Category: Movie Reviews

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

Sweeney Todd – Yawn?

Sweeney Tood

Why does the musical film adaptation “Sweeney Todd” receive such a positive review from so many sources?  I don’t know.  One thing I know though is that director Tim Burton loves to work with Johnny Depp and especially his wife Helena Bonham Carter time and time again.

Maybe it was the green tea or maybe it was something I ate the night before, I had a terrible stomach cramp.  I thought I wasn’t able to make it to this evening’s movie outing.  Maybe there is such a thing as ‘green tea overdose’.  But since I am replacing alcohol with green tea, I ain’t going to quit that as yet.

“Sweeney Todd” surely made my stomach churned with all those throat cutting scenes and blood spurting scenes.  The blood does look fake but still … that silver blade that cuts throat after throat, gruesome!  I give a thumb up to the computer generated scenes though. The effect goes well with the dark, insane nature of the movie.  If I could bypass the utterly boring monotonous melody and silly lyrics, I would say the acting is pretty good.  Come to think of it, I am a big fan of Tim Burton for his “Corpse Bride” (2005).  Had “Sweeney Todd” be filmed in the same way as “Corpse Bride”, I may be able to enjoy those silly music.  It is hard to watch Johnny Depp sings about being complete with his blade or Helena Carter sings about the worst pie in London.  I just couldn’t get into the mood with real actors.

That is my view.  How about the rest of the Movie Review Squad?  TK fell asleep 20% of the time, couldn’t bear to see the blood scenes, and Cynthia thinks that it is so-so and below expectation.

My stomach cramps again.  I should moderate on green tea consumption.

Categories
Comedy Movie Reviews Romance

27 Dresses – Girls Would Love This

27 Dresses

If you have just started dating a girl not for long, bringing her to watch “27 Dresses” would probably up your rating for a good few notches. She may even remember this chick flick as the movie for the both of you.  So you better prepare to write down the date and place and what she wears for your future reference.  Believe me, girls have super memory when it comes down to dates and clothes.

Despite my rather vehement protest of watching yet another romance comedy two days in a row, Cynthia leaped in joy when she heard the words “27 Dresses”.  TK seconded that because he needed something to relax.  In the name of democracy, I booked “27 Dresses”.

The close to 2 hours movie has quite a straightforward storyline of a perpetual bridesmaid (Jane) who has a secret crush with his boss (George) and one day, her sister (Tess) turns up and falls in love with George.  Meanwhile, a journalist (Kevin) stumbles into Jane’s life and perhaps, having attended 27 weddings as a bridesmaid, it is time for Jane to start thinking about herself.

The chemistry between Jane (Katherine Heigl) and Kevin (James Marsden – the prince from Enchanted and the cyclop from X-men) is pretty good. I especially enjoy watching the performance of Katherine Heigl who is an Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American actress best known for her role in Grey’s Anatomy.  There are sufficient humors in “27 Dresses” that keeps the movie entertaining to watch. Some scenes – though very much like scenes straight from a TV drama – are pretty memorable (such as the one when Kevin is trying to teach Jane how to say no). The overall plot is also pretty believable without making me cringe too much. Believe it or not, Cynthia did shed some tears in some parts of the movie.

If you like the chick flick genre, “27 Dresses” maybe for you.  I personally get a bit “wedding overdose” at the end of the movie. “27 Dresses” has definitely a higher entertainment value than “Mr. Average” but scores lower in the area of originality.

Categories
Comedy Foreign Movie Reviews

Mr. Average (Comme tout le monde) – A Light Entertainment

Mr. Average

My body was definitely suffering from movie withdrawal syndrome and the good thing about not having any for a while is that every movie advertised looks good. In the morning, I texted my Movie Review Squad with the message of “documentary, French romance comedy, Japanese anime, or horror?”. And almost simultaneously, I received two text messages pointing at the direction of a French romance comedy. OK. I was not the only one who was itching for some good movies. “Mr. Average” it was then.

“Mr. Average” is not one of those French movies that after the ending hits you, you have to re-watch the entire movie again.  Nor it is the typical French romance drama that has lots of character development.  The rather plump looking main actor Khalid Maadour, who plays the role of Jalil, does look like any Tom, Dick, and Harry (he does look like the policeman who can listen to people’s mind in the TV series “Heroes” to me though). The main actress from Montreal, Quebec – Caroline Dhavernas – who plays the role of Claire is anything but. She is totally stunningly attractive and sweet looking (Cynthia agrees) that I can easily bypass how immorally wrong her role is at the beginning. Claire, a budding actress, is hired by a top marketing company to deceive Jalil who has the gift of predicting what the mass market wants through his own opinions. Claire even sleeps with Jalil on day one! Surprisingly, with such a sweet looking girl, condemning her decision was the last thing on my mind … the success of making likable characters in the movie eh?

