Met up with my brother whom I haven't seen since Chinese New Year. He was doing his A Levels in Singapore and it so happened that whenever he was back home on holidays, I would be in the middle of an exam or something. Under JPA scholarship, he's now in the midst of doing his SAT in Malaysia.

We went ahead with our plan of watching Kill Bill after a near-disaster (the bus my brother was on started billowing smoke in the middle of the journey). Keep an eye on his blog; he'll be mentioning something about his near-fatal accident (events may have been exaggerated).

A review of the movie (spoilers ahead): I had thought wrong; Kill Bill has only two halves so it's not exactly a trilogy as was aforementioned (Quentin Tarantino, however, is supposedly going to roll out a third installment in 15 years). Volume 1 was stylish and made for a good watch. Volume 2, however, is one of those movies that you either love or hate. Some say it pales in comparison with its predecessor; it has to be the significantly less gore and cool action sequences that have brought about the notion. This time around, there are more dialogues, which are essential in moving the plot along.

Snippets from the film: As it turned out, Bill was a psycho boyfriend who was ditched. David Caradine was amazing as Bill; the way he doled out his lines reminded me of Al Pacino in his role in The Devil's Advocate. Both of them spoke with just the right cadence. I still think Uma Thurman kicks ass even though she was unnecessarily hysterical in a few scenes. The rest of the casts were amazingly good as well but you might find Gordon Liu's character, Pa Mei, a tad cheesy (what with his flicking his beard every now and then).

Speaking of whom, ever wondered how Uma's character acquired kick-ass ability? She had Pa Mei to thank. Flashbacks of her tutelage under Pa Mei were homages to 1970's Hong Kong Martial Arts flicks, complete with erratic zoomings, grainy film stock and bleached-out colour; they were part serious, part hilarious at best.

Volume 2 is as stylish as the first. You get to see some really cool cinematography employed in both films. Black and white footages are used at apt moments and the aspect ratio changes in accordance to the action on screen.

It doesn't matter if you haven't watched Volume 1; you don't need pre-knowledge to enjoy Volume 2 (The first movie shows little more beyond Uma "The Bride" Thurman going on a killing rampage, anyway). But, if you're a sucker for seeing humans being slain, Volume 1 is better suited for your exquisite taste for sadism.

Today's photos were taken somewhat long ago. I posted similar pictures on this entry. I would love to know what you think of them. My heartfelt appreciation to those who commented on the previous post.