Introducing KLICFest 2017 Open Mic Contestant - KANMANI.

#MonkeyMani in action! 

Ok how do I start this? Hurmm…those who know me personally think I should be a comedian. Heck I even wrote I should be a “Pelawak Antarabangsa” – ‘International Comedian’ as my ambition in my school year book for fun.

So for the sake of giving it a try, I actually went on stage once! 

Phewwwwwwwww!!! 

I surprised myself by getting into top five (5) out of fifteen (15) contestants. Not bad ey?

#monkeyMani on stage with Mamasan, Joanne Kam and
the other contestants. 

Since then, I’ve mulled over the thought on getting on stage again and here is the good news…I will be going on stage again by participating in another Open Mic competition. This time against seasoned comedians. Might I add that I am the only female participant. (No pressure – really!) 

Jeng jeng jeng!!!

Anyhow this is where I need your help and support. Kindly click on this link (Kanmani's stand up video) and give the video post a ‘like’ and also ‘share’ it out as these actions will earn me extra points before the actually event happening on 23^rd April 2017. 5 pm onwards at The Bee, Publika.

* Do take note that this is just a short snippet but on actual day, I will get to perform a longer set. 

For every ‘like’, I get will secure me 1 point while each ‘share’ will be awarded another 3 points. Might seem little but means a lot because ‘ONLINE VOTING’ stands for (twenty) 20% of the total points.

As of now, I have eighty (80) ‘likes’ and twenty four (24) ‘share’s which is sadly quite below other competitors so I really need your support to receive more ‘like’ and ‘share’. You only need to ‘like’ or ‘share’ once and then you may encourage your friends, family or pets to show their support as well by also ‘liking’ and ‘sharing’ my said video. Every small action counts and I truly appreciate your support.

Once you have cast your ‘like’ and ‘share’ online, do try to make yourself free on 23^rd April 2017. 5 pm onwards at The Bee, Publika as that is the actual competition date when I will go against the rest of the contestant.

There will also be another ON GROUND AUDIENCE VOTING which will account for (forty) 40% of the total mark. The final (forty) 40% points will be determined by professional judges. (Gulp!).

Details on how to purchase tickets for the event, click this link English Open Mic tickets

I look forward to your support and thank you for the backings so far. I hope to see some encouraging changes for my video likes and share counts and look forward to meet you guys in person on the of the event.
Once again, it’s on 23^rd April 2017. 5 pm onwards at The Bee, Publika!!!
Please take note that you will also get to enjoy other contestants set for the price of RM15 only so do try to make your way during the event day okies.

This link will take you to get further information about the Open Mic Contest.

Thank you, Terima kasih, Nandri, Tho Che.

P/s - Here's a testimony of a friend who have been to my previous stand-up comedy stunt...errr... I mean stint. 

Testimony

Lastly...please like and share this video (Kanmani's stand-up) alright. :) 

Life Review

My dream trio! 

Life Review – Deadpool, Donnie Darko and Ilsa Faust joins force to keep ‘Calvin’ from reaching Earth.

Errr....what's going on out there? 

Six (6) crew members on board the International Space Station collects sample from planet Mars and discovers as life like microorganism which later named Calvin. After conducting some test adjusting the oxygen level and temperature level, they manage to ‘wake up’ Calvin only for it to fall ‘asleep’ due to a team member’s negligence. In order to resurrect Calvin, they try another method that turns Calvin violent and pretty soon things get deadly - literally. It is Calvin’s quick ‘learning’ ability against the team’s capability to overcome each other’s changing situation. Can the humans survive this ordeal or will a new life take over them as the superior being?

Deadpool in space y'll! 

