Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 03:06 AM PDT

Namewee dishes up 1Malaysia fare in Nasi Lemak 2.0.

IT used to be that every mention of Wee Meng Chee, or his online persona Namewee, would be preceded by these two words – controversial rapper.

But the Muar-born mass communications major is changing all that now with the release of his first full-length movie, Nasi Lemak 2.0, which is mainly in Mandarin with a mix of Chinese dialects and Bahasa Malaysia.

Dishing up copious amounts of 1Malaysia fare in Nasi Lemak 2.0, Namewee is raring to show Malaysians that he is a nationalistic filmmaker.

Making his feature film directorial debut in Nasi Lemak 2.0, Namewee also wrote the screenplay, composed the music, including the theme song Rasa Sayang 2.0 and stars as its protagonist Chef Huang, a young man who is compelled to seek his Malaysian identity through learning the secret of making the best nasi lemak that everybody is bound to enjoy.

During an interview after a recent press conference to launch Nasi Lemak 2.0, Namewee offered his movie as a National Day gift to Malaysians. "This movie shows us the way it is meant to be, that we should identify ourselves as Malaysian first and foremost, not by our individual ethnic groups," declared the colourful musician who became a household name via a provocative YouTube videos generously spiced with social commentary.

"All Malaysians eat nasi lemak, so we use it here as a metaphor. The Baba and Nyonya created the sambal (chilli-based sauce). Indians brought the curry. Malays made the ikan bilis. So, combining all that, we have nasi lemak. And that is why we call it the national cuisine," said the movie's executive producer Fred Chong in explaining the concept of the movie.

"My grandmother is a Nyonya and I've enjoyed nasi lemak since I was a child. So, to me, the dish is representative of Malaysian culture," said Namewee about the movie, which is set to screen in 60 movie theatres nationwide.

Also helping Namewee realise his dream is an impressive muhibbah cast of prominent Malaysian celebrities and young stars.

Karen Kong is the movie's heroine Xiao K, who tries her best to save her father's restaurant business. Adibah Noor plays Kak Noor, a mysterious tai chi master who knows the secret to divine nasi lemak. Datuk David Arumugam portrays the curry master who enlightens Chef Huang on how a good curry mix reflects harmony in a multi-cultural society.

Afdlin Shauki's character is a family man who gives up material wealth to spend time with his loved ones as a fisherman. Kenny and Chee play a Nonya and Baba couple who teach Chef Huang how to make sambal sauce. Dennis Lau portrays Chef Huang's nemesis Lan Qiao, who plots to take over the Kong family restaurant empire. Reshmonu plays Hero Resh, who saves Chef Huang in his time of need. Nadine Ann Thomas is the curry master's daughter. Nur Fathia plays the fisherman's wife. Other members of the cast include Pete Teo, Ho Yuhang, Dian Sharlin, Felixia Yap and Jovi Theng.

To view the Nasi Lemak 2.0 movie trailer and the Rasa Sayang 2.0 music video, visit www.nasilemak2.com or the Facebook pages belonging to Namewee or his movie.

> Nasi Lemak 2.0 opens in local cinemas on Thursday.

Steven Soderbergh talks Contagion and retirement

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 02:44 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters): Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh explores how a lethal virus is transmitted from one person to another, until the entire world is affected in Contagion.

The film, which debuted over the weekend at the Venice film festival and hits Malaysian cinemas this week, features an all star cast that includes Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne and Jude Law among others.

Soderbergh, known for directing such movies as the Ocean's trilogy, Erin Brockovich and Traffic, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film, what he learned about viruses and why he's decided to "retire" from moviemaking.

Contagion is about a virus that kills people with no cure in sight. With real-life scares like SARS, N1H1 and the bird flu, this is a fear anyone can relate to.

Yes (the virus) doesn't speak and it doesn't have a brain, but it is alive and it wants to stay alive and propagate itself. I really felt like this was great movie material because you cannot construct a life for yourself in which you're not around germs.

