PASSENGERS - Review

Billed as a Space Romance starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as Jim Preston and Aurora Lane, from an original black listed script by Jon Spaihts, which meant this should’ve been a good, thought provoking film, and having the Director of the Excellent, The Imitation Game should’ve been the ace in the hole. The final product, whilst entertaining and visually outstanding received some harsh words from critics.  The Film follows Jim Preston, one the 5000 Passengers aboard the Starship Avalon who woke up 90 Years too soon in the Ship’s 120 Years cruise to a new human colony in a new galaxy. 

The Film opens with the uniquely designed Starship Avalon zooming across a star field and then through an asteroid field, but thankfully, the ship has a shield to take care of those potato shaped rocks, despite having no crews on the steering wheel. It was a little unnerving to see the ship sterile emptiness, kudos to the Production Design Team for managing to create such impressive interior for this spaceship, despite its rather strange almost Kryptonian style exterior. It’s soon established that Avalon is in the middle of a 120 Years cruise to a planet called Homestead II where its 5000 passengers are to be the first settlers of the uninhabited planet. Not only is the planet uninhabited, it’s owned by the Homestead Corporation, and guess what? The Planet turned out to be one of many Planets the Corporation owned! Kudos to Screenwriter Jon Spaihts for creating an interesting vision of the future. 

Things started to go wrong aboard The Avalon, after the ship cleared off the Asteroid Field (and everything automatically fixed themselves) when one of the Pod malfunctioned, waking up its inhabitant Jim Preston 90 Years too soon. The scenes where Jim searched the ship for fellow humans through the deserted pristine corridor brought to mind 28 Days Later and The Walking Dead (minus the garbage and debris). It didn’t take long for Jim to figure out that he’s an early riser, and that everybody else would sleep for 90 Years more in their pod. Being an optimist, Jim tried to make the best of his situation, following advice from Android Bartender from The Shining-like Bar, Arthur to “live a little”. Moving himself to a VIP Suite, playing basketballs, dance dance revolution (holo?) game (Clever reference to Peter Quill), and dramatic spacewalks. He also attempted to break into the Crew Quarters to try and wake up the crew to no avail, thanks to the heavily secured door.  However after a Year of being alone, Jim started to lose his mind and contemplated suicide by throwing himself out to space. It is this dark aspect that is unfortunately, the Filmmakers chose not to explore. Instead, they opt to continue to make Jim the nice optimist he is at the start. 

Jim met Aurora after his botched suicide and immediately regained his old swagger as he browsed through Aurora’s Interviews. In a creepy, (but presented as cute) scene, he watches Aurora’s interview, while sitting next to her Hibernation Pod and eating crisps. Naturally, the video recordings aren’t enough and Jim soon faced a dilemma : Should he wake Aurora and doomed her to a lifetime on the ship with him, or let her stay in her pod and continue with her life? This being a Movie, there’s no doubt which scenario ended up on the Screen. He woke her up, and lied about it.  Initially distraught, Aurora soon accepted her situation and initiated a relationship with Jim, which probably doesn’t seem like a bad deal (he’s nice, he’s hot) considering it was some form of Stockholm Syndrome.  She had no choice. But thanks to the leads performance, this subtext might be forgivable to some. 

Of course, Jim’s lie was soon uncovered, just moments before he’s due to propose to Aurora via Arthur’s revelation. Aurora’s distraught at the truth was understandable, she’s stuck on the ship for 90 years, with the Man she now hates. But, ever the Optimist, Jim continually attempted to make it up to her by taking over the Ship’s P.A System to apologise to her, justifying his action. This is film’s critical point. By this point, the filmmakers could go the horror route by having Jim, twisted by his period of solitude go all Jack Torrance on Aurora or down the road they went to, by introducing a new Character, Gus (Laurence Fishburne) the Ship’s Deck Manager and problems with the Avalon that only Jim and Aurora can fix by working together. Thus the Film kept to the Sci-Fi Romance it marketed itself to be.

Passengers is not a perfect film, its flawed and its plot points problematic to some people, but this is not a film made for discussion, or deep analysis, it’s a popcorn film. Of course the Guy and the Girl end up together, of course the Girl forgives the Guy. Yes, there is a darker, scarier version of the Film that the Filmmakers could’ve made, but they didn’t. It is a shame that they didn’t go with that version, but that doesn’t make this film any less enjoyable. At least it’s not one of the Transformers sequel.

ARRIVAL - Review

Arrival is a 2016 Science Fiction Film directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario) and written by Eric Heisserer based on “A Story of your Life” by Ted Chiang. It follows Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), a Lingustic Expert and Physicists, to initiate first contact with one of the 12 Alien Crafts that mysteriously appeared around the globe. A tense sci fi, drama thriller in the vein of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Arrival took the First Contact idea and turned it into a drama about predestinations and the importance of communication.

