iPhone on Sale in the U.S.

 

The wait is over for those who are in the U.S. as Apple’s latest iPhone is officially on sale today at 6.00 PM local time. There have already been some queues in front of Apple and AT&T stores across the U.S. As the demand is high, each customer could only buy no more than 2 iPhones which cost either $499 or $599 depending on the amount of flash memory (4 or 8 gigabytes.)

Happily N’Ever After

 

Happily N’Ever After is another attempt to mess up with various classic fairy tales in a form of 3-D animation film. The movie is created by the same team which brought you Shrek franchise. Well, I guess only the story of green ogre turned hero is enough for mixing up with the fairy tales as the story is lame and totally unreasonable in this film. Set in the fairy-tale land, when the wizard who looks after the balance of good and evil for all fairy tales goes on vacation, leaving all the fate of the land to his reckless servants. The villain step-mother of Cinderella accidentally acquires a wizardry stick and turns all fairy tales upside down. Ella (the girl formally known as Cinderella) and Rick, the dish-washer in the castle and an unlikely hero of the story, have to team up with the wizard’s servants to save the day.

The Last Mimzy

 

The Last Mimzy is a science fiction family film adapted from short story named Mimsy Were the Borogoves originally written in 1943 by Lewis Padgett. In fact, the titles of the book and the film featuring the word Mimzy or Mimsy are taken from the line of nonsense verse poem Jabberwocky in Lewis Carroll‘s classic novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the sequel to the critically acclaimed novel Alice in Wonderland.

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

 

June 26 is considered as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking or the International Anti-Drug Day sponsored by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and nations worldwide. It started on 1998 when the UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration on the global drug problem with the following statement:

 

“Drugs destroy lives and communities, undermine sustainable human development and generate crime. Drugs affect all sectors of society in all countries; in particular, drug abuse affects the freedom and development of young people, the world’s most valuable asset.”

Jake Shimabukuro – Hula Girl

 

Born on November 3, 1976 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Jake Shimabukuro is a Japanese American musician, playing ukulele – a guitar-like string instrument with four strings, usually associated with music from Hawaii. His music is featured in one of the most popular Japanese movies of 2006 – Hula Girl, a true story of a group of girls from coal mine city trying to be Hula dancers in order to rejuvenate their hometown in the newly open Hawaiian Center in 1965. Thus, the music with ukulele by a talented musician of Japanese descendant is perfectly suited for the movie. In fact, the tune and melody of the theme song reflected the nostalgia mood of the film. If you love the movie and the music, you would definitely love this theme song which comes in both Japanese and English version. The lyrics in both version also emphasis the never-give-up mood of the film. Jake Shimabukuro himself writes the English version lyric and Jennifer Perri sings the song beautifully. The Japanese version of the song is performed by Teruya Miho (照屋実穂) along with Jake’s beautiful ukulele.

Next

 

Next is a science fiction film starring Nicholas Cage as main character who has an ability to see the future for two minutes. He has been tracked down by FBI agents asking him to help locating the terrorist’s nuclear attack. Unfortunately, he refuses to cooperate as he doesn’t want to get into trouble. However, he has been in trouble as the terrorists want him dead. Could he save himself and other millions lives?

Fracture

 

Fracture is a suspense courtroom drama film starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Just the name of Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins in the list of the leading cast makes this movie interesting and promising. The film didn’t fail my expectation. The story is simple – a man shot his wife in their house, he got arrested and signed a confession. In ordinary case, the trial would end there but not for this smart and meticulous guy as the evidence against him could not be used against him in the courtroom. This is a battle of wit between a well-crafted crime mastermind and a young and ambitious prosecutor.

Hula Girl

 

This Japanese movie is a coming-of-age heartfelt comedy. Set in 1965, the film is based on true story about young girls in Japanese rural and declining coal mine area who took a chance of a life time to become Hula dancers in the newly constructed Hawaiian Village theme park in order to prove that they could make a difference and make a living even if the mine has to be shut down.

Ghost Rider

 

This dark superhero film is adapted from a famous comic book with the same name from Marvel Comics. It tells a story of a motorcycle stunt rider who inadvertently trade his soul with a devil in order to save his father’s life from cancer only to know that it’s useless as his father passed away because of the motorcycle accident the next morning. Many years pass by and he becomes a Ghost Rider bound by the contract with the devil. However, he doesn’t submit himself to the devil and use the power against the devil himself.

The Hitcher

 

The film I am writing about is the 2007 movie remake of a 1986 thriller film and its sequel with the same name. The story is simple. A young couple hits the road on their spring break vacation. However, the road trip turns out to be a nightmare when they unwillingly pick up a mysterious hitchhiker.