There is nothing deep about the romance comedy “Mr. Average” though the scriptwriter is pretty imaginative. You will most likely walk out of the theatre feeling happy. The soundtrack is great though. I will certainly check out the CD.

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Michael Clayton – Do You Have The Patience?

Michael Clayton

Cynthia and I have a few secret codes and signs. For instance, when we say that a film is quote unquote Oscar Material, that usually means: ya sure, it is artistic but it can quite boring (Cynthia surely did feel that way).  Okay, I personally don’t feel that bored because the acting is solid. Real solid. And that’s why you come to my site to hear different views.

Cynthia’s colleague enjoyed watching “Michael Clayton”. She actually forgot what the movie was as it was the 2nd movie straight after that, in her own words, mouth-watering Eastern Promise (remember that naked dude?). Being a walking encyclopedia of what’s showing, I guessed it right. She said she can relate to the corporate life depicted within. I can certainly relate to how she relates to the movie. I was once a “fixer”, a support consultant who was flown into Paris to fix a series of problems so that my so-called beloved firm would not get sued.  And the firm was saved. I got nothing in the end. The firm never remembers, just quarter to quarter results.

Sure, I can relate to “Michael Clayton”. When I told my new colleague ST that I was going to watch “Michael Clayton”, her immediate response was: you’ve got class!  I’ve got class? We’ve got class? Now I know. You really need to prepare yourself in order to appreciate “Michael Clayton”. Viewers are the hardest bunch to satisfy. If the movie is overwhelmingly entertaining, we complain that it does not have enough character development. “Michael Clayton” has plenty of character development and yet, some of us find it boring.

The acting of George Clooney (the “fixer” of a law firm) is solid. So are Tom Wilkinson (the lawyer who goes mad) and Tilda Swinton (chief counsel). The storyline is straightforward, nothing groundbreaking. Our little complain is that we don’t really get to see George Clooney fixing anything. There are quite a number of moral decisions involved, that’s for sure.

Surprisingly TK enjoyed the movie. Cynthia and I joked that because he got two phone calls from his boss and needed to leave the theatre. Hence, the movie is (a) a lot faster pace and (b) a lot more mysterious. Critics all over the world love this movie. I think you can too … if you have the patience.

Categories
Horror I See I Write Movie Reviews

Body #19 – Lack Of Fear Factor But The Crowd Was Awesome!

Body 19

This is not my usual stuffs, I swear. It’s going to be a fun read. I think there are way more girls who can take horror movies than guys. The question is: why?! Amongst all my guy friends, I seem to be the odd one out who truly enjoy watching horror movies. But I can name you quite a number of my female friends who actually enjoy or don’t mind watching this genre of movie. Unfortunately for me, Cynthia belongs to that 1% who can’t take it. Knowing that asking TK would be a waste of time so I have decided to watch “Body #19” alone – like the last time when I watched “Alone” alone.

There was no popcorn flying to my face this time and I did make a mental note that if the dude in front was to hold a box of popcorn, I would shift seat. On my right was a bunch of girls. On my left was a pair of girls. I am telling you, I bet more than 75% of the audience are girls.

What I observe from the crowd is this: most of the audience comes in large groups. Perhaps they need some emotional support? And there are quite a number of people who are on our own. These are usually the quiet ones. The screaming ones usually come from the groups or at times, the pairs.

What I LOVE about watching a horror movie is really the crowd. I observe that more often than not, in a horror movie setting, you bound to find some pockets of audience who chit-chat throughout the movie. I think they are the scared ones and they chit-chat their way just to divert their attention. And you know there are times when something bad is going to happen on the screen – believe it or not – usually there are one or two persons in the crowd who tend to scream ahead of time (or make certain moaning sound). It is incredible how much entertainment value these people provide and it makes the anticipation more real. Then of course, at times the anticipation leads to nothing … and suddenly … BAMP! … a loud sound and most of the audience will jump out of our seats. These effects usually get me and people usually laugh about it after the act. The most disturbing ones are the scenes that get some of the audience screaming out loud continuously.

And that was what happened to at least one guy and one girl in the theatre. One girl behind me screamed so loud and so long in duration that I thought she was going to pass out. At the end of the movie, thanks to the director who gives the audience one last shock, the girl behind me was screaming and choking. I turned around and she didn’t look well at all.

