This German film is fantastic. It is certainly not run-of-the-mill. With combination of cartoon animation and MTV and the story itself, it was breaking out the mould. I could understand the German here and it was sub-titled too. This is another What-If movie, like Sliding Doors, but even better. Lola was trying to get money to replace the money lost by her useless boyfriend. Each time it went wrong, either she or he died. Just a second difference made it different. Some parts included were as Lola passed by somebody and they showed what happened to the person in comic strip style. Lola had a great voice and was screaming throughout the show. She could even scream for the ball on the roulette to stop at 0 twice.

People who watch movies and TV sitcoms with me tend to think I lack a funnybone. While I turn on the tap easily, I seldom laugh, even if the rest of the audience is laughing their heads off. I didn't laugh when I watch Austin Powers I: The International Man of Mystery. And this Austin Powers 2 did not do much to make me laugh. Anyway, this sequel is a spoof of many movies and songs, as the Dr Evil tried to crack jokes and threaten to blow up the White House with lines from Jerry Macguire and a sequence from Independence Day because he was back in the sixties. Here is a lot of parody from else where, such as Back to the Future, where the time traveller is not allowed to see himself, but allowed here. Dr Evil sung 'One of Us' and claimed credit. Lines and special effects were ripped off from Star Wars. Actually I think Mike Myers is funnier as Dr Evil than as Austin Powers. Gross stuff such as drinking shit and a clinically obese man drooling all over and having food all over his body and having sex with Felicity Shagwell was plain revolting and disgusting.

P.S. I went for their Promotion Gimmick, where they screened Austin Powers at the Park opposite National Museum, thinking I can save money and have a good experience. Turn out they were showing Austin Powers I and there were many technical faults and their impersonations from the movie 2 were crab. I left after a long wait and discovered I was conned into going.

Many people find the show sweet and nice, but I find their conversation very draggy. I think the show started well, when Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts. It was funny when his family members had a gathering and their reactions were cute. One see her as a best friends, the other had no idea who she was and asked her how much she made (US$15 million) and still clueless. When the couple left the house, they were screaming in shock. When Hugh Grant became a 'reporter' from Horses and Hound, it was funny trying to see how he was trying to come up with questions for the stars when they were doing publicity. Spike provided some of the funny moments with his outrageous T-shirts liners and scuba diving suit. His infamous pose in front of the paparazzi was hilarious. What let the show down was the pace of the show. OK in the beginning, too slow throughout and too fast in the end. The ending was too sweet to swallow.

This is one of the best movies I have seen so far this year. The complex plot with all the juggernauts serves to intrigue the viewers. I found it hard to understand some things that are happening. For example, the Oracle said that Neo was not the Chosen One and subsequently viewers were led to believe Trinity was the One and yet with another twist, Neo is actually the One. I'm curious about the Oracle. Whether she's real or not is confusing, as the people had to be loaded into her world in order to meet her. If that is possible, why don't the people just load themselves into the computers and hide? Maybe that's the crux of the story line. They are out to save the world. The 'truth' in the movie is frightening. The people were being captivated by the Matrix in order to fuel the computers. The scene was disgusting and so yuck, with all the metal tubes driven into the bodies and a hole in their heads. On a lighter side, I love the 'bullet scene' where Neo and Agent smith fought it out. Keanu Reeves is cool in the way he fights, although I can't say much for his acting. The action scenes are fantastic and the kongfu scenes where the actors could just fly into the air were breathtaking as well. It is a really heavy-going and dense film, which is highly entertaining as well.

You have seen this before in the Truman Show, where a guy is being followed by cameras and being transmitted to people all over the world. You have seen women scripted into the show and their love lives being shown on TV. Unscrupulous TV executives want the show to keep running. Both Ed and Truman try to find a way out and succeed. But this is where the resemblance ends. The TV station picks Ed and he lets them willingly into his life and the people around him. Truman didn't know at all. Ed had so many fans that his life was intruded. Truman didn't know he had fans around the world. It is funny when all the skeletons in the closet is exposed. There are many hilarious moments that are tightly packed into the movie. While Truman is sentimental, this is more of a comedy. But nevertheless, both drive the message across about how intrusive the media is.

The scenery is fantastic. Large grasslands spread across the land, joined by the beautiful blue sky. Colourful flowers grow all over and it definitely beats the teletubby land. The backdrop links the two main characters, Xiuxiu and Lao Jin together. It is where they live in a dilapidated tent and rear horses. The lack of other things in this landscape is just like the emotional state of mind of Xiuxiu-- empty. She wants to go home, but the authorities have forsaken her. She was seduced by a peddler, promising to get passes for her to return home. The peddler told his friends and they started coming to Xiuxiu for sexual favours. All along, she thinks they hod the passport for her to return home. Lao Jin is the silent caretaker of her, fetching water miles away from the tent in order for her to wash up. She lost her mind, her soul, her body, her innocence and her youth.

I can't believe there are people so misguided they can mistake a plane crash from a nuclear blast. On top of that, a scientist can manage to have all the supplies underground. Where do they get the electricity from? How can he be so fantastic in farming that the vegetables he grows won't die? Where do they get the meat from? Also, even daily supplies have expiry dates. Is it possible for toothpaste to last 35 years without tasting stale? It must be a totally boring place, facing two people day in and day out, even if they are family. The couple took pains in educating their child with the ways of the world and Brendan Fraser seem a bit retarded when he practices these on other people. It is a satire on how the '90s have decayed morally compared to the past. Alicia Silverstone is pretty in some scenes and plain fat in other. She does not portray the streetwise character convincingly enough. If the mother ever finds out her husband was wrong and her 35 years underground was unnecessary, she would probably had murdered him.

The plot seems unlikely to take place in modern day. Sarah Michelle Gellar with her nasal voice does not come across as a manipulative person. She simply is an overgrown kid who wants to play with people. Ryan Phillippe is cute but his acting is bland. I don't really buy his kind of acting when he realises he truly love Reese Witherspoon. Kathryn (Sarah) tries to change her love rival into a slut. This girl is so stupid that she believes Kathryn that she should let Sebastian train her to be good in bed. Surely, how naive can one get. She is not retarded. The actors, soundtrack, cars should appeal to the younger crowd, but the plot of seduction, betrayal and manipulation is not a good influence, hence it has appealed to the wrong crowd who cannot get into the cinema to watch.

A black and white film that turns into multi-colour let us realises the magic of colours. Seeing colours for the first time for the characters felt so mystical. A picture paints a thousand words and this message is spread across in the film. A wall mural is seen as liberation for some and blasphemous for others. Anything that is different from norm is wrong and should not be allowed. This reminds me of the Chrysalids by John Wyndym, where anybody different is persecuted. And what is their standard of norm? A bible and a book written by someone centuries ago, which they take to be the absolute truth. As the black-and-white characters changed into colour, they are ostracised by the community and this is racism. Their shops are smashed and looted, they are banned from entering other places and books are burnt (similar to the Chinese Cultural Revolution), segregated. All these actions were seen and are seen vivid in many people's memory. The Jews in Nazi Germany and other fascists countries, the blacks in USA, Chinese in colonial Singapore, different ethnic and religious groups in Indonesia today and many more. The TV show was supposed to be fun, but in it, it packs a powerful message of how it is to be different.