Once someone gets the virus, death is imminent so it's like a zombie movie without the zombies.

Matt (Damon) wanted a zombie. He kept asking for one. He kept saying we'd make a lot more money if we had zombies. I said, 'Call Gwyneth! Let's see if she's up for it.'

This is your sixth film with Matt. What is it about him that made you want him form Contagion?

He's one of the few people that can play both ends of the spectrum -- he can be everyman, and he can be Jason Bourne. In Contagion his character needed to be resolutely middle class. Matt's great at that because he's not one of those actors that comes in like, 'I wanna win this scene.' He's so completely lacking in vanity. He'll submit to the larger story and not worry about how he is coming across moment to moment."

You worked with a lot of consultants to get the scientific aspect of film correct. Most audiences wouldn't know the difference. Why was that important to you?

As a moviegoer, the more detailed and convincing the world of the film is, the happier I am. You go to the movies to be transported, to go on a ride, and this happens to be a ride you can't just forget the minute the lights come up because you have to touch the armrest in order to stand.

Working with those consultants, what did you personally learn about protecting yourself against viruses?

I'm washing my hands a little more. The hand sanitizer, according to the consultants we worked with, lasts about three minutes. The touching of the face is really bad. They said during flu season if you can manage not to touch yourself above the neck, you've got a better chance of not getting sick.

You've got some scenes with monkeys in a lab that are being used as test subjects for the virus cure. Do you think that might cause an uproar within the animal rights community?

It might. It should. That's a legitimately volatile subject. I can tell you that just in the brief scenes in which we had Rhesus monkeys in cages, it was really disturbing to film because they know what's going on. They know they're in a cage and that you've put them in there and that it is not cool. There was one that we were shooting with -- he had the lock in his hand and he was turning it and trying to figure out how to undo it. Then he looks at you. He knows. It's disturbing.

You've talked about retiring, but you still have three more movies to do. That could take a few more years, right?

Nah. 18 months. In a few weeks, I start shooting a male stripper movie with Channing Tatum. We worked together on (the upcoming) Haywire. Then I'm going to do Man From U.N.C.L.E in February and Liberace in June.

So after that you're truly retiring from filmmaking?

Call it whatever you want -- hiatus, sabbatical. I'm just gonna disappear for a while.

Is it permanent?

I don't know. Maybe. It depends.

Why do you want to disappear?

It's not that I want to. I need to. I've been running really fast for quite a while. It's been non-stop since Out Of Sight. That's a lot of work.

What do you plan on doing during your sabbatical?

I don't know. Interview people. I've done it a couple of times and I really enjoy it. I did a book of interviews with a filmmaker and it was really great to walk him through things and ask 'How was this done?' 'How was this accomplished?' I love process. I'm a process person. I like talking about how things were done as opposed to what they mean.

If you choose to come back to movies in the future, could there be another Ocean's still in you somewhere?

Not without Bernie Mac. It was a really unique group and we can't do it without him. We really hit the jackpot with those movies. (The cast) all liked each other, they enjoyed being together. Losing Bernie was a horrible tragedy. It was upsetting. He was such a doll and so much fun to be around.

The Ocean movies were also your most successful. Do you pay attention to your box office track record?

For me, all of the pleasure is in the making of the film. Once they're done and delivered, I've moved on. If you start thinking about results, it affects your ability to make things in the moment. You never want to lose the enthusiasm and the attitude of the amateur. You always want to be making creative decisions based on the same criteria you used when you were 15 years-old. What's important is the experience itself.

Right again

Posted: 06 Sep 2011 02:42 AM PDT

With a shotgun of rumours flying around, the tabloids simply can't help but get some of the rumours right some of the time.

YEARS before Hong Kong stars Nicholas Tse and Cecilia Cheung announced their divorce, rumours had been rife that their union was in jeopardy. The gossip mill went into overdrive during the Edison Chen scandal in 2008, when nude photos of Cheung, among other female celebrities, were stolen from Chen's computer and uploaded onto the Internet.