I wonder why.

To me, “Body #19” lacks the fear factor. I was shocked at most 5 times and those blood scenes, or body-part scenes, or ghost scenes really didn’t get me at all. I can imagine if I was watching this with my buddy Mark, he would pass out seeing so much blood on the screen. The storyline of “Body #19” is good though – full of twists and turns. “Body 19” is from the studio that brought us “Shutter” and “Alone”. “Shutter” is a great movie by the way. I personally don’t think “Body #19” is anywhere near.

But still, I love the crowd!

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Eastern Promises – A Believable Mafia Storyline With Good Acting

Eastern Promises

We all take turn within the squad. Since TK was not particularly delighted by my last pick on “My Blueberry Nights”, I let him pick this time. When he texted me with the movie title, I turned to Cynthia and asked the Walking Life! Encyclopedia what “Eastern Promises” was about. Her immediate reply – knowing how bad I am with Hollywood actor names – was “the King Kong girl”. Oh yes! I love the King Kong girl (her name is Naomi Watts by the way). So I was sold. Okay, I wasn’t sold that easily. I did a background check on “Eastern Promises” and found that it has good reviews written all over it. “Are you sure you want to watch that,” I asked Cynthia. Her reply was “Aragorn” (Viggo Mortensen). “Ah … the human!” exclaimed I. Okay, this was going to be an interesting outing.

My first impression of “Eastern Promises” is that the storyline is surprisingly simple, but yet believable. Maybe it is the Russian accents that the actors have created; maybe it is the tattoos, the absence of guns, and the simple explanation of the Russian mafia protocols in London; maybe it is the rather unpredictable storyline with just enough twists to keep the audience engaged. The acting of the Naomi Watts (the midwife), Armin Mueller (the Russian mafia boss in London), Vincent Cassel (his son), and Viggo Mortensen (the driver) are equally convincing. If you enjoy watching thrillers, there is no reason to give this 100 minutes of film a miss. Some of the violent scenes are very realistic though, let me warn you. But I think there is enough humor throughout to soften the rather dark nature of the film.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

My Blueberry Nights – An Art House Type Of Movie By Wong Kar Wai

My Blueberry Nights

Before I even landed in Singapore, I have already messaged our Movie Review Squad member TK to book three tickets to watch “My Blueberry Nights”. It is rather unusual to have a Hong Kong director to write, direct, and produce an English film that is packed with big names such as Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman. I am a big fan of Jude, Rachel, and especially Natalie. Besides, how can I miss an International film created by someone who is brought up in Hong Kong? For all I know, he could be my hero and role model and a testimony that we too can make a mark in the International scene.

“My Blueberry Nights” falls under the category of films having a main storyline that strings together a few other sub-stories – the type of films that I particularly enjoy watching. The main story evolves around the love story of Norah Jones and Jude Law. While Elizabeth (Jones) takes the long route to meet up with the man she loves, she encounters a couple in separation (Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn) and later on, a girl at a casino (Portman). Within these two sub-stories, there are elements of addiction on alcohol and gambling. Each character is introduced as someone whom you probably don’t really care in the beginning due to negative behaviors – to borrow Cynthia’s words – and slowly developed into characters who you do care and relate to in the end. Slow is the key word here as I can imagine, not many people can stand the pace of this film (111 minutes). Though I agree that this film can trim down a fair bit in order to fasten the pace, I can certainly admire the art within. Cynthia, to my surprise, enjoys “My Blueberry Nights” while TK does not like it at all. I am surprised that Nona Jones can act (by the way, need not to say, the tracks sang by her are marvelous). My favorite scenes still come from Natalie Portman. She is such a talented actress.

So, what the verdict? Low in entertainment value perhaps but high in artistic value I would say.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews Travel Blog

Atonement – A Sad Story Beautifully Filmed

atonement.jpg

You, must have thought that I am kidding right? Writing a movie review while holidaying in Hong Kong? Cynthia and I just cannot resist not watching a film for a week. On top of that, it is a film with Keira Knightley, a film nominated for the Golden Globe Awards, and a film perhaps yet to be shown in Singapore (or is it over already?).

Where did I watch “Atonement”? None other than the most prestigious IFC mall that is right next to, I believe, the tallest building in Hong Kong – International Finance Centre (IFC). Prestige comes with a whopping price tag of S$15 per seat. Not just any seat, but a full leather seat. I was mildly disappointed with the screen though. It doesn’t seem like a wide-screen format to me. I tried to book online and that was another disappointment. They only accept local credit cards for a transaction lower than HKD 200. D’uh!

