Contemplata aliis Tradere

A meagre contribution to the mission and work of the Order of Preachers: my reflections, thoughts, ideas and the occasional rant on matters mainly theological, philosophical and ecclesiastical, drawn primarily from my reading and experience of life and the world. Striving to be always Catholic, firmly Christian and essentially Dominican, flavoured with dashes of Von Balthasar.

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Location: Oxford, United Kingdom

A son of the English Province of the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans); born in Malaysia but have lived in the USA, Singapore, the UK & the Philippines for varying durations. A pilgrim and way-farer, a searcher for Truth on the journey of Life... "Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, There’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!" - Hilaire Belloc

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Confessions of a Movie Buff

Oh no... another one of these memes... but here goes.

Total Number of films I own on DVD/Video
I reckon about 100 or more... Not too sure though. Many I have recorded off British TV too... or purchased from Manila/KL...(!!)

The Last Film I Bought
Ladder 49; nothing like a quasi-Catholic, heroic movie!

If you mean TV series: Dawson's Creek season 4!

Five Films I Watch A Lot/Mean a Lot to Me
Hmmm.... I could echo all that Edward Yong chose... but just to show I have a mind and taste of my own, here goes:

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Extended Editions
A wonderful story with themes that I find profoundly Catholic, a beautifully shot and lovingly directed movie which I watched in one marathon sitting in Singapore with a good friend and fellow fan. It brings me great memories, and evokes all that's best about cinema-book collaborations. And the extra discs on the sets are such brilliant value and fascinating in themselves.

Billy Elliot
If I was younger and lighter I may have gone his route too! A great inspirational and funny film filmed in County Durham where my seminary was. It was also the first movie I watched with my year-mates in the seminary. We enjoyed it until a fire alarm had us evacuated from the cinema at a very crucial juncture! It was a false alarm though so we got back in and saw the rest of it and were rewarded with a free ticket!

Cleopatra
That spectacular scene of Cleopatra entering Rome is classic and there is nothing quite like it. It sticks in my mind as a cinematic wonder and still does!

Moulin Rouge
I love the singing, the music and the deliberate camp style of it all. The whole feel of it is fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously and is almost satirical. The MTV feel is brilliant, the script is funny and the farce is great! Plus the leads are fantastic. I loved Ewan McGregor in it, and I think he was just as good in 'Down with Love'. Also I'm generally a fan of Baz Luhrmann's oeurve.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (et al)
These artistic Chinese martial arts films reminds me of my childhood. My grandmother watched many such Hong-Kong made films and I would join her. At least now, I have the benefit of subtitles to help me understand them! They are rather melodramatic though! Check out the end sequence of 'House of Flying Daggers' for sheer hyperbole but any Chinoiserie (in English!!) is tops with me!

Honourable Mentions:
X-Men 1 & 2; Prince of Egypt; Keeping the Faith

Tag 5 People and Have Them Put It In Their Blog
I hate this bit! Sorry people...
Contemplating the Laundry
Disputations
Quodlibeta
Angry Twins
Queenie Ong (again!!)

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