DPMM FC is ready to rock (gegar) the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium this Sunday, 12th February. The match was slated for 9th February but it was rescheduled to Sunday instead. Last Saturday, DPMM FC had to go through a fitness test where all S-League players had to pass the fitness test mark of 13.1 and 8 players failed to pass the fitness test.

Two players of the eight players are notable key players according to coach Simunic. They are left back Yusof Mohd Salleh and right back Shahrulrizal Hj Abd Rahman. The coach was still very happy considering that DPMM FC players have not played competitive football for more than two years. Nonetheless there is another fitness test this Friday and hope that both players will be able to pass the fitness test.

The eight players include defender Suhaime Md Yussof, Ampuan Mohd Nurul Azami Ampuan Hussin, midfielders Abang Norsilmy Abang Hj Taha, Mohd Hanafizal Helman Hanafiah and striker Md Zulremi Hj Zaini and Brazilian striker Rodrigo Gral. Let’s hope all DPMM FC players will be available for Simunic’s disposal after Friday’s fitness test.

As for the fans, the tickets will be only available for sale on 12th February from 9am at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium. The match will be between DPMM FC and defending champions Tampines Rover at 8pm this Sunday. Ironically DPMM FC’s last match in the S-League was against Tampines Rover.

The DPMM FC quartet who will be featured this Sunday against Tampines Rover. They are also wearing the new DPMM FC kit for the S-League. Image taken from Sairol’s Facebook.

The home and away DPMM FC Jersey for 2012. The home jersey is sold out and the new stock will be arriving at FES Retro Times Square. The away jersey is still available in all sizes. I will be running a quiz on Twitter @ranoadidas so you can stand a chance to win the jerseys. Around 80 plus home jerseys were sold within 3 days. Amazing!!

Though the official home jersey is sold out, FES Retro still have stock for DPMM home supporters top

This is for DPMM FC away supporters top and it is also available at FES Retro

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Viral Factor. Ah, another eye candy movie for the ladies.. I’m not a big fan of Jay Chou when it comes to his HK movies.. Why? Because he seriously needs some acting lessons (Don’t scream at me, ladies). Slam Dunk and Initial D were pretty disappointing too and prior to the movie, I didn’t know he was the main star in Viral Factor until I saw the trailers while getting my tickets.

Sometimes people complain that there is less action in movies nowadays. This movie won’t disappoint if you are seeking this kind of genre. However, I’m sorry to say that the action scenes are a total mess.. In fact, there are just too many that I was turned off at one stage. The pacing is poor indeed. The only good point was that the film was most shot in Kuala Lumpur and it didn’t seem to “Malaysia-like” apart from branding positioning by AirAsia and The Pavilion.

Jay Chou miserably failed to change my mindset of his movies. I’m sure your fans will think otherwise. Verdict: 5/10.

War Horse. As I quoted on my status on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, the horse “Joey” is the main star of the movie and it was another great direction by Steven Spielberg. It’s a journey of horse that when through different episodes during the 1st World War. I’ve always love Steven’s work though Tin Tin didn’t appeal to me as much.

I’m not sure if War Horse will be everyone’s cup of tea (or popcorn movie) but there are one or two good massages from my experience yesterday while watching this. I read on The Empire magazine that there are lot of tear jerking moments but surprisingly I didn’t feel that much but nonetheless it’s still a crowd pleaser and mind you, this is a 140-minute film.

Did you know War Horse is one of the nominated films for Oscars 2012? This movie is inspiring at some points but I expected more perhaps. Verdict: 7/10.

Haywire. It’s another Steven Soderbergh movie. He’s well-known for Traffic and Ocean’s Eleven trilogy and his previous hit was Contagion. I caught this during my short trip to KK with De No. I’m actually drawn by the lead role played by Gina Carano (Mallory) because of her physical on-screen presence.. But I have to say her acting was kinda cheesy though she made it up with her dynamic fighting skills especially her hand-to-hand combat (thumbs up).

