Singular View

What's Next?

2012-01-06T13:40:00.001+08:00

Am I too old to rebel?

And rebel against what exactly?

The world is treating you better than ever but...

There is something very wrong? A disconnect. A reality that somehow isn't.

At a time when we're expected to have our priorities in order, it somehow feels appropriate to leave it all behind.

Is this denial?

Denial that you're this superficial after all?

That all you really wanted was fame and money. And nothing more!

What's next?

A Welcome Return

2011-11-16T19:51:00.000+08:00

Just trying to ease myself back into blogging shape. Wanted to share with you guys a trailer which caught my eye recently.

Snow White and the Huntsman is another retelling of the tale made famous by Disney. However judging from whats on the trailer this looks to be much darker and edgier than what has come before, so lets keep our fingers crossed. Lots of interesting imagery in this first trailer. The biggest issue I have here is, the film is asking us to believe that Kristen Stewart is hotter than Charlize Theron....Honestly??

GI Joe : The Rise of Another Lame Franchise

2009-08-13T17:16:00.005+08:00

In our younger days often we hear our parents telling us to be ambitious, shoot for the sky they said, even if you missed you still land on the clouds was the reasoning. Alas though like reality when you try to fly, and if you fail, you’ll end up hurtling to earth in a burning ball of wreckage which ends up leaving an unsightly stain behind. That though is often omitted for the benefits of our delicate young minds I guess. What does that have to do with this blog I hear you ask, well the answer is in two words, Stephen Sommers. A director so apparent in his need for recreating his childish fantasies that if given any form of encouragement will definitely try to do it all in one film. Ambition in Hollywood is often a surefire way to derision and failure as demonstrated to stunning consequences like this years’ Transformers and Terminator sequels.

GI JOE is an elite multi national anti-crime/terrorist organization headed by the stout General Hawk. They are called into battle when the latest in cutting edge warfare, the nano-tech based missiles, is attacked en-route to its first delivery by forces that seem to have even more advanced weaponry. Two of the accompanying guards, Duke and Ripcord, manages to fend off the attackers and Duke also recognizes one of the attackers to be his ex fiancé now going under the guise of The Baroness. Because of their outstanding performance the 2 men are recruited into the outfit where they will serve with the existing members Scarlett, Heavy Duty and Snake Eyes. It soon becomes clear that the weapons manufacturer, James McCullen is behind an attempt to steal the missiles to both create an international crisis as well as settle a century long family blood feud.

When I first heard they were doing a GI Joe movie I snickered but held out hope they could make it relevant and when I heard they had gotten Sommers involved, expectations immediately nose dived. This was after all the man who gave us Van Helsing, a film which could have been so cool but ended up being so utterly bad that I though there would be no return for him. Sommers biggest crime is always his inherent need to cram as much elements into a film as humanly possible and his total lack of follow through on any of them as can be seen if you compared the first Mummy and its sequel. Without a strong and frugal producer’s hand behind him his films tend to be just a skipping through of one idea after another. Also reality and often even gravity is not adhered to when he writes his scripts with his protagonists often escaping peril through impossible maneuvers.

In his latest he is again guilty of the all of the above but he has managed to craft a stupid but fun, with the former edging out the later slightly, action film that while not memorable is still entertaining enough to edge out some of this summer’s more anticipated action fare. Its fun but in a very retarded sort of manner and its most enjoyable when no one’s talking or whenever Siena Miller’s breast makes an appearance, I kid you not when it say they truly steal every scene in the movie and they look much better when compared to Megan Fox’s slow motion running in Transformers 2. It was also good to see Joseph Gordon Levitt making the best out of a crap role by truly hamming it up. The action sequences are well staged with the Paris chase a highlight and also the Storm Shadow/Snake Eyes duel was handled well even through it was derivate of The Phantom Menace’s ending with a reversed role for Ray Parks.

Now for the Bad and where else to begin but from the acting department, so step right up 90% of the actors involved. Watching Channing Tatum brings to mind the other great thespian, CasperVan Diem, an actor who could convey all his emotions through a simple furrow of his brow, which is fortunate considering that’s the only action he knows how to do properly. I understand that this is an ensemble cast but couldn’t they have found a more engaging lead actor because there isn’t an aorta of charm and charisma in him which could have make such a huge difference to the film. A brief cameo by Brendan Fraser was much better the his performance for the rest of the film which boggles the mind as to why Brendan wasn’t offered the role in the first place. Dennis Quaid phoned this one in and cashed another pay check, the always mute Ray Parks is adequate as the mute Snake Eyes, Rachel Nichols brings some charm to the good girls but not much, Marlan Wayans is his usual unbearable self and Jonathan Pryce is criminally underused. The script is just full of lazy plot holes and convenient resolutions, oh! Deadly nano tech missiles are headed for Washington you say, no worries there just so happen to be a super sonic jet fighter parked nearby with no form of security around.

My advice to you, watch the movie if you have 2 hours to spare or if you have an great love for original cartoons but bear in mind that like all our childhood favorites its never as good as we remembered them to be. Watch it to see the stunning Siena Miller in what should be her breakthrough Hollywood role and for the crazy action sequences and you will have a guaranteed good time. As of the time I’m writing this the movie has already opened to great commercial success so brace yourself for the bigger, better, dumber and all around more ‘ambitious’ sequels coming your way soon.

Watchmen - Perhaps Alan Moore Was Wrong

2009-03-11T16:22:00.008+08:00

For every comic fan there is only one bible. One book that demands to be read. A rite of passage to undertake to enter geekdom. A book that condenses the entire history of the Superhero myth and then deconstructs it. From the innocence of the Golden Age to the wonders that was the Silver Age and finally the anti heroes of the Modern Age. There is simply no two ways about it, if you are a comic fan this is The movie that you have been waiting for, in equal parts excitement and dread. Alan Moore famously said the book was unfilmable, and duely had his name removed from the film, and he would have been right had it not been for a very courageous young director who obviously understands the importance of the property to millions of rabbid fans.

It is the year 1985 and Richard Nixon is still in the White House and America has won the Vietnam War thanks to the help of Dr Manhattan, a god like super hero that can rearrange matter and time. In the back drop Russia is still in the cold war with the US but is incapable of any real threats as long Dr Manhattan acts as the counter balance. All super heroes have been banned and outlawed due to public outcry and most are living a bored life of retirement. All that however changes when it one of them is murdered and it seems that there is a conspiracy to kill other retired heroes as well.

The only active vigilante left Rorschach, who borders on being a psychopath himself, decides to investigate the brutal murder of The Comedian, a former Watchman who became a black ops member for the government, and the deeper he goes the more dangerous it becomes. He enlists the helps of his former teammates, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre, as it becomes clear that there is something far more sinister at work that may involve Dr Manhattan. As old friends and even old adversaries become drawn together, they are forced to face painful memories as well as harsh realities and by the end may only god save the planet from nuclear annihilation.

This is clearly a movie made for the fans because in some instances the scenes are a direct replica of the comic panels and except for some minor deviation the bulk of the book is almost slavishly replicated on screen. For those who saw 300 you would know what I’m talking about. First off making a movie that a features multiple naked blue men could not have been an easy sell to the studios, and for that we really have to give a big thank you to Zack Snyder for having the guts to go through with it. Clearly without the success that he got from 300 he wouldn’t have had the clout to push this through as complete as it was. I still think he overdoes it a bit with the slow mo’s but on the whole he has done an incredible job of telling a story that took an entire text book to write into a 3 hour movie that not only not bores but often times leaving you in heightened expectation of what’s to come.

Watchmen, the book, took and unknown group of superheroes that was modeled on existing popular ones and progresses to strip away the layers painful one at a time and therefore it is not an easy read and it certainly isn’t an action story, even though it contains many action scenes. To understand watchmen you need to put yourself back into the 80’s- the cold war was still on, crime rate in America was at an all time high, the US was still dealing with the aftermath of their failure in Vietnam and the threat of Nuclear Holocaust was always hanging around- the US was basically still coming to terms about their own vulnerability and much of their uncertainty certainly reflected in their comics. People began to question everything when before everything was simple and clear cut. Superman was the good guy who fought the good fight but in this new age people was more interested in what he had to hide in his closet. How could a god really understand humans? In 12 issues Alan Moore managed to not only deconstruct many of the prevailing stereotypes of the superhero myth but also lay the foundation for what was to come for the future so there can be no mistaking the importance of the only graphic novel to be featured in Times 100 greatest work of fiction in the last century.

Watchmen, the movie, have managed to carry many of these themes intact over to the big screen and it is a credit to both the writers and the directors that for the most part the movie works extremely well. Even more impressive was some of the performances and top of the list would be Jackie Earle Haley whose portrayal was the personification of Rorschach. Watching him was exactly like what you had in mind when reading him, from his movements to his speech to his mannerism, every little detail was perfect. Evrytime he wasn’t on screen I was just waiting for him to show up. Rorschach was a character who only see things in black and white, hence the mask, and his deep distaste for humankind makes his actions all the more compelling. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was also fantastic as the utterly despicable Comedian, here was someone who had behaved like an utter brute simply because he could and who ultimately became a pawn in a far bigger game. I found it refreshing that they have found a cast of relative unknowns because they bring a lot less attachment to the characters but I was quite partial to the idea of Tom Cruise for Ozymandias, one egomaniac playing another.

In a movie like this there are bound to be some missteps and I think the biggest one here is actually the inclusion of Nixon and his subplot because every time they appear on screen it sort of took me out of the moment. In addition I think his makeup is one of the worst I have seen in a blockbuster. A big thing about the movie was the soundtrack and on the whole the songs selected were complimentary there were a few that were quite jarring. On the acting front I think Malin Ackerman suffered the most with her stilted delivery and wooden expression despite having some of the most screen time and also what should have been the emotional core of the movie. Other than her good looks I couldn’t understand the reason why the guys where all after her.

Like I said before this is a movie made for the fans and this is indeed a double edged sword. My gut feeling is that this movie would have gone over the head of your average moviegoer. Sure The Dark Knight was a serious comic movie that was embraced by the audience but that movie was a self contained story while this one is an entirely different beast altogether. Watchman works on many levels but those levels would likely not be apparent to someone expecting an Iron Man experience and without a background in rudimentary fandom I doubt they will be able to get a complete experience from one sitting. While I haven’t watched it a second time I am utterly convinced that the movie will offer up much more at the second time of asking. Watchmen is certainly a qualified success filled many stunning images and for many of us fans we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and for those coming in unawares there is a lot be enjoyed here and also take comfort in the fact that if you don’t get it all the first time you will the second time or better yet, get the book.

Into The Wild - Understanding A Choice

2009-02-25T15:48:00.005+08:00

Who among us have never dreamed of letting it all go at one point or the other? Just dropping every single possession we have and leave for the wide open road. Irresponsible? Yes. Cowardice? Perhaps. When life becomes unbearable, be it from jadedness or just a deep distaste of everyday life, isn’t it better to just run away? Whatever the answer may be most of us will ultimately grit our teeth and carry on while perhaps a few special, or foolish, souls will take the leap and see what is behind the magic mirror. Whether this is the right or wrong thing to do depends on your perspective but what is for sure its going to be one hell of an adventure. Into The Wild is the story of one such person and his journey to attain ultimate freedom, from society and everything that it entails.

Christopher McCandless is a top student and athlete from Emory University who donated his life savings to charity and just disappeared from the lifes of his family to experience life away everything materialistic. A product of a financially successful but unloving family, he grew up to love the simple things in life and reject the sort of materialistic pursuit that consumed his parents. His philosophy was that a person could be happy even without any human relationship and any material wealth. Despite rejecting society he would attract people to him by his simple honesty and they would come to make a big part of his travels. On his travels he finally settle on a destination, a place where he would find the solitude that he craves and also the ability to live off the earth, Alaska.

First off this is not Forrest Gump and there is no happy ending waiting and the fact that this is based on a true story gives it a much needed dramatic pull and also the fact that there has been much discussion about the actions of McCandless makes it interesting to see which side of the argument the movie would fall on. Many have accused him of being stupid and more have come to admire his courage but ultimately I find it fitting that the film holds a balanced view in that for long periods of his travels he did find the peace he so wanted. I find it extremely disturbing that so many have rushed to pass judgment on his actions, I would think that it is enough that he did what he needed to do and he was at peace with the outcome. How many of us can truly say the same?

I think first off Emile Hirsch has done an incredible job in depicting first the rage and finally the peace of McCandless. Many of the scenes involved no dialogue and feelings had to be conveyed by body language alone and it says a lot about him that even in these scenes you are compelled to follow his every movement. He has given the character a very relatable persona and you can’t help but feel for the character and his pain and his all encompassing need to be away from the people closest to him including his sympathetic sister. In fact the film has managed to illicit many good performances from its cast even one unexpectedly from Vince Vaughn, who plays slightly against character. I especially like Catherine Keener as the damaged Jan and her affection for Christopher really shone through and how he became the son that she lost. William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as the fighting and always materialistic parent are not given much screen time but they do the best with what they have. Hal Holbrook is also very good as the grandfatherly Ron who tries his best to dissuade McCandless from going to Alaska.

Sean Penn has really impressed me with his handling of the material despite occasionally veering into character worshipping. This is not an easy story to tell honestly because much of the time is the character alone with his thoughts and the challenge is to make that engaging and he does pull it off more often than not. When a life is lost we often grapple with the whys and hows and when it is as controversial as this the debate becomes more heated but I do find the whole process extremely tedious and irrelevant because this was a choice made sanely and maturely so why should we try to second guess the reasons. Into The Wild is a good movie with an interesting story to tell and I sincerely recommend it to everyone but do not expect to be entertained.

Valkyrie - Competent but lacking

2009-02-10T15:06:00.005+08:00

If ever there was an opponent to the age old saying of there’s no such thing as bad publicity it would have to be Valkyrie. Plagued early on by refusal from the German government to grant shooting permits to debate about the correct accent to use and also rumors that the whole thing was just an excuse for Tom Cruise to lobby for Scientology to be recognized in Germany, it is indeed a wonder that we finally have the finished product. All these issues have indeed combined to take away a lot of the thunder from the film itself which is a pity because Cruise is back to his best as a charismatic leading man.

Valkyrie is a film a group of German military officers who dared to stage a coup in WW2 against Adolph Hitler. Their plan was to assassinate Hitler and take over the government quickly through Hitler’s own contingency plan were he to be assassinated, codenamed Valkyrie. They would lay the blame on the SS and with the help of the reserve army would install a new leader which would negotiate a peace treaty to end WW2. Point man on this would be General Von Stauffenberg, a dedicated family man who is disgusted with the war and also the grisly acts committed by the Nazi regime, and he would be assisted by a cadre of senior military leaders. Von Stauffenberg witnessed first hand the cost of war where in Africa he lost his an eye and a hand to allied bombing raids and he is determined that his beloved Germany would not suffer such a fate.

Like I said earlier Cruise is back to his best and when he is this good you just can’t take your eyes away from him. Forget all the couch hopping and Scientology crap and at the very core of it you have a damn good actor who is always engaging and here he is just simply blinding. I know that there isn’t a lot of love these days for Cruise with all his erratic behaviors and such but I seriously think that we have yet to see the best of Tom Cruise. He losing his box office appeal may indeed be the best thing to happen for him because now he is free to explore edgier material like this and hopefully there will be more to come from Tom Cruise the actor rather than the movie star.

This is also a return to form of sorts for Bryan Singer who got so much flake for the underwhelming Superman Returns and he has once again demonstrated he is best when dealing with suspenseful thrillers. Singer is a good director, of that there can be no doubt, but it is odd that somehow in his recent movies there is a distinct lack passion unlike say in movies like the first two Spiderman films where you could practically see the love Sam Raimi had for the character in every frame. Here he does invest in the characters and their ultimate fate but it still feels a bit cold, which is something he is going to have to work on in the future.

It’s always quite dangerous to base a movie on a real event because it tends to take away most of the suspense and anticipation especially if it is a well documented one like the one here and that is the principal problem I had with the film. While it was sporadically thrilling on the whole it felt more like a history lesson and less of the tragedy that it was. The one thing you can’t fault about the movie though is the extremely impressive supporting cast consisting of a veritable who’s who of European film talent. Tom Wilkinson stood out the most as the boorish Gen. Fromm, Bill Nighly as the sympathetic Gen. Olbricht and Terence Stamp as Ludwig Beck. It was slightly disappointing to see Carice von Houten to be so underused who was so great in another WW2 movie, The Black Book, and also it was odd that Kenneth Branagh would disappear so soon into the movie.

Valkyrie will not be a contender for the Oscars but that doesn’t mean it is entirely without merit because the events depicted here was an important act in history and it deserved to be told. It is also a showcase of how good Cruise is as a leading man and the range that he possesses. The film is extremely historically correct with some slight embellishment for dramatic purposes but overall Christopher McQuarrie has scripted an engaging if somewhat pedestrian movie about one of the biggest What if? events of our time.

The Spirit - Farcical

2008-12-29T13:54:00.005+08:00

Let me just preface this review by saying upfront that the nearest I got to reading The Spirit comic was looking at the cover of the collection in Borders bookstores. I had never read it but have heard many good things about it but it was never high on my shopping list but I did remember the titular hero wearing a blue suit which meant they have changed it for the movie. I knew that the creator, Will Eisner, was a legend in the industry so I was pretty sure the source material must have at least been quite good and so I deduce that after watching the movie the blue suit was not the only thing Frank Miller changed for the movie. Quite frankly there really isn’t anything remotely even good about the movie aside from the eye candy.

Denny Colt is a rookie cop killed in the line of duty who has mysteriously returned to land of the living and in doing so have gained immortality and have taken up the duty to safeguard his beloved city. Meanwhile his nemesis, The Octopus, is busily tracking down an unknown item that will turn him into a god and together with his sidekick, Silken Floss, they attempt to get it back from the beautiful thief that is Sand Saref. Sand also has a history that is tied to the city as well as to Denny who is also trying to track down the said item with the help of Commissioner Dolan and another idealistic officer, Morgenstern.

The very first thing that will occur to you is that the movie looks awfully like Sin City and that’s because the director here Frank Miller also co-directed that movie but more importantly created the said look through his award winning graphic novel. I find it very odd that while he demanded such literal translation for his work he has decided to completely ditch the original look of The Spirit. But that in it self is not the problem with the movie because design and cinematography is about the only good thing in the film. It is basically an extension of what we got in Sin City with a bit more color added in to the palette. Even in this department there are some missteps like the underwater scene with Eva Mendes which just looked odd but given how the movie turned out I’m willing to let it slide.

The worst aspect of the film has to be the ridiculous plot and the horrendous dialog because I sincerely think that never has they been so much rubbish been spew on screen. The laughable dialog is just so cringe inducing that you will yearn for nails on a chalkboard and if that isn’t bad enough the sheer amount of it really pushes it into the fiasco territory. Seriously I have never heard such stupid dialog being uttered and this coming from a huge fan of b movies and connoisseur of camp. Compliments to the actors for managing to get through it somehow with a straight face albeit not with their reputation intact because I seriously think that some of the people involved in this movie might get some serious blowback namely one Mr Frank Miller.

I happily lay all the blame for this fiasco, not to mention my wasted ticket money, squarely on his door steps because as the scriptwriter/director he can hardly blame others for the direction that the movie took. Whereas the whole stylized black and white look worked for Sin City because of the hard boiled story, here it just looks jarring given how campy the script was shooting for. As a scriptwriter you must allow for the actors to work their magic in conveying the message with their actions and not have them describe every action down to every detail. This is clearly the mark of an inexperienced writer and also director because despite having such a huge cast they aren’t really given much to do except posturing and uttering these stupid lines. Even though the source material was a comic it doesn’t mean that all the characters have to be cardboard characters who all conform to some sort of stereotype and if the Dark Knight and Spiderman has taught us anything, comics provide some of the best source for serious exploration of personalities.

I really feel sad for some of actors involved especially Gabriel Macht because this was supposed to be his big break and while I’m not familiar with his work he did show enough quality here to suggest he deserves better. His Denny Colt always seems to have a grin and a charm about him that almost made him believable with the keyword being almost. Coming out worst of all has to be Samuel L Jackson who seemed to have completely lost the plot and overacted to a degree not seen since John Travolta in Battlefield Earth. Eva Mendes at least have something to do other than showing her big ass, which she does constantly, but the same can’t be said for the rest of ladies involved. Jaime King was ridiculous as Lorelei, the angel of death, with most of her scenes consisting of close ups. Paz Vega was ridiculous as the ridiculously named Plaster of Paris, an ‘expert’ who spoke French with a Spanish accent. Scarlet Johansson just seemed bored and it really did looked like she knew the movie was going to bomb big timed.

If anything for me this movie is a justification for me and my believe that Frank Miller is completely over the hill and while I think Sin City and 300, the comics, was good I do think he is extremely over rated. His ego seemed to have grown exponentially when Sin City was released and this will hopefully serve as a timely reminder for him not to buy into his own hype. As it is The Spirit is a joke and a fiasco of the higher order which in one stroke may have ended the Hollywood career of Frank Miller, perhaps deservedly so.

Ip Man - It Really Is That Damn Good

2008-12-22T14:37:00.005+08:00

To say that the HK movie industry is in the doldrums would only be stating the obvious and also a huge understatement. There are many causes for this and piracy being the obvious culprit but in my opinion the root cause goes much deeper than that. For many year HK movies was characterized by its crazy frenetic pace and energy where anything goes which was so perfectly captured by John Woo and Jackie Chan among others and audience just responded to its mindlessness and in turn helped to make the stars of that time gain true international recognition. However as the 80’s gave way to the 90’s so did the taste of the audience, who fed on a diet of Hollywood blockbuster, begin to demand better local fare but faced with a dwindling market and talent drain the studios responded the only way they knew how which was to produce cheap knock offs of their western counterparts. With an ever decreasing talent pool and with no improved infrastructure to cultivate new talent the outlook is looking increasingly bleak it is no wonder that most movies from the territory resemble recycled or rehashed tv dinners. All this however have nothing to do with Ip Man which is perhaps one of the best movies to come out of HK since God knows when.

Pre WW2 Fo San is a thriving metropolis famous for its martial arts clubs but its most famous exponent has decided not to have any disciples but that doesn’t stop any up and comers from coming to challenge him in the hope of making a name for himself. The doting family man constantly finds it difficult to balance the requirements of marriage and his love for the art. All this however comes to an abrupt end when the Japanese invades China and reduce the population to one of abject poverty and the only way to survive is through the most basic of manual labor. The general in charge of Fo San is interested in the art of fighting and constantly arrange for fights between the Chinese and his Japanese soldiers in return for rice. It is in one of these fights that Ip Man discovers his true calling to provide the downtrodden a hope for the future.

For those of us who have been yearning for some good actual martial arts fight scene you will not be disappointed because there is none of the wire hanging posturing crap we have been fed so much of lately. A credit to the guys behind the scene for doing a great job in making the fight look and feel every bit the way it was supposed to be. A slight disappointment was the end fight which was clearly lopsided but by then most would already have had their adrenaline fix. I was so worried going in that they would pull a Zhang Yimao on us and go all pretentious. I have always liked Donnie Yen and always felt he was underrated during the Jackie Chan/Jet Li days and this movie again proves that if given enough screen time and a relatively good script he can more than hold his own. Not since SPL have we had something like this which is pure unadulterated kick assness as its best and it makes no apologies about it.

The best thing about the movie is that for the most part it manages to stay far away from the cornier side of things that movies of these sorts invariably tend to gravitate towards. While I certainly think it is one of the better HK film this year that really isn’t saying much and Ip Man could also certainly have been helped with a better and tighter script. There are too many sub plots like Simon Yam’s that could certainly have been tighten as opposed to being felt like an after thought. After sitting though the disappointment of Flash Point and the utterly horrendous Painted Skin this is return to form for Donnie Yan and also director Wilson Yip which both manages to be a great tribute to the man behind the legend but also as a successful reminder of what HK cinema could be.

Quantum of Solace - A Flashy Disappointment

2008-11-07T01:10:00.003+08:00

I think it’s fair to say that almost everyone of us were surprised with how good Casino Royale turned out given all the bad publicity that preceded it, chief among them the controversial decision to cast what some have called the ugliest Bond ever, Daniel Craig. What made Royale successful was how it managed to make Bond relevant again by reclaiming the stylishness of the franchise while imbuing him with a raw edge that often bordered on being thuggish. It introduced us to a young Bond who was just about to start his journey to become the super spy that thrilled the sixties to the eighties and Quantum of Solace is supposed to show the continued evolution of the character. Well, I’m sad to report that not only have Bond not evolved the rate of his degeneration is downright alarming.

Quantum picks up an hour after Royale ends, with Bond on the run from the henchmen of Mr White, with the said gentleman in his car boot. Bond then brings him to a safe house in Italy where M and other agents are waiting to question him about the organization that he is part of. It turns out that the organization has already infiltrated MI6 and it manages to get White out. Bond goes on the hunt and the tracks lead him to Haiti where he meets the beautiful Camille and more importantly to Dominic Greene, the head of a eco friendly conglomerate called Planet Green. It turns out Planet Green is only a front for the Quantum organization, which is made up of some of the most powerful people in the world, that is organizing the political takeover of Bolivia as part of a more insidious overall plan.

While I do admit to being happily surprised by Royale I always thought of it as an action movie first and a Bond movie second simply because it lacked the playfulness that characterized the franchise and also the focus being on hard and gritty realistic action. In Quantum that distinction is even more apparent with Bond being thrown into one elaborate action set piece, granted some are very exciting set pieces, after the other in his unrelenting mission to avenge the death of Vesper. The set pieces and in particular the opening sequence is often very good and I don’t think any action junkie will go wanting but the sheer number of them that are included makes any form of characterization or emotional development extremely difficult. I find it difficult to understand why the producers decided on such a short runtime and not allow the character to grow a bit, not to mention for the viewer to take a breather, which would have greatly enhanced the movie. The focus is to get the action looking gritty and realistic but it’s gotten to the point where it may just become a caricature of itself with some of the stunts beginning to seem extremely unbelievable. With all the grittiness the greats suits he wear seems highly out of place and they may as well just put him in jeans and t-shirts for the whole of the next movie.