Talk about the latest and hottest cast consisting of international formation. There’s the usual Americans, Brits, Russian and Asian playing their role brilliantly and you know it’s only a matter of time before I sing praise of Rebecca Ferguson. The Mission Impossible darling of mine pulls off another awesome acting chops with her sexy posh accent while wearing an astronaut uniform. Damn…I wish, I was stuck with her in space. Ok ok back to others, Ryan Reynolds still has residue of his Deadpool stuck to him being the funny guy once again while Jake…he needs a chill pill before he turns into Keanu Reeves. Beside the human stars, the other worthy addition is ‘Calvin’…evolving faster and shaper by the minute. Despite watching numerous alien movies, Calvin has its own personality and charm albeit a menacing persona. Well, how would you feel if you get woken up from deep sleep with electric shock?     

Wish I was floating with Rebecca! 

Despite figuring out the ending halfway thru I did enjoy this flick, mainly because of Rebecca (wink wink) but that aside, this is a rather refreshing take on extra-terrestrial genre, sorta new generation’s updated version of 90’s Alien with better looking cast. 

John Wick: Chapter 2 Review

Hey there Wick! 

John Wick: Chapter 2 Review – Can’t keep a good guy…err…bad guy…err…ok a good assassin down.

Pew pew pew

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) gets a new dog and once again tries to retire quietly from his dangerous job only to get the ball rolling once again when he had to fulfil a blood oath takes previously. Although he completes his task, he is once again hunted by the brotherhood of assassins after his name comes up in the wanted list. Huge reward money in exchange for his life encourages killers to take a shot at Wick. He gets by with help from his remaining friends but soon finds the whole world is against him. Can John Wick cheat death over and over or will he fall prey in the game of cat and mouse?

Hello there Morpheus! 

If you thought the first movie was gory, be prepared for even more body count this time around. I wanted to challenge myself to do a countdown of how many people John takes out but not even halfway, I couldn’t keep up any more. All and anybody who goes against him ends up with dead by getting shot, stabbed, sliced and even ‘pencil’ed’- go figure! Keanu as usual plays his deadpan one dimensional role to perfection it’s hard to imagine if he had ever been happy in his life. The sombre storyline doesn’t help to shine any light on John’s proper background except that he an awesome hired killer. The rest of the cast (cough Ruby Rose) the less I mention about them, the better it is, trust me. The Director could easily made this flick using just three (3) colours, black, white and red if you know what I mean.

Yeay...the dog lives! Really...the dog...

Be prepared, I have a feeling that John might return with a few more chapters and invent new ways to kill take out his enemies.

J Revolusi Review

What comes after H? J Revolusi? Lame...I know

J Revolusi Review – No, it’s not a good as Polis Evo.

Nak tembak tu tembak jelar...

Jay Zulkarnain (Zul Ariffin) and his sister Dian (Nur Fazura) are part of elite special force (Unit Tindakan Khas [UTK]) team raised by their adoptive father. Dian have always felt short changed by her relationship with her brother and father. During an operation, Dian gets captured by the terrorist after defying her superior’s order. The whole task goes awry and Jay feels responsible for Dian’s mistake refusing to accept that she might be dead. Pretty soon the team finds out that Andra (Farid Kamil) is in control of the baddies and wants to make an exchange for Dian’s release. Jay takes it upon himself to secure Dian’s safety but once again all hell breaks loose and it is up to Jay to save the day.

Meet the annoying bunch...bluerghhh

As mentioned earlier, J Revolusi is no Polis Evo. I was sorely disappointed with the lack of action although it featured UTK tactical team members. The operative communication jargon was interesting however the action to match the instruction was not up to the par. The scenes were over shadowed by too much drama and unnecessary talking’s until even the so called comic relief became annoying after a while. Instead of focusing on the actor’s ability to perform stunts, they end up uttering pointless lines after lines. The initial opening showcasing bullets flying and bombs exploding quickly turned into a ‘family play’ and totally missed the mark and swung further away from an action flick that it was supposed to be.

Ni lagi sekor...tembak jelar...

Somebody please explain the meaning of the movie’s title – J Revolusi and its connection to the storyline (if applicable) because I can’t tie the link together.   -_-

Logan Review

Hold on to your claws! 

Logan Review - …so…is this the end of the road for the Clawed One?

