Two words: Robert Pattinson.

That’s all you need to know about the movies opening this week.

He is tall, young and handsome, with eyes that could pierce through steel and cheekbones that could cut glass. He is the bloodsucking star of the new vampire movie series that is set to be the latest craze among teens and tweens everywhere – that is, if they haven’t already discovered the books.

Robert is the new Orlando Bloom, the next Jude Law, the younger Tom Cruise - except he’s a better actor than all three. He may one day be a Brad Pitt or a Leo DiCaprio, but only time would tell. He is only 22, so time is something he has plenty of. (He’s also a vampire, so…)

For now he is the star of Twilight, the one movie that is enough to turn him into one of the biggest pin-up boys on the planet. Playing the impossibly handsome vampire Edward Cullen, he broods and sulks and stares, tortured by what he is and what he feels about the new girl in school (Kristen Stewart). In short, he is sexier than sex.

The other actors starring in this week’s new releases have nothing on him. Jim Carrey, who stars in the comedy Yes Man about a man who says “yes” to everything, has long lost his breezy good looks.

Keanu Reeves, who headlines the sci-fi remake The Day The Earth Stood Still, is still strikingly handsome but remains as bad an actor as ever.

Only Edward Norton, who stars in this week’s awful cop drama Pride & Glory, poses some serious challenge. But sorry Edward, you never played a vampire, and you never really could make us swoon. Plus, vampires beat Hulk any day.

The last film opening this week, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, is a teenage chick flick based on a popular book series, just like Twilight. But there are no prizes for guessing which the better picture is.

Get your tickets to Twilight now.

You know you’re watching a very special love story when

• the boy wears more foundation and lipstick than the girl,
• the boy’s body quivers and his face contorts – as if he was having an massive orgasm – when he meets the girl for the second time,
• and their romance is so amazing that the two may never have sex together.

The love story we’re talking about is, of course, Twilight, about a young vampire’s tragic love for a human girl. Based on Stephenie Meyer’s blockbuster novel for young adults, the film has already made a killing at the American box-office and is set to suck some serious box-office blood in the rest of the world.

The strikingly handsome Robert Pattinson plays Edward, a vampire masquerading as a human boy in the school where the new girl Isabella (lovely Kristen Stewart) has come to study. The attraction is instantaneous, but Edward seems determined to avoid her at first.

When the two do get to know each other, sparks fly. And really, in one scene, sparks literally appear on Edward’s skin. But he is a vampire, and she is but a human girl, so their love is as doomed as Jack and Rose’s, or Romeo and Juliet’s, or Tristan and Isolde’s, or others of that ilk.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, Twilight is a terrific popcorn movie that derives most of its appeal from the convincing performances of, and chemistry between Robert and Kristen. As they look deeply into each other’s eyes, their budding romance is the stuff of all teenage fantasies.

As potentially corny as their roles sometimes demand them to be (“Look vulnerable, Kristen!”,“Flare your nostrils, Robert!”), the two actors make the material work. They pour flesh and blood into their characters, and make Edward and Isabella the sexiest tragic lovers on screen since Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet.

Whether you’re a gay man or a grown woman, go watch Twilight and let it bring out the teenage girl in you. If the movie can’t do it, maybe the rows and rows of teenage girls shrieking every 15 minutes just might.

It’s good to have the rubber-faced comedian Jim Carrey doing live-action comedy again, after an absence of three years. He is visibly older now – he’s 46, after all. And the frantic goofball antics that made him so rich and famous all these years seem less appealing on a middle-aged man.

But he is still funny, still capable of evoking laugh-out-loud moments, and still the best reason to watch the otherwise average Yes Man.

Loosely based on Danny Wallace's funny memoir about saying “yes” to everything for a year, the film has Jim playing a bank loan officer whose favorite word is “no”. Feeling miserable about himself, Jim decides to sign up for a self-help programme that teaches him to say “yes” to everything and anything.

Soon, his life changes in extraordinary ways. He gets promoted and even finds the courage to pursue a romance with the lovely Zoey Deschanel. Of course, saying “yes” to everything can make things go hilariously wrong. But in the important departments such as love and happiness, things go hilariously right…

Directed by Peyton Reed, Yes Man has a few insights to share on our contemporary existence, but those insights don’t go deep enough. There are times when we wished Jim would take a longer break from his madcap misadventures so we can ponder more deeply into what the film is trying to say about the secrets of happiness – even if it does not know how to say them.

A “Yes” for Jim’s fans, and anyone else who needs a laugh and a think in these gloomy economic times.

