modern example

is Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene ONeill. (Drama Wikipedia, 2011).
Two mask as above are commonly associated with drama and represents the traditional
generic division between comedy and tragedy. The masks are the symbol of ancient Greek
Muses, Thailand Melpomene. Thalia was the Muse of comedy (the laughing face), while
Melpomene was the Muse of tragedy (the weeping face). Drama is designated from a specific
type of play dates from 19th century. In this sense, drama refers to a play that could be either
comedy or tragedy. Later on, the film and television industry studies adopted drama as a genre
within their respective media.
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4.5.2 SUMMARY & ANALYSIS


There are few types of drama such as stage drama and some are telecasted on television.
Stage dramas are stage by few people on a stage performance. It is real and pure, untouched by
technology. There are no second takes as with movies, so every stage performance is unique. It is
raw human emotion, and nothing compares to experiencing live theatre. Theatre is ancient, yet
has never lost its relevance. As for telecasted dramas are telecasted for a period of time
continuously by a team of production and watched through media such as television.
Dramas telecasted in Malaysia media varies from local, Japan, Korea, Latin and many more.
Although, the languages are a problem, the society seems to recognize the drama and watches
the continuation of the drama. It is even shocking to see viewers to get addicted to foreign drama
compare to local drama where the language is known widely in our society. One of such
addiction is drama from Japan and Korean. There were seasons where people are addicted to
Japan and Korean drama. Teenagers and even adult are stick to the television for those dramas.
This indirectly impacts our local drama industries. Besides that, even English drama were
telecasted more compare to local dramas in television. The thrill and suspense given by the
English drama became a huge attraction for the viewers. One of such drama is Caprica. This
action drama features women in the main role. The action and unique storyline attract more
viewers towards the foreign dram industries over local drama industries.

77

Caprica is set 58

years before event of Battlestar Galactica and focuses on the lives, loves and losses of the
Graystone and Adama family.

77 Brainy Beauty (2010, Dec 9) The Star Pg: T21


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Another reason for viewers to choose foreign dramas is due to the plot. The story line is different
from local industries where stereotype story is found in each drama. Moreover, high budgets are
put for foreign movies and it increases the effect seen in the drama which is also another
attraction for the viewers. Three Kingdoms is one of the high budget dramas in China history.
78

Sumptuous costumes, political intrigue, power struggles, heroic warriors and major battle

scenes. The Chinese historical epic Three Kingdoms offers all that and more in stunning clarity
when you watch it in high definition on Astro Zhi Zun HD. The viewers were even interested to
watch this drama putting a high expectation since it is produced in high budget and high
definition (HD).

79

To me, the advantage of filming in high definition is that is able to deliver

the atmospheric feel I want to achieve in particular the chilling battle sequences. So the thing is
to spend more time and pay attention to detail in order to make the most of it. I choose to film in
high definition and employ the very best talent and methods available with the hope that our
version of three Kingdoms will be a classic. The effort to make the drama indirectly impressed
and attracts viewers as well.
As for local dramas there are improvement compare to the stereotype of plot viewed by audience
in the past. There are efforts taken to move the industry to the next level, where it is recognized
and enjoyed by the viewers. An effort was made through a new local drama Duyong Aridinata.
The merman story was an evolution from the fairytale mermaid story. The drama attracted many
viewers knowing the filming was done underwater. 80 Apart from filming underwater, the scenes
depicting the underwater castle were also difficult to do. Most of the castle scenes were created
in the studio with the help of CGI. Viewers might be expecting a lot for the graphics and the
shooting quality. This indirectly gives the viewers the excitement to watch the drama.
This shows that to develop and bring our local drama industry to a better level the support from
viewers is important. Recognition for the work done would inspire the industry to give a better
output for the upcoming works as well. As time passes the addiction over foreign drama did not
78 Dramatic Story Big Battles (2010, Nov 14) The Star Pg: SV2
79 Dramatic Story Big Battles (2010, Nov 14) The Star Pg: SV2
80 Merman Prince (2010, July 12) The Star Pg: T18
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reduce, but there were improvement in local industries and this started to attract the viewers
towards local drama as well. However, local drama still needs to compete against foreign drama
which has create a strong impression on the viewers. As can been seen the timing for local drama
and the foreign drama are almost at the same time, where viewers choose to watch foreign
dramas. It damages the local drama industries if there even local viewers do not contribute
towards the local industries.
Besides that, nowadays drama has been gaining popularity through media such as
television. Drama has a huge impact on the society nowadays. It is even reported housewives are
addicted to drama and started to neglect the chores and duties in the house. This is a bad impact
of drama since it is continuous and cause addiction to the viewers. Dramas are meant to give
entertainment and not a reason to neglect duties or chores. There are even viewers who are
addicted to dramas until the child at home are neglected. It is important to divide time to watch
television since it could disrupt the education of young viewers in the house. The addiction
towards drama could contribute to many bad impact but it is the responsibility of viewers to
understand and divide time with their own chores. Viewers should learn to take the good values
which are shown in the drama for own benefits and apply it in daily life. It is always up to an
individual to take the pros or cons in each thing that are done.

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4.6 CREWS' INTERVIEW


The proper definition of interview is said to be a mutual sight or view; a meeting face to
face; usually, a formal or official meeting for consultation; a conference. A conservation or
questioning for the purpose of eliciting information for publication; the published statement so
elicited. To have an interview with; to question or converse with, especially for the purpose of
obtaining information for publication. The main purpose of interviewing a person is to gain
viable and useable information that could be used and understood by other people. Through the
interview, many could understand the reason behind the occurrence of a particular event, a
behavior and act of a person. However there are also boundary or limits on how an interview
should be carried out. One of the limit is the accuracy of an information. To gain an accurate
information, it is essential that the interview is carried out on an experienced person or someone
who had been involved in a particular event that is being interviewed. Only then everyone would
get the real story and know that it is accurate and true. Our task is to make a thorough research
on the films which are being showed, so there would be a lot of interviews carried out on
various aspects of the movie. Those interview would be carried out on the people who are
involved in the film industry, from investors, directors, authors, script writers, actors, stuntman
and also audiences. Since everyone who will be interviewed are directly involved in the film
industry, so it is bound to the boundary and the expected information will be true and accurate.
Based on the articles that have been chosen to make the researches on the interviews being
carried out, the interpretations have been classified into;
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a) Interviews with people on the screen
b) Interviews with people behind the screen
a) Interviews with people on the screen
Interviews with people on the screen would involve the people that appear on the screen
throughout the movie. Mostly the people behind the movie are always the actors, actresses, and
stuntman. In this interviews the people on the screen share a lot of stories and experiences,
efforts and hardships that they have gone through in producing the movie. Some of them will
explain on the characters that they have played as in the movie, and what have they gained from
playing

that

particular

role

in

the

film

and

so

on.

Based on the different movies, the actors are given many chances to play roles which they are
given as; may be a hero, heroin, villain, comedian or stuntman. Based on their role they shall
share their experiences and opinions. In one of the interview, an actress, Fey, who had given her
voice behind animation movie of Megamind81. She had been the voice behind Roxanne Ritchi.
She had shared a few opinions whereby she mentioned that, involving herself in the animation
movie industries has made her life easier and is more relax, as she need not go away from her
family and house for a period of time for the film shootings which happens frequently in the
movie industries. In the animation movie industries, she had only have to put her voice behind
the character and make it alive and the rest of the work shall be done in animations, which
actually sounds a lot easier and lesser hustle. Plus she says that the animation film industry is
new and it is a lot fun. In another occasion, on an interview with Jack Black, an actor from the
movie of Gullivers Quest (adapted from the childrens fairy tale), explained on his opinion 82.
He was the hero named Gulliver. He had the story before, but did not want to play the usual
Gulliver from the original story of Gullivers Quest. Instead he wanted to put in a lot of comedy
and sends a message to the audience. Basically Gullivers Quest was a comedy love story, and
Jack Black wanted to send the message of how to treat women better.
The actors and actresses whom are being interviewed are also often asked on the hardship that
they had gone through when playing the particular roles in the movie. A famous actress,Natalie
Portsman shared with the interviewer on the efforts that she had put on in the movie Black Swan
81 Cool Role,Star Newspaper, page T29 (Wednesday 10th November 2010)
82 Black Is Back, Star Newspaper, page T3 (Friday 17th December 2010)
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as it involved her to practice and sharpen her talent in ballet to play the role in the movie 83. The
whole movie was about the art of ballet, so she would have to really be good in ballet to carry
out the role. She had also shared that ballet is a very hard art of dancing where it would require
a lot of passion on it. Lucky for her,she wasnt entirely new in the art of ballet as she had learnt
it before in her child days and had to stop it for awhile. But at the end of the interview she had
mentioned that all the efforts that she had put into the movie and the role had paid out as she
had learnt a lot from the movie and it had also lead her to win the Best Actress in the 83 rd
Academy Award. In an interview with the actress Pak Ji-Yeon from the movie Death Bell:
Bloody Camp, had shared the efforts that she put it in the movie 84. There were several scenes in
the movie where it really tested her physical abilities, for example she had to spend a long time
underwater to take few sceneshots and she had to dive in from the diving board into a huge pool
of water. She had also shared that she had learnt a lot from her crews which helped her to play a
better role in the movie.
In the interviews as well, the actors and actresses would share funny events that had happened
to them. On one occasion, Rathbone, and actor from the movie of Twilight, had shared a funny
experience that he had with his fan 85. As there was a misunderstanding of a woman wanting to
leave her baby with him, where as she actually wanted to snap a picture of Rathbone and the
baby. On another occasion, an interview with Xavier Samuel, where he told his funny
experience with his fans, when most of them had actually asked if he would ever be acting
shirtless in the movie86. These are the few funny moments that the celebrities share during the
interview sessions.
b) Interviews with people behind the screen
Interviews with people behind the screen would involve the people that dont appear on the, but
they are the real reason for the success of the movie. Mostly the people behind the movie are
83 Twinkle Toes Star Newspaper, page T17 (Tuesday 22nd February 2011)
84 Death Bell Toll, Star Newspaper, page T28 (Wednesday 29th December 2010)
85 Double Bliss, Star Newspaper, page T16 (Tuesday 13th July 2010)
86 New Blood, Star Newspaper, page T8 (Friday 9th July 2010)
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always the directors, script writers, producers, investors, and authors. In this interviews the
people behind the screen share a lot of challenges, efforts and hardships that they have gone
through in producing the movie from nothing into a successful movie. Most of the interviews
with the people behind the scenes would be very informational for everyone because it would
let everyone know that making a movie out of nothing is no easy job and it would require a lot
of effort, knowledge and much more. The authors play a strong role in the production of the
movie as they are the ones whom plot the story with an interesting storyline where it could be a
successful movie. There are several interviews with the authors where they had shared their
opinion on the movie and the messages that they would like show to the audience by the
storyline. In one interview with Hana, the author of Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame, she had
shared her what message she wanted to send to the viewers 87. She had wanted to show the adults
nowadays on the violence that is being exposed to the children and how it could affect their
future as they undergo a lot of sufferings. She wishes that after watching the movie, many
would feel the impact and would try to do something to better the situation. She also shared on
what had inspired her to write a movie as such. Another interview was done involving the
person who underwent the real experience which was screened by an actor in the movie 127
hours88. It is based on a true story where the mountain and rock climber got his hand stuck in
between rocks for 6 days (127 hours). He had shared the awful experience and based on the
experience he went through; he feels that he is a total different person who appreciates
everything that he is now.
Besides author, directors are also classified as people behind the scene who determine the
success of the movie. There were several interviews with the directors, and most of it they
explain on the hardship they had gone through to produce the movie. In one of the interviews, a
director of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, had
explained the hardship he went through to choose the settings and places to conduct the
shooting89. It was hard to choose the type of environment which gives the suitable condition for
the movie. On another occasion the director from the movie Death Bell: Bloody Camp, Yoon
87 Broken By Power, Star Newspaper, page T22 (Thursday 1st July 2010)
88 Caught Between A Rock and A Hard Place, Star Newspaper, page SV2 (Sunday
2nd January 2011)
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Hong-seung, shared with the interviewer and eerie experience 90. The whole movie was taken at
places where it gave a spooky and dark feeling to make the movie look like a real haunted
movie. During some sessions in the shooting, the whole crew was experienced with some real
paranormal activity where they heard alien voices in the settings which gave them a real spook.
Besides sharing experiences and challenges in interviews, the directors also explain about what
are the intentions and what the movie was really about so that the viewers and critics know what
the movie is really about. In an interview with a director from the movie The Priest, Scott
Stewart, explained what the movie was really about, because there were some critics whom
compared The Priests with Twilight as both the movies involved Vampires, and some even said
that it may end up with the same story as Twilight 91. But Scott Stewart defended his point saying
that it is an entirely different type of a movie and had given some justifications based on the
type of characters and the aim of the movie.
Besides the directors, the producers play a very strong role as well in determining the success of
the movie. In an interview with the producer, Disney, regarding the production of the movie The
Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, it was mentioned that Disney would
not like to produce this movie although it had produced the previous 2 movies of The
Chronicles Of Narnia92. The Disney producers think that the movie The Chronicles Of Narnia:
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader is a turmoil and were not convinced of the benefits that they
might get.

89 On The High Seas, Star Newspaper, page T16 (Tuesday 14th December 2010)
90 Death Bell Toll, Star Newspaper, page T28 (Wednesday 29th December 2010)
91 Warrior Priests, Star Newspaper, page T13 (Thursday 12th May 2011)
92 On The High Seas, Star Newspaper, page T16 (Tuesday 14th December 2010)
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4.7 INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES SUMMARY & ANALYSIS


4.7.1 MOVIE REVIEWS
ARTICLE 1
DATE : 4 JULY 2010 (SUNDAY)
PAGE

: SM3

TITLE

: THE REAL DEAL

ARTICLE 2
DATE

: 10 JULY 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE31

TITLE

: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART

SUMMARY (BOTH ARTICLES):


This article have talked and discussed about one of the characters being portrayed in the
movie of Twilight and the sequels. New perception about Native American Indians is being
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illustrated in the Twilight movie and this message is send globally to the moviegoers around the
world. Other than that, it said also that Twilight movie able to give a breakthrough for the
Hollywoods major studios which have face hard time over a century in breaking the norm or
stereotype perception about Native American Indians. Group of Native American Indian in the
movie wasnt forced to wear leather loincloths or hair feathers and there wasnt dance around the
campfires and no tales of woe on reservations which is already good credit for the movie to make
a change on the humans thoughts or perception about this pack/ group.
In this movie, the werewolf pack have taken the human form of the Native Americans
from the Quileute Tribe and for the actors who played this character their roles seem very real
and effective. The new look of the group (Native American Indians) in the Twilight movie series
is aimed at a young audience where they get to know there is such a group of society and tribe is
existed. Other than that, this article also discussed about the appearance of the werewolf pack
which resemble the Native American Indians where the pack dressed like modern kids in denim
jeans and shirts, this actually thinned the line and thoughts of the public about the group. One of
the actors who played the leader of the pack (werewolf) was interview where he said that
normally being forced into this leathered and feathered culture whenever the movie portrays
historical Indians of the Old West. Besides that, quoted by Chris Eyre, who director of Signal
Smokes (Independent Film), The leathers and feathers this is something that is staple of
film and TV, but its not one that is driven by Indian country. The afford took by the
Twilight crews of revealing the culture of the tribe (Quileute Tribe) actually has been good for
the tribe as the fans are learning more about the tribes culture and customs.
Furthermore, the executive director and co- founder of Washington State based
Longhouse Media, Tracy Rector gave critics where in the movie of Twilight, the Wolf Pack are
often shirtless and this reminds her of stereotypical portrayals of hyper-sexualized Indians and
she stressed where any negative effect played by the Native American Indian actors in the big
budget Hollywood fantasy will directly given an impact on millions of moviegoers around the
world.
ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):

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Basically the Twilight movie series given a turn over for the group where the mythical
character of werewolf taking human form of Native American Indians from the Quileute Tribe.
The crews of the movie can be said borrowed the Quileute creation stories and their cultures in
the movie which can be said a good credit for the tribe to let the world know about the existence
and customs. As one of the movie setting, La Push, Washington is actually location where the
Quileute Tribe is located and they have been living and hunting in this area for thousands of
years (Quileute Oceanside Resort).
One of the point that can be take note from this article can be said that, the movie were
trying to bring back the history which almost sank and also known as myth by the society into
big screen where the new generations have chance to dig into the history. Other than that, most
of the people have different perception or definitions about Native American Indians. The
common stereotypical terms used for this group are such as the wise elder, the aggressive
drunk, the Indian Princess, the loyal sidekick, obese and impoverished and at the same time
there are some good perceptions about this group as well such as nature lovers or devoted
environmentalists who believe that all people must respect it and also known as trackers
(track the livings). (Stereotype of Native Americans). Besides that, the Hollywood have created
a stereotype appearance and term for the Native Americans with the leather loincloths,
feathered hair, dancing around the campfires and etc. This can be seen clearly in the movies
or plays taken by in Hollywood such as (The Movies, Race and Ethnicity Native Americans,
2011):

White Fawns Devotion: A Play Acted by a Tribe of Red Indians in America (1910)
Smoke Signals (1998)
Silent Enemy: An Epic of the American Indian (1930)
Pocahontas (1995)
Buffalo Bill and The Indians, on sitting Bulls History Lesson (1976)
For the audience who was given movies such as above, and watching movie like Twilight

will give some new information and new look about the Nation American Indians. Other than
that, the interest of the youngsters and new generation are more in fantasy and fiction movies
where the respective parties can use this advantage in acknowledging them with hidden histories
and unrevealed truths which was misinterpreted by some parties.
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Conclusion, can be said that the afford took by Stephanie Meyer (author of Twilight
series), Catherine Hardwicke (director of The Twilight Saga Series) and Melissa Kosenberg
(screenplay director of the movie) had a positive impact on the citizens where managed to
change the perception and stereotype thinking about Nation American Indians and can be said
the youngsters taking chances and opportunities to know about this group (Nation American
Indians).

ARTICLE 3
DATE

: 18 SEPTEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE25

TITLE

: EVIL IS GOOD

SUMMARY:
As time passes the genre being chose to be make movie changes according to
technologies and also interest of the audiences, adaptation for this truth, some of the movie is
being produced based video games such as the Resident Evil. This article mainly discussed
about the movie where the journalist gives his point of view regarding the movie rather than
talking about the movie plot. There are two unquestionable facts about Resident Evil which are
critics hate it and it is wildly popular and makes a lot of money. Basically the Resident Evil
series is dominated by zombies where the protagonist characters will defeat the zombies and save
the world. It is also said in the article that, Resident Evil is based on a series of popular video
games and there are plenty of homages to them in Afterlife (the last movie taken under Resident
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Evil Series). Just like the normal movie based on fantasy, Resident Evil also doesnt excel when
it comes to realism where the audience will be witnessing the main character, Alice (played by
Miller Jovovich) running around with perfectly applied make-up and her hair freshly combed
and also wearing well- laundered cloths, this same goes to the co-stars, Ali Larter and Wentworth
Miller. Besides that, the journalist who criticizes the movie, Elizabeth Tai, suggested for the
audience not to find logic for the movie as it will endless questions with lots of question marks at
the end. In addition for the minus points, the dialogues for the characters are mostly wooden but
just enough to move the scenes. Despite all this, the movie is criticizes would have make a
bigger hit if having better script and better actors compared to the current ones, out of all this,
wholly Resident Evil: Afterlife is a fun and entertaining movie for all age of audiences and
especially for the youngsters because seeing a great synergy of hot babes and dudes, titillating
action scenes and big scares, for sure will make the youngsters enjoy the movie. The brief
summary of the movie plot is as described below:

A virus has escaped into a secret lab/facility called The Hive which chemically turns the staffs
(Umbrella Corporation) into man eating zombies and releasing the mutated lab animals that
they were studying. The complex computer (The Red Queen) shuts down the base to prevent from
infection. The parent corporation sends in a military unit, where they meet Alice who has only a
short time to remember who she is and what is her mission, who which is suffering from amnesia
due to the nerve gas released into her bathroom. The military must shut down the computer (The
Red Queen) and make their way back out of The Hive. Fighting their way past zombies, mutants
and the Red Queen before the T-virus escapes and affects the rest of the world. Its up to Alice to
defeat

the

virus,

is

she

loses

we

all

will

be

lose.

(IMDb.com.Inc

[fast_furious_728@hotmail.com], 1990-2011)
ANALYSIS:
As been discussed in the summary part, Resident Evil receives lots of applauses from the
fans although it against logic and reality especially from the youngsters. Practically can be
concluded, it is good afford took by Paul W.S Anderson (the director) by adapting a video game
into a big screen and squeeze almost all the elements that can be found in the video game, so that
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the audience of the movie which also most of them are the video game player feel disappointed
with the movie. By analyzing the movie and thinking its just a adaptation of a video game is just
common thinking but if we see thoroughly the movie have a similar genre are such as, I Am
Legend (2007), Knight of Living Dead (2005), The Last Days of Humanity (2002), Mutation
(1999) and Noctem (2003) and etc are trying giving some messages for the humanity (hidden
messages) where the audience should think after watching the movies.
If analysed the genre of the movies describe above, can be concluded that the new
technologies are being misused by certain parties for their needs and as a result, the innocence
citizens of the world paying off the impact. This is clearly proven in this movie where the
corporation called Umbrella Corporation created the virus (T-virus) to be spread around the
world for their goods and needs of conquering the world (become higher power than god). As a
result, the living places are changed into real hell and make the human to extinct. From the
movie, one of the lesson can be adopted is working together and be united when defeating evil
where the evil in this movie portrayed as the zombies and the good is portrayed as the survivors
of the virus. Clearly this type of genre mainly focusing on delivering message for humans at the
same time fulfill the interest of the audience such as romance, action-packed and also thriller.
On the other hand, lots of critics about the movie will be the realism where Resident Evil
fails when comes to realism, this doesnt mean the plot of the movie where few groups of human
fighting with infinite numbers of zombies, but the appearance of the stars in certain scenes of the
movies. For an example, as explained in the summary part, the heroine of the movie, Miller
Jovovich and the co-star Ali Larter will be running around with perfectly applied make-up and
their hair will be perfectly combed and wearing well-laundered clothes, which automatically
bring question marks to the audiences where the setting will be full with explosions, bloods and
dirty areas but the cloths of the stars will be well- laundered in each scenes.
As a conclusion Resident Evil is full with actions and thriller with hot and energetic stars
throughout the movie which made the movie worth of watching. Besides that, the graphics also
can be said improved where the scene of a giant man who walks the streets wearing a butchers
leather apron and wielding an axe so huge and fighting with the heroines of the movie. The fight

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was captured in the matrix-style freeze frame; slow motion technique is employed in this scene
and thankfully the sequences that work so well and effective.

ARTICLE 4
DATE

: 19 FEBRUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE24

TITLE

: FLING OF A FLICK

ARTICLE 5
DATE

: 17 FEBRUARY 2011 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T11

TITLE

: ON A FRIENDLY BASIS

SUMMARY (BOTH ARTICLES):


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Both the articles mainly talks on the movie No Strings Attached. It is a romantic comedy starring
Natalie Portman and Ashton Kurcher. The film is directed by Ivan Reitman and is about two
friends, Emma and Adam, who decide to make a pact to have "no strings attached" casual
sex without falling in love with each other. The film was released in the United States and
Canada on January 21, 2011 and in Malaysia on 17th February 2011. Lifelong friends Adam and
Emma attempt to avoid falling in love after falling into each other's beds. This romance-comedy
explores the complexities and quirks of having friends with benefits. Adam was a typical,
hormonal 14-year-old when he first came on to Emma at summer camp and got shot down in
flames. In the years that followed, however, Adam and Emma continued to cross paths until,
eventually, they both caved to their animal instincts. Despite an intense session of earth-shaking
sex, however, Emma makes it clear to Adam that the last thing she wants is a committed
relationship. And thanks to the fact that Adam's father, a fallen television star, has just begun
dating his son's ex-girlfriend, the horrified bachelor has developed an aversion to monogamy as
well. At first their casual stance on sex works great for both; Emma can focus on her career
instead of allowing her emotions to dictate her decisions, and Adam can play the field without
fear of hurting her feelings. Over time, though, a funny thing happens, Adam begins to develop
feelings for Emma that he never had for any of his countless conquests. Before they both know
it, love has reared its ugly head and they've gotten too emotionally involved to cut the
relationship off cold. In the end, the two predictably falling in love with the other despite their
strict rules against such tom-foolery. Basically, No Strings Attached wants to be an edgy
romantic comedy tackling the male-fantasy of a hot girl who wants sex without commitment. But
love inevitably gets in the way and turns the film into standard schmaltz, ironically with
background score music thats overflowing with strings.
ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):
Based on the articles, this movie attempts to turn gender stereotypes. It has a sense of
unpredictability because the roles are reversed. As we can see, in this movie its the guy who
falls in love and wants a committed, monogamous relationship, while the girl just wants to get it
on. The movie is also a good reflection on modern relationships and how they are evolving. Its
amazing how societys perception of relationships has changed. In the 1980s people debated
over the viability of platonic friendships which eventually became the underlying theme for
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many movies including this one. With the growing number of people going for casual
relationships, it appears what was deemed as taboo is fast becoming a norm. This movie is also a
refreshing change as it questions if a relationship can survive without having any strings
attached. The strength of the movie is of course the casts. Ashton Kutcher shares a remarkable
onscreen chemistry with Natalie Portman. They got along so well. Though, Natalie is known for
her intense and serious roles, this movie shows than she can handle comedy equally well. This
articles also talks about some flaws of the movie where it was mentioned it was weak in
character development as it didnt explain well why the heroin is so against relationships when
that is actually what the main story is about. It also tends to feel a little draggy as the audience
already knows where the story is heading.

ARTICLE 6
DATE

: 5 MARCH 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE23

TITLE

: ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK

SUMMARY:
This article is mainly reviews on the movie 127 Hours which is a biographical adventure cowritten, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain
climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Boost, Utah in April
2003.The film, based on Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, was
written by Boyle and Simon Beaufoy and produced by Christian Colson and John Smithson. 127
Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (James Franco) remarkable adventure
to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in
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Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally
discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary,
scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued. Throughout his
journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. A
visceral thrilling story that take an audience on a never before experienced journey and prove
what we can do when we choose life.
ANALYSIS:
Promising actor James Franco has delivered a hair raising performance that matches Danny
Boyle's technical brilliance with a mesmerising depiction of Ralston's strange internal journey.
AR Rahman's music has also boosted the strength of Boyle's gory conclusion. The amputation
scene is the handiwork of makeup artist Tony Gardner and his team. It is made with medically
accurate in every minute detail. Multiple cameras are used to shoot the entire scene. Camerawork
is really excellent in this scene. Francos best moments are almost entirely silent. The best
perhaps comes after hes finished the grisly, horrifying work of freeing himself. Aron stumbles
back to survey what hes done and for a moment, just a moment, theres a smile. Standing there
bleeding and dying, he steps back and grins, its the grin of someone who never thought hed
leave one spot and, no matter what happens from there on out knows hes already won. His dirty,
bloody, crooked smile in the face of unexpected freedom says everything there is to know about
whats happened and what matters most to Aron in those terrible moments. Aron also has a
fantactic character that attracted many audiences. He can makes friends so easily and when is
time to move on, he can say good-bye as easily he said hello. Aron also takes risks but not stupid
ones. He knows what he is doing. He did not get trapped because he was taking dumb chances,
he was careful but bad luck intervened when the rock came loose.
Its a masterful performance by Franco, sharply directed with all the visual flair he can bring to
bear on a single location by an unflinching Danny Boyle. 127 Hours is the kind of movie you
absolutely must see once and then, battered and broken by enduring Ralstons gruesome
predicament with him, youll never want to see again. But it is an exciting, touching and visually
compelling film.
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ARTICLE 7
DATE

: 1 DECEMBER 2010 (WEDNESDAY)

PAGE

: T12

TITLE

: HEARTBREAK, BETRAYAL, GENIUS


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ARTICLE 8
DATE

: 6 DECEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T16

TITLE

: FICTIONAL TAKE

SUMMARY (BOTH ARTICLES):


The Social Network is a drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin.
Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the
founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits. The Social Network
explores the moment at which Facebook was invented through the warring perspectives of the
super-smart young men who each claimed to be there at its inception. The film moves from the
halls of Harvard to the cubicles of Palo Alto to capture the heady early days of a culturechanging phenomenon in the making and the way it both pulled a group of young revolutionaries
together and then split them apart. In the midst of the chaos are Mark Zuckerberg, the brilliant
Harvard student who conceived a website; Eduardo Saverin, once Zuckerbergs close friend, who
provided the seed money for the fledgling company; Napster founder Sean Parker who brought
Facebook to Silicon Valleys venture capitalists; and the Winklevoss twins, the Harvard
classmates who asserted that Zuckerberg stole their idea and then sued him for ownership of it.
Each has his own narrative, his own version of the Facebook story in this multi-level portrait of
21st Century success both the youthful fantasy of it and its finite realities as well.

ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):


In both the articles, it has been said that there has been a lot of debate about the accuracy of the
facts presented in the movie, which is claimed based on the book The Accidental Billionares. The
screenwriter Aaron Sorking has said that he didnt really get a look at the book until his
screenplay was nearly finished. Besides that Zuckerberg himself has labelled the film as fiction.
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So, all this raise the question whether the movie is really about Zuckerberg or he is simply a
fictional character that Sorkin has decideD to call Zuckerberg. Moreover, in Hollywood,
filmmakers are quick to argue that they are entitled to fictionalise peoples stories to their hearts
content as long as they do it in the right spirit. But people nowadays live in an age where
audiences demand reality. So, though a few films still fictionalise their subjects, most movies
these days give us stories of real people even if these stories do not hew to the facts. All in all,
the social network may be based on questionable source material but that did not stop the
audience from enjoying a bit of gossip and sensationalism.

ARTICLE 9
DATE

: 18 SEPTEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE24
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TITLE

: LET THE RIGHT ONE OUT

SUMMARY:
Devil is an American supernatural horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle and written
by Brian Nelson based on a story by M.Night Shyamalan. The film begins with the voice over of
a security guard explaining a story his mother used to tell him about how the Devil roams the
earth and sometimes will gather a group of damned individuals and torture then kill them before
claiming their souls. Five strangers who are all guilty of committing sins in the past are
trapped in an elevator. The five people in the elevator are Ben, a security guard with a history of
violence; Jane, a thief, Tony, former US military, Vince, a scam artist and Sarah, another scam
artist. This movie also has the involvement of a Philadelphia detective who has endured hell
himself with the death of his family, and the man responsible never brought to justice. The
detective tracks a suicide to a building that just so happens to be the setting where five unlucky
souls are trapped in an elevator. He desperately searches for a way to free them from the tight
quarters while also trying to solve who is picking them off one by one in the elevator each time
the lights go out. What he didnt count on was that the Devil himself could very well be carrying
out his sinister deeds, and that everything does indeed happen for a reason.
ANALYSIS:
Audiences get a good dose of gore in this movie. Theyre also served a strong moral message
about the consequence of sin and the power of forgivenessodd themes for a blood-splattered
horror film where five seemingly random people end up together in a stalled elevator. Although
Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) cant hear what is going on inside the stuck cubicle, he can
talk to the riders. And more than once he barks out instructions for the increasingly suspicious
human beings to move away from one another. Yet even separation doesnt keep the individuals
in the lift from dying off one by one when the lights go out. Unfortunately, none of the deaths are
pleasant and almost all of them produce great quantities of blood that gets smeared around the
walls and on the hands of the survivors. Along with the trapped riders, unlucky characters
outside the death trap also fall prey to an evil force.

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Relying on a darkened screen and sounds of slaughter to help create suspense, the film offers
some jump scenes and tension, but is too often overwhelmed by gruesome and graphic
depictions of corpses and dying victims.
As the characters past lives come to light, its easy to say theyve brought their fate on
themselves. Still, this group gets more than their comeuppance when they share a lift with a
devilish companion. Devil does a good job of building tension in spite of a fairly brain dead
concept. The script's mythology is built on half-thought out superstitions which never really
work, but if you can ignore that, as a capably directed murder mystery in confined spaces it has
something to offer.

It was rated PG-13 for thematic content, language and sexual content. The purpose of this movie
is to scare the Devil out of the audience. Every element of the movie, from its intense, tensionfilled sound track to its sudden turn of events that forms the plot of this movie says horror
flick. This movie is too scary for children, probably until sometime in the mid-teen years.

ARTICLE 10
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DATE

: 13 NOVEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE33

TITLE

: THRILL RIDE

SUMMARY:
This article talks on the movie Unstoppable which is an action thriller film directed by tony
Scott, written by Mark Bomback, and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine.
Unstoppable was inspired by a true story, with the real events of 2001 concerning a train cruising
down the tracks with no one at the wheel embellished upon in order to make the story both more
suspenseful and cinematic. Washington stars as veteran engineer Frank Barnes, a no-nonsense
train man serving out the last few days of his employment after being pink-slipped. On this
particular day he's teamed up with trainee Will Colson (Chris Pine), a brash young man who
Frank believes only got the job because he's related to someone higher up in the company. The
two do not hit it off, and it appears they're going to be in for a long day. And after Will makes a
mistake in the number of cars he's hooked up to the engine, Frank's just about ready to kick the
new kid off his train.
However, a situation arises that will demand the two work together under the most dire of
circumstances. An unmanned train is barreling down the tracks loaded with toxic material and
heading for a town full of innocent people. If the train reaches a hairpin turn on a raised bridge at
a high rate of speed, it'll be sent flying off the tracks like a missile. That could cause a substantial
amount of deaths. Bigwigs in the company have a couple of plans for stopping the train, but
Frank and his contact back at the yard, yardmaster Connie Hopper (Rosario Dawson), don't
believe the company executive in charge (Kevin Dunn) knows his head from a hole in the
ground. So Frank and Will decide to put aside their differences for the good of all those innocent
citizens in the path of the runaway locomotive and, with the support of Connie and a federal
safety inspector (Kevin Corrigan) who just happens to be with Connie on this fateful day, go
against the corporate honcho orders and strike out on their own. In order to save the day, they
must figure out how to catch up to the rogue engine, and stop it before harm comes to the town.
ANALYSIS:
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Washington and Pine make for an impressive onscreen team, and they each give Scott and the
audience exactly what's needed in order to get behind these characters as they risk everything to
keep strangers safe. We get to know a little about each - Washington's Frank has two beautiful
daughters who work at Hooters that he doesn't keep in contact with as much as he should. Pine's
Will has anger issues and is separated from his wife after she left him for falsely accusing her of
having an affair. But the main story is about an unmanned train ready to spill its toxic load and
Scott, once the train begins rolling on its own, never lets the audience forget that. Scott makes
the runaway train into a living, breathing character, a wild beast bearing down on a defenceless
small town.

If there is one thing this film is not lacking, it is the pace. From the moment it starts the film sets
a fast pace keeps it going until after the credits finish. From the fast paced camera movements, to
the real life speeding train, this film is literally a non-stop action-ride that will not stop even if
we want it to. The action sequences were very good. Tony Scott does a great job at building
tension and shooting action scenes in ways that we have not seen before. Besides that, Denzel
has a way of bringing them to life and adding that charisma that always makes us like him
despite whats going on in the film. Unstoppable is a roller coaster thrill ride that will have our
adrenaline pumping for the entire second half of its swift running time.

ARTICLE 11
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DATE

: 26 FEBRUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE28

TITLE

: GO WEST

SUMMARY:
This article is about movie True Grit which was written and directed by Joel Ethan Coen.
This True Grit is based solely and completely on the Charles Portis novel. Rooster Cogburn (Jeff
Bridges) is a straight-talking, hard-drinking lawman who doesn't see in grays. It's a black and
white world to Rooster, and he is always right. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a tenacious 14going-on-30 year old who comes to Fort Smith, Arkansas to complete her father's unfinished
business. Her father, Frank, was shot dead by the criminal Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) after an
argument over Chaney's gambling losses, and Mattie - who's obviously the brains of her family is determined to get revenge for her father's murder. She doesn't want to bring in Chaney to be
tried; she wants to shoot him dead herself. Mattie hooks up with Rooster to track down the
cowardly Chaney.
The third player in the mix is a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon). Now
apparently Texas Rangers think highly of themselves, a fact which irritates lawmen from other
states to no end. It also annoys Mattie who is confronted by LeBoeuf while waiting for the start
of her adventure with Rooster. LeBoeuf invites himself along on the chase as he's also been
looking for Chaney without any luck, which earns harsh words from Mattie over LeBoeuf's lack
of tracking skills. After a rough start in which the two men try and ditch the persistent Mattie, the
threesome set out across the plains to find Chaney. The lawmen quickly discover not only is
Mattie as stubborn, fearless and sharp-tongued as they come, she's also whip smart and
determined to not have her quest for justice be denied. Together, but with very different
motivations, the three ride into the wilderness to track Chaney. Along the way, they develop an
appreciation for one another

ANALYSIS:
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What the Coen Brothers have done with the True Grit is make a Western for the ages.
Old-time cowboys and the Wild West come alive once more in this beautifully shot, brilliantly
cast, classically told Western. Infused with humor and lifting a large portion of the lyrically
magical words straight from Portis' book, True Grit is a real departure for the Coens in terms of
tone, but it's truer to the traditional Western than any film of the past 30 years. True Grit's got
hangings, shoot-outs, bad guys who shoot first and good guys who let their words do battle
before resorting to firearms. True Grit is a Western steeped in the grand tradition of the genre, a
lushly photographed love letter to bygone days when cowboys had swagger and true grit, and
colourful outlaws often met their maker at the hands of vigilantes. The movie's message is that
justice can be served in the right hands. We should also not write off a person unless we have
truly given him a chance. In this case, Rooster Cogburn proves to be a good bet. But, it also full
of brutal and violent moments that are not appropriate younger vievers. For example, three men
are hanged in a public square while a crowd watches; later, another mans body is shown hanging
from a tree (the corpse is cut down and falls heavily to the ground). In one brutal scene, a man's
fingers are cut off with a knife and another man is shot in the head at very close range. Lots and
lots of additional gunfights, some of which are bloody; slain bodies are on full display. This
movie is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western violence including disturbing images.

ARTICLE 12
DATE

: 1 JANUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)


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PAGE

: WE25

TITLE

: FAR FROM NORMAL

SUMMARY:
Paranormal Activity 2 which directed by Tod Williams, and acted by Sprague Grayden,
Katie Featherston, Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim and Vivis. This horror movie is a sequel movie
but it is not the continuation from the first part of the movie. But still, this movie sticks quite
closely to what made the first such a success. Besides that, it is possible to follow this movie
without having watched the first.
Kristi (Grayden) and Daniel (Boland) had a baby boy, after they bring him home, they
started to notice that odd events happening in their house. So, Daniel installed security cameras
around the property. When the time passes, Kristi and their daughter Ali (Ephraim) get
increasingly disturbed by the something which is unknown in their house. But still Daniel refuses
to believe anything supernatural.
Then, also missing is the sense of complicity involved in having Micah set up a camera to
tape his and Katies own nocturnal experiences, and having their own worst fears confirmed, the
overhead security camera offer a more anonymous point of view. A few of their tapes are
referenced and watched by the characters after the fact, as part of a traditional horror-movie
dynamic developed between the pragmatic and sceptical Dan and the increasingly fearful Kristi
and Ali. Paranormal 2s screenplay is more successful in incorporating and expanding on its
predecessors story, adding exciting new wrinkles and shocks regarding whats happening to this
extended family and why, and hinting at crucial bits of information via terse lines of dialogue
rather than overdone exposition.
Although in this movie nothing scary is shown, but still they manage to give the audience
the major creeps for simple events. Such as, a door swinging open here or a pan crashes down.
This movie is supposedly pieced together from the familys home videos as well as footage from
their surveillance cameras. In addition, this movie might not give the audience nightmares but we
can anticipate goose bumps. This is because, that genuine the actor and actress acted in that
movie. It was so realistic where there were no artificial screams or running helter-skelter. The
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rating level of horror for this movie can be 4 out of 5. This type of horror movies, usually gives
shock impact for the audience. Not only that, the suspense in most of the scenes really makes the
movie moves interesting.

ARTICLE 13
DATE

: 7 MAY 2011 (SATURDAY)


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PAGE

: WE 24

TITLE

: LOVING THY ENEMY

SUMMARY:
The Lost Bladesman is a historical martial arts film adapted from the story of Guan Yu
crossing five passes and slaying six generals in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of
the Three Kingdoms. In AD 200 during the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao eliminates his
political opponents Dong Cheng and others, before turning his attention towards rival warlords
Liu Bei and Yuan Shao. To avoid fighting a war on two fronts, Cao Cao decides to attack Liu Bei
first. Liu Bei flees north to join Yuan Shao, while his family is captured by the enemy. Liu Bei's
sworn brother Guan Yu (Donnie Yen), surrenders to Cao Cao to uphold his oath of brotherhood
and preserve his honor. Cao Cao knows he's a great warrior & hopes that Guan Yu will continue
serving him.
Meanwhile, Guan Yu is secretly in love with his sworn brother's concubine Qilan, but is
afraid to express his feelings to her. Qilan reproaches Guan Yu for serving Cao Cao. By then,
Guan Yu has also received news of Liu Bei's whereabouts, so he prepares to leave Cao Cao to
deliver Liu Bei's fianc, Qilan, to him. Cao Cao is unable to stop Guan Yu and gives orders for
the defending generals at the various passes to let Guan Yu through. Despite so, Cao Cao's
followers feel that Guan Yu will become a threat to them if he succeeds in escaping, so they plot
to have Guan killed. Guan Yu then embarks on a dangerous long journey through the passes to
reunite with Liu.
In this movie, Donnie Yen gives a solid performance where he barely escapes being eclipsed by
Jiang Wens acting brilliance. He plays the greatest warrior in the land than the actor dubbed by
the Chinese media.

ARTICLE 14
DATE

: 8 JANUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)


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PAGE

: WE23

TITLE

: NEEDS SEASONING

SUMMARY:
Season of the witch is not up to the level which is expected. This movie is directed by
Dominic Sena who previously worked with Cage in Gone in 60 Seconds, this is the first time for
the director to step into the supernatural thriller genre with this film. This movie is acted by
Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy. Its all about a witch who tries to destroy the holy
book to take over the world.
Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and his friend Felson (Ron Perlman) who have isolated the
church they once fought heroically for church. Then a local cardinal (Christopher Lee) has
discovered their actions. He threatens them in prison to make them agree to accompany a young
girl who the villagers are suspecting that she is a witch which causes the plague disease to
spread. They must send her to an isolated area. At first, Behmen and his friend never trust the
people there blaming her as a witch. But when, time goes by, they suspected that something
suspicious about the girl.
All together, four of them followed Behmen to leave the young girl. Those are welltravelled swindler (Stephen Graham), a young altar boy (Robert Sheehan), aspiring to be knight,
a sullen knight who lost his family to the Plague (Ulrich Thomsen) and a devoted priest (Stephen
Campbell Moore). The witch will try to escape for few times by manipulating and reading
peoples mind but she still stays in the cage until the time comes.
The climax will be where the girl turned into demon and attacked the Behmen and his
group to burn the book of Solomon. This main reason for the demon to follow them without
harming them is to get to know the where the book is hidden and burn it. Finally, Behmen will
win in the battle but unfortunately Behmen and his friend will leave their last breathe. The Girl
tells the slain knights that her name is Anna, and she will never forget everything they did for
her, how they gave their lives on her behalf. She asks Kay to tell her everything he knows about
Behmen, Felson and Debelzaq, as she and Kay mount horses for the journey home. The Book of
Solomon will still be in Kay's saddle bag, he is now the keeper of the words of Solomon.
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This story is mainly about the battle between human and demon for the book of Solomon.
The demon or devil wants to burn the book so that the civilization of the human will end. From
here, we can see that, when there is devil (in the form of the girl), there will be an angel (in the
form of Behmen and his friend) to make the universe balance. We need to believe in god and
good things and defeat the evil. In this movie, Behmen will be isolating himself from church
because he does not like the method of the church priests treats the people but he still believe in
god, this shows the love to god. We are living in this world not to make other people slave and
torture or kill them. All the human beings in this world are same and they have their equal rights
to anything without harming other people. This is what Behmen tried to do when he asked for
fair punishment for that girl before he knows fully about her. No matter who are they, a person
are not meant to kill another person. We have no rights to do so. So we must respect other people
as how we are respecting ourselves. Moreover, we must not only be physically strong but also
mentally strong to defeat the evil and any other bad things happening around us.

ARTICLE 15
DATE

: 1 JANUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)


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PAGE

: WE24

TITLE

: HOLD THE ADRENALINE

ARTICLE 16
DATE

: 30 DECEMBER 2010 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T34

TITLE

: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

ARTICLE 17
DATE

: 30 DECEMBER 2010 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T35

TITLE

: INTO THE GROOVE

ARTICLE 18
DATE

: 31 DECEMBER 2010 (FRIDAY)

PAGE

: T16

TITLE

: WILD RIDES

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS (FOUR ARTICLES)


The Tourist
The movie cast two big star, Angelina Jolie as Elise and Johnny Depp as Frank. In movie
opens with Elise (Angelina Jolie) being followed by French Police, working with Scotland
Yard under the direction of Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany). Acheson has spent years
hunting Elise's old lover, Alexander Pearce, who owes 744 million in back taxes and is believed
to have received 20 million dollars worth of plastic surgery to alter his appearance completely.

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At a cafe, Elise receives written instructions from Pearce to board a train to Venice and pick out a
man who resembles Pearce. This is to make a decoy for the police. Elise manages to evade the
police and board the train. In the train Elise pick on Frank, an American high school teacher. As
time Elise starts to spend time with Frank, her feeling starts to bloom for him. In the meanwhile,
the police have managed to salvage the ashes of her burned note and assembled them to extract
information regarding her decoy. But an informer from the police station mistakenly
communicates to Shaw a gangster from whom Pearce as accountant stole $2.3 billion that Pearce
is travelling with Elise on the train to Venice. Shaw immediately proceeds to Venice.
Elise invites Frank to stay with her in her hotel while Pearce leaves further instruction for Elise
to attend a ball. Elise abandons Frank, who is then chased by Shaw's men. While trying to escape
from them, Frank is detained by the Italian police ostensibly for his own safety, only to have a
corrupt inspector turn him over to Shaw's men in exchange for the bounty that has been placed
on Pearce's head. Elise rescues Frank just before he is handed over, leading Shaw's men on an
extended boat chase and escaping. She leaves Frank at the airport with his passport and money,
urging him to go home for his own safety. Later on Elise is revealed as Scotland undercover
agent who became Pearces ally. She was made to be part in a sting operation using the reason
for Franks safety.

At the ball, Elise found a man look exactly like Pearce but lost sight of him when Frank
interrupted. Frank claim to be in love with Elise but he was brought away by the police. Elise
found an envelope that mentions a rendezvous point. She then head off in her boat to the
mentioned place, while Shaw and his men tail her in the boat. When Elise arrives at the
destination, Shaw takes her prisoner, threatening to harm her unless she reveals the location of
the stolen money. While the police are occupied in monitoring the situation, Frank escapes from
the police boat and confronts Shaw, claiming to be Pearce who has undergone plastic surgery and
offering to open the safe if Elise is allowed to leave safely. Shaw threatened Frank if he does not
get the safe open, Elise will be harmed. At that critical moment, the Chief Inspector arrives and
orders the police snipers to fire into the room, killing Shaw and his men. A radio message came
in claiming that Pearce is found not far from the rendezvous, and the police rushes to the location
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where the suspect was detained. But the man claims to be just a tourist who has merely been
following instructions texted to his mobile phone, to be present at certain locations, for which he
has been receiving payments. Meanwhile, Elise tells Frank that she loves him, but she also loves
Pearce. Frank surprises her by opening the safe and revealing that he is really Alexandra Pearce. .
He and Elise then take the money and depart, leaving a cheque in the safe for the full amount of
the taxes he owes. The police find the cheque when they return and blow the safe open. The
police than realizes that Frank has indeed been Pearce all along but determines that, with the
taxes now paid fully, Pearce's only crime is that he stole money from a now-dead gangster. Frank
and Elise sail away to a new life together, with Elise taking in and getting used to the new and
completely altered face of her old lover.

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ARTICLE 19
DATE

: 6 NOVEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE28

TITLE

: ITS A MESSS

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


Hiss or known as Nagin: The Snake Woman is directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch. The
main role is played by Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat as Nagin and it is based on
supernatural being Nagin. George is confirmed to be in the last stage of brain cancer and has 6
months to live. In order to prevent death and gain immortality, he plans to extract the Nagmani
from a shape-shifting snake. Shape shifting snake is a snake that can take the form of human. To
capture Nagin, George captures the nag (the male snake) so that nagin (the female snake) will
come out. He believes that nagin will come after the capturer to free her lover, thus allowing him
to obtain nagmani by force. The nag is kept in a glass box where it is electrocuted. As his plan
work out, nagin starts to follow him. On her way, she is helped by a police inspector and his wife
who is infertile, causing a strain in their relationship. The nagin also helps a few women who are
helpless such as the one who is beaten mercilessly by her husband, one being raped by a man and
so on. She also murders the men who torture women. At last nagin reaches George but she finds
her mate dead. George wears a suit that makes him not visible to nagin vision and manages to
capture her. At that moment, the police inspector arrives and helps nagin. Angered by the murder
of her mate, nagin takes the huge half snake and half woman form and throw George into the
same glass box her mate was electrocuted. In the end, the policeman and his wife have a child
and the nagins egg hatching is showed. Myth is brought back on screen is a ways to refresh the
society of the stories they heard during childhood. However, portraying a superstitious creature
in wrong way might infuriate the societies the myth is from. Nudity was an unnecessary part in
the movie since there were no significance roles to be nude in the movie. This can be a bad
influence to the societies and also young viewers where it exposes the societies towards the
western culture where nudity is very common in their film industry. It is important to understand
and respect our own culture before adapting other.
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ARTICLE 20
DATE

: 6 NOVEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE29

TITLE

: MONSTER MASH

SUMMARY:
Adele: Rise of the mummy is directed by Luc Besson in 2010. The casts are Louise
Bourgoin, Gilles Lellouche and Philippe Nahon. This movie is also known as The Extraordinary
Adventure of Adele Blanc-Sec and Les Adventures Etraordinaires dAdele Blanc-Sec in French.
This movie is adapted from Jacques Tardis graphic novel. The story is set in Paris in 1912 with
the main character is feisty, witty, pretty and famous novelist Adele Blanc-Sec. She was on a
quest to save her twin sister. Her sister has been in wide eye coma for five years where her
younger sister is dead but physically intact woman who sits in bed staring in the void. Adele
travels around the world and face trouble, cops and other unimagined happenings. As an
archeologist, Adele digs up mummies to retrieve a mummified. She believes that the key lies
with Patmosis, the personal physician of Egypts greatest pharaoh, Ramses II. To the end, she
makes a secret trip to the Sahara to locate Patmosiss tomb and steal the mummy. She was helped
by a professor who wants get the formula for renewing life. The movies review was not that
impressive and was said to have a complex story line.
The movie shows the relationship bond between sisters. The family values are clearly the
main highlight in this movie. A sister would go through any difficulties to free her beloved sister
from suffering should be taken as a lesson. The importance of family ties and the love a sister
would give is rather impressive. Putting aside own career and also life for the sake of loved ones
are commonly done but forgotten by some in the modern world. Nowadays, people are busy
finding money and build their career that they forgot all about the family and ties with them. By
the time they turn back there would be a huge distance that might be hard to fix back. Bonds and
relationship are something that needs to be maintained always and not neglected. This is because
in any situation only the loved one would be by the side and that would be their wish as well that
someone is there for them. It is important to learn to give and take in relationship and all the ties.
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ARTICLE 21
DATE

: 13 SEPTEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T17

TITLE

: RUN, BUDDY, RUN

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


Salt is cast by Angelina Jolie. It is an action pack movie. Angelina Jolie who plays the
role of Evelyn Salt is a CIA agent. In the beginning part of the movie, Salt is caught and tortured
in a prison in North Korea of being an American spy. Released as part of a prisoner exchange,
she

is

collected

by

CIA

colleague

Ted

Winter

and

her

boyfriend,

well-

known archeologist Michael Krause. Salt warn Michael that he is not safe with her but he doesnt
care about it and wants to spend the rest of his life with Salt. Two years later, on their wedding
anniversary a Russian defector named Vassiliy Orlov arrives at CIA. . Salt interrogates him with
Winter and CIA Counterintelligence agent Peabody observing. Orlov tells her about "Day X", a
Russian plot to destroy the United States by using English-speaking sleeper agents trained from
birth. Agent "KA-12" will kill Russian President Boris Matveyev at the funeral of the American
Vice President. Orlov reveals that KA-12 is named "Evelyn Salt".
Shocked by the accusation, Salt calls her husband but he did not answer. Realizing something is
wrong; Salt makes an escape and went back to her apartment to find her husband. Finding signs
Micheal has been kidnapped. Salt takes her weapon and one of Micheals spiders. After evading
CIA pursuit, Salt travels to New York City and checks into a hotel, where she
extracts venom from the spider. Salt makes her way to thechurch, where the Vice President's
funeral is taking place. Peabody captures her, but she escapes. On her way to the barge where
Orlov is holed up with other KAs, Salt remembers, in a series of flashbacks, growing up in
the Soviet Union, where her mentor Orlov trained her and other children to obey him absolutely.
Salt and Orlov have a touching reunion until, as a test of her loyalty to himself, he has Michael
killed right in front of her but she does not react. He then briefs her on the next part of her

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mission: Assassinating the President of the United States and commandeering the U.S. nuclear
arsenal. Once Orlov has finished, Salt kills him and the other agents.
Salt meets the fellow KA agent named Schnaider a Czech NATO liaison. Salt disguised and
followed him to White House where Shnaider sets off a suicide bomb causing Secret Service and
CIA officer Ted Winter to move President to a safe location. Salt follows them to the bunker
where Winter suddenly shoots everyone except the President. He introduced himself as Nikolai
Tarkovski and knock down the President. He then takes over the Department of
Defense computers, just enabled by the President, and prepares to launch nuclear missiles
at Mecca and Tehran. Salt finally reaches the bunker and sees Winter through the Control Room
window amidst several bodies strewn around. She asks to join Winter to share the glory, and he
agrees until the television news feed reveals Matveyev is alive. Winter rebukes Salt for falling
for Krause, instead of recruiting him, and brags that he arranged for Orlov's appearance and
Krause's kidnapping. Salt breaks into the Control Room, where they fight. Salt wins and aborts
the launch just as the Secret Service Agents and Peabody break in to arrest Salt and rescue
Winter. On the way out of the White House, Salt manages to kill Winter.
On a helicopter with the CIA man and the FBI Hostage Rescue Team Salt convinces a skeptical
Peabody she wants revenge on the sleeper project because "they took everything from her" and
tells him there are many more remaining KAs trained by Orlov. After receiving an SMS saying
that Salt's fingerprints were found at the barge, Peabody accepts she is telling the truth. Peabody
uncuffs Salt and asks her to escape.

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ARTICLE 22
DATE

: 25th SEPTEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE25

TITLE

: A QUIET AMERICAN

SUMMARY:
The audience that went to the movie The American was disappointed with it. Based on
the trailers, many had a good impression on the movie and were eager to see it. But it turned out
to be a disappointment. As Academy Award winner George Clooney stars in the title role of this
suspense thriller. As an assassin, Jack is constantly on the move and always alone. After a job in
Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, Jack retreats to the Italian
countryside. He relishes being away from death for a spell as he holes up in a small medieval
town. While there, Jack takes an assignment to construct a weapon for a mysterious contact,
Mathilde (Thekla Reuten). Savoring the peaceful quietude he finds in the mountains of Abruzzo,
Jack accepts the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and pursues a
torrid liaison with a beautiful woman, Clara (Violante Placido). Jack and Clara's time together
evolves into a romance, one seemingly free of danger. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack
may be tempting fate.
ANALYSIS:
The American is the stylish, 70s-inspired one sheet makes perfect sense--this is a movie
that bows at the feet of European art films, and isn't so much a thriller as a meditation on hitman
movies and cinema history itself. Everything about it, from the placid camerawork and minimal
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dialogue to the ancient Italian settings, asks you to settle down into an earlier time. Director
Anton Corbijn is not afraid to bore his audience in what's essentially a character study about a
career assassin, and while he and Clooney happen upon some striking visuals and dig up a few
interesting ideas, the flashy visuals tend to say a lot more than the story itself.Things start well
with a striking and intense confrontation in snowy Sweden, leaving three dead and Clooney's
assassin Jack on the run to Italy, where he meets up with the mysterious man (Bruce Altman)
who gives him his orders. Jack hides out in one of those Italian cities that's all cobblestones
balanced precariously on a hilltop, working on a weapon specially ordered by a mystery woman
(Tekla Reuten) and frequenting a whorehouse where he repeatedly asks for the dark and beautiful
Clara (Violante Placido). Sometimes he chats with the local priest (Paolo Bonacelli) who speaks
almost entirely in platitudes, once in a while he has to fend off a Swedish attacker who's linked
him to the earlier crime, but for the most part Jack focuses on his weapons and chews gum while
staring off into the middle distance.Corbijn and his cinematographer Martin Ruhe film all of this
beautifully-- it's hard not to when you're in Italy, of course-- but only occasionally do the intense
visuals and morose hitman actually meet in the middle to create something interesting. Jack's
habit of flinching every time a car backfires is a little too obvious, as is the sound mix that forces
us all to flinch as well, but from the first scene Corbijn subtly builds an association between
beautiful women and guns, to the point that two separate, peaceful picnics start to feel dangerous.
It's a deconstruction of the objectifying "women as weapons" imagery that's been with us as long
as James Bond, and with it Corbijn deftly examines both cinema history and the troubled
character at the center of his own film.A few other moments get there as well-- Jack lingers while
watching Henry Fonda shoot a young boy in Once Upon A Time In The West, and a lush score
interrupts occasionally simply to remind you of how quiet the rest of the film has been-- but the
script by Rowan Joffe unfortunately goes nowhere new with its rote plot points and themes,
which range from "it's hard to be a hitman who can't trust anybody" to "a man of violence can
only be redeemed by a hooker with a heart of gold." Corbijn is clearly fiddling with the tropes of
the hitman genre, denying the pleasure of shootouts and deception and focusing on an inscrutable
lead character, but in the end we're in the same thematic territory as The Bourne Supremacy.
Clooney, though commanding as ever, never quite manages to make Jack interesting enough for
his own character study; as he mopes through Italy and even a romance, his dark past becomes
less intriguing and more like the baggage carried by cinematic hitmen for decades. The American
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is undoubtedly more stylish than most stories about men of violence and their woes, but I'm not
all that sure it's got the added substance to match it.