I did like the fact that M was very much involved in this outing and her interactions with Bond was the only avenue for him to show any form of emotions. Judi Dench as always owns whatever role she plays and its no different here with her M being the only anchor Bond has to the rest of the world and we begin to see her becoming increasingly loyal to him. Daniel Craig gets to show off some nifty fight moves and also his increasingly buff physique but not much else which is a shame given what a promising start he had in Royale. Olga Kurylenko is fittingly sexy as the main Bond girl and she is at least given a relevant back story as opposed to being just swept along for the ride but hers’ isn’t a character that will leave a lasting impression. The one character I had fun watching was Mathieu Amalric’s Dominic Green who came across equal parts menacing, creepy and also cowardly and for some reason he reminded me of a creepy version of Jean Todt, with his odd stare and slimy smile. None of the supporting cast or returning characters are given anything to work with and they exist simply to move the plot along and if you didn't watch Royale you would not care if they lived or die.

The thing with Quantum is that it feels like a darker second act in a three part series much like how The Empire Strikes Back was and as it stands now the third act needs to tie up many loose ends to make this entry relevant. For the majority of 2 hours we see an angry Bond flying from one exotic location to another just to beat up some baddie, occasionally finding some spare time to bed the obligatory beauty, and it just seems a bit futile in the end with nothing really being resolved or advanced except for closure to Vesper’s act. Clearly the new Bond is being modeled after the Bourne series, right down to the shaky hand held camera angles, but I would hate to see it become an inferior copy of that franchise. Every chapter of the Bourne series manages to move the character further along on his quest to discover his identity and it always provided a satisfactory end until the next part but Bond here has failed in doing that. Quantum of Solace is a great action movie but by the standards of its predecessor it leaves a lot to be desired and I’m really hoping that the third act will somehow pull everything together and give us the Bond that we deserve.

Pineapple Express - The Little Film That Could

2008-11-01T14:54:00.004+08:00

4 months without a post is a long time and it isn’t like I haven’t been watching stuff, in fact I’ve been watching a shit load of stuff but just never felt like writing about it because a lot of what I had to say had already been written out there. “So why now?” I hear you ask, the answer my friend is through a combination of having a good movie to recommend and also having a few days off from work. I’m not entirely convinced that Judd Apatov is deserving of the hype he’s been getting because to me a lot of his movies are essentially the same thing and personally I think a lot of it are ‘inspired’ by old Kevin Smith movies. I did not find the 40 Year Old Virgin & Knocked Up to be all that great but I did like Forgetting Sarah Marshall (mainly because of Russell Brand) and Super Bad so it was very surprising that I found Pineapple Express to be refreshingly hilarious.

Dale Denton is a slacker pothead who works as a process server which means he serves subpoena to people but all the while dreaming of becoming a radio DJ. The main reason he loves his job is because of all the free time he gets smoking pot which he gets from Saul, his drug dealer, who dreams of becoming a civil engineer and claims to only be selling drugs so that he can put his grandma in a better home. One day Saul introduces Dale to the latest crème of marijuana, The Pineapple Express, which he has the exclusive rights to sell. On a watch at his latest case, to subpoena someone named Ted Jones, Dale lights up a joint as he watches a police car pull up and a lady cop runs into Jones’s house. He watches in horror as Jones and the cop kill an Asian man and as he flees Dales drops the joint he was smoking. It turns out that Jones is the source of the pot and it doesn’t take long for Saul and Dale to realize that they are going to be in a whole world of pain very soon so they decide to make a run for it.

First off this is not a movie that seeks to reinvent the wheel but what it is is a damn good example of a comedy with heart much like what There’s Something About Mary was. At the core of it is the relationship between Saul and Dale and also to an extent Red, Saul’s middleman with Jones. Dale had always viewed Saul solely as a source but Saul felt they had a connection, not in a gay way, and as both get deeper into trouble they are surprised by the things they are willing to do for each other. Seth Rogen gives a good performance as the slacker and emotionally immature Dale who is a basically a good guy but it is James Franco who steals the show. In a role that is a radical departure from all his previous pretty boy roles Franco is damn convincing as the perpetually stoned drug dealer with a heart of gold. I had always thought of him more of a poser than an actor because he was always playing the same anguished angry at the world character epitomized by Harry Osborn in the Spiderman franchise so I’m glad to be surprised to see that there is another level to his acting ability. Rounding out the trio is Danny McBride as Red the middleman who starts off being impartial to fate of our heroic duo but comes to see what a dick he has become and seeks redemption. I think this guy is great in small roles, like his turn in Tropic Thunder, but I’m undecided if he should be given a larger role but what he does here is laugh out loud hilarious including a wacky fight scene with the guys.

The story is nothing to shout about but the witty camaraderie between the guys is funny as hell and a couple of smaller subplot also adds some depth to the movie and offers a funny distraction from the main plot like the one involving Dale’s teenage girlfriend and her family, the make-up scene is particularly good. Rosie Perez and Gary Cole are under utilized as the crooked cop and drug czar respectively but they do provide a good pay off when they buy the farm as does Craig Robinson and Kevin Corrigan as two bumbling hitmans. Pineapple Express is a small little movie that is both funny and crass but what sets it apart from other similar fares is the heart that it possesses as well as good performances from its cast and a great one from James Franco.

Hancock - Ugly and Unnecessary

2008-07-14T12:09:00.005+08:00

I can often accurately judge the quality of a movie by the trailer itself except in the rare cases like Silent Hill, which looks so true to the game but had such a blah story, and I love it when a movie manages to surprise me. My initial reaction to the trailer for Hancock was decidedly lackluster with nothing much managing to stir any interest in me especially as it seemed that there wasn’t any interesting villain to play off from, and sad to say except for one or two laughs Hancock really is a very bland and completely derivative summer action movie that is completely lacking in any sort of heart. What we get on screen is a horribly paced and just plain ugly effort that is really a waste of everybody's time.

Hancock is an alcoholic amnesiac superhero who tries to fight the good fight but his often controversial decisions and total disregard of manners make him almost as bad as the criminals he fights in the public’s opinion. That is until he saves the life of Ray Embrey, an uncharacteristically positive PR agent, who decides to give Hancock a major PR make over. Beyond that Ray has embraced Hancock into his personal live much to the irritation of his wife but to the delight of his son. To make the world realize how much it needs Hancock, Ray convinces him to voluntarily surrender to the authorities and it is only a matter of time before crime starts to overflow and they begin calling for his release which is exactly what happens. Suddenly the world is embracing the newly PC Hancock and he is perhaps at peace with himself except for a strange attraction to Ray’s wife and her often odd behavior around him.

There are so many things wrong with the movie that it is difficult to begin but at it’s core there is an interesting idea that could have been developed especially his back story but all that is sacrificed for the sake of some uninspired and quite simply awful action sequences. I have watched almost all off Peter Berg’s movies because he always manages to land movies with some interesting angle but every time I have left thinking how much better the movie would be all the way from The Rundown to The Kingdom and its exactly the same this time around. For some reason he seems unable to decide what sort of movie he is making here because while the movie is PG13 it has some extremely dark thoughts running through it and the choice of cinematography is particularly jarring. His decision to go shaky handheld style is simply not on for a superhero action movie as it makes it extremely difficult to follow the proceedings or maybe it’s just done badly here because when you look at the Bourne series it just seems natural. For the life of me I can’t understand why Michael Mann has take Berg to be his protégé because while he isn’t untalented he seems yet to have settled on a style of his own and all I see is just a mismatch of things that have come before him.

Story wise it does look as if the studio have had a hand in changing some key elements because I do not think that the script as it is would have been green lighted as a summer tent pole movie. Quite simply there really isn’t much of a story with most of the interesting bits being only explanations and referenced to and the twist when it does come is hardly surprising at all. Charlize Theron must have accepted this movie simply because Smith was in it and/or the money because it is a role that is so woefully underwritten. It makes no sense to sign her and then relegating her to the sidelines for much of the movie only for her to be integral to the last act of the movie. Another thing that grated me was how bad the CG was for the movie because I haven’t seen such shoddy CG in a summer blockbuster in a long time which is extremely surprising given the budget and talent involved.

Will Smith may be the biggest star in world at the moment but if he continues on this path of selecting interesting movie ideas and then dumbing it down for the mass market his career is bound to go the way of the dodo sooner rather than later. For a star to be so bankable for his personality it is indeed odd that he has consistently managed to pick characters that are little more than cut-out paper thin characters that lack anything resembling in personality. Looking back on his recent forays, while they have been commercially extremely successful, I dare anyone to tell me that the characters he plays in I Am Legend, I Robot and Hitch are even remotely interesting and engaging and when you compare to his earlier fares like MIB and even the Bad Boys series then the comparison becomes even more jarring. Still I guess it would be impossible for the Hollywood machine to change the formula when his opening weekends often always returns the entire budget for the movie itself but it guess it doesn’t hurt to hope and pray for a miracle. The likelier scenario is that he will only begin taking risks when his commercial star starts to wane which based on the current trajectory should begin 2 pictures down the road and then perhaps we will see a return to form for the former Prince of Bel Air.

Doomsday - A Blood Drenched Homage

2008-06-28T18:07:00.003+08:00

A name makes all the difference in the world, especially in Hollywood, with Doomsday as a case in point. A gory, violent throwback movie to the silliness that was the 70’s action genre was released last year to rave review but that movie was not called Doomsday instead it was called Grindhouse and it featured two of the highest profile directors in the world, Tarantino and Rodriguez. Fast forward a year and another similarly violent and silly picture was released and it was condemned as thrash and consigned to garbage heap. This is in spite of the fact that it is clearly a better made movie but it did have the handicap of having a solid director in Neil Marshall who had earlier released two gory classic in The Descent and Dog Soldiers but clearly lacking in the name game.

In the near future a violent and deadly virus is spreading in Scotland and with no cure in sight the British decides to cordoned off the entire country with a huge wall erected to keep anyone from coming out. Fast forward 30 years and the virus have found its way into the perfect melting pot that is London. It has however been discovered that there are survivors in Scotland and with them a possible cure for the virus so they decide to send a military team lead by Major Eden Sinclair over to search and obtain any survivors. Sinclair is herself an escapee from the original epidemic with her mother sacrificing herself to get her out in time before they were left to die and she has never given up hope that she will discover her origin. The only clue given to the team is that they should search for Dr Marcus Kane who was leading the research for the cure at the time of evacuation. When they do get in what they find is a world that has degenerated into a primitive and brutal culture where cannibalism and sadism goes hand in hand.

Lets just get the obvious out of the way first: this is just a balls out over the top insane movie that is just the most fun you will ever find in the cinema but yet at the same time this is loving homage to the all those that has come before. Clearly the two biggest influence on the movie are Mad Max and Escape from New York with a sprinkling of The Warriors thrown in for good measure. I am one of those who just love Snake Plisken and his world and I was horrified when they announced they were going to remake it but here is an example of how to make it right. The reference to Snake is everywhere from the opening graphics on the isolation of Scotland to the loss of eye for Eden and clearly the bad ass nature of the protagonist. I really salute Neil Marshall for having the guts to really go out and make such an un-Hollywood movie and reviving the spirit that John Carpenter championed for much of the 80’s.

The performances for the most part are only adequate and most of the characters are of the one dimensional nature except for Eden but it doesn’t really matter because the movie is clearly about her and her mission. Rhona Mitra has done a good job balancing the sexiness and toughness of the character by which I mean while she is clearly a beautiful specimen it is her toughness that comes to the fore. It is not going to be easy for anyone to step in for Snake and when it’s a woman it makes it that much more difficult but she succeeds by displaying some real gutsy moves and to be honest she really looks the part so the choreography must have been really great.

The best part of the movie is the amount of gore and deaths on screen and the blood letting literally starts from the very beginning to the very end but funnily despite the huge amount of gore I didn’t find it gratuitous. The deaths needed to happen because in this particular world it needed to happen and I for one loved every minute of it. The entire selection of deaths is quite literally a how to kill list from decapitation to suicide to being eaten alive. Whatever faults the movie may have and there are plenty, from the phoned in performance from Malcolm Macdowell to the clunky dialogue and improbable car chase, you must accept it in the spirit that the movie was meant to be taken in and that’s just to have the most exhilarating fun you can have at the movies. At this moment in time Neil Marshall is a name that can yet command instant good reviews but you can bet it will only be a matter of time before all critics bow at the altar for one of the most gifted directors of our times.

Indiana Jones IV AKA The One Where Indy Lost His Groove

2008-05-25T23:15:00.006+08:00

I remember last year as I was suffering through National Treasure 2 I kept thinking what a pale imitation it was to an Indiana Jones movie but now after sitting through the latest adventure by Dr Jones I am not sure if that statement still holds true. Apart from the Star Wars movie I think no other movie left more of a mark on me as I was growing up and while the specifics were great it was the overall sense of adventure and magic that I remembered from those movies that would inspire all manners of wondrous flights of fantasy. It was without a doubt the reason I grew up loving history and everything related to mysteries of the past. Suffice to say when it comes to matters like this I went into the cinema with equal amounts of boyish anticipation and apocalyptic dread but to be honest nothing could ever have matched up to the anticipation but to fall so far is a travesty.

Indiana Jones and his partner Mac have been kidnapped by the Russians to infiltrate a US military base in Kansas to search for the remnant of a UFO crash site that may hold the key to unlocking an ancient lost power. The Russians are led by the enigmatic Dr Irina Spalko who heads a shadowy division of the KGB in discovering secrets of the paranormal. Subsequently it turns out that Mac is a traitor which puts Indy in the line of fire of the FBI which at that politically charge time was leading a witch hunt for all things related to communism. Indy is subsequently fired from his tenure and he is on his way to Europe when he is confronted by a young man who brings bad news in regards to an old acquaintance who might be in big problems. This forces Indy to break out the whip and the fedora once again which will lead him to the jungles of South America and to the fabled city of gold, El Dorado. However what will be waiting for him there will be more than earthly treasure and he must stop Irina from getting the ultimate prize of the ancient civilizations.

It must be said that while he has indeed aged Harrison Ford still makes a good Indy and the blame for the movies’ weaknesses should not be on his head. He still manages to make Indy come across as the everyday man who does extraordinary things simply because he has to do it and that was always the attraction of Indy. Here was this scholarly Professor who could alternate between outrunning a giant rolling boulder and going toe to toe with Nazi soldiers without missing a heartbeat. In many ways it gave us hope, hope that even us average Joes could be the hero and also proving that being smart doesn’t automatically make you a geek. I also quite like the character of Irina Spalko and it really seemed like Cate Blanchett was really having a good time hamming it up and perhaps beside Ford she is the only one who seems to understand the true spirit of the franchise. It is true that her character is not truly believable or relatable in a real sense but she brought a lot of flair and uniqueness to the film before her character was discarded half way through the film for the sake of CG set pieces. Sad to say in my opinion theirs is the only reputation that comes out intact, both in front and behind the cameras.

In terms of character I really hated Shia’s character and I for one really fail to see why there is such a big push for him in Hollywood. In none of the movies he has been in have I seen anything to suggest that he has what it takes to be a credible leading man and that list includes Disturbia and Transformers, both movies where the critics have raved about his performances. I really don’t buy into the character of Mutt Williams simply because he looks nothing like a tough guy/grease monkey despite his best attempts to act tough and the fact that they modeled his introduction to Marlon Brando’s The Wild One is laughable and makes him look even more foolish. He has neither the persona or the looks to stand anywhere near Marlon Brando or even Fonzie for that matter to make one believe that Mutt is anywhere near the tough guy he clearly thinks he is. Karen Allen was another that was given too little to play with even though her coming back to the franchise was one of the biggest thing and it just felt like a gimmicky thing to do. Ray Winstone seemed a good fit to be the double crossing Mac but his character just jumped in and out of the show far too often to really make an impact on the proceedings and as such it was another wasted opportunity.

The script is where I have the most problems with because in certain parts this truly felt like an Indy movie but for the majority of the screen time it felt more like Indy lite. There were scenes that reminded us why we loved the franchise so much but those are few and far between and being overshadowed by some juvenile jokes and impossible scenarios. Some of the set pieces were great to see and I especially like the opening set piece in the warehouse which was a great fit for the character but even that scene is spoiled somewhat by the ridiculous manner in which he escaped (honestly in a fridge from a mushroom cloud?) and that’s what you get with the movie, lots of good and encouraging build up being let down by lazy and just outright laughable resolutions. The whole car chase scene that was featured so prominently in the trailer was very well done until they decided to make Mutt into Tarzan which more or less ruined it for me. Even the scripting process seemed to suffer from ADD with multiple plot lines started but discarded midway through like the whole Indy being branded a communist which was never resolved. Some of the many set pieces just felt like an afterthought like the whole graveyard fight scenes which didn’t advance anything and even to a certain extent the whole quicksand scene as well.

I was extremely disappointed by the fact that so much of the movie was shot in green screen because all along in the franchise the location settings or even studio lots worked so much more effectively in bringing a real sense of danger and believability to the proceedings. And to be brutally honest some of the CG effects weren’t really that well shot as well. I know I am being a real downer in this review but to put things into perspective the movie is still good fun for a summer movie but just do not expect it to reach the heights of what has come before. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Steven Spielberg seems to have stop progressing as a director and there are hardly any real stand out moments in the movie and I think the last really good movie from him was the much underrated Minority Report. Indiana Jones has returned for one last fling and at the very least we should be happy for that but it would have been better if the whole movie didn’t feel like one long goodbye.

Speed Racer - A Contrarian View

2008-05-13T14:35:00.004+08:00

By now everyone would know that Speed Racer has crashed and burned at the box office and also the reviews have been decidedly negative but let me just say that I for one did not hate it and given the right expectations and proper perspective I think the movie is absolutely spot on. The Wachowskis have said earlier that they were aiming for a sort of “Living Cartoon” and on that basis they have hit the mark completely and that is the only way for you to approach the movie to fully enjoy the absurdities in Speed Racer. The funny thing about Speed Racer is that it is never that much about racing and more about the bonds of families in overcoming adversities.

Speed Racer is a racing fanatic born to a racing family where the dad owns a racing team in which his brother is the star driver. Speed literally only knows about racing because he can hardly concentrate on anything else and therefore idolizes his brother for the things he can do on the track. However his brother decides to join a conglomerate racing team and is turned into a hatchet man for the team and subsequently loses his live in the cutthroat world of off track racing. Speed is now the star driver but he has never forgotten his brother but history repeats itself because Royalton Industries, one of the largest companies in the world, have taken notice of his exploits and are keen to add him to their roster of trophy winning drivers. Royalton (Roger Allam) is a slimy and conniving bastard that pours on the charm when needed but is ruthless as hell when it suits him that offers Speed the ultimatum of joining him or risk losing everything. He also informs Speed that everything in the world of racing is predetermined and that is nothing any outsider can do to change the system.

Speed decides to turn the offer down and things immediately go wrong for him and his family but he is approached by Inspector Detector to assist him in discovering the fraud and manipulation being done by Royalton. Together with a mysterious racer named Racer X, who could be Speed’s long lost brother, and Taega Togokhan, they participate in the most dangerous race of them all, The Crucible, to gain entry into the season ending Grand Prix.

The first thing when talking about Speed Racer will have to be the visual effects because it is quite unlike anything you have ever seen with a palette of colors so rich that it would make Willy Wonka look like a funeral procession. The eye candy is a real feast for the visual and it would be a travesty to miss this work of art at the cinema but a word of caution for those who can’t stand fast moving colors on screen you might want to give this a miss because you’re liable to have an epileptic fit. It would not be a stretch to call this a living breathing cartoon world and everything is designed in that retro futuristic mold that would be familiar to anime aficionados and particularly to players of Space Channel 5. Everything in the movie was filmed on green screen like Sky Captain which offered the Wachowskis a chance to go crazy and they happily obliged by delivering one of the wildest creation this side of The Fifth Element. The races themselves were fantastic even though it didn’t offer any sense of perspective or based on any physics laws but I felt they were very well done and most importantly fun and especially the first race was a bit more poignant because of the lost brother angle. For the most part cars slip and slide and even go up the face of cliffs with no thoughts given to that little thing called gravity and that’s ok because lets remember that this is a cartoon and they can get away with things like that.

From reading the reviews some of the main complaints are about the cheesy dialogue, infantile humour involving Speed’s younger brother and lack of characterization but if you sit and think back to those Saturday morning cartoons you used to love didn’t they have all the above drawbacks. In many ways the Wachowskis really have made a live action anime, which are usually characterized by oddly timed often times childish behavior, warts and all and I guess the argument can be made that they should have polished it up for the big screen but a couple of moments aside I think generally the movie did alright. I’m not a big fan of Sprittle and his monkey but generally I didn’t find them too annoying but I really hated the ninja scene and I thought that was the one scene they could have done better or done without. The dialogue is corny but like I said if you go into the movie with the correct mindset the dialogue works very well especially the scenes with the commentators which are really reminiscent of the cartoon shows. Another point about dialogue is that some of the quieter moments especially with Susan Sarandon are quite well done and I think in anybody else’s hand the hold thing would fall flat but I think she sold it really well.

There were a lot of complaints on the performances of the actors but I think they all cave a good account of themselves especially John Goodman as the caring Pops and Christina Ricci as the loving girlfriend Trixie, it must be said that Ricci has the perfect face and eyes for an anime role and it was a shame her role was relatively small. In many ways the family dynamics are very similar to the wholesome values of those found in Archie Comics and that’s a very rare thing these days. A couple of complaint I do have is mainly about the back story which I think is slightly convoluted and may be too much for its intended age group and also about the reasoning for the continued secrecy of Racer X. I remember how excited I was when word first came out that the Wachowskis were aiming for a whole new look with Speed Racer, because everyone has seen how good The Matrix looks even though the story suffered at the end, but I was quite deflated by the trailers which looked like an advertisement for Hot Wheels which lead me to have very low expectations about the movie. And maybe to enjoy the movie you need to go in with low expectations and be prepared to be surprised by something that you have never really seen before. Speed Racer is by no means a great film but what it is is a fantastic visual feast for the senses that if you give it a chance will grow on you.

Iron Man - Summer Has Begun

2008-05-09T15:37:00.005+08:00

Starting a new post has always been the most difficult part for me when it comes to blogging and it has caused countless delays of reviews that should have been up much earlier much like this one for Iron Man, which I say a week ago but couldn’t find the opening for, but I think in this case it is a good thing. If I had written this piece then I am sure it would have had sunshine coming out of its ass because the movie experience was such a high but having left it to gestate for a little while you start to think a bit more reasonably and some of the flaws are a little more apparent . Iron Man is without a doubt one of the better action movies we have had in a long time, and not just a comic related movie, but it does suffers from some scripting and story weaknesses which are plastered over by the incredible performance of the man of the hour, Robert Downey Jr.

Industrialist Tony Stark is the toast of America because he is not only a much in demand weapons manufacturer but a also a flamboyant millionaire playboy who is prone to witty one liners and showboating it in the media. Things have always come easy for Stark since he is a born genius and he also inherited the vast fortune and multibillion dollar company left behind by his dad but things for him take a turn for the worse when he is abducted after the successful of launch of his company’s new missile for the US army in Afghanistan by a mysterious new group of terrorists called the Ten Rings. Their purpose is to have him develop the Jericho missile for their own nefarious use but Stark is injured in the attack and in order to continue living he is forced to come up with the design of a miniature arc reactor. Stark fools his captors by using this reactor to power a suit of armour he has secretly built to escape. On his return to the states Stark is filled with the moral conundrum that is faced by all weapon mongers, does he continue producing weapons that causes so much suffering or does he start channeling his efforts for better use? Of course the answer is the latter and he announces to the world that Stark industries will stop producing weapons but this doesn’t sit well with his long time business partner Obadiah Stane and his board of directors.

The main success factor for the movie has to be credited to the casting decision of Robert Downey Jr because it was just pitch perfect and helped to elevate the movie to another level. His deadpan expressions are worth the price of admission by itself and his delivery of the one liners are so natural that one wonders if any of it was ever scripted. His charm is what makes Tony Stark such a memorable character and despite being a womanizer and having an ego the size of Russia you cannot bring yourself to hating the man because it shines through almost immediately that there is a good person somewhere underneath all that bravado. It was so refreshing to see so much sunshine, figuratively and literally, in an action movie because most of them today are concerned with being overly gritty and going along the tortured soul lines as we will once again see when the Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight hits cinemas next month which is fine as long as it is well done but like I say it is just refreshing to see the sun sometimes. I like the fact that there are some real world sensibilities and the world being played around in is actually something we recognize unlike say Gotham City which helps ground the whole movie.

The action set pieces are often very enjoyable because there is always an element of fun to it which helps to keep the proceedings from becoming overly serious. I think the script has done a good job in balancing the quieter character moments with the whizz bang action scenes and I think that is very commendable in a summer movie targeted at attention deficit teenagers. In fact to be totally honest the quieter scenes are often more compelling because they really help Stark shine through as a genuine do-gooder and his relationship with his long suffering loyal assistant Pepper Potts is potentially a very interesting future development. That being said I think Gwyneth Paltrow’s role is far too small and serves more than a story toll rather than as a full fledged character but on the upside she is looking much more radiant these days but I guess having a baby or two will do that to you. What we have here of her is certainly only a teaser of what’s to come but it is an interesting and much welcomed teaser.

What is abundantly clear is that director Jon Favreau has a lot of love for the property and you see that is how lovingly he handles the character and the armour. Much like what Sam Raimi did for Spiderman, Jon has made Iron Man a true hero while at the same time making him a fun and relatable character. However what is clear is that Favreau doesn’t have the cinematic flair and eye for action that Raimi has because while most of the set pieces are entertaining they lack any real punch or innovation that really sets it apart. However having said that the armour is almost a character in itself and the design of the suit is certainly very slick and smart and I think the cg for the whole movie was very slick as well and there can be no complaint on that end. I did find the last act of the movie to have moved too fast towards the final showdown and it seemed a bit out of character for Obadiah Stane to act so recklessly when there was no need to do so. Speaking of Obadiah I think it was a great look for the normally Mr Nice Guy Jeff Bridges and it shows he has the ability to play a baddie for once but I do think his character is too thin to make an effective villain but for the first go at the character I think it will do for now.

