Category: Movie Reviews

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

Tapas And The 8th Spanish Film Festival Here In Singapore

Tapas (2005) A Spanish Film

Cynthia and I were invited for the opening of the 8th Spanish Film Festival at The Arts House Singapore.  Before the main movie Tapas (2005), a 18 minutes short animation called Tadeo Jones (2007) was played.  Now that I have watched the animation.  It does sound like a reference to the Western version of Indiana Jones.

The main character Tadeo was at home when from his window, he saw a cute dog being thrown into a garage by a delivery man, together with boxes after boxes of mysterious packages.  Feeling the urge to save the dog, Tadeo ventured into the house and discovered a bizarre cult in the mist of an animal sacrificial ritual set in a quasi-Egyptian backdrop.  Not the sort of top quality animation as you would expect from a Hollywood movie of the same era.  The story is entertaining nonetheless.

Tapas (2005) is a mix of characters with individual plots that intertwined with one another.  In a Barcelona suburb, a wife of a self-centered restaurant owner cannot take his husband’s unrealistic demand anymore and has decided to quit being a chef.  And quit being his wife while she is at it.  Meanwhile, a Chinese chef who knows kung fu is happy to take up the job vacancy (and the abuse).  He is in Spain because he wants to be with his love.  A lady who sells chickpeas – among other cooking ingredients – has been in a separation for two years and now being in a cyber relationship with a man from Argentina.  Two young teenagers work at the same supermarket.  One of them is obsessed with Bruce Lee and girls of different nationalities while the other one has fallen in love with the chickpea lady.  Finally, there is an old couple with the woman selling drugs to the young and the man dying of lung cancer.

This film is raw, as in, there is little attractive about the characters and their living conditions.  Yet, it feels so real.  Ordinary people going about with their ordinary life dealing with real life challenges while learning from them.  Of all the sub-plots, I enjoy the story of the old couple the best.  It is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

The 8th Spanish Film Festival is starting from now till the end of the month.  Every day at 19.30.  Admission is free and the location is at The Arts House.  Check out their website for further information.

8th Spanish Film Festival in Singapore

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Animation Foreign Movie Reviews

One Piece Film: Z

A film originated from manga.

I have not heard of the manga One Piece until I watched a movie adaptation of the manga.  Naturally, I love anything that is Japanese.  When I first saw the gigantic promotional poster displayed at one of our beloved cinemas, I said to our buddy TK, “Let’s watch this!”  To that he replied, “On!”

Apparently, One Piece is a very popular manga series in Japan, for a very long time.  In this particular movie One Piece Film: Z, there are pirates the supposedly protagonists (I think).  There are the marines who hunt down the pirates.  And there is Commander Z who was a marine, went rogue, and now rages war against the pirates as well as the marines that get into his way.  Each pirate, meanwhile, seems to possess at least one unique power (think X-Men).  As you can imagine, there are tons of combat scenes between the characters.  More or less like a video game.

Unlike other more artistic Japanese animations Cynthia and I have seen, One Piece Film: Z does not require too much thinking.  Just sit back and enjoy the humor and the action.  I am not entirely convinced that the English subtitles convey the original essence well.  I wish there were Chinese subtitles as well.  Usually, for Japanese animation, Chinese subtitles work better than the English ones.

One Piece Film: Z is not a story exploring the abstractness of nature or the emotional vulnerability of character.  It is a film with a decent amount of humor and action that entertains.

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Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Upside Down – Weirdest, The Most Fascinating Sci-Fi Film Of Late

What a sci-fi movie!

This movie UPSIDE NMOⱭ is so weird, in a good way.  If you have decided to watch this at a cinema, it is of vital importance that you don’t miss the beginning of the show.  Otherwise, you would end up clueless all the way till the end.  Before I write more on the movie, here is a little story of how Cynthia and I were nearly late for Upside Down.

Our buddy TK has bought the tickets, on a Sunday morning, while Cynthia and I were doing housework.  Such great friend he is.  The Google+ event invite said 7.20 pm.  4.43 pm, TK messaged us saying that he has parked the car at the cinema.  I replied, “So early?!”  Then he told us that oops, the show was going to start at 5.20 pm instead of 7.20 pm.  No time to argue.  I quickly jumped out of my computer chair, dashed into the toilet, and changed.  By the time I reached our condo lobby, it was 4.58 pm.  We have 22 minutes to run to our car, drive into Orchard – which is 15 km away from our home – find a parking lot, take a lift from basement to level 1, switch to another lift in order to reach level 5, pop into the toilets for a quick release, take the escalator from level 5 to level 6, and run into the movie theater.

