Yep…. Just when this lil’ Catgirl goes and thinks she’s seen it all, something like this comes along and makes me giggle like a schoolgirl and gasp “Huh?….WTF?!?“ From India, home of some of the downright wackiest cinema in the whole wide world comes “Mallanna”…. a Superhero/ Action/ Romance featuring a dark brooding hero righting wrongs, fighting the forces of evil, and helping the poor and downtrodden…. all while dressed like a giant rooster. Cock-a-doodle-KAPOW!!!

Oh yeah…. Neko just couldn’t miss this one.

Our synopsis for it reads: “The plot revolves around CBI officer Mallanna, along with his oldest school friends, granting the wishes of the needy people who write letters to a local  Temple, disguised like an anthropomorphic chicken. During a CBI income tax raid, he discovers that Ponnusamy, a rich important entrepreneur, is hiding illicit money. To escape the questioning, Ponnusamy pretends to be paralyzed. The event angers his daughter Subbulakshmi who returns home from school abroad to go after Mallanna, pretending to love him, seeking her revenge. This forms a cat and mouse chase between the two. While he is also sought after by a local police inspector who tries to solve the mystery of “Lord Mallanna saving the people,” the fate of Mallanna’s disguise leads into the climax of the story.”

Like all Indian film… this one is a hard movie to describe in a quick fashion. Yes, yes….. it’s a Superhero movie…. but it’s also an action film, a comedy, a romance as well as… of course… a musical as well. But… can they really somehow outdo Batman with a story about a guy in a rooster costume?

There’s only one way to find out, and that’s for your Favorite Catgirl to pick up a copy of the newly released DVD and find out. Will it be a movie you’ll want to see as well?

Guess you’ll just have to “Read On!!” and find out… silly!!

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Part two of my “Tough Girls Movie Marathon” brings us to Thailand for Jeeja Yanin’s second movie for Sahamongkol film, following her success in last year’s “butt-kickingly” nice “Chocolate”…. it’s “Raging Phoenix”.

Your favorite Catgirl really lucked out this last month, scoring nice Fansubs for both this one and “Coweb”, allowing me to finally enjoy these two in one single glorious evening of popcorn fueled martial arts movie mayhem for my wee inner Kickboxing Princess….

Our synopsis for it goes something like this: “Deu, a girl with equally high degree of recklessness and beauty has never experienced “true love”. Her life changes completely when some gangsters try to kidnap her and she narrowly escapes with the help of Sanim, a sad looking stranger with a painful past. Waking up in an abandoned factory, she joins his friends who practice a form of drunken Thai break-dancing martial arts. Sanim and his friends, having had loved ones abducted, join forces to get back at the kidnappers.”

Drunken Kickboxing? OK…. now you really don’t get to see that everyday of the week…. (at least not in my neighborhood…) so this one promises to be something waaay different from my usual fare. But will I get all nutty for it as I did her last effort, “Chocolate”? You all know by now that I’m gonna have to watch it anyways… (just to be sure…). So let’s skip right to the juicy parts and “Read On!”, shall we?

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Well, I’m packing my overnite bag and wrapping a few last minute presents so I’ll soon be ready to take the long drive to Carolyn’s Sister’s place for the Holiday. Time to deck the halls… drink that nog… catch my sweetie under the mistletoe….. and find out if I can somehow be both “naughty” and “nice”... Hehehehe…

But…. before then….. there’s still just enough time for your Favorite Catgirl Princess to wish all you wonderful visitors here at the ol’ “Litterbox” a wonderful Christmas full of fun and Family and all the best as we celebrate the season in style.

Here’s hoping the Holiday brings you all the warmth and love we all deserve at this most special time…. and till we meet again,” A very Merry Christmas, and Meow, meow for you all!!”

By now, if you’ve been a regular visitor here at the ol’ Litterbox, you already know I’m goofy for horror movies. But… ever since I was a wee lil’ kitten and more than a bit of a tomboy…. I’ve always had just one real regret about growing up Asian in the good ol’ US. Never getting to learn Martial Arts….

You see… in that secret place….. waaay back in my heart….. lives a fierce and deadly Kung Fu Princess…. ready to fight for truth, justice, honor… and the sheer fun of smashing bad guys into tiny bloody bits… Hehehehe!! But, no….. there was never any Kung Fu for Miyuki….. no nunchucks…. no Eagle Claw or Mantis Style…. not even one lil’ throwing star to be seen. Still… now that I’m all grown up, I still sigh sometimes and live my childhood dreams vicariously through the occasional Martial Art film that shows me that we girls really can kick ass.

Earlier this month, I made an evening of two recent such films, the Chinese film “Coweb” and the Thai follow-up to “Chocolate”, “Raging Phoenix”… First up for review… “Coweb”, and our synopsis goes like this: “Nie Yiyi (Jiang Lu Xia) is a skilled martial arts expert working as a security guard after her father’s death while dreaming about resurrecting her father’s martial arts academy. Then Yiyi’s childhood friend, Zhong Tien (Sam Lee), who works as a personal assistant to billionaire Mr He (Eddie Cheung), persuades her to become a bodyguard to Mr He’s wife. Reluctantly Yiyi accepts and she takes her job very seriously.