In the final analysis there is very much to like in Marvels newest franchise and whatever short comings there may be is overcome by the fun and high energy proceedingsand as the opening act to the summer season it has certainly set the bar very high for the coming months. This truly is one for the ages as the movie has enough of everything to offer to everybody and in comparison with all other superhero movies I would placed it behind only to the first 2 installments of Spiderman, who won out due to better action set pieces and more rounded villains. Iron Man will undoubtedly make a killing at the box office and deservedly so because as a whole this is one very smart outing made by a crew who have seemingly poured a huge amount of love into this wonderful package.

Before Sunrise & Before Sunset : Simply Perfect

2008-04-24T11:42:00.003+08:00

I am not quite sure how to say this but during these past few weeks something truly unexpected and extremely refreshing happened to me, I have stumbled onto perhaps The greatest love story ever told on screen. Let me just say in advance that my predilection on love stories generally strays from the accepted path and when you see magazines tout their “movies to watch for Valentines” segment and other similar articles my preferences are guaranteed to be missing from the list. I really don’t have the patience to watch the main characters stumble through one impossible to believe obstacles after the other to finally come to the conclusion that they actually love each other, with the possible of Notting Hill and that’s only because of Spike, so now you know where I’m coming from therefore please accept the following review with that in mind. One thing I need to do before hand is to warn you about the spoilers because I couldn’t find a way to review the movie without revealing the ending of the first movie so stop reading if that’s going to be a problem and watch the movie first.

Jesse(Ethan Hawke) is a lonely American traveler in Europe and on his way to his last stop of Vienna to fly back he meets the beautiful Celine(Julie Delpy), a French girl returning to Paris after visiting her grandmother in Budapest. There is an immediate connection between the two and when the train arrives at Vienna Jesse proposes that they continue their conversation with an accompanying tour of the city. As he is flying out in the morning and doesn’t have the money for a hotel he proposes that they just roam the city until the morning where they’ll have to part. The ensuing hours are spent in deep conversation on every aspect of not just their lives but also their thoughts from religion to relationship, no matter how random and unconnected their thoughts may be. They agree that they shouldn’t exchange any form of contact details because usually people will only write and talk for a few times before they eventually stop. By morning both are absolutely and utterly madly in love but because of the situation they only decide to meet back at that very train station six months later and it is with that that they part.

It is 9 years later and Jesse has written a best seller about the events of that night and he is doing a book tour in Paris. At the end of the session in Paris he sees Celine waiting for him and they decide to go and have coffee to reminisce about their last meeting and it becomes clear to the audience that they never got to meet after parting on the train station. Jesse is now married with a daughter and Celine has gone on to be a crusader for both social and environmental causes and is now attached to a war photojournalist. But as the day wears on what is abundantly clear is that they are both madly in love with each other and were it not for their naivety their first meeting would have blossomed into something beautiful. 0uch like their first meeting they spend the time touring the city and sharing all manner of conversations on every conceivable topic that pops into their head. Before long it is time once again for them to decide on what course their relationship should take.

At times through the movie I am flabbergasted as to how authentic everything feels and looks because the leads have given a tremendously honest and sensitive performance that have somehow been ignored by the general public. It is for me the perfect way to fall in love. You meet an attractive person who turns out to be your soul mate who can challenge you intellectually but at the same time be comfortable enough to share all your most inspiring or ridiculous thoughts openly without fear of looking like an idiot. When all you have is one day I guess it makes everything in life that more precious and you begin to feel a heightened sense of your surroundings including the people that matters to you which makes the movie so much more powerful. When I first read the synopsis I knew it was good idea provided it was done the right way with the right people involved which is exactly what we have in these 2 movies. I read on the web that the director/writer Richard Linkletter based the story on a similar event that happened to him and it really shows through by how honest the movie is.

Of the two Jesse is clearly the more romantic one but because of what has just happened to him prior to meeting Celine he attempts to seem more cynical but his eagerness and willingness to embrace the possibility that this is the one true love of his life betrays his attempt to hide his sensitive side. Early on in the first movie he is the typical young underachiever who has just had another setback and he is looking to get out of there as quick as possible. As we get more and more into the movie you can see that he is beginning to see things differently and perhaps for once life was giving him a break but sadly he wasn’t brave enough to grab hold of it. When we see him again in the second movie it is clear that Jesse has been weighed down by life and he is living an unhappy sham of a marriage and the only thing that gives him pleasure is the memory of that night and that is why he has chosen to write the book. It was his only way to relief the memory without feeling guilty about it but also as a subconscious way to look for Celine. The way his face lights up when he sees Celine says it all about his feelings for her and the ending was never really in doubt from that moment on.

Celine on the other hand is the more idealistic of the two as seen in her devotion to her causes like feminism which she has obviously invested a lot of thoughts into and some of her ideas are quite amusing. She is a brave soul who isn’t afraid of saying what’s on her mind and also of following her heart as her little soirée into Vienna shows and in the first movie she is much younger and more naïve but also very much headstrong . In the second she is wearier of the world but still manages to maintain a strong idealist streak. I love that she is this strong and opinioned woman who is aware of her vulnerabilities which makes her so much more believable as a human being.

I do not think that in any other movie you will get the chance to understand a character so completely because in the course of 90 minutes you get to hear them talk about almost all their thoughts, things that perhaps we wouldn’t utter in real life for fear of ridicule, and that is where the movie really shines. The movie is such a gentle and loving movie that is truly rare in the world today where even love stories often features some sort of villainy or adversaries but here it is just two people connecting on a very deep level. The incredible sadness of the first movie was just heartbreaking despite there being a silver lining and the great joy that I felt at the end of the second says it all for me and if it doesn’t do it for you I think you should immediately go find your pulse. There are many great love stories out there, Casablanca and Chasing Amy (hey it’s my blog and I get to say whatever I want) spring to mind, but I have no doubt and no reservations whatsoever to say that when they are watched as a whole these two movies is The Most Romantic Movie Ever and everyone should watch it at least once in their life time.

Street Kings - Almost Believable

2008-04-13T18:21:00.006+08:00

If there are any irrefutable truths out there it would be that men as a species love to dig up dirt and the dirtier it is the better preferably on those who are supposed to be whiter than white. While we may bemoan the lack of transparency and perceived abuses in the police force in real life, in reel life however is an entirely different case. We love to see the boys in blues acting like thugs and the guys in Hollywood in turn love churning it out, to variable degrees of success it has to be added. Street Kings is latest to reach our shores and it comes with a powerful cast in tow, both in front and behind the camera, but what is it that we often hear about there being too many chefs?

Tom Ludlow is a battle hardened detective in the Special Vice Unit headed by Captain Jack Wanders and he is the sort of guy who gets things done no matter the rules or consequences involved. For years Tom has been operating as a one man hit squad who takes out the bad guys and Jack is the one who cleans it up and they both bathe in the lime light. However things begin to get dicey when Tom’s ex-partner Terrence starts talking to Capt James Bigg, the head of IA, and after Tom’s latest unsanctioned bloodbath in Korea Town the heat is beginning to get real uncomfortable. When Tom goes to confront Terrence about his backstabbing activities Terrence is gunned in an apparent store robbery by 2 black guys which leaves Tom in a very precarious position. Tom’s part in the killing is changed and the investigating detective leaves out the details as to why he was there in the first place but Tom is adamant about finding the people responsible for the killing despite numerous appeals by his captain to stay put. As he begins to dig and pound his way to the truth he starts to see things in a different manner and those he calls friends are not what they may look like. His investigations will take him from the cops to the streets and back to the cops again and there will be hell to pay and blood to be spilt long before the bloody conclusion.

Reading the synopsis of Street Kings is like reading the synopsis for a dime a dozen movies about bad cops but when it is done by the right people the results can be great like LA Confidential and Training Day but more often than not it ends up being a generic lost episode of The Shield which is where this movie ends up being. Lets begin with the pedigree that is behind the movie, you have the director David Ayer who was the writer for both LA Confidential and Training Day, the writer James Ellroy is the noted crime fiction novelist who also wrote LA Confidential and then you have the great cast which consist of Academy Award best actor Forest Whitaker, Emmy Award best actor Hugh Laurie and then there is Keanu Reeves. If that is not a list for you to sit up and take notice I don’t know what will.

The acting here is not the problem with Keanu giving a hint that perhaps just maybe he has learned how to act and he turns in a slightly above average portrayal of a man with lots of shadows but it is still stretching it slightly to believe him as the hard son of a bitch character he is supposed to be. Physically he seems to have gotten into character by being more heavy set and looking more haggard but the prettiness still shines through. I cannot help but see him as the guy who dodges bullet in long black trench coats but I would say he has given one of his most convincing performances to date. Forest Whitaker is also good as the manipulative and charismatic Capt Wanders but Hugh Laurie is wasted as his nemesis as are many other good actors because one of the main problem is that none other are allowed to shine. Most of the characters are given short shift and never allowed to be developed, everyone is who they seem to be immediately and there are no real surprises to savor.

Which leads to biggest problem with the movie and that would be the story, nothing about it screams originality and the dialogue at times was unintentionally laughable. The final speech given by Wanders was so bad I couldn’t help myself from cringing which is a huge surprise considering the talent involved. Training Day is quite honestly one of the most memorable movie in the past decade and part of the appeal was it’s dialogue which was spot on, this is a guess because I have never been to a gang neighborhood in South LA my entire life, and the street talk was so believable you could quite easily envision those characters in real life. Street Kings however cannot pass that barrier which leaves it looking like someone playing at being cops and robbers.

The mood and feel of the movie is still quite commendable with the city looking and feeling like it should but the pacing is a bit off. I think with a tighter editing and a faster paced layout the movie would have been more engaging but as it is in parts the movie does tend to slow down too much which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if those moments added more to the story which isn’t the case here. As it stands Street Kings, despite some good performance, is a missed opportunity to present a fresh take on an evergreen concept but misses the mark because it lacks the most important ingredient needed to make a gritty crime movie engaging and that is believability.

An Empress and The Warriors - Half Baked

2008-03-23T18:37:00.004+08:00

As a rule of thumb I will never watch a Leon Lai movie simply because the man has never done a movie that has even been remotely credible but the line is slightly blurred when you throw in my favorite kung fu star Donnie Yen. At the moment Yen is the only one holding the fort for true kung fu action in an industry obsessed with pretty boys and girls playing at make believe and with no one on the horizon to pick up from him the future is indeed bleak for the genre that Bruce Lee built. The past few movies by Yen has been a mixed bag in terms of quality but the action had remained at a consistently brutal level so expectations for a medieval war movie starring Donnie Yen is understandably high.

The war between the kingdoms of Zhao and Yan is in full flow and the King of Yan is mortally wounded and brought back to camp. There he denotes that his adopted son and well respected general Yen to be his successor but upon his death his nephew Wu Ba, another powerful general, insist that he is the true successor. To get through the impasse Yen proposes that the princess, Kelly Chen take up the throne but she would first have to get through military training because the King had always been a male and a great warrior. Wu Ba plans his own ascension and his first step is to assassinate the Princess before she can finish the training but the princess escapes and is rescued by a hermit, Lai, who is more that he seems to be. During her recovery Lai teaches the princess the value of peace and the folly of war and in time she begins to fall for the weird medicine man. Duty however forces her to return and deal with the threat of the invading Zhao army which she manages to quell and at the same time establishing peace with them but her heart is set on returning to the forest to be with the hermit.

Let’s just go through what worked before we get to what didn’t and the first would be the costume and production values which are of the highest quality. If I’m not mistaken it’s done by the same person who did Curse of the Golden Flower which was another very well done movie cosmetically. All the armor features beautiful and intricate designs which lend a real air of majesty to the proceedings. Next would be …… err unfortunately that’s all that’s good because everything else is a mess.

The biggest disappointment for me would be the lack of any real action involving Yen and the only one on one scene he had in the movie was with Lai, who I’m pretty sure could wield a sword even if his life depended on it. The whole reason I paid to go to a cinema to watch a Donnie Yen movie is to see him lay a good smack down on the baddie and if I have that I am more than willing to forgive any plot contrivances or bad acting that are in the movie and believe me there are lots of those present in this movie. In fact I really do not see the point of him even being in this movie such is his role that any film school reject could easily have filled in. The plot of the movie is extremely simple but the execution is so badly done that you feel you are actually watching 2 movies, one a period war movie and the other being a cheesy and often cliché love story staring 2 of the blandest actors working today. Honestly the casting director should be fired immediately because whoever who thought that Kelly Chen could be an inspirational leader and fearsome warrior no less deserves to be banned from the industry immediately. Not only does she fails to come across as anything resembling a leader she also fails as being somebody in love, in fact she just fails to seem even remotely believable as a character. Do not even get me started with Leon Lai and just suffice to say the man maintains his standard, whatever they may be.

As if the acting wasn’t bad enough the script manages to bring the movie down another level with some of The most awful lines to be heard on screen. I dare anyone to not cringe in disgust when watching this pathetic attempt at a love story and nearest example I can think of are the love scenes in Star Wars Episode 2. The story is also extremely convenient because people travel on horseback through vast area of land to do absolutely nothing and also the whole hot air balloon thing is just ludicrous. The whole back story of the Moon Warriors is also pitifully funny, the story of the kingdoms uniting to destroy the greatest threat and then for the it to be treated like a long lost forgotten secret is believable except for the fact that the last surviving Moon Warrior is the same age as when they were supposed to be destroyed so how can people not have remembered the event. It really is a trying time for the Hong Kong movie industry and if these are the standards then it is only a matter of time before we witness the end of a once thriving empire.

The Mist - Widly Entertaining

2008-03-20T12:42:00.003+08:00

I just love monster movies. There I have said it. Nothing makes me happier than the release of a new monster movie despite the outcome being that I almost always leave the cinema disappointed. There is something about seeing a huge monstrosity gobbling away on the often idiotic human characters that brings a smile to my face which I guess must also explain my fascination with National Geographic’s Built for the Kill series. I would go watch the worst reviewed movies just to look at the creatures, case in point 10000BC which I’m thinking of going to because of the sabretooths, but I always leave cursing the fact that there are very few movies that manages to meld great creature effects with a great story which is perplexing. Just imagine having a story that is able to crank up the tension before the payoff of the kill and also mix in a healthy dose of paranoia, wouldn’t that be great movie. Wait that’s actually Ridley Scott’s Alien but now at long last we can add Frank Darabont’s The Mist to that list.

The setup is simple enough with the residents of Brighton Maine waking up to a brutal storm. Among them are David Drayton and his family who discovers that the storm has left them with a smashed front window and a demolished boat house. He leaves for town with his young son, Billy, and also his not so friendly neighbor Brent, a hot shot lawyer from out of town, to get supplies help fix up the place. Once there the whole area is engulfed in a weird mist and people coming in from the mist are reporting people being attacked by something in the mist. The large group of people in the supermarket decides to stay in until it clears and among them are some soldiers from the nearby military base. Soon they discover that the vent for the supermarket’s generator is jammed from the outside and Norm the bagboy volunteers to go out to clear it despite the protestation from David. As soon as the shutters are opened Norm is attacked taken by some tentacles but there are some in the supermarket who doesn’t believe it lead by the arrogant Brent and they decide to leave to head to get help but are all killed immediately.

Meanwhile among the group is a religious zealot, Mrs Cormody, who believes that the events transpiring are the indications that the end of days has arrived and begins to preach the bible to the frightened crowd. Soon as their sanity and reasoning begins to frail and break she manages to convince then that she is a messenger from god and that they are to do her bidding which involves human sacrifice to please God and she has chosen Billy to be that sacrifice. At the same time we learn that the creatures could be the result of the military’s attempt at opening dimensional rifts to other universe and because of the guilt the soldiers decide to commit suicides. As the situation becomes more dire David and a small group decides to break out from the supermarket and try to get as far from the mist as possible but they not only have to worry about the monsters out ther but also Mrs Cormody and her blood thirsty horde inside.

The Mist is based on a short novella from Stephen King and it is one of the best adaptation of a horror story from King whose books have often been badly translated ie. Dreamcatcher. Not surprising considering that this is Frank Darabont’s third adaptation of a King book, the other 2 being The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, and if anything else it goes to show he has a deep understanding of the source material and how to faithfully translate the books without losing the cinematic feel needed to make it exciting. In less capable hands the movie may have just been some escapist fun and not a serious examination of fear itself and its effect on the human psyche which is exactly what happed to Alan Moore’s From Hell graphic novel which was this great study of Evil but became a second rate Jack The Ripper movie. This movie reminds me a lot about John Carpenter’s The Thing in that the tension and isolation is slowly built up and never allowed to be released with cheap scares until it reaches the breaking point and even then it continues to build even further.

Often in movies of these sort the characters are usually paper thin with the creature being the attraction but not here where every character is a fully developed human character no matter how short their screen time which is a great testament to the script writer. Thosmas Jane gives a credible performance as the hero of the movie but it is Marcia Gay Harden’s superb performance as the deranged and unhinged Mrs Cormody that really steals the show. Her monstrosity is every bit as chilling and scary as the creatures roaming the streets outside and she really brought a lot to the character and the proceedings and it is a wonder that she wasn’t at least nominated for a best supporting role when Ruby Dee could be nominated for a slap in American Gangster.

The creatures in the movie are some of the best cg and model work you will see in cinemas today and is a lot more inspired than the other more hyped but inferior Cloverfield. The design is in equal parts fascinating and revolting which is great for monster aficionados like me. The biggest talking point of the movie will be invariably The Ending and I don’t want to spoil it for you by analyzing it so all I will say is that it is a fitting ending that is both extremely heart breaking but also uplifting at the same time. If you still don’t get it by now The Mist is one of the best horror movies to come out in the past years and you would be doing a huge disservice to yourself by not watching.

My Blueberry Nights - Pretty but Unconvincing

2008-03-01T19:30:00.005+08:00

If you look at the column to the left you would have seen that My Blueberry Nights have been one of my most anticipated movies of last year but then again any new movie by Wong Kar Wai is a treat in itself. What made it extra special was the inclusion of Norah Jones in the leading role because I’m a huge fan of her, long before the Grammy wins, and I couldn’t wait for it to come out and as one A-list star after the other begin to join the movie the anticipation begin to get out of hand. Then of course came the premier of the movie at Cannes and we started to hear the first reaction to the movie and the mixed reaction was the first sign that that this was hardly the international breakthrough for the last truly talented filmmaker from Hong Kong yet to cross over to Hollywood.

My Blueberry Nights is about a Elizabeth, a heartbroken and lost soul who befriend a diner owner, Jeremy (Jude Law), and a connection is clearly made. However in order for her to truly get over her heartbreak she decides to travel as far away from New York as possible. On her journey she would encounter many characters of different background who would teach her the true meaning of being alone. As she waitresses her way through America she begins to see herself and her life in a whole new manner. All through her journey she keeps in touch with Jeremy via post cards but never staying long enough in one place for him to find her. Meanwhile Jeremy himself is coming to terms with who is and the past that left him behind but never once does he forgets about Elizabeth.

The road movie is a favorite genre for stories about soul searching and I guess it’s because we would like to hope that the life we have at the moment is only a fraction of the life we could have. I mean who is it that can really claim to be truly happy in the grind that is our modern urban life. Do none of you feel that perhaps we would all be happier somewhere remote like perhaps the grassland of Mongolia doing some fishing or farming far away from the hustle and bustle of our concrete prison? If your answer is no then I congratulate you for either being a very good liar or a truly lucky person. The idea is perhaps when we have had some truly quite time for ourselves, we would be able to strip away all pretensions and hang ups and be able to face our true self.

Anyway back to movie and I’ll be honest here, this is one of the most disappointing cinematic experience I have ever had. I love how Wong has always been able to turn extremely mundane and ordinary events into beautiful and unattainable longings. The people and the locations are always so richly brought to life that it is impossible to find in the real world much like a first love, the idealist concept has little to do with the reality of the event itself. There are many reasons why the movie has failed and I think chief among them is the English language. Because clearly it’s not a language Wong is comfortable with and that’s why unlike in his previous works where he has been comfortable in letting the imagery do the talking but here he feels the need to insert voice-overs to clue the audience in. The wooden and clearly unnatural dialogue is extremely grating and overall where characters and dialogue has been his forte here it is his biggest enemies. I thought it was an extremely ballsy move to cast Jones in the title role given her lack of acting experience but I trusted the director given his track record but it is one gamble to many even for him because she is absolutely horrible in the movie. Don’t get me wrong I still love her no matter what but here she just doesn’t have what it takes to be the leading lady and given the plot where she is supposed to be the anchor I must say she fails miserably. She may look the part of a lost soul but her acting can only be described as wooden and she fails to truly convey the sadness and loneliness that is required.

Thankfully the acting by the supporting actors notably David Strathairn and Rachel Weisz is much better and their scenes together are the only time where we feel the true message of the movie about loneliness and despair. It is truly heartbreaking watching how tragic their story turned into and if only that had transpired throughout the movie. When long time cinematographer Christopher Doyle didn’t sign up for this project I wondered if this would ever manage to capture the richness and intensity of their past movies together but in Darius Khondji he has manage to find a capable replacement. If anything here the richness of the colors are even more profound there can be no doubting that it is a Wong Kar Wai movie and the one thing you can’t fault this movie in terms of looks because it is just beautiful to watch. Every color has an added hue and I think I have never so many shades of blue.

The thing is that if I wanted to talk about the negatives I could probably fill another two paragraphs but the honest truth is that it is too painful. The writers are attempting to show the loneliness and the isolation that can only truly be available in a metropolitan like New York but ultimately due to the miscasting and clunky dialogue they only manage to isolate the audience. The plot is a simple plot much like all other Wong Kar Wai movies but this time around he has really failed to give any of the characters a real sense of believability or charm, so critical for character driven pieces like these, and therefore what we have here is one clumsily connected movie that doesn’t have too much to say.

Jumper: Numbingly Pedestrian

2008-02-25T14:10:00.004+08:00

For me teleportation would be The ideal superpower because I am quite simply one of the laziest person around and to think of all the extra hours I could save from travelling and such for just lounging around sounds like heaven. Plus factor in all the cool places I could get in to and life would be pretty sweet, am I right or am I right? If I had a space suit I could even teleport to the moon and beyond so just imagine how disappointing it is to see that possibility wasted in the latest Hollywood action dumb fest, Jumper. It gives up all these possibilities to just simply get in and out of banks and other various tourist attractions.

David Rice (Hayden Christensen) is a troubled youth whose mother abandoned him when he was five and he grew up under the care of his abusive father. He is constantly craving to run away and one day his wish comes through in the most amazing of manner. Discovering he has the power to teleport he decides to leave his broken home and also the girl of his dream, Millie (Rachel Bilson), and moves to the big city. There he learns to make money the easy way with his powers and what could be easier than to teleport into a bank vault and taking whatever you wanted without anyone knowing. Soon however his deeds comes catching up with him in the form of the enigmatic and dangerous, Roland (Samuel L Jackson), who tells him he is here to kill him because the power that he possesses should only be held by god. Soon he discovers that there are others like him and he is thought more about his powers by the loner Griffin (Jaime Bell), who isn’t really too keen to have someone tagging along but they will have to work together to handle the threat of Roland and his Paladins, a group dedicated to destroying the jumpers. Soon he will have to deal with the people who he has left behind and also those that had left him behind.

From the paragraph above it would seem that there are a lot of things happening for a 2 hour movie but the reality is that due to combination of uninspired acting and lackluster directing. For a movie that could have gone anywhere given the plot, the writers seem to have gone the most boring route possible and for a concept that could have been so much fun what we get instead is a very generic product that, except for a few action sequence, would not look out of place in the straight to video category at your local video store. Looking at the people involved I really can’t figure out why this has come to be because Doug Liman is in my opinion a very capable director who brought his independent sensibilities to the Bourne series and helped launch one of the better franchises in modern cinema. Mr & Mrs Smith may not have been a classic but at least it was fun so I can’t understand how he has turned out such a bland and uninspired action piece that doesn’t even try to be anything more which is a criminal waste given how rich the concept was.

The key reason for my dislike for the movie is Christensen, who once again gives another uninteresting and underwhelming performance; much like those that helped destroyed the Star wars Prequel, which is a wonder that he finds any work at all. I guess the guy must have one hell of an agent or I’m just not seeing what these directors are seeing but the guy is just plain dreadful as a leading man. I think the kid who played the younger version of David manages to infuse more life into the character despite only being on screen for 10 minutes. Every time I have seen Christensen on screen I have never detected even the slightest bit of charisma or spark that is greatly needed by all leading men as shown by people like Will Smith and Clint Eastwood. Even the normally dependable Jackson seems uninterested in the proceedings with a performance that seems phoned in and you really can’t blame him because the going-on’s is so trite and predictable that halfway through you just don’t really care about any of the characters anymore. The only one who seems remotely interesting is Jaime Bell’s Griffin and his training scenes with Christensen are the only ones watchable and even then only just. I have no idea why Diane Lane is in this movie because her scenes adds nothing to the movie so perhaps they are setting her up for the inevitable sequel now given the opening box office figures in the states.

The biggest let down in life comes not when something fails but when you have everything prepared and it didn’t even bothered to show up and I guess for me that just sums up Jumper. A sci-fi action love story that really quite honestly fails in all three categories and given all the ingredients that are already there, what disappoints the most is how run-of-the mill the final product turned out to be. Even the effects for the movie are bland, except for the Tokyo car scene, and if you want to see how cool teleportation can be done go back and revisit X2. The opening action sequence with Nightcrawler is without a doubt the perfect way to do teleportation. Jumper is a movie with immense potential but it is never realized due to poor casting and lazy scripting which have left us with a movie with no identity and zero talking points.