ARTICLE 23
DATE

: 4th DECEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE33

TITLE

: FEST OF IMPLAUSABILITY

SUMMARY:
Movie reviewers and audience were disappointed on how this movie turned out to be.
The trailers seem quite promising but, when it was played on the screen, it wasnt as good. The
movie is about a married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a
murder. The wife convicted of a murder she swears she did not commit, a college professor plots
to break her out of prison in this thriller starring Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson. John Brennan
(Crowe) and his wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks), were happily married and raising a family when
their lives fell apart in the blink of an eye. Lara has been charged with murder, and despite every
effort to prove her innocence, the judge sentences her to an extended prison sentence.
Meanwhile, on the outside, John files multiple appeals while struggling to raise their children
and maintain his career. Lara's future starts to look especially grim, however, after the final
appeal is rejected, and she admits that she'd rather commit suicide than spend the rest of her life
behind bars. Determined to save his wife after the justice system fails her, John seeks the advice
of ex-convict Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), who staged his own daring prison escape, in
order to draw up an airtight plan. Later, John prepares to put his life on the line for the woman he
loves, and sets the plan into motion with the knowledge that one false move could be their last.
ANALYSIS:
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It's really a shame that "The Next Three Days" is another solid Russell Crowe film that's
likely to get lost in the shuffle for not being a conventional Hollywood movie trying hard to
make itself look like one. Paul Haggis' third movie certainly is very different from what we've
seen from him before but trying to make it look like an action movie is just one of the many
reasons why it doesn't feel it may connect with the audience that might appreciate it for what it is
- a character-driven thriller that offers all the unexpected plot twists you might hope for.What
most aren't likely to know is that this is a remake of a French thriller called "Pour Elle," a film
that barely got a release in the States and will therefore be relatively unknown, but Haggis easily
slots the story into the industrial Pittsburgh environment. It's here that we meet John and Lara
Brennan, a happy couple with a young son whose lives are torn apart when she's convicted of
murdering her overbearing female boss. We're eased into this situation with a dinner discussion
between the Brennans and friends about male vs. female bosses, but minutes later, police are
breaking down their front door and taking Lara away. After three years, John is struggling to
survive as a single parent, and still believing that his wife is innocent, he begins plotting an
elaborate plan to free her.A movie like this could have easily been handled as a mundane
character-driven crime-drama, but where Betty Anne Waters went through an 18-year ordeal to
get a law degree in order to free her brother, Crowe's John Brennan takes a more direct approach:
"My wife is innocent, so I'm going to get her free." This is what makes the film interesting in that
it starts as a character drama but then turns into quite a riveting prison breakout movie, one that's
handled in a clever and intelligent way, rather than as a genre film. Despite a number of fasterpaced moments, it certainly wouldn't be considered an "action movie" by the definition of the
genre, but it's fascinating to watch the clever ways Brennan hatches his wife's escape plan
without her even realizing it. There's little denying that Russell Crowe continues to be one of the
finest actors working, and he brings the same level of gravitas to this role as any other, while
making you really feel for him as a father and a husband. Throughout the film, you really believe
he would indeed go to the lengths that he does to save his wife. There are very other actors who
could maintain the viewer's interest while being in every single scene. An even bigger surprise is
seeing Elizabeth Banks playing a dramatic role and carrying her own in the scenes they have
together, which are as strong dramatically as any straight drama. Liam Neeson has a tiny cameo
as a man who escaped from prison and wrote a book about it, essentially a consultant giving John
advice on how to plan the escape. It's a great scene, which is why it's featured so prominently in
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the trailer, but anyone seeing this movie specifically for Neeson will be disappointed. The rest of
the supporting cast isn't bad, including Lennie James as the detective investigating the murder
case and Kevin Corrigan as a drugdealer who John robs in order to fund his endeavor. The lovely
Olivia Wilde seems somewhat wasted as the mother of one of John's son's friends and if you
blink, you'll miss rapper RZA in a similarly tiny role as Todd Phillips' "Due Date."The film's
erratic pace is one of its biggest hindrances, because anyone expecting the fast pace being
advertised to be the status quo may be dismayed when the film slows down for the dialoguedriven moments which are so important for us to understand the character's motivations. Even
so, there are some well-directed action scenes throughout, particularly an impressive highway
chase sequence in the last act.Even so, it's hard to ignore Haggis' weak attempt at throwing a few
last-minute twists into the mix by showing the detectives reinvestigating the crime scene three
years after Lara was already convicted. There were plenty of better places Haggis could have
ended the movie and this unnecessary epilogue greatly takes away from what's come before.

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ARTICLE 24
DATE

: 3rd JULY 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE25

TITLE

: KISS KISS BANG,BANG

SUMMARY:
The famous and talented Tom cruise has acting in many memorable action, comedy and
romance movies. But in the movie of Knight and Day, he acts as the role of a energetic and crazy
character that would do anything out of the world and still smile about it. The movie is about A
single girl en route to a family wedding gets swept up in a fight between a rogue government
agent and the FBI in this globe-trotting action comedy from director James Mangold. June
Havens (Cameron Diaz) is preparing to board a flight back home for her sister's wedding when
she literally bumps into Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) in the middle of a busy airport. A few minutes
later, they're making small talk on the plane when June excuses herself to the bathroom, and all
hell breaks loose in the fuselage. By the time June emerges Roy has killed everybody on board,
including the pilots. After crash-landing the plane in a darkened cornfield, Roy tells June that she
should expect a visit from government agents, but warns her that by cooperating with them she
risks almost certain death. The following day, Roy's prediction comes true when June is
confronted by an imposing gang of government spooks who come under heavy fire while
bombarding her with questions about her mysterious traveling companion. Suddenly, Roy is
back, and he's once again whisking June away to safety. But what do the agents want, and why
do they insist that Roy is the one to be feared, and not them.Before long the girl who never
traveled far from home is off on a wild adventure that will take her from the tropics to Austria,
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France, and Spain. Somewhere amidst all of the confusion and gunfire, June begins to forge a
bond with Roy. Unfortunately, it's never quite clear whether her unpredictable protector is one of
the good guys or the bad guys, and by the time Roy reveals that he's attempting to protect a
valuable new energy source, there's no time for questions.

ANALYSIS:
While watching this movie, one gets the impression the project had started as either an
action thriller or romantic comedy, before slowly being re-written into the other genre. All of the
stunts and explosions which Cruise fans have become accustomed to after three Mission
Impossible films are here, however there's an added element of romance and comedy viewers
aren't used to seeing him in.Diaz does feel in her element during the softer scenes, where she
tries to decide whether this sensitive man of mystery is Mr. Right. Otherwise, she literally gets in
the way of most action scenes, having no real idea as to how to handle a gun or other spy
accessory. Peter Sargaard barely gets any screen time as a former partner of Cruise's, with an
undescribable accent which comes and goes for no real reason. Were he any bigger a threat
script-wise, director James Mangold would have given him more screen time. Alas, most of the
camera allocation gets focused on the film's leads, as they journey around the globe with this
summer's Macguffin, "The Zephyr".Most of the film's problems lie with its indecision in figuring
out what genre it wants to be, and its difficulty in incorporating two very distinct film types. Not
too many successful action-thriller-spy-romantic-comedies out there, but Knight and Day sure
does give it a try.One redeeming aspect of this film? Cruise seems to have impeccable comic
timing, as seen in his recent portrayal of Les Grossman in both Tropic Thunderand the latest
MTV Movie Awards. In Knight and Day he has fun with the role, and does provide a few laughs
with his banter opposite Diaz..

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ARTICLE 25
DATE

: 25th SEPTEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE23

TITLE

: MONEY TALKS

SUMMARY:
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps shows the life of Gordon Gekko,a manipulative
broker,who misuses people under him to get his works done. Gordon Gekko spent 20 years in
prison. After released from the prison, Gekko meets Moore, who apparently his daughters
boyfriend. Moore was facing a business downfall which he blames a successful broker, Bretton
James. Moore has an evil idea of revenging on Bretton James with the help of Gekko. Gekko
helps Moore, with an intention of getting back in talking terms with his daughter, Winnie. Wall
Street shows how a broker manipulates people, and a bit of family values and some knowledge
on the stocks.
ANALYSIS:
WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS picks up where the original left off. Michael
Douglas returns in his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Greed is Good Gekko. Emerging from a
lengthy prison stint pre 9-11, the disgraced Gekko finds himself on the outside of a world he
once dominated. His mission now in life is two-fold as we jump to 2008. For one, hes looking to
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repair his damaged relationship with his daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan), by forming an
alliance with her fiancee Jake (Shia LaBeouf). Together these two attempt to destroy the newest
corporate raider on the block, Bretton James (Josh Brolin) who instigated Jakes mentor, Louis
Zabel (Frank Langella), to commit suicide after his company was left in ruins. Secondly, Gekko
is also trying to warn Jake and the rest of the world that certain questionable business practices
within the financial community will cause a major economic collapse.Director Oliver Stone tries
to move the film along with one-liners written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, only to use
contrived, symbolic scenes of falling dominoes and bursting bubbles to reinforce the global
financial crisis of 2008 - a sequel that many were not clamoring for. However, some of the
highlights worth noting are the many musical numbers by David Byrne of Talking Heads. Just as
he did in the original WALL STREET, Byrne once again provides many new songs for the
sequel. Look for noticable performances from the 2011 AMPAS Governors Award Recipient, Eli
Wallach, as Jules Steinhardt and a brief appearance from Charlie Sheens Bud Fox.It wouldnt be
surprising if Michael Douglas sees another Academy Award Best Actor nomination for his
portrayal of Gordon Gekko. For a second time, Douglas easily wears the conniving Wall Street
garb with such ease and charm. Crowds will either not have seen it or not remember Foxs $43
million original 1987 WALL STREET. I was uneasy with the theme, what with these ongoing
hard times, and Stones patronizing speeches to the audience. True, the films plot of financial
meltdown is current, but audiences wont want to take this kind of a stroll down memory lane for
2 long and tedious hours. As engaging as the film tries to be, in the end Foxs reboot falls short.

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ARTICLE 26
DATE

: 10 JULY 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE30

TITLE

: THE HUNT IS ON

SUMMARY:
The Predator is about armed humans are trapped in the wilderness and hunted by
unnamed, technologically-advanced aliens (Predators). Yet Predators continues to hammer the
similarities home. One man carries a giant mini-gun just like Jesse Ventura did in the first film.
One man stops running from the Predators and decides to face them head-on just like Sonny
Landham, taking off his shirt in case the reference wasnt clear enough. Other tricks from
Predator makes an unexplained appearance late in the film. Even the music is the same, right
down to Little Richard. The biggest difference between Predators and the preceding films is the
stripping down of the story. Both Predator and Predator 2 begin with terrestrial action scenarios
(jungle warfare, urban conflict) then take an extraterrestrial turn once the Predator shows up and
starts hunting people. In Predators, the entire film is dedicated to the hunt. This robs the
characters of all context or sense of worth. In Predator, we get to see the commandos work as a
team. They have names, they have personalities, they have roles. They execute their mission with
zero casualties, demonstrating that they are skilled combatants. When the Predator shows up and
starts killing them, their deaths have weight.

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ANALYSIS:
There are many types of sports that are there for the adrenaline junkies out there which
challenges the physical,mental and also the mental capabilities. But the movie Predator is a new
type of game organized by the inhabitants from other planet whom call themselves as Predators.
It is a sport where it requires bloodshed. A group of human beings randomly selected from the
earth and are shipped to an unknown planet without their knowledge. As soon as they realize that
they were not alone in the planet, they were being hunted done by the Predators. This is clearly
and act of fun by the Predators. Which they themselves compete and co-operate among the
Predators to put their hunting skills on the human beings. The human strive to survive and try to
get back to their own planet. Many movie reviewers say that the new Predator movies are not as
good as the older ones. Many have chosen to completely disregard the Alien Versus Predator
movies). The Predator movie franchise only focuses on the bloodshed rather than the real story.
Where it portrays a lot of violence.

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4.7.2 MOVIE SYNOPSIS


ARTICLE 27
DATE

: 13 JULY 2010 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T16

TITLE

: DREAM PROJECT

SUMMARY:
The whole article was written in 2 pages which discussed thoroughly on the movie
directed by director Christopher Nolan which is Inception. Most of the crews which involves
in the movies given their point of view regarding the movie such as the actor Leonardo
DiCaprio, Christopher Nolan, and the cinematographer, Wally Pfister. Throughout the article,
the plot of the movie is being discussed and also the difficulties faced by the crew in producing a
heist movie with a complicated plot of story.
According to the biography of the director, Christopher Nolan, he have been producing
movies such as mazed and masked intentions where he came up with Memento, Batman: The
Dark Knight and also Insomnia, producing Inception is what he wanted to do for a very long
time, and its something that he have thought about off and on since he was about sixteen years
old. Inception is mainly being shoot in Morocco, Japan, France and three some other countries,
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other than that, the movie also uses budget of US$ 160 million (RM512 million). Brief summary/
abstract of the movie can be said as:
The hero of the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio is a specialist in the new branch of corporate
espionage, where he is a dream thieft who plucks secrets from the minds of tycoons after
pumping them full of drugs and hooking them up to a mysterious contraption. On the other hand,
the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio (Dom Cobb) is wounded dreamer after the loss of
his beloved wife.
All the actors and actresses can be said faced challenging time when acting for the movie,
due to the complicated movie plot and characters but can be said all the crews managed to pulled
it off because Christopher Nolan is specializes in this kind of plot and have been able to convey
really complex narratives that work on a multitude of different layers simultaneously to an
audience and make it entertaining and engaging throughout. Other than that, the life that gone
through by Christopher Nolan can be said lead to born of this extremely awesome script as he
said, Ever since he was a youngster, he says he was intrigued by the way he would wake up and
then, while he fell back into a lighter sleep, hold on to the awareness that he was in fact
dreaming. There was feeling that he could study the place and tilt the events of the dream.
Just like addition spice to the food, Leonardo DiCaprio can be said the additive being
add to the movie which give a successful star for the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is very
analytical, particularly from character point of view but also how the entire story is going to
function and relate to his character. Furthermore, the effects from all the aspects which being
implemented into the movie made the movie outstanding compared to some other movies. There
are some favourite actors of Christopher Nolan contributed for the movie, such as Cillian
Murphy, Ken Watanabe and Michael Caine and etc.
ANALYSIS:
From the summary above can be known that, Inception can be said a revolution film in
Hollywood, with the complexity of the plot that will make most of the director to back off rather
than directing expect for Christopher Nolan. According to my opinion, lots of studies and
research is being done for the movie by just having simple basis which is basic dream experience
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and concepts and common. Furthermore, for the audience who watched the movie, they will
realized that the graphic effects is improved drastically where they cant even find one defect of
graphic (very perfect). The afford put by Chris Corbould (special effect guru) was paid off
where the movie is resulted more than wanted and gave larger impact to the audiences.
Other than that, the big budget of the movie can be noted from the interview given by one
of the actor of the movie, 23 year old actress Ellen Page where she said, Ive never really seen
anything like this (the set). Its humbling. Besides that, can be said that literature meets the
architecture when the research and studies on the topic (dream) managed to put into action/ big
screen and at the same time the plot reaching the audience.
From the analysis that can be done about the movie, it is based on the Dream Levels and
Dream Time, where the dream within a dream process puts you into a deeper state of dreaming.
According to the research as deeper ones go, the further removed ones mind from reality.
(Outlaw, 2003 - 2011). Other than that, the known truth is the deeper we deep, the harder it s to
be woken up and the more real- feeling a dream becomes and not even the usual physical quest
to wake up can affect us such as the sensation of falling (the kick) or having to go to the
bathroom.
Different from the norm of movie nowadays such as heartthrob vampires, evil aliens and
the never-gets-old concept of talking dogs, Inception made a turnover with a different plot and
genre. Besides that, Inception also fill the audience with suspense and thrilled with the plot, in
addition Inception can be said a movie that can be watched with family where it suitable for all
stages of society. In addition, the movie also managed to divert the youngsters from the fantasy
world (vampire- based romance, fairy tales and etc), into something that a person should give a
thought of.
As a conclusion, Inception can be said a very good movie that can be watch many times
with family. Besides that an effective graphic work, cinematography and direction and acting
made the movie a successful one at the season and most approachable. As a credit for the movie,
it won many awards such as Academy Awards (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best
Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects), British Academy Film Awards (Best Production
Design, Best Special Visual Effects, and Best Sounds) and Golden Globes.
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ARTICLE 28
DATE

: 13 NOVEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE32

TITLE

: MEGA-MEDIOCRE

ARTICLE 29
DATE

: 10 NOVEMBER 2010 (WEDNESDAY)

PAGE

: T29

TITLE

: COOL ROLE

SUMMARY (BOTH ARTICLES):


Megamind is a 3D computer-animated superhero action comedy film directed by Tom
McGrath. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Red Hour Productions, and
distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was released in the United States in Digital 3D,
IMAX 3D and 2D. When a planet is near to be destroyed, two alien offspring are saved by their
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parents that launch them to the space in pods. Their fate on Earth is opposite: one that is a
beautiful baby with superpowers crashes in the lawn of a mansion, while the other that is ugly
and blue with a big head crashes in a prison yard with his companion Minion. They are raised in
different environments of the Metro City but studying in the same school for gifted children.
While one becomes popular but selfish, the other is absolutely outcast by the other students.
They become enemies and when they grow-up, the population knows them as the superhero
Metro Man and the villain Megamind. In their fights, Megamind always loses and ends in prison;
however, Megamind develops a ray that kills Metro Man, reducing him to a skeleton. After a
short period, Megamind feels bored without the battles against Metro Man. Meanwhile he dates
the field reporter Roxanne Ritchie, who works with the cameraman Hal Stewart, using the
identity of Bernard and sooner they fall in love with each other. When Megamind decides to
create another superhero to become his opponent, he accidentally transforms Al Stewart in Titan
expecting that he would use his powers for good. However, Titan becomes greed and evil and
destroys Metro City. Now Megamind is the only hope to save the word from the mean Titan.
ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):
This movie is based on an original idea. In a world where all superhero stories are made
the same, Megamind is a twist on the usual conventions. It was refreshing to see some new ideas
in a genre that seems to follow the same. As corny as it sounds, its good to send out positive
messages to young audiences. And following your heart and never letting the past define the
future is always a good thing to implant in youngsters heads. Besides that, the visuals were good.
Normally 3D films are rather gimmicky but in this film they did a great job at fully utilizing the
medium to its advantages. They didnt over do the 3D but when they went for it, they went full
force and certain scenes were actually beautifully made. Its nice to see a kids-comedy paying
attention to such details. Sometimes having distinct voices takes the cast away from a film, but
this time it perfectly matched the characters.. Ferrell is like a chameleon with his voice and was
able to use that to his advantage and create a number of entertaining characters. Tina Fey doing
her reporter voice was perfect for the role, Jonah Hill and David Cross are both hysterical
comedians. And finally Brad Pitt makes one damn good super-hero voice, which is cliched
enough to fit in but also perfect for the twist that comes later.
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The only main drawback of the movies is it has a lot of plot. Although there are some
good twists on the norm, there are a lot of plot lines and characters to keep track of, especially
for the kids in the audience. Though the plots were not too hard for adults and older kids to
follow the younger crowd seemed a little discontent. Since this was very obviously made it to be
a kids film it needs to keep their attention.

ARTICLE 30
DATE

:12 MARCH 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE25

TITLE

: A HIT-AND-MISS AFFAIR

SUMMARY:
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa is a historic Malay films produced by KRU Studios for the
international market with a view to introducing the history and the Malay culture to the
world. This epic film is clearly adapted from prose Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa , who narrated
the history of earliest Kedah . It is directed by Yusry Abdul Halim (from the group KRU ) and
was screened in cinemas in Malaysia began March 10, 2011. At the final cost of RM 8 million
(RM6.83 declared to FINAS and about RM 2 million spent on sets, props, wardrobe) , epic
film Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa became the second most expensive film made in Malaysia in
the history of the film during issued, behind Puteri Gunung Ledang at the cost of RM 16.6
million in 2004.

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The story begins in the year 120, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. While
in China, the Han Dynasty was a powerful empire and has extended his rule to the Central Asian
countries. During the Roman forces were repairing their vessels in Goa , they seek help Merong
Mahawangsa accompany the Prince of Rome to Langkasuka (said to be located in northern
Malaysia) to marry a beautiful Chinese princess of the Han Dynasty.
However, pirates of the Garuda clan have a different plan. They decided to kidnap
Princess of China and make it as a hostage. At the end of the irrigation Straits of Malacca ,
Merong Mahawangsa and his forces attacked by Garuda. Thus, it is the task to rescue Princess
Merong Mahawangsa China and unite him with the Prince of Rome to find a marriage of two
great civilizations of East and West.

ANALYSIS:
Scriptwriters Yusry Abdul Halim and Amir Hafizi have revived a name that most
Malaysians were only aware of on the most rudimentary level. In this tale, they have made
Merong an educated savage in the manner of Mel Gibsons legendary Scottish freedom fighter
William Wallace. It works for the purposes of this story, since here he needs to be the rough and
tumble sort, while eventually discovering his destiny as a king. It is not often we watch
Malaysian history on the big screen and this was a very good opportunity for many. The
supporting cast members like Embok and Ying Ying's characters add emotions and humour to the
film whilst the production set design deserves a special mention. Despite the ambitious attempt,
there are still a couple of potholes to be filled. Stephen's grasp of Malay is commendable but we
could see he was struggling to make it sound legit. There are some parts where editing could be
tighter and the story continuation from flashback to reality is not too convincing as well.

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ARTICLE 31
DATE

: 30 APRIL 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE23

TITLE

: THUNDEROUS

SUMMARY:
Thor is a superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published
by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The
film was directed by Kenneth Branagh. The story is about Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) is ready
to pass the crown on to his oldest son, Thor, but their ceremony is interrupted by invading Frost
Giants who want back their powerful crystal. The timing couldn't be worse and the fact his
passing-of-the-torch ceremony comes to a jarring halt sets Thor off on a tantrum. He may be a
powerful god, but that doesn't keep him from acting like an immature, petulant child. So, with
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his sidekicks, Fandral (Joshua Dallas), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and
Hogun (Tadanabu Asano), he disobeys his father's direct orders, crosses the rainbow bridge and
attacks their enemies, thus breaking a truce.
As punishment for ignoring his orders, Odin casts Thor out of Asgard, sending him to
Earth to learn a little humility. He crashes to the ground not far from where astrophysicist Jane
Foster (Natalie Portman) is doing her research with assistance from Dr. Erik Selvig and Darcy.
Thor spends time trying to convince Jane and her crew that he's not of this world and that he
needs his hammer. Meanwhile, Thor's jealous younger brother, Loki, is up to no good. He wants
the throne and all the power to himself, and that means Thor needs to believe his exile to Earth
isn't a temporary situation. As Loki plots and schemes, Thor falls for Jane and he begins to
understand the lesson his father was trying to teach him by sending him away.

ANALYSIS:
Branagh's Shakespearean background fits nicely with Thor's storytelling. The film's
basically a Shakespearean tragedy disguised as a summer super hero movie, with its battling
sons, betrayal, the coveting of power, and royal politics central to the plot. What makes Thor
intriguing is its main character is from a place of unearthly, mystical enchantment yet still is
susceptible to being led astray only to encounter elements we mortals experience daily. But, Thor
isn't perfect. The fight scenes are too few and far between. Loki's a treat to observe for the first
half of the film, but the ultimate reason for his rascally behavior is a major letdown. THOR is
more of a fantasy filled fun fairytale than an intense sci-fi thriller based on an ancient mythology
as it had touted to be.

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ARTICLE 32
DATE

: 3 JULY 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE24

TITLE

: WHOS BAD

SUMMARY:
Despicable Me is a computer animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and
Illumination Entertainment. This movie marks Universal Pictures first attempt at cashing in on
the 3-D animation craze, and the film, which is actually pretty entertaining, falls considerably
short of the almost impossibly high bar set by Pixar and DreamWorks. Gru (Steve Carell) is an
evil supervillain who has masterminded some of the most impressive crimes in humanitys
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history. But when a brash new arrival arrives on the scene, Gru, along with his sidekick and his
army of minions is forced to concoct a scheme that will effectively dwarf his previous
accomplishments. As such, Gru eventually conspires to steal no less than the moon using a stolen
device thats capable of shrinking objects to pocket size. His seemingly perfect plan is inevitably
foiled by Vector, however, as the tracksuit-wearing scoundrel steals the device for himself and
transfers it to an impenetrable location deep within his fortified lair. All seems lost for Gru until
he spots a trio of adorable orphans selling cookies door to door. He thought of a plan of getting
into Vectors home that forces Gru to adopt the three little kids. He used the girls to sneak tiny
robots disguised as cookies into Vectors house. The rest of the movie follows Gru as he attempts
to balance his nefarious deeds with his newfound role as a caregiver, while Vector goes to
increasingly incredible lengths to prevent Gru from executing his evil plan.

ANALYSIS:
Characterisation is the movies strong suit: Carells bizarre mittel-European accent
threatens to make Gru a tough sell, but when his three well-defined and loveable charges enter
the picture this irascible, prickly exterior becomes more transparent. Though it eventually
morphs into quite the little crowd-pleaser, Despicable Me suffers from an opening half hour that
seems to consist solely of desperate jokes spouted by characters that are almost uncomfortably
unusual. Its not until the movie discovers its heart that it begins to improve, as the increasingly
compelling nature of Grus relationship with Margo, Edith, and Agnes is just charming enough
and sweet enough to re-capture the viewers waning interest. Despicable Me is perfectly rote
animated family entertainment, a familiar but fun little movie where a dastardly character out to
steal something big has a change of heart after encountering an adorable little moppet.
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ARTICLE 33
DATE

: 26 FEBRUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE29

TITLE

: THE DARK SIDE OF DANCE

ARTICLE 34
DATE

: 22 FEBRUARY 2011 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T17

TITLE

: TWINKLE TOES
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SUMMARY (BOTH ARTICLES):
Black Swan is a psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring
Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. BLACK SWAN follows the story of Nina
(Portman), a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her
profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica
(Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughters professional ambition. When artistic
director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre
(Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first
choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well.
Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and
the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but
Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into
a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that
threatens to destroy her. And as Nina attempts to express herself as the Black Swan, the pressure
of the role begins to manifest itself in increasingly intense ways that range from visions to
physical wounds, and as the opening date nears, Nina battles an increasingly personal and
psychological battle against those around her, while attempting to explore her own place in the
world.
ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):
Darren Aronofskys Black Swan is a technical masterpiece featuring some great
performances. The story is a clever re-fashioning of Tchaikovskys Swan Lake. Black Swan
takes a huge risk by shooting a surreal, psychological thriller with a cinema verite-style, but the
gamble pays off in a big way. While the technical craft behind Black Swan is incredible, this
movie couldnt work without Portman. She is astounding and while shes done roles in the past
that have hinted at the darkness and depth she could achieve, with Black Swan you see an actress
at the top of her game. Not only is she performing the thrilling dance sequences but she
embraces Ninas slow decent into insanity with such compelling grace and sadness. Portman
displays an enchanting softness with Ninas naivety and innocence, but she also has no difficulty
in embracing the characters dark side in a way that feels organic and honest to the story. Its one
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of the best performances of the year and one of the best performances of her career. One of the
messages that stood out the most from this movie is that we should learn to love ourselves. Nina
is unhappy (due to a number of things) with who she is-the white swan. Nobody should be made
to believe they are perfect because they may die trying to prove their worth. All in all Black
Swan explores themes of female sexuality, obsession, compulsions, fractured identity, and does
so in a visually captivating and brutally honest manner that mischievously dances between the
real and the surreal. Like its protagonist, the film is technically magnificent yet knows when to
unravel and embrace a glorious madness. Its an unforgettable thriller that demands repeat
viewings as we want to fall further into Ninas dark and demented universe.