Loganathan, how the hell we end up like this dey? 

Logan or Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as we came to know him almost 17 years ago along with Professor X (Patrick Stewart) think they are the only surviving mutants after the humans launch an all-out hunt to eradicate the mutants from existing. Logan becomes a limo driver to keep a low profile while taking care of ailing Charles along with another remaining mutant. He however gets a visit by a nurse claiming that humans are now generating their own breed of mutants using leftover DNA are their hunt. Logan meets one of the young generation, Laura aka X-23 (Dafne Keen) and learns more truth about the human experiment on his kind. Pretty soon they get hunted down as well and can Logan endure one last fight with what is left of him?

Three's a crowd? 

Get ready for the real beast to be unleashed in this violent flick. If you thought you had seen how animalistic Wolverine can be, just wait till he starts slashing, slicing, dicing and what not all those who comes in between him and Charles. No barrel was held and he goes full on monster mode. Hugh Jackman turns his iconic role into movie history stamping his name as one of the great mutant to ever roam the Earth. Meanwhile, we also get to see another side Professor X that we never saw before, perhaps it had something to do with his age. The screen stealer for this flick is newcomer Dafne who holds her candle against such big names. Nobody wanted Hugh to be replaced as Wolverine but this girl could be the answer to continue his legacy. Acting ability aside, the story however felt rather draggy to me with too much talking at times and if no talking it was the gory killing or get killed scenes that sorta over killed the movie for me.

Bittersweet ending? 

Personally, I think Wolverine was better represented in the X-Mens franchise rather than his stand alone films and I’m glad that there won’t be any more spin off of Logan after this. Let’s just leave the beast alone shall we? 

Collide Review

Run Beast!
Run Jyn! 

Collide Review – Beast and Jyn Erso combine their force.

Let me protect you. 

An American backpacker named Casey gets involved with a gang of drug smugglers. He becomes their driver in order to pay for his girlfriend`s medical emergency. He schemes to pull a drug heist for an eccentric gangster, but after a failed attempt, he winds up on the run from his employers as he races against time to save his girlfriend`s life from being taken by an evil druglord.

An American backpacker named Casey gets involved with a gang of drug smugglers. He becomes their driver in order to pay for his girlfriend`s medical emergency. He schemes to pull a drug heist for an eccentric gangster, but after a failed attempt, he winds up on the run from his employers as he races against time to save his girlfriend`s life from being taken by an evil druglord.

How on Earth did I end up acting in this crap? 

The Director actually had Beast (from X-Men), Jyn (from Star Wars), Ghandi and even Doctor Hannibal (go figure!) yet he served us a half-baked flick that should have been called Crash instead of Collide. Meh

From Oscar to this...tsk tsk tsk 

The Director actually had Beast (from X-Men), Jyn (from Star Wars), Ghandi and even Doctor Hannibal (go figure!) yet he served us a half-baked flick that should have been called Crash instead of Collide. Meh

xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage

Xander Cage is back! 

xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage – Is it just me or is Vin Diesel incapable of stopping himself from making his movie roles appear in sequels after sequels?

Bigger cast but is it any better? 

After assuming that Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) was dead in the first movie, Agent Gibbons (Samuel L Jackson) goes in search for his replacement (Look out for certain Brazilian footballer). Unfortunately Gibbons is ‘killed’ and Agent Jane Marke (Toni Collette) takes over his position. She soon locates Xander and recruits him to help locate a disruptive device called Pandora’s Box. Unhappy with the team Jane had picked for him, Xander decides to enlist his own squad. Pretty soon they trace the dangerous weapon before it causes more destruction but can the team trust anybody else keep the troublemaking tool safe?

Dare you jump? 

A casting of international actors including Deepika Padukone, Tony Ja, Ruby Rose and Donnie Yen among others might have hyped up the anticipation for this third movie from the franchise. Sadly some of the roles played by this worldwide cast were so limited they are better off not appearing altogether (cough Ruby cough). The action sequences as expected were over the top at times to downright unbelieve while the storyline is another recycled retrive-the-destructive-gadget-before-it-falls-into-hands-of-baddie trick.

xXx marks the spot! 