Rambo - Old School All The Way

2008-02-06T09:55:00.000+08:00

Much of 80s cinema was characterized by the rampaging muscle bound and often steroid fueled action hero, taking down one tyrant or rapist (usually a combination of both) after the other all in the name of justice or vengeance, whichever one was more convenient. This trend was best exemplified by the monosyllabic duo of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a succession of testosterone driven action epics like the Rambo and Terminator series. Arguably with their increasing age and the advancement of CGI more and more action films depended less on these larger than life actors and opted for cg wizardry to make the impossible possible. And with that came the end of the era of the muscle men in cinemas. As if to drive home the point that the trend depended on those few chosen ones to thrive Stallone has opted to bring his most famed creation out for one more orgy of carnage and destruction and my god are we thankful for that.

Many years have passed since we last saw John Rambo and he is living out a life as a boatman and occasional snake catcher/fisherman on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. After years of bloodshed it is perhaps a deserved rest but as always there is no rest for the wicked and he is approached by a group of naïve Christian missionaries who are looking for a guide into Myanmar. Their objective is to deliver medicine and other aid to the Karen rebels currently fighting the oppressive and cruel Myanmar military regime. It takes the pleading of the only female missionary, who Rambo definitely has a connection with, for him to agree and he duly delivers them to the village. Of course they are soon attacked and captured which leads to their church hiring a group of mercenaries to free them. They also need Rambo’s help as a guide but of course it is Rambo the Rampager that they get.

We all know that there are terrible things in the world but unlike on the silver screen there are heroes rushing in to help the down trodden and most likely the situation continues unabated which makes the movies such a welcomed escape. When they started making the movie there was already oppression going on in Myanmar but the movie took on more of an urgency when the real life demonstration of the monks were so brutally put down by the military. I sincerely hope what we see in the movie is not a reflection of what is going on over there but really that’s not what the movie is all about. It’s about some really bad people getting their comeuppance in the grisliest of manner. The producers may try hyping up the real world reference but make no mistake this is a Rambo movie through and through and everything else is only an excuse for him to break out the bow and knife to deliver a world of pain to the bad guys. And what a glorious beat down it is!! The effects of the killing and maiming is quite honestly very well done and is mostly very believable, except for the landmine hitting the merc when earlier we see the locals being obliterated but here he is only partially injured.

This is a very old school movie from the story line all the way to the cinematography which in this case is a very good thing. I love it that there are no quick cuts or MTV style visual trickery here and what we have is long looks at the proceedings. You see everything that is going on and there will be no complains about things moving too quickly. The movie knows what it is and there are no pretensions on its part about being something else unlike most action movies today who try to mask their intention behind supposed deeper storylines. I’m not saying I want all action movies to follow this template because we should always try to improve but at this moment in time it is just a fantastic breath of fresh air in a genre that really haven’t reinvented itself for the new generation except for a few exceptions like The Matrix. When news first hit that both Rambo and Rocky was returning I was filled with dread but after the success that was Rocky Balboa I was genuinely looking forward to this and Stallone did not disappoint. While it may not be as good or personal as Rocky was it is still an entertaining little picture that is better than its immediate predecessor.

Of course it being an old school movie it shares the same short comings as well and prime among them is the corny dialogue and stilted script. The dialogue in particular is occasionally laugh-out-loud in its seriousness especially those involving the mercenaries aka cannon fodders and you can’t help but revel in its silliness. Everybody else in the movie are cardboard characters with no time or effort spent in their development at all which leads to an emotional detachment even in the face of the atrocities being committed to them. Especially prominent are the villains, the filmmakers are so dedicated to portraying them as vile animals that no form of evil is left uncommitted including forced amputation, beheading, burning babies, gang raping and the worst crime of all, being homosexuals. The dedication is such that none of their lines are even bothered to be translated except for one which is also only to cement their level of bad-assness.

As far as war movies go Rambo 4 is no Apocalypse Now or even a First Blood but what it is flawed but honest attempt to revisit the spirit of original hero that could have ended up so much worse. I saw a very negative review recently in The Star and I was surprised not by its hatred of the movie but by how seriously it took it which quite honestly I think anybody with half a brain would never do. I mean come on ..Rambo and the word serious hardly seems a likely pairing. One thing I need to note is that the level of violence and gore is quite high and can be quite disconcerting so you need to know what you are getting into. In terms of sequels this edition doesn’t really goes back to its tortured roots but it is markedly better than the preposterousness that was Rambo 3 and quite honestly doesn’t advance anything in the character but seems more like a side note in the legend that is Rambo. If you enjoy it for what it is, a bloody jungle romp by one of the cinematic icons of yesteryear, chances are you would come out feeling extremely satisfied that at the very least the series have ended on a more deserving note and quite honestly you need to ask yourself, what did you really expect from it.

Dark Tower - The Gunslinger Born - Glorious

2008-01-28T00:58:00.001+08:00

I find it odd that I haven’t actually been posting more reviews on comics as I read loads of them. Part of the reason may be that I haven’t found one to really talk about for some time now and it’s been such a long time since I have had the wow feeling come over me when reading a comic that is until now. The very last time was when I was reading Battle Chasers by Joe Mad and I think that’s nearly a decade ago now and everything since then has been between good and mostly serviceable but never reaching the heights of Sandman or Watchman level. Finally, I have something now to talk about because Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born is quite simply put one of the most stunning graphic novel you’ll ever lay your eyes on.

“In a world that has moved on, young Roland Deschain will one day be known as the Gunslinger-but for now, he is merely a boy on the cusp of manhood. For years, his fate has been manipulated by the sorcerer known as Marten Broadcloak, who serves the Crimson King-an immortal shape-shifter living only to destroy the legendary Dark Tower: the axis of creation upon which all worlds revolve. And for the Crimson King’s plans to succeed, Roland must be destroyed.Roland and his friends, Alain and Cuthbert, uncover a plot by the evil John Farson (also a servant of the Crimson King) to destroy the Affiliation, the network that unites the world’s baronies and maintains an uneasy peace. But Roland has another mission on his mind-winning the heart of the beautiful Susan Delgado, who he met in Hambry, and who holds a secret of unspeakable horror...

For Roland, these are only the first steps on the road to the Dark Tower, where he will learn the true nature of his quest, and, perhaps, the secrets of existence itself.” (From Marvel.com)

For the uninitiated the Dark Tower is a series of books by horror master Stephen King that introduces us to Roland Deschain, a Gunslinger which is an order of warriors much like the Knights of the Round Table. The world here is a mix of everything from a mixture of western cowboys to the magical and there are also traces of an advance society long lost to the ravages of time. The books focus on Roland’s quest to find the Dark Tower and to end the destruction that is consuming his world, Mid-world. This graphic focuses on a young Roland, from his bloody initiation through his first assignment for The Alliance, and we also learn a bit about the evil that he will have to face soon. The tragedy that will set him on his path is also revealed here and we get to see a more personal and reckless side to him that is absent from the novels.

I know that there are many out there who would dismiss comics as infantile and something only for the kids and you would be correct 90 percent of the time, heck it may even be 98 percent, but comics is like any other art form, it may be a literary genius (as shown by the Sandman series) or as low brow as most action movies. I think people like Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller have definitely drag the medium into the mainstream focus and others like Warren Ellis and Brian Azzarello have proven to be able successors and the medium have definitely been fertile ground for the gold miners that are Hollywood producers. It has gotten to the point that now you have cross over writers from tv and movies writing monthly comics like J. Michael Straczynski(creator of Babylon 5) and Kevin Smith(director of Chasing Amy and Clerks) so the there has definitely been more of an acceptance of the medium as a legitimate story telling tool.

Anyway enough about the industry and more about the book at hand. “What’s so great?” I hear you ask and the answer is quite simply everything. Unlike a normal book where everything is about the writer, for a comic to work you need both writer and artist to be at their best and also in sync with each other to create a synergistic work of art. And here we have a creative team at their best with the star being definitely Jae Lee, a super star artist in the comic world that’s has sadly been usually plagued by missed date lines and abandoned projects. He has finally gotten his act together and his talent is on full show here because some of the images that he has concocted here is just breath taking and almost every page could be a stand alone poster. He is greatly assisted in this regards by the coloring of Richard Isanove, multi award winning colorist that also participated inMarvel1602. I just cannot stop talking about the art here because it is just a wonder to behold and I urge you to go down to your local comics store immediately to have a look because I am sure you’ll be hooked from the first page.

Peter David is an industry veteran famous for his witty dialogue and deft story telling and he has crafted an engaging and quite honestly a heart breaking story about the end of innocence. What is remarkable here is that David has shown a complete trust is the artist to tell the story by having very sparse dialogue and description and allowing Jae to show you the proceedings. What we have here is a rare gem that has blended horror and action and also a tragic love story seamlessly in a beautiful package and the good news is that this is only the beginning. The world of the Gunslinger is a wondrous place of beauty and horror but a journey through Mid-world is also a journey through one of the greatest literary minds of our time and you won’t ever forget the experience.

Waitress - Humdrum

2008-01-25T20:08:00.000+08:00

Sometimes it takes a lot for us to see through our own prejudices and so called common sense. The common wisdom in the entertainment circle is that Hollywood produces the rehearsed soulless and artless money grabbing movie franchises that are epitomizes by the big summer season while Sundance, or any other independent film fest for that matter, produces the true work of arts that speaks to our soul. What is common sense if not a collection of all our prejudices? Years ago it was accepted fact that the world was flat and also that the sun revolved around the earth so it goes to show how fallible common sense really is. While the statement about Hollywood is often time an accurate description it is also becoming increasingly clear that the independent movies are also running on a formula and it may not be as free and uninhibited as we are lead to believe.

Jenna (Keri Russell) is a waitress in Joe’s Diner, located in some backwater town in the good old USA, and she has just found out that she is pregnant. Normally this would be a good thing but for Jenna this is the last thing she needs. The reason for this is simply Earl, her delusional and sometimes abusive husband. The thing about Jenna is that she is a great pie maker and prone to creating absolute work of arts based on the going-on in her life and she is hoping to enter a pie contest that could win her 25 thousand dollars a way out from her life with Earl. Jenna is surrounded by her two best friends, Becky and Dawn, people who are as clueless and as desperate as herself who also works in the diner. Part of Jenna’s everyday job is to placate the bad tempered owner, Joe, who comes in everyday for a slice of her glorious pie but who always give her a tough time. Into all this comes Dr Pomatter, a nice and handsome doctor who has just moved to town and is now her gynecologist, and it is apparent from the first minute that he is smitten with her and vice versa. The unfortunate thing is of course he is married and Earl is also still around so what then does the future holds for our 2 love birds?

A movie like this is all about the characters and for the most part Waitress have a bunch of interesting characters lead by our lead Jenna. Sometimes in life you do come across people like Jenna, good people stuck in very bad situations who can’t see that they deserve much better out of life and it is this fact that will make you connect with her immediately. Becky and Dawn provide some distraction from the main storyline but I can’t help but feel that their story feels a bit forced and contrite. Earl is an odd character because while he truly loves Jenna his interpretation of love is like that of a 3 year old boy. He must have everything his way and he is deluded enough to think that Jenna feels the same way. Turning in a disappointing performance is Andy Griffith who really fails to portray the supposedly unlikable Joe who has a heart of gold. Perhaps he is too nice a person to get across how unlikable the character is supposed to be. Nathan Fillion crucially also fails to make an impact as the good Doctor and to this is the major failing for the movie.

There was the possibility early on that Waitress could elevate itself above the status of feel good movie to something of more substance but critically it fails to make us believe in the relationships that are on offer. I know they were probably trying to make Pomatter into some likable klutz ala Hugh Grant but say what you like about Grant he does have charm and often times imbues his character with more worth than they deserve. Simply because of this I fail to have a real investment in the outcome of the relationship and when the ending does come it just felt so rehearsed. I know the writer was trying to reaffirm gender strength but when she gets enough courage to kick Earl out and get a shit load of cash in return it is just basically chickening out. Wake up, good things don’t necessary happen to good people or because they do the right thing. More often than not we just have to live with the decisions we make with no compensation. It’s called life so it would have been so much better if we just left her with the knowledge that she won’t ever have to see Earl again and she has a life to look forward to with her new baby.

So coming back to what I was saying earlier about a formula, even for the supposed art house fare the movie is the quintessential formulaic feel good movie. We have all the usual ingredients needed to pull at your heart strings such as the adorable and endearing lead character, the oddball friends, the hopeless situation and of course the charming but slightly kooky knight in shinning armor. From the get go you know very well who and what you are supposed to cheer for and the bad guys are all clearly defined. That being said though while Waitress is often times slightly cheesy and predictable, on the most part it does work as a feel good movie thanks largely on the strength of the lead. The sad thing was is that it could have been something so much more rewarding.

Shoot ‘Em Up – Unworthy of this Space

2008-01-21T23:12:00.000+08:00

There are many things in life that I really do not get, chief among them being how is it possible that there is an audience out there who likes watching Sumo wrestling? How is t possible that Paris Hilton is famous or why Sarah Jessica Parker is considered a style icon with a nose like that? None of these of course pales in comparison to that ultimate head scratcher which is why do studios still continue hiring Paul W Anderson, the hack that gave us Resident Evil and AvP? Why this sudden rant about all things unfathomable I hear you ask and the answer is simple because of movies like Shoot ‘Em Up which is an absolute waste of time for all those involved in making it and especially for those paying money to watch it.

The plot of the movie, if you can call it a plot at all, concerns a mysterious stranger who comes to the aid of a pregnant woman who is being chased by some thugs. During the course of the rescue the woman gives birth and is then shot in the head which leaves the stranger with a new born baby and a whole slew of gun totting thugs on his tail. The thugs by the way are lead by an ex FBI profiller who shows what can only be described as superhuman ability of reasoning and predictions. We learn that the stranger goes by the name of Smith, I think it’s supposed to be smart, and Smith has decided to enlist the aid of a prostitute, who specializes in breast and lactating fetishes, to look after the baby. They then discover that the reason for the chases leads back to the Presidential race no less and concerns the leading candidate.

At times like this I am really thankful I am not being paid to write the review because the though of having to produce a full page analyzing crap like this is enough cause drive anyone insane. Not only does it boggles the mind to think how they sold the pitch to the studios but also how did they managed to attract the talents that they did. I mean Clive Owen may not be a superstar but he at least have a reputation of being a serious actor, Paul Giamatti is an award winning actor for movies like the fantastic Sideways and Monica Belluci who have always at least tried to make interesting movies barring the Matrix trilogy. At times like this I really wished I was the fly on the wall during the meeting because I’m sure we would have learned a lot about selling or bullshitting which really isn’t that different, I should know considering the years I have spent doing it. I’m sure part of the attraction for these normally placid actors is to do something totally different but couldn’t they have found a better script or at least one that makes sense. Most of them should be able to live through the embarrassment, I would sure like to see how Bellucci explains the blowjob scene to her children, if not the stink of this turd of a movie. I guess the only good thing about the whole experience is that we got to see Belluci almost naked but to be honest it isn’t even nearly enough to salvage the time lost.

The producers will gladly tell you that this is a check your brains at the door movie that promises a thrill ride of action and sex and other such nonsense. The reality is that this is an infantile and juvenile attempt at making a movie that hopes to distract you from the lack of any coherent plot or pacing by overloading on one stupid and impossible action sequence after the other. The action is so over the top that I’m sure early in the process the filmmakers must have given up on the idea of gravity because they don’t even try to ground any of the sequences in reality. Cars can flip flop about with no ill effect on the driver or the car and a day old infant can survive through being thrown out of a car and the crème de la crème must be the mid air gunfight, if you can’t laugh at this you must not have a pulse. The nearest comparison I can think of is obviously both Transporter movies and also Crank (which all conveniently stars Jason Statham), movies that embraces the idea of over the top to the maximum. By now I guess my dislike of the movie has obviously boiled over but trust my word the film deserves every last hateful you can throw at it.

Crap! I’ve spent a whole page on it so I guess I can be paid after all.

Cloverfield - Deflating

2008-01-19T18:08:00.000+08:00

Lets just get things straight from the on set I hated The Blair Witch Project. Even though the approach was original I just didn’t like any part of it and I couldn’t see how it was getting all these superlative praises. I just couldn’t fathom the idea that when you are running for your life you’ll still find the time to record everything on your camcorder. I mean just think about it there you are being hunted and I’m going to take the time to get the picture in focus. If you make a movie of the characters in The Blair Witch Project it would just be laughable how insane they are for doing what they are doing. That being said it is a great attraction for producers because can you just think of the money they will save and I guess that’s why we now have Cloverfield.

A group of friends are throwing a surprise going away party for Rob Hawkins, who is being transferred to Japan, and among the organizers of the party are Rob’s brother Jason and his girlfriend Lily and his best bud Hud. Also at the party is Beth and it soon becomes apparent that there are some unresolved issues between her and Rob which culminates with her leaving the party in huff. Before Rob has time to think things through the party is interrupted by what seems to be an earthquake and they all head out to the roof top to have a better look around and eventually it becomes clear that whatever’s happening isn’t natural. When the head of the Statue of Liberty comes flying through the air and crashing into their front yard they decide to make a dash out of Manhattan but as they cross the Brooklyn Bridge they are attacked by the monster and one of them is tragically killed. Before they can formulate a new plan Rob gets a distress call from Beth and he decides to go safe her even though she’s basically staying at ground zero driven partly by the guilt that surrounded their last words together.

First off I think it was a great idea to do another monster attack movie because I think it is a travesty what the last Godzilla movie left on the monster genre. I’m all for a great monster feature and for that reason alone I hope Cloverfied does a killing at the box office just so that the studios would green light more such features. It was a great idea to cast a group of relative unknown actors in the lead because it helps reinforce the idea of the everyday person, granted a very attractive group of everyday Joes, being caught up in this mess and not knowing what to do. The early goings are a bit slow but it does help us connect and understand this group so that when the shit hits the fan and when the deaths comes you do have some emotional attachment to them. Speaking of the deaths I think some of them are very well done and surprising in their executions but all of them are horrific in nature. For a movie that’s done on a handheld the action sequences are very well done with subway chase scene a standout and also the response of the military is captured in a very realistic way.

Coming back to the whole concept of filming on the run I still find it to be preposterous and the reason given by the cameraman is just ridiculous. While the camerawork here is of a much much better standard than that in Blair Witch and allows you to see more of the proceedings I would still not recommend the movie for those with motion sickness because this film will make The Bourne Supremacy seem like the model of still photography. Of course the most important thing when it comes to a monster movie will undoubtedly be the monster and the Cloverfield monster looks to be some sort of mutated spider and the tick like creature that fall of it is very similar to the ones in Starship Trooper. The creature is very well realized and in the early scenes where you can only catch glimpses of it is very effective and when do actually see it whole it still a great look. The destruction that is unleashed on Manhattan is fantastic in its devastation and its fun to see that the military has no plan and is basically just firing everything at it.

Like all movies of this nature the characters tend to make extremely stupid and illogical choices and when they decide to go after Beth it just comes across as forced. The realistic nature with which the movie is shot brings back memories of 9/11 and I’m not sure if America is ready to see something like that but I’m guessing the monster itself will be able to distract from the obvious. For those not in the know there has been a great marketing campaign behind Cloverfield with all sorts of viral campaign being employed and lots of fake clues being dropped which has made expectations of the movie extremely high. There has even been those who have been calling it THE movie of 2008 and to those people I think you need a healthy dose of perspective with a side dish of reality check. Cloverfield is an entertaining if flawed monster movie that when all is said and done will be remembered for a great marketing campaign rather than a genre defining film.

Eastern Promises - A Promise Kept

2008-01-17T23:54:00.000+08:00

We all know that there is a world out there that is both repulsive and morbidly attractive. A place where normal everyday folks have no business dealing with. A place of shadows and whispers and of unwritten codes and unbreakable laws. It is because of this very reason we love watching movies about the underworld because lets face it the nearest most of us gets to them is through our friendly neighbourhood DVD peddler. Long has the focus been on the Mafia as the success of Scorsese and DePalma help made them the preferred cinematic thugs and then there were the Hong Kong Triads thanks largely to John Woo and Ringo Lam and perhaps now is the time of the Russian Mob if Cronenberg has anything to say about it.

'The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin is a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon, whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family's fortunes are tested by Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill, who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father. But Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmas time with Anna Khitrova, a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives. The girl's personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it. Anna's mother Helen does not discourage her, but Anna's irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him; who can, or should, he trust? Several lives - including his own - hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself.'(quoted from IMDB)

It is extremely difficult to imagine the David Cronenberg of Eastern Promises and the David Cronenberg of the 80's and much of the 90's when he created one grotesque image after the other in a succession of movies that can only be described as weird. Movies like shivers and videodrome were so full of disturbing and often times repulsive imagery and story lines that it would have been easy to label him a pervert even though many times the fantastical elements of the movies were social commentary on the issues plaguing the times. Even though he did flirt with mainstream audiences for a while with movies like The Fly and Dead Zone you could always sense that he was just waiting to show you something that'll make you throw up yesterdays lunch. The David Cronenberg of today however seems to have learned the art of restraint as shown in A History of Violence and now Eastern Promises, both movies that are incredible character driven pieces. What Cronenberg has given us is a glimpse of the Russian Underworld in London and the unfortunate circumstances when ordinary people get caught up with them. The suspense and pacing of the movie is just tremendous with every moment feeling like it could erupt into violence at the drop of a penny and death was only a breath away.

More than anything this movie will be remembered for performance of Viggo Mortensen as the deadly and extremely facinating Nikolai. He is someone who could be drinking coffee with you one moment and the next moment be disposing of your body in a variety of manner.Where Pacino and Deniro was larger than life through their shouting Nikolay conveys the same effect through the twitch of an eye brow. Mortensen has long been know as a character actor but in this past decade he has really shown himself to be at the very top of his game. Part of the reason for his lack of fame comes from the fact he gives very subtle and restrained performances as shown in A History of Violence. There is a fight scene in the movie that takes place in a bath house where Mortensen is naked that has been widely hailed as a true classic cinematic moment and while it is truly is a great moment it would be a shame if that is all that will be remembered. Mortensen is so good in this movie that sometimes you forget that there are other great actors in the movie as well with Naomi Watts handing another solid turn and also Vincen Cassel as the cowardly but loyal Kiril. Watts in particular does a good job and what is apparent is the chemistry that she shares with Mortensen because they only have a handful of scenes together but you can see how apparent the connection is between them.

I love watching movies that pride itself on conveying the personality and the accuracy of the location thereby alleviating it into a character which is why I have always liked movies by Michael Mann such as Collateral and the London here is another prime example of how getting the feel and look of the location right will quite simply add a whole new dimension to the film. The drab and dull sky of London provides the perfect back drop to the sinister proceedings and the cinematographer has captured the mood spot on.

Alas even in Eden there is a snake and in this film the weakness comes from resolution which somehow feels all wrong for the movie. Somehow I just can't understand why they would have resolved it using one of the most conventional option available to them and the whole thing just feels rushed and lazy. I had hoped for a kick ass ending but the we got was just a made for Tv ending that cheapens the entire proceedings but the final striking image that the movie leaves us with makes up a lot for the disappointment.

Basically what we have here is one of the greatest performances by a leading man in a fantastically edgy movie by a great auteur that is slightly let down by a weak ending. The character of Nikolai ,with his gun metal slickness, will command every minute of your attention when he is on screen and when he isn't the beautifully realised image of London will make for an endearing distraction. Make no mistake about it gentlemen, Eastern Promises is a movie you dare not miss.

October Road - No Destination In Sight

2007-10-06T03:26:00.000+08:00

In my personal experience the often mentioned phrase of “you can never go home” has never been a factor because I have always returned seamlessly home, but perhaps that speaks volume about my lack of emotional and intellectual growth, but stories about people unable to fit back in fills more movies and books than is worth mentioning. I think perhaps also I have seen it in people around me who have obviously changed so much in their time away that they don’t really know how to fit back in or maybe they don’t really want to anymore so maybe this is a popular theme that resonates with many. Whatever the case it does provide for much dramatic and often times touching entertainment that if done correctly can be pretty good.

October Road is a story of boy who left home after school for a short holiday who never returned. The boy would eventually release a successful first novel made up of the stories and characters he left behind from the high school sweetheart he never called to say goodbye and his group of loyal if slightly moronic high school friends. It has since now been a decade after his departure and he is suffering from a huge bout of writer’s block and has decided to use the flimsiest of excuses to go home. Once home he will have to reconcile with the people he left behind including his dad and also perhaps develop new relationships with some or restart old ones which never really ended but whatever the case what is certain is that he will never be able to truly go home.

First off though October Road is a 6 episode series aired in the States last year and was surprisingly given the prime time hour following Grey’s Anatomy so the expectation for the fledging series was huge but I think it was a calculated risk because the theme and general feel of the series should appeal to much of the same audience. I first got interested in the series when I read an interview where the producer was explaining the about the main character as someone who at the end of his twenties was still looking for his direction in life and that just spoke volumes to me because that’s exactly where I am. Sad to say the series offers no answer or any insightful tips into managing early life crisis, if there is such a term, but what it does have in abundance is cheesiness and charm. I mean if you think about it real life is cheesy because while we may think that we are like the super cool characters on TV who are able to come up with snappy one liners the reality is sadly different and more often than not we find ourselves in situations that can only be described as at best awkward so a bit of cheesiness is entirely acceptable.

When I was watching the show I can’t help but think that I should really be liking the series more than I was because it is charming, everything from the setting and the music was designed for people my age, but the sad thing is the series is let down by some horrible dialogue and implausible turns in events. Everything about the series encourages us to take a retrospective look at our life, starting from the title because October is in autumn which is a season of renewal and rebirth, and perhaps come to grips with who we really are and to take some responsibilities for our past actions which may have inadvertently hurt others. It is indeed truly sad that it is let down by some unbelievable characters doing unbelievable thing which has no basis in reality which makes the whole thing seems forced and worse of all irritating.

What the show does have going for it is a great looking cast from That 70’s Show’s Laura Prepon to One Tree Hill’s Bryan Greenberg and to the gorgeous Odette Yustman. Its highly unlikely that a small town in middle America would have such beautiful people living there but hey that’s television for you. For the first couple of episodes the charm and beauty is enough for the show to get by on but as the story progresses even they aren’t enough to save the show and in fact a few of them becomes quite irritating. Chief among them would be the main character, Nick, whose numerous insecurities starts to take its toll on the amount of goodwill the audience has to offer. By the end of the series he comes across as the little boy who ran away and never grew up and ultimate becoming the insipid little character he is today.