We missed it by 1 minute.  It was all good.  The movie was not started.  Certainly the most exciting thing we have done in the entire weekend.  Maybe the entire 2013 thus far.

Now, back to the movie, in case you may miss the first couple of minutes of the show, in this alternative reality of one moon and two worlds, here are the three rules.  Yep.  Like all good sci-fi stories, there are three rules.

  1. All matter is pulled by the gravity of the world that it comes from, and not the other.
  2. An object’s weight can be offset by matter from the opposite world (inverse matter).
  3. After some time in contact, matter in contact with inverse matter burns.

Because the two worlds co-exist in an upside down fashion, the entire movie is – for lack of better word – weird.  People from either world interact in an upside manner.  From the presentation point of view, some clips are shot upside down.  It may sound strangely uncomfortable.  But it works surprisingly well on screen.

The two worlds are not equal.  As an analogy, think of the age of colonization.  The ‘down’ world supplies the resource to the ‘up’ world to value-add and the products are sold back to the ‘down’ world.  Hence, the ‘up’ world is rich while the ‘down’ world is not.  People from either world do not visit the world they do not belong (see rule #1).  They may interact at mid points.  Like the mid-floor of a tall building that connect between the two worlds.

With this setup, it seems impossible for people from different worlds to fall in love.  But, the forbidden love affair is the essence of the story.  Jim Sturgess plays the Adam character who comes from the ‘down’ world while Kristen Dunst plays the ‘up’ world Eden character.  Jim Sturgess, I must say, is very charming on screen.  His narration though, is utterly lifeless to me.  That is my only complain to this movie.  Interestingly, almost too coincidentally, Kristen Dunst has outdone her signature-upside-down-Spiderman-kiss with an … even better upside-down kiss in this movie.

The chemistry between Adam and Eden is convincing.  Such a joy to watch.  I would say, some of the kissing scenes rival those from … Twilight.  And because I was so much drawn by the romance bits, some of the sci-fi bits might have been overlooked until I walked out from the theater.  For example, can two persons from either world be in contact with one another for long?  Wouldn’t they catch fire?  Can a person from the ‘down’ world consume food from the ‘up’ world?  Wouldn’t that person’s stomach burn?  Is it possible that two planets maintain a consistent distance so much so that a building that connects the two planets does not get torn apart?  How do people from different worlds procreate?  Wouldn’t the womb … burn?

Even more strangely, the film starts with a Chinese production company logo and ends with a song in Chinese.  Perhaps I am thinking too much.  There seems to be a sequel though.  We shall see.  I enjoy watching UPSIDE NMOⱭ.  It is likely to be a sci-fi story that blows your mind away.

Categories
Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

A Royal Affair – A Danish Film Of A Mad King, A Lonely Queen, And A Visionary Physician

A Danish movie

The title says it all.  Set in the 18th century, Danish King Christian VII was mentally unwell.  Caroline Mathilde from Great Britain was married to Christian at the age of 15 and became queen.  German physician Johann Friedrich Struensee had attended the king’s sickness.  In the mist of it, he had become the king’s trusted friend and later on, an affair with the young and lonely queen.  As the king’s close friend, the physician played an essential part in shaping the country’s policies, which until now, had been mostly ruled by the Council due to the king’s sickness.  As the queen’s lover, the physician risked throwing away the political progress he had gained, which was ultimately the progress of the country.

I love watching European films inspired by historical events.  The plot is less formulaic than, say, a Hollywood movie.  European filmmakers tend to take their time in giving the film a treatment it deserves.  A Royal Affair is a 137 minutes long movie.  The story is engaging so much so that I wish the ending could have been expanded in some ways, rather than a paragraph of words or two on the screen.  The cinematography is beautiful.  Each frame’s composition is an art.  The music score is good too.  It goes well with the plot’s development.

Mads Mikkelsen’s role and the fact that he can act is a surprise to me.  He is often seen in Western movies as a villain (like many foreign artists come to think on it).  In A Royal Affair, he could well be a hero of the country.  He has a set of visionary policies based on his freethinking ideals.  Unfortunately, he was ahead of his time.  His policies were  implemented only by the next generation.  This prompted TK and I to reflect upon our local political atmosphere. We joked that the reason why A Royal Affair is being rated M18 in Singapore  is due to its anti-establishment sentiment.  There is very little blood and gore, equally little sex.  The most I would rate is a NC16.