At that time, Tse's parents had stoutly defended their daughter-in-law while Tse himself seemed to have made it a point to be loving to and protective of his wife in public. However, the tabloids never really retreated from their relentless reports on the upcoming breakup of the two and this received an impetus when Chen and Cheung were reported to have met and chatted in May.

The tabloids appeared to have been proven right when the celebrity couple went their separate ways. There are some who believe that the tabloids have gained credibility because they persisted with the reports despite the celebrities' denials while others were of the opinion that perhaps there is no smoke without fire and gossip columnists really knew their work.

It would be a mistake for fans to look at tabloids with greater respect because with one marriage in five ending in divorce these days, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the odds of it happening are rather high. And that's just in Malaysia; the rate is higher in many other countries – in certain years, almost one in two marriages break up in the United States within 10 years.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that tabloids have taken to making wild guesses based on little more than hearsay that the marriage of certain celebrity couples is on the rocks, as such news helps push sales of their publications or increases the number of visitors to their websites.

The wonderful thing about it, from the tabloids' perspective of course, is that they have a one-in-five or higher chance of getting their predictions right and earning undeserved acclaim for their feat.

Celebrities like model-actress Christy Chung help to burnish the tabloids' credentials; for months, she had denied reports that her marriage to aspiring musician Jon Yen was in trouble, but she finally owned up last month that she had already been divorced for half a year.

The tabloids obviously do not get it right that often, but they do strengthen the odds by targeting those celebrities whose marriages are in categories more likely to end in dire straits in their speculations.

Been married for a long time? Then you are in the high-risk category when it comes to tabloid attention. Thus, when one entertainment magazine reported that Hollywood power couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith had separated after 13 years of marriage, several other magazines immediately jumped on the bandwagon, probably figuring that the stars had already exceeded by several years the shelf life of celebrity couplings.

Moreover, Mr and Mrs Smith have over the years admitted that preserving their marriage required hard work and commitment. So prevalent were the rumours passed off as fact that the star couple last month felt compelled to make a joint statement denying that they had broken up even though dispelling gossip is something they are not in the habit of doing.

When celebrities respond to speculation, tabloids are able to have their cake and eat it too because a denial is news while an admission that a separation is indeed in the works is even better news.

A second favourite is the baby bump on the rocky road to a lasting marriage, when the lack of a child from the union is seen as a deal-breaker.

Hong Kong entertainment's first couple Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Carina Lau attracted adverse attention from the tabloids almost from the day they were married in 2008, when already in their 40s. Tabloids were full of doubts about their ability to have children even then.

Chinese tabloids claim that the two have divorced secretly due to the lack of success in conceiving a child despite the use of in-vitro fertilisation treatment. The two veteran stars have not responded to the divorce claims but Lau did say last week that they had marriage problems like everyone else.

A third catalyst for getting regular honourable mentions in tabloids is when celebrity couples have to be apart from each other for most of the year due to work commitments.

Tabloids knew long before us mere mortals did that Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and American sweetheart Scarlett Johansson were headed for a split. While the two separated last December, two tabloids had already headlined their divorce a good six months earlier, citing their long separations as a major cause of it.

One of the tabloids latest targets is singer Katy Perry and comedian Russell Brand. Married for less than a year, the two should still be in their honeymoon phase, but the tabloids are already insisting that cracks are showing in the relationship as Perry has been on a concert tour while Brand has been in other parts of the world for his movies.

The two have spent very little time with each other since their marriage, so surely they are considering a trial separation; or so says the tabloids. To add icing to the cake, Perry and Brand are also supposedly having problems agreeing on a baby schedule for the family.

With tabloids taking such a shotgun approach in their speculations, celebrities will do well to remember that any attempt at defence and denial will only add to the fuel among those who believe that there is no smoke without fire.

Tabloids do get it right some of the time, but that's no reason to think the world of them as their guess is only as good as mine.

> In this column, writer Hau Boon Lai ponders the lives, loves and liberties of celebrities.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 6 September 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

0 ulasan:

Catat Ulasan