The film’s first important theme is the importance of communication. This is first highlighted during Louise’s first arrival to the Montana Base, where one of the 12 alien craft had landed (dubbed “The Shells”). Multiple Screens are visible showing live feeds from 11 other Sites around the World. A connection that will later revealed to be the key in decoding the alien’s message. Louise’s objective is to find out the Heptapod’s (the name given to the Aliens on account of their seven legs) purpose on Earth.  To achieve the objective, Louise uses her linguistic expertise to teach the Heptapod how to communicate, to the annoyance of her military superiors who wanted nothing but quick results. Louise argued that it is necessary to teach the Heptapods the basic concepts of the Human language to ensure no miscommunication between the two races that might lead to war.  Later China’s misinterpretation of the Heptapod’s message (“Use Weapon”) led to China breaking off communication with the World, followed by the other 10 Nations involved. Believing the Heptapod’s to be hostile, China declared war on the Heptapods and urged the other nations to do the same. At the Montana base, several soldiers, swayed by the rant of a provocateur mounted a plan to bomb the Heptapod’s shell, managing to kill one of them.  Louise attempted to convince her Military Superiors that the Heptapod’s message may be benign and that their concept of Weapon could refer to something else (Knowledge, Technology, etc..). and that to solve the true meaning of the message all 12 Sites around the world should work together.  At the film’s denouement it is revealed that the Heptapod’s does indeed intend to unite the human race to work together, understanding the “Weapon” they’re offering : Their Language.  At one point in the film’s second act, Louise herself said to her Military superiors that, “Language is the first weapon drawn in a conflict”.

The film’s theme of Inevitability and its true heart is stated explicitly in its first 5 minutes. The film opens with a montage showing our Protagonist, Loise Banks (played by Amy Adams) and her daughter, Hannah. The montage quickly goes through Hannah’s birth, and ending with Hannah’s death.  The early years, covering Hannah’s childhood were shot in warm, dreamy, handheld cinematography reminiscent of the Smallville’s sequences in Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel. The dreamy cinematography and warm, golden colour grading conveys both the sense of joy and hints at the true nature of the sequence. However, by scoring the scene with Max Richter’s On The Nature Of Daylight a sense of loss and melancholy are present, and thus the sequence becomes a beacon in the dark, happiness recalled by someone in despair (or maybe this Reviewer was reminded by the effective application of the same Max Richter’s Music for the dream sequence in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island). The Montage ends with Hannah lying lifeless in a hospital room, her head completely shaven, hinting at the disease that killed her (it was never explicitly named).  Through the montage, director Denis Villeneuve brilliantly depicts how death is inevitable, pain unavoidable in life and love, and prepared the film’s big question : “If you could see your whole life played out in front of you, would you go with it, or would you change it?”. Through her understanding of the Heptapod’s non-linear language, Louise also gained an ability to see the future, specifically her daughter, Hannah who has yet to be born out of her future relationship with her colleague, Dr. Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). The Glimpses into this future informed the audience that Louise and Ian had a daughter and that at some point they would separate, leaving Louise to raise Hannah herself, and that Louise’s foreknowledge of Hannah’s death is what ended her marriage to Ian. Yet despite knowing where her life would lead, Louise decided not to change a thing. 

Arrival is a brilliant sci-fi drama film, with strong cast, strong cinematography, convincing visual effects, and an important message for humans, as both an individual or a member of an entire race. A reminder that death, life, pain, love, grief, joy are inevitable aspects of being human, and that we should all work together to create a better world, because no matter where you are, which flags you salute, whatever language you speak, this is our world. 

Hello Again

Hello everyone, it's been a while and I do mean a while. Two years just flashed by *snap fingers* like that. Anyway, since it was part of my 2017's resolution to again, post my thoughts on the latest releases at the Cineplex, and maybe I'll finally post some of my own works as well.

Anyway what a year 2016 has been right? So many lessons learned, so much changes, both good and bad. So here's hoping that 2017 will go down as one of the better ones, eh? *fingers crossed*

- Adi Wijananda

The Art Of Shagging: Nymphomaniac Vol 1 & 2

Lars Von Trier is back! And..with a film  that promises a lot of sex in a story about..sex. Even before its release the film has already gained a lot of attention. First off there's that promise that none of the sex scenes will be simulated, Shia LaBeouf's statement on terror, the announcement that the film will be 5 hours long and there will 2 versions of it (hardcore and soft core), and that finally it will be split into two films and these 2 four hours film have not received (gasp!) Von Trier's seal of approval.

However having watched the unapproved 2 volume Films back to back. This audience are happy to say that the film(s) is still very much Von Trier. And being the final film in Von Trier's Depression Trilogy this film(s) is certainly the funniest.

The story kicks off in Volume 1.  A middle-aged Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found lying in an alley by a kindly middle aged asexual, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard) who proceeds to bring her to his intellectual abode (his Apartment).  There, Joe makes a statement : She's a Nymphomaniac and proceeds to tell Seligman his life story.

Vol.1 mainly follows Joe (portrayed brilliantly by newcomer  Stacy Martin) through her teenage and young adult years in a story divided into 5 chapters. At the end of each Chapter Seligman would offer an intellectual take on every single act of perversions that Joe committed. For example: he likened Joe's competition with a friend to have sex with most men on a train in a Chapter of the film, to the art of fly fishing.

Seligman's intellectualisation injects a lot of wit into the entire Apartment sequences and saves them from becoming the boring bits between the sexy bits.