ARTICLE 35
DATE

: 4 JULY 2010 (SUNDAY)

PAGE

: SM3

TITLE

: NOT THE END OF LINE

SUMMARY:
Tron: Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that's unlike anything ever
captured on the big screen Sam Flynn, a rebellious 27-year-old, is haunted by the mysterious
disappearance of his father Kevin Flynn, a man once known as the world's leading video-game
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developer. When Sam investigates a strange signal sent from the old Flynn's Arcade, a signal that
could only come from his father, he finds himself pulled into a digital world where Kevin has
been trapped for 20 years. With the help of the fearless warrior Quorra, father and son embark on
a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe, a universe created by Kevin
himself that has become far more advanced with never-before imagined vehicles, weapons,
landscapes and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to prevent their escape.

ANALYSIS:
This is a movie well beyond the possibility of logical explanation. Joseph Kosinski's
"Tron: Legacy" steps nimbly over such obstacles and hits the ground running, in a 3-D soundand light show that plays to the eyes and ears more than the mind. The original "Tron" was made
28 years ago. "Tron: Legacy," a sequel made 28 years after the original but with the same actor,
is true to the first film: It also can't be understood, but looks great. Both films, made so many
years apart, can fairly lay claim to being state of the art. This time that includes the use of 3-D.
Since so much of the action involves quick movement forward and backward in shots, the 3-D
effect is useful, and not just a promiscuous use of the ping-pong effect. It is also well-iterated.
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The artificial world is wonderfully well-rendered, building on the earlier film's ability to bring
visual excitement to what must in reality, after all, be slim pickings: invisible ones and zeroes.
Some of the chases and architectural details are effective simply because they use sites and
spaces never seen before. And the soundtrack by Daft Punk has such urgent electronic force that
the visuals sometimes almost play as its accompaniment. The plot is a catastrophe, shortchanging the characters and befuddling the audience.

ARTICLE 36
DATE

: 7 AUGUST 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE 27

TITLE

: NOT HAPPENING

ARTICLE 37
DATE

: 7 AUGUST 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE28

TITLE

: A DULL NIGHT
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SUMMARY & ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):
Last Air Bender directed by M. Night Syamalan and the cast is Noah Ringer, Dev Patel,
Nicola Peltz and Jackson. The film begins with fourteen-year-old Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her
fifteen-year-old warrior brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), near a river at the South Pole. They
soon followed some tracks of a tiger seal. When they looked beneath their feet, there was
something glowing below. An ice sphere appeared with a boy named Aang and a flying bison
named Appa trapped inside when Sokka hits the floor with his boomerang. Unknown to them,
Aang (Noah Ringer) is the long lost Avatar - a spiritual figure that holds the world in balance
through every incarnation. However, his disappearance allowed the Fire Nation to declare war on
the other nations (the Air Nomads, the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom) in their attempt to
conquer the world. Zuko (Dev Patel), prince of the Fire Nation, is on a quest to find the Avatar
and bring him as prisoner to his father, the Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis). Seeing the light that
appeared from Aang's release, Zuko and some Fire Nation soldiers arrive at the Southern Water
Tribe to demand the villagers to bring out their elderly under the impression that the Avatar must
be an old person. But Aang reveals himself as he surrenders himself to Zuko on the condition
that he agrees to leave the village alone.
On the ship Aang is tested by Zuko's Uncle Iroh (Shaun Toub) to confirm him to be the
Avatar. After being informed that he is to be their prisoner for passing the test, Aang escapes
using his glider and flies to his flying bison brought by Katara and Sokka. Aang and his new
friends visit the Southern Air Temple and he learns that he was in the ice for a whole century and
that the Fire Nation wiped out all Air Nomads, including his guardian, Monk Gyatso (Damon
Gupton). In despair, he enters the Avatar state and finds himself in the spirit world where he
encounters a dragon spirit that tells him to make his way to the Northern Water Tribe to master
Water

Bending.
While at small Earth Kingdom town controlled by the Fire Nation, Aang's group is

arrested because Katara tries to help a young boy (Isaac Jin Solstein) from a patrol. They incite a
rebellion by reminding the disgruntled Earth benders that earth was given to them. Katara is
given a Waterbending scroll that she uses to perfect her Waterbending and help Aang learn
Waterbending as they make their way to the Northern Water Tribe and liberate more Earth
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Kingdom villages in the process. During a side track to the Northern Air Temple on his own,
Aang is betrayed by a peasant and captured by a group of Fire Nation archers, led by Admiral
Zhao. However, a masked marauder, the "Blue Spirit", helps Aang escape from his
imprisonment. Aware that Zuko is the "Blue Spirit", Zhao arranges to kill the prince. Zuko
survives the attempt on his life. With Iroh's help, he sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet
departs for the Northern Water Tribe to execute the plan he and Ozai set up with the scrolls from
the

Library

detailing

the

spirits

there.

Upon arriving, Aang's group is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water
Tribe. Immediately, Sokka befriends the Northern Water Tribe princess, Yue (Seychelle Gabriel).
After a few agreements, a waterbending master, Pakku (Francis Guinan), teaches Aang
waterbending. Soon, the Fire Nation arrives and Zhao begins his attack while Zuko begins his
search for the Avatar on his own, capturing Aang as he enters the spirit world to find the dragon
spirit to give him the wisdom to defeat the Fire Nation. Returning to his body, Aang battles Zuko
before Katara freezes him. As the battle escalates, Iroh watches Zhao capture the moon spirit Tui,
which with its water spirit counterpart had assumed the form of a fish. Despite Iroh's pleas, Zhao
kills Tui to strip the the Waterbenders to lose all of their powers and abilities to Waterbend. Yue
explains to everyone that the moon spirit gave her life, willing to gave it back as she dies in the
process. With the tables turned, Zhao is drowned by Waterbenders after Zuko and Iroh leave him
to his fate. Aang uses the ocean to drive the armada back. Aang now fully embraces his destiny
as the Avatar as he, Katara and Sokka prepare to continue their journey to the Earth Kingdom to
find an earthbending teacher for Aang. When news of Zhao's death and Iroh's betrayal reaches
Fire Lord Ozai, he appoints his daughter Azula to capture both her uncle and Zuko along with
dealing with the Avatar before Sozin's Comet returns.The challenges of squeezing all this into
one film are expensive. Besides that, in the series the relationship is developed slowly so that you
can understand why these two people could have been friends. In this film, however, we never
get the logic behind due to the basic story line ,it was not detail enough to understand. Moreover,
the director should have took this movie in sequel type, so that the story line can be long and
more detail. By doing this, the audience can understand the story and they will expecting the
sequels to be released.
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ARTICLE 38
DATE

: 7 AUGUST 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE 29

TITLE

: STILL STANDING

SUMMARY:
The Expendables, is a action movie and acted by Sylvester Stallone, Mickey Rourke,
Terry Crews, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture. The combo of this team is back to
action in this movie for the first time. This team of highly-trained and armed mercenaries are
given the mission to overthrow the dictator of Vilena, America. The story is a fairy tale story
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where the hero will save the heroine from the danger and they will fall in love. This story is
written by Stallone who might be a great action icon, but scriptwriting does not suit him.
This plot line of this story is can be expected and mostly Stallone chose to use guns,
bigger guns, and very big explosion to rock the viewers world 80% of the time. A group of elite
mercenaries, the Expendables, are deployed to the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia to halt
local pirates from executing the hostages. The team consists of leader Barney Ross (Sylvester
Stallone), former SAS soldier and blades specialist Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), martial artist
Yin Yang (Jet Li), sniper Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), weapons specialist Hale Caesar
(Terry Crews) and demolitions expert Toll Road (Randy Couture). Jensen instigates a fire fight,
causing casualties for the pirates. Then, Yang and Jensen fight over moral disagreements about
hanging a pirate, with Ross finally intervening. As a result of his psychological problems, Ross
reluctantly

releases

Jensen

from

the

Expendables.

After that, Ross and his rival mercenary leader Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger), go to see
Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) who names himself after the church they meet in. He offers them a
mission in Vilena, a fictional island in the Gulf of Mexico, to overthrow a brutal dictator, General
Garza (David Zayas). Busy with other things, Trench gives the contract to Ross. Christmas visits
his girlfriend, Lacy (Charisma Carpenter), whom he discovers has left him for another man, Paul.
Ross and Christmas do initial reconnaissance after meeting with their contact, Sandra (Gisele
Iti), only for the mission to go awry. Ross learns that Garza is backed by ex-CIA agent James
Munroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchmen Paine (Steve Austin) and The Brit (Gary Daniels), who
manipulate and keep Garza in power by making his people fear him. Sandra is revealed to be
Garza's daughter. Ross decides to abort and causes casualties among the army as they escape.
Meanwhile,

Jensen

approaches

Garza

and

Munroe

to

help

their

side.

Later on, Christmas visits Lacy again to find that Paul has beaten her. Christmas defeats
Paul and his friends, showing Lacy what he does for a living and winning her over. Ross,
Christmas, and Yang deduce that Mr. Church is a member of the CIA and that the real target is
Munroe, as the CIA could not kill one of their own. Mission coordinator and former teammate,
Tool (Mickey Rourke) makes an emotional confession to Ross about letting a woman commit
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suicide during the Bosnian War. Hearing this, Ross decides to go back for Sandra. Yang tags
along, and they are chased on the road by Jensen in an intense shootout. The pursuit ends in an
abandoned warehouse, where Yang and Jensen fight a second time. Jensen attempts to impale
Yang on a pipe, only for Ross to shoot Jensen. A wounded Jensen makes amends and gives the
layout of Garza's palace. Ross boards the plane with Yang and finds the rest of team, ready to aid
their

friend.
The Expendables infiltrate Garza's compound. Christmas, Yang, Caesar, and Toll plant

explosive charges throughout the site. When Garza has a change of heart after Munroe tortures
his daughter, Munroe kills him. The entire team fights and shoots their way through Garza's
soldiers. Ross and Caesar manage to destroy the helicopter Munroe was to escape on. Christmas
and Yang manage to kill The Brit while Toll kills Paine. Ross and Christmas catch up to Munroe
and kill him, saving Sandra. Instead of taking the payment for the mission, Ross gives it to
Sandra to restore Vilena. The team celebrates their victory at Tool's tattoo, with the reformed and
recovering Jensen. Although this movie was not a hit movie in Malaysia but there are still some
passionate fans are waiting for this type of action movie. The Expendable is a mixed bag because
it is delightful to watch so many action icons gathering for a big action movie, but the action
scenes are pretty generic and making the movie less glorious.

ARTICLE 39
DATE

: 15 JANUARY 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE 31

TITLE

: TALES OF A SENSITIVE BUFFALO

SUMMARY:
This article mainly about the movie The Faster where it, begins with Driver (Dwayne
Johnson) being released from prison after talking to the warden (Tom Berenger) who tells him he
should be a better person. He exits curtly, breaks into a run, seemingly set on something. He runs
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until he retrieves his Chevelle LS5 SS recreation drives to an office in Bakersfield where he kills
a man (Courtney Gains)
Then, driver goes to the man (Mike Epps) who gave him the car and the gun and forces him to
give him the names and info for the rest of some list he compiled for Driver. Meanwhile, Driver
is being tracked down by detective Cicero (Carla Gugino) and Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), a
retiring cop whose life is off track and suffering from a drug habit. They investigate the office
crime scene and video from the scene. Cicero gets a break in the case when she recognizes
Driver. Later, a nameless man 'Killer' (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is hired to kill Driver. Killer tells
his girlfriend Lily (Maggie Grace) that it is his last job, and while he seems to feel the conflict
between

his

professional

life

and

love

life

with

Lily,

he

decides

to

go.

After that, Driver heads to the second name on his list. It is an old man who films his own
personal snuff films, and he is in the middle of filming himself taking advantage of a girl he
drugged when Driver busts in the door and shoots him dead. Killer has tracked down Driver and
initiates a gun fight in the hallway, but Driver escapes. This affects Killer philosophically, who
proposes

to

his

girlfriend

and

takes

the

case

personally.

Later on, it is revealed that Cop has a drug problem, along with his girlfriend Marina. Cop
and Detective are investigating Driver's past and discover he was double crossed. Cicero
remembered Driver from a video of his brother's death, filmed by the man Driver has just killed.
On tape, Driver is shot in the head by an unidentified man, but narrowly survives, needing
surgery and a metal plate to fix his skull. Driver goes to his old girlfriend's (Jennifer Carpenter)
house. She knows he's killing the people in the video and tells him she hopes he succeeds. Driver
then goes to Nevada to kill the man who slit his brother's throat. Meanwhile, both Cop and Killer
have gotten word that the man survived the stabbing and is in the hospital. Knowing Driver will
go

back

to

finish

him

off,

they

converge

on

the

place.

Bravely, Driver enters the hospital and kills the man while he is in surgery. Cop attempts
to bring down Driver but is unsuccessful; however Driver spares his life after seeing his badge.
While driving away from the hospital, Driver encounters Killer. After a high speed chase on the
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highway, Killer manages to shoot Driver in the neck after Driver shoots out his tires. Driver goes
to the second-to-last name on the list, who turns out to be his father. He believed that his father
was the one who arranged to have him and his brother killed, after they refused to give him a
share of the money they stole in a bank job they pulled together. He finds out that his father died
years before, and his mother stitches the gunshot wound on his neck before he sets off to finish
the list. It is later revealed that his mother had an affair with another man who was apparently of
a different ethnic background and that the old man abused Driver because of it. The last man is a
travelling evangelist, and after his service is over and everyone has left, Driver confronts him.
The evangelist knows why he is there, and tries to tell him that he has turned his life around,
begging for forgiveness. Driver spares him and goes to leave when he is confronted by Killer.
Detective Cicero learns the true identity of the man who shot Driver. She hurries to the
church with Cop already on the scene. Killer tells Driver to pick up his gun so they can have a
true test of skill. But Driver declines, saying he has no fight with him. Killer then explains he
wanted to be better since he could not walk when he was a child. Cop walks in and shoots Driver
in the head. It is revealed that Cop was the man who shot Driver in the video. He gives Killer the
money for the job, but he declines, because he wasn't the one who killed him. Killer then departs,
telling Cop never to contact him again, likely signifying the end of his career as an assassin.
Killer calls his wife, telling her that he is coming home. Cop calls his girlfriend, telling her that
they will be okay because he closed the case and how he has been reading up on women. It is
revealed in pieces that the girl we thought was Drivers but was actually Gary's and a C.I for the
Cop, and let the info slip about the bank job and the cop then put together the crew to take out
Gary and Driver. Suddenly, he is shot by Driver, who survived the shot due to the metal plate in
his skull. Detective Cicero arrives on the scene after Driver has already left and finds Cop's body
who promptly decides to cover up Cop's involvement in the whole mess presumably to allow his
family to receive his benefits and retain some sort of dignity. The movie ends with Driver
scattering his brother's ashes in the sea and driving off into the sunset as the avenging spirit of his
brother Gary.
This movie is an unpredictable movie especially the climax part where we do not know
the main culprit who wanted to kill Driver. This type of action movie is really gives impact for
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the audience and the plot summary is faster too as the title. Besides that, we can see that the
brother hood in this movie where Driver will eagerly find the bad guy who kill his brother and
kill him too although it was risky to do so.

ARTICLE 40
DATE

: 15 JULY 2010 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T20

TITLE

: FINAL SHOWDOWN

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:

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Ong-Bak 3 is a sequel movie released in 2010. Its a Thai movie which is directed,
produced and written by Tony Jaa and Panna Rikkitai. The movie casts Tong Jaa as Tien.The
movie is set in year 1413 in Thailand. The story is the follow up from Ong Bak 2 where Tien is
brutally beaten before being put death by Lord Rajasenas men.On the orders of Lord Rajasena,
his elbows and knees are snapped. As Lord Rajasena sleeps, Tien's guerilla fighters attempt to
free Tien, but Bhuti Sangkha appears and kills them. Lord Rajasena offers to hire Bhuti, but he
refuses and gives the offer to remove the curse which has been placed on Rajasena before
leaving. Rajasena orders his men to kill Tien, but before this can be carried out, a man arrives
with a pardon from the king, indicating that he will take Tien's corpse, much to Rajasena's ire.
The messenger returns Tien's body to the Kana Khone villagers. After fending off the village
from invaders who are after Tien's body, Master Bua feels guilty over Tien's imprisonment and
becomes a Buddhist monk. revives Tien to life, but finds that Tien is still crippled from his
beatings. Tien then embarks on a rehabilitation regimen with the help of Master Bua. Rajasena
visits Bhuti at his temple to remove his curse, but Bhuti reveals his true motive of usurping
Rajasena and becoming the new king. After a battle, Bhuti decapitates Rajasena, but his severed
head curses Bhuti. After meditating, Tien returns to his village to find it in ruins, and the
surviving villagers kidnapped and enslaved by Bhuti. When Pim reveals herself as Tien's
companion, she is taken to Bhuti's palace, where she is killed. Tien witnesses this killing from a
statue and fights his way through the guards before confronting Bhuti, who launches a spear at
Tien's chest. As he falls to his knees, defeated, he remembers Bua's words, and finds himself
again atop the statue. Overcoming Bhuti's illusion, lightning strikes and Bhuti's eclipse magic is
dispelled. Bhuti attempts to escape but is confronted by Tien. Bhuti attempts again to throw a
spear at Tien, who catches and throws it aside. He then attacks Bhuti, impaling him on an
elephant tusk. Tien and Pim return to the village, where they pray before the statue of Ong Bak.
ARTICLE 41
DATE

: 11 DECEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE32

TITLE

: GORE AND STREOTYPE GALORE

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:


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The movie plot is set in 19th century Asia. The plot is about Yang, a warrior of the Sad
Flutes clan and the cruelest assassin in the world. His personal goal is to become the greatest
swordsman in the entire world. To accomplish his goal, Yang kills all the former greatest
swordsman and leader of the enemy clan. Yang has killed every member of the enemy clan until
he came upon a baby girl. Things started to change after Yang meets the baby girl. This act made
Yang a sworn enemy of his own clan. Since his homeland is not safe anymore, Yang burns his
home and took the baby and sword on a boat to west. Reaching Lode, a small town he searches
for a rogue warrior known as Smiley. Yang discovered that Smiley died 3 years ago but ran the
town laundry shop. Then Yang is introduced to the gang of friendly carnies led by dwarf EightBall, Ron, the vagrant drunk and Lynne, a spunky young woman who was friends with Smiley.
Lynne gives Yang the nickname Skinny and agrees to teach him how to do the laundry. As time
passes, Yang enjoyed the new life and being with the baby girl, April. One day Yang learns the
past of Lynne where she was raped by a corrupt Colonel who then killed her whole family. Lynne
manages to evade the colonel by throwing a pan of potatoes frying in the grease on his face.
Since then, Lynne has made revenge on the Colonel a priority. Yang started to teach Lynne the art
of throwing knifes while blindfolded and lives a peaceful life with April. During the Christmas
party Lynne left to revenge back to the Colonel. However, during the attempt to kill the colonel,
Lynne was caught by him. At the critical time Yang comes into the scene to fight and save Lynne.
Knowing that he cannot win the fight, the Colonel tries to escape but was killed by Lynne using
the skill taught by Yang. Yang is about to leave town before the Sad Flutes come for him, but the
townsfolk implore him to stay and help. At the end of the movie, Yang fought against one of the
Sad Flute clan member. The duel end with victory in Yangs hand and he left the town alone. He
left April under Lynne hand and set for a journey.
ARTICLE 42
DATE

: 12 MARCH 2011 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE24

TITLE

: REASON UNKNOWN

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


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The movie casts Liam Neeson as Dr. Martin Harris. He is the main character of the story.
The

story starts

with

Dr. Martin

Harris

and

his

wife

Liz

arrive

in Berlin for

a biotechnology summit. Upon arriving at their hotel, Hotel Adlon, Martin realizes his briefcase
was left at the airport. He takes a taxicab driven by Gina but on the way to the airport, the cab
crashes off a bridge into the river. Martin is knocked unconscious upon impact, but Gina saves
him from drowning before fleeing from the scene to avoid the police, since she is an illegal
immigrant from Bosnia. On Thanks giving day, he gains consciousness at the hospital after being
in a coma for four days.
Martin returns to his hotel, only to discover another man with his wife, who tells hotel security
she does not know him. He attempts to contact his old colleague Prof. Rodney Cole who is
unavailable due to Thanksgiving in the United States. Martin then heads to the office of Prof.
Bressler, whom he is scheduled to meet that day. However, he sees the impostor, "Martin B",
already in a meeting with Bressler. As Martin attempts to prove his identity, Martin B shows him
his ID and family photo both of which have Martin's name, only with his face replaced by that
of the impostor. Disillusioned by the identity crisis, Martin falls unconscious and finds himself
back at the hospital. An assassin sent to target him kills Nurse Gretchen Herfort, but Martin
escapes.He then seeks help from Nurse Herfort's friend, private investigator and
former Stasi agent Herr Jrgen. Martin's only clues are his notebook and Gina, who works at a
diner after being fired from the taxicab company since the incident. While Martin attempts to
persuade Gina into helping him clear up his identity problem, Jrgen digs up information related
to Martin and the biotechnology summit. He discovers that the summit is to be attended by
Prince Shada of Saudi Arabia, who is funding a secret project headed by Bressler. Prince Shada
has survived numerous assassination attempts from extremists in his own country, and Jrgen
suspects that Martin's identity theft may be another attempt at taking the Prince's life.
Meanwhile, the assassins attempt to eliminate Martin and Gina, but the couple escape after a
fight at her apartment and a lengthy car chase. Martin looks at his notebook and sees a set of
numbers written by his spouse. The numbers correspond to words found on specific pages of the
notebook, which appear as secret codes. Using the schedule written on the notebook, Martin
confronts Liz, who tells him that he left his briefcase at the airport. Jrgen receives Cole at his
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office, but since he realizes that Cole is not who he says he. He then commits suicide by drinking
cyanide-laced coffee. He also has figured out who Martin really is also a member of the same
unit.After retrieving his briefcase, Martin parts ways with Gina. She sees him kidnapped by Cole
and his henchman Jones. Gina steals a taxicab and chases after Cole's van. Martin wakes up in a
car park and discovers the truth of his identity from Cole. It is revealed that Martin Harris is a
cover name, and that he, Liz and Martin B are mercenary assassins sent to target the summit.
Because he injured his head during the car crash, his memory was altered and he believed that
Martin Harris was his real life identity. However, he still does not remember his own true
identity. Gina rushes in and stops Jones from killing Martin as Cole hides in his van. There is a
brief fight between Jones and Gina that ends when Gina drives her car into Jones and squashes
him against Cole's van. The impact of the crash also sends the van plummeting out the car park
with Cole still inside, killing him in the process. Martin discovers a hidden compartment in his
briefcase and finds two Canadian passports, realizing he and Liz were in Berlin three months
prior to plant a bomb in the suite that is to be occupied later by Prince Shada for the summit.
Having become aware of his role in the assassination plot, Martin seeks to redeem himself by
thwarting the assassination and heads for the hotel with Gina in tow. They are immediately
arrested by security, but Martin convinces them of his presence in the hotel three months back.
He then realizes that Prince Shada is not the target, but Bressler who has developed a
genetically modified breed of corn that is capable of surviving any climate, easing the world's
food supply problem. Bressler's death will cause billions of dollars fall into the wrong hands. Liz
uses her own copy of the notebook's secret codes to remotely access Bressler's laptop and steal
the data. After being convinced there is a bomb, security evacuates the hotel. Seeing that their
assassination attempt has been foiled, Liz tries to disarm the bomb, but is too late and is killed as
a section of Hotel Adlon is blown up. Martin B, the last remaining assassin, try to kill Prof.
Bressler, but Martin fights and kills him. Bressler later announces his project to the world, and
Martin and Gina board a train together with new passports, thus giving them new identities.
ARTICLE 43
DATE

: 18 DECEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

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: WE34

TITLE

: TWISTED TRUTH

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


Fair game movie is directed by Doug Liman and casted by Naomi Watts, Sean Pann,
Jessica Hect and Noah Emmerich. Naomi Watts plays the main role as Valeria, the covert CIA
agent. The film won the "Freedom of Expression Award" from the National Board of Review.
Variea is employed by the CIA and this fact is kept as a secret to everyone except her husband
and parents. She has been involved with a number of sensitive and dangerous operations.
Meanwhile, her husband Joseph is adiplomat who has served as U.S ambassador to Gabun.
Wilson was approached by Plames CIA colleagues to travel to Niger and get the information as
to whether uranium is produces by Iraq for the use of nuclear weapons. However, Wilson thought
that would not happen. After military action is taken by George W. Bush, who justifies it in a
2003 State of the Union address by alluding to the uranium's use in building weapons of mass
destruction, Wilson submits an op-ed piece to The New York Times, claiming these reports to be
categorically untrue. As a result, Plames status as a CIA agent is revealed to the media. The leak
possibly comes out from the White House, to discredit her husbands allegation that Bush
administration had manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion on Iraq. Due to that, Plame is
dismissed from the agency and creating problems in her marriage. Plame leaves her husband,
further angered by his granting of television and print interviews, which expose them both to
public condemnation and death threats. Wilson ultimately persuades her, however, that there is
no other way to fight a power as great as that of the White House for citizens like them. Plame
returns to him and testifies before a Congressional committee, while Libby is convicted
of perjury and obstruction of justice and given a 30-month prison sentence, although President
Bush commutes the jail time on Libby's behalf.

ARTICLE 44
DATE

: 13th DECEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)


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PAGE

: T19

TITLE

: RESTLESS SPIRIT

SUMMARY:
In a typical Malaysia Kampung, everyone lives happily with the value of togetherness
and a healthy neighborhood practices. Everyone knows each other and has been living together
for many years. But what if we realized that there is something else that lives within us. Hantu
Kak Limah is a Malaysian movie, which shows a caring bunch of Malaysians from Kampung
Pisang who undergoes a series of spook threats from Kak Limah who is believed to be dead.
After all the threat, when the villagers decided to get rid of Kak Limahs ghost, it is then found
out that,Kak Limah is not dead, but being a psycho who had run away from the mental asylum.
But there had been a ghost living within the villagers for a long time,but it wasnt Kak Limah.
This movie has a lot of comedy,action and a little bit of love sadness which makes it one of the
top movies in Malaysias Box Office.
ANALYSIS:
A good comedy movies will make you want to laugh out loud. A good horror moviewill
make you want to scream out your lungs. In both respect, HANTU KAK LIMAHBALIK
RUMAH will not disappoints. The horror scene is intense and the comedicscene is, well, punchy.
This movie is definitely a must watch Malay movie of theyear 2010. This horror / comedy movie
is directed by Mamat Khalid whom is knownfor his comedic prowess and if Hantu Kak Limah
Balik Rumah is any indicator, hestill hasnt lost his touch.Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah is a
sequel to Mamats own Zombi Kampung Pisang,set in the same misfortune village in Perak, 3
years after the event of the zombieoutbreak in Kampung Pisang. This time around, it wasnt
zombie that terrorize thepoor denizen of Kampung Pisang, but the spirit of a deceased local
called Kak Limah(Delimawati).The main plot of Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah revolve around
the sameprotagonist from Zombi Kampung Pisang, Husin (Awie) who just gotten back from
Singapore three years after he broke a wedding engagement with Cik Nin (UmmiNazeera).
Husin resolve to take Cik Nin hand in marriage is however delayed withthe problem surrounding
his dead neighbor, Kak Limah whom spirit causing panic inKampung Pisang.The movie follows
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Husin and some other Kampung Pisang resident including villagechief Pak Abu (Zami Ismail),
Husins close friend Abi Hurairah (Johan Raja Lawak)and Usop (Syed) in their unsuccessful
attempts to exorcises the soul of Kak Limah.How the resident of Kampung Pisang interact with
the ghost of Kak Limah and thevarious exorcism attempts is definitely the standouts of the
movie.Other standout of the movie is definitely the character of Hantu Kak Limah BalikRumah
themselves. All characters show genuine emotion; acting and reacting like ahuman being
normally would. Theres a slight exaggeration here and there, but youcan not but like the lovable
citizen of Kampung Pisang. Syed who played the wheel-chaired Usop and Delimawati who
played Kak Limah, the ghost both played theircharacter perfectly.But Hantu Kak Limah Balik
Rumah is far from perfect. The sub-plot twist near theend of the story is predictable and at some
point, making some character behave ina totally unrealistic behaviour; an unnecessary addition
to a rather great main plot.While the sub-plot twist is still acceptable, the main offender of the sin
of simplybeing unnecessary is the character called Ayu (Ava Vaanja). She doesnt advancesthe
plot, only appearing about 4 times throughout the movie, and finally destroysthe ending. Is the
ending suppose to be a cliffhanger or what? Well, that is forMamat Khalid to answer.All in all,
Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah is a very entertaining horror / comedy with agreat production
value. Kampung Pisang resident charm and idiosyncrasies isdefinitely the main course for this
wonderful buffet of goodness; which makes it aperfect ingredient for another sequel. Hantu Kak
Limah Balik Rumah will bepremiering in cinemas this coming December 9, 2010. Its a movie
that can andshould be enjoyed for everyone even with its glaring flaws towards the end.

