If there’s one guy we want desperately to take home an Oscar, it’s American composer Thomas Newman. Having already been nominated for 10 times, we feel that it’s high time the Academy recognised his talent. The man behind the music for brilliant scores like The Green Mile (1999), Road to Perdition (2002) and Wall E (2008) is back with his latest work for director’s John Maddens’ feel good British drama about life.
And like the movie, we are glad that this soundtrack album comes highly recommended.
Those familiar with Newman’s work will smile when the 46 minute album opens with “Long Old Life”, a signature Newman cue with soothing rhythmic beats that calm the most nervous souls. The beautifully crafted “The Chimes at Midnight” is the gem on the disc, a magically enchanting tune. The main theme can also be heard here, a melody which will recurs later in the album.
With the film set in India, Newman spices up his compositions with Indian instrumentations, first heard evidently in “Road to Jaipur”, an energetic track which paints a picture of colours and life. The same exoticism is presented in “Night Bus” and “Tuks Tuks”, which are spiritedly engaging with the aid of vocals.
Serenity is felt in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, a track which will make you appreciate Newman’s talent for bringing out the emotions in music composition. The heartfelt “Anokhi” and the bittersweet “More Than Nothing” are also reflective pieces which the Grammy award winning composer is known for.
Elsewhere, tracks like “Turning Left”, “Young Wasim” and “Progress” illustrate Newman’s versatility in film composing. With the added Indian flavour, this score shows us yet another side of his talent. And when the album ends with the smile inducing “A Bit of Afters”, you’d want to revisit the soundtrack again.
Although this album doesn’t contain bombastically memorable tunes, we are sure that it will go down well with anyone who appreciates life’s small but beautiful moments.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (3) The Chimes at Midnight
Review by John Li
Genre: Drama/Crime
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Emile Hirsch, Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir, Jonathan Patrick Moore, Joel David Moore, Mia Maestro
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: R21 (Drug Use,Violence and Sexual Scenes)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.savagesfilm.com/
Opening Day: 20 September 2012
Synopsis: Three-time Oscar®-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone returns to the screen with the ferocious thriller Savages, featuring the all-star ensemble cast of Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek and Emile Hirsch. Laguna Beach entrepreneurs Ben (Johnson), a peaceful and charitable Buddhist, and his closest friend Chon (Kitsch), a former Navy SEAL and ex-mercenary, run a lucrative, homegrown industry—raising some of the best marijuana ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with the extraordinary beauty Ophelia (Lively). Life is idyllic in their Southern California town…until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them. When the merciless head of the BC, Elena (Hayek), and her brutal enforcer, Lado (Del Toro), underestimate the unbreakable bond among these three friends, Ben and Chon—with the reluctant, slippery assistance of a dirty DEA agent (Travolta)—wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills.
Movie Review:
Lest we forget that the Oliver Stone of ‘Natural Born Killers’ and ‘U Turn’ was the same Oliver Stone who did ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ and ‘World Trade Centre’, the pulpy side of the once disreputable director has returned with potent force in this violent, sexual and all-round intense drug-cartel drama. Indeed, the helmer, who also co-wrote the screenplay of Don Winslow’s 2010 bestseller, is clearly having a blast returning to his lurid roots, and the result is a trippy experience that will leave you riveted – that is, until a copout of an ending, but more on that later.
“It’s that kind of story where things just got so out of control,” says Ophelia Sage, aka O, in her opening voiceover, warning us that just because she is narrating the story does not mean that she will be alive by the end of it. So in ‘hip-speak’, O introduces us to the odd couple Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) – the former a Berkeley business/botany double major and the latter an ex-Navy Seal. Their personalities couldn’t be more different as well – the soft-spoken Ben is pacifist, and volunteers his time helping out the less unfortunate in far-flung places like Asia; the impulsive Chon is just fine staying behind in Laguna Beach hanging out with his war buddies from Afghanistan and Iraq.