Vol.2  heads into darker territories. The story now follows Joe as portrayed by Gainsbourg in her quest to reclaim her lost ability to have an orgasm. Joe is now married, but in order to fulfil her needs, her husband allows her to engage in plenty of "side activities". One of which is spending time with a sadistic s&m provider, K (brilliantly played by Jamie Bell).  But there are still moments of levity, but mainly sadness and well..depression.

It would be a mistake to watch these two films separately. They are meant to be enjoyed as one film (with a little intermission, of course). Watching them one at a time is the same as eating a plain bread without butter, or Pancakes without syrup. Always missing something.

Overall, a great, great film. Entertaining, touching, shocking, sometimes profound, and sarcastic to hell. I cannot wait to see what the proper 5 hours version would contain when it comes out (if it ever does). Note to fellow fans, there's a very entertaining recreation of 'Antichrist' in Vol. 2 that is both funny and terrifying at the same time.

4.5/5

Year Off

Been taking a year long sabbatical. But I think I might be back for good this time. Will endeavour to to be more..well..frequent this time.

Trekking Into Darkness

My familiarity with Star Trek is unfortunately, very much restricted to the recent feature films and naturally I'm not in any position to understand whatever allusions to the TV Series that may or may not have been in the J.J Abrams' series.

I massively enjoyed 2009's Star Trek. From the breakneck pacing, the casting, Giacchino's score, and yes, even the lens flares. So naturally, expectation was high for a second outing.

Star Trek Into Darkness follows the crew of the enterprise facing one of their own agent, a man named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) who held a personal vendetta against Starfleet. Driven by very much the same emotion USS Enterprise's Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) decides to take up arms against Harrison, an act fully sanctioned by the Starfleet leader, Marcus.  However, Harrison turns out to be not the man they thought he was, and there is a far more sinister plan abound.

Retaining the first film's wonderful breakneck pacing, this Trek opens rather spectacularly with an exciting action sequence on an alien planet which put Mr. Spock at the heart of an exploding volcano which seemingly will become his final resting place. But of course, Kirk, once again break all the rules to save his (now) pointy eared buddy.  Their dynamic was the heart of the first film and in my opinion, the most interesting thing from the first film. Here, that dynamic works wonderfully in setting up the film's climactic scene.

The action sequences are very well staged, and the team seems to be getting very confident. One change, I enjoyed the most has to be the new "warp effect" which distorts and elongate the Enterprise just before it jumps into warp, leaving trails of lights , like a slingshot.

Not so successful is the introduction of Carol Marcus, General Marcus's daughter who joins the enterprise to perform an investigation of its cargo. To be honest, I think her existence is solely so they could put the infamous "lingerie scene" that was in one of the trailers.

SPOILER!

The film's second and third act are where things start to steer off course, despite the emotional climax. The revelation of General Marcus's sinister plan which sets him up as the film's villain, which needs to be defeated by The Enterprise's Crew with help from John Harrison (revealed as classic villain Khan).

Now, the first Trek film already re-booted Kirk/Spock dynamic, why not reboot Khan as an ally rather than a villain? He'll make wonderful addition to the Enterprise, if he's not so mad and zealous that is.

The film's ending also cheated the emotional climax by providing a very simple solution to resurrect someone from death (A"why don't they just" plot hole).

Its flaws aside, this is still a very entertaining film with wonderful mastery of its elements. Everyone is much more mature this time around. With Abrams confirmed for Star Wars Episode VII, and taking into account his direction for the two Trek films, It is exciting to imagine how his Star Wars going to turn out.

And one last thing, despite all the good things about the film, they still need to work on getting better posters.

3.5/5

Good To Be Back: IRON MAN 3

After a group outing in last year The Avengers (Avengers Assemble to some), Tony Stark dons his armour for another solo outing. This year's mission is to stop a crazy terrorist leader, The Mandarin from destroying the world.

Set one year after The Avengers, Tony Stark is dealing with the trauma following the attack on Manhattan by Loki and the Chitauri

Stresses and anxiety attacks aside, his life is pretty stable and hunky dory, he's got a girlfriend (Pepper Potts) and he has tons of cool new armours at his disposal (and new method of suiting up).  However, after a terrorist attack, led by the Mandarin, on every aspect of his personal life, which left him powerless, Tony must once again save this day, but this time with less reliance on his suits.

Directed by Shane Black who replaced Jon Favreu as the helmer of the series, Iron Man 3 is without doubt a much better sequel than Iron Man 2 and even better than The Avengers.

Robert Downey is as charismatic, witty, and badass as usual.  Ben Kingsley is truly menacing as The Mandarin and the action sequences are spectacular (the air force one rescue and the attack on the mansion in particular).

The script is surprisingly very, very funny in contrast to the The Dark Knight Rises vibe the trailers were giving. I absolutely loved the opening which is very different than its predecessors, and the post credits sequence.

After two composers (Ramin Djawadi & John Debney), Iron Man finally gets his own (long overdue) heroic theme from Composer Brian Tyler. I have always found the music of Iron Man (AC/DC aside) to be the weakest in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (with Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk being personal favourites), so it is great that Brian Tyler finally gives Iron Man the music he deserves whilst balancing the rock and orchestral elements better than Iron Man 2.

Overall, a very entertaining entry in the series, and I sincerely hope that this is the last Iron Man film, for the ending is just perfect (but looking forward to more of Tony Stark in future Avengers sequels).