4.7.3 ANTHOLOGICAL TOPICS


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ARTICLE 45
DATE

: 13 SEPTEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T18

TITLE

: MENACING LADIES

SUMMARY:
The article was written as a contribution for the ladies who are dominating the silver
screen nowadays. The roles being played by the ladies will be something remarkable and
magnificent and also defeat able by the roles being played by the men. Paradigms of such a
character are as stated below:
Characters
Lara Croft
Ellen Ripley
Sarah Connor
Alice
The Bride
Jennifer the Cheerleader
Trinity
Diana Guzman
Nurse Ratched
Yu Shu Lien
Evelyn Wilkes
Alex Forrest
Fatima Blush
Maggie Fitzgerald
Rosa Klebb

Characters
Harriet Bird
Bonnie Parker
Wicked Witch of the West
Clarice Starling
Wilma
Thelma and Louise
Marge Gunderson
Buffy
Dana Scully
Jordan ONeil
Gracie Hart
Bambi and Thumper
Aileen Wuornos
Dorothy Michaels

ANALYSIS:
Nowadays the rule or norm of men domination is broken in many aspects and one of it
can be said in the world of film industries. This can be proven by the movies which being
produced by making female as the main and controlling characters throughout the movie, and
can be observed that some movies making the men to have more spice adding characters and let
the females hold the important and effecting characters. As can be seen in the table above lots of
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female domination movies being released and at the same times it also giving positive impact to
the audiences.
Movies with female domination can actually provide positive impact towards females
around the world which help them to be more confident and strong in facing the problems
rises in their life. Scenes such as the main character defeating the negative effluents with full
confidence and courages help to illustrate to the females, how a girl should be when facing
problem and how to find solution whenever be in emergency situation. Indirectly the
improvement or impact of such a movie can be observed in the amount of female being
outstanding almost in all the aspects/ fields. Other than that, by producing female dominating
movies, it helps to break the norm where only men should be the leader and ruler for
women. If we step few years back, it was very obvious that men ruled women and control their
life, for an example the girls were not allowed to go work, not allowed to be educated equally
like boys, and indirectly been treated as slaves by men. Nowadays the norm or the tradition is
broken and film industries contributed toward it, as a result the girls/ women is allowed to be
treated as equally as men in all the aspects like education, career, family and etc. There are lots
of successful women out there who being icon and inspiration for other females to succeed in
their life without depending on men as what been done by our great-great-grandmothers, for an
example Martha Stewart, who is TV reality show celebrity where she focused more on female
based cores such as cooking, interior desigining and this passion led for the production of books,
magazines, TV shows, radio stations of hers and finally being stated in the magazine of FORBES
(The World's Most Successful Women, 1999-2011). Other than that, there is Dame Arita
Roddick, the founder of THE BODY SHOP and her interest in environmental cases led to the
opening of the shop which sells body based products and at the same time environment friendly
(The World's Most Successful Women, 1999-2011). At last but not least, is Ruth Handle
Barbie, the creator of Barbie Dolls and she managed to change the way little girls play and
dream (The World's Most Successful Women, 1999-2011).
Finally can be concluded that movies with female domination is worth being producing/
released because it might give positive to the females/ women worldwide and also opened up the
conservative thoughts of men toward women. Other than that, treating women as equal as men,

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will provide peaceful environment, there will not be any disappointment or dissatisfaction among
the genders.

ARTICLE 46
DATE

: 21 SEPTEMBER 2010 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T16 &T17
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TITLE

: COMING BACK FOR MORE

SUMMARY:
This articles talks on the upcoming sequels movies. Sequel movies are films that
chronologically portray events following those of a previous film. Some of the sequels in store
for the end of 2010 which are discussed in this article are Paranormal Activity 2, Harry Potter
and The Deathly Hallows, Part 1, the Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Trader,
Tron: Legacy and Little Fockers.
Paranormal Activity 2 is set to release on 22 October 201. It is an American supernatural horror
film directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry. This is a sequel to the lowbudget blockbuster Paranormal Activity. Directed by Tod Williams, this movie is about a family
who sets up security cameras around their home after experiencing what they think are a series of
"break-ins", only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they
seem.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a 2010 fantasy film directed by David Yates and
the first of two films based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh
instalment in the Harry Potter film series. The story follows Harry Potter on a quest to find and
destroy Lord Voldemort's secret to immortality, the Horcruxes. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as
Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and
Hermione Granger. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and is followed by
the concluding film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a 3D fantasy-adventure film based
on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third novel in C. S. Lewis's epic fantasy series The
Chronicles of Narnia. It is the third installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series from
Walden Media after the The Lion, The Witch and The wardrobe, and Prince Caspian. Unlike the
earlier two films, it was distributed by 20th Century Foxand the first to be released in Digital 3D.
The film is set three Narnian years after the events of Prince Caspian. The two youngest Pevensie
siblings, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), are transported back to Narnia
along with their cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter). They join the new king of Narnia, Caspian
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(Ben Barnes), in his quest to rescue seven lost lords and to save Narnia from a corrupting evil
that resides on a dark island. Each character is tested as they journey to the home of the great lion
Aslan at the far end of the world.
Tron: Legacy is a science fiction film directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Steven
Lisberger. Its release date is set as 16 December 2010. Following the 1982 original, this sequel
movie is a 3-D cyber adventure set in a digital world where Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the
tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father's disappearance
and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programmes and gladiatorial games where
his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidante (Olivia Wilde), both
father and son embark on a life-or-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that
has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.
Little Fockers is a comedy film and sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers
(2004). It stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin
Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam, and
countless hurdles for Greg to finally get in with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack. When
Greg and Pam's entire clan--including Pam's lovelorn ex, Kevin (Owen Wilson)--descends for
the twins' birthday party, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he's fully capable as the man
of the house.

ANALYSIS:
This article mainly talks about all the sequels movies in store for the viewers in the fourth
quarter of 2010. One of the reasons that drives the making of sequels is they have higher average
box office returns and are less financially risky. The venture is less risky because of more
precision in predicting the outcomes. On the other hand, they are some people who regard the
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original movie as containing the best ideas, the highest entertainment value which can only
become diminished in subsequent efforts. They might avoid sequels as they do not want to be
disappointed and want to be left with the original memory of being entertained intact. But,
success or failure however lies in the details of the movies such as the perceived quality of the
parent movie, public awareness of the parent movie, distribution intensity, star power, continuity
of the star, director, genre, and rating and more. It is also a challenge in making a sequel movie
because the sequel movie has to attract new viewers but at the same time do not alienate fans of
the original. They also mentioned about the gap between the sequel movie and the original. Some
sequel movies have short gap while some like the science fiction thriller Tron:Legacy comes
after 28 long years after Tron (1982) which vowed the audiences back.
Besides, now it also a trend for sequel movies based on book series like Harry Potter,
Twilight series and also Chronicles of Narnia. Producers have long understood a successful book
can translate into big money at the box office because it brings along an audience already
familiar with the story, ready to see their favourite characters on the big screen.
As a result, movies based on books are hugely successful, with several of the highest
grossing films of all time originating from popular novels. Some of the most anticipated movies
of 2010 are based on books, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

ARTICLE 47
DATE

: 20 DECEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T22

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TITLE

: CLAUSTROPHOBIA

SUMMARY:
This article talks on some of the claustrophobic movies. Claustrophobic movies are films
where much of the action takes place in a confined space. This are the movies that has been
discussed in the article:
1.

Night of the living dead (1968)

The plot of the film follows Ben Huss (Duane Jones), Barbra (Judith O'Dea), and five others
trapped in a rural farmhouse in Pennsylvania while the house is attacked by reanimated corpses,
commonly known as 'ghouls' or 'zombies'.
2.

Alien (1979)

This a science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott where the story is about a mining ship,
investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange
creatures and investigates. Their ship is then invaded by a bloodthirsty alien.
3.

Das Boot (1981)

"Das Boot" is the story of one such U-Boat crew, with the film examining how these
submariners maintained their professionalism as soldiers, attempted to accomplish impossible
missions, while all the time attempting to understand and obey the ideology of the government
under which they served. The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth,
and sheer terror can clearly be seen in the movie.

4.

Misery (1990)

This movie is about a best selling author, Paul Sheldon (Caan) trapped in an obsessed fans,
Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) house. It is a thriller film based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the
same name.
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5.

No Mans Land (2001)

No Man's Land is tragic war drama that is set in the midst of the Bosnian war. Two soldiers from
opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third
soldier becomes a living booby trap.
6.

Panic Room (2002)

Panic Room is a thriller film and the story is about a mother and daughter taking refuge in a safe
room during a break-in of their home by three burglars who are after millions of dollars stored in
a safe.
7.

Phone Booth (2002)

Phone Booth is a 2002 American suspense-thriller film about a man who is held hostage in a
telephone booth by a sniper.
8.

Open Water (2003)

Open Water is a horror film loosely based on the true story of an American couple taking a
Carribean vacation were accidentally left behind because the dive-boat crew failed to take an
accurate headcount. With no way to call for help, they slowly succumb to the elements and the
sharks.
9.

The Descent (2005)

The Descent is a horror film where the film follows six women who, having entered an
unmapped cave system, become trapped, and are hunted by subterranean flesh-eating humanoids.

10.

The Canyon (2009)

A newly married couple finds their dream honeymoon turned into a survivalist nightmare in the
indie thriller The Canyon. After eloping to Las Vegas, newlyweds Nick (Eion Bailey) and Lori
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(Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski) decide to take a mule tour of the Grand Canyon. But the pleasure
trip turns deadly when the pair's untrustworthy guide, Henry (Will Patton), gets them lost in the
Arizona desert, leading to their desperate fight for survival in the unforgiving wilderness.
11.

Moon (2009)

This is a science fiction drama film about a man who experiences a personal crisis as he nears the
end of a three-year solitary stint mining helium-3 on the far side of the Earth's moon.
12.

Frozen (2010)

This movie starts with a typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare for three
snowboarders when they get stranded on the chairlift before their last run. As the ski patrol
switches off the night lights, they realize with growing panic that they've been left behind
dangling high off the ground with no way down. With the resort closed until the following
weekend and frostbite and hypothermia already setting in, the trio is forced to take desperate
measures to escape off the mountain before they freeze to death.
13.

Lebanon

A lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile towna simple mission
that turns into a nightmare. The four members of a tank crew find themselves in a violent
situation they cannot contain. Motivated by fear and the basic instinct of survival, they
desperately try not to lose themselves in the chaos of war.

ANALYSIS:
According to Forbes magazine, a fear of enclosed spaces or claustrophobia is the sixth
most common of all phobias. This falls underneath fear of critters (bugs, mice, snakes, bats); fear
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of heights (acrophobia); fear of water (hydrophobia); fear of public transportation and fear of
storms. Confining a film to a single space certainly has its advantages: a lower budget, obviously,
but also an instantly suspenseful premise. Claustrophobic movies may have a different on
different people. Most people might just enjoy it like any other normal movie but for those who
are having claustrophobia, this might affect their movie watching. Claustrophobia is not
something to be taken lightly, well, unless we dont have it of course. Whether we define
ourselves as claustrophobic or not, a good movie with some clever cinematography can induce
the feeling of being trapped.

ARTICLE 48
DATE

: 6 JULY 2010 (TUESDAY)


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PAGE

: T20

TITLE

: RELIVING THE MOMENTS

SUMMARY:
Like the zombies that are very hard to get rid of, some movie franchises keep coming
back whether we want them or not. Some of the franchises that have made an impact and
continuing to do so are:
1.

Star wars

All the sequel of star wars have surely touched a lot of lives and changed the face of
entertainment. The simple story between the force of good and evil in galaxy far away also
continues in books and cartoons.
2.

The Lord of the Rings

In 2001, 2002, 2003, most people were crazy over this series where it was filmed back to back in
New Zealand. Years have passed but the madness continues with many of us watching the three
films over and over from time to time.
3.

James Bond

This is one of the longest-running film franchises and the series has grossed just over US$5
billion to date, making it the second-highest-grossing film series of all-time (behind Harry
Potter).
4.

Alien and Predator

These are few science fiction horror franchises as popular and well known as the Predator series.
It came out only a year after James Cameron's equally well received series Aliens began, and the
two franchises inspired dozens of films, TV shows, comic books, and horror novels afterward.
Man versus the wild became man versus an alien creature, and the predator specifically is one of
the most terrifying monsters to ever cross the big screen.
5.

Batman
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The Batman film is a franchise of a total of nine live-action films. The fictional character
Batman, a comic book superhero featured in DC Comics publications, has appeared in various
films since his inception.
6.

Superman

This franchise has never failed in delighting their fans. What make the fans even more glad is the
rumours saying that Chris Nolan will reboot the Man of Steel.
7.

Saw

The franchise consists of six movies, each one having come out consecutively every Halloween
since 2004. The seventh, and final, installment is due out October 29th and will be featured in
3D. The "Saw" horror movie franchise even got a place in the Guiness World Records as the
"Most Successful Horror Movie Series.
8.

Star Trek

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry.
The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The
Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. The franchise also includes eleven
feature films, dozens of games and hundreds of novels.
9.

Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street

Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that comprises twelve slasher films, a television
show, novels, comic books, and tie in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional
character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of
the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumoured to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of
mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the
killings. The films have grossed over $465 million at the box-office worldwide.
ANALYSIS:
In this season of sequels, movie goers everywhere are re-introduced to so many of their
favourite movie franchises. Some performances from these movie franchises are unforgettable
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and have marked movie history. Some characters were confined to one movie. Others became
franchises of their own. The most successful movie franchise of all time is the "Harry Potter"
series, which recently edged out another famous Brit: James Bond. According to Box Office
Mojo, the first six adaptations of J.K. Rowling's beloved books have earned a staggering $5.4
billion worldwide, not adjusted for inflation.
Actually the definition of a movie franchise is having at least two movies in a series and
can range anywhere from 2-3 films to countless instalments and re-hashing. There is always a
question on how we determine which is the most powerful movie franchise in history. Is it the
one that has grossed the most money at the box office or is it the franchise with the most
longevity or is it the one with the most marketing prowess or the largest fan base? Based on my
opinion, I think it is a combination of all of these things; the cult followings, the major
blockbuster releases and yes, even the marketability play a part. When these franchises crank out
a new film, fans storm the gates, camp out and sacrifice members of their families to be the first
to behold their favourite characters on the big screen. In this movie, a guy and girl try to keep
their relationship strictly physical, but it's not long before they learn that they want something
more.

ARTICLE 49
DATE

: 9 MAY 2011 (MONDAY)

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: T22

TITLE

: FAIRY TALE INVASION

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:


The latest trend for the Hollywood is to transform the childhood classics to modern
sensibility. The culture has always had a need to take classic universes and adapt them to what
we care about now. The upcoming fairy tale movie is Snow White and the Hunters, which will be
released in 2012 only. The casts in that movies is Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize
Theron. The movie is about the Huntsman is ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be
killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.
Other than that, Twilight is another sequel fairy tale movie which the basic story was
taken from the tale of Red Riding Hood. It is a one of the biggest film phenomena in recent years
is, at heart, a fairy tale. Stephenie Meyers series of Twilight novels, there is forbidden love, evil
monster, creepy forests and the promise of happily ever after. Now the success of Twilight is
inspiring fairy tale movies.
These modern fairy tale movies are now becoming trend and people started to be a big
fan of this type of stories. It is actually good in a way that, the classic fairy tale will not be
forgotten by the future generation. Moreover, the trend of the Hollywood is, comes in part from
the need to appeal to younger filmgoers.

ARTICLE 50
DATE

: 5 MAY 2011 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T36
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TITLE

: REV IT UP (FAST FIVE GOES FOR EXTRA MILEAGE)

SUMMARY:
Achieving three sequels is a milestone, or it used to be at any rate. In the year of 2011,
one in five films in major release will be sequel to something. Five of those movies will be
fourth instalments including, Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol and Pirates of Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides. There will be another five movies looming out there which are, Fast Five, Final
Destination 5, Puss in Boots, X-Men, First Class and Winnie the Pooh. Fast five has made it a
USD 489 million which is RM1.5 Billion franchise, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift of
2006 and Fast & Furious of 2009). The star of the original, Paul Walker returned for To Fast too
Furious (without Vin Diesel), teaming up with Tyrese Gibson. The third and fourth sequels, Fast
& Furious and Fast Five, both feature Diesel, Walker and Jordana Brewster repeated their roles
from the first film. Get revved for Fast and Furious 6. This has to be one of the most unlikely
franchises out there. 2 Fast 2 Furious lost then rising star Vin Diesel, Tokyo Drift lost Paul
Walker but gained a little Diesel cameo, all of the original stars returned for Fast & Furious and
this years Fast Five sees pretty much everybody from the previous movies back for more.
Banking on it being as successful as the previous instalments, the folks behind Fast Five are
getting a follow up ready.
Basically, most of the sequel movies in the Hollywood, will not followed the exact story
from the previous part of the movie. But there are few movies, the story will be continuous from
the previous movie such as The Lord of Rings. Furthermore, another box office movie, Harry
Potter, although the story is not the exact from the novel but it still manage to be the top movie
list in the world. Moreover, sequel movies such as Narnia, does not follow the previous story but
the character in the movie will be the same and their respective roles. But the recent release, two
of the role characters in those movies is eliminated due to the story line, so another new character
is introduced and still the movie manage to be in the box office list.
ARTICLE 51
DATE

: 9 AUGUST 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T14
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TITLE

: SCORING REEL GOALS

SUMMARY:
Sports make almost perfect subjects for films. There are few good movies about sports
such as Invictus, Karate Kid, Iron Ladies and many more. Invictus is based on a true story. In this
film, the sports itself functions more as a vehicle for life lessons and character lessons to be
departed. Actor Morgan Freeman portrays anti-apartheid activist and former South African
president Nelson Mandela in this Clint Eastwood-helmed political drama adapted from author
John Carlin's book The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the game that changed the world.
Set just after the fall of apartheid and during Mandela's first term in office, the human factor
explores how the political prisoner-turned-president used the 1995 Rugby World Cup -- which
was hosted by South Africa -- as a means of bringing blacks and whites together after decades of
violence and mistrust. From here we see that this kind of movie gives moral value and teaches us
the values that we really needed to apply.
Karate Kid, which acted by Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith really made into the box office
movie in worldwide. This story is mainly about a kid who migrates from US to China due to his
mother job transfer. At first he had hard times to adapt himself in new environment and new
language. There is when, he met Jackie Chan and wanted to learn Karate, which is the martial
arts in China. Jackie Chan will train Jaden to enter the competition which is one of the popular
competitions in China. Although, he is foreigner, but he will manage to win the first prize in the
competition with the help of his master, Jackie Chan. The main skill for the art is the focus and
inner power where he uses that skill to defeat in the final round. This movie really gives impact
to the kids in most of the country to learn the martial arts and its kind of inspiration for them
from this movie. Compare to any other romance or superhero movies, sports movies gives more
good changes to the society.
The Iron Ladies, is a Thailand movie and it is a sequel movie based on a true story too.
This film is about a mens volleyball team comprising transgender or gay athletes. Mon and Jung
are amateur volleyball players who are constantly rejected from teams because of their
homosexuality. Their luck changes when they are drafted by the Lampang Volleyball Team,
headed by the indiscriminate Coach Bee-a lesbian. After Mon and Jung join the team, nearly all
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the players resign to protest. Unfazed and determined to put a winning team together, Coach Bee
asks the duo to recruit some of their friends: a gay army sergeant, a transsexual cabaret star, a set
of outrageous triplets and a young man with a very obvious secret. Re-christened "The Iron
Ladies", they begin winning local tournaments and become a media sensation. Not without
detractors and constantly harassed by rival teams, the Ladies realize that the only way to shut
them up is to beat them at their own game, leading them all the way to the national
championships. From this movie, it shows that talent does not need which gender are you. This
movie also gives inspiration for the transgender people out there to move forward and show their
talent and skills.

ARTICLE 52
DATE

: 3 NOVEMBER 2010 (WEDNESDAY)

PAGE

: T20

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TITLE

: FROM TABLOID TO CELLULOID

SUMMARY:
The story is based from four true crime scenes at the front page to the horror movie.
During the joy of the celebration of New Years Day, the night clubs horribly on fire and burnt
into the ash. Arm lost his girlfriend Pang in the blaze, though their promise to be never left each
other. As for Joy, Nuan, Chai, Dum and Tua survives from that horrible tragedy, but later they
have to face more terrible things follows them. As for Chuai the accused was jailed with
someone he never forgets. Nuan a factory girl with uses the tap water from the cistern where a
dead rotten body is in. Dum and Tua, on the other hand tried to swing with a bar girl in a motel.
However they found something more than what they wanted for. Thailand movies can be found
where few short movies are combined as one to make a movie. This is common among the
production of horror movies in Thailand. There were few other movies following the same style
such as the movie Phobia. It is interesting to watch the movie which does not drag too much
and just nice story. The directors for this movie are new directors to make sure that there are new
feel in the movie. This is important to break the tendency to make all the horror movies have the
almost same effect and plot. In order to achieve this new idea are needed. This is a good way to
improvise the industries point of view in movie industries. Viewers are losing interest in horror
movie since most of the movies have been repeating the same effect over and over again. This is
a minus point since it could affect the interest of viewers towards a movie. Direction is also an
important aspect to create a movie. A good direction could lead the casts to open up and act more
naturally according to the situation given. In a team that produce a movie, everyone that involved
have to fully committed and put their best effort possible to make the movie a success. A good
team works always result in a good feedback from the viewers. Having four short stories in one
movie could also have its own disadvantages. The short movie would be not fully elaborated and
seems to be finishing abruptly. This is something that should avoided so that, the viewers would
not be disappointed. The interest and excitement built would suddenly disappear if the movie
finishes abruptly or with unsatisfactory ending. This is where the good direction is needed to
ensure that viewers are entertained from the starting till the ending. The plot should be
interesting throughout the movie and not only focused on one part alone. Besides that, the four
short stories should be balanced and not focused on one story alone. This would result boredom
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among the viewers for the other part of the movie. In general, a good team work is needed to
produce good movies.

ARTICLE 53
DATE

: 27 FEBRUARY 2011 (SUNDAY)

PAGE

: SF2
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TITLE

: HEALTH IN MOVIES

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


The three faces of Eve is about a doctor treats a woman suffering from Multiple
Personality Disorder. In the movie Rain Man selfish Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to
his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie. The story revolves about them travel
cross-country. My Left Foot is the story of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy.
He learned to paint and write with his only controllable limb. He uses his left foot. Another
movie based on healt is Awakenings. In this movie the victims of an encephalitis epidemic
many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of
reviving them. In Lorenzos Oil a boy develops a disease so rare that nobody is working on a
cure, so his father decides to learn all about it and tackle the problem himself. Philadephia on
the other hand was about a man with AIDS beings fired by a conservative law firm because of
his condition. He hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a
wrongful dismissal suit. Beautiful Mind is a movie that won many awards. It is about a
brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography. Soon after that his life
started to shattered due to his health condition where he has schizophrenia. The Kings Speech
is about The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the
speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it. Health based movies are
very interesting since there are very light exposure of health difficulties towards societies. People
are not exposing even to the symptoms of these rare diseases. This results in being ignorant
towards the suffering of this rare disease people. This due to their ignorance that proper
treatment is not given. To make the problem worse some of the disease patients are treated badly
since there might be some misunderstanding in their behavior. These are some thing that that
patient cannot avoid. It becomes part of them and their behavior. This type of movies also gives a
level of exposure to people on this disease so that people with normal life will be thankful of
what is in their life and learn to appreciate people with this disease. Some of them even manage
to develop impressive skills although are not perfectly normal like others. This is a good
inspiration for everyone so that in which ever situation a person should not give up. It is said 1%
of people in worldwide population will have rare diseases. It might look as if it is a small number

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of people but however the real amount actual reaches more than what is expected. We should
appreciate and give all the support they need to move on in their life.

ARTICLE 54
DATE

: 20 SEPTEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)


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PAGE

: T18

TITLE

: KNOCKED OUT

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:


Romantic comedy movies are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on
romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles.Return to me is about
a man who falls in love with the woman who received his wife's heart must decide which woman
it is who holds his heart. As for Notting Hills is about the life of a simple bookshop owner
changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world. In Maid in Manhattan a
senatorial candidate falls for a hotel maid, thinking she is a socialite when he sees her trying on a
wealthy woman's dress. Shakespeare in Love is about a young Shakespeare, out of ideas and
short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays. As
for the movie Brown Sugar the friends since childhood, a magazine editor and a hip hop
dancer stumble into a romantic territory. Chasing Amy is a movie in 1997. It is about Holden
and Banky who are comic book artists. Everything's was going good for them until they meet
Alyssa. She also wants to become a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are
crushed when he finds out she's a lesbian. In the movie Shall we Dance a bored, overworked
Estate Lawyer, upon first sight of a beautiful instructor, signs up for ballroom dancing lessons.
For the movie High Fidelity Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his
top five breakups, including the one in progress. The American President on the other hand is
about a widowed US president and a lobbyist who fall in love. Politics was an issues but still
love sparks between them. When Harry Met Sally is about Harry and Sally. They have known
each other for years, and are very good friends. However, they fear sex would ruin the
friendship. In the movie Knocked Up is about the fun loving party animal Ben Stone. The last
thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later
to tell him she's pregnant. All those movies are romantic comedy based movie which talks on
relationship and in the meanwhile provides comedy. Comedy is an important element to release
tension. Unlike other movies, comedy can provide tension release and also makes a person to
forget the workload for awhile. Besides that, combining comedy and romantic issues makes
easier for the movie to send it message. Relationship problems can also be seen and understood
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sometimes through movies. it is important to take the lesson from such movies to build a good
and strong relationship either among couple, spouses and also friends.

ARTICLE 55
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DATE

: 7 MARCH 2011

PAGE

: T20

TITLE

: TREND SETTERS

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:


The definition of sexy varies greatly from person to person, but most people would agree
that there are some common qualities in a "sexy" person. A person who is sexy would have a
high self-image, and others would view them as having so. Simply stated, someone who is sexy
needs to be confident. They have to believe in what they are doing. Someone with no confidence
in himself or herself allows themselves to be easily abused by others. Someone sexy, in a sense,
also has a good outlook on life. They can also take some helpful criticism and get something out
of it. No one wants to be around a negative person. This word sexy has change in definition in
the film industries from decades back till now. This varies based on peoples perception on how
sexy is defined. Somehow it is the film industries that affect the people opinion on the sexiness.
It can be seen through the way the cast is pictured as sexy. That transforms the mind set of
viewers.
In nowadays society having a good physical such as six packs is consider sexy for
viewers. That phenomenon becomes a necessity for women to look for men with such a
personality to be in relationship with. The same goes for men, where they look for women with
nice body structure and model like look. This kind of needs is not wrong and also not necessary
to be the basis to start a relationship. The concern is just that the look might be a great attraction
at first, but will not give a strong base for the relationship built. Moreover, tattoos are also
another element considered as sexy. This can be seen in movie such as Memento and Dusk till
Dawn movies where the actor shows the tattoos. This is not an exceptional for women where
Angelina Jolie is also spotted having tattoos in Wanted, Gia and Gone in 60 seconds
movies, they become the icon for the people to follow those trends. It is said to be trendy and
following the current fashion. However, this things are not accepted in certain culture where
having tattoos are wrong in those societies. In these types of societies, the movie influences are
considered as a bad effect towards the people since the people of those societies are following
those trends. This is when the people have to adapt this new phenomenon to one own culture.
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This is to ensure such phenomenon is acceptable in the societies and does not considered as bad
impact to the public. Sexy trend gives a person a very impressive and confidence look. This
should be utilized in good way so that there will be no objection to follow this culture by the
societies.

