OMEN TORMENT

the first time i watched a movie in this country, it was the movie that won best movie at the most recent oscars. last week, i gathered up my courage to part with another 30 hard-earned dirhams (eheh..) to catch another movie. this movie has not won any awards yet, but personally i think it's going to be a very strong contender. but not for the oscars - the razzies. for worst movie of the year. how ironic...

i watched omen.

i was actually torn between the da vinci code and the omen. but being the (sometimes) anti-establishment guy that i am, i have a certain dislike about catching a movie that is given too much hype. too much publicity. i would probably end up watching these movies, but only on dvd or something. once the hype is over. don't ask me why.. that's just me (maybe it's because i have this unjustifiable need to NOT do what other people do. it's dumb - i know)

so anyway... we (me and a FEMALE colleague) decided to watch omen. i personally decided that since i had the horror of my life that morning (refer previous post), so why not end the night with some horror too, eh? hehehe. plus, i really like(d) julia stiles. she seems smart. and very genuine with her expressions. a good actress in my books. but never thought someone who looks that smart could even AGREE to star in this movie. guess you fooled me this time ms. stiles.. (or they fooled you. whatever)

the movie started impressively enough. but 3 minutes into the movie, they was a scene in italian (or whatever language they are using back in vatican city) .. but being in this country - of course the subtitles were in arabic. ok i got stressed a bit.. but unfortunately it was just the beginning. halfway through the movie i was already rolling my eyes every 5 minutes.

ok i don't plan to turn this entry into movie review... but i just feel that being a responsible citizen of the world, i need to warn everyone about this. you SHOULD NOT watch this movie unless you find the following things logical (just to name a few):

1. a child who was born with so much hair that no one could see his triple six birthmark on his scalp when he was a baby

2. a father, who, when told that his son has a triple six birthmark on his scalp went to his son's bedroom with a pair of scissors to cut his son's hair (to see the birthmark). after like 2 and a half snips, he found it. spot on!

3. a husband, after hearing the news that his wife that he loved so much is dead while he was in italy, decided to go to ISRAEL (to do some evil-child investigation) instead of going back to attend her wife's funeral.

4. a photographer who somehow CONVENIENTLY has access to important information of a dead guy (autopsy results, key to his house, his diary - basically everything that is required to help with the storyline)

5. a u.s. ambassador (who heads the u.s. embassy in london) who, by facial expression appears to be all intense and deep in thought throughout the movie but is such a numbskull! (ok this may not be THAT illogical after all...)

by hollywood standards, it was a terrible movie. i have to say that some malay movies make better sense than omen (and this doesn't happen very often). but how we were supposed to know that the movie would suck? we did not receive any omen NOT to watch omen before the movie. my friend, funnily enough said this to the ticket window attendant:

"can we get 2 omens please?"

we did not get it. we got 2 tickets to a lousy movie instead.