In any other circumstance, Ben and Chon probably wouldn’t be associated with each other, but in their line of work, both need each other. With Ben as the brains and Chon as the brawn, they run a wildly successful business growing some of the best and most potent marijuana in the world – the THC content in their product is at a never heard before 33 percent. At the centre of their lives is O, one of those vacuous rich-girl types who thinks she is living the life loving the both of them at the same time. Both Ben and Chon are equally guilty of naivety – you don’t get to run such a multimillion drug business without attracting some unwanted attention.
Trouble calls in the form of the Mexican Baja Cartel, headed by the diminutive Elena (Salma Hayek in a scene-stealing supporting role) who wants a piece of their business. “They are Wal-Mart,” crooked DEA agent Dennis (John Travolta) tells the boys, “And they want you for a specialty aisle.” Thinking that they can outsmart Elena by jumping town, the duo are forced to scramble when Elena’s ruthless henchman Lado (Benicio Del Toro) kidnaps O and threatens her slow painful death unless they play ball. Naturally they do, while raising hell by waging their own war – with some help of course from Chon’s military friends – against Elena’s expansive United States operations as well as ultimately her own flesh and blood.
Higher-brow audiences may try to find deeper meaning in the film’s depiction of morality – especially as Ben and Chon resort to the same methods (among them, torture) that Elena employs in order to gain the upper hand. Laudable though their intentions may be, it is ultimately futile in our opinion – for Stone is too big a fan of titillation and garish brutality to adopt a measured tone to a material with so much potential for excess. With propulsive flair, Stone directs the movie with a nervous jittery energy that suits the material perfectly. Under Stone’s hand therefore, it is an exercise in provocation, one designed to get a reaction out of his audience whether O’s psychological and physical torture under Lado or the latter’s vicious interrogation of a suspected traitor within their midst.
The colourful Elmore Leonard-style noir is also enlivened by its ensemble cast, the supporting ones of which unfortunately outshine that of its three leading actors. Of these three protagonists, only Johnson’s Ben develops any real dimension as his character loses his initial ingenuousness and turns into a cold-hearted liar cum murderer. Kitsch and Lively are fine in their respective roles, but next to veterans Travolta, Hayek and del Toro, they sadly appear lightweight. Yes, the most exciting performances here belong to the three supporting actors – Travolta wickedly amusing in his smarminess; Hayek impressively cool as the chic drug lord; and del Toro sizzling with diabolical menace. A scene where Travolta tries to wheedle out of his accused duplicity by del Toro counts as the best in the movie, both actors gleefully playing up their respective roles.
Such a terrific buildup of story and cast should guarantee a thrilling climax, and indeed Stone delivers just that – the only problem is he backtracks for a second ending that will have you screaming ‘WTF!’. It’s a meta-stunt all right, one that tries to prove that the movie is smarter than just your well-made B-movie, but executed with flippancy as it is done here, the otherwise timid finish leaves you feeling cheated. Still, on the strength of the rest of the movie, we are willing to look past this glaring flaw and appreciate Stone’s work for what it is. Like we said, this won’t be your politically important films like ‘Born on the Fourth of July’, ‘Platoon’ or ‘Nixon’, but – especially with the recent passing of Tony Scott – this is a rare exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat thriller from an A-list director that will satisfy your appetite for lurid pleasures.
Movie Rating:
(Riveting, edge-of-your-seat thriller that invites you to revel in its lurid excesses of violence and sex – just ignore its copout of a second ending)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Mila Kunis, Giovanni Ribisi, Jessica Stroup, Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, Laura Vandervoort, Melissa Ordway, Aedin Mincks
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language, Sexual Scenes and Drug Use)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.tedisreal.com/
Opening Day: 6 September 2012
Synopsis: Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane brings his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish…and has refused to leave his side ever since.
