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When was the last time I went to the cinema? February 2008 to be exact. The last film I watched was screened in conjunction with Chinese New Year i.e. CJ7 directed by Stephen Chow. Shortly after that I started working up till now.

I managed to steal some time to catch 2 films recently - Iron Man and Lars and the Real Girl. I read about the latter quite some time ago. Then I read that Mr. Wanna had gone to watch it which made me want to go all the more. As for Iron Man, I've been wanting to go ever since I read about it in the papers. News on how Robert Downey Jr. wasn't first choice, how studio executives thought he was past his prime, after all he's over 40 (who wouldn't want a younger superhero) etc.

I first saw Downey in Only You with Marisa Tomei, America's then flavour of the month. That was way back in 1995. I also saw him in Heart and Souls. But the film that propelled him to Hollywood's A-list group of actors has got to be Chaplin (a film which I've yet to watch). I remember seeing him in Ally McBeal when he guest starred as a fast talking attorney. He was Ally's equivalent in so many ways. He was smart, successful, suave, debonair, and charming.

The Downey of today has a moustache and a goatee in Iron Man but the Downey of yesterday had none of those. Call me a sucker but I was in awe of Downey's charming personality in Iron Man. I really enjoyed watching Iron Man. It was awesome x 10. The fast paced editing left me breathless. And I really like how director, Jon Favreau introduced the character of Tony Stark. He's somebody whom you'd love to hate and yet, there's something about him which many people would find endearing.

Yeah, some kinda love-hate relationship ^^

After watching Iron Man, I went for Lars and the Real Girl. I found the story to be very
interesting. A guy brings home a life-sized doll and introduces her as his girlfriend. Hmmm...
At first I thought the entire film was gonna be similar to a Farrelly brothers vehicle. After
30-minutes I found that I was entirely wrong. None of the toilet jokes plus there weren't scenes
which were similar to Ben Stiller embarassing himself etc.

What I saw was a film which touches on the everyday people of a small town. The main character, Lars Lindstrom is a painfully shy individual. We don't really know what he does for a living. We only see him enter the office and sit at his desk. He has colleagues who care for him and one who's obviously interested in him. He sleeps in the garage while his older brother and sis-in-law, Karin stay in their parents' house. He's a hermit who'd rather keep to himself even though Karin keeps inviting him over for dinner.

The fun part starts when he brings his "wheelchair bound girlfriend", Bianca home for dinner. He's diagnosed as suffering from mental illness delusion. His family and the whole town pretend that Bianca's alive as they all love him and hope that he would slowly get well.

There's no canned laughter neither were there any slapstick comedy. We laugh because of the comical and awkward situations throughout the film: the scene of Lars whispering to Bianca in the clinic and the scene which shows a kid sitting on Bianca's lap. The middle-aged lady's reaction was enough to send us roaring with laughter.

Unlike Iron Man which is an action-packed blockbuster film, Lars and the Real Girl is a feel good drama. Yep, I went for two American films which are as different as night and day. However both films share a similarity i.e. they focused on building the characteristics of the main character. The personal journey of the main character is of utmost importance to drive the entire film.

Well, what's next on my plate? I'm attending post production for the 2 events which I covered last weekend. Hopefully I'll be busy with another project soon. And I'll be making a date with Indiana Jones ^^ Wooohooo can't wait to watch this much anticipated blockbuster :)