Boy, we never thought we’d say this, but Keanu Reeves was born to play this role. As the alien who visits Earth to warn humans of our impending doom, he is perfectly stone-faced and emotionless. The only time we get to laugh at his humorless persona is when he attempts to speak Mandarin.

A remake of the 1951 science-fiction classic, The Day The Earth Stood Still begins with federal agents and scientists panicking over a huge meteor traveling towards Manhattan. When the flying object appears, it turns out to be a glowing ball of energy that gently lands on the ground without hurting anyone.

Emerging from the ball is an alien, who eventually looks like Keanu Reeves. One of investigating scientists, Jennifer Connelly, senses that this extraterrestrial entity does not wish to harm anyone. So she helps him escape from federal detention – only to discover that all of mankind is on the brink of extinction…

The Day The Earth Stood Still tells a simple and uncomplicated sci-fi tale with a eco-friendly message. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in anyway, but it does keep the wheel turning slowly. As shown in his last film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, director Scott Derrickson tends to takes B-grade storylines very seriously, making The Day The Earth Stood Still more dignified and graceful than it has any right to be.

If one can forgive the silly ending, one may just enjoy it as a throwaway popcorn experience.

With great actors like Edward Norton, Collin Farrell and Jon Voight in this cop drama, Pride & Glory could have been a realistic and gritty movie with strong convincing performances. Unfortunately, director Gavin O’Connor overdoes the grittiness and steps into cliched territory.

Edward plays a cop who has been assigned by his police chief father (Jon Voight) to investigate the death of four cops. As he proceeds with his investigation, he finds out the persons responsible for the slaughter could well be his own brother (Noah Emmerich) and brother-in-law (Colin Farrell). Revealing the culprits would spell disaster for his family reputation…

Violent and brutish, most of the actors overplay their macho personas and become swaggering caricatures. There are more scenes of men pushing each other against the wall and making threats than we care to count. Oh, and don’t even get us started on the film’s excessive and wholly unnecessary use of the ‘f**k’ word in every possible line of dialogue.

Pride & Glory feels like a bad TV movie and a wasted opportunity, saved only occasionally by Edward’s measured performance.

Is there such a thing as “too happy” when describing a movie? Only if you believe that there’s such thing as “too gay” or “too butch” when describing a person.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is, uh, um, well, too happy – there, we said it. It’s not politically correct but it’s the only way to describe this chick flick that is too bright, too cutesy, too girlie and too eager-to-please to ever resemble real life.

Based on two of Louise Rennison's popular novels for tween-to-teenage girls, it stars the charming Georgia Groome as a 15-year-old grappling with adolescence. She’s madly in love with the very cute Aaron Johnson (Google him, please) but realises that boys prefer prettier girls with bigger chests than hers.

To make matters worse, Georgia’s Dad has just gotten a job offer which would mean moving to New Zealand. Hence, Georgia must cope with her growing pains, stop her Dad from leaving, and make Aaron her boyfriend before the movie is through.

Directed by Gurinder Chadha ( Bend It Like Beckham), this is the possibly the most light-hearted and un-angsty teenage movie you’ll ever see. Designed to please teenage girls thoroughly, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging will certainly speak to the 5-to-15 year olds. But anyone older who watches it risks dying from feelgoodititus.

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Venue :Lido Hall 1

Time:8.45pm

Purchase your tickets at Fridae Shop today.

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Antique ( Seoyang Goldong Yang-gwaja-jeom-Antique )

Stars: YU A-in, JU Ji-hun, KIM Joe-wook

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I Love you Philip Morris

I Love You Phillip Morris tells the true story of a conman who find love in a Texas jail-cell. Steven Russell is a married man whose many cons and exploits eventually land him in the clink. He ends up in a jail-cell with another man whom he ends up falling madly in love with. When this man is released from prison, Steven Russell does everything he can to escape from jail and reunite with his new flame.

Stars: Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor

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Frozen Flower

Korea's most talked about movie now is the soon to open Frozen Flower, a period drama about a love triangle involving a king, the captain of his palace guards, and his consort. Dealing upfront with homosexuality, with same-sex bed scenes plus full frontal nudity.  Directed by Yu Ha.

Stars Joo Jin-Mo and Jo In-Sung

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Kansai Queer Film Festival 2009

Queer China

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Date: 7 to 11 Jan 2009
Venue: National Museum Gallery Theatre,
Presented by The Necessary Stage
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Raised as a pack of wolves

This performance revolves around a group of youths coming to terms with adulthood.

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