4/5

The Circle is Complete : The Place Beyond The Pines

When the first still of the film came out last year, I thought this film would be Drive on two wheels and naturally I was super excited for this film. But The Place Beyond The Pines turned out to be a completely different kind of a beast.

Directed by Derek Cianfrance known for the bleak romance in 2010's Blue Valentine (in which Gosling also starred), Pines also shares much of its realistic grittiness and again a rather unique structure (The Courting & The Parting). 

Pines tells its story in a three act (or chapters?) structure, and each chapters introduce new protagonists.

The first chapter, follows Stuntman Luke Glanton (Gosling), who works at a fair, performing death defying stunts on a motorbike across the country, and he never stays long  in one place, always on the move, never settling down. Everything changes when an old flame, Wilhelmina (Eva Mendes) returns to the picture with an infant son (Jason) from their relationship when he was last in town. Determined to be a part of his son's life, in order to not repeat his own Father's non-presence, Luke decides to settle down, and takes up a low paying job. But, wanting to provide for his son and win Wilhelmina back, Luke decides to turn to bank robbing after a friend, Robin (Ben Mendelhson) (an occasional back robber himself) advised him to do so.

The second chapter, follows the story of Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a rookie cop turned hero after being injured in the line of duty and putting an end to Luke's bank robbing's career. Avery as we learned later on, is overqualified for his job, and is being constantly pushed into politics by his Politician's Father.  With his injury preventing him from working in the field, Avery is reassigned into evidence and discovered a corruption within the Police Department. 

The third chapter is set 15 Years after the first and second and follow Avery and Luke's teenage sons (A.J & Jason played by Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan respectively), as they deal with their own respective father issues. 

The only drawback to this film is only that the second and last chapter are not as gripping as the first.  With chapter two being the weakest of the three. The last chapter is particularly brilliant at drawing parallels between the two sons and their respective fathers, and bringing the story to a complete circle.  There is nothing fancy or heavily stylised about the look of the film, it looks natural, real, bleak yet dreamy. The haunting score composed by Mike Patton is also very well done. Every single actors gave great performances in their respective roles (especially Gosling, Ben Mendelhson, and Emory Cohen). 

Overall, a truly great piece of cinema and I am sure this film will remain in my top three by the end of the year, as of right now, this is my favourite film of the year. 

4.5/5

Life Of Pi: A Review

Based on Yann Martel's book of the same name, Life Of Pi was almost trapped forever in development hell, with many directors signed on and signed off on it. But no, it was released gloriously into theatres around the world last year (the start of this year in Australia) and has been hailed as one of the best films of 2012, and has been nominated for Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards.

Like the book, the story focuses on Piscine Molitor Patel's ("Pi") entrapment in the middle of the pacific in a lifeboat (after the freighter transporting his family and his family's zoo sank), if that's not bad enough, there is a hungry Bengal Tiger sharing the boat.

Ang Lee seemed to have emphasise the book's religious overtones. In the book and the film, Pi is shown as a person of multi faith, holding down three religions at once with his father being opposed to them all.  Lee also added scenes of Adult Pi telling the story of his entrapment to a young writer (a minor character in the book), who becomes the audience's avatar.  The writer, being led to believe that Pi has a story that would "make him believe in God" abandoned his Novel in favour of Pi's story (not a very religious man then). Their whole conversations consists mainly of discussing Pi's story and faith.

The Film kept the book's resolution to Pi's entrapment (SPOILER ALERT!) In both medium, Pi survived and is visited by Investigators who are investigating the sinking of the Freighter. They rejected his story of surviving almost a year, floating in the middle of the pacific in a lifeboat with a Tiger, since they all found it hard to believe. Like the book, Pi tells them another story, a darker, bleaker, but far more realistic story, exchanging the animals for people. This second story has no wonder in it, only blood, though it ends in the same way, despite casting Pi in a different light. At the end of both stories, Pi ask the people he's been telling the story to, which stories they prefer.

If we take into account the theme of Faith that has been floating alongside the main story for the course of the 150 minutes runtime, Pi's two stories pretty much sums up the point that you couldn't force someone to believe in something (in this case Faith), they need to choose for themselves if they want to truly believe. The stories also, in a way paint pictures of a world with God, where miracles could happen and a Godless World, where there is no wonder to be found. Pretty strong stuff for a family film.

The 3D of the Film is one of the best I've experienced in recent times and the CGI Tiger is really, really good, you could almost think they trained a real Tiger to act. Mychael Danna's score to the film is also really good, very subtle instead of symphonically melodramatic. David Magee's script is also very well done, especially the writing in of the scenes with adult Pi and The Writer.

Suraj Sharma performance as  Pi  is in the same level as Tom Hanks  in 2001's Cast Away. I found the rest of the cast, despite giving good performances to be merely functional. But then again, they aren't being given as much screen-time as Suraj.

4.5/5

Been Away

I should be posting more stuff soon, reality kept me occupied.

The Master: A Review

This is it, the film I've been waiting for all year, the film everybody's been raving about. I just have to say, having seen it twice, I am not sure what to say.