I watched xXx in the cinema so I could participate in a competition, or else I would have given it a miss because there’s nothing much to shout about this flick anyway except when Vin kissed Deepika…like….I wanted to yell ‘Woi…keep your hands off her please Mr. Botak!”

A Dog's Purpose Review

Every dog has its day and also its story.

A Dog's Purpose Review – Woof woof woof awwwwwwwooooofffff (translation – a movie not to be missed by not just dog lovers but animal lovers as well.

Ethan and Bailey

Bailey Bailey Bailey is destined to be the greatest dog to ever exist as it goes thru several rebirths as the furry one to find its purpose in life. First as a litter of stray that gets put down even before having a chance to explore the world. Then come its most treasured reincarnation as Labrador. His rescuer, a boy named Ethan loves him to bits. Bailey gets to live a fulfilling life until its old age while watching Ethan grow into a young lad himself. Soon it was time for another cycle. With different role and gender as a female German Shepard Police Dog, preventing crime from happening to later as a cute Corgi to a shy collage girl. Still trying to find its purpose, Bailey returns one more time as a golden retriever, unfortunately his caretaker doesn’t care for him as well as his previous owners. Bailey gets dumped by the roadside as he wanders by himself until he reaches a familiar spot…will Bailey end up being a stray or can he finally find his purpose as a dog?

Tino the adorable Corgi! 

Get ready to shed a tear or two watching this pooch tugging your heartstrings. Yes people, I had some waterworks of myself but not all for unhappy reason. Some scenes were beautifully crafted to show that animals too know how to love. Despite the controversy surrounding this film earlier, there is a good lesson to be learned on how to treat another living being. The director managed to capture the film thru the dog’s point of voice while also giving the mutt is own ‘voice’ to interpret things the doggies way. As mentioned earlier, besides the snuffles you are bound to also laugh and smile as you go on an adventure. The timeline is well matched with the flow of the story wrapping up with a wonderful conclusion.

... is that you...Bailey?

If you ever had a pet or planning to get one anytime soon, do catch this movie to have an idea on how to share your life with a special friend. The unique bond you form with your pets will always remain in your heart even after their passing. It doesn’t have to be a dog or car per say but as long as you can provide a loving home, the fella will forever be grateful to have found a good friend in you. Now please excuse me while I go and ‘torture’ my fuzzy kitty cats. Meowwwwww

Hacksaw Ridge Review

Epic war flick!

Hacksaw Ridge Review – After previously being shunned for personal matters, Mel Gibson is back with what could be his magnum opus of a war film.

The Director and the cast sans their uniform

Please take note that this movie has a slow build up so you have to hang on till the combat scenes begin almost halfway thru. Once it does, be prepared to have your mind blown away as the soldiers get blown into pieces, burned, stabbed and what not. Mel Gibson holds no barrel to show how brutal wars can be. If you can’t stand the sight of blood, rats, maggots among others, you might want to stay away from this film but you will be missing out on one of the best war movie ever produced. The weight of the flick is carried well by Andrew Garfield. However despite what could be Andrew’s best acting todate, I still can’t accept him with his droopy eyes (I blame his Spidey reboot). Thankfully his supporting cast managed to also wow us in their respective roles. Without relying heavily on just the battle scenes, the film also managed to capture other aspects such as self-belief, love, relationship and compassion among others which is bound to touch your heart.

Mel the Redeemed.

Personally I was moved by Desmond Doss’s view about taking another person’s lives and wished more people would think like him. Sadly we all know it’s not likely to happen. While watching the movie I was impressed by the hard work put in by those involved to make film as successful as it is.  Yet I still can’t grasp the idea of war, humans fighting with one another, for what? Americans will certainly applaud this movie but can you imagine how the Japanese viewers might feel? The troops after all were in Japan, invading their country and attacking them in their homeland. Would you not fight for your country if it was attacked by foreign power? I know Japan did drop their bomb in Pearl Harbour but who used an atomic bomb not once but twice in the name of revenge? Think about it for a while will you? 