Given that the series was only 6 episodes in the initial season the fact that the characters are already starting to grate on the audience it really doesn’t bode well for its second season. The writers are really going to have to work hard to come up with better characterizations and more believable plot lines to keep whatever goodwill there is left or else it’s the scrapheap for them come halfway through the season. There are truly some elements of the series that I believe are worth saving and it could still be turned into an engaging if slightly frivolous series ala Dawson’s Creek and I for one will be waiting to see the beginning of the second series.

Thank You For Smoking - Maximum Deniability

2007-09-24T16:08:00.000+08:00

What is a job? I mean if you think about it what is a job really? It seems a simple question with a straightforward answer but is the answer really that simple. Is a job something that defines us or something that provides for us? Is it the purpose of our existence or is it merely something to keep us occupied? You might think it frivolous but have you not met people who were so entrenched in what they do that they are barely able to function out of their environment and have you not met people who have had essentially the same job for the whole of their lives. So the question remains, what exactly is a job and why do we do the things that we do even when clearly we hate doing it or even when we know it is wrong.

From gun runners to garbage collectors the question of purpose is clearly a valid one considering the fact that there are hardly kids out there who aspire to collecting rubbish when they grow up or being merchants of death. Thankfully for us the question has been answered in Thank You For Smoking and the answer to this conundrum is simply mortgage. It even offers a solution to the problem and that’s to rent so all the problems in our lives will disappear in a blink if we just rent. There is no arguing with such a simple and honest logic and for the most part this is exactly what we get in this smart and witty comedy about the life of lobbyists, the scum of the earth really, and how they rationalize selling their souls to the devil.

Nick Naylor is the tobacco lobbyist which basically means he is a spin doctor who tries to discredit any criticism or scientific proof that may in any way show that tobacco can in any way be harmful. This is of course one of the most difficult job in the world given how we all know that smoking is harmful to your health and those around you or is it? Nick is so good at his job that he is able to turn the vilest of causes into the Red Cross which is why he has been appointed by The Captain, played by the excellent Robert Duvall like an old despot from a forgotten era, to reenergize the image of smokers all over the world. And to do that he has decided to revive the glory years of old Hollywood where everyone from Cary Grant to Audrey Hepburn smoked and most importantly made it look sexy.

Nick’s job is not just to find new ways to promote the cancer stick but also to trouble shoot existing problems and the biggest one of them has landed on his lap. The Marlboro Man, who for so many years have been the epitome of coolness incarnate for smokers all over the world, have developed cancer and is threatening to go on the road to highlight the evils of smoking. On top of that there is a Senator who has been itching for a fight and have proposed to have graphical warnings printed on all cigarette boxes and have challenged Nick to appear before the Senate to debate the issue. On the personal side Nick also have to struggle with a divorced wife and most importantly a son who idolizes him and what moral lesson does he impart on his own offspring. Thrown in a love interest who is also an investigative reporter and you can see how everything in his life is a very murky blurry shade of grey.

First off this is a movie that has assembled one heck of a cast from Robert Duvall to William H Macy to Aaron Eckhart to JK Simmons. Everyone in this movie knows the role they are playing and seems to have had a hell of time playing it which is credit to Jason Reitman, son of GhostBuster’s Ivan Reitman, who even though being a young director have not only managed to get them into the movie but also managed to get performances from them. Hopefully we will see much more from him in the future because this is a great beginning even though there are some rough spots that need to iron out. On the individual front Aaron Eckhart gave a great performance as the morally questionable Nick who has to balance doing a job which he loves and being a role model for his son. The thing with Nick is that he isn’t some monster who has no soul, which would have made him a caricature, he understands the morality issue at hand but he just enjoys doing his job too damn much. You only need to watch the opening to understand who Nick really is, a likeable affectionate father whose morals are extremely flexible.

Everything about movie seems realistic enough and it just screams America, slick, fast and most importantly of all hypocritical, everything that Nick is and to a lesser extent his nemesis Senator Finistirre, Macy in another understated yet devastatingly funny supporting outing. Katie Holmes also give a good turn as the news digging sexy reporter who has to get her story no matter the cost but she does look a bit young for the role. Sam Elliot is the Marlboro Man and when you see him you will understand why and the way he is manipulated is both sad and also embarrassingly funny. The dialog here is spot on of what you would expect from these shady customers which is to mean both witty and full of innuendos that proves to be extremely entertaining.

Everything about the movie screams great , from the story to the dialog to the performances but despite everything there seems to be something missing here which I can’t put a finger on. For lack of a better example the movie seems to be missing its soul which I know is an ironic thing to say given the subject matter but given how entertaining it was I didn’t find it charming which is truly sad. If you were to ask me what could be done to instill charm I really have no idea but its something you know when you see it and only the best are able to conjure it up consistently. So for that and that alone Thank You For Smoking is merely a good comedy about the lives of people who lives in between lines which is truly sad because the potential for it to be great was really there.

Fracture - Aptly Titled

2007-09-04T22:17:00.000+08:00

The story of the young and talented going up against the established and powerful is the oldest story in the book going back to David and Goliath but how about if the powerful made it a point to seek out the usurper-to-be simply for the fact that the burning desire to win is in itself a fatal flaw. That is the theme behind the character and performance driven drama that is Fracture and while it may not be the freshest of ideas it is fresh enough to be entertaining.

The story is about how Ted Crawford, a successful and rich engineer, plans and execute the perfect murder of his wife after discovering her illicit affair with a police detective. Jack doesn’t bother to deny that he killed his wife to the arresting officer and is quickly arraigned in court where he comes face to face with the brash and cocky district attorney Willy Beachum, who has a 97% conviction rate. Willy is looking for a quick resolution because he is on his way to high paying private practice and the last thing he is looking for is a long drawn out affair.

However as Willy gets to know more about Ted he begins to be suspicious of his apparent confidence but he gets distracted by his new boss, Nikki, who succumbs to his brash and confident personality. On the day of the trial Ted reveals himself to be the mastermind that he is and that which was to be an open and shut case becomes a fiasco for Willy and his new job may not be waiting for him when the case ends. Along the way Willy will have to look into his own selfish soul and perhaps overcome the one real fracture that he can’t seem to see.

One of the best actors ever to grace the silver screen goes up against perhaps the most promising actor of the new generation and surprisingly both come out smelling like a million bucks. Anthony Hopkins who in recent movies have become a mentor like figure much like Liam Neeson finally have another juicy role to play where he isn’t just dispensing helpful and insightful advice to the main star but instead offers taunts and red herrings to an adversary he considers an inferior. He is in his full Hannibal Lecter scene chewing mode that has been so badly missed and he gives a full head on performance that is both fascinating and captivating. Every single line is delivered with such clarity and deceptive ease that you can’t help but see that this is clearly someone at the very top of the profession and he infuses a real sense of menace in the proceedings.

Ryan Gosling handed in his graduation piece in the form of Half Nelson, which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and he has shown that it wasn’t undeserved. For someone who looks half his age he acts like double it which you can see in his scenes with Hopkins. Looking at him you cannot but see that he is Willy Beachum, the young and cocky lawyer and he wears it like a second skin all the way through. Despite having the more conventional role of the two he has done a remarkable job of infusing it with a charm that it shouldn’t really possess. Apart from the acting the second successful ingredient of the movie lies in the smart screenplay that also provides a suspenseful twist at the end. Courtroom dramas is never easy to write mainly because of the dry subject involved and often times come across as incredibly pedestrian but once in a while you get a gem like A Few Good Men which understands that in order for it be successful it has to have an engaging relationship between the antagonists which it does here.

The saddest thing about watching this movie is that despite the a great casts, engaging performances and a quality script it is also one of the best example of pedestrian movie making of the highest order. Gregory Hoblit, who gave us the partially entertaining Primal Fear more than a decade ago which was also unsurprisingly a courtroom drama, betrays his small screen past and to be honest if it wasn’t for the great cast this could have been a direct to TV movie. Everything about the direction of the movie screams blandness from the choice of camera angles to the clearly uninspired direction.

To be honest Fracture really could have been a great movie in someone else’s hand, Michael Mann jumps straight to mind, but as it is it will have to settle for a movie where the performances and smart story will be the only thing you take from the cinema. I’ll even go so far as to say the film succeeds in spite of the person at the helm which is the saddest part because how often do you really get to see an honest to goodness changing of the guards because at the way he is going Gosling will one of the best in the business very very soon. In the end you really don't have to look too deep to see the fracture in Fracture and the irony is perhaps sadly appropriate.

Rush Hour 3 - Fading Talents

2007-08-25T13:00:00.000+08:00

The last of the three-quels is finally here and we can all be thankful that it is the last of the terrible threes. The trend which started with Spiderman this year has apparently infected anything returning for the second time like a terrible rash that just won't go away, but at the same time raking in huge amounts of money, has finally ran its course and we can finally put it to bed and say a prayer that we managed to come out with our sanity and hair intact. If you still don't get it than I am going to give it to you straight; Rush Hour 3 is not a good movie by any account so please do not even think about paying good money to your local Cineplex’s.

Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) have been separated since their last outing with Carter demoted to traffic duty while Lee is the personal bodyguard to Ambassador Han. After an attempted assassination on the ambassador Lee and Carter are reunited to track down the assassin who has an apparent connection to Lee. The duo is lead to Paris where they meet a woman who holds the most sacred secret of triads in her hands and they must protect at all costs. Along the way they will have a chance to take in the sights including a relaxing taxi ride through the city streets, a stroll through the century’s old Parisian sewers and a bird’s eye view of the Eiffel Tower.

There are just so many things wrong with this movie on so many levels that it would just be easier to start with the things that did work but only just. While the jokes and laughs of the Rush Hour movies have never been high brow it was always funny and the same is still true here with the pair providing enough silliness for the audience to get through the 90 minutes runtime. The dynamics are still the same with Jackie providing the physical amusement and Chris delivering the funny lines but this time the lines are less amusing and the physical stuff seems to be a bit on the tired side. And folks that’s about it for the good stuff.

For the uninitiated the Rush Hour movies have always depended on the two stars to get through the paper thin plot but this time around the paper has been ground in to pulp and been converted into mulch and with all the cohesiveness and logic of the Iraqi war. There really is nothing to the movie in terms of characterizing or even a main story to talk about with plot points being obviously made up as they went along. Characters come and go indiscriminately without any impact and when they change sides it offers nothing in terms of dramatic impact which leaves one wondering how is it that Hollywood writers get paid that much to basically write nothing. The whole back story to the Kenji/Lee relationship seems implausible to say the least, like why would a Japanese orphan be sent to a Chinese orphanage, which leaves the whole thing just feeling extremely forced and unnatural. The whole Soo Yung episode is another example of overly dramatic amateurish screen writing but really, what did you expect from the guy who gave us Speed 2?

The other main contributor to this turkey is without a doubt one of the blandest directors working in the business today, and also destroyer of my favorite comic super team, Brett” The Stinking Rat” Ratner. The man must have a hell of an agent because the sheer quality of movie scripts, this one not withstanding, that lands at his doorstep is just mind boggling. His sheer audacity in accepting these movies is only really matched by the sheer lack of talent that he has shown over and over again. That said however he did managed to get away with the first 2 movies in the franchise basically by riding on the coattails of stars at his disposal but even then you could see how uninspiring his form of storytelling was. For someone who came from a MTV background it is unusual to note that his visuals are just plain boring where the opposite is often true of those with similar backgrounds such as Michael Bay who often sacrifices story for kinetic and odd angle shots. His short falls are really shown here because the main stars are really no longer at their best and with no strong script or great visuals to fall back on he is just a hack with nothing left to hack anymore.

The forced introduction of George the taxi driver is another act of desperation that is made even worse by his sudden and abrupt appearance at the end. The oddest thing about the movie is that the great Roman Polanski agreed to cameo as a sadistic and egoistical French detective and after watching the finished work he must really be regretting it now. The poster tells us that this is the pair’s finest hour but au contraire it must be their last hours because the racial and sexist jokes that have propped up the franchise for so long now is clearly ready for their stage exit. There really is a limit to how much luck can influence the outcome of someone’s life and when that ends it is time for skill and talent to shine through and clearly in Brett Ratner’s case his qualities are clearly not up to mark.

Ratatouille - Delightfully Fulfilling

2007-08-18T18:07:00.000+08:00

Wow, nearly a month since the last posting. That I guess is what a new job in a new town will do to you but thankfully things are getting better and hopefully everything will be back to normal soon. In the mean time I haven't stopped watching movies so there are still lots of things to review and hopefully I'll be able to get through the backlog quickly which may not help you much when deciding for the cinema but at least for the dvd part you'll be covered. Considering that the last entry in the blog was the insipid Harry Potter it would be nice if we restarted the blog with a positive review and where better to begin than the magical kingdom that is Pixar (yes Disney has been replaced in my opinion as the official magical kingdom).

Ratatouille is the story of the country mouse that comes to the big city but the difference here is that the little mouse is a budding chef which makes him an outcast in his community. An unlikely incident lands him in the Paris all alone but to his delight he is on the doorsteps of Gusteau's, the restaurant of his dead cooking idol. The restaurant is now in the hands of the previous sous chef who is only interested in making money out of the name of the former owner and as a result the place has lost most of its luster. Remy the rat then enters into an unlikely partnership with the garbage boy Linguini to restore the restaurant to its previous glory but the biggest challenge will be the renowned food critic Anton Ego, whose last scathing review sent Gusteau to an early grave.

It is indeed difficult nowadays to market any new cg movies about animated animals because the sheer number that is out there makes it literally impossible to distinguish one from the other but thank god Pixar didn't let that get in the way and what we have here is perhaps the best movie of the summer. Imaginative and entertaining storytelling are the core ingredients of the Pixar line of movies and those ingredients are available in spades here as they have created a wonderful piece that transcends all genre in the movie world which is indeed rare these days. For too long now the animation industry has been in a rut with movies mimicking or satiring modern pop culture to the point that it eventually begin to make fun of itself and that is when you know the rut has set in so unsurprisingly it is Pixar that has once again showed what magic at the movies is all about.

It is indeed unnecessary to state how beautiful the animation work in a Pixar movie is but even by that lofty standard Ratatouille is a work of art with the creature animation a definitive high point. Every part of the rat is rendered beautifully and the fur is particularly impressive with its soft luster and it must be said that there is something wrong somewhere when a rat is this lovable. The city nightscape is also wonderful to behold and the one complaint is that we didn't get to see more of it because most of the action is contained in the kitchen but what is on screen is good enough for you not to think about what is not there. Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) has once again proven that he is a master at telling moving and tender movies that are also fun at the same time. It is indeed a very difficult proposition to create something for both adults and kids, which is why the Toy Story was such a revelation, but Brad has created something that is both charming and appealing that everyone can relate to.

The entire movie is filled by memorable characters that stands out individually which is no mean feat considering that most supporting characters tend to blend into the background. The final scene of Anton finally being able to taste the Rattouille is a gem and enough to sell the movie by itself but credit to the writing staff that there are lots of moments that are both equally witty and touching in the entire runtime. I find myself in the odd position of having to curb my enthusiasm simply because the more I write about the movie the more it is going to seem a promo for the movie because it simply is that good. The movie is just about as good as it gets and is almost a money back guarantee which is extremely rare coming from me. To put it simply you’ll be doing a huge disservice to yourself and your love ones by not turning over a couple of hours of your life to the talented and clearly passionate people at Pixar.

Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix : Bland and Uninspired

2007-07-22T21:35:00.000+08:00

Some reviews are in my opinion quite pointless in the sense that you are either going or not going to watch the movie in spite of anything I am going to say with movies like sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean and Spiderman being prime examples. Harry Potter is obviously another such entry being that most who love the franchise will go see it anyhow and those who dislike him and the movies avoiding it like the plaque, and you would be surprised to know that there are quite a few of them out there, so why bother writing it up anyway. The answer my friend however is simply because I have too much time on my hand, even though there lots of work to be done around the office, and for that reason alone I have chosen to grace you with my thoughts on the latest Harry Potter movie and I expect it to make a difference.

After his last meeting with the fully resurrected Voldermot things have not been kind to Harry and his friends. Harry has been labeled a liar and menace by the witching community led by the Minister of Magic himself who believes the tales are concocted so that Albus Dumbledore may replace him as the minister. Things take a turn for the worst when Death Eaters show up at the Dudley’s and starts attacking everybody and Harry is forced use his magic to ward them off but because he did it in public he is summoned to the Ministry of Magic to defend himself from expulsion from Hogwarts. At the same time Harry is brought by Mad Eye Moody to the ancestral home of Sirius Black which is actually also the headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix, an order formed by those who opposed Voldermot that included Harry’s parents as while.

Back at Hogwarts another school term is about to begin but this time around another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has been brought in and its no other than Dolores Umbridge, a stooge of the Ministry who hates any form of disobedience. She is determined to root out any rebellious plans by Dumbledore or Harry and soon manages to have him expelled as headmaster with her taking over instead. Harry and friends manages to convince some of the other students that the dark times are coming again and they begin to practice their spells in private but they are soon caught again. In the meantime Harry begins to realize that his dreams are actually the visions of Voldermot himself and he appears to be searching for some powerful weapon and it soon becomes clear that they must find it before him if they are to have any chance at stopping him.

Alright to begin with I must tell you that the Order of the Phoenix was the last Potter book I read which is about 2 years ago and I can’t say I remember it fondly because it was just such a boring book especially the teenage angst thing which just went on and on while the highly publicized death of a ‘major character’ was dealt with in such an insignificant manner and all in all for me it was a book to forget. As for the movies I think part 3 under Alfonso Cuaron was the best with parts 1 and 2 being the worst so there have been a definite improvement as the series have gone on and for me it was a real surprise seeing the producers then pick a generally unknown director in David Yates for the 5th part. I have read that he is mainly into series and documentaries for the BBC and I am definitely unfamiliar with his work and went into the movie not knowing what to expect which is always fun. So is Yates the next big thing I hear you ask and the answer is (insert drum roll) not really. While he shows a strong hand at story telling and ably keeps the proceedings going along sad to say most of the scenes are handled in a very bland and uninspired manner and thus betraying his TV background. This has got to be the most unimaginative of the whole lot, and that’s saying a lot considering that the first two was handled by Chris Columbus, and that’s a pity because if I remembered correctly the book had a lot of opportunities for the filmmakers to really show some fireworks. The ending in particular was extremely disappointing because the opportunity was there for them to really show an impressive magic infused battle with so many characters converging but what we instead is a muted and dull affair with the only high point being the above mentioned death being more prominent than in the book.

The supporting cast of Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman among others is always great and it’s just such a shame that they get such little screen time and only if they could write a script for these guys alone the movie would surely kick ass. The pleasant surprise this time around however is that the kids are really beginning to show that they perhaps have a little more talent than what has been shown before with Daniel Radcliffe really beginning to look a bit more relaxed in his role. Once again however it is the villains that shine through with Imelda Staunton as the obsessive Dolores and, in another good casting decision, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange but it is Evana Lynch as the whimsical and almost fairy-like Luna Lovegood that steals the show but once again she is given too little to really have any lasting impact on the film.

It is odd to note that while the book was the longest in the series the movie however is one of the shortest and the omission and changes made have lead to events being played out faster but not necessarily better. The whole prophecy subplot which should have been the main story point is handled in a very nonchalant manner which leads the audience to really question the importance of the artifact in the first place. I doubt anyone going in to watch the movie who hasn’t read the book will fully appreciated the motivation behind some of the characters given how briefly they are treated by the script. I am also surprised that the quidditch match was omitted because surely it wasn’t done to keep the running time down so hopefully they will explain it in the dvd.

I must confessed to be extremely under whelmed by the latest Harry Potter movie simply because other than to see how the story progresses for the young witches there is nothing of note to recommend to anyone else really. That which could have been so much better has been reduced to a bland concoction of weak story and humdrum action pieces and what is most distressing here is that the director has been confirmed for the next installment.

Vacancy - Conventional Yet Refreshing

2007-07-22T10:36:00.000+08:00

While you may have seen reviews for some horror movies on this site I have to confess that most of the time I didn’t really see them in the cinema mainly because I am too much of a coward to go but of course I tell people it’s because there is too much censorship to enjoy the movie which is also actually partly true. Another contributing factor is also the nature of the horror genre which has really degenerated into horror porn with the onset of movies like Saw and Hostel, but hopefully the trend is dying out if the box office performance of the sequels is any indication, which had really taken out the suspense and scares and replaced it with grotesque imagery which I think would have had Hitchcock turning in his grave. So it is with no small surprise that I find myself sitting in the cinema watching Vacancy and best of all truly enjoying the experience.

Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale are an unhappily married couple on their way back from an interstate family party who have managed to stray from the highway on to some backwater side road. It isn’t long before the car develops engine problems and they are forced to seek help at a remote gas station/motel where they are helped by a seemingly helpful mechanic and of they go on their merry way. However the car breaks down again not far from the motel and they are told by the manager of the motel that the mechanic is gone for the night and they will have to wait for the morning and so they decide to stay the night, much to the irritation of Kate. As the couple settled in for the night there is a sudden banging on the front door and also on the door to the adjoining room. Luke attempts to confront the noisy neighbors but to no avail and seeks the assistance of the manager who tells them that are no other guests in the motel and its most likely drifters who have wandered in and he will take care of it. Luke then returns to the room and attempts to watch some TV but there’s nothing on and he pops in a cassette lying around which at first glance looks like a horror movie but he soon realizes that the scenes were actually taken in the motel room and is snuff film where various occupants are filmed being killed.

Vacancy is a real throwback to horror of yesteryears and borrows heavily from movies like Psycho and Vertigo, starting all the way from the opening credits, with splashes of Halloween thrown in for good measure. It doesn’t subscribe to the believe that more is better with the cast really limited to the two main antagonists and their tormentors so that the suspense is maintained and heightened. Nimrod Antal is a Hungarian director who shot to fame after releasing the movie Kontrol in his homeland and this being his first movie in the states is a very promising start for the young director. Of all the young horror directors he really seems to understand what horror really is, Eli Roth should sit down and compare notes with him, and in my book he stands together with Neil Marshall as the leading lights of the genre. There is nothing flashy here or even real jump out of your seat scares but the slow burn of the impending dread is so palpable that all your senses are on a hair trigger.

Reading the plot of the movie will not leave you wanting more because the writer have used almost all the conventional horror clichés here which could have lead to a very generic movie. Things like car breaking down and phone with no receptions are horror movie staple and some of the decisions the couple makes are down right idiotic and extremely frustrating but somehow in the end everything works. Which will lead to the next complain of the movie which is the last part of the movie where everything happens a bit too fast and it really does end too quickly and rushed for my taste with the 90 minute runtime indicative of how short the movie was. It isn’t often you find movies where you can complain about it being too short which is often a good thing because it means you have invested some emotional attachment to the lead characters but in this case I really think the ending should have been prolonged a bit longer and perhaps the retribution for the tormentors a bit less swift.

The leads in the movie are excellent with both Luke and Kate showing a more serious side to their usual roles and the opening dialogue is done very well by setting up the premise without too much exposition and also at the same time helps the audience connect with them because when the action starts there really isn’t that much time for character development. Kate in particular has chosen a good role because most people would only remember her as the sexy werewolf killing vampire in the Underworld films and her more whinny and vulnerable character here gives her a new dimension which is equally interesting and I hope she can build upon it in the future. Frank Whaley was someone who was touted to be the next big thing all the way back in 1991 and for a while with movies like Swimming with the Sharks and appearances in Pulp Fiction it really did seem like his star was on the rise but somehow somewhere the wheel went out and he never made it into the A-list. He once again show what a good actor he is here as the almost unrecognizable sadistic motel manager and hopefully also this will be the springboard for him to return to form.

The script of the movie does in fact critiques the horror genre by selling horror as entertainment being the main motivator of the villains but thankfully it doesn’t stray into the horror porn territory. Vacancy is a small but extremely effective movie that will have you on the edge but the rushed ending dilutes some of the payoff for the movie after the great first hour which is slightly disappointing. Having said that though please understand that when it was good it was really good and for that alone you should be lining up at the cinema for this underappreciated gem.

True Classics ???

2007-07-15T14:01:00.000+08:00

I was watching ID4 the other day on Astro and I couldn't help but notice how dated it looks and feel, not just from the graphics point of view but also how simplistic it was, compared to how great it felt when I first saw it on the silver screen a decade ago. If a decade could do that to what was a great ride back then, what does it mean for movies I thought great further back namely from the 80's? Therefore feel free to vote on the accompanying poll but I implore you to go watch the movies again to see how they stand up to the blockbusters today and also leave your comments on why you think it has held up so well. I recently saw Die Hard again and to be honest I think it still kicks ass harder than the latest version simply because it had a better story and importantly a better villian but that may just be me and I look forward to hearing what you guys think.

Transformer - Eye Candy At Its Best

2007-07-05T17:25:00.000+08:00

There were times in my childhood when I really thought that there was nothing more important than that day’s cartoons and I would cry for hours if I missed any episodes of my favorites then like the He-Man, Thundercats and M.A.S.K. Some things I guess will never change because I still love my cartoons dearly, but of course the crying has stopped, and while my taste may have changed and gravitated more to anime I will never forget those wonder years of western animation complete with all their looping scenes and sparse background. Chief among my love was the Transformers where it was the culmination of all things cool about robotics then and it introduced us to a whole new world of possibility.

Transformers the movie follows pretty closely to the original cartoon series where all of them are from the Planet Cybertron and the Autobots and The Decepticons are at war and the war ultimately spills over to our planet. The difference here is that while in the cartoon they were fighting over resources here they are fighting over the AllSpark, the one thing that gives sentient live to inanimate objects. Apparently the AllSpark have become lost in the universe and there are all these transformers scattered all around the universe looking for it but it has apparently already dropped here for quite sometime. One boy who holds the clue to its whereabouts is Sam Witwicky (Shia Lebeouf ) and he has been identified by both sides which means that its time for the long awaited smackdown. Of course an event of this magnitude will attract the attention of the government and a shadowy department who knows more of the link between the Witwicky family and the missing AllSparks will emerge.