If you have seen Salt (Angelina Jolie), this is another similar movie of this genre. This movie does has its style and this something different coming from Steven Soderbergh. If I was to compare with Kill Bill, Uma Thurman still gets the nod for me. Lots of room for improvement for Gina especially in the acting department. Otherwise this is an okay movie. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Verdict: 6.5/10.

Ah Beng: 3 Wishes. Oh my…. I wonder how much this movie made in Malaysia? I totally enjoyed Nasi Lemak 2.0 and I had similar expectations for Ah Beng. However, after I saw the trailers of Ah Beng a week before, I was totally turned off. I still ended up watching because Cuterabbit asked me to tag along with her friends.

Having lowered my expectations, I knew it was still gonna be a torture that lasted less than two hours. Humour was flat and the moral of the story was totally misaligned though I know what the massage they were trying to portray. End of the day, everything about the movie didn’t have any plus points that I want to talk about. This was perhaps the worst movie I’ve seen this year and in many months. I’m not sure if it is a politically driven movie as the Prime Minister of Malaysia went to the official premiere of Ah Beng. Verdict: 3/10.

The Great Magician. I had high expectations watching this movie because Tony Leung is inside. The movie started great as I would expected it to be. Well, I even thought it was a serious movie to begin with especially with the presence of Tony Leung whom to me is in the A-list actors. I was expecting in the lines of The Prestige or The Illusionist but nowhere close. Only a quarter through the movie I realised it’s more of a comedy and that totally ruined my movie experience.

The script was pretty mediocre and the movie seemed to lost its magic along the way. Even the dual-relationship of Liu Yin the beautiful captive of the General was so messed up, I couldn’t be bothered to know what happen next. Sorry, Tony.. This movie was a letdown though I still have my good share of laughs. Verdict: 5/10.

The Grey. Ah, this movie scored well in RottenTomatoes and I was planning to catch this movie nonetheless. Sometimes it’s good not to watch a trailer or read the movie info and enjoy that element of surprise. And surprised I was. Liam Neeson is superb once more and he played his role to (almost) perfection. I’ve always admired his onscreen presence and he is probably one of the most under-rated actors in Hollywood.

I have to say it’s not advisable to catch this movie if you planning to fly the next day. Well, I did *lol* and that shook me up a bit. The opening scene caught me off guard (quite frightening) and the movie was all about survival. Many have mixed reviews about the ending (I won’t spoil it for you) but I was quite moved by the last three minutes of the movie. There are many talking points in The Grey and we can emulate that into our everyday life as well. Not advisable for young children though. Verdict: 7/10.

This was taken at Golden Screen Cinema at Suria Sabah. The ticket counter person can refuse issuance of movie tickets if he/she is still underaged

I recently watched two movies at the Golden Screen Cinema at Suria Sabah and 1 Borneo. I came across the label over the ticket counter (see picture above). But I’m not sure if such rules are being enforced where the ushers will have the right to stop underaged children from watching movies that have “18” rating. This doesn’t really apply to Brunei but this is a debatable topic nonetheless.

Sometimes it’s good to have such rules so it makes easier for parents to control watch their kids are watching. This also eliminates the awkwardness where kids will be watching inappropriate material in the presence of their parents. I know back in the old days, my mom will ask us to shut our eyes *lol* These days it’s hard to monitor or keep an eye on children especially in movies. I remember watching Twilight: Breaking Dawn I and there were little kids (behind me) who had to watch the endless kissing scenes with the presence of their parents. Awkward, aye?

I’m also against families bringing babies/infants to the cinema. Why oh why? This happened yesterday when I caught War Horse and the baby (behind me) was playing with a plastic bag for five minutes, ruining my concentration of the movie and sometimes the baby will whine or cry which can be a turn off for me and other cinema goers. In my opinion, a cinema is not an environment for infants and it’s the responsibility and common sense of parents not to bring their baby/babies to cinemas. To me, this can be annoying than a phone that rings randomly.

Anyway, back to my first topic on age restriction, do you think such rule should be implemented? This is indeed an interesting thought for the viewers and also cinema operators.

Image courtesy of @douglaswray of Instagram