Swedish actress Alicia Vikander looks really young in this movie.  Having read the history, I can understand why.  It is pretty hard to act mentally unstable.  All credit to Mikkel Følsgaard’s boyish performance.  He is funny to watch but not without inducing a sense of pity from the audience.  At times, I could feel the king’s internal struggle as he threaded between the line that separate sanity from insanity.

Royal affair is a messy business.  But at least, for this historical story, there was something good coming out from it.

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Drama Foreign Movie Reviews

The Grandmaster – A Film On The Life Stories Of Yip Man And Gong Er

An art house type of movie

To fully appreciate this Chinese movie, you probably need to understand the language, the culture, as well as the martial arts within.  It is not unusual for the olden day Chinese to speak in metaphors.  My dad still does too.  The English subtitles can be quite misleading at times.  What if you don’t understand Chinese but you are curious about The Grandmaster?  I suppose even if you can only get the essence of it, it may still be worthwhile provided that you enjoy watching art house type of movies or you are a fan of the leading actor and actress.

The backdrop is enticing.  A story told from Yip Man’s perspective (he who was Bruce Lee’s teacher).  From Yip Man’s age of 40 till his old age.  Upon the then-grandmaster’s retirement, while the northern China’s grandmaster title was given to Ma San, it was of the old grandmaster’s wish to pass the southern China title to a southerner.  Hence the introduction of Yip Man.

Tony Leung is quite possible one of the best actors I have seen.  He truly can act with just his eyes.  That heighten alertness in face of a real challenge, confidence with a hint of playfulness during a friendly duet, that moment of being mesmerized by the opposite sex, pain and despair, heartache and resignation, or simply that pair of weary eyes having seen too much in life.  It is a real treat to see him act as Yip Man.  This movie has provided him much opportunity to shine.

Zhang Ziyi plays the role of Gong Er, the daughter of the then-grandmaster.  While the range of emotion given is not as wide as Yip Man’s role, Zhang Ziyi has certainly chilled me with her coldness, pained me with her rare tenderness.  Her acting too is convincing.

The martial art scenes are pretty impressive.  With modern technology and the extreme slow motion close-up playback, the action is exciting to watch.  But here lies the problem.  The director Wong Kar-wai has cast this film in an art house setting (like his last movie My Blueberry Nights).  Take away the breathtaking action and the engaging acting is a series of artistic shots such as water peddles and street scenery, Buddha statues and candles.  The gaps can be extremely slow.  I found myself wanting to see the next action or acting scene and skip the excessive artistic frames.

One good example is the character Yixiantian “The Razor”.  The film has devoted quite a bit of airtime to develop The Rezor.  He has absolutely zero contribution to the main story except that one interaction he has with Gong Er on a train.  Even that does not materialize into anything.  The story goes on telling more about The Razor – humorous I must say – whereby taking all in, I wouldn’t miss a thing if the director has decided to cut this character away.  Maybe I am missing something significant here.  I don’t know.

Also, the resolution between Yip Man and his wife (played by a Korean actress Song Hye-kyo) appears to be fuzzy.  Is it because there is a lack of real life documentation of his marriage?  Or is it the director’s intention to have us thinking?  I thought for a bit.  Then I gave up.

Another of his movie that is low in entertainment but probably high in artistic value.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters – It Gets Better Towards The End

A much better role for the leading female actress.

For the record, Cynthia and I did not pick this one.  Our friend TK did.  Because he wanted to see his “flower vase” a.k.a. Gemma Arterton – his words, not mine.  If TK was not impressed with her performance in Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, why would he pick Hansel and Gretel?  I suppose there are female qualities that not even a mortal man can resist.

Again, I have not read the original fairy tale.  Cynthia tried hard to give me a quick run down of the original story on our way to the theater.  All I got was that Hansel and Gretel were siblings.  They got lost, entered a house made by biscuits.  And the boy was going to be eaten by the witch.

In a way, Cynthia is right.  Witch Hunters is unique because the main characters are siblings.  Though, I must say, since both characters are attractive in their own ways and there aren’t many character development opportunities in the beginning, it took me quite some time not to look at them as romantically linked.