ARTICLE 56
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DATE

: 14th MARCH 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T21

TITLE

: SHAMROCKINGOOD FILMS

SUMMARY:
As good as Hollywood movies, Irish movies has also won the hearts of many and won
some awards for its screenplay and plot. There are some Irish movies that are really good. For
example;
The War Of The Buttons
This movie is quite famous in Malaysia. It is about the story of kids from 2 villagers. These kids
have an unusual practice of having war among the 2 villages. It is a war that involves toy guns
and wooden swords and so on. They hate each other, but they are bound to the interesting and
funny rules and regulations of the war. The movie was given such a title because if anyone of has
lost in the battle, a button from their shirts or coats, and its a symbol of success as buttons were
expensive and not all can afford to replace the button.
My Left Foot
This movie is about a boy named Christy Brown, who has lost his ability to walk and move as he
has problem over his muscles, legs and arms. This is a movie which was produced to motivate
everyone. The movie entirely shows the relationship between him and his mother which is the
essence that kept him living, as he felt that he was no different from other siblings although he
couldnt walk. There are many inspiring scenes from the movie.
Once
Based on the philosophies of Plato, there are souls which were split into 2 by the jealous king of
god. In this movie, it follows the particular concept where it tells a story of 2 people, a man who
plays music with his guitar in the streets and a Czech immigrant whom is a mother of one whom
have separated from the husband and she plays piano. Both of them met randomly and they

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decided to compose a song. The whole story is about how music brought deep romance and
unforgettable moments in their life.
The Secret of Roan Inish
This is a perfect movie for a family. This movie is about Fiona, a little girl whom has lost her
baby brother in the sea. So the whole family talks to the sea as though it is alive. The family used
to live in Roan Inish, an island, but they had moved to the inland for job opportunities. But the
father decided that the town was no good for a childs growth so he sent Fiona back to the island,
Roan Inish, where Fiona learns a great deal knowledge of life.
The Secret Of Kells
This movie about a boy, Brendan, who has the obligation to complete the Book Of Kells. The
book must be completed to reach its full power. He leaves the Abbey of Kells to set on the
adventure of a lifetime where he meets new people,spirits and so on to complete his quest. This
is a good movie to be watched because the effort which was put into the animation really pays
out. And it will be a good movie for those new animators to get new ideas.

ANALYSIS:
The Irish film industry has grown somewhat in recent years thanks partly to the
promotion of the sector by Bord Scannn na hireann (Irish Film Board) and the introduction of
heavy tax breaks. According to the Irish Audiovisual Content Production Sector Review carried
out by the Irish Film Board and PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008 this sector, has gone from
1,000 people employed six or seven years ago, to well over 6,000 people in that sector now and
is valued at over 557.3 million and represents 0.3% of GDP.According to an article in Variety
magazine spotlighting Irish cinema, a decade ago Ireland had only two filmmakers anyone had
heard of: Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan. Now though in 2010, Ireland can boast more than a
dozen directors and writers with significant and growing international reputations. Ireland is now
achieving critical mass of filmmaking talent to match the kind of influence, disproportionate to
its small size, that it has always enjoyed in the fields of literature and theatre.But as well as the
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concrete economic benefits that the Irish film industry brings in by way of cash investment from
overseas and the associated VAT, PAYE and PRSI receipts, it has been noted that there are the
soft benefits in terms of the development and projection of the Irish culture and the promotion of
tourism.While big-budget international productions keep crews working and are enormously
valuable to the country, it is the indigenous industry that is at the heart of creating opportunity
and giving skills and experience to Irish producers, directors, writers and crew, telling the stories
that emerge from Irish-based talent. In the past many films were censored or banned, owing
largely to the influence of the Catholic Church, although virtually no cuts or bans have been
issued in recent years.

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ARTICLE 57
DATE

: 27th SEPTEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T18

TITLE

: SURVIVING THE SPLIT

SUMMARY:
Everyone has their own love stories and break up stories which make their life more
meaningful and be stronger in the future. As much as there are love stories being directed and
produced, there are also break up stories which are also being produced. These break up stories
arent about the process of break up, but it shows life after break up. What are the things done to
overcome the break up and to move on. There are several movies that shows life after break up;
The Break-Up
This story is about a couple who divorced and they become disintergrated into a lot of problems
involving their relationship to claim on their upscale apartment.
500 Day of Summer
This story is about a couple whom spends 500 days being together. It shows from the day the
couples started seeing each other till the end of the relationship. Its a story of 2 soul mate who
really arent meant to be together with a lot of problems among them. They just had to move on.
As Tom reaches a point of realization, and decides to move on, only then life seem to be looking
up for him.
Swingers
This story is about a young man,Mike, who breaks up from a long term relationship and ending
up influenced by his friends to the practices of hanging out in clubs, bars, casino and picking up
girls from the bar and so on. After all this practices, Mike would like to get back into a serious
and long relationship.
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High Fidelity
This is a story of a male character whom analyses himself after every broken relationships to find
out his weaknesses and strong points in his relationships. Based on this analyses he betters
himself for the future relationships.
Eat,Pray,Love
This story is about a divorcee, who sets out to travel to make sense out of her unsuccessful
marriage. She travels around the world eats,prays and eventually learns to love again.
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
This story is about a male character whom pays a company to erase all the details about his exgirlfriend and do the same to the ex-girlfriend. But at the end they still get attracted with each
other.
Chungking Express
This story is about 2 Hong Kong policeman with 2 different types of getting over with their past
relationship. It is rather hilarious. Both of them meet rather interesting women in their life. A
smuggler and a takeout shop assistant.

ANALYSIS:
Relationships are a phase of life where everyone undergoes break ups and get into
relationships. Breakups are very hurting for everyone. Some may take it positively and go on
with their life. Some will take it negatively and it haunts them every day. There are a lot of cases
where people of break up in relationship go up to an extent of suicide, threatening the ex and
cheating. The Hollywood movie industries have realized this and wishes to make a big impact on
people through media. As a result of that, many break up movies from Hollywood had wont
many awards and has touched so many people from various part of the world. Break up only that
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the both partners arent meant to be together. Break ups should be take as something positive,
because it was taken at an early stage, before the partners get into marriage. Based on the divorce
rate in America which having the highest, 4.95% of every 1000 people is divorced. This is a lot.
Divorce would definitely effect the family, especially the kids. The kids are seriously affected
mentally, as would get a different picture of what true love is. This is one of the many reasons for
the increase in violence among children nowadays. It is as though love and live doesnt matter.
Realizing all this, the Hollywood movie industry wishes to give an impact, and as a result they
produce many break up movie to instill a positive behavior when a person undergoes the phase
of break up. Watching these movie would help the viewers to accept the fact and move on in
their lives.

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ARTICLE 58
DATE

: 27th SEPTEMBER 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T18

TITLE

: UNWELCOMED GUESTS

SUMMARY:
We meet a lot of strangers nowadays and it wouldnt be surprising if the stranger ends up
living in our own premises with us. Different people have their own style of thinking and which
why it makes everyone unique. But before we become close to anyone, it is best to get to know
them to avoid unforeseen events. We cant control whom we going to meet, but we can really
control our relationship with another person. Based on the few movies listed below, if things go
uncontrolled, it may end up in a bloodthirst;
Dream Home
This movie is about a woman who had ambitions to have a dream home and she found an
apartment and is ready to by it over from its owner. Having agreed to put in on sale for a specific
price, the woman fell in love with her dream home. Unfortunately, the house owner seems to
have disregarded the agreement and hiked up the price to a level that is not affordable by the
woman. She felt cheated, so the woman goes psychopathic and starts killing everyone.
Single White Female
This story is about a newly moved in roommate, who is a psychopath. She steals the roommates
hairstyle, copies her style of living and plays around with the mobile messages of the room
owner. It ends in a blood thirst when both roommates hate each other and the roommate has
affected the room owners life.
Paranormal Activity
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This movie claims to be a true story where the whole movie was shot with a handy cam to show
a first persons view. Its about a newly moved in family whom undergo their daily routine with
their loved ones. Things change when an evil demon enters their house. This entity doesnt show
its true self, but it shows with some unexplained events. Some of the family members get
possessed and tortures the other family members and even kills. It was all taken in a firsts
persons view. This shows how a typical American happy family turns out in an agenda of a
blood thirst because of an evil entity.
In the Sentinel
This movie is about a newly moved in lady into an apartment who suffers from being disturbed
by noises created by the neighbor living next to her. The neighbor seems to be having weird
parties and functions everyday which irritates and disturbs her. When she goes to a limit of
solving the problem for good, then she finds out that she never had a neighbor at all. It was evil
entities messing around with her.
Dark Waters
This Japanese movie is about a newly moved in Japanese lady in to a new apartment. She
undergoes her normal routines everyday and finds out that there is an evil entity that lives in the
same block. This entity show herself with dark black and long hair from the bathroom which
haunts the Japanese lady in her own apartment.

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ANALYSIS:
Day by day we would encounter new people in our lives. New people are strangers who
might become close and be friends These strangers may come with different intentions. It is
always best for everyone to keep the strangers at a distant to really know what type of a person
he or she is, before becoming close to them. It is hard to trust anyone in the world these days. We
could not anticipate on who we are going to meet, but we can always control the relationship we
have with a stranger. It is for own self benefit, so that we dont get exploited by others. The
hardest and the most crucial period in knowing someone is the adapting period, this is when
everyone wants to portray a good image. The Hollywood movie industries are always producing
good movies which give a good impact on the viewers because it is based on the real happenings
around the world that inspires them and all the viewer. Understanding the psychology of new
friendships, relationships and violence, the Hollywood movie industry has came up with
inspiring movies that make everyone think before they act. The world is full with different
people with different mentality. Some are with good intentions and most are with negative
intentions. It is always best for everyone to be cautious. This message is clearly sent by the
movie producers to the viewers.

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ARTICLE 59
DATE

: 28 DECEMBER 2010 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T19

TITLE

: REAL CONNECTIONS

SUMMARY:
Most audiences would prefer movies which are inspired by true stories or real
happenings. Its often known that movies based on true story have been known to make more
profit in the movie industry rather than other type of movies. The audience love the drama that is
being shown in the movie, but it creates a greater impact if the movie is based on a true story,
where it really happened, and the audience would try to be in the characters shoes. Social
Network is about the conspiracy and drama behind the production of Facebook. The Fighter is
a true story based on the hardship and the drama a world class boxer went through. The Inner
Life of Glenn Gould, tells us the real story of a pianist.The Nazis, tells the true story of the cruel
era of Nazis. The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spritzer, tells a story of the political disgrace which led
to economy breakdown. Casino Jack And The United States of Money portrays the how the
game in Washington is played. Exit Through The Gift Shop tells the real story of the master
prankster, Banksys.Killing Kasztner:The Jew Who Dealt With Nazis shows the true story of the a
Jewish who then became a traitor.

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ANALYSIS:
True story movies are based on the true experiences and true happenings that is being
shared by the real people into the movie industry. The movie industry has only 1 motive which is
to create a major impact on the viewers which moved them. If this motive is achieved then it is
surely to be a profitable movie. Most true story movies are successful as they create a deeper
impact on the viewers, because it is based on the true experiences of a real person and not an
imaginative character or a superhero which is being created for movie purpose. This is probably
the viewers would like to know and is curious of the feelings of another person. It is true what is
being said, A persons happiness may be anothers despair. It is hard to make everyone happy
because of this correlation. But it is always possible to take an action which is satisfactory to
every party. The viewers would like to put themselves in the shoes of a character and feel the
anxiety, struggle, and the mental torture that the real person went through. When watching these
movies, the viewers would be motivated and inspired on the hardship that others went through
and can be a lesson to the audience. This clearly shows that film is a good media to educate the
viewers.

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4.7.4 CASTS' BIOGRAPHY


ARTICLE 60
DATE

: 23 DECEMBER 2010 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T36

TITLE

:TAKING A SHOT (GET TO KNOW HOLLYWOODS 25 BEST


ACTORS TURNED DIRECTORS)

SUMMARY:
It is quite common to hear the actor turn to become a director especially in Hollywood. In
this article, the author listed down the best 25 best actors turned to Oscar award winning director
where the actor which is in the top list is Clint Eastwood. He won two Oscar award for the
movies of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. Although he is 80 years old, but he still manage
to make his movies to be the Oscar Award winning movie. Then followed by the director named
by Woody Allen, where he was a comedian before this. Before Allen became the directorial voice
of New York, he was an actor. In fact, he even played James Bond in the 1967 spoof Casino
Royale. Since 1982, Allen has directed at least one film per year. While it was thought the Allen
of the past with films like Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters was long gone, he has proved
with recent films like Vicky Christina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris, his most successful film,
that hes still a director to be reckoned with. Next is, Mel Gibson, where his movie won an Oscar
for Braveheart. Besides that, with his second directorial effort, Braveheart, Gibson won Best
Picture at the Oscars and Best Director. While his subsequent films The Passion of the
Christ and Apocalypto havent quite reached that level, Gibson is a talented director. Other than
that, Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Brooks, Orson Welles, Ron Howard,
Rob Reiner, Robert De Niro, Penny Marshall, Ben Affleck, Ben Stiller, Peter Berg, John
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Cassavetes, Jodie Foster, Jerry Lewis, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Polley, Dennis Hopper, Zach
Braff, Drew Barrymore and Salma Hayak are the one of the best 25 director who was an actor or
actress before this.
Talent of acting for an actor or actress is common same goes for a director who can direct
a movie well. But now, there are also people who are used to be an actor or actress turned to be
an Oscar award winning movie director. Furthermore, the acting skills of some director in the list
are simply fabulous and they are famous in worldwide such as Charlie Chaplin who was a great
comedian. Even, he directed a movie called The circus. Nobody has been as influential to the
world of cinematic comedy as Charles Chaplin. Not only is The Tramp one of the most iconic
characters ever, Chaplin also directed, produced, wrote, composed and acted in most of his films.
He was a perfectionist when it came to directing, putting the film ahead of himself, and it shows.
For The Circus, Chaplin even took dozens of takes with a live lion, putting his life at risk with
each one. With some of the greatest comedy films of all time, such as City Lights, Modern
Times, The Great Dictator and countless shorts, Chaplin is easily the greatest actor-turneddirector of all time.

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ARTICLE 61
DATE

: 9th JULY 2010 (FRIDAY)

PAGE

: T14

TITLE

: LOHANS FALL FROM GRACE

SUMMARY:
Lindsay Lohan had been fired again and she did not take the news well. She has not been
doing well in the movie business as the investors of her movies were baulked by her misbehavior
and attitude. All her movie would run on a lost as there wont be many viewers for the movie
because of her misbehavior. Everyone ponders what is wrong with her rather than giving her a
chance to comeback to a level where she was once. She was a very talented young lady both in
the music and movie industry in Hollywood. Her misbehavior and poor work ethics has brought
her downfall. She has not appeared on the big screen since the year 2007 with the movie, I Know
Who Killed ME. However she is given a chance on sympathy by the Hollywood filmmakers and
business, to play a small role in the upcoming movie titled, Machete.
ANALYSIS:
Lohan started modelling at age three. Her parents divorced in 2007. She made her film
debut aged 11 in "The Parent Trap" (1989), playing both twin girls who scheme to reunite their
estranged parents.Made more than a dozen movies including "Freaky Friday," "Mean Girls,"
"Bobby" and "I Know Who Killed Me."Recreated Marilyn Monroe's final photo shoot in a 2008
magazine spread that proved controversial because of its partial nudity.Released two music
albums and was hired by Emanuel Ungaro to design a (widely derided) fashion collection in
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2009.At age 17, Lohan was the youngest host of the MTV Movie Awards. Won 16 industry
awards, including a Screen Actors Guild ensemble cast trophy for "Bobby," a 1999 Young Artist
award, two MTV Movie awards and three 2007 worst actress Razzies.Despite a formal scolding
in 2006 for partying and late arrivals on the "Georgia Rule" film set, producer James G.
Robinson later called Lohan "one of the most talented young women in the movie business
today."2007 saw Lohan arrested twice for driving and drug offences, and she entered rehab three
times saying she is addicted to alcohol and drugs. Sentenced to one day in jail but spent only 84
minutes behind bars. Also placed on three years' probation, later extended by a year.Lohan
missed a court appearance in May 2010, claiming she had lost her passport while on a trip to the
Cannes film festival. Judge issued an arrest warrant but revoked it when bail was posted.May 24,
2010, Lohan ordered to wear an alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet and submit to random weekly
drug and alcohol tests.Sentenced on July 6 to 90 days in jail for violating her 2007 probation by
missing multiple alcohol education classes. Lohan surrenders to court and starts sentence on July
20. After all this misfortunes,Lindsay still wishes to come back to her original status in the movie
industry. The people in the movie industry have not entirely lost hope on her. But they had given
her the chance to make a different impact on the movie industry. Everyone does mistakes, its
whether or not we learn anything out of it.

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4.7.5 SEQUENTIAL DRAMA


ARTICLE 62
DATE

: 12 JULY 2010 (MONDAY)

PAGE

: T18

TITLE

: MERMAN PRINCE

SUMMARY:
This article talked about a Malaysian movie with a different plot where merman will fall
in love with a human girl, and this can be said is not our typical tale of a man falling for a
woman. The Malay Film Industry in Malaysia is developing drastically as time passes where the
effectiveness can be seen in all aspects especially in graphics and this enable the film industrialist
to produce more quality movies. Apart from the normal romance and love based genre movies
with the common modern life setting, this drama evolves more in fantasy based settings and
characters such as merman and mermaid, as a result, they managed to pull the reality and fantasy
in one big screen.
Furthermore, most of the movies involves mermaid fall in love with a human guy and the
whole movie will be the activities/ barriers faced by the mermaid to make a happy ending, as a
change this drama a merman will fall in love with a human girl, and take a risk facing against his
whole kingdom to fight for his love. The cast involved in making the drama are Fasha Sandha,
Zachery Francis, Eizlan Yusof, Jasmin Hamid, Natasha Hudson, Rozie Rashid, Tony
Eusoff, Maria Farida and Zain Saidin. The synopsis of the movie is as described below,
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These 20 episodes of drama mainly about journey of a merman, Aridinata (merman prince from
the sea) who really wants to learn about the human world and also to find true love. Aridinata is
forced to marry a sea princess of his fathers (Raja Singratdinata) choice called Puteri
Antartinka, but Aridinata is against of the idea as he keeps thinking of the girl he saved once
from drowning years ago. With the help of his friend, Bumatra he decides to escape his kingdom
aided by a witch, Dukun Meh Melusa where she provide legs for Aridinata with a condition that
he must find his true love and the woman must confess her feelings for him all in 7 months. Then
when he falls for Cleo (human girl) and faces the revenge taken by Puteri Antartinka for his
betrayal to her.
ANALYSIS:
From the summary above, can be summarized that the drama plots more on love with
different characters such has merman and human beings. The drama managed to compete with
the dramas from other countries such as Phillipines, Indonesia, Thailand and etc with almost
similar plots, as can be seen that nowadays the youngsters prefer watching drama from those
countries. This is because such a drama, combines all the spices that needed to attract the
attention of the youngsters like teenage romance, love on air and etc, by following the trend, the
director of Duyong Aridinata managed to divert the youngsters to watch his creation. According
to the director, Adam Hamid, This is a light drama with some fantasy elements thrown in, and
this objective is achieved not only because of the plot but also with the commitment from the
casts and the effectiveness of their acting skills.
Besides that, the drama was shoot in the open seas of Pulau Lang Tengah off the
Terengganu coast where the water can be as deep as seven meters and also in some places in
Kuala Lumpur. This will indirectly can be said will boost the tourism factor in Malaysia, where
as the audiences watch the drama, they will be triggered with the beautiful places around
Malaysia and will make them to visit those places.
Furthermore, for the actor (the merman), Zachery Francis acting in this drama was a new
experience in his acting history, with his athletic physical he managed to pull of the character
perfectly besides his hobby of swimming and fishing also contribute to the effectiveness of his
acting. In addition, most of the takes involving under sea where he needed to hold his breath for
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almost 15 seconds but with his experience he managed to do that in 45 seconds. Other than that,
for the co-star of the drama, Fasha Sandha playing a role of student who works part- time at a
caf and fall in love with the merman is expected would give the viewers something different
and interesting to watch.
Finally, the drama (Duyong Aridinata) can be said a common genre but with different
characters which expected to give the pleasure for the audience especially for the youngsters
where they prefer any movie/ drama with love element in it.
ARTICLE 63
DATE

: 9 DECEMBER 2010 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T21

TITLE

: BRAINY BEAUTY

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS:


Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar
Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to
destroy humans in retaliation for their enslavement. Among Caprica's main characters are the
father and uncle of Commander William Adama from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. An
extended version of the pilot premiered exclusively on DVD and digital download on April 21,
2009. The first season debuted on January 22, 2010 on Syfy in the U.S., Space in Canada,
and Sky1 in the U.K., running nine episodes, including the two hour pilot, before going on a
mid-season hiatus. The second half of the first season began airing on October 5, 2010 on Syfy
and Space.
The Caprica follows the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family
of William Adama). A startling development occurs by the end of the pilot the creation of the
first cybernetic life-form node or "Cylon". The Graystone family includes the father Daniel and
mother Amanda, a computer scientist and surgeon respectively. When their daughter Zoe dies
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due to the religious fanaticism of her boyfriend, Ben Stark, her father manages to resurrect her
after a fashion. Already having acquired a digital clone of her personality developed by Zoe
herself, he uses stolen technology to create a robotic version of his daughter, the first step
towards creating the Cylon race. The same terrorist attack claims the lives of Joseph Adama's
wife Shannon and daughter Tamara. Together with Daniel Graystone he initially works on
bringing back their children, but is appalled at his partner's methods and ethics. However, as a
result of this tragedy, he grows closer to his eleven-year old son William.

ARTICLE 64
DATE

: 14 NOVEMBER 2010 (SUNDAY)

PAGE

: SV2

TITLE

: DRAMATIC STORY, BIG BATTLE

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


Three Kingdoms is a drama produced in China. It is said to be the highest budget in
Chinas TV series history. This is a huge effort put by the team to produce the drama. It is a 14 th
century historical novel. The story is part historical, part legend and part myth. The story tells
about the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to replace the dwindling Han
Dynasty or restore it. While the novel actually follows literally hundreds of characters, the focus
of this drama is mainly on the three power blocs that emerged from the remnants of the Han
Dynasty, and would eventually form the three states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. This
drama was adapted from novel into movie many years ago. This time it is produced as a drama in
high definition (HD) version. Three Kingdoms are considered as one of the Four Great
Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The story is based around the chaotic era where disunity
is marked political turbulence among the three kingdoms. There are historical figures and even
beautiful love story included in the drama. The relationships between lovers are also presented in
a very beautiful way to the audience. This drama took five years to be completed. There are 95
episodes in this drama. Prominent musician, Zhao Jiping composed the music for Three
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kingdom. There were many problem faced for this large scale movie by the producing team.
They had difficulties in getting the proper filming locations with suitable scenery. Due to that,
the team had to scout six provinces through uncompromising terrain and climate. The great effort
of the drama is on air in Astro for the audience to view.

4.7.6: CREWS' INTERVIEW


ARTICLE 65
DATE

: 9 JULY 2010 (FRIDAY)

PAGE

: T8

TITLE

: NEW BLOOD

SUMMARY:
Practically this article discussed more on the overall series of the Twilight Saga where
they explained about the movie genre and the plot. Other than that, the interviews of the two
actors from the movie also being posted in the article, there are few new characters to spice
things up in Eclipse which is the third movie from the Twilight Saga series. These two actors
have discussed their experience working with the crew of the Twilight Saga series and how they
felt about the movie as well. Jodelle Ferland, Xavier Samuel and Bryce Dallas Howard are
the two actors being introduced by the director of the movie in this third part of the series.
Furthermore, each of them also talked about their characters and how did they prepared
themselves to be adopted into fiction story line of the movie. On the other side, Melissa
Rosenberg (the screenplay writer for the movie) shared her experience writing a screenplay for
the whole Twilight Saga series and her opinions towards this movie. The new characters which
were introduced in the third part of the series will be as described below:
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Bryce Dallas Howard


- This actress actually replaces the actress Rachelle Lefevre who carried the similar
role in the last two movies of the series which are Twilight and New Moon. The name

of the character is Victoria who will collect strengths to defeat the Cullen family.
Jodelle Ferland
- On the other hand, teenage actress Jodelle Ferland also being introduced in this movie
as a Bree, one of the pawns in Victorias scheme of revenge. It can be said that the
teenage actress had a wonderful time in shooting for the movie as she said,
Everybody made me feel very welcome and I also had my 15th birthday on set, so
that was really awesome.

Xavier Samuel
- Samuel basically carried out the role of Riley who was a member of Victorias
Newborn Army of bloodsuckers whose strength is greatest during their early days of
un- life. Riley will be manipulated and used as a weapon by Victoria to seek revenge
on Cullen family and Bella Swan.
Finally some other matters being discussed in this article was how differ Twilight series

are compared to some other romance based movies such as Romeo & Juliet and Wuthering
Heights. Besides that, the last novel (part) of the series is discussed to be broken into two parts
as the complexity of the plot.
ANALYSIS:
As they explained about the movies genre (Twilight Series), can be said, it is actually
vampire- themed fantasy romance novel and movie. According to the survey most of the
youngster/ new generation prefer fairy tale romance movie but with a new look such as vampire
romance, fallen angel romance and etc. By creating a plot with this genre, basically the crews
managed to capture the attention of the teenage moviegoers around the world. This is an
important element because this can be a tool for a party to deliver a message for this group
(teenagers) and change the way they see the world. For an example, the existence of Native
American Indians and plotting a movie by adapting their culture and customs, actually allows all
the moviegoers get-to-know and understand about Native American Indian.

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Actresses like Jodelle Ferland who has acted movies such as Mermaid (2000), Deadly
Little Secret (2001), Trapped (2002), Silent Hill (2006), The Messengers (2007), Case 39 (2010)
and etc, acting in a movie like New Moon (The Twilight Saga Series) have brought new
experience and new perception about the genre, this is because most of the movies she acted are
thriller or horror based plot. On the other hand, actor Xavier Samuel who acted movies like
Angelas Decision (2006), September (2007), The Loved Ones (2009), A Few Best Men (2011),
Drift (2012) and etc which concentrated on romance and action packed plot, The Twilight Saga
Series would have given a new breakthrough for Samuel with its vampire romance based story.

Furthermore, the movie also given a great experience for the screenplay writer, Melissa
Rosenberg where the plot is full with lots of complexity characters such as Bella Swan, Edward
Cullen and Jacob Black. She also being comfortable writing for Twilight Series as she knows
them deeply know their voices and she can write them perfectly. Summary for the overall plot is,
Bella Swan who came to stay with her father in Forks after the parents separated and the
mother married to another guy. The place where she gets to know both her admirers Edward
Cullen (vegetarian vampire) and Jacob Black (werewolf) and become the most wanted,
desirable person in the world for them. She falls for Edward Cullen being introduced to the
world of vampire, the adaptation into the new world which she thought only myth and she still
likes her best friend, Jacob Black. The problems and fights within these three characters and the
external fights within the The Outcasts and others made up some spice into the story and
desirable to the eyes of the audience. The complexity Bella Swan faced after married to Edward
Cullen and the difficulties during her pregnancy have brought tears into the audience eyes.
Finally as the fairy tale rules, where the movie and novel ends with a happy ending and together
forever and ever..
The plot as described which have been adapted into movie, managed to capture the
audience worldwide and also the attachment of the actors and actresses towards the production of
the movie. As said by Xavier Samuel, There are all these epic themes of eternal love and the
idea that love can cure you. Its intoxicating. As soon as I found out about the role, I went to
the bookstore and madly started reading. Finally, the article also described how the crew of
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production of Twilight Series planned to produced the last book of the series, Breaking Dawn.
This book will be broken into two parts, as the plot is very complicated and intense, as a result it
will give a satisfaction for the moviegoers who read the novel earlier and no disappointment.
Conclusion, this article talked or discussed about how the plot of the overall The Twilight
Series and how it captured the youngsters into the world of fantasy and myth- romance. Other
than that, it also discussed about the new characters being introduced in the third movie, Eclipse
and how is their response toward this movie.