You cannot imagine how worried I was when I heard about this adaptation and the hiring of Michael “Slow Motion” Bay was even more worrying and to top it all off was the horrible teaser released last year, so understandably expectations were extremely low. I was wondering how a director famous for cheesy action movies was going to make a respectable and relevant action movie about warring transforming robots and the answer is… he doesn’t. What Bay has done is basically overloaded our sense of reasoning by including lots of action sequences utilizing the latest in CGI technology, introduced a likeable leading man and for safe measures have thrown in a huge sex symbol-to-be in the form of Megan Fox into the mix and the concoction does work because Transformers The Movie is one of the best action movie of this year or any other year. First off for a movie dealing with such a theme it would be a given that the CG work would have to be great but I think ILM has really outdone themselves by giving us the most fluid and graceful CG shots ever produced. It would be no surprise that the movie wins multiple Oscars for the effects because it is just that good. When you first witness the bots transforming it is practically seamless in its movement and the range of motion that the bots have is extremely graceful and powerful. The battle on the highway with roller skating Optimus is just mind blowing because I honestly can say even the cartoons never had moments as cool. The action set pieces are extremely detailed and complicated so kudos must also be given to Bay and his team for coming up with some of the best adrenaline pumping sequences ever captured on screen.

Shia Lebeouf is somebody to look out for in the future, he has already been cast in Indiana Jones 4 and he has already opened a number 1 movie in Disturbia, and his star is certainly on the rise. He certainly manages to pull off a feat here by giving much more charm to the role than what is written and he does manages to make the audience invest in his eventual outcome. If the idea of large scale battling robots doesn’t hook them, then Megan Fox will be the deal clincher because for the normal red blooded male teen that is the target audience there is no possibility of saying no. I wonder if there is a law to prevent these sorts of things from ever happening again because it is just simply wrong to let us assume that most girls look like that and if that isn’t false advertising I don’t know what is.

Obviously when watching a Bay movie one has to assume that story and character development will be non existent and here he certainly doesn’t disappoint. People and even governments here act in the most unnatural manner which doesn’t make much sense with the execution of the Sector 7 being the most glaring. For an agency who purportedly has known about the cube and Megatron for close to a century they certainly seem amateurish at best. The whole supposedly comedic scene at Sam’s house was extremely out of character for the bots which made it grating and strained for no added reason than comedic relief. The final ending proved to be a bit of a let down given how good the final battle scenes were and I was just sitting there waiting for Optimus and Megatron to just go at it which could have been an awesome way to end it.

The thing about Transformers is that while there are negatives the good stuff is there for everyone to see and there are many of them, the original voice of Optimus being used is one of them, and for all it's faults you can't fault it's determination to have a good time. I know that the movie will probably never withstand the test of multiple viewings with the novelty factor likely to fade fast but at least we can say we were truly impressed the first time around unlike most film going experience. I can’t describe how relieved I was that somehow in spite of all the ingredients involved they have managed to make a great action movie that is true to the spirit of the original series and in a summer of disappointments Transformers the movie stands tall as a beacon of hope amidst all the broken dreams of movie goers.

Live Free or Die Hard - Good Way to Go

2007-07-02T22:07:00.000+08:00

Rambo, Rocky and McClane are three of the biggest action names of the eighties that have been brought back out of cold storage and also following less than stellar sequels. Rocky was the first to hit the screens and while not spectacular it was a welcome return to the character's root of the underdog coming good and help end the franchise on an upbeat note. Now it's the turn of John McClane, the foul mouthed cop who is more persistent than the Energizer bunny, to show the world if he still has one more wild ride left in him.

The FBI suffers an apparent attack on its IT infrastructure and in response they decide to haul in every hacker who is on their watch list. McClane is called in to pick up one such hacker, Matt Ferrell, and he is just about to bring him in when they are ambushed by unknown highly armed assailants. When John manages to bring Ferrell to FBI headquarters they find out that most of the other wanted hackers are already dead. At the same time the US becomes the target of cyber attack that manages to cripple the administration at every level and it soon becomes apparent that the attacks are leading to something much more sinister.

Well lets start of with the good which is the action and I have to say for the most part a lot of the action sequences were extremely well done and it was also very varied with explosions and hand to hand combat sharing equal screen time. The showpiece tunnel scene is spectacular and shows what the action genre is all about which is taut editing and finding creative and unexpected, albeit slightly illogical, ways to destroy a whole shitload of stuff. Seeing Bruce back in the groove again was great, especially after watching him in the horrible Perfect Stranger, and to be honest these are the only roles he excel in anymore, even though he was quite good at comedy in his early days. They do try to show him as an older person but when the shit hits the fan there is hardly any indication of him slowing down at all with him going through his repertoire of moves that includes jumping of planes and punching through walls. I do miss the cursing though, because this time around it is a PG-13 movie, but at least he does get to utter his trademark phrase. Justin Long as the side kick is commendable but there really isn't that much for him to work with except to offer some comic relief and to act as a foil to show how bad ass McClane is.

Now let’s get to the bad and there are numerous things to complain about and chief among them is the script which doesn't really provide McClane with a reason that requires him to be the sole hero that he turns out to be unlike the first movie. The reason I say this is because the movie treats everyone else in it like fools waiting to be rescued. The FBI/NSA just seems like buffoons who have no idea whatsoever of what to do with the Head just going around saying though guy phrases just for show. Another big disappointment is the role of the chief villain, a character so bland you'll probably have by the time the credits roll which is unacceptable when you are following in the footsteps of people like Jeremy Irons and Alan Rickman. He hardly makes a dent on the movie and it’s just sad that this is probably the last villain that John McClane will ever face. Now I have said above that the action scenes were mostly well done which is true but a few scenes and part of the ending I think is just asking the audience to suspend too much belief with the fighter jet part being extremely preposterous. I am happy to see Maggie Q getting more screen time here than in MI3 and it was also great to see her being such a great fighter but no matter how tough you are when an SUV knocks into you, you don't get up!

Another real surprise of the movie is how well Len Wiseman did which is Really surprising considering how bad Underworld's direction was, luckily it had Kate Beckinsdale in it, which was another of example of style over substance. I was not expecting much when I saw it was him directing but he truly did pleasantly amazed me by his sure hand at handling such large scale sequences and also by how creative they were. Before the summer movies started I was really expecting the most from Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3 partly based on the trailers and also their track records and I was really queasy on both Transformers and this one but somehow the outcome has been totally unexpected. Die Hard 4.0 is a great ride all the way through and the visual pyrotechnics are some of the best in the franchise while at the same time bringing John McClane back to form and honestly what more can we ask for.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Fun and Sexy as Hell

2007-06-28T00:35:00.000+08:00

It takes a lot to surprise most people nowadays what with the world being the way it is and people constantly being bombarded by all sort of massages and being shocked at real life events all around the world so it comes as a real surprise that a movie I have given up as thrash has turned out to be so spectacularly refreshing. The ingredients are all there for this movie to fail, a first time director and a washed up actor does not exactly spells box office success, but what we have here is one of the smartest and funniest movie of recent times and to think it went trough its theatrical run with the smallest of whimpers is a travesty of the highest order.

Harry Lockhart is a small time petty thief who after a botched robbery winds up in an audition for a movie, which he subsequently aces because of a misunderstanding. He is invited to Los Angeles where he is given all the privileges of a movie star such as being invited to grade A parties and it is as one of these parties that Harry runs into an old friend, Harmony. In the meantime Harry is also introduced to Gay Perry, a gay private eye, and Harry is instructed to follow Perry on some job too learn about the role of a detective for the movie he will be playing in. On the stakeout with Perry they come across the body of a rich socialite and in the ensuing mystery Harry will have to face the wrath of LA underworld and also come to terms with his feelings for Harmony.

In all drug mess and rehabilitation and subsequent drug arrest again I have really forgotten what a great actor Robert Downey Jr is which is a huge shame because the enduring image of him that I have was those prison photos where he just has those hollow out deranged look to him. I must say that he has come back to form with this movie alone because Harry Lockhart may be a thief but at heart he is a decent guy and Robert makes you really believe and sympathizes with him which is the one constant in the movie which has more twist and turns than a roller coaster. After watching this movie I just can't wait to see Robert as Iron Man next summer, which may I add is an inspired casting choice because I think he really does have the charisma to pull off Tony Stark. Val Kilmer also give a solid performance as Gay Perry, the hard nosed and cynical as hell private investigator who can't stand innocence or naivety which are both traits Harry possesses in spades. It must be said though Val hasn't been doing a lot of high profile work and on a side note he seems to getting extremely meaty these days so maybe an action film is in order if just for the studio sponsored personal trainers. Michele Monaghan is also great here as the jaded never-was actress and her scenes with Harry were funny as hell especially the door banging scene.

Shane Black is the script writer credited with the creation of the buddy/action genre when he wrote Lethal Weapon as well as its subsequent sequels and he is also the writer for some of the biggest action movies around as well as holding the record for the highest paid script writer in Hollywood, he was paid 4million for the script to 'The Long Kiss Goodnight'. It comes as no surprise that the movie is filled with witty repartees and snappy one liners but it does come as a surprise that he has such a deft hand at directing. watching the movie you would have no idea the director is doing this the first time because the move cuts back and forth constantly and in inexperienced hands it could all have degenerated into an incomprehensible mess. Another star of the movie is the location of itself because the Los Angeles depicted here may be set in modern times but the look and feel is of LA in times gone by. The city has a noirish quality which harkens back to the time of Al Capone and Micky Spillane and these really helps ground the movie as homage to the great detective tales from that era.

The movie is not without its fault, too much plot development is explained in quickly uttered sentences which can be extremely difficult to follow if you're not paying full attention, but there are generally small and not detrimental to the experience. The movie does tend to be a bit too smart for its own good but the tongue in cheek nature of the film lets it get away with it without being too distracting. There is actually a lot more to be said about how great the movie is but I think I should leave that for you to discover. Make no mistake my friends this is a great movie that should be watched by everyone and I mean everyone if just to see the re-emergence of Robert Downey JR as an actor but I guarantee that everyone will find something to like in this little gem of a movie.

Hellboy Animated: 'Sword of Storms' and 'Blood and Iron'

2007-06-27T23:44:00.000+08:00

Continuing on a trend which I started with the Highlander thread which is the ever expanding market and acceptance of animated movies aimed at an older demographic and the latest examples are two movies made for the Hellboy franchise. It was great seeing Hellboy and the gang appear in live action but it also left me wanting more because Hellboy seemed a bit of a wuss in the movie rather than the badass he is in the comics. The biggest fun of the books was watching him battle these great beast or odd creatures and I think it will cost too much to see those battle in live action so these movies are great options to filmmakers to expand on the mythos.

Sword of Storms concerns a Japanese professor who is taken over by a malevolent spirit after he opens a sacred scroll. The scroll speaks of an ancient battle in Japan where a samurai warrior manages to capture both Lightning and Thunder, ancient gods determined to rule over the world, and confine them to the scroll. However by doing so he has earned the wrath of his master, who had made a pact with the gods and in retaliation kills the samurai's lover who is also his daughter. Hellboy is sent back to ancient Japan when he acquires the samurai's sword and he must overcome all manner of obstacle to solve the mystery before its too late.

Blood and Iron begins in 1939, where a young Professor Bruttenholm has destroyed Erzsebet Ondrushko, a female vampire who bathed in the blood of innocents to stay young. Now someone in upstate New York is trying to bring her back, and the elderly Professor Broom has decided to investigate it himself. He takes the top BPRD agents, Hellboy, Liz Sherman and Abe Sapien, who are more worried about his welfare than the return of any vampire. Their tune changes when they face a horde of ghosts, a phantom wolf pack, witches, harpies, a giant werewolf and Erzsebet herself. Hellboy ends up battling the Queen of Witches, the goddess Hecate, who wants him to embrace his true destiny, a destiny that includes the destruction of mankind.

These 2 movies were released about a year apart and there are plans for another two animated movies and based on the quality on show here we are in for a treat. The biggest thing to note here is that the creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola, is heavily involved in the creative process as is the director of the first live action movie, Guillermo Del Toro. The art in the movies are heavily influenced by the comics because of Mignola's involvement with the colors being a generally subdued sort of washed out water color. Another plus for the movies is the inclusion of not only Ron Perlman as the voice of Hellboy but also the entire cast from the movie including both Selma Blair and John Hurt which lends a lot to the continuity of the franchise.

Of the 2 movies on show here Blood and Iron is the better one because the tone is darker and there are more character development to be found whereas Sword Of Storms have a more straight forward storyline but very cardboardy characters which is a shame because with some better writing it could have been great as well. Blood and Irons is fun because you get to see all sort of creatures from harpies to werewolves and the relationship between Professor Broom and Hellboy is also given more depth. All in all both efforts are commendable and augurs well for the animation industry with perhaps more franchises given the same treatment and top of the list should be the Star Trek series seeing as how all the live action ones have been total failures.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is Insufferable

2007-06-27T15:27:00.000+08:00

Sometimes it is difficult to understand the logic of Hollywood where because of their financial muscle they have the pick of the best scripts and stories as well as the best talent the industry have to offer and yet they manage turn out movies like FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The whole point of this movie in my opinion is just to crap on the fan boys who grew up with the FF for the sake of making a quick buck and to take one of the marquee story line from one of the most loved comic book and reduce it to this is not just unforgivable but downright offensive. It has been a week since I saw the movie but I couldn't bear to sit down and write the review because it is just too painful to revisit the horrible experience that is the Fantastic Four.

FF: ROTSS picks up with the team now firmly established as celebrities and living the life of the rich and famous which despite the enthusiasm of the Human Torch has some draw backs for the rest of the team. Reed and Sue are trying to get married but something earth shattering always manages to wreak the big day and their latest attempt is also thwarted by the emergence of a mysterious being who is clearly very powerful by his handling of the Human Torch. The Surfer has been spotted all around the galaxy and everywhere he goes planet dies which doesn't augurs well for Earth. The FF are then recruited by the army to help track down the Surfer and to find a way to neutralize him but the army have also enlisted the help of the recently revived Dr Doom, who clearly has his own agenda. The Surfer tells them that he is just a herald and he is preparing for the coming of Galactus, devourer of worlds, and Earth has been earmarked for destruction.

If the above sounds interesting to you please remember it is not the work of the studio but it is to the great Stan Lee you should be thankful too because The Coming of Galactus storyline is one of the biggest thing in comics history. It was a monumental storyline that introduced the Marvel Universe to the cosmic beings and gave birth to some of the most important characters around. It was great to see that Stan Lee had literally the same cameo he had as in the comic book but sadly that’s about the only good thing about the movie along with seeing the Surfer in all his glory. Clearly I am a big lover of comics and all that it entails so whatever I say here will be tinted by my love for the characters so if you are looking for an unbiased review please look elsewhere.

The worst thing about the movie is clearly the disrespect they have for the characters, something similar as in X-men 3 which also not surprisingly is by Fox, where they reduce them to infantile one note caricatures and not as the first family of superheroes. The roles that have been written for the actors are just so depressingly lame and it doesn't matter who is playing them because there is clearly no development for the characters. For a 90 minute movie it sure seems an eternity in the cinema and halfway through I am betting you'll be checking your watch because there is nothing here that can be described as even remotely engaging or entertaining. The movie is clearly aimed squarely at a younger crowd but they really are mistaken when they think kids these days are stupid and it is as if children can't appreciate a more well thought out movie ala Shrek or Princess Mononoke which have such wonderfully textured storylines.

For those who still didn't know, a cinema projectionist in the States was fired after he sent in a negative review to Aintitcool.com and subsequently a clearly Fox plant sent in an opposing review describing things which didn't happen in the movie and I guess all the publicity helped the movie to a big opening. The biggest gripe in the review was clearly how Galactus was handled and represented on film which IMHO is the crappiest thing you could do the guy short of representing him as a bush baby or a dung beetle because Galactus is a bad ass and to reduce him to a storm cloud is so irresponsible that I feel just so frustrated thinking about. And to have the Surfer destroy Galactus is so nonsensical it just boggles the mind because the cosmic power given to the Surfer from Galactus is only a fraction of his infinite power so how is it possible that the Surfer is strong enough.

With the way the studios are simply just churning out comic related movies with no respect whatsoever for the source material it is clearly only a matter of time before audiences start voting with their dollars and boycott the crap that is coming out of Hollywood. The same thing happened a decade or so ago with the fad ending when bloated representations of wonderful comic properties started appearing like Batman and Robin sounded the death keel and I can't help but think the same thing is happening all over again. In conclusion Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is an insufferable movie that will have you fleeing the cinema as soon as the credits roll which can't come soon enough.

A reminder of how Galactus should look like. Sigh!!

1408

2007-06-20T15:00:00.000+08:00

Now this looks like a horror movie that will scare the shit out of you with genuine scares and it seems to be a far cry from the prevalent horror porn thats everywhere these days. It's based on a Stephen King short story about a writer(John Cusack) who has writen a string of best sellers by debunking famous myths of the paranormal. His latest project is room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel which has claimed a string of deaths. Samuel L Jackson is the manager of the hotel who tries to convince Cusack not to enter by informing him that no other residents have lasted more than an hour. The trailer is quite good and the movie looks moody as hell and also there is a pretty positive review over on AICN. So check it out and I for one am hoping it will be shown here and with a minimum of cuts.

Highlander The Search for Vengeance

2007-06-19T14:31:00.000+08:00

Our love for sequels is a funny thing, we want them to be original yet at the same time be something we are familiar with and that’s an extremely fine line to tread which is why we are often disappointed. Good sequels, like Spiderman 2, manage to thread that line but there are those that go in extremely different directions, like Aliens, that also creates the same desired effect. More often than not it is the second option that manages to create something that is a worthwhile successor and with animation becoming more and more acceptable to mainstream audiences it was only a matter of time before we started seeing sequels as anime.

Highlander The Search for Vengeance is about Colin Macleod, an honorary member of the Clan Macleod, and his 2000 years search for vengeance for the murder of his wife. The world has now been reduced to a post apocalyptic waste land and pockets of human settlement that are run by warlords and not nations. One such warlord is Marcus Octavius, an immortal who has always been a tyrant through history from the height of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Third Reich. He is also the person that Colin is seeking and is the current warlord of NY city where he is creating a virus that will wipe out the remaining human resistant.

The movie is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the legendary anime director of Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D, so you know that the movie is going to be great. Kawajiri is a director famous for his hard boiled stories and violent action scenes as well as sexual situations in his movies so his movies are never for the kids. In Japan animation is just a story telling tool for all sort of stories so it’s not uncommon to have drama or porn told through animation and that’s something the rest of the world is beginning to accept which is great because it helps other less well funded filmmakers get their stories through. Straight off the bat you can tell that this is a Kawajiri movie by his character designs with long angular faces and muscular bodies, with Marcus looking distinctly like Gemma from Ninja Scroll, and huge villains to boot. The animation here is smooth and beautiful but the inclusion of some mediocre CG shots was very distracting and brought down the movie a notch or so but overall its still a great looking piece. The fight scenes here are bloody and hard, much like Fist of the North Star, which is expected but it does lack a bit of variety and Kawajiri has said that there is going to be a director's cut which will be longer.

The story here is very reminiscent of the original Highlander with love and vengeance being the main motivation except for the final realization for Colin that perhaps he has wasted the last 2000 years to seeking revenge. The story does a good job of showing them through important points of history, like the battle of Trafalgar, which goes down really well in expanding the mythos and its fun as well. I can understand that because the world of the Highlander is generally a more realistic one but I still can't help but to think that there should have been more weirder villains like those in Ninja Scroll which would have certainly liven up the proceedings. Let’s hope the DVD will address the situation and since this has started lets hope other franchises will try animated sequels as well because I would love to see Star Wars done in anime.

This is in my honest opinion the best sequel in the Highlander mythology because the other life actions one never managed to capture the energy or the sadness of the original and that’s why they failed so miserably. The sound effect and the music in particular of this movie are fantastic and it lends a real symphonic feeling to the proceedings. For a movie where the tagline of "There can be only one" is used so frequently there has sure been a lot of sequels but if that allows for films such as this to be made then so be it. Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is a breath of fresh air for a franchise many thought dead and for those who have had to endure one misshapen sequel after another finally the wait is over.

Hostel Part II – Unfulfilling

2007-06-18T11:38:00.000+08:00

Sometimes in this advanced age of internet and satellite TV we get the impression that the whole world is just an extension of our own home because everyone seems share the same values or same thinking and as a result we may lose sight of the fact that there are a lot of places out there that we really shouldn't visit. If the Hostel movies are to be believed then Slovakia would definitely be one of those places so Hollywood has managed to successfully screw over another foreign country without firing a shot, something maybe George Bush should learn because it sures saves a lot of taxpayer's money and children.

Hostel Part II picks up directly from where the first part left off with the sole remaining survivor of the first movie back in the states but he is unwilling to let anyone know what has happened for fear of consequences. In the meantime 3 Americans girls studying art in Rome is about to go on their holiday through Europe when they meet up with a model from one of their classes who recommends them to try out the spas in Slovakia. Of course there they are captured and sold to the highest bidder to be tortured and killed in a variety of grisly manner. 2 middle aged Americans are some of the buyers and we follow them on their journey of self discovery and to see if they have what it takes to be a killer.

Let me just start off by saying that I am no great fan of horror, but I do enjoy a well made horror film like the first Elm Street or the first Scream, so at least you know my perspective when reviewing this movie. In my opinion, which is in contrast to that of Harry Knowles of AICN, director Eli Roth is not the savior of the horror genre that they would want you believe because in all his movies never once does he reaches the level of Wes Craven or even John Carpenter for that matter. I believe that label belongs to Neil Marshall, who’s Descent and Dog Soldiers were fantastic examples of engrossing and terrifying horror films, simply because he understands the distinction between horror and disgust. Obviously horror films must have disgusting elements but that should only be one of the component and not the main draw as it is in both Hostel movies. Like the original, Hostel Part II is a movie that consist of a few torture set pieces that are the highlights of the film but the parts in between are a real bore which is a real let down because if he had managed to maintain the level of dread then this would probably be a very good film.

The biggest difference from the first part is that this time around we are supposed to feel for the victims because they are generally nice caring girls whereas the first one was about ugly American looking to exploit everybody and there fore getting their just rewards. The film does manage to set them up well with Beth having the most screen time as the responsible leader and her ultimate conclusion rings true to character. However this time around the story also tells the side of the would be killers, people who live normal suburban lives, and this is where the movie fall off the rails for me because the back story just isn't that interesting and it would have been better if they were just left unknown. This time we also learn more of the organization that runs the hostel and see the machinery at work which is quite fun and does seem oddly reflective of the world.

The kills this time around I think has gone a bit softer compared to the first part, the whole blow torch to the face was a bit too much for me, but is still pretty disgusting in itself with one particular standout for me, the whole virgin blood bath thing was a great nod to history. The acting this time around is of a much higher standard and that manages to build a better bound with the audience. Part II remains as fragmented as the first with too much down time in between kills and exposition that is just plain boring which combines to make watching the movie a chore and not at all enjoyable. I have no doubt there will be plenty of people who will love it but for me the movie is deeply flawed with a few interesting scenes but sadly not enough to sustain the momentum through the whole movie so it is good news indeed the Roth has announced that there will no new entries into the Hostel world.

Perfect Stranger- Far From Perfect

2007-06-16T23:09:00.000+08:00

The Academy Awards remains the biggest prize in the movie industry and for the winners it usually means the choice pick in any upcoming project. However on the flipside there has been a growing group of actors who have also been cursed by the golden statue and they include Mira Sorvino and Marisa Tomei to name a few and into this unfortunate group we must now add Halle Berry. Every movie that the gorgeous Ms Berry has headlined since Monster's Ball have been getting progressively worse, even though it should take a monumental effort to top Catwoman in terms of sheer crappiness, and it's high time she got better advisers in picking movies or she's going to risk becoming irrelevant very soon.

Perfect Stranger is an erotic thriller about a hard nosed journalist who investigates the murder of her best friend who died in mysterious circumstances. The main suspect is Harrison Hill, a well known businessman, who she was having an affair with and was threatening to expose to his wife. Along the way the journalist will also have to come to grips with a dark secret from her past if she is to have any chance of moving forward in life.

The unfortunate thing about the above description of Perfect Stranger is that it is neither very erotic nor very thrilling. Like all thrillers around today this one consist of a twist ending which is not only absurd but it somehow lessens the movie in a dramatic way. The ending comes out of the left field, and while surprise is a good factor in any movie, without any real setup of suspense leading up to it. In order for the twist to have an impact there must be an underlying sense of tension running throughout the movie but all we really get here is a smattering of a thriller which never really takes off thereby leaving an extremely unsatisfying aftertaste.

The real sad part of the movie are the performances especially that of Berry whose supposed tough as nail reporter is only stuck on angst with no other variations in her demeanor. Berry plays her in only one note which seems very stilted to be honest and not at all believable. Giovanni Ribisi, who has made a career out of playing creepy characters, is once again a creepy character who is supposed to be her assistant but is also heavily infatuated by her. I think it may be time for him to start choosing totally different characters before he becomes typecast if he hasn't already. Bruce Willis is the only one who comes through simply because he is playing Bruce Willis, a smirk always at ready, the wealthy playboy millionaire who is being investigated by Berry.

I really don't want to spend too much time talking about the movie simply because it really isn't that good. It is a yawn inducing snore fest that should have been made for tv and even looks the part if not for the big stars involved and how the producers got them involved is another mystery waiting to be solved and I'm betting that would be more interesting than the film itself.

Next- Run For The Exits

2007-06-14T11:05:00.000+08:00

Movies that involve time traveling or time manipulation often turn out badly with few exceptions simply because the concept leaves too many unanswered questions. The way I see it the only solution, short of someone actually providing a working explanation on it, is to use the concept on broad basis and then distract the audience with lots of actions and interesting characters ala Minority Report. Next however is a model of everything that you shouldn't do in a movie about time manipulations.. or just about any other movie for that matter.

