Superman Returns.....to the screen

Holy Cow! It's left to 4 teams. No thanks to the continuous sleepless nights, accumulated fatigue, swollen eyes, lethargic daytime, sorrow and anger of results, and wonderful memories and agonising moments. Yes, England - OUT! South American teams (i.e. Argentina and Brazil) faltered in the curse of European soil, and no thanks to great showing by the host German team and the Old French soldiers reliving their glory days. Four teams that remains include a team that I had predicted to lift the cup earlier. ;p So Germany vs. Italy and Portugal vs. France. I predict Italy vs. France final with an intense 2-1 scoreline, which reminds us of that battle in Normandy!

Hahaha...well, soccer fever really occupied my life in the past 2 weeks. As the tourney progress to the semifinal stage, I get to go for a bit of a break. Though I may not be able to bet no more, I am tempted to put my stakes for the remaining 3-4 matches. I suspect another bloodbath in the coming matches in the kopitiam as I witnessed temper flaring not only at the end of the actual match itself, but the conflict throughout the pulsating game as watched by the patrons in the kopitiam for the Germany and Argentina game. Near misses and shouts of "referee kayu!" were heard echoing around. When goal no.1 came through the head of Roberto Ayala, and the score reads Argentina 1 and Germany 0, cheers were aloud, while gloom faces were spotted. I even took a peek at the emotion of Mr. Zainudin Nordin, the MP for the Toa Payoh-Bishan GRC who was present to watch the match, gleefully enjoying the goal. Then as full time lingers, Germany struck back to level the score and this time, the cheers were even louder as I can't tell whether it's true German fans or those who had put their bets on Germany tried to outdo the Argentina fans. Then as the nerve-wrecking penalty shootout ended and Germany triumphant, everybody left the scene some happy and ecstatic, and the rest disappointed. But the temper didn't flare like the ones shown live on TV!

Anyway, the past few days, there was two guests staying in my house. Two girls who overstayed their holidays when their parents flew back home earlier than them. My mom took them on marathon shopping trips, and I was pulled in to accompany my mom and them. My initial purpose was to visit the temple to pray while they go on their shopping trip, but I ended up tagging along the whole day. Nonetheless, it was a fun day where the heat, the food, and the tired legs stole the time away. At the end of the day, we went on to catch Superman Returns and let me tell you this my friends....Superman is back with a bang! Not only were the effects awesome, the costume spectacular, and the man himself, Brandon Routh depicted a Superman you want to feel affectionate for (of course I hate to admit he's charming). I really admire Bryan Singer for bringing to life great superheroes movies - case in point X-Men I &II. How I wish he can make another one just to satisfy our hunger for Hollywood Superhero. The story may not be Oscar worthy, but it's very very touching, and very human. A minus to the movie is just that it's a bit too long, and I had wished for a better and more devious villain. Although Kevin Spacey played a good Lex Luthor, he's just not evil enough to make Superman suffer more!

Well, maybe they have the sequel in store so they had to provide a setting for a more evil Lex. Contrary to the critics saying Kate Bosworth was not a solid Lois Lane, I must say she was quite the adequate actress for the role. So, my prediction an 8.5/10 for Superman Returns. He's back people, with the stark resemblance to the late Christopher Reeves. Now, if only Pirates of the Carribean and Nacho Libre comes sooner.... hehehe....