The story follows Freddie Queyle, a WWII veteran, a drunk with sex obsession. Having returned from the War, with a severe psychological condition, Freddie attempts to adjusts to the Post-War World (Working as a Dept. Store's Photographer & at a farm, both ends up with him leaving due to drinks related issues). Lost, Freddie stows away onboard a Yacht (The Alethia) where he met Lancaster Dodd, founder of a movement called The Cause. Despite warnings from people around him, Dodd takes Freddie under his wing, somehow attracted to him. Together they travel to spread the Cause's teaching, and Dodd attempts to "cure" Freddie.

People have been making connections between Scientology and The Cause. Having no knowledge whatsoever of the former (apart from the publicised stuff in the media), I simply could not see what they see.

Thinking this film is about a certain movement is the first mistake I made when I saw the film for the first time.  After second viewing, I am still no closer to an answer. The film has such rich materials and each is dealt with very subtly, making the film's intention ambiguous.

The cinematography had to be one of the most beautiful I've seen in films this year. Shot on 65mm film (the first film that did so in years), the wide shots really made my jaw drop, such wide scope! (And I saw the film in a cinema with a rather small screen).

Much like his previous collaboration (There Will Be Blood) with Director Paul Thomas Anderson, Jonny Greenwood composed a minimalist, unconventional, atmospheric, and haunting score.

But the biggest win in this film, is in the acting department. Joaquin Phoenix (in his first performance after his "retirement") gives a very convincing and disturbing performance as Freddie. From the way he talks, moves, the glint in his eyes, you could see and feel the madness radiating from within. Phillip Seymour Hoffman on the other hand, is a complete opposite of Phoenix. Dodd (or "Master") is a very controlled, intelligent, sophisticated man. Having these two together in the same scene is always a wonder to behold. Amy Adams as Peggy, Dodd's (3rd?) wife is gentle, kind, but also creepy, fierce, and at times domineering.

It is the relationship between these three characters that is really the heart of the film.   Overall, the film is a triumph and without doubt special among the rest of this year's releases.

5/5

ARGO: A Review

Based on a declassified true story of a CIA operation in the late 70's and early 80's.  ARGO follows CIA Agent, Tony Mendes from the planning stage to the execution of the plan in the field.

The film starts with angry mobs filling the street outside the US Embassy in Tehran, demanding the return of a former Dictator that is harboured by the US. The Mob eventually gets in and takes the Embassy. Six people however, managed to escape to the safety of the Canadian's Ambassador Home.
Knowing that the Iranian militants will soon find out and attempt to capture the six people to be executed with the others. Racing with time to prevent it, CIA begins an operation to extract the six out of Iran without the militants' knowledge.

Argo is appropriately gritty, just like any film of its genre. The Hollywood scenes set a very nice contrasts between the worlds in Argo (Iran, CIA, Hollywood).  These scenes are also among the film's most humorous moments.

The Six Civilians actors play their part well, not only have they been made up as similar to their counterpart as possible (As shown by the end credits) the actors successfully made you care about these people which gives us the epic finale.

Without doubt, one of this year's best films.

4.5/5

Looper: A Review

Judging from people's reactions, Looper could very well be this year's INCEPTION. A high concept film loved by critics and audiences.

I must say, I was among one of the few who were not excited about the film. The marketing of the film never really did "get" me.

Therefore, I went into the cinema, expecting a standard chase thriller between Willis and Levitt. I was wrong.

The Film is brilliant, the idea is absolutely brilliant and (despite how weird it is) Levitt's make-up, made him a convincing "young Bruce Willis"

Set in the not too distant future, 30 years before time travel is invented. Crime organisations utilise the technology to dispose "Undesirables" from the future in the past, effectively erasing these people from existence. Doing the dirty jobs done are the "Loopers", who are paid by Silver attached to their target's back. However, Looper's life span are limited. Sooner or later, every Looper is required to dispose of their future selves, and spend the next 30 years living their life quietly, before they are sent back to the past ("Closing the loop") to die.  Levitt's future self (Willis) arrived in the past to die, only, he already concocted a plan to do something else. Something that set him and his younger selves at the barrel of each other's guns.

Levitt did a very good job portraying Joe the Looper and so is Willis as Old Joe. Both character's motivations perfectly made sense, it's  a bit hard to pick sides (until certain point).

The director did a very good job in capturing the grimness of both the present and the future world. There is a Blade Runner and Children of Men-esque vibe in these two worlds.

Overall one of the most refreshing film to have come out in recent years.

4/5

Beasts Of The Southern Wild: A Review

An indie film that's been getting a lot of good receptions in worldwide festivals. Finally, I get to see it, and it is as good as they say.

Based on a play, the film tells the story about a little girl named Hushpuppy who lives with her father on an island in the middle of Lousiana Swamp in an area called the Bathtub.

The Bathtub is separated not only by the swamp from the main civilisation, but also by a concrete wall that acted as a dam between the two worlds.

Hushpuppy's life is great, until one day, she discovers her father is dying, and a hurricane strikes and destroys the bathtub. The hurricane also unleashes ancient beasts who feasted on everything on earth from the ice where they lay dormant for thousands of years.

The beasts, made their way to the bathtub, and the closer they are, the more hushpuppy's view on the world is changing.

The ending is the point where Hushpuppy's imagination and reality collide and where she finally sees everything clearly, as a grown up.

