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Munich

If you are familiar with the killing of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at Munich during the 1972 Olympics, you would think Munich is a movie about that event. You will partly be right as this movie uses that event as a backdrop. But mainly, it focuses on the Israeli reprisal operation against the brains behind the attack. The story has almost the same storyline as Sword of Gideon, an HBO movie. This is understandable since they are based on the same book, Vengeance. Of course, there are some differences with Munich. A notable one being the extra effort taken by Spielberg to show Palestinians airing their side of the issue. Of course, you really shouldn’t expect a movie to make things clearer on this complicated issue. Also, they did not explain either why they prefer attacking innocent civilians. Another notable difference is that Munich delves on the experience of killing, how it changes people, what kind of person you need to be. It also delves on the moral question of assassination as a tool: Are such reprisals immoral? Doesn’t it bring you down to the same level as your enemies? I think not, but it’s up to you to judge for yourself.

Rating: 5/5

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Free Yakult

I was passing through Galleria from a work-related meeting (on a saturday… while sick… now that’s a bummer) when I decided that since I’ll be resting at home, I might as well rest AND watch Munich. So I went to the cinema area and saw these people waving a placard that read “3 packs of Yakult and a movie pass for P110″. I’m sort of leery of such things so I just went past them towards the ticket booths. Then something kind of ticked and I changed my mind. I walked back and talked to them, trying to find out what the catch is. Nothing, it’s just the 3 packs of Yakult and a movie worth P110! So I forked out the P110, got my 3 packs of Yakult, went to the ticket booth and paid the P50 difference (movie is at Cinema 1 so it really is higher). Maybe there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there sure is such a thing as free Yakult. 3 packs to be accurate :)

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Serenity

Serenity provides closure to the Firefly TV series. It can actually stand on its own (I think) but the experience would definitely be better if you have seen the series.

In the movie, the crew decides to find out what is behind the angst of River, the ship’s resident psychic. Hot in their heels is the Alliance who are after River, blocking their way are Reavers, vicious buggers straight out of Cannibal Holocaust. This situation leads to an action packed movie full of fighting: hand-to-hand combat, swordfights, gunfights, anf even ship-to-ship combat wherever you go. It is definitely more of an action movie than anything else. Still, it is a fitting end to a pretty great sci-fi TV show.

Rating: 4/5

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Firefly

Space… The final frontier… These are the voyages of the Starship Serenity… Okay so maybe starship wouldn’t actually be an apt term for a rickety old transport. But quite a lot in the Firefly universe is in worse condition than the protagonist’ Firefly class transport ship… sometimes it’s down to horses and six-shooters.

Set in a dystopian universe 500 years in the future, the series follows the adventures and misadventures of a bunch of misfits across the outer fringes of civilized space where the primary language is english, the invectives are chinese, and the fashion is old west. Each member of the crew has his or her own story which got developed more and more as the series proceeded. Most of the episodes are interesting, sometimes even exciting. It shows that good story-telling is much better than whoopee doopee technological gadgetry and special effects. I actually like it better than Star Trek and its spawn. Shame that it was discontinued.

Rating: 4/5