Movie Review:
There is really just one joke in Ted, and that’s the teddy bear that comes to life at the wish of a little boy one Christmas. Unfortunately, the teddy bear turns out to be the brazenly foul-mouthed Ted who also happens to have a penchant for sex, booze and weed. On paper, that sounds like a total farce, too self-aware in part and merely another exhausted effort to force innocent subjects to behave inappropriately for the benefit of our enjoyment. But what comes off Seth MacFarlane’s mind is far more spectacular than that single-joke premise would have you believe. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will remember Ted as one of the best movies this year.
Mark Wahlberg portrays John Bennett, a 35 year old who has been working boring shifts at a car rental company and dating the more ambitious and beautiful Lori (Mila Kunis) for 4 years. Lori wants John to get his life sorted out so that he can carry their relationship forward but John is tied to the unrelenting hedonistic influence of Ted, the teddy bear whom he promised to be best friends with forever after he made the special wish on that Christmas. Ted brings prostitutes into John’s home and interrupts John’s work to persuade him to go to a party but succeeds only in running the patience out of Lori. Out of options, Lori forces John to choose between her and Ted, and lots of break-ups, make-ups and mayhem happen before anything gets resolved.
If that sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. Which is why Seth MacFarlane is perfect for the material. The Family Guy creator is brave enough to grab an angelic symbol of childhood and morph it into a subject of his wildest R-rated humour almost shamelessly, proudly proclaiming that a cute, cuddly toy bear can have sex with someone legitimately even without a reproductive organ in one scene and confidently letting it shoot off politically incorrect lines the next. It’s a brand of puerile comedy that works not only because the film never wavers from taking itself less than seriously, but also because each hilarious piece feels meticulously crafted to fit into the larger comedic puzzle.
It’s at least a little bizarre then that this casual tone is a train for some really heartfelt statements that are expressed in the later parts of the film. Seth MacFarlane delivers an honest portrait of childhood friendship and draws some sincere conclusions between maturity and self-responsibility, and it’s all done in a very discreet and perfect harmony with the comedy. Despite the flippant start, events between John, Lori and Ted eventually turn sour. A later scene of a fight between John and Ted in a hotel room is shockingly raw and almost revolting, and the film only escalates in emotional levels after that. Without giving the plot away, suffice to say that you will more likely to be in tears than in mirth during the late portions.
Ted is an outstanding illustration of how a film can be so completely unserious and absolutely funny, yet sincerely thought-provoking and stirringly moving all at the same time. It’s an art of filmmaking that’s been largely unfounded and rarely utilised. As a parting shot, the film throws down a flurry of pop culture references to clear your tears and remind you that it’s a comedy, but sometimes the fact that a film has achieved more without actually realising it can be what makes it truly great.
Movie Rating:
(Completely unserious and absolutely funny, yet sincerely thought-provoking and stirringly moving all at the same time, Ted is one of the best movies to emerge in cinemas this year)
Review by Loh Yong Jian
Genre: Drama
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Cody Horn, Olivia Munn, Joe Manganiello, Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Bomer, Riley Keough, Gabriel Iglesias, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Adam Rodriguez, Betsy Brandt, Kevin Nash, Mircea Monroe
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse language, nudity and sexual references)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.magicmikemovie.com/
Opening Day: 9 August 2012
Synopsis: A dramatic comedy set in the world of male strippers, "Magic Mike" is directed by Academy Award(R)-winning director Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") and stars Channing Tatum in a story inspired by his real life. The film follows Mike (Tatum) as he takes a young dancer called The Kid (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money.
Movie Review:
In case you still have the archaic notion that striptease is an indulgence for the male gender alone, ‘Magic Mike’ is here to correct your impression once and for all. The titular character is one self-described entrepreneur- played by Channing Tatum- who harbours the dream of starting his own business designing custom furniture. But to get that capital, he juggles three jobs- roofing, auto-detailing and most significantly dancing. Not just any ordinary dancing mind you, but rather headlining a six-men male revue act at a Tampa strip club called the Xquisite.