Being independently produced, the special effects in the film looks really amazing, and the soundtrack has to be one of the best soundtrack of the year. Rousing, and instrumentally diverse, it is a very enjoyable soundtrack.

This is a really good story about growing up, that feels like a combination of Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick. The conflict between hushpuppy and her father felt very much like E.T and the view on nature felt very Terrence Malick.

4/5

Moonrise Kingdom: A Review

I haven't been following Wes Anderson's films, in fact the first one I saw was Fantastic Mr. Fox. I have been hearing a lot of stuff about how weird Anderson is, but having seen his live-action film in Moonrise, I have to say I really, really enjoyed his style. It's just so...Film..and that's just great.

Set in the 60's the film follows the story of two young lovers who run away from their respective problems in the world into a secluded beach they nicknamed, "moonrise kingdom", a place where they could be themselves and have fun, without having the issues of being treated differently by the society, a place where they belong.

Told in a very quirky fashion, the story delivers a very good balance of laughs, hearts, and dangers (whilst keeping its quirkiness).

Our lovers deliver such a good performance, and so are our grown ups. It's interesting seeing Bruce Willis play such a dorky police.

The cinematography is just gorgeous, every shot is a visual treat.

Without doubt, one of the best films of the year, a gorgeous looking, well written, well acted, well designed, and well directed.

5/5

The Bourne Legacy: A Review

The fourth instalment in the Bourne franchise, this time however, without Jason Bourne. Jeremy Renner, whose star seems to be getting brighter, and his face appears in Multiplexes every once a week stands as Aaron Cross, an Outcome Agents who searches for enhancement pills called "Chems".

The story itself is set somewhere within The Bourne Ultimatum timeline, Aaron Cross, a CIA Outcome Agent (yet another one of their divisions since Treadstone and Blackbriar apparently) is travelling through the woods and is addicted to his batch of "chem" pills which enhance his physical and intelligence capabilities.

Running out of options, Aaron travels to find the Doctor whom he thinks would be able to hand him the pills cold turkey. But alas, the pills are kept in Manila and they have to travel there first.

Directed by Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter for the first three, this Bourne outing is surprisingly dull. It started out too slow, and when things started to get interesting it ends.

However, I enjoy the gritty realism of the film, which is something every Bourne films was known for.

Despite being a Bourne film without Bourne in it, this film still stands pretty well on its own, but the utilisation of parallel timeline to the excellent Ultimatum made me couldn't help but missing Jason Bourne in action and Paul Greengrass's kinetic cinematography.

Also, there never seems to be any real face off between Cross and the villain Byer, and Cross also never feels like a proper protagonist and his journey is a bit lame compared to Jason (junkie in need of a fix vs man without memory), in the end aaron felt more like a side characters, because the protagonist, Jason Bourne is currently MIA.

2.5/5

The Dark Knight Rises: A Review

Finally, the most anticipated film of the year is out! Does it deliver? Certainly! Much better than its rival too!

Set 8 years after The Dark Knight, Batman is public enemy #1, wanted for the murder of Harvey "Two Face" Dent, which we know is an elaborate scheme by Batman and Police Commisioner Gordon to not bring Gotham's citizens hope down, since Harvey was their shining knight. Batman hasn't been seen in that 8 years, and so is Bruce Wayne who locked himself up in his Manor, like Howard Hughes.
However the arrival of Terrorists led by Bane (played excellently by Tom Hardy), forced Batman to come out of retirement to face his greatest challenge yet.

Adopting a far more serious tone, than its predecessors and longer runtimes, Rises is a fitting conclusion to the Dark Knight's trilogy. The long runtime certainly doesn't drag as much as The Dark Knight and there are some cheeky and clever references that will leave one simply impressed.

The scope of the action sequences are simply pure cinematic, from the excellent mid-air plane kidnapping opening, to the explosive showdown in downtown Gotham, this film put The Avengers to shame. Catwoman as played by Anna Hathaway is a delight to watch, switching between comic book character and traditional femme fatale of the Noir genre, that is definitely on par with the Catwoman of Batman Returns.

It is a shame that Marion Cottilard's character is seriously underplayed, outshined by Hathaway's Selina Kyle as Wayne's love interest. Those paparazzi pics released months ago, also ruined the surprise the film had in store, but it was still a pretty good twist. Another detractor to this film would be The Bat, which at some moments in the film look cool, but at other moments look like something out of Transformers.

Another bug, would be the usage of New York as Gotham which gives us a huge continuity break, since Gotham changed way too drastically from Begins and The Dark Knight. However, the bridge explosions scene justify the usage of New York in the film, and the story distracts us away from it anyway.

All in all, one couldn't hope for a better conclusion to the Dark Knight's saga.

4.5/5

The Amazing Spiderman: Have we met before?

When Sony announced that they were going to reboot their Spiderman franchise back in 2010 and canceling Sam Raimi's proposed Spiderman 4 not everybody was enthusiastic about the prospect. There were many "haven't we been there before" comments thrown around and "it's too soon!".
However, having seen what The Amazing Spiderman has to offer, one must give kudos to Sony to green lit this project.