ARTICLE 66
DATE

: 29 DECEMBER 2010 (WEDNESDAY)

PAGE

: T28

TITLE

: DEATH BELL TOLLS

SUMMARY:
Mainly this article was talking about the experience of the director and also the main
character working for the movie and producing a quality horror movie. Death Bell: Bloody
Camp is a sequel movie from Death Bell which was release in 2003. The summary of the movie
is:
" Teacher (Hwang Jung Eum) joins the high school where one of the student is being haunted by
nightmarish visions and is bullied by other students. The class taught by Hwang Jung Eum is
selected for an elite "study camp" held at the school during the summer break where 30 students
study for their university entrance exams. The school's swimming trainer is murdered in the
showers and the words "when an innocent mother is killed, what son would not avenge her
death?" found scrawled on a blackboard. A voice warns the students that they will all be killed
unless they can answer who is the murderer and why. The students and teachers find they were
locked in the school when more deaths begin to happen.... (Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp, 2011)"
As stated in the article, the director of the movie ,Yu Seun-Dong said, the support he
received from the fans on his previous movie, really affected him when choosing the Bloody
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Camp. Other than that, he said the plot of the movie does not attracted him at the first sight but
the perception changes as he was directing the movie. He was mesmerized with the plot and
scenes where he was keen in providing high quality movie where this film can become a trend
setter for horror movie. Furthermore, one of the main actress of the movie, Park Ji Yeon
commented that the challenges when making the movie, really helped to mold her as a singerturned-actress. She was not confident with the role and was reluctant, but the realization that she
need to learn more, encouraged her to perform better for the character of (Se- Hee). Other than
that, she also shared her experiences during the making of the movie. Park felt grateful working
with Yu in her big screen debut.
ANALYSIS:
From the article, it is evident that horror movies are more demanding around the world.
Audiences are getting bored with the seasonal movies which have fantasy-romance, actionpacked and sentiment, as their genre, therefore audiences are getting into hype of horror and
thriller movies occasionally. There are pros and cons in horror and thriller movies which do
impact the audiences in all perspective. By watching horror movies, one's can actually imitate
the acts of violence, for an example in Death Bell: Bloody Camp can be seen that the characters
are being killed brutally and this will contribute someone to do it in reality. There similar cases
happening everywhere, around the world where certain group of society finds their way of
committing crime by watching horror movies. Other than that, horror movies also can actually
effect the thoughts and mental of a person, where it can implant fear towards everything. This
can be proven when the movie Boogeyman is released, most of the kids (Western) scared to sleep
alone in their respective bedrooms or even afraid to open the wardrobe of theirs. As referred to
the article above, the students who watched the movie, might scared or will have double thought
whenever attending the summer camp or any other activities where they might be hallucinating
of in occur events. Unfortunately, the attitude and behavior of new generation will be effected
without realization and this might contribute to larger defect in the community.
Furthermore horror and thriller movies can be risk for senior civilians where the visual/
graphics used in the movie might cause heart-attack and can be very dangerous for them.
Especially in Death Bell: Bloody Camp, the sound effect and the way/method used to brutally
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kill the characters can't be digested by the golden age society and can turn bad/negative for them.
Audiences who watches most of the horror or thriller movies is advisably to have strong heart to
avoid any unwanted events/ occurrences. Other than that, one of the disadvantages is where the
genre of the movie can divert the mind of the youngsters especially away from the belief of god.
When a person watch frequently horror movie or thriller movies, the mind of the person will start
to accept the existence of the entity (ghost, vampires, souls or etc) and will start to hallucinate or
forgot the path of God. This due to the deep impact on the sub-conscious mind where a person
starts to believe the unseen events or entities and this can result in the their changing attitudes
and behavior.
On the other hand, there are some advantages that can be dug out by watching horror
movies, it can an entertainment for a career society/ professional community to release their
work stress by watching something that can divert their mind out from their workspace. One of
the survey says that, working people prefer watching horror or thriller movies in between their
stressful working time frame where it helps them to relax their mind and performed better
onwards. Besides that, the film industries especially gives opportunity for non- actor
background community to try their ability and skills in acting and one of their chance will be
acting in horror movies. For an example, Park Ji Yeon, singer from South Korea was given a
chance to act in the horror movie, Death Bell: Bloody Camp and as a result it turned out to be
very excellent and the movie is accepted by the audiences very well.
Furthermore, by producing horror movies the directors from around the world
(Hollywood, Chinese, Bollywood, Kollywood and etc) get their chances to excellent different
field and breaking the norm/ routine. By planning the plot for the horror movies, the directors or
script writers actually enhance the creativity because movie plot for a horror/ thriller movie will
not be an easy work compared to other genre movies. Although can be said that horror movies
can help certain community to imitate the wrongful acts of violence, at the same time it also can
help to reduce the crime where community with violent thoughts can release their stress by
watching horror movies and reduce the desire of carrying out crime. Other than that, it will be a
turnover for youngsters (teenagers) who always concentrated with fantasy- romance and
sentiment genre and balance out the way they see or observe the world. By producing horror

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movies such as Death Bell: Bloody Camp it enables establishment of South Korean film industry
worldwide.
In conclusion, horror movies do leave negative impact on most cases where it gives away
negative influences to society. However, encouraging effect on the progress of film industry is
worth mentioning. Extensively, it boosts the economical sector from entertainment prospect.
Moreover, proper usage of human resource management where there are more job opportunities
available to the members of the society. In short, film industries do possess positive factors than
negative.

ARTICLE 67
DATE

: 13 JULY 2010 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T16

TITLE

: DOUBLE BLISS

SUMMARY:
Based of the article above, it described more on the actor who acted in the Twilight Saga
Series and the experiences of his working for other movie other than Twilight Saga Series.
Jackson Rathbone is a Singapore-born son of an oil executive who shifted to Los Angeles to try
his luck and chances in film industries. When he shifted to Los Angeles with his pals, he made
nine movies/ films back to back. According to the interview he gave to the Star Newspaper, he
got most of fantasy based movies such as The Twilight Saga Series and The Last Air Bender
which actually taught him a lot in the field of film. Other than that, during the second half of the
year 2010, Rathbone was acting in two movies simultaneously The Twilight Series: Eclipse and
The Last Air Bender which he played totally different roles, humane vampire in The Twilight
Series and Sokka, Warrior in The Last Air Bender. Besides that, during the interview he also
discussed about the support he got from his fans who mostly girls and how they react whenever
they see Rathbone out of movie sets. Furthermore, he also what were the benefits and advantages
he got during the filming for his movies and the friendly environment created by the crews of
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both movies which enabled him to fit into the family of production. Based on the description
Rathbone gave about his background/ profile enabled the fans who read the article get to know
about him and at the same time understands the barriers he faced in order to fulfill his interest/
dream of becoming a star/ actor in Hollywood. Rathbone is an actor who is not that established
as the actors known by the Asians and by publishing this kind of articles, actually helps to prop
up the actor and also about the movies that the actor have acted. In addition he did explain in the
article that he never ever regretted his decision on bypass higher education just to achieve his
dream to be a star/ actor and it have been a tough decision in his conservative family.

ANALYSIS:
From the article we can learn some life lessons by reading the interview given by Jackson
Rathbone, an actor of Hollywood who have acted several movies and most of them will be
fantasy based genres. One of the lesson can be retrieved from the article can be said being
hardworking and the determination when achieving the set goal of our life. Rathbone who
was born in Singapore and son of an oil executive was chasing his dream want to be a star, singer
and actor where he left his family in Singapore and when stayed with his pals in Los Angeles.
While being there he didnt even give up and managed to act and make nine movies which
almost all the movie reached box-office status. Other than that, finding your passion of life is a
hardest matter nowadays for everyone where almost 90% of the worlds population is going
through robotic life which full with routine and only certain community gets their chance to grab
their passion of life. Is it norm whenever a kid grows up, the parents should expose them into
variety of exposures so that they will know where their desire, interest and passionate is. This
works in a simple analogy or thinking, whenever anyone carries out their job with full passion,
they can provide their 100% willingness and efficiency to it and for sure the citizens will benefit
from it, at the same time it can turn into something very terrible/ negative if a person does not
like the job he/she performing. In case in point where Rathbone never regret of his decision to
bypass higher education just to achieve his goal and grab his passion of life, at the end he
managed to performed well in the field he choose and it benefits others (fans). Rathbone also
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took steps of improving in his field such as joining school of arts (Interlochen Arts Academy,
Michigan) where he studied about arts and music; in addition he did join the Royal Scottish
Academy where he learnt about classical theatre. This shows how a determined person will go to
achieve his dreams and prove to the world that whatever sacrifices he did is worth of it and at the
same time enjoys their job/ work.
Generally the article also got mentioned about his experience working with the two major
films of the year 2010 which is The Twilight Saga Series: Eclipse and The Last Air Bender.
When he was asked about the difference between both characters, he said that in Eclipse, being a
walking dead (vampire) is something new to be explore and portraying as the term is something
hard and really test his skills of acting. On the other hand, being a warrior in The Last Air
Bender, learning martial arts which also considered something new and worth for live long and
he also said he loved the martial-arts training he gone through for the movie. Although both
movies based on fantasy genre but dealing with two different environments taught Rathbone
more on dealing with multiple scripts at the same time (efficiency and time management) and
understand the weight age of both movies in larger scale. It is stated in article that if The Last Air
Bender strikes box-office gold, then Rathbone will be a player in two profitable franchises.
In conclusion, being a fan is not in appearance aspect but also by getting to know the
production crew as close as can, because their life experiences or profile might be helpful for us
and can be used as inspiration to achieve the goals of our life. Getting to know about their
background also helps to change our perception on them by just watching the movie they have
acted, as though changing the book by its cover. Analyzing their interviews or backgrounds or
even the sacrifices/ path took by the actor/ actresses can be example for our life whenever we are
facing almost similar problem as them, after all actor/ actresses are still normal and ordinary
human being which have been choose their life to be extraordinary from others (to be stars).
Finally film industries and actor/ actresses also can be our best tutor for life and teach us on the
preparation facing the life more brave.

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ARTICLE 68
DATE

: 10 MAY 2011 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T17

TITLE

: BEST FRIENDS BOYFRIEND

SUMMARY& ANALYSIS:
Something Borrowed based on the bestselling novel written by Emily Griffin. This is a
romantic comedy movie involves two girl best childhood friends. The main cast in this movie is
Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, Colin Efflesfield and John Krasinksi. Ginnifer played the role
as Rachel while Kate plays the Darcy role.
Darcy and Rachel, who is a lawyer, are thick friends since young. The story line will be,
one day Darcy organise a birthday party for her best friend, Rachel and her finance Dex will
attend the birthday party too. There is when, Rachel will get to know that her college crush, Dex,
is Darcys fianc. Rachel will have affair with Dex without Darcys knowledge and it was started
during her birthday celebration. The climax of the movie is when Rachel asks Dex to choose
either Darcy or Rachel to be his life partner. Rachel finds hard to choose the pathway in her life

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between her love and friendship. But for Rachel, it was about following her heart with Dex but
she cant because he is fianc for her best friend.
The idea of this movie mainly is to let the audience see the city through Rachels view to
make the character more realistic and personal. The idea was to illuminate things we can all
relate to, including the circumstances that have challenged us and taken us out of our comfort
zones. Basically, sometimes we will put ourselves ahead of other people for our own happiness
and at other times, we sacrifice our feelings and desires for other people. Basically, this movie is
a triangle love movie where Dex who is engaged likes his fiancs best friend.
Besides the love triangle, Rachel and Darcys 20 years relationship is in trouble due to
these new feelings. It is a great mix of comedy and romance. In this movie, the audience will put
themselves in Rachels shoes and feel what she is feels and think about how far they might go, if
given the circumstances. When you find your soul mate and he happens to be engaged to your
best friend, it feels so right yet so wrong at the same time. This is where either one of the friend
need to understand and sacrifice. Actually, it is nobodys false, it is just the decision made should
be clearer and practical.

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ARTICLE 69
DATE

: 17 DECEMBER 2010 (FRIDAY)

PAGE

: T2

TITLE

: BLACK IS BACK

ARTICLE 70
DATE

: 25 DECEMBER 2010 (SATURDAY)

PAGE

: WE32

TITLE

: GIANT SHAME

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):


In this article, the author mainly reviewed on Jack Black. Black who acted in Gullivers
Travel, acted about 55 films all together and 41 TV shows, he was also nominated American
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actor and musician at various awards and film festivals. This movie is about the fairy tale where
a guy named Gulliver will accept the offer to visit Bermuda Triangle for some reason. The main
reason was to impress the travel editor Darcy (Amanda Peet). Then, we will take a boat to reach
the place and write about the travel experience. Although this travelling was not in his task but he
still went. While travelling in the boat alone, he slept for few hours. When he woke up, he
realizes that the place was too different and there were no phone connection or any kind of
connection.
There is when, he realizes that he reaches a place called Liliput because the tiny people
there arrested him and brought him to the palace. After that, he will go through a lot of problem
and even he meets larger people in another place. But finally, he will manage to find out the way
to go out with the help of Darcy who will come to the place after several weeks Gulliver left.
During the interview, he was saying that he was on the large side of the comedy. This is
because, when the director offered the chance to act in this movie, he went and read the literature
of Gullivers Travels. He found that, the literature was amazing and accepted the offer to act in
that movie and took the fun challenge. His favorites scene in this movie is when the castle
burning scene. This is because Gulliver has to think fast and extinguish the flames with some
bodily fluids that really cannot be named. And it leads to some very powerful comedy.
There are few challenges that Black face during the shooting. The main one was, the
challenges were technical and special effects challenges for the most part.

He was just

pretending that there were tiny, little people there when there were not. It was important that his
eyes looked at exactly the right spot. Black was born in Santa Monica, California where his
mother worked on the Hubble Space Telescope (Satellite Engineer) and his father was a jazz
double bassist. He is married to Tanya Haden and blessed with two children. Although he is busy
with his career life, but he still spends his time with his family members especially his children
who are both 4 years old and two years old.

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ARTICLE 71
DATE

: 5 MAY 2011 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T23

TITLE

: BUMBLING SLEUTH

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:


Actor Aaron Kwok who is a Hong Kong star has been named best actor for both
Divergence (2005) and After This Our Exile (2006). He shared his experience and views on the
movie that he acted, The Detective. In this movie his role is Thai Chinese detective Tam. The
character of the role is coward and quite a forthright rider. In the previous part 1 of the movie, he
will solve the cases with the help of the spirit but in this part 2, he will not get any help from the
spirit and has not much success too. In a sense, the sequel is more complicated because he has
immersed himself in a killers psyche to make the investigation easier.
Since he could not fulfil his childhood dream to become a policeman and protecting the
innocent, he will start his own detective agency. This makes him a kind-hearted soul in this
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movie. Moreover, in this movie all the stunt is acted by Kwok by himself including the bike
chasing scene where he will ride at the narrow alleyway.
Other than this movie, actor Kwok will star in action adventure flick The Monkey King,
co-starring Donnie Yen and Chow Yun-fat, comedy romance Love in Space, co-starring Rene Liu
and Eason Chan and historical drama Hundred Years of a Floating City, co-starring Charlie
Yeung and Nina Paw.

ARTICLE 72
DATE

: 2 JANUARY 2011 (SUNDAY)

PAGE

: SV2

TITLE

: CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS:


It is very hard to watch a movie which is based on a true-story nowadays but recently
Danny Boyle release his new movie titled 127 hours, and this is based on a true story. This
movie is mainly about a guy named Franco trapped in Red canyon for 127 hours and he is
survived. In the real life, this is Aron Ralstons story where he had been climbing the narrow
canyon of the western US state of Utah alone. There is where a dislodged boulder fell on to his
right arm, trapping him against a rock. He went to this place carrying a small rucksack with just
one litre of water, two burritos, a few bar of chocolates, had a headphones, a video camera, no
mobile and never inform anyone that he is going to this place. Not forgetting he had a blunt knife
from the cheap multi tool kit.
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When the stone trapped on his right hand, he tried to pull his hand but it was useless idea
since the stone weigh about 800 pound which will be around 360kg. According to Ralston, he
took his knife and poked his arm, and the knife just slips into the meat of his thumb like cutting a
room-temperature butter. His arm was almost jellified. The knife tip goes in and the gases from
decomposition escape and it smells then. He was hyper-emotional after all this happen. The pain
was 100 times higher than crushed your finger in a door accidentally. When he was trapped, he
was keeping on talking to himself. Even he hallucinating and had a vision of a small boy where
he was playing with that boy with handless right arm. After he cuts his right arm, he escape from
the rock and there were three Dutch people who helped him after that. His vision during the final
night has come true, because earlier this year, Ralstons wife, Jessica gave birth to a baby boy. So
in his vision, the boy that he was playing with was his son.
In 127 hours, the actor Franco acted very brilliantly and was nominated for a Golden
Globe Award. The setting of this movie is all the same as the real incident and place except for
the part when Franco splashes in a secret pool with the women he meets before the accident (the
reality helping them with a few basic climbs).
The main reason keeps him to stay alive is the love. The love of others, his relationship
with his family and friends, kept him alive. For Ralston, to go through this and realise that God is
love and love is what kept him alive and that love is what got him out of there. From here, we
can see that the power of love is more than other thing else. If he lost his hope to be alive and go
back to the loved ones, he would have not survive and live happily.

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ARTICLE 73
DATE

: 12 MAY 2011 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T 13

TITLE

: PROMISES, PROMISES

ARTICLE 74
DATE

: 12 MAY 2011 (THURSDAY)

PAGE

: T13

TITLE

: WARRIOR PRIESTS

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS (BOTH ARTICLES):


Director Scott Stewart and actor Paul Bettany from the movie Legion, collaborate again
for the movie called Priest .This story based on a Korea comic book with the same title written
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by Hyung Min. The story takes place in an alternate world in which humans and vampires have
been at war for as long as anyone can remember. The humans turn to the church for protection
and there are few selected priest who are specialized in fighting skills to defeat the vampire and
protect the human in the church. The priests fight and defeat the evil vampires and end the war.
Then, all the human takes up shelter in the church which is walled cities and the remaining
vampires are dumped in prisoner camps, while the priests are stripped of their power and forced
to live amongst everyday folk.
Then, one day the main leading role of this movie, Paul who is one of the talented priest
in the church will get the news that his niece is kidnapped by the vampire. He is informed of the
attack by the wastelands local sheriff played by Cam Gigandet, he is the boyfriend of the
teenage girl who was kidnapped. After that, both priest and sheriff will go to rescue the girl. In
the journey to find the girl, both of them will face a lot of problems but somehow they will
manage it and keep going on.
At the last part of the movie, they will find out that the girl was kidnapped by a vampire
which wanted to take revenge on the priest. This is because, the girl is actually the priests own
daughter not niece. She was being take care by his own brother after he was selected to be the
priest who is needed by the world to defeat the evil power. Finally, in the fight with priest and
vampire, the human will defeat the vampire and burst all the vampire species in the train. Priest
returns to the church and throws a vampire head at the feet of Orelas. He tells Orelas that the war
is just beginning, and rejoins Priestess in the hunt for vampires.
This movie is more to Christianity versus vampire, the battle between human and
vampire. The director portrayed the world after the evil became stronger and the vampire
population is more than the human beings. This really bring effect to the audience to imagine the
world if the evil took over the world. We human being can never do anything if it happens and
the only thing we can do is help each other in the society with full hearted.
Besides that, in this movie, it shows that, no matter we are weaker than the evil, we can
still defeat if we do everything together with bravely and confident. This can be seen at the last
part of the movie where the priest will be helped by other priest. Although the number of the

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priest helped the main leading role is less, but with the high spirit, they still manage to win in the
fight and saved the girl.

ARTICLE 75
DATE

: 2 MARCH 2011 (WEDNESDAY)

PAGE

: T19

TITLE

: MOVIE THIEVES

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


The DVD is a local movie directed by Surin Gnanalingam. This movie casts Chye
Yang, Ganesh Venugopal, Ernest Chong Shun Yuan and Carrine Chong Su Sian. The story is
about a young college student. Chris is the only child in a struggling single parent family. Chris
takes a dangerous journey into Malaysias dark and shady underworld of crime and piracy run by
vicious gangsters. Chris who is involved with the underworld starts to see money and thinks
money brings respect and glamorous life. Chris losses his family, friends and true love as time
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passes. He was unable to escape the deepest dark abyss that becomes his life. The movie focuses
on the piracy issues that have been rising in the past few years. This movie gives a valuable
lesson for people who are getting involved with underworld. There are few values such as family,
friendship and love is also stressed in this movie.
The DVD piracy issue has been an unresolved issue. There is always piracy which
damages the film industries. People should stop supporting these illegal businesses to develop.
This is because we should appreciate the effort and money used to produce a movie. If all the
movies are leaked out through piracy and supported by the people, the movie industries would
suffer the loss. Moreover, the mentally of the people is to watch the local movie through pirated
DVD but watch the foreign movie such as Hollywood on screen. This is a discouragement of our
own people towards our film industries. We should give them chances to prove them to bring our
film industry to the next level. In this movie a lot of good value instilled to show the loss that
people who involved in underworld would go through. It could be a lesson for teenagers to be
careful to choose life path. It is important to bring our young generation towards the right path.
Film is used as for communication media to deliver the message as well. Family and love values
against money are shown to give lesson on the essential necessity for life and the way to utilize it
in correct path.
ARTICLE 76
DATE

: 2 NOVEMBER 2010

PAGE

: T23

TITLE

: THE BIG LEAP

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS


Winters Bone is an American independent drama film adapted from Daniel Woodrells
novel by the same name. The main cast was played by Jennifer Lawrence as Ree Dolly. Ree
Dolly a 17 yeaar old girl who look after her mother, brother Sonny and sister Ashlee. Her mother
was suffering from catatonic and the family is so poor that Ree have to be in charge of
everything in the house. Every day, Ree makes sure her siblings eat, dress, and go to school, all
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the while teaching them basic survival skills like hunting and cooking. Ree's father, Jessup, a
meth cooker, hasn't been home for a long time and his whereabouts are unknown. He is out
on bail following an arrest for cooking meth. The sheriff tells Ree that if her father doesn't show
up for his court date, they will lose the house because it was put up as part of his bond. Due to
that, Ree sets out to find her father following his trail into a world meth use is common. She
starts with her meth-addicted uncle Teardrop and eventually trying to talk to the local crime boss,
Thump Milton. However, Thump refuses to even see her. The only information Ree manage to
get is the stories that Jessup died in a meth lab fire or he skipped town to avoid the trial. Ree also
receive warnings to leave the situation alone.
When Jessup fails to show for the trial, the bondsman comes looking for him and tells Ree that
she will have about a week before the house and land are seized. Ree tells him that Jessup must
be dead, because "Dollys don't run." He tells her that she will need to provide proof that her
father is dead in order to avoid the bond being forfeited. Ree tries to go to see Thump again and
is severely beaten by his women, since it would be improper for a man to hurt her. Teardrop
shows up and rescues Ree, promising her attackers that she won't say anything or cause any more
trouble. Teardrop tells Ree that her father was killed because he was going to inform on other
meth cookers. Teardrop decides to stir things up by confronting Thump's men. When the sheriff
pulls Teardrop and Ree over after the altercation, Teardrop accuses him of telling Thump that
Jessup was going to inform. They escape the sheriff and drive away.
A few nights later, the same three Milton women who beat Ree come to her house. They offer to
take her to see "her daddy's bones." The women blindfold Ree and drive her to a pond, where
they get into a rowboat and row to the shallow place where her father's submerged body lies.
They tell Ree to reach into the water and grasp her father's hands so they can cut them off with a
chainsaw; the severed, decaying arms will serve as proof of death for the authorities.
Ree takes the hands to the sheriff, telling him that someone flung them onto the porch of her
house. The sheriff is concerned that she will tell others about the traffic stop, which would make
him look weak. She assures him that she has no interest in talking about him to anyone.

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The bondsman comes back to the house and gives Ree the cash portion of the bond, which was
put up by an anonymous associate of Jessup. Ree tries to give Jessup's banjo to Teardrop, but he
tells her to keep it and that he now knows who killed her father. Ree reassures Sonny and Ashlee
that she won't ever leave them.

ARTICLE 77
DATE

: 1st JULY 2010

PAGE

: T22

TITLE

: BROKEN BY POWER

SUMMARY:
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This movie is about a 6 year old Afghan girl who has to suffer various assaults from her
neighbours just to get to school. The neighbours would harass her with guns and stones by the
Taliban tribe. The setting of this whole movie takes place at Bamian,Afghanistan. The purpose of
the movie is to show the adults nowadays on the violence that is being exposed to the children
and how it could affect their future as they undergo a lot of sufferings. The director of the
movie,Hana, gave it the particular title, as her father wanted it to mean that even a statue can
grow ashamed of witnessing so much violence and tragedy that befell innocent people and can
collapse as a result. The director of this movie paid close attention to the children and tried
thinking how could it affect the children if they are exposed to the military and terrorist violence
and she wanted to show what might be the consequences of this event to the adults. This is so
that adults realize the threat and prevent their children from any sort of violences.
ANALYSIS:
The movie Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame portrays the wreckage beneath the ruined
statue of the Buddha, thousands of families struggle to survive. Baktay, a six-year-old Afghan
girl is challenged to go to school by her neighbour's son who reads in front of their cave. Having
found the money to buy a precious notebook, and taking her mother's lipstick for a pencil,
Baktay sets out. On her way, she is harassed by boys playing games that mimic the terrible
violence they have witnessed, that has always surrounded them. The boys want to stone the little
girl, to blow her up as the Taliban blew up the Buddha, to shoot her like Americans. The movie
shows whether Baktay be able to escape these violent war games and reach the school. This
movie was produced with an intention to make the adults realize how much violence that the
children are exposed to these days, and the consequences of the exposure towards them. This
whole movie was taken in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan many children encounter violence. Many
of them have to deal with emotional and psychological damage because of it. They are seldom
being treated or given aid. The children in Afghanistan grew up in a country at war. They often
lost relatives or friends and are vulnerable when it comes to other forms of violence. Afghanistan
has many homeless children and child labour. These children are extremely vulnerable when it
comes to exploitation and physical, psychological and sexual violence. They do not go to school.
Which means they have fewer options in the future as well. At the same time children encounter
domestic violence, arranged marriages and violence on the. Mainly because of the war, the
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children had witnessed so much act of violence,bomb attacks and bodies lying all around. The
director of the movie did not produce this movie to specify that only the children of Afghan are
experiencing such danger, but also the children from other parts of the world as well. The other
children from the other parts of the world, they have their own way of getting exposed. For
example the children in America they are exposed to a lot of violence from the movies and
media. Children live with curiosity all the time and this one of the main reasons why they
become so easily influenced by any acts. The director sends a message to all adults that, the
betterment of children future lies on the hands of the adults. The movie was given such a title to
show the level of extent how much shame that has been put up by everyone in the world. The
people are so irresponsible, heartless, shallow minded and most important of all not being able to
provide a safe environment for the children of tomorrow. It is so shameful that even a statue
would fall just by seeing the violence and the current situations. A simple example of a current
event that helps everyone realize how severe are the children exposed to the violence could be
seen in their daily activity. The type of games they play. Most of the kids these days are more and
more entangled to the development of cybergames rather than really going out to the field and
playing with friends to enhance good values in them. Unfortunately, the types of videogames
that are being produced and selling hot in the markets are violence based. For example CounterStrike, Doom 3 and many more where it is all about going to war and killing other characters
which gives them a wrong perceptions and they do it in a very regular basis. The director of the
movie got the idea of producing this movie by just observing the children and adults in a
playground and decided to make a movie that would give a great impact on everyone and make
them think. The director also said that there are no heroes in the movie because it aint a movie
which is done to impress anyone with the action thrillers and the stunts. It is basically done to
create awareness among the adults on how the dangerous the world has become.
ARTICLE 78
DATE

: 14 DECEMBER 2010 (TUESDAY)

PAGE

: T16

TITLE

: ON THE HIGH SEAS

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SUMMARY:
The whole article was discussing the making of the The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the director point of view and perspective. It is said here, the
director of the movie, Michael Apted faced many barriers and problems in finishing the movie
(from the first movie till the third movie of The Chronicles of Narnia). First of all the problem he
and the crews of production faced was finding a location (set) for their shooting as they
required fountains, lighthouses and etc. At the end with the help of Ernie Malik, the gruff
publicist who rules the Narnia set, they managed to find a suitable location for the shooting of
the movie. Besides that crowd of fans whenever they wanted to shoot any scene was quite
distracting and unable the actors performed to the optimum level. Many of them were teenage
girls who came to have a look of Ben Barnes, played Prince Caspian or Skandar Keynes, played
Edmund Pevensie. Michael Apted also been criticized for the previous The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian, being too dark and political for young children, was stressed to produce more
adaptable movie and higher quality. Disney, the company that had produced the first two films
has decided to pull off which actually shocked not only Apted but also the actor, Ben Barnes and
the reason was given due to the dissatisfaction performance given by Prince Caspian. Being
reminded with all this problems, Apted reduced the budget of the movie down to US$140 million
and lessened up shooting on location. More work on visual effects are being put right after the
shooting for the movie is done to produce high quality movie and to be accepted by the
audiences, besides Apted is hoping for the audiences remain excited for the movie Dawn Treader
and not given up on it.