In this alternative dark fantasy, Hansel and Gretel are witch hunters.  And the witches in this movie look monstrous, like straight out from a horror movies.  In fact, there is enough blood and gore that would qualify Hansel and Gretel as a part-horror-part-fantasy movie.  Heads explode.  Bodies torn into pieces.  If this film was to be infused with a good sense of humor, that would have suited me better.  The plot is by and large predictable.  I was pretty bored in the beginning.  But it does get more entertaining towards the end.  Cynthia seems to really like this one.  TK thinks it is so-so.  Anything – be it as movies or video games – with girls kicking butts wins my heart.  Gemma Arterton just have that something I want to see.

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Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Gangster Squad – Pretty Gruesome, But Funny Too

I watched this for Emma Stone

Cynthia and I at times can be pretty business-like with each other, when it comes to movie outing.  After crawling through the usual Orchard Saturday traffic – which TK and us always forget and regret not watching a movie on a Sunday instead – at the basement car park lift lobby, I turned to Cynthia and asked, “Give me run through of what we are going to watch, would you?”

Her immediate response was, “No idea.  You like the girl and I like the guy.  That’s about it.”

True.  She picked Gangster Squad because of Ryan Gosling.  And I Emma Stone.  TK too insisted that he wouldn’t want to give this a miss because of Emma Stone.

I did not know what to expect.  This film is inspired by a true story set in the ’40s and ’50s.  LA was run by gangsters, many police officers were bribed, and the residents seemed cool with it.  It was a way of life until Sergeant John O’Mara (played by Josh Brolin) came into the picture.  As a WWII veteran and a war hero, he has no plan to yield to the gangster boss Mickey Cohen played by Sean Penn.  Unable to strike the gang as a police officer, John – secretly supported by the Chief – recruited a squad to deal with the gang.  The approach was controversial and the results could at times be hilarious.  Mickey Cohen was ruthless.  You have got to have a strong stomach for the crime he did against others.

Gangster Squad feels authentic, as though I was transported back in time.  Those hairstyles, and costumes.  Cynthia and I cracked every time when John took out a gigantic wireless phone radio (edit: Thanks to TK for the correction).  Sean Penn has acted exceptionally well in this movie.  There were moments when he appeared as spaced out, and uninterested; there were moments when he was as sharp as a fighter, so full of energy – verbally and physically.  Josh Brolin is perfect for the role, as an honest and no-nonsense officer.  Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are charming, despite having a rather small role in Gangster Squad.

For some strange reasons, this film reminds me of Al Pacino’s 1983 film Scarface.  Sean Penn and Emma Stone would be a good fit for Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer’s roles.  One particular line struck me as quite quote worthy:

To lose everything and win the war, that is a hero.  To lose everything but lose the war, that’s a fool.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

Les Miserables – A Musical On Screen

I love this musical!

Les Misérables is one of my favorite musicals.  I have listened to it for decades.  I know every track by heart as well as the lyrics within.  Tracks like I Dreamed a Dream, The Confrontation, Castle on a Cloud, and Do You Hear the People Sing – they move me every time I listen to them.  My friends told me that I should have watched the musical while I was studying in UK.  True.  But alas.  Back then, every penny counted.  Luxury was something for the future.  So, in short, I did not have the chance to visualize this musical, till yesterday when we watched Les Misérable, with the usual Movie Review Squad and two of our friends from Google+.  It was two men and three ladies.  The girls cried profoundly during the show.  I cried a little, inside.  TK cried for a totally different reason: Russell Crowe.

This movie stays more or less faithful to the original musical score.  To that end, I have enjoyed the delivery thoroughly because I am so familiar with the music.  On the flip side, since I have an exceptionally high expectation on how Javert, Valjean, Fantine, and Cosette should sound like, I feel somewhat let down by the fact that not all the actors in Les Misérables can sing musical scores.

Russell Crowe has played a stunningly convincing stern looking police inspector.  Almost as convincing as Geoffrey Rush in the 1998 film adaptation of the same musical.  Sadly, Russel Crowe is also the weakest singer among all.  I cringed uncomfortably whenever he sings.  Huge Jackman, on the other hand, has done a much better job as Valjean thanks to his experience in theater.  Combined that with his acting skill, some scenes are pretty powerful.  Amanda Seyfried takes up the role of the most loved character Cosette.  She has sung in the movie Mamma Mia!  She sings OK in Les Misérables.  Not spectacular but OK.