The Story returns to Peter Parker's days in High School, a part that Raimi glossed over quickly in 2001's Spiderman. One could also say that this film is a remake of Sam Raimi's film due to the high number of similarities between the two. From the confrontation with Flash Thompson, Uncle Ben's death (yes, another prick gets robbed and Peter let the robber go to get even), and even the green gas The Lizard use (what was the colour of the Green Goblin's gas again?). The similarity of some elements are not surprising since some of the crews were part of the Sam Raimi's Trilogy (Producer Laura Ziskin and Writer Alvin Sargent for example)

Andrew Garfield is perfect as Peter Parker, and unlike Toby Maguire's Peter (which is a good boy through and through), this Peter Parker is not shy about showing his darker side, and clearly much more damaged (not to mention much more obviously resourceful and humorous). His relationship with his aunt and uncle is also much more strained and interesting to follow compared to Tobey's Peter

Unlike Raimi, the love interest in this film is not Mary Jane Watson, but rather, Gwen Stacy (played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spiderman 3 and Emma Stone in this one). The chemistry between Peter and Gwen feels much better than Peter and MJ (that awkward corridor chat and that cheeky prelude before the kiss!) it should also be noted that she is also for the first time in a Spiderman film not a love interest/Damsel in Distress (a role MJ was too good at).

The only new element that immediately sets The Amazing Spiderman apart from Sam Raimi's Trilogy is the emphasis on Peter Parker's parents (hell, Raimi never even mentioned them in his trio of films) and oh, the inclusion of those delightful POV shots of Spidey as he swings through New York on his manufactured web shooters (I like the idea of an organic web shooter in Raimi's Films, but  hey at least they add to Peter's character as a genius).

All in all, The Amazing Spiderman is a very familiar new film with a much more human Peter Parker, it has to be on par if not better than the original three.

4/5

Blasts From The Past...11 of '11 of A/V

A selection of 11 Best Films and Soundtracks from last year. 

FILMS

#1 Drive (Dir: Nicholas Winding Refn): A Getaway driver lands in a sticky situation despite good intentions. A Stunning film of multiple genres, all mashed into one dreamy, gritty, and simply amazing piece of cinema.  5/5

#2 The Tree Of Life (Dir: Terrence Malick): A boy's struggle to choose his path of life, the way of nature and the way of grace. Much like any Malick's films, the visuals should not be doubted. And like any Malick's films, the simple story is transformed into a profound piece in a typical Malickian fashion. 5/5

#3 Midnight In Paris (Dir: Woody Allen):  A writer finding solutions to his life problems through time traveling and the beauty of Paris. A very brilliantly written film, and gorgeous to boot, not to mention quite full of trivias. 5/5

#4 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Dir: Tomas Alfredson): Adaptation of the bestselling John Le Carre's Novel of the same time. A Retired British spy had to come out of retirement to expose a Russian Mole in the British Intelligence, set during the cold war. Unlike the super spy James Bond, there is no sleek cars and women in the job, just a lot of mind work, and table discussions, with a very cold looking cinematography and 70's aesthetics, and a very badass Gary Oldman in glasses. 5/5

#5 Melancholia (Dir: Lars Von Trier): The end of the world, when a super planet is on its way to collied with Earth. A very beautiful piece about depression, with a super nihilistic view on life. 5/5

#6 The Artist (Dir: Michel Hazanavicius): A silent movie star fall, the rise of talkies, a love story between the old and the new. The plot is very similar to that excellent musical film starring Gene Kelly, Singin' In The Rain. But, here we have a very idealistic George Valentin, with a very high pride and ego who refuses to talk in front of cameras due to fear of humiliation and Peppy Miller, a rising talkie movie star whose career was launched by Valentin and ironically destroyed Valentin himself, but kept on loving him silently. The first black and white silent film to hit cinemas in a long, long, long time. 4.5/5

#7 Hugo (Dir: Martin Scorsese): The first children and 3D film from Martin Scorsese about an orphan and (certainly would be) movie buff, Hugo Cabret who lives secretly in the station while attempting to fix a broken automaton, a journey that would lead him to Filmmaker Georges Melies and a sequence out of film studies 101. A sumptuous feast that would satisfy film enthusiasts, and filled with much obvious love with cinema. 4.5/5

#8 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Dir: David Fincher): Probably one of the most badass films to hit cinemas in 2011. It is an adaptation of Swedish author Stieg Laersson's novel of the same name which was adapted into film in Sweden in 2009, giving us Noomi Rapace as The Girl.  Rooney Mara, the pretty girl who kicked of Fincher's The Social Network in 2010 is the girl in this one, and she is much more fragile, and well..human. Despite its close runtime to the 2009 film, this film is the film the book deserved, it captured the book's spirit much better. 4.5/5

#9 Shame (Dir: Steve Mcqueen): A film nearly as depressing as Melancholia only less pretty and more gritty. Michael Fassbender, shows us what an excellent actor he is and what he's capable of. Playing Brandon, an emotionally detached man with sexual addiction and a perfectly organised life whose world is brought down by the return of his sister, who reminded him that he is human after all. 4.5/5

#10 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Dir: David Yates): the final film of the Harry Potter Saga an epic fantasy film that worked nicely in contrast with Part 1 ultra grittiness and also the most straight to business Potter film. 4.5/5

