Community (NBC)

Community (NBC)

Cast : Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong

Tag : Mastering the B.S. Degree at Community College

As usual, I love the non-main character of the series, with the exception of GBC, The Big C and Nurse Jackie (never like the title character of  Grey's Anatomy, Sex and the City and Will and Grace) so naturally I love Danny Pudi's character, Abed, Chevy Chase's Pierce and Ken Jeong's Senor Chang. Gosh, Ken Jeong was a doctor!!!

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

Cast : Edie Falco,

Tag : Life is Full of Little Pricks (S1)

Holy Shift (S2)

High and Mighty (S3)

Out of Excuses, Our of Tricks, Out of Control (S4)

Another gem from Showtime. Falco sizzled in The Soprano so no surprise here how she managed to get us to hate her and at the same time sympathised her.

I love Eve Best!!!!!!!!!!! Her British surgeon character is wow wow wow



The Big C

The Big C

Cast : Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, John Benjamin Hickey, Gabourey Sidibe, Phyllis Somerville

Tag : Time to Grab Life by the Balls

Laura Linney is always dependable. And Showtime is one of the rare station that's dependable as well. Good story line with stellar cast. When you think that the ending of season 1 is a resounding success and worried about season 2, it never ceased to amaze you with the equally strong season 2. Waiting to be amazed by season 3 soon....

A Simple Life 桃姐 (2011)

A Simple Life 桃姐 (2011)

Dir : Ann Hui 许鞍华  

Cast : Deannie Yip 叶德娴 Andy Lau 刘德华  Paul Chun 秦沛 Queenie Chu 朱慧敏 Elena Kong 江美仪

秦海璐 谭炳文 宫雪花

1. Director - Ann is such a prolific HK director. You can fault some of her end products but you definitely can't fault her sincerity and dedication to HK cinema. Lots of my favourite HK films are by her. My all time favourite, Woman Forty 女人四十. Josephine Xiao 萧芳芳 is great!!!!!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Dir : Tomas Alfredson

Cast : Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy

Tag : The Secret is Out

Trust No One, Suspect Everyone

The Enemy is Within

1. Gary Oldman

2. Colin Firth

3. British Cast

4. Do we need more by now????



The Ides of March (2011)

The Ides of March (2011)

Dir : George Clooney

Cast : Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright

Tag : Is This Man Our Next President?

1. George Clooney - one of the most versatile artist (actor & director) in Hollywood nowadays - I love Good Night, and Good Luck

2. Ryan Goslings - Canadian gem

3. Casting - wow wow wow

The Help (2011)

The Help (2011)

Dir : Tate Taylor 

Cast : Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Alison Janney

Tag : Change begins with a whisper

Watched this on plane. Again, it's a stellar cast and no surprise when Octavia Spencer snatched the Best Supporting Actress. Viola was kinda-being-robbed from the statue but Streep being the "so-called-robber", it's a tough fight. Whether you watch this as chick-flick or black-right campaign, it's an enjoyable time spent.

50/50 (2011)

50/50 (2011)

Dir : Jonathan Levine

Cast : Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston 

Tag : It takes a pair to beat the odds

Only 2 factors for me:

1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - his role subsequent to 500 days of Summer and Inception

2. Jonathan Levine - interesting works

Carnage (2011)

Carnage (2011)

Dir : Roman Polanski

Cast : Kate Winslet, Christopher Waltz, Jodie Foster, John C. Reily

Tag : A new comedy with no manners

Adapted from theatre you will expect the performance is larger-than-life and in-your-face. With no set change throughout the whole movie, it's a risk if the cast has no acting chop to continuously sustain the interest and capture the audience's attention. Luckily Polanski has a stellar cast. Enough said.

Beginners (2011)

Dir : Mike Mills

Cast : Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer

Tag : This is what love feels like

Ewan needs no introduction on his acting capability. Surprisingly he's subtle in this movie; both the character and skin-exposure and this definitely shows the range of his acting chop. Plummer himself got his Johnny-come-lately acting recognition in the forms of 2012 Oscar Best Supporting Actor and a slew of other awards. Another surprise is Goran Visnjic who's last seen as the heart-throb in ER. Time is cruel!!!!

Love in the Buff 春娇与志明 (2012)

Love in the Buff 春娇与志明 (2012))

Dir : Ho-Cheung Pang 彭浩翔

Cast : Shawn Yue 余文乐 Miriam Yeung 杨千女华

 

Being a sequel and a collaboration (setting and investment) between HK and China, I was naturally skeptical. With the slow-boiled success of the 1st instalment, Love in the Puff 志明与春娇, I am worried that Pang's new effort will be China-nised as what happened to almost all collaborative-efforts 合拍片 lately.

The end-product? I am happy to see not only it's NOT China-nised, it managed to keep the essence of HK/Cantonese movie. And it's so refreshing to hear the foul words spoken naturally in the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory (Season 5)

Dr. Sheldon Cooper, Dr. Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Holowitz, Dr. Raj Koothrapralli, Penny, Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Tag : Smart is the New Sexy

Thoroughly enjoyed the show. It gets better and better.

Jim Parsons is fantastic!!!

GCB (2012)

GCB (2012)

Cast : Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Bibb

Tagline : Love Thy Neighbor 

From Good Christian Bitch to Good Christian Belles to the ambigious GCB, the series was canceled after Season 1. I enjoyed the irony and also the sarcasm portrayed in the series and no offense to the Christian community. The setting can be transposed anytime to any religion but in US, it's definitely easier to base it to the conservative bible-belt or Texas. Just watch and laugh with an open mind. Hope it'll be continued for Season 2.

Kristin Chenoweth gets to exercise her vocal muscle after belting them effortlessly in the now-boring Glee. And I love Sandra Bernhard in her guest star spot at the end of the season too!

Life Without Principle (2011)

Life Without Principle (2001)

Dir : Johnnie To 杜琪峰

Cast : 刘青云 何韵诗 卢海鹏 苏杏璇 任贤齐

One of the few recent Chinese/Cantonese piece that's captivating. And being a Johnnie's work, I am happy to see some tone-down on typical police plot. The other pulling factor for me is the fact that 苏杏璇 is back acting and won the Best Supporting Actress in 2012 HK Film Awards (though it's more like consolation prize for her). Both 何韵诗 and 卢海鹏 surprised me in a way.

Bravo for Sean Lau as usual!