Based in part on Tatum’s own experience as a stripper when he was 18 and a college dropout, it is an honest look at a subculture that is often misunderstood and disparaged. The script by Reid Carolin acknowledges and addresses these preconceptions through the viewpoint of two outsiders – Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a clueless 19-year-old college dropout Mike meets one day at the construction site; and Adam’s sister Brooke (Cody Horn), whom Mike develops a slow but sure fancy towards.
Adam is cast as the virgin, inducted for the first time into this perplexing world of buff bods, sexy thongs, gyrating pelvises, flashing asses and not forgetting generous cash. It doesn’t take long before the shy, withdrawn teenager is up on stage revelling in the attention of the crowds and the delirium of easy money. He’s also the one narrative convention dictates would go over the edge, and as the film builds a mutual liking between Mike and Brooke, you can almost predict how the former will inevitably impact the latter.
Next to Adam, Brooke is portrayed as the straight-laced female ignorant and wary of the baser pleasures that other members of her gender are partaking in. Her first time in a male strip club is in the role of the overprotective older sister checking out where Adam has been hanging out late, her reservations not helped by her discovery of a box of thongs in the living room and Adam using her razor to shave his legs. Thankfully, the script doesn’t make her indignant or over-righteous- instead, she gets to be the most level-headed person amongst all the other characters, and her slow-burning romance with Mike is surprisingly engaging.
The main act however is Magic Mike himself, who is much more than just the crowdpleasing routines he stages with little clothing on – he wants to be better than his club’s owner Dallas (Matthew McConaughey), who at forty, is only as accomplished as the number and tonality of his abs. He wants his life of stripping and odd jobs to be over sometime soon, to become his own boss, to have a real relationship with a lady – not just the threesome casual sex he gets with a psychology grad student (Olivia Munn) – and it is these qualities that make Mike truly endearing.
Key to Mike’s charm is Channing Tatum’s charisma – say what you may about his acting abilities before, but this is the year that Tatum truly comes into his own as an actor, demonstrating an incredible likeability through roles in ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘The Vow’. More than any other, this is a character meant to play obviously to his strengths, but Tatum impresses nonetheless with a mix of playfulness, awareness and spontaneity. Not surprisingly, the highlight of Tatum’s performance is the dance sequences, where he displays his dancing prowess that was one of the main reasons the ‘Step Up’ franchise took off in the first place.
With generous help from choreographer Alison Faulk, Tatum owns the screen whether in his solo or group numbers, his moves simply dazzling whether in the form of pop-and-locks, slides or back flips. Tatum laps up the opportunity to be seen in every male stripper stereotype – soldiers, sailors, cops and firemen – and his gameness, verve and sass is absolutely infectious. Next to Tatum, the rest of the revue – Ken (Matt Bomer), Tarzan (Kevin Nash), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Big Dick Richie (True Blood’s Joe Manganiello) – are unfortunately vague blurs, also partly the fault of Carolin’s script for not giving these supporting acts any backstories.
In spite of these routines however, those looking for a straight-out raunchy time will likely be disappointed. The director is after all Steven Soderbergh, and those familiar with his works will recognise the documentary-like style he shoots this in. Rest assured though that he knows better to shoot this in the same experimental vein as say ‘The Girlfriend Experience’, but it is still low-key and loose-limbed, so those expecting a tighter narrative or more high-handed drama may inevitably be let down. But Soderbergh fans will undoubtedly lap up the way he continues to shoot in an anthropological fashion, evocating the mood and feel of similar real-life situations.
Soderbergh is also very much an actor’s director, and in ‘Magic Mike’, he shows why he is that by playing to each actor’s strengths. Most significantly of course, he knows and respects that this is ultimately a vehicle for Channing Tatum to exhibit his talents – as a dancer no doubt, but also as a dramatic actor – and true enough, Tatum shines in the titular role. The favour is not all Tatum’s – for female members of the audience, you’ll get to admire his bod in its full glory; and for everyone else, this is one mesmerising and totally absorbing look into an oft-misunderstood form of female entertainment.