ANALYSIS:
One of the point can be marked from the interview given by Michael Apted is most of the
moviegoers around the world do still preferred fantasy based genre movies and this enables
directors like him to produce more movies on those genres. Besides that, the targeted audiences
for such a movie are mostly children because they preferred fairy-tale and fantasy kind of movies
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more than adults. Other than that, the support and profits gained by the previous two movies
proves that no barriers can stop anyones desire or ambition (dream). Although Michael
Apted bare lots of problems from all the sides, he managed to produce quality movie and create a
fantasy icon among children and youngsters, Azlan the Lion. This can be taken as a lesson by the
audiences where they should strike and try their level best to achieve what they wanted for
although lots of discouragement from society.
Furthermore the usage of visual effects in this movie tells us that the technology growth
enables the human to create anything which is impossible many years ago. This indirectly
enhancing the growth of technology field and can attract many youngsters especially to learn
and get involve in technology field as they find it interesting by watching the movie such as The
Chronicles of Narnia. Besides that it also enables the youngsters and children being exposed with
the existence of such technology and learns about it in a very early age. Production of movies
such as The Chronicles of Narnia actually being accepted by all ages of society due to the genre
and plot where it can be relaxing for mind and helps to forget the problems that they have in
their life just for 3 hours (the movie length). Rather than watching action-packed or horror or
even sentiment movies, which actually increases emotions in a person, watching fantasy based
movie will relax their mind fully and forget their problem.
Finally from the interview given by the director, concluding that the crew of production
struggles a lot in releasing the movie by making sure the movie will be reach the expectation of
the audiences.

ARTICLE 79
DATE

: 16 FEBRUARY 2011 (WEDNESDAY)

PAGE

: T18

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TITLE

: A MASTERS TOUCH

SUMMARY:
The movie Sanctum is about a team of cave divers are swept away by a torrent of clichs
in Alister Griersons dull subterranean adventure, the unique selling point of which is its use of
the same beam-splitting 3D cameras as executive producer James Camerons Avatar. However,
none of the unremarkable underwater sequences were actually shot that way, just those featuring
cathedral-like caves, claustrophobic crevices and labyrinthine tunnels, all of which look like the
studio sets they obviously are. Trapped underground by a tropical storm and the resulting flood
water, grizzled cave-diving veteran Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh), his resentful 17-yearold son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) and reckless financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffud) eke out the
dwindling food and failing light, while a string of supporting characters meet predictable, watery
ends. Joshs maudlin voiceover marks this out as a sentimental rites-of-passage tale, and even in
this dim light, one can see every plot development coming a mile off. Many of the actors and
actresses behind this movie were inspired with the way the director took this movie, where he
emphasized on all the littlest details which made this movie a success. At the very starting point
of the movie, all the producers wanted Sanctum to be small budget movie, but unfortunately
somehow it gets pulled into the Titanic size. James, Cameron, the producer also played an
important role in making this movie big, although he was busy with his production of the movie
Avatar. He had just come occasionally to the set, but had given a great impact towards the acting
crew that made the movie a success.

ANALYSIS:
The great success of a movie is a reflection of how much effort, commitment, hardwork
and enthusiast that is being put by the people on the screen and also people behind the screen.
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People behind the screen would refer to the directors, producers and the crew. People on the
screen would mainly mean the actors and actresses. As a director of the film, it is important that
he maintains the good flow and shares a lot with the actors and actresses so that the motive of the
film is achieved. This is important so that the viewers truly get the story or message which is
being sent by the film crew of the movie to the audience. The director would give a lot of
emphasis on the littlest detail in the movie because, even the slightest detail could give the critics
and the viewers different picture of what is trying to be said in the movie. The actors would have
to work hard to really get into the character of the role that is being played so that it looks real.
This is a very important criteria in being an actor. An actor that fails to do so, will not excel in
the acting business. All the crew play a strong role in making the movie a success. It is a direct
reflect of hard work which is being put it. If everyone co-operates well, positive outcomes can be
expected, also vice-versa.

CHAPTER 5: OVERALL INTEPRETATION


The report is all about the research been done on a newspaper, THE STAR toward certain period
of time on specific selected topic. Research is done on FILMS which been published in
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newspaper starting from 1st of July 2010 till 30th of June 2011. By stepping few years back to
know the origin of THE STAR newspaper, it is known that the newspaper was first published on
9th of September 1971 in George Town, Penang. Besides that THE STAR went national on 3 rd of
January 1976 and the headquarters set in Kuala Lumpur and continuously growing organization
pushed the headquarters to Petaling Jaya on 1981 (About The Star & Sunday Star: Brief
History of The Star, 2011). Increasing readership of the newspaper contributes in the growing
and efficiency of the newspaper, although THE STAR had undergone many changes in its
growth but its reporting fashion continues to be invigorating with news and articles that are
varied to cater to dissimilar interests. Statistics shows that the amount of readership of THE
STAR increases due to the news and articles being supplied to the readers.

Table 1: Comparison of the readership between newspapers


Promising articles by THE STAR encourages the research to be done fully on this
newspaper on the topic of FILMS. Basically almost sixty-five articles are found in the newspaper
within the time frame and the articles are classified accordingly into six subtopics such as:

SUBTOPICS
General (Anthological Topics)
Interview

Movie Review
Critics

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Biography
Drama
Table 2: Categorized Subtopics

Graph: Statistics of the Articles


60

52

50
40
30
20
10
0

1
1

2
2

2
3

1
4

1
5

1
6

Graph 1: Analysis of Subtopics


Review and abstract for individual subtopics are given separately in PART 2 of the report
which is Summary and Analysis of each item of the content. From the graphical analysis above,
articles on FILMS are more being published in a general style where wide- ranging opinions
are given by the journalist/ writers about the movie rather than explaining it in depth. Following
that articles based on the interviews of the crews of production or actor/actress of the movie also
being cater by the newspaper, the writer normally quote most of the interview dialogues into the
articles rather than explaining about it. The least published articles on FILMS can be said about
Dramas and this can be either local or international dramas where least attention given towards
drama and incomparable with movies. Most importantly the graphical analysis above been done
for a specific time frame (1st July 2010 30th June 2011) and the pattern of the articles being
published are investigated for that specific time frame.
General interpretation that can be done about THE STAR explicitly on articles about
FILMS is that the uneven distribution of the articles and it might look bias for the readers and
can cause some apprehension among them as well. Below shows the distribution of the articles
within the time frame:

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Graph: Statistics of Types of Films


60
52
50
40
30
20
10
1
0

3 2

2 3

1
4

1
5

1
6

1
7

Graph 2: Types of Films


One of the conclusions that can be made from the graph above is that THE STAR
provides news and articles based on their type of readers and that can be such as:

Educated community/ society who watches more Hollywood movies rather than other

language/ country movies


Teenagers who like to watch Hollywood movies because of the movie plot and genre
Professional community/ corporate personnel who reads THE STAR to be updated with

current issues
Individuals from overseas/ other countries especially from Europe who wants to watch
Hollywood movies they can be updated about the movies by reading THE STAR
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Community who uses English as their medium of communication, where obviously THE
STAR newspaper will be the target (language used is English)

Circuitously all the community described above encourage THE STAR to give more reviews on
Hollywood movies rather than some other language movies.
Furthermore the reason for THE STAR publishing more Hollywood based movies is due
to the business tactics where they strategically increasing the purchase of their newspaper
compared to other newspapers. In a point case where some individuals will buy newspaper just
to see the status of released movies at that particular time and check what the theatres are
screening the movies, by publishing more articles on Hollywood movies, for sure THE STAR
will be the number one choice of the readers. Besides planning the strategies to increase the
profit of the company, THE STAR also provides whatever the readers request and interested in
such as giving more reviews on Hollywood movies. It is statistically proven that nowadays
teenager or youngster are exposed to films from Hollywood compared to their own language
movies. Example where the amount of people go for Transformer are unbeatable with the
amount of people go for KL Gangster (example), and this phenomenon not only happens for
Transformers but for almost all the Hollywood movies being released in Malaysia.
Other than that, compare to local movies or to some other language movies, Hollywood
movies are being produced and released in a larger scale where almost every month at least
4-6 movies are being screen, proven in the graph before:

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Graph: Distribution of the Films


12
10

Hollywood
Malay

Chinese
6
Frequency

Irish
Afghan

Korean
Thailand

Bollywood
0

Graph 3: Irregular Distribution of the Films


Graph above proves that Hollywood movie are being released more compared to other
language movies in Malaysia, as a result THE STAR writes more reviews on Hollywood movies
rather than other movies. Besides that, if they give attention to some other language movies, they
probably cant write any reviews for quite number of months unless it is Hollywood movies
which being produced continuously and also can increase the profit of the company. Other than
that, the audiences/ moviegoers will go for Hollywood movies so that they do not have to go
theatre seasonally but whenever they feel like going and to relax their mind.
Furthermore as all the society serving organization, newspaper company also one of them
which carries the citizens satisfaction as their first priority and vision in meeting their targeted
profit or achievement. Due to that THE STAR wants to help the readers to choose better movie
to be watched without the feeling of wasting money and time, as a result THE STAR offers up
to 3-4 pages just to give review about movies. By taking this step, the readers will have clearer
view of the movies which being released on that specific instant and they have the all rights to
choose which movie to be watch in theatre and which is not. Most of the time the audiences will
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be complaining of the movie that they watched in theatre not worth of what they paid for it, this
accusation would have been avoided if they read the movie review in THE STAR newspaper
(probably).
Besides analyzing the purpose of publishing special columns on movies, the effects and
complications need to be reviewed which affect the readers/individual unswervingly and
obliquely. One of the cons or disadvantages of publishing columns on movie reviews on is
influencing/ attracting especially the young generation into the world of entertainment.
Nowadays most of the people are tend to read newspapers and this already become a norm of
life, by including columns on movie reviews it can actually drag or influence certain individuals
to spend most of their time to watch any new released movies. In addition to that the way/ style
the movies being review by the writer can create a good/ positive perception about that movie
and at the same time the generate eagerness to go and watch the movies. The normal
conversation of youngsters in any circumstances (school, colleges or etc) is all about movie
critics that they watched recently which was completely different compared to few years back.
This shows how youngsters can be effortlessly influence and diverted from the path that they
suppose to think about or concern about.
In a roundabout way the performance of young generation will give deep impact in all
sectors especially in the development of Malaysia (country), as can be said the future of the
country is dependent on young generations. Involving ones self into the world entertainment (as
an audience), in reality decreases the usage of the brain and lead the individual to think
appropriately or out of the box when troubleshooting during studying and working phase. Other
than that, crime acts are unpredictably can increase as time passes and one of the main reason
that cause those prediction is the movie influential towards the citizens. Research and studies
proves that media violence increases the violent crime. The individuals getting ideas and
thoughts on how to perform crime by watching movies especially Hollywood movies such as
CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), Unthinkable, The Bank Job (The Best Bank Roberry Movies,
2005-2011), The Dark Knight (The Best Bank Roberry Movies, 2005-2011) and others as well.
If young generation watches this style of movies, the negative message will be planted in their
mind and they are unable to distinguish between positive and negative messages. As a supporting

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sentence, there are reported crimes which were carried out exactly how it is being portrayed in
the movie especially in murder and robbery cases.
On the other hand, involving to a large extent in movies/ films also destroying/
corrupting the youth mind where the movies includes the more passionate scenes such as
kissing, hugging and etc. When the youths watches this kind of scenes, curiosity will build up in
their mind to gain such an experience and thats the moment when they forgot their correct path
and involve in mild crimes such as having sex out of wedlock and ruined their future forever
(mark able) and cant be wipe away from their life. As a result, more babies form from sex out of
wedlock being thrown by the youngsters because they do not realize what they opt to when
performing the crime. Such an act can actually destroy the image of the country where the future/
expectation of the country being destroyed by media/ films and this is considered as a loss for the
country. The movies that can be classify as contain explicit scenes such as Hisss (Bollywood),
The Death Bell: Bloody Camp (Korean, 29th December 2010 article), 500 Summer
(Hollywood) and etc.
Ultimately THE STAR newspaper is being biased when publishing more reviews on
other language movies compared to local movies and this will give an impact to National Film
Industry and give a negative impression of the industry in the eye of local audiences. There are
many local movies which being produced monthly basis and also in various languages such as
Malay movies, Tamil movies, and Chinese movies, at the same time these movies can be said
compatible with all the movies which being review or released by overseas such as Hollywood,
Bollywood , Korean and others. The readers of the newspaper tend to go for the movie which
was being reviewed in the newspaper rather than local movies which werent reviewed and this
can be said because the local readers arent exposed to the local movies as much as international
movies. Due to actions like THE STAR by reviewing international movies, they managed to
create a stereotyped community who thinks local movies are bad and incomparable with
international movies and this community will not want to spend their money and time to watch
those movies. Circuitously the Local Film Industry will go through losses and unprofitable
returning from the movie they being producing as no support is being given to the local artist and
crews of production. One of the effects that can be seen clearly from this phenomenon is the
lifestyle of the international versus national celebrity which defers in many aspects; the
international artists are earning almost five times more than the local artists. For an example,
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actor like Leonardo DeCaprio earns US$76 million (Forbes List Exposes Hollywood Wage
Gap, 2011) which is unreachable by local artist and one of the contributor of this situation can be
said the media such as THE STAR who propagandas more Hollywood movies compared to local
movies (this directly effects the profit of the crews).
There are some positive effects are hidden behind all those negative effects by having
movie review columns in THE STAR newspaper from all the aspects and perspectives. Watching
movies especially Hollywood will help the youngsters/ new generation to think out of the
box and beyond the norm and also enable them to be innovative and creative. This is
because most of the Hollywood movies are based on science and technology where they adapted
it into big screen so that all the moviegoers can understand it in a very easy and understandable
manner. In a point of case, movies such as Dj Vu, Deep Impact, Tron, Stargate. The
Butterfly Effect and others, they actually relating basic science and technology knowledge in a
very diverse situations or circumstances where the audiences can learn something through the
movie and something factual and knowledgeable. THE STAR can promote this kind of movies
more in their movie review column, so that the moviegoers will get the chance of watching and
witnessing splendid movies which also make them to absorb of the message/ facts behind the
movie. Moreover science fictional movies can help the youngsters to understand applied sciences
more easily compared to studying in the school or universities.
Furthermore by publishing movie reviews in the newspaper (THE STAR) also help to
raise awareness among the community in many aspects, for example in people trafficking,
domestic and child abuse, inter-racial fights and wars and etc. Most of movie being produced
either in Hollywood or other languages, portraying and illustrating what is actually happening
around the world such as:

Blood Diamond (2006) which was set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999 and this
film also shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and
rebel forces. Other than that, this movie also shows about the atrocities of that war
including the rebels amputation of peoples hands to stop them from voting in upcoming
elections (Blood Diamond (2006), 2007). The awareness which was raised by the movie
was to stop diamond smuggle and reduce the diamond demands all around the world as
no one knows the circumstances and pains which going through by the South African
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citizens for each diamond being demanded by other powers around the world. The
external powers (other countries) are indirectly being caused of the civil wars in South

Africa which kills hundred of the citizens.


Movies such as The Butterfly Effect, Domestic Disturbances and This Boys Life
shows the child abuse which is happening around us and what are the effects to the child
after grown up and also impact to the society or community around the child. The
purpose of these movies production is to raise awareness to humanity about child abuse
and etiquette the society on how to raise a child and how to value a gift (child) from god
and heave them with full passionate (Movies with Child Abuse, 1996 - 2011).
Besides that by publishing reviews on movies, THE STAR indirectly enabled the

youngsters/ new generation to purchase the newspaper and improve their verbal and nonverbal skills. Nowadays entertainment such as movies has become an attractive factor for all the
ages especially for the youngsters, so why dont the media use it as a tool to help the young
generation. Most of the theatres will be full with kids and youngsters whenever new movie is
released and it have become a basic needs in nowadays lifestyle, as a result obviously this kind
of community will be willingly spend their money to purchase newspaper to read and get to
know what are the new movies which being released for that specific month. By reviewing more
on Hollywood movies especially it will encouraged the youngsters to watch those movies and as
a result it might help them to improve with their English communication which will be very
beneficial in the future.
Last but not the least, there are many positive effects/ impacts that can be withdraw when
analyzing the purpose of THE STAR publishing a special column on their newspaper regarding
movie reviews such as minimize the time constraint whenever an individual wants to watch
a movie at that point of time by getting an idea of the movies being screened from THE
STAR, enabled to deliver the current issues of their surrounding or status of the world
whenever an individual purchase THE STAR for the movies purposes only (obviously they
will flip the other pages as well) and also enable the society to spend their money wisely
whenever it comes to movies where they can choose some nice and better films to be
watched and worth spending the money.

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As a conclusion can be said the movies do have its positive and negative sight out it when
it comes to society which watches the movies. One cant really conclude that watching movies
can provide some negative effects to the society and also vice versa. It all depends to the
individual on how he/she takes the message from the movies that they watch and on how they
see and observe the entertainment world as a whole. Besides that, being one of the moviegoers
the points which being mentioned above can be said as bias because it is given from one point of
view not as whole and it might change to the individual when different individual writes about it.
Strictly it is observed that movies/ film entertainment are the very powerful weapon that a
country can owns because movies can absorbs everyones mind, thoughts and actions and mold it
as what they wants. This can be seen clearly when crews in film/ entertainment field can always
involve themselves in politics and for sure they will get the full support from the community, for
an example Arnold Schwarzenegger who became Governor of California in 2003 (Politic Career
of Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2010)

CHAPTER 6; CONCLUSION
Conclusion of the report will be summarizing the whole report mainly on the
interpretation which been done in the previous part. Basically in this report there are main six
subtopics which have been divided after analyzing the articles taken from THE STAR from 1ST
of July 2010 till 30th of June 2011 (duration of 1 year) and the subtopics are Movie Synopsis,
Movie Critics, General (Broad-spectrum), Interview, Biography and Drama. As can be
observed in the interpretation division the articles being published by THE STAR doesnt own
specific pattern but it follows the intuition or selection of the writers of that column where most
of the movies being reviewed are Hollywood and the least being reviewed will be Local
(Malaysian Movies). Other than that, the movies which being selected to be reviewed also
doesnt own any unambiguous genres but chosen arbitrarily by the writers as well, can be
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concluded that most of movies chosen by THE STAR throughout the one year July 2010 till June
2011 are based on the movies which being released on that specific month and also movies
which casted by well-known and popular actors such as Leonardo DeCaprio or Johnny Depp
will be their cup of tea when writing about it for the column.
There are many reasons of why THE STAR publishing/ releasing a column of full of
movie reviews in their newspapers such as influence of the readers who buys/ purchases their
newspaper where these readers preferred to read the synopsis of the movies to be watched so
they will not waste their time and money for some unworthy movies. Other than that, this afford
is actually a business tactic for them to increase their annual profit of the company and at the
same time provide something good and beneficial for the readers. As the results of production of
movies in larger scale, THE STAR took an afford to fit in movie reviews of selective movies out
of this large scale where they could make their newspaper more efficient in the aspect of
contents. By analyzing the purposes of THE STAR writes a special column on movie reviews
can be said to gain profit for the company and at the same time provide the readers with
sufficient information which not only about current global issues but also about the world of
entertainment. As an additional point, by reviewing and publishing more other language movies
such as Hollywood, unknowingly THE STAR creating a competitive feeling and attitude towards
local film industries where it inspires them to produce more quality movies and full with
messages and lessons to be delivered to the community.
Furthermore to recall the pros and cons being extracted and analysed from the problem
statement (Movie review articles which being published by THE STAR) varies and changes
according to the individuals on how he/she reacts towards the publishes. In a nutshell, the
negative impacts that caused by this entertainment world; such as movies can be said as
attracting the youngsters into the world of entertainment and unable them to focus in their major
aspects such as study, career and etc. If this matter continuous, it will directly impact the country
where most of the sectors will be affected because of the lag of quality youngster to take over
and develop the country. Besides that, publishing more movie reviews will make the young
society to watch the movies and as a result they apply whatever being showed/ portrayed in the
movie into real life. This is when the crime acts unpredictably increases as time passes; it is the
effect/impact of movies such as action movies where it encourages the youngsters to perform the
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same act in reality and harm to society. At the same time, the passionate scenes being screened in
the movies also corrupting the mind of the society especially the youngster where it lead them
into committing crimes such as pre-marital sex and at the end throw the womb/ baby resulted
from the act. Last but not least, promoting more Hollywood movies compared to local movies
can give a deep impact on local film industry where less citizens will favor local movies.
Besides all the disadvantages, the benefits that can be gained by the society from movies
(watching or reading the review) can help the society to think creatively and innovatively which
also directly contribute into development of the ones self and country. Most importantly it can
raise awareness among the society mainly on child abuse, domestic abuse, women abuse, interracial wars and etc where movies can change the perception of the community to be more aware
of all this acts and be more concern towards the surrounding. As for the young generation, they
can obviously improve their verbal and non-verbal skills by reading the movie reviews being
published in THE STAR or watch the movies being reviewed as THE STAR reviews more on
Hollywood movies.
Conclusively, THE STAR newspaper indirectly aids the society with the contents of the
paper where one of it will be the movie review column. One could not be restrained from
watching films just because it is an entertainment and will not be beneficial, as can be observed
even entertainment world can be most influential factor in an individuals life. Other than that, it
also can be used as a weapon to mold the society as required by the country or nature as it owns
its own power among the society.

CHAPTER 7: REFERENCES
About The Star & Sunday Star: Brief History of The Star. (2011). Retrieved
November 28, 2011, from www.thestar.com.my:
http://thestar.com.my/info/thestar.asp
Blood Diamond (2006). (2007). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from www.imdb.com:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/synopsis
Forbes List Exposes Hollywood Wage Gap. (2011). Retrieved December 1, 2011,
from www.guardian.co.uk:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/aug/03/forbes-list-hollywood-wage-gap
Movies with Child Abuse. (1996 - 2011). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from
http://www.amazon.com/MOVIES-CHILD-ABUSE-Sexual-Physical/lm/23H24BSX3NWJJ
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Politic Career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. (2010). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from
www.wikipedia.org:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_career_of_Arnold_Schwarzenegger
The Best Bank Roberry Movies. (2005-2011). Retrieved November 29, 2011, from
www.cracked.com: http://www.cracked.com/funny-2273-the-best-bank-robberymovies/
Quileute Oceanside Resort. (n.d.). The Quileute Tribe. Retrieved Novermber 20,
2011, from Quileute Nation: http://www.quileutenation.org/
Stereotype of Native Americans. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_Native_Americans
The Movies, Race and Ethnicity Native Americans. (2011). Retrieved November 20,
2011, from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/imagesnatives.html
Outlaw, K. (2003 - 2011). Inception Ending Explained. Retrieved November 21,
2011, from http://screenrant.com/inception-spoilers-discussion-kofi-68330/
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Inception. Retrieved November 21, 2011 , from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception#Locations_and_sets
IMDb.com.Inc [fast_furious_728@hotmail.com]. (1990-2011). Plot Summary for
Resident Evil. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120804/plotsummary
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Resident Evil (film). Retrieved November 21, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_(film)

Cornell, C. (2010, December 8). Watching Thriller Film. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from
Enzine Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?Watching-Thriller-Movies&id=5518648
Datum corp. (2004). Retrieved 2012, from dc website.
Dirks, T. (2002). Film Genre. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from Filmsite:
http://www.filmsite.org/filmgenres.html
Lifestyle Lounge. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2011, from Health and Fitness:
http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/effects-of-watching-horror-movies-4315.html
Serwach, J. (2004). Movies can alter hormone levels. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from The
University Record Online: http://ur.umich.edu/0304/July19_04/23.shtml
Esenberg, M. (n.d.). The 12 Best Movie Sequels Ever Made. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from
ScreeRant: http://screenrant.com/best-movie-sequels-mikee-58226/
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Film Genres. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2011, from Filmsite:
http://www.filmsite.org/filmgenres.html
Susman, G. (n.d.). Popwatch. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from EW.com:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2005/09/23/the_most_claust/
Wang. (n.d.). 127 Hours. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from The Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542344/
Critic. (2011, December 5). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism
Drama. (2011, December 9). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama
Jammy. (2011, November 1). Plot Summary: The Driver. Retrieved from IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/synopsis
Steel, D. (2011, October 28). Synopsis: The Detective 2. Retrieved from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1534786/
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). (2011, November 9). Plot Summary: The lost
blademan. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648093/plotsummary
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Plot : Wikipedia. Retrieved November 2011, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Airbender

CHAPTER 8: APPENDICES
ARTICLE 1
ARTICLE 2
ARTICLE 3
ARTICLE 4
ARTICLE 5
ARTICLE 6
ARTICLE 7
ARTICLE 8
ARTICLE 9
ARTICLE 10

The Real Deal.................................................................................


Total Eclipse of the Heart...............................................................
Evil Is Good...................................................................................
Fling Of a Flick..............................................................................
On a Friendly Basis........................................................................
Rock Around the Clock..................................................................
Heartbreak, Betrayal, Genius.........................................................
Fictional Take.................................................................................
Let The Right One Out...................................................................
Thrill Ride......................................................................................
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ARTICLE 11
ARTICLE 12
ARTICLE 13
ARTICLE 14
ARTICLE 15
ARTICLE 16
ARTICLE 17
ARTICLE 18
ARTICLE 19
ARTICLE 20
ARTICLE 21
ARTICLE 22
ARTICLE 23
ARTICLE 24
ARTICLE 25
ARTICLE 26
ARTICLE 27
ARTICLE 28
ARTICLE 29
ARTICLE 30
ARTICLE 31
ARTICLE 32
ARTICLE 33
ARTICLE 34
ARTICLE 35
ARTICLE 36
ARTICLE 37
ARTICLE 38
ARTICLE 39
ARTICLE 40
ARTICLE 41
ARTICLE 42
ARTICLE 43
ARTICLE 44
ARTICLE 45
ARTICLE 46
ARTICLE 47
ARTICLE 48
ARTICLE 49
ARTICLE 50
ARTICLE 51
ARTICLE 52
ARTICLE 53
ARTICLE 54
ARTICLE 55
ARTICLE 56

Go West..........................................................................................
Far From Normal............................................................................
Loving Thy Enemy.........................................................................
Needs Seasoning............................................................................
Hold the Adrenaline.......................................................................
The Good, The Bad and The Beautiful..........................................
Into the Groove...............................................................................
Wild Rides......................................................................................
Its A Messs....................................................................................
Monster Mash.................................................................................
Run, Buddy, Run............................................................................
A Quiet American..........................................................................
Fest of Implausibility.....................................................................
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.....................................................................
Money Talks...................................................................................
The Hunt Is On...............................................................................
Dream Project.................................................................................
Mega- Mediocre...........................................................................
Cool Role........................................................................................
A Hit-and-Miss Affair....................................................................
Thunderous.....................................................................................
Whos Bad......................................................................................
The Dark Side of Dance.................................................................
Twinkle Toes..................................................................................
Not the End of Line........................................................................
Not Happening...............................................................................
A Dull Night...................................................................................
Still Standing..................................................................................
Tales of a Sensitive Buffalo...........................................................
Final Showdown.............................................................................
Gore and Stereotype Galore...........................................................
Reason Unknown...........................................................................
Twisted Truth.................................................................................
Restless Spirit.................................................................................
Menacy Ladies...............................................................................
Coming Back for More..................................................................
Claustrophobia...............................................................................
Reliving the Moments....................................................................
Fairy Tale Invasion.........................................................................
Rev It Up (Fast Five Goes for Extra Mileage)...............................
Scoring Reel Goals.........................................................................
From Tabloid To Celluloid............................................................
Health in Movies............................................................................
Knocked Out..................................................................................
Trend Setters..................................................................................
Shamrockin Good Films...............................................................
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ARTICLE 57
ARTICLE 58
ARTICLE 59
ARTICLE 60
ARTICLE 61
ARTICLE 62
ARTICLE 63
ARTICLE 64
ARTICLE 65
ARTICLE 66
ARTICLE 67
ARTICLE 68
ARTICLE 69
ARTICLE 70
ARTICLE 71
ARTICLE 72
ARTICLE 73
ARTICLE 74
ARTICLE 75
ARTICLE 76
ARTICLE 77
ARTICLE 78
ARTICLE79

Surviving the Split..........................................................................


Unwelcomed Guests.......................................................................
Real Connections............................................................................
Taking a Shot (Get to know Hollywoods 25 Best Actors turned
Directors)........................................................................................
Lohans Fall from Grace................................................................
Merman Prince...............................................................................
Brainy Beauty.................................................................................
Dramatic Story, Big Battle.............................................................
New Blood......................................................................................
Death Bell Tolls.............................................................................
Double Bliss...................................................................................
Best Friends Boyfriend.................................................................
Black Is Back.................................................................................
Giant Shame...................................................................................
Bumbling Sleuth.............................................................................
Caught between A Rock and A Hard Place...................................
Promises, Promises.........................................................................
Warrior Priests................................................................................
Movie Thieves................................................................................
The Big Leap..................................................................................
Broken by Power............................................................................
On The High Seas..........................................................................
A Masters Touch...........................................................................

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