Anne Hathaway’s performance is a surprise to me.  I Dreamed a Dream and Fantine’s Death: Come to Me are so moving and I have enjoyed every moment of her acting.  She deserves to be recognized, especially for her act in I Dreamed a Dream.  Definitely the highlight of the entire film.

During the movie, I observed that actors’ lips match perfectly with the singing as though it was recorded live.  I read later on that the singing was indeed recorded live and the orchestral tracks were added as a post-production activity.  This would mean that the actors have to act and sing perfectly in one take for each song.  Pretty amazing.

After watching Les Misérables, one question I have is: Do we need movie stars for a musical film?  Or would real theater actors from this very musical do a much better job?  I suppose in a film format, star power and acting is as important as singing, if not more.  Many of the scenes that move me emotionally are performed by the movie stars.  It is a trade off I guess.

All in all, I am happy that finally, I get to put all the musical notes and lyrics that I have learned by heart all these years into faces and scenes, visually speaking.

Categories
Animation Movie Reviews

Wreck-It Ralph: It Touches Gamers’ Hearts For Sure

What a heartwarming movie!

I had no idea what this film was.  Imagine my surprise when I realized that Wreck-It Ralph is about video game characters.  A villain who gets tired of being the bad guy, for a decade, inside an arcade machine.  He too wants to win a medal and be a good guy for once.  That sets him into a journey into a first person shooter machine and later on, an arcade racing machine.

As a passionate gamer, I love how this film portraits different aspects and eras of video gaming.  Plenty of game references.  As for the story, Wreck-It Ralph seems a bit slow in the beginning.  I wish the Hero’s Duty segment was a lot longer.  Fortunately, the pace does pick up once we get to the arcade racing game Sugar Rush, when the villain Ralph meets the adorable Vanellope.  There is even a moment when my heart weeps a little.

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Twilight, Forever! An Epic Finale

Finally.  5 years of anticipation.  Breaking Dawn Part 2 is upon us.  Just how high is my expectation?  As high as Bella can jump with her new found vampiric power.

Twilight Saga has always been the highlight of the tail end of my year.  At the epic ending, I did not hear selective audience bellowing in pain like last year.  Instead, the pair of Javanese girls sitting beside Cynthia went “This is so sweeeeeeet!  This is so sweeeeeeet!” non-stop.  As the audience slowly filtered out of the theater, still holding onto whatever Twilight fever that lingered, a large group of girls no less then twenty were taking photographs to commemorate the completion of this 5 years journey.  Throughout the movie, the audience laughed in unison, clapped hands at the triumphant moments.  The love to the Twilight was felt everywhere, in this enclosed environment.  Is Breaking Dawn Part 2 really the end?  I mean, out of nowhere, that hobbits infested franchise Lord of the Ring has sprung out a new movie The Hobbit, hasn’t it?  I don’t know.  Thinking that Twilight Saga has finally ended leaves a hole in my heart.  What am I going to look forward to same time next year?

Initially, I questioned the wisdom of splitting Breaking Dawn into two parts.  Having watched part two, I believe it is a necessity.  The mood is completely different.  Part one was a struggle, on Bella’s side of the story.  She was pregnant, with a ‘demonic’ child of an unknown status.  Half human and half vampire.  Bella was also at her weakest, weaker than even her human form from episode one to three.  It was painful to watch, not because the story is terrible.  But the entire struggle is painful.

Now, in part two, Bella has finally become a vampire.  A wish that she has stated in the first installment.  A proposal made by Edward with a condition in New Moon.  An agreement to Edward’s terms in Eclipse by Bella.  And in her dying moment, a bite that concluded in Breaking Dawn Part 1.  I have waited 5 long years to see Bella transformed into a powerful vampire, breaking free the human frailty that has made her so vulnerable in the large part of this saga despite her strong human will.  I want to see what she can do, how the character emerges in this final installment.  Breaking Dawn Part 2 delivers.

There are still the legendary kisses between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in this final episode.  Taylor Lauther once again takes off his shirt and has won swoon from the female crowd.  There is more character development on the expanded vampire reinforcement.  The Volturi – powerful vampire coven – looks deadly as ever.  The werewolf pack is there, albeit having a much lesser role to play in this last episode.  Almost all the human characters are gone, saved for a few.  This is a battle between the vampires.  Those who have missed any of the previous episodes would likely not able to follow the plot as the narrator makes little effort in recapping the past.  But the fans would love this climax ending.  The generally depressing and at times desperate overture is gone.  Now is time for the glory.