Nic Cage is Cris Johnson, a Las Vegas magician, who can see 2 minutes into the future. He uses the magic show to hide his abilities and also earn some small money at the casinos. Everything changes when for some unknown reason he can see further into the future to a specific spot on a young woman who he feels a connection to. At the same time a nuclear bomb is on the loose in America and the FBI thinks that Cris is the man that can help them track it down. Cris will ultimately have to choose between the woman he loves and or the lives of 8 million people.

First and foremost the movie is based on the novel by Philip K Dick and if he was alive I am pretty sure he would be suing the ass of Paramount for bastardizing his book but as it is he would have to contend with rolling quietly around in his grave. The title sounds tired, the tagline is definitely tired so guess what the movie is tired. There really is no more apt description for this film than tired. Everything about it just seems uninspired and nobody seems to be trying anything at all to even make it a passable action film. The movie is just plain insipid with nothing to recommend from the story to the action scenes, with incredibly bad CG effect if I may add.

I'm not sure what has happened to Nic Cage because he was such a breathe of fresh air for the action genre when The Rock and Face/Off came out. Nowadays he just seems to phoning in his work with no great conviction and here it is pretty obvious he is in it for the money alone. Fresh of sporting a horrible hair piece in Ghost Rider he has managed to find an even worse one here which really makes him look like a psychopath and not at all a likeable leading man. The characters here are just so bland that its like watching paint dry with even the usually fantastic Julianne Moore reduced to a one note caricature. Jessica Biel brings nothing to the equation with her romance with Cage lacking in any semblance of emotion or even believability and the whole thing just seems an exercise in futility.

The story is the real turd in this cesspool because there is simply no tension whatsoever to be found here. I mean honestly where is the fun in watching someone who knows everything that's about to happen to him. There is no explanation who the terrorist are or why they are doing what they are doing except to carry out general acts of villainy. The ending here is the real killer because in one broad stroke it has rendered the entire second half of the movie pointless and credit must be given to the script writers for making us feel like a fool. I think it is perfectly clear that Next is a movie to be avoided like the plague simply for the reason that it is a lazy and insipid attempt at movie making.

Ocean's 13 - A Good Time Guaranteed

2007-06-11T09:48:00.000+08:00

Only in Hollywood can you earn millions by hanging out with your friends while having a blast because lets face it all the Ocean's movies are just an elaborate get together for these guys. That however has made these movies extremely honest because when you see the guys bantering you really think that that’s them on stage having a good time. It helps that you have a good but simple script in tow which makes everybody looks good and voila you have another summer blockbuster.

Ocean's 13 starts of with Reuben suffering a heart attack brought on by being double crossed by Willie Banks (Al Pacino), a rival hotelier who has managed to cheat another partner in a long line of partners. This of course brings Ocean and the gang back together to get some revenge for this insult but there is a problem because the hotel is being monitored by the latest security system, The Greco, which has never been outsmarted before. Banks is an obsessive and egomaniacal millionaire whose sole purpose is to win the 5 diamond award, the best award a hotel can get, an award he has won numerous times before but which still drives him on.

As you can see the story is basically the same as the first part with revenge being the chief motivator and likewise the movie is filled with the same sort of smart but convenient story tools. The movie has its fair share of humor, with the side trip to Mexico being the highlight, and more often than not it does hit the mark. The dialogue remains sharp and witty with the aforementioned banter being very relaxed and natural. The bad thing about it being so close to the original is that you can see most of curves balls coming from miles away especially the purported setbacks which inadvertently turns into sleights of hands. The performances here are again as good as required which is good enough but the once again the operative word here is fun because they just seem to be having a good time. I'm betting a lot of the dialogue in the movie is ad hoc which lends a real authenticity to the proceedings. Al Pacino is good here in his usual loud and blustery self while Ellen Barkin is also perfectly cast as his assistant.

Of all the part 3's out this year this is my favorite because it remains the closest to the original in spirit while remaining fresh and relatable. Both Spiderman and Pirates have had too much expectation and loose ends to tie up which made them bloated beyond recognition which makes Ocean's 13 something of a novelty. It seems to me that nowadays all the movies that are coming out is only either making a grab for your dollar or for the awards but have forgotten to have some fun and this is where this film falls snugly into. Ocean's 13 is the definition of easy entertainment, both light and breezy, and is the perfect antidote to these overly serious times.

Oh! The stupidity....

2007-06-07T10:51:00.000+08:00

Variety has announced that Warner Bro's has optioned a script based on the 80's cartoon Thundercats with a view to turn it into a life action movie. News like this really sends a shiver down the spine and I can't help but think that they will be mucking up what was one of my most cherished memory as a kid. Transformers has already been adapted and I fear for that as well, despite some decent promo clips, and He-Man is reportedly on the way as well as a whole slew of comic properties and except for some I just don't see them sending out quality fare. There are exceptions like Iron Man and Batman, who has some good casting and good directors involved, but for the majority I think it will be mostly of Ghost Rider and Elektra quality even though I fervently pray that that won't be the case.

Thundercats for me is one of the last untouched nostalgic gems remaining and part of what made us a child of the 80's. I may be a tad pessimist here and I know it isn't fair to judge something at such an early stage but it would just kill me if they got this wrong and sent out turkey. In the meantime these are some clips of Lion-O and the gang and lets keep our fingers crossed that they don't go through with it.

Ultraviolet - Unbelievable

2007-06-05T23:39:00.000+08:00

Another example of a film so bad it can only warrant a download. After watching this film words like horrendous, excruciating and sadistic springs into mind but it would be an insult to those words if they were applied to this incoherent mess. In fact calling it a movie itself would already be according it a barely deserved praise because what it really is is an 88 minute trailer for an upcoming action game, and not a very good one at that as well. For that matter outside of the movies would anyone buy that a supermodel could be an efficient and brutal killing machine while wearing designer glasses and make up? For anyone thinking that this may fall into the so bad it could be funny group ala DOA, you can just forget about it straight away because there is nothing to laugh at here but yourself for wasting the money and the time to watch this turkey.

The plot, another word it doesn't deserve, is about a world in the future where part of the human race has been infected by a virus that turns human into some sort of vampire. These vampires aren't vampire in the traditional sense where they need to drink human blood at whatnot but they do have faster movements and can see in the dark. The fascist government led by Daxus may have discovered a new weapon that can annihilate all vampires and the vampire resistance have sent their killing machine Violet to intercept the weapon.

The outline of the movie is not spectacular or original but it could still have been a good action movie but the execution of the movie is indescribably bad, so bad you cannot even call it amateurish. The film consist of one over styled action set pieces after another strung together by what can only be called a nonsensical script. The proceedings are of course accompanied by loud techno music that I guess are supposed to add some adrenaline to it but of course it just comes across as stupid. This is the perfect movie to talk about style over substance because the only thing that the filmmakers spent time on was choreographing the ridiculously over the top set pieces which were then spliced with some mediocre CG effect. The CG here is really third rate stuff with most video games offering better fare and you only need to sit through the opening 10 minutes to see what I mean. For some odd reason most of the people in the future loves to stand around posing in exaggerated posses even when there is a danger to their life. A lot more could be said about the shortcomings of the film but why bother really.

Most of the blame for this movie will certainly have to lie at the feet of director Kurt Wimmer, who also gave us the similar but slightly more intelligent Equilibrium, whose penchant for ridiculous action fare has once again given us another example of underserved people given the money to waste. A lot has been said about how the studio reedited the movie and cut out nearly 30 minutes from the original run time but on the evidence presented here I think the studio did the audience a favor. A lot of the story points found here doesn't add up in the end and what we are left with is a leading lady with lots of guns running around doing stupid things. And the dialogue is another kettle of fish altogether with some of the stupidest and cheesiest lines ever seen in an action movie. The movie has no redeeming value whatsoever, with the possible exception of seeing Milla Jovovich in a variety of leather outfits, and should really be avoided at all cost.

Casablanca - 'Nuff Said

2007-06-05T11:30:00.000+08:00

Form is temporary but class is permanent. That’s the slogan many Liverpool fans will know only too well but it is also a fitting anecdote for the gem that is Casablanca. Of all the classics, I find myself loving this the best and I believe it will also have the longest legs when time judges it. With its combination of dashing hero, exotic locale, evil antagonist and the oh so wonderfully luminous leading lady it is no surprise that Casablanca has withstood the sands of time.

The synopsis should already be well known enough to everybody. Rick is the roguish operator of an American bar in Casablanca in 1942 when the Nazis are rampaging through Europe and has just taken Paris. As it is Casablanca is the only remaining free French territory left and there is a huge pressure on the local prefect, Captain Renault, to follow the orders of the German commanders in town. The town has also become the last remaining port of escape for refugees trying to get to America and it is into this cauldron of activity comes Ilsa, the woman who left Rick in Paris. Ilsa has also brought along her husband, Victor Laszlo, who is a leader of the resistance and someone the Germans badly want to get their hands on.

The story and execution is of course a bit dated with the story being particularly simple in this day and age but it is the romance that lingers. I remember I was only about ten when I last watched this and now after about 20 years later it really feels like I'm reacquainting with an old friend. I had never forgotten Bogart and Bergman, even then I knew she was beautiful, and they have never looked better after purchasing the remastered edition. Some of the characters here are truly memorable especially Captain Renault, a rogue if there ever was one, whose sense of self preservation offers many of the comic relief here. But like all the characters he isn't a one dimensional scum because at heart he is also a sentimentalist and the final scene with Bogart says a lot about him.

The movie was released in 1942 so the world didn't know too much about what the Nazis were doing to the Jews in concentration camps and that may explain why they aren't portrayed as sinister as modern times would dictate. The times then were more innocent and more romantic I guess if you compared with some of the other WW2 movies out now. If Bogart was working now I do not think he would have gotten this role simply because he looks too old but then again it was a different time where leading men were all in their 40's but he is truly a great actor because what he lacks in looks he certainly makes up for in screen presence. Rick is a jaded and cynical person who has experienced his share of setbacks and the unexplained loss of Ilsa was the straw that broke the camel's back. And you can understand why when you see Ingrid Bergman, a woman so beautiful that you would think the world was made just for her. She truly lights up the screen every single time and the camera loves looking at her with the film offering many lingering shots on her face alone.

'As time goes by' is a song you hear all the time in all manners of movies but it is here that you feel it is the most suited given the theme and how the story actually panned out. Listening to it automatically gives you a sense of longing for things and times gone by, no pun intended. Casablanca will always remain a great movie and a true cinematic classic, long before the word lost its' meaning through overuse, and watching it will transport you to a place and time long since past us by.

Black Book (Zwartboek) - A Star Is Born

2007-06-02T16:58:00.000+08:00

Any time a new film by Paul Veerhoven is a released is a good time to celebrate because you know you're in for a rare treat, even when it's a dud like Hollow Man there is something in it to like. For a whole generation of movie goers Veerhoven's name will be associated with sci-fi movies and Sharon Stone's pubic hair but that would be diluting his impact on pop culture with his constant critique of authority and honest views on both sex and violence, two things never in short supply in his movies. Black Book (Zwartboek) also has the distinction of being the first time most international audiences would have heard the name of Carise van Houten, whose path to superstardom is almost as guaranteed as her beauty is absolute.

Black Book (Zwartboek) is set in Holland 1944 which is at the tail end of WW2 with the Nazis still occupying the Netherlands. The movie revolves around Rachel Stien, a Jew, and her attempts to escape the occupation and to reunite with her family. Her escape attempt ends disastrously but she is rescued by the résistance and in turn she becomes an active member in opposing the Nazis. Her most dangerous assignment is to infiltrate the Nazi commandant’s office to rescue a few captured resistance members but once there she realizes not everything is at it seems. What should have been enemies are honest and kind while those she would call comrades have very dark secrets to hide.

It is a revelation for me to watch Veerhoven attempt something so factual and realistic because I have always loved his far out sci-fi movie which are really mind trips if you think about it. The fact that he actually grew up during that period allows him to accurately recreate both the settings as well as the feelings of the population. Zwartboek is actually both a thriller as well as a commentary of the society then particularly about our perceptions of the so called good guys. It is an examination of bravery but also mostly it is about cowardice and what extraordinary depths we will plummet to when faced by it. This is a definite return to form for Veerhoven who was so fed up with Hollywood after completing Hollowman, a film he has since admitted to only doing for the money, and I think perhaps returning to Europe will do him a world of good to recharge for the next blockbuster because I think there are still many good films left in him.

The performances of many of the actors here are superb but in all honesty when you finish watching the movie you will only remember Carise, a true ethereal beauty if there ever was one. Her Rachel is innocent and jaded, playful and wary which just makes her a complete person which is truly rare in the movies these days. She can convey more emotions just by moving her eyes than most can with their whole face and there is where the movies' emotional punch really comes from. Even though Rachel has to go through such horrible situations the script rarely gives her lines to talk about them but Carise shows everything through her eyes which are both enigmatic and hypnotic.

The movie is a suspenseful thriller with lots of left turns but it never feels out of place or forced which is to say it is a smart little movie. It is also full of wonderful performances by a great cast and it also seems to be shot in HD because everything looks very crisp. For a movie on a relatively small budget there are lots to see from the accurate sets and the short but effective action sequences. The movie strives to shed new light on common perceptions and pleads with us to perhaps look at the world around us and not to divide it into just black or white.

A Game of Thrones - Great Start

2007-05-30T11:39:00.000+08:00

My love for all things fantasy were fostered by the Dragonlance books of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and seldom have I found anything since that have matched them. I've been through Feist and Jordan among others and have always come up short; Feist however came very close with the Serpentwar Saga, and for the longest time it seems as if there would be no one to replace them at the top. Happy to say I have now discovered George R R Martin and the world is a brighter place once again.

A Game Of Thrones is part one of the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series which is set mainly in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and concerns mainly with the civil war affecting the continent upon the death of King Robert Baratheon. The noble House Stark, lead by Robert's good friend and second in command, Lord Eddard Stark attempt to bring order to the realm but discovers some shocking truth about the heir to the throne and also the of the Queen. This revelations leads to his arrest and the subsequent uprising of the many factions of the Seven Kingdoms against primarily House Lannister of which the Queen is part of.

At the same time to the north of the kingdom stands The Wall, a 300 mile long wall built from stone and magic, which acts a protector of the Kingdom from the wildlings of beyond. The Wall is garrisoned by the Brothers of the Night Watch who stand guards diligently despite the upheaval behind them which has come at an unfortunate time because there are some ominous stirring in the woods beyond the wall which may herald the coming of the Long Winter. Meanwhile in the far continent of Dothraki the heirs to the former ruler of the Seven Kingdom plot to retake the realm by force with aid from an unexpected and terrifying source long thought gone from the realm of man.

Clearly I am extremely late to the world of George Martin , who is clearly a great writer from his long list of awards, and should therefore be terribly ashamed of myself. However I'm an avid believer of better late than never and after reading this first parter I am as enraptured with him as I am with Gaiman, which is saying a lot. The world created here is a complex and wonderful world with a history dating thousands of years filled with both the magical and the fantastical. It rivals the depths of Tolkien in terms of details and history which is just boggles the mind.

The characters in the books are multi faceted and transcends good and evil, except for a few which are outright vermins, which lends a great deal of believability to the going-ons. For a fantasy series there is hardly any magic involved, and in fact any reference of it is accompanied by derision and disapproval, with the main emphasis on political maneuverings and back stabbings. The best thing here is that the writer infuses the characters with so much life that the reader can't help but be drawn in which makes their deaths so much more meaningful. And yes, there are lots of death here especially to characters who you thought was central to the plot.

This book has just scratched the surface of what is coming and before the end I guess more misfortune will befall the current cast and I wager by the end we will have completely different cast of characters to root for. This is a great novel which has set the series of to a wonderful start but my main concern here is that it is now up to part four with three more volumes purported to be coming but considering that it has now been nearly a decade since the series started I may not be able to withstand the wait. Damn you George Martin.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End - Fittingly Chaotic

2007-05-28T14:53:00.000+08:00

The first scene you see of Captain Jack Sparrow goes a long way in explaining everything that is wrong with At World's End, the supposedly final installment of the insanely popular and successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Capt Jack is without a doubt The star attraction of the trilogy but even he has to submit to the old saying regarding how bad too much of a good thing becomes. Subtlety is never the keyword in summer blockbusters but the total and absolute disregard here is both overwhelming and frightening and which sadly and inevitably leads to the audience being jaded by all the celluloid pyrotechnics.

The last episode ended with Capt Jack being swallowed by the Kraken and here we start off with the recently reanimated Capt Barbosa leading the group to Davey Jones' locker to fetch him back. They need him because he is apparently one of 9 pirate lords that need to convene to tackle the problem that is the East India Trading Company. Lord Beckett, who has control over Davey Jones upon acquiring his heart, has been systematically wiping out all the remaining pirates in the known world with the help of the Flying Dutchman is determined to discover the location of this meeting so that he may destroy them together all at once.

For those going in looking for big action set pieces I guarantee they will come out with a huge grin on their faces because in this installment no expenses have been spared in that department. From the set up in Singapore to the final showdown in Pirates Cove everything looks magnificent and I think a lot of credit have to go to Jerry Bruckheimer for putting up the cash for that. Not many producers will put their money where their mouth is when opening up the wallet to their directors and credit to him for having the vision to see that.

The ultimate joy of watching the trilogy has been seeing the manic and hilarious Johnny Depp on screen and here it is no difference. Every scene he is in is fantastic and he manages to capture the spotlight even when he doesn't have any lines. There is a greater emphasis this time on physical comedy in contrast to the witty remarks he had in the previous sequels but its still good and if this is truly the last of the Pirates movies then he will be greatly missed. Geoffrey Rush is also a welcome return with his Capt Barbosa being an excellent sparring partner for Jack. Keith Richards is great and suitably spooky in a cameo as Jack's father and also the keeper of the Pirates Code.

That unfortunately leads to the problem with the movie. Too much of the enjoyment of the movie is based solely on watching Capt jack because this time around the movie has become overly bloated and extremely confusing with a lot of earlier plot lines left hanging. Many of the clever moments being set up by the prequels have been abandoned or been hastily and unsatisfyingly wrapped up. It doesn't help at all that the writers have chosen to add so many new elements into the Pirate lore such as the Calypso side story which ultimately had no bearing on the main story and only served to murky up the already murky water. It is well known that the writers were given a short time to come up with the scrip for both sequels and there was also a lot of rewrites being done on set and it really shows through. The whole movie is littered with so many cross and double crosses that if you think longer on any one of the story thread the whole thing will just fall apart.

Chow Yun Fatt has quite a bit of run time but unfortunately his character never added too much to the proceedings but it was still great to see him in a Hollywood movie that isn't completely shit. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightely are well.. themselves really and it is sometimes difficult to watch them attempt to act despite their earnesty. If there is to be a sequel I certainly hope they will have no part to play and the ending here certainly allows for that. Other disappointment includes the final battle at the maelstrom because it was set up with all the pirates there and the EATC armada but what we got was a one on one between the Black Pearl and the Dutchman and also the resolution for Lord Beckett was overly dramatic and didn't really make too much sense actually.

Irrespective of the reviews the movie is going to do huge business because the earlier movies have created a wonderful world with lots of great characters and nobody should miss the conclusion to what has been a fun and hugely entertaining ride. For a movie that is based on a Disney ride which nobody gave a chance for being successful, everyone connected to the film have been completely vindicated for bringing a breath of fresh air to the cinemas and while the ending is not the best it is perhaps a fitting end for the craziness that is the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Starcraft 2 - Prayers Finally Answered

2007-05-23T11:57:00.000+08:00

It will still be a time coming but finally Blizzard has revealed that they are in progress on the sequel to perhaps the best RTS game ever. Not only is in the game in progress but they were already ready to show some in game footage as well which hopefuly means that its not going to be too far away. Some details have been revealed with the sompany stating that only the 3 returning races will be playable again and that there will be no heroes character ala Warcraft 3. While the graphics will be good it will not be too taxing on current PC standards because the emphasis is only quick frenzied gameplay and to add to the chaos there will be no production limits so basically you can just click and drag across the whole screen. No date line has been given yet but production seems to be well advanced so there is hope. The most important thing is that Blizzard will send out an exciting and balanced game that will reinvent the RTS genre again. For more information as well as a kick ass trailer you can visit the below site

www.starcraft2.com

28 weeks later – Taut and Suspenseful

2007-05-21T14:23:00.000+08:00

It is never easy doing a sequel, especially a sequel to a great film and for the attempt alone credit must be given to those who dared. If it was done with the right reasons, that is. In 28 weeks later I think there was a genuine attempt to take the initial premise of the first to the logical next step which involves a broader scope and while the result may not be an overwhelming success it has done enough to not be the bastard child of the first.

28 weeks later is the sequel to 28 days later which deals with the outbreak of the Rage virus, which turns humans into a sort of frenzied rabid zombies whose only goal is to spread the virus. The initial outbreak has been contained in mainland England where after 28 weeks it has been determined that all the infected has died from starvation and an international military force led by the US has begun repopulating London. Among them are Tammy and Andy, who survived because they were on a school trip abroad, who have returned to join their father Don. Don and their mum, Alice, were in England when the outbreak happened and in one of the zombie attacks Don left Alice when she was being swamped by zombies and then told their children that their mum has died. Unbeknownst to him Alice has survived because of a rare genetic trait which makes her immune to the virus but also makes her a carrier of the disease and into the new Eden comes the snake.

First off though a lot has been said about how the movie is a critique of the Iraq war but after watching the movie I find no such preaching’s but given the way things are in the world today I guess anything to do with the US military will be considered an Iraqi allegory. Like all horror movies the real fear in the movie is of people losing control and that is a staple of all good horror movies with the US Army here losing control and also of individuals losing control and degenerating into snarling vicious beasts.

This second movie is an action oriented sequel to the more suspenseful first part which has drawn legitimate comparison with the Alien franchise. To be fair though for the most part of the movie it still relies on suspense but in the last quarter things start to ramp up which is logical given how the military is conditioned to respond. The starting of the movie for me was the most effective because of the intensity of the attacks and also how heart breaking it was which went a long way to setting up the movie. The last part is perhaps the weakest because while the intent was to show chaos at work I think the camera work overdid it a bit by being too chaotic which only left you a sense of what was going on. The camera work here is reminiscent of that in the Bourne Supremacy with a lot of hand held action but whereas there it helped to amplify the action here it only serves to distract.

A lot of what works has to be down to the work of young Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo who manages to maintain the suspense through some of the slower moments. A lot of the current horror fare out there can't differentiate between being scary and being disgusting. It is a thin line to be sure that only the best can see, and even then also not on every occasion. The inclusion of the original director Danny Boyle also helped in continuing the spirit of the original. The cast here which includes Robert Carlisle and Rose Byrne are serviceable without really being extraordinary. I was quite disappointed that in the end the Ron character seems to be exhibiting some sort of intelligence which would have just thrown the whole movie out of whack.

The original movie actually had an alternate darker ending which Boyle favored but the studio insisted on the brighter happier ending but this time around the ending is equally dark but which also opens the movie up to more sequels. For those looking for an effective and suspenseful zombie movie, 28 Weeks Later will prove to be both intelligent and suspenseful which will be a godsend in view of all the weak and laughable horror fare on offer in the Cineplex’s.

Little Miss Sunshine - A True Gem

2007-05-18T15:44:00.001+08:00

Sometimes it is all we can do to just get through the day with our sanity intact. Most of the time the situations we get ourselves into are extremely funny, if it was only happening to someone else and that’s part of why we love going to the movies. Sometimes if we're lucky we find a movie that’s so similar to real life that you can't really believe it but yet you can't dismiss its absurdity simply because it could easily have happened to you.

Little Miss Sunshine is about the going-ons of a very dysfunctional family who suffer from all forms of neurosis. The dad is a struggling motivational speaker who is trying to get his patented '9-steps program' published and commercialized. The son is mute, albeit by intent rather than nature, granddad is a 60 year old drug addict and uncle is a gay Proust scholar who had just attempted suicide. The only sane ones in the family, not surprisingly, are the women, the mother and olive, the 7 year old eternally optimistic baby of the family. The bulk of the story is their journey to get Olive entered into the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant but when such eclectic people are cramped into the confines of an VW van the journey is never going to be easy.

Let me just start off by saying that this is simply a very good movie with lots of high points in terms of laughter and sniggles and which ultimately is a feel-good movie with an important message on hope and perseverance. For a relatively small indie film it is a credit to the producers for getting such big names to star but what is important here is that everyone of them is perfectly casted from Steve Carrel as the depressed uncle to Greg Kinear as the sometimes irritatingly optimistic dad. Alan Arkin gives a standout performance as the grandad who offers encouragement and biting sarcasm in equal parts and it was sad that his role couldn't have been longer. Abigail Breslin could finally be the one to give Dakota Fanning a run for best child star and in fact looking at Abigail it’s easier to believe that naivety of childhood. Fanning always seem to be a woman playing a girl which may give her career more legs but Abigail is a true find here as the naive and optimistic Olive whose purpose in live is what unites the family.

Credit must also be given to the first time feature film directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for crafting such a charming and moving movie about such unlikely characters. Everybody is given time to shine and excel and their issues are always explored but never concluded which is really what life is all about. There are no solutions offered in prettily wrapped packages in life and the most we can do is pick ourselves up and move on to the next crisis. Little Miss Sunshine is a movie simply for everyone and each individual will take something different yet equally important from it which is truly a rare achievement these days.

BloodRayne - How Bad is Bad?

2007-05-12T13:57:00.000+08:00

Up until last year I wasn't really into downloading movies because i thought it tiresome and time consuming but that’s all changed recently when I started using the Ares P2P. I still prefer to go to the cinemas or buy the DVDs but for those movie which you know is god awful but you just need to watch, much like how you can't stop staring at car crashes, its a much better alternative then wasting your hard earned cash. A prime example would be Blood Rayne where everything is so derisory and generic and just plain crappy you can't but feel sad for the people who paid money to make the movie or those who paid to watch this butt-wipe of movie.

