An unplanned visit to Cineleisure

I've planned to write this post since Wednesday night, unfortunately due to heavy workload...

Tuesday, 30th May 2006

Johanna was attending a strategic management course at Ritz Carlton today. Hence I drove her into the city instead of dropping her off at Kelana Jaya LRT station. Jalan Damansara was at a standstill even from Damansara Jaya area. I thought Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) forum was over by now. Hence I tried to take the KLGCC way. Unfortunately, the guards did not allow us to drive into KLGCC. Maybe it was still too early I thought.

We ended up taking Penchala Link from Taman Tun. All the way traffic was smooth and we managed to reach Kampung Attap area in a short while. On the way we found out that Jalan Damansara was congested due to a stalled car. So NAM forum was over after all. After dropping off Johanna near Maharajalela station, I proceed to work.

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Johanna came to my office after her course and we went back together from my office. On the way it seemed that Jalan Damansara was congested again. We decided to take the KLGCC way from the other direction. Unfortunately again, the road was not open to non-members. Seemed that the road is closed to public for good. Well, no choice, Penchala Link again then. Traffic was quite heavy all the way from KLGCC to Hartamas area. On the way there, I suddenly suggested to Johanna that we could check out Cineleisure on the way back since we were going to go past there in a while.

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I parked the car at the Curve and we walked over the Cineleisure from there. Except for Cathay Cineplex, the whole mall was still empty. I found out later that Cineleisure is a new concept by Cathay Organisation integrating entertainment, retail, food and beverage etc. It has also been established in Singapore. I also found out that there has not been any website for the Malaysian cineplex. Wonder why. They should have got ready since online booking/purchasing is a norm these days. But I'm sure very soon the Malaysian website will be up just like the existing Singapore site.

We decided to watch X-Men: The Last Stand. We got ourselves a couple seat for RM19.

Before going in we tried to grab two burgers and some drinks. One of the burgers would only be ready in ten minutes, so we were told that it would be delivered to us in the cinema... kewl!

Before the movie started, we managed to catch a glimpse of James Bond trailer. The new Bond, Daniel Craig, looked more like 003 or 008. I had a feeling it will be a flop mainly because of the casting. He just do not have the Bond look, nowhere near my favourite Bond - Pierce Brosnan.

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X-Men: The Last Stand

Overall the movie was great. There were some moment of sadness too - Xavier killed by Dark Phoenix (evil side of Jean Grey). The ending was a bit disappointing as I thought Jean Grey would overcome her evil half. There were also too many mutants with too many varying powers in the movie, which had to be scurried through from one plot to another.

The part I love about the movie - the way it drew parallel with many political and social issues such as war on terrorism and discrimination. "Curing" mutants is a form of genetic engineering and stirs thoughts of "cures" for many other conditions humans are born with. The fact is, most people grow accustomed to the hands they've been dealt and rather resent the opportunity to become "normal." (Normal in this context is whatever makes you more like them and less like yourself.)

Humans hate mutants because mutants are too powerful and are constant threat to human population, resulting in discrimination. Some mutants put their powers to good use, some abuse them. Some mutants think that it is a test of survival of the fittest, some choose to learn to live together. Either way human are not to be fully blamed for discriminating against mutants, vice versa. Magneto and company is akin to terrorists who tries to attack humans as a result of mutant discrimination; Xavier and company are mutants who will go to the distance to preserve peace between humans and mutants. Clash of ideologies, prejudice between people of different groups, leaders and governments trying whatever it takes to achieve their vision, all resulting in so many casualties and uncessary bloodshed. Doesn't all these sound all too familiar?