Hidden Figures Review

Make way for the ladies...

Hidden Figures Review – Another Hollywood’s ‘tribute’ (Read : guilt trip) to the unsung ‘black people’ behind their most successful space programme.

Winner no matter with Oscar or n

This is a real life story of the ‘coloured peoples’ struggle during the 1960’s to survive in the ‘white people’ dominated space programme despite possessing the smarts and talents to contribute. Three (3) such gifted ladies are Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). They are faced with daily challenges to prove their worth and things get heated following a successful Russian satellite launch. Pressure mounts for NASA to win the space race by sending an astronaut to circle around the Earth. Despite often getting marginalised, Katherine, Dorothy and Mary strive and do the best they could. Slowly but surely the perception and reception towards the ‘coloured people’ at the said space agency changes when Dorothy figures out the way to work the latest IBM computer and eventually getting promoted as a Supervisor and Mary wins her application to study at an all-white night school to become an engineer while Katherine almost single-handedly saves a launch by solving complicated mathematical calculation.

Welcome back to the big screen Mr. Costne

First thing first…the great casting of Taraji, Octavia and Janelle is a powerful selection to portray their respective roles. Add Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons to the mix as the sceptical white supervisors managed to depict the tensions among the coloured and white people perfectly. Some of the scenes will tug your heart knowing these ladies faced such discrimination day in day out even after proving their value to the company. It’s hard to believe such situation used to occur before but then it is also happening now despite the world moving away from racial discrimination. Although this film is filled with loads of mechanical and mathematical jargon, I was captured by the interesting way it was directed. I can’t find any fault in this film just like how Katherine can make no mistake in her calculation.

Hidden Figures no more

Hidden Figures is still relevant till day because there are still people out there faced with perception and judged by the colour of their skin instead of being appreciated for their ability. Hidden Figures is a reminder for us to keep our minds open and accept the fact that everybody deserves a chance to do their best for greater good of the human species.  

The Lego Batman Movie Review

Batman Lego-rized!!!

The Lego Batman Movie Review – After the success of The Lego Movie in 2014, it’s only fair that Batman who stole some of the scenes in the previous flick gets to have his own version of lego movie/story.

The Dark Kight

We all know the story of Batman (voiced by Will Arnett), the rich orphan who decides to fight crime in Gotham City. His only ‘friend’ is his loyal butler, Alfred (voiced by Voldemort…I mean Ralph Fiennes). Batman’s nemesis, The Joker (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) takes it personal when Batman says that they don’t have a ‘special hero-villain relationship’. The Joker hatch a plan to combine the strength of all well-known villains, namely, Sauron, Bane, King Kong, Voldermort and even Velociraptors in order to get back at Batman and destroy Gotham City in the process,  Meanwhile Batman has to decided once and for all if he could actually form any type of relationship with others by taking in help from the new Police Commissioner, Barbra Gordon (Rosario Dawson) along with his adopted son, Dick aka Robin (Michael Cera). Who will prevail? Can Batman save the day once again or The Joker finally gets his wish to annihilate Gotham City?

Bat family. 

Strap on to your seat and enjoy the Batmobile ride from the start. This is spin off is another winner bursting with entertaining animation capturing the essence of Lego matched by smart puns by even taking a dig at Batman’s own history. The voice talents are nothing short of perfection matching their roles splendidly. Not just made to be enjoyable, there also some lessons to be learned about family values and along with bonding of friendship.

Bat Power!!!!

The wait for this version was totally worth the time with improvised storyline and inclusion of more interesting characters, you will find yourself looking forward to the next instalment, which is Lego Ninjago! Excited yet, because I know I am!

Kaabil Review

Love at first sight. 

Kaabil Review- It's only January and I'm already into my 2nd Hindi movie after Dangal. Yes…even I’m surprised at this fact!