#11 Super 8 (Dir: J.J Abrams): Yet, another love letter to the cinema. 2011 was so filled with films about films, and one couldn't help but to smile. After The Artist and Hugo tribute to the classics. J.J Abrams paid tribute to the modern classics, the Steven Spielberg's science fiction films. Unfortunately the alien bit didn't work out quite as well as Spielberg's, but the bits with the children trying to make a film were just pure joy to watch. 4/5


SOUNDTRACKS

#1 The Artist (Ludovic Bource): All silent film scores were incredibly essential, not to mention very lush and grand. Bource's composition did not necessarily resemble those silent film scores exactly, but it is very much a golden age Hollywood film score at its best well worth the Oscar win.
5/5

#2 The Adventures Of Tintin (John Williams): John Williams return, and what an exciting music he brought to Tintin. It has all the things you love in a John Williams adventure score, epic, robust, energetic, but not the lush sentimentalism for that you need to listen to.....
5/5

#3 War Horse (John Williams): Another Williams's score, another Spielberg film. Set in 1912-14 England, Williams played a bit with the 'English sound' and much like any other period epics, the score is lush, romantic, and highly sentimentalist in a Spielberg-Williams fashion, after the exciting Tintin, this is just too much to believe.
5/5

#4 Captain America: The First Avenger (Alan Silvestri): Not only is 2011's the year John Williams returns, it is also the year Alan Silvestri returns to form and gives Marvel Studios their best score yet (along with Patrick Doyle for Thor). The star spangled man music is just good old fashioned Hollywood film scores that are hard to find in today's film scores. And the main theme? Sounds like its set to join John Williams Raiders March, Superman March, Star Wars March and Danny Elfman's Batman Theme.
5/5

#5 Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Alexandre Desplat):  Being a major fan of Desplat's work, having him composed the finale to the Harry Potter saga was such a delight too good to be true, this score and Part 1's score were beautiful piece of music that brought Potter back to the level of the first three and fourth cinematic scores. What John Williams started, Desplat finished beautifully.
5/5

#6 THOR (Patrick Doyle): Another too good to be true, but totally expected case since Director Kenneth Branagh is a frequent collaborator of Doyle. Surprisingly Doyle decided to tone back his usual style and adds in the typical modern film scoring method made popular by Hans Zimmer and his Remote Control Productions. The result is still a far better score than any RCP composers best work (with exception perhaps John Powell and occasionally Zimmer), and much like Captain America, this is one of the better scores in Marvel Studios films.
4.5/5

#7 SUPER 8 (Michael Giachinno): Giachinno decided to stay true to his style rather than try to imitate John Williams. The result is a score that sounds pretty much similar to Lost, but also has a hint of John Williams. The main theme for the boy is touching, and the secondary theme for the girl could've been better used, but all in all, a really good warm score that today's films definitely should use more of.
4./5

#8 My Week With Marilyn (Conrad Pope/Alexandre Desplat): One of the few films where Orchestrator Conrad Pope scored an entire film without being shadowed by John Williams or Alexandre Desplat. Originally meant to be yet another Desplat Project, Desplat surprisingly recommended Pope to take this score on, but he did write the film's main theme, which is truly beautiful add in Lang Lang's piano and ah, just beautiful. Having worked behind John Williams for many years, it is no surprise that Pope's music sound pleasingly Williams like, definitely want to hear more from Pope in coming years.
4/5

#9 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias): The film is a very tense affair, and the score has to compliment the tension. This score more than done its job, it started out brilliant with a noir-ish theme for George Smiley, but after that becomes more generic and the noir sound abandoned. However there are several moments where the music displays a very Desplat mannerism which brings to mind the question what would Desplat have produced?
4/5

#10 Hugo (Howard Shore): Scoring Scorsese's love letter to the cinema, is composer Howard Shore of Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and Scorsese's Gangs Of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed. Being a children film, one expects to hear lots of warm melodic themes ala John Williams, but sadly that is not the case, and the score is a disappointment in that regard. However what we get is a nice quirky sound and yes, there is a warm melodic theme just not as much as one hoped. The French sound of the score is also quite nice.
4/5

#11 Drive (Cliff Martinez/Various): More like droning ambient noises ala Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross' effort in The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tatttoo. However it would be a crime not to mention this soundtrack, especially because the first four tracks which contain the uber cool songs which worked perfectly in the film.
3/5

The Amazing Spiderman: Amazing Addition to the franchise's music

Probably the biggest and most delightful surprise in film scoring this year (yet). The spiderman reboot/remake/reimagining,  whatever you'd want to call it will have music from legendary composer James Horner.

The music Horner gives the web slinger in this outing is simply the best of all Spidey's outings, and in fact wouldn't be out of place in the sequel for James Cameron's AVATAR.

The main theme feels like a blend of AVATAR and A Beautiful Mind (in fact the whole score gives out that vibe continuously) and pretty interesting too, it does not have the flat out heroism the Danny Elfman's theme had, more like well..prelude to big adventures in distant planets

The love theme (also Theme for Peter Parker)  has to be one of the best theme of the year and eclipses all previous quiet poignant themes in Sam Raimi's trilogy, it is just so beautiful in its simple yet harmonious construct.

After Alan Silvestri's failure in making The Avengers the superhero score of the the year, Horner's arrival with this score is such an amazing delight.

5/5