“Atonement” is anything but disappointment. It prompts me to think which one is more important: the reality or the story being immortalized by ink and paper. If you do watch “Atonement”, pay attention to the composition of each scene. The scenes are so perfectly composed that it is hard not to look at the film from the artistic angle. There is one particular scene at the beach with soldiers waiting to return home that is not to be missed. It is one long shot (quite possibly a continuous shot but we all know what computers can do these days) with subjects of focus changing swiftly from one to another.  Also, the way that some of the scenes appear ahead of time is, I think, a clever trick that doesn’t seem to get old even when it is done a couple of times throughout the movie.

I have yet to watch “Pride & Prejudice” by Keira Knightley and the same director Joe Wright but I would say “Atonement” is perhaps Keira Knightley’s best performance to date. The original score is innovative by mixing different sounds, such as the typewriter, into the background music (you will see the significance of the typewriter later). In short, if you enjoy watching drama, albeit a sad one, you may like this one.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Why Do Grown-ups Watch Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium?

Today (21st) was TK’s birthday so I gratefully let him choose what he wished to watch. “Can you choose for me? I have a Christmas party to attend,” said TK over MSN. I looked at the list of movies available and we have almost covered all of them. “Erm …,” I replied, “We can have National Treasure, a Thai comedy, or that Natalie Portman movie.” Turned out that TK has watched National Treasure the day before (and according to him, that wasn’t good). “Good, we have two choices then. Hang on, I am sending the trailer of the Thai movie over. Personally I think the Thai movie may be a better choice,” I said. The beauty of Internet technology, the beauty of YouTube.

“Let’s support Natalie,” said the birthday boy. “Let’s support Natelie then,” I concurred. TK and I are both big time Natalie Portman fan. I have literally followed Natalie’s career from her debut as Mathilda in Léon (aka The Professional) to Evey of V for Vendetta. My personal favorite is Closer. What is yours?

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is a straightforward fantasy movie with Portman as the toy store manager and Dustin Hoffman as the … 243 years old boss. Okay, there is suppose to be a lot of magic inside the store and the computer graphics is top notch. The kids may enjoy the movie. Not for the grown-ups, I suppose. There are other better fantasy movies out there such as Enchanted and The Golden Compass.  Unless you are like us who have covered most of what are out there …

Categories
Movie Reviews

Hero, Enchanted, and Warlords

I thought “Hero” and “Enchanted” are both not showing in cinemas now but I am wrong. So, what the heck. I will do a three-in-one review then.

Takuya Kimura was great in the samurai movie Love and Honor. In “Hero”, he plays a rather usual prosecutor who doesn’t dress up like a typical lawyer and defies the higher power. He enjoys slow trials because he believes that only then, the accused can fully appreciate the weight of their sins. Together with him was a team of prosecutors who take on this bizarre case of murder that ultimately involves someone politically influential. The Korean actor Lee Byung Hun (so good looking!) is in the poster of this movie but his appearance is too brief. I think the part of the Japanese prosecutors’ visit to Korea is probably the highlight of the movie. Quite a number of scenes are a bit too far fetched. The entertainment value is there. However, some may find the pace of the movie a bit too slow.

“Enchanted” is a surprise to me. I watched “Enchanted” because it is nominated for the Golden Globe award. A rather forgettable storyline aside, the transition between the animation and the real life acting is pretty interesting. I especially like the acting of Amy Adams. Where does she come from?! She acts as though she was a cartoon character. Awesome! I personally didn’t like the cockroaches and rats but besides that, “Enchanted” is a very entertaining movie. I was laughing all the way till the end. A decent comedy-fantasy-musical film I must say.

It’s been a long time since TK watched a Chinese movie (not for Cynthia and I as Lust, Caution still lives vividly in my mind to say the least). “Warlords” is a well made Chinese movie. Perhaps one of the better ones in recent days. There is nothing groundbreaking in terms of storyline. The same kind of treachery, betrayal, bonding, honor, and sacrifice. Andy Lau plays the honored one who believes in righteousness and he is all for his people. Jet Li plays the General who believes that so long as the means justify the ends, people will understand the truth in the end – even if they have to die for it. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays as the loyal and obedience one who takes promises seriously. Together, they sworn in as blood brothers and have decided to wage war to the Chinese cities that have fallen to the hands of the warlords on behalf of the Empress. The acting is top notch. So is the filming of the war scenes. Nothing groundbreaking like I said. Nevertheless a good Chinese movie to watch in recent days.