But before long, kidnappers appear and despite Yiyi’s best efforts, Ho Kwan and his wife are abducted, but not before he slips Yiyi a small box. Upon investigating, Yiyi learns her boss was kidnapped by ruthless gambling impresario Sung. The box contains a key to a mainframe that controls online betting on fights to the death, and in order to save Ho Kwan, Yiyi will have to join the tournament and gamble with her life.”

Hmmm? sounds like your typical martial art plot…. but that’s OK… I’m not watching these to be intellectually stimulated. So….. let’s all get with it and see if “Coweb” has all the right stuff for this lil’ Kung Fu wannabee!!

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Here’s a rarity in my part of the world… an honest to goodness Singaporean movie. I order lots and lots of Thai films out of Singapore (Yes.. yes… that pesky subtitle thingee… don’t let me get started on THAT rant again… Hehehehe!!) but I can honestly say I’ve only ever snagged a couple of their local efforts over the years. Since you all know I’m just goofy for ghost stories, how could I not take a chance on something titled “Where Got Ghost?”….

It’s a horror anthology by local Singaporean writer/director Jack Neo and our synopsis goes as follows: “Every year on the Lunar 7th month is the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival and Singaporeans with Chinese heritage and background will be celebrating with their beloved family members that have passed away. Most common methods are burning paper money and offering food for their deceased family members. “Where Got Ghost” is a typical Singaporean horror-comedy movie that is divided into three stories, each with some thrills, some chills and quite a few laughs along the way…”

How did it stack up for me as a movie watching experience? Was it as charming as some Chinese ghost comedies? Or did they go with the toilet humor route that most Thai and Indonesian films like to go? (I admit I sorta expected the latter might just be the ticket here….. not that there’s a problem with that, mind you….Hehehehe!)

I guess we’re all about to find out, so you are certainly gonna want to “Read On” and see!

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Dum, dee,dum,dum,dum….♫It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!!♫

Yay!! Snow is swirling about my apartment window, and icicles hang down to show me that winter has finally made it’s appearance in my neck of the woods….. (I always love the frosty season of winter when it first arrives…. but somehow that feeling never…. ever…. lasts as long as the cold does… Hehehehe!!!)

I know it’s been some time since my last “Dear Diary” update…. but with the holiday season upon us, I’ve been a really busy girl lately. Having an afternoon off from work, I figure it’s time to rectify that lil’ oversight, so here we go!!

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More creepy goodness from Indonesia, this time out your Favorite Catgirl has for you “Pintu Terlarang” aka “The Forbidden Door” by Indonesian director Joko Anwar who also did the quirky neo film-noir/ horror/ hard boiled detective mash up “Kala” aka “Dead Time” back in 2007. Having seen that one, I was struck by it’s oddness and great sense of imagery….. and I can tell you he’s back in fine form with this one as well.

Our synopsis goes: “The life of a successful sculptor (played by Fachri Albar) is turned upside down when he begins receiving mysterious messages from somebody who’s asking for his help.

When he stumbles upon an illegal TV broadcast which offers snuff, he finds out that the person who’s trying to reach him is a 7 year-old boy who has been kept and abused by a vicious couple. As he digs more, he discovers that his wife (played by Marsha Timothy) just might be connected to the whole mystery. Soon he has to decide whether or not to abandon his search and leave the boy to die or to lose everything and everyone he knows.”

This one is definitely strange…. and that’s something coming from this movie lovin’ girl…. Given my tastes in movies, I’ve certainly seen some strange films over the years, but very few that take the idea of such deliberate quirkiness and make it their own.

So what’s the story on this one? Well… by now you know it’s time to “Read On”… so let’s get to it!!

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A recent Region 1 release of this Thai Action/horror mash-up by Magnet finally slipped into this little Catgirl’s mailbox, waited patiently in my “to watch” pile, and since I’m just nutty for such goofy films I finally just had to give “Opapatika” aka “Demon Warriors” a try.

Our synopsis goes along these lines: “Detective Techit’s biggest case calls for the ultimate sacrifice – his life.  In order to investigate the existence of mysterious spirits called Opapatikas, he must follow them to their dwelling in eternal limbo.  When an otherworldly warrior promises Techit incredible powers of intuition upon entering the spirit world, he leaps at the chance to be a better detective, committing suicide and using death as a doorway into the supernatural world populated by ghouls, warriors and spirits.  Once there, Techit becomes involved in intense and violent battles with the immortal Opapatikas, and quickly discovers that each time he fights one, he loses one of his five mortal senses.  Surrounded by enemies and running out of power, Techit must conquer the afterlife or face an eternity of misery.“

Hmmm? So how come it’s taken me soooo long to get around to this one? I usually jump on most Thai films pretty quickly, once I can find them with some decent subtitles, but for some reason I passed on the earlier releases and didn’t snag a copy until I was grabbing some Region 1 DVD’s in my mail orders just the beginning of October…… and then it took some time for me to actually get the chance to watch it. (Bad, bad kitty!!!)

But watch it I now have, and it’s time to weigh in my my two cents on this one. So…. did your Favorite Catgirl Princess like it? Yeah…. you know what’s next, silly….. you just gotta “Read On” if you wanna know!!

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