They maybe blind, but they are happy. 

Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) leads a normal life working as a voice over artist despite being blind until he ‘meets’ another blind independent girl, Supriya (Yami Gautam) who is a musician. Hesitant at first, they finally fall in love and get married. Just as the couple start their happy live together, tragedy strikes when Su is raped by Wasim (Sahidur Rahman) and Amit (Rohit Roy), brother of local politician, Shellar (Ronit Roy). With Shellar’s political influence, Amit managed to avoid from getting punished for his action. Failing to repent, Amit once again rapes Su and this time she commits suicide once witnessing Rohan’s agony after the first incident. Rohan’s world is completely shattered as the law fails to protect him and his wife while blaming the whole incident as a sham. Rohan then decides to take action by himself baiting Amit and those involved to avenge the tragic death of his beloved wife.  

....so in love with each other.

After witnessing the great Aamir Khan in Dangal, I didn’t expect much from Hrithik because I’m not really a fan of his movies, in fact this is my first Hrithik cinema experience. He however didn’t disappoint me with his quite powerful performance. My one problem was his over-enhanced expression to ‘look’ blind that was kinda over-whelming during some scenes. His other half in the movie portrayed her disability is much better way. I also had trouble with the way Rohan reacted towards his wife after rape incident, ignoring the traumatised wife and going on about with his usual routine only to apologise later which proved to be grave mistake. Perhaps if he had talked to her earlier about his feelings, things might have turned out differently but the Director needed a story so perhaps they made it such way to accommodate the storyline. If that’s the case, Bollywood movies still got a long way to go to change the mind-set of its audience. Some of things that happen in this film is only possible in the silver screen and not real life and hopefully real victims, blind or otherwise will be treated fairly instead of being accused of lying. I’m not totally against this flick but just saying it could have been so much better if reality based measures are taken instead of indulging in a fantasy actions.

Don't mess with this blind man. 

Overall it was entertaining but just didn’t make the cut to be a favourite repeat watch. 

Split Review

Are you ready for this? 

Split Review – Dear M. Knight Shyamalan, you will never get another better actor than James McAvoy (no disrespect to Bruce and Samuel) so don’t give us another stinker please.

Why hello there Miss Patricia. 

Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) develops a condition referred as dissociative identity disorder due to his abusive childhood which forms at least twenty three (23) different personalities ‘inside’ him. Despite his unique situation, Kevin can function properly with a steady job while also consulting with a psychiatrist, Dr. Karen Fletcher (Better Buckley). Unfortunately one of his ‘personality’, Dennis decides to kidnap three (3) teenage girls to ‘punish’ them for their impurity. Soon we get to witness ‘other’ characters show themselves much to the confusion of his kidnap victims. In the meantime, Dr. Fletcher sensing something is wrong drops by Kevin’s place only to realize her worst suspicion was right all along. What will befall his poor kidnapped teens and can Dr. Fletcher save Kevin before his 24^th ‘individuality’ known as The Beast appears?     

Hey Hedwig. 

Proving he can be more than Professor X in the X-man series, James McAvoy carries the whole movie on his own with his amazing talent. His switch from one personality to another is flawless and during one particular tense scene he character swap was simply breath-taking. From the talking, walking, body language to even dressing, he managed to capture different behaviours perfectly. My offer to enhance the realism of the roles would be giving him hair instead of going bald which would have added extra umph to the portrayed alter egos. The movement of the story however did feel rather dragged at some points and the greedy part in me wanted to ‘see’ all of his separate individuals ‘take the light’ instead of focusing too much only on certain personality. Perhaps Knight was building a story to make a sequel if this release becomes fruitful. He also managed to tie in with one of previous work by throwing in his usual twist right at the end of this movie.  

Guess who is here to meet you. 

Overall it’s a pretty decent attempt by Knight to be relevant in the movie making business again. Let’s hope that he doesn’t fumble after making this proper comeback (sorta).