The story of this turd fest goes like this. The world is inhabited by vampires led Kagan (Ben Kingsley)who are opposed by a secret society of vampire killers called Brimstone. One noteworthy member of Brimstone is Vladimir (Michael Madsen) who leads one chapter of the society that includes Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez). They find out that Kagan has sired a half human half vampire daughter Rayne (Kristina Loken) who is out to disposed of dear old dad for killing her mummy. Other member of the cast includes Billy Zane and Meatloaf.

Now where should I begin on explaining how god awful the movie really is? First up the movies was directed by Uwe Boll, who many have credited as being the worst director of our times, and I must say it was one of my main reason for watching the movie because I really needed to know how bad he really was. After this wankfest its obvious his reputation is wholly deserved because the man can really foul up a movie. It has been rumored that the reason he actually gets to continue directing movies is because it’s all a tax scam for the rich to get lower taxes. And I must say it’s the only possible reason why anyone would hand over any sort of budget to him to make what is essentially amounting to celluloid horseshit.

Before he came around, movies based on video games already had a bad name but since his arrival you can forget about watching anything to do with any sort of video games because a simple search through IMDB will reveal he has a whole slate of VG movies in the pipeline. First up is Dungeon Siege followed by Blood Rayne 2 (it really is true) and then Postal with Far Cry and that’s not to mention those he has already fucked up like House of the Dead and Alone in the dark. Why any VG developer would option the rights to their games is beyond me when the directorial options seem to only include Boll and Paul Anderson, the genius that directed the other masterpiece known as AVP.

After watching the movie the first question that springs to mind is how in the world did he managed to get such a cast. Ben Kingsley is an Oscar winner for Christ sake and Michelle Rodriguez is much better for drivel such as this. Another standout element of the movie is the great script which had the cast spouting all sorts of nonsensical garbage. I have only reason to recommend this movie to anybody and that is for those who needs to see what a bad movie really is and to answer the titular question.

Spiderman 3 - Nearly Amazing

2007-05-11T14:49:00.000+08:00

Spidey is back in what must be the biggest of the trilogy Spiderman movies however it isn't necessary the best. After spending close to ten years helming one of the biggest movie franchises ever Sam Raimi is perhaps finally showing signs that he is running out of steam and a well earned break should be his next project.

This time out Spidey is faced with the triple threats of Harry Osborn, Venom and The Sandman and it will take every ounce of the famous Spiderman will to overcome those odds. Everything on the home front is also not well with Mary Jane suffering a career crisis which leads her to resent Spidey's new found popularity and also the attentions of Gwen Stacy on Peter. Into all this comes the alien symbiote which bonds with Peter to give him extra strength and aggression but which may end up causing him everything else.

The thing that always made the Spiderman movies unique and such enjoyable fare was the apparent love Sam had for the source material. It was a well known fact that Sam was a huge Spidey geek and he actively campaigned to get the director's chair when James Cameron backed out. This love always shown through on screen when you watch Spidey swing through NY or when he is battling the baddie atop skyscrapers, its as if Sam himself was up there and he was projecting all these iconic moments from the comic pages into real life action and we all loved him for doing that. Alas all good things must come to an end because in this third installment those moments are getting fewer and farther apart.

I think after resisting the studio's demand for the first two movies to include Venom he finally caved in this time and his clear disdain for the character clearly shows. From the design and the story conclusion it was clear he hated Venom and wanted to be finished with him once and for all. All the previous villains have had some redeeming value such as the case for Doc Ock but this time Sam has chosen for Venom to be a straight up, cardboard even, evil antagonist which nobody would want to see again.

However what I want to make clear is that while Spiderman 3 may be inferior to its predecessors it is by no means a bad movie by itself. There are still lots to love here with the continuing struggle of Peter Parker and Mary Jane still very much engrossing while the action set pieces are still remarkably stunning and frenzied which will the reason enough for some to go see it. Some of the returning characters are giving more time to shine such as Jonah Jameson who is as funny and as irritating as ever. For me though the high point was seeing Bruce Campbell in a small role as the maitre de of a French restaurant and also seeing Gwen Stacy on screen and in peril for the first time.

The biggest disappointment for me is how the movie choose to resolve the Green Goblin/Spiderman struggle by introducing, out of thin air I may add, the Osborn butler who dispenses sagely advices but was nowhere to be seen in the first 2 movies. The dubious dance down a NY street by the 'darker' Peter Parker was another low point which added nothing to the movie and only conspired drag the momentum of the show down.

All in all though Spiderman 3 is still a rip roaring rollercoaster of a ride which will thrill lots of fans and will help it earn lots of money at the Box Office but for those of us who expected more after the spectacular first sequel we are left still waiting. Here's hoping that Sam will take a good rest and return for the continuing adventures of Spiderman (sic) and most importantly the studio should wait for his return and not hire some hack for the next sequel.

Music And Lyrics - Too Lite To Matter

2007-05-07T02:10:00.000+08:00

On a recent trip abroad I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the on board entertainment system included up to 500 movies to choose from and a lot of them where brand new movies fresh from the cinema. Naturally I picked all the movies I was never intending to watch if I had to pay for them directly and it is heartening to know most of my instincts were to be proven correct.

First up was Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, a supposed heart warming romantic comedy. Hugh grant stars a washed up has been Pop star of the eighties who suddenly has another shot at stardom due to the interest of the reigning pop princess who has requested that he write her a new song. The problem is Hugh had always provided the music rather than the lyrics and is therefore having real trouble completing the song until the arrival of the new plant waterier; some people have the oddest job, Barrymore who has an untapped talent as a lyricist.

On the surface having Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore together in a light hearted romantic comedy sounds good because both are essentially charming in their own way and together they could have made the perfect on screen couple. But alas sad to say that is not the case because the movie really lacks any sort of real charm about it even though both of them really gave it a go. I guess the problem really was that they were really too similar to be an on-screen couple which makes sense if you take Notting Hill into consideration. The directness of Julia Roberts in that movie really helps both her and Hugh shine and for me it remains one of the best romantic comedy in recent years. Here the similarity produced no real chemistry between the leads which is so important for these sorts of movies. Chemistry remains an indefinable quantity and its never easy to manufacture or even replicate with the same people as can be seen with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere who so had it in Pretty Woman but lost it in Runaway Bride.

Another thing which really hurt the movie was the contrite script which uses all kind of clichés to progress the movie. Everything about the movie is predictable and by the numbers from the unexpected meeting to the expected bump in the road and to the happy endings had a feeling of inevitability to it. The one truly funny joke in the movie is the depiction of Hugh Grant's ex band in their hilarious MTV which is essentially a spoof of WHAM. All in all Music and Lyrics is a very unsatisfying popcorn movie in spite of the star power it has going for it and you should only really watch it when it’s free.

Cooking Mama - Fluffy Fun

2007-04-24T23:07:00.000+08:00

I always knew I would have made a great chef and thanks to Mama I am now a multiple gold star winner in creating culinary delights. Sigh. We can all dream right? Thanks to this lovable ,albeit a bit repetitive, DS game we can all indulge in some kitchen madness which doesn't require cleaning up afterwards which is really the main reason why most of us steer well clear of the kitchen.

The game fully utilizes all the function of the DS, including the mike surprisingly, to put the gamer in the role of an apprentice chef. You'll have to make all manners of tasty meals including burgers, ramen and spaghetti. And to accomplish that you are going to have to cut, sauté, and fry and decorate your way to the end without exceeding the time limits and also according to the instructions in order to get the gold star rating.

The graphics in the game consist of brightly colored utensils and backgrounds and the finished products often looks extremely tasty and I highly advice you not to play on an empty stomach. I was just reading through some of the articles regarding the game and funnily I found quite a few cooking site talking about it but they were very negative towards the techniques employed in the game. Sometimes I guess people should really take a vacation and get a life and not take themselves so seriously.

My biggest complaint about the game is the repetitiveness which sorts of creep in to the game after a while. That along with the limited recipes available is what’s stopping the game from becoming a much better endeavor. It has already been announced that a Wii version is coming out soon so that’s another reason to throw my hat into the Nintendo circle in the battle of the next gens. In truth Cooking Mama is a ton of fun but its only fluffy sugary fun meaning its not going to last very long. But then again like all good things you can always have seconds.

TMNT - A Monumental Sell Out

2007-04-23T20:29:00.000+08:00

The Turtles are the latest of the current 80's cartoon craze to be given the CG update and on the strength of this entry it would seem a lot have been lost in translation from something which I remembered loving very much as a kid. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing because it can easily alter the perception of something radically but in this case I really don't think the Turtles that I grew up with was this bland or this formulaic to begin with.

The movie picks up with the band of brothers after they have vanquished their eternal enemy, Shredder, but all is not well with the family because Leonardo has gone AWOL which have left the team leaderless. The remaining turtles are striking out on their own but they will have to get back in shape soon because there is a new evil rising in town which may just be the end of the world. OOoooohhhhhh!!

The only good thing from the movie is the graphics which really stands head and shoulder above everything in the movie. The sad thing is everything else is so insipid and uninspired that even the eye candy can't rescue the movie. The story and execution looks to have borrowed heavily from other better movies and the thing I hated most was the pseudo mysticism as demonstrated by every scene Splinter is in, which is invariable accompanied by some sort of third rate oriental melody as if that would add some weight to the proceedings. Everything about the movie is by the numbers and extremely predictable which makes viewing it a laborious experience. In fact just writing about it is also a drag!

I really can't see anyone above the age of 12 finding anything to like in this movie and I think the movie is mainly targeted for kids while hoping the nostalgia factor alone would be enough to get guys who loved the original version to check it out. And judging from the initial box office it would seem that there are still a lot of people who loved the Turtles. However my advice for you old school TMNT lovers is to stay far far away from the Cineplex’s until they take it down because the soul of the turtles are gone. What started out as counter culture satires has devolved into the biggest sell out Ever and we deserved so much better than this generic piece of garbage for our loyalty. It says a lot about a movie when you go in expecting it to be crap and still come out feeling disappointed

Sunshine - Flawed But Still Interesting

2007-04-14T16:39:00.000+08:00

It is a certainty that the Sun will burn out and therefore condemning the earth to an icy cold death. However luckily its not suppose to happen for another few billion years. But, what if you could see this cataclysmic event in your lifetime? Would you spend every single moment looking at the sun and admiring its beauty even at the risk of burning out your retina? Seriously though the idea of the Sun burning out on us is a scary thought for me personally because I believe in the dark humanity will revert back to its most basic and brutal form.

50 years in the future and the Sun is already dying and the earth is already a partial ice wasteland and we travel aboard the Icarus II with eight scientist to launch some sort of bomb into the Sun which should help restart the Sun. The eight consist of an eclectic bunch of people from the lead physicists (Cillian Murphy) to the macho flight engineer (Chris Evans) and our very own Malaysian biologists (Michelle Yeoh). They are joined by the charismatic Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) and another few expandable crew members. As indicated in the name this is not the first mission to save the sun with the first Icarus having mysteriously lost in space but just as this team is about to reach the sun they receive a distress signal from that craft and it is decided to go investigate.

I am very torn in my feelings for the movie because on one hand the science in the movie is very real and is in no way like those found on Star Trek but the unfortunate thing is that a lot of plot contrivances are used to create the inevitable crisis. The feel of the movie is very current and everything in it is totally believable which is a great thing because I really didn't want to see a lot of hyperspace travel and teleportation and shit. The first thing you will notice about the movie is that it looks great despite the low production cost and every CG shot is perfect without being overly CG. All the effects are functional and used to enhance the look of the movie without overwhelming it. The shots of the Sun and Mercury are particularly inspiring which allows the viewer to empathies with why the crew spends so much time looking at them.

The crew members are not particularly memorable with characterizations being only minimal to facilitate the story but at least they are consistent which is more than can be said for most other movies. Cillian Murphy has been turning in a lot of good performances for some time now and it is no difference here because he does stamp his own style on his character. He is basically the hero of the movie but it is never done with any bravado or chest thumping ala Bruce Willis. or a director who specializes in gritty real world movies I think Danny Boyle has done a tremendous job here because sci-fi movies are never easy to make. He manages to keep the tension high throughout the proceedings despite some slightly unbelievable plot twists at the end.

This however leads me to what I dislike about the movie. For two thirds of the movie everything is factual and grounded in reality but by the last act the writers are asking us to take huge leaps of disbelief which is extremely sad because of the strong beginning. For those who don't appreciate spoilers please look away now.... The introduction of the deranged former captain who is obsessed with God is a very bad idea and thankfully kept to the end. His introduction ultimately turns a great sci-fi movie into a second grade slasher movie is extremely regrettable. I also believe that the ending could have been shorten by ten minutes because the ending fight added nothing to the story or the movie and it would have been better if we just saw Cillian flying into the sun.....Spoiler end

Sunshine has to be one of the best Sci-fi movies in a long time with its realistic depiction of how actual star travel really is and it is backed by a smart premise with a strong execution by the director which will make you overlook most of the shortcomings. The shortcomings are there for everyone to see but it only becomes apparent after you exit the theater which is a credit to the filmmakers. Ultimately Sunshine is a good Sci-Fi movie who for the most part provides a very believable What-if scenario but the saddest thing is that it could have been a great movie with some of the opportunities lost because of the third act which ultimately elicited a bemused "what the.." reaction rather than a stunning” Holy Crap".

Good Luck Chuck - Another 'Virgin' ?

2007-04-09T11:59:00.000+08:00

The new trailer for Good Luck Chuck has just hit the net and it looks to be quite interesting and could replicate the success of 40 year old Virgin. The story is about Chuck who seems to be a good luck charm to all the women he sleeps because they go on to find their true love - with someone else. Chuck is trying to break the curse because he has fallen in love with the accident prone but incredably hot Cam (Jessica Alba). Looks to be quite funny but its always dangerous with these one trick movies and I guess it will depend alot on how well they make us feel for the characters. However having Alba in the movie is always a plus and having her parade in only her undies will at least guarantee an long opening day line of heterosexual males.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEg4GQK5k7w

Stark - Funny As Hell

2007-03-28T15:09:00.000+08:00

This has got be the funniest book about the end of the world and that’s high praise indeed coming from someone who practically adores Good Omens by Pratchet and Gaiman. Never has an unlikelier bunch of misfits and rogues been assembled to protect Mother Earth. The outcome was never in question but the attempt itself and the journey is a laugh a minute with some of the most outrages characters around.

Stark is the name of the organization comprising of the worlds biggest billionaires who have set in motion a conspiracy that will bring about the end of days as we know it. The principal antagonist of this group is Sly Moorcock, an Australian industrialist and the group’s newest member, who have been assigned the task of acquiring the land needed for their nefarious plot. Nothing much is revealed about the plan except that it involves the pollution caused by our everyday activities with the members of Stark being the biggest culprits due to their business activities. The good guys are a bunch of eco activist who stumbles onto the plot and they consist of a couple of hippies, a financial reporter and a Vietnam vet missing his bollocks due to a triggered mine. They have to piece the together the puzzle in time to stop Stark but they are going head to head with some of the most influential people in the world and that not withstanding, could it be that it is already too late for the blue planet.

Some of the description found here are really laugh out loud moments that usually satires everyday life and also reveal our willingness to ignore what we are doing to the world by our greed and insatiable demand for products. This is hardly a new book, being published in 1989, but the themes are extremely relevant given that the setting of the book is in the immediate future which could be us really and also in light of what we know now especially with things like CFC gas and nuclear proliferation. The themes are extremely serious but the amount of wit found in the book is intoxicating which makes reading this book a breeze. His dissection of some of our common phrases is hilarious with the ‘Salt of the Earth’ one quickly springing to mind.

Ben Elton is a British comedian, who help wrote The Black Adder and Mr Bean for the BBC, who has been enjoying tremendous amount of acclaim for his earlier works but whose recent books have been said to fall short of his earlier standard. I am not the biggest reader in the world but I do try to read as much as possible which means I'm not well versed in the going-ons of the literary world but based on this book alone I'll definitely be checking out some of his earlier books. In light of movies like An Inconvenient Truth and also the wildly changing weather patterns there is ample proof that we are clearly destroying the earth and I doubt we will be able to change it in the near future and the events being predicted in this book is undoubtly going to happen. In the meantime though get yourself a copy of Stark and maybe when the time comes you can go with a smile on your face and really , isn't that the best we can ask for?

The Prestige - Not All Smokes and Mirrors

2007-03-26T11:20:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the pig heads at TGV and GSC the only way I was going to watch this movie was on DVD, hence the delay in reviewing it, and it’s a real shame because only the big screen would have done justice to this beautiful movie. Everything about the movie is meticulously observed down to minutest details and the word effort keeps coming to mind. Everyone in this movie definitely deserved an A for effort because you can see how much attention and love went into this endeavor but somehow the final result is sadly less than its combined parts.

The Prestige is about the rivalry between two magicians who started out as friends but ultimately become deadly enemies, both in profession and in love. Its turn of the century London, Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angiers (Hugh Jackman) are both apprentice magicians working for Cutter (Michael Caine), an ingénue who creates the props and the machines for magicians to perform their illusions. Alfred is the more capable magician and who is always intently imagining the next great trick while Robert is much more of a showman with a more cavalier attitude. The incident which sparks this tragic tale is the death of Robert's wife which is blamed on Alfred. Robert decides to take revenge by sabotaging Alfred when he is onstage and thereby causing him to lose a couple of fingers who then retaliates also by sabotaging Robert onstage making him lose his audience.

Everything changes when Alfred becomes famous for the greatest trick the world had seen, The Transporting Man, which has Robert and Cutter, who has since decided to join him, struggling to keep up. Robert then gets the help from a scientist to create an even greater trick and it is at one of these shows that Roberts dies with the blame resting squarely on Alfred. Indeed the movie starts off with Alfred on trial and subsequently convicted of his murder but like the movie asks "Are you watching closely?" and it is only the beginning of the sleights of hand.

Firstly though what worked for the movie is clearly the design and cinematography aspects which expertly and conclusively conveys the time period and also the mood and feel that is required. Both outdoor and indoor shots are expertly crafted with color being both rich and sharp at the same time. The wardrobe should also definitely be congratulated on a job well done. I saw both the Illusionist and Pans Labyrinth before the Oscars and I thought Pan's win for best photography was well deserved but after watching this I'm not so sure anymore simply because here we cover more varied and different backdrops while Pan's backdrop was all quite similar even though it was beautiful to watch.

I think we have reached the point where Christopher Nolan has to be seriously considered as one of the best young directors around after one great movie after another. Memento was downright fantastic while Insomnia was solid and interesting while Batman Begins has successfully restarted the franchise in a fresh and exciting direction. Of all the young directors in recent time none have shown the same deft storytelling skills and sure hand in crafting often complex and intriguing stories. At no point in his movies do you feel distracted and detached from the proceedings which is the surest sign of a great director. The Prestige is no different being a very smart and certainly interesting plot filled with all manners of twist and counter twists. Certainly here he is assisted by some great performances notably by Christian Bale, who brings his trademark intensity which is suitable for a story which is essentially about obsession. One great surprise was certainly David Bowie who turned in a great performance as the reclusive and eccentric Dr Tesla and I certainly hope to see more of him in the future.

Now on the parts that didn't work and for me that certainly has to be Hugh Jackman whose acting range is really tested here as the tormented and anguished Robert Angiers whose obsession manages to overcome him. It has to be said that if this was a test he didn't pass with flying colors and in the company of the other great actors his short comings was certainly magnified. I'm not sure how I feel about Scarlet Johansson in this movie because her character while not being one dimensional was certainly brief and it felt like more of a plot tool than an actual person. Being that this is a movie about dueling magicians it is expected that the story would contain a certain amount of misdirection but I think in the course of adapting Christopher Priest's book the writers incorporated one too many twists while at the same time leaving out aspects of the characters which made them less likable and more difficult to have an emotional attachment with.

Please do not get me wrong, The Prestige has a story that is both exciting and intellectual and is rendered in a way to maximize the impact of the twists. It is just that some of the twists were not as clever as the writers obviously thought it would be especially the final one which is sad because three thirds of the movie is just great fun to watch. Ultimately The Prestige is a fascinating work of fiction as it is which could and should have been so easily a bigger triumph for everyone connected to the movie.

Pan's Labyrinth - Magical

2007-03-20T11:35:00.000+08:00

Its is not often when a movie deals with the subject of fairy tales and fascism but Pan's Labyrinth has done a remarkable job in fusing both subjects into an exciting and riveting package. Beware though as the movie is not for the faint of hearts as there are real violence here and people do actually die. Long before Disney introduced the sugar coated and mushy versions, Fairy Tales were cautionary tales told to terrify children usually with the protagonists meeting gory and violent ends because generally they misbehaved and it is this sort of fairy tale I'm referring to in Pan's Labyrinth.

The story takes place in 1944 Spain where the fascist government has all but taken control of the country after WW2 with only pockets of resistance left. Ofelia is a young girl who is on her way with her heavily pregnant mother to join her step father, Capitan Vidal, in the countryside where he is fighting one such pocket. Ofelia is a head strong girl who despises the violent and cruel Captain Vidal and finds her escapes in books and fairy tales. Upon arrival Ofelia is greeted by a little fairy in the middle of the night and lead to an old labyrinth where she meets Pan, a horned goat like creature, who reveals that Ofelia is really the princess of a magical kingdom who has lost her memory. In order for her to return to the kingdom she must complete 3 dangerous task to proof herself and to regain her memory. At the same time the rebels are closing in on the Captain and his actions are increasingly violent and sadistic.

First off though I must say that despite hearing a lot about how talented Guliermo Del Toro is I have never been overly impressed with his work from Mimic to Hellboy which I found fun but hardly ground breaking. I think this is the movie that will make his name in the world markets because it is just such a great movie to watch because it manages to blend the beauty of the magical with the ugliness that is reality. The story moves seamlessly through both worlds and you never once question the absurdity of the situation even when confronted by horrible and revolting creatures and i think that is the greatest strength of the movie and that’s the ability to make you accept the incredible. He is also unflinching is his portrayal of the horrid which is war and kudos to the censors for allowing us to see how ugly and inhumane it really is when results are all we are interested in.

Sometimes it is just great to watch a foreign film where we have no preconceived idea of the stars of the movie which just allow us to watch their roles. And in this movie every actor is top class in conveying their roles be it the rebel spy or the sympathetic doctor. The casting of Ofelia had to great because she has to show the strength and sometimes downright pig headedness of the character but also the vulnerability and fear of a child and i think they got it right with Ivana Baquero. Equally impressive Maribel Verdu as the rebel spy who has to swallow her pride as the house keeper while the Captain is out there hunting her brother who's one of the resistance. Sergio Lopez is extremely believable as the sadistic and cruel captain whose actions are always self serving and it felt great when he got his comeuppance in such an ugly manner.

The star of the show is undoubtedly the make up artist, set designers and special effects people because the movie is just beautiful to look at. Everything about the look of the movie is right from simple things like the look of the old house to the fantastic like the pale man and Pan himself. Interesting to note is that Pan is the old Greek god of fertility whose visage was used as the modern day look of Satan by Christianity thereby vilifying sex in the process. The cinematography is beautiful in capturing the look of the time and also of the forest and it is truly a deserved winner at the Oscars.

The only complain I have is of the one short scene at the end which took out all the ambiguity of the movie which was sort of disappointing. It would have been great if it had allowed us to debate on whether the magic existed or only existed in Ofelia's mind but as it is the movie has given a definitive answer which is a shame really. However that should not detract you from enjoying the movie and to be honest you might not even recognize the said scene because it is so quick. Ultimately Pan's Labyrinth is a success as a movie because it threads very unfamiliar ground and in the process given us something which is unique and startling and which will live on in our memories for years to come.

Rocky Balboa - A Winner

2007-03-12T00:15:00.000+08:00

Well if George Foreman and Evander Holyfield could do it in real life then Rocky Balboa could certainly do it in reel life. When the latest Rocky was announced I, like everyone else, was extremely skeptical of both actor and character which is so dated and which had hardly set the cinematic world alight for such a long time. It just seemed to confirm the lack of originality from Hollywood that all the action heroes from the 80's were being dredged up namely Rambo and Die Hard. However that being said I am very happy to say I was greatly surprised by how good Rocky was and it leaves me with the hope that the rest won't suck as well.

Rocky is now in his fifties and is having difficulty getting over the death of his wife, Adrian, who was always his inspiration. He is now running his own restaurant which is doing relatively well but the clients are always there to see him and hear his old boxing stories. He is also trying to get some quality time with his son who is finding it hard to live in the enormous shadow of his dad. Rocky's life is in a rut but that changes when he watches a computer simulated fight between him and the current world champion, Mason Dixon, on TV which awakens in him his old desires and regrets. He decides to come out of retirement and prove to the world that he still has the same heart as when he was champion.

There are two things which made the movie enjoyable and the first certainly has to be the star himself, Sylvester Stallone. Stallone hasn't been relevant for about a decade now and it was very surprising to find him so relatedable and, for lack of a better word, real. He has finally rediscovered the spirit that made Rocky so famous in the beginning before all the crappy sequels almost destroyed its legacy. Rocky had always been the underdog, the regular guy going up tremendous odds to succeed, and in this one the odds were never higher. You can relate to the pain and loneliness that he goes through and the reasons why he needs this one last fight, which was never about glory, but for closure.

The second successful ingredient is the story which takes itself too seriously and is willing to acknowledge that the great man is way past his prime and is willing also to make fun of that. Gone is the machismo and bravado of the past and in its place a very personal story filled with very down to earth characters who you could know in your own life. Even the opponent this time around is not a cardboard villain like the Dolph Lundgren one but a champion who is struggling with his own fame and what it entails. He is not there to prove a point but in the end he ends up making one nonetheless.

Hearing the classic theme again was fantastic and it has been stuck in my head for the last few days now. It is great now in hindsight that Stallone had decided to reprise this role to give it the proper farewell that such an iconic character truly deserved. Who would have thought that this would be THE feel good movie of the year. Anybody from whatever walk of life will benefit from watching this movie simply because of its simple and honest message. Whatever life can throw at you there is always something in you to make you stand up for just one more time and in the end Rocky proves that deep down everybody has what it takes to be a hero.