Movie Rating:
(Not just a showcase of abs and bods for the female sex, this is a fascinating peek at an often disdained profession – and a truly worthy star vehicle for Channing Tatum)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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An AVENGING Attempt for those crushed by the behemothPosted on 25 May 2012 |
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Jay Chou penned FIRST TIME theme song for AngelababyPosted on 26 May 2012 |
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Cast: Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould, Chris Messina, Deborah Ann Woll
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/rubysparks/
Opening Day: 20 September 2012
Synopsis: Calvin (Paul Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing - as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Zoe Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.
Movie Review:
Fiction becomes fact in the surprisingly thought-provoking romantic comedy ‘Ruby Sparks’, which is essentially a 21st-century version of the Pygmalion myth. About as meta as meta gets, it is the story of a young novelist Calvin (Paul Dano) who, in the midst of a bout of writer’s block (as most stories involving novelists often do), dreams to life a perfect girl from his imagination.
Who hasn’t at some point flirted with such an ideal really, especially when things in our own relationships go awry and we think why our partner/ spouse cannot be this way or another? Under a different creative team, this premise could have easily been exploited for broad comedy or raunch; but at the helm here is the real-life filmmaking couple Johnathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and they who last gave us the smart, sweet and funny ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ six years ago have made this far more intelligent and graceful.
Those same qualities can be said of Zoe Kazan’s first screenplay, she the daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord and granddaughter of honoured filmmaker of gritty cinema Elia Kazan. With a sharp sense of self-awareness and well-placed dashes of humour, she charts Calvin’s unusual romantic trajectory with Ruby (played by Kazan herself) as the former’s notion of the right woman is slowly but surely challenged by the latter’s presence.
At the start, Ruby seems to be everything Calvin had hoped for – not only does her materialisation give him even more inspiration to pen his ‘art-imitating-life’ story, Ruby also becomes his hope for a change in his life, taking the bold move of introducing her to his brother Harry (Chris Messina) as well as his family (Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas in excellent supporting turns). Nonetheless, Calvin gets more than he had hoped for when Ruby starts having a mind of her own after meeting his equally independent-minded parents.
And so the literary leash goes on again – though by then, both Dayton and Faris have long since established Ruby not simply as a literary creation but a full-fledged human being – with the ensuing fracas turning out much darker and perhaps more disturbing than you would have thought. Playing on the basics of relationship mechanics – the psychological shift of control and power; the ability to manipulate another’s personality to suit oneself; and finally, the very definition of the right one – the movie forces its audience to re-examine existing perceptions of love and commitment, and if we might add, with more bite than you would expect it to have.
Yes, we won’t be surprised if you feel worked up and indignant even as Calvin grows increasingly manipulative – one moment making her clingy and dependent and the next crazily effervescent; capping it off with a distressing frenzy where Ruby futilely tries to resist his instructions as he types hysterically just to prove his authority over her. Admittedly, the tone does change significantly during the last third of the movie - especially given its whimsical mood at the start – but it is to Kazan’s credit that we remain utterly engaged and caught up throughout in the fates of both Calvin and Ruby.
Both characters are the heart and soul of the movie, on which the success or failure of the high-concept premise hinge. Fortunately, both Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan are perfectly matched against each other, the real-life couple sharing genuine chemistry with each other that you can’t help but root for them to stay together. They also inject admirable depth into their respective characters, with Dano exhibiting exuberance, fear, insecurity, neurosis, frustration and disillusionment in a multi-layered performance. Kazan also proves impressively adept at handling her character’s abrupt turns – frantic, sexy, sweet, funny, charming, needy and scared – a feat for any actress, even more so for a relative newbie like her.
Certainly, Kazan deserves the credit for such a sharply written and poignant story that puts a new spin on romantic comedies. The meta-fiction concept of a creator interacting with characters of his or her creation isn’t new, but Kazan admirably transports conventional rom-coms tropes into such a narrative structure, while at the same time examining the dynamic between couples. It has plenty of spark and spunk all right, and not since ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ have we seen such a refreshing meta-romcom if you may.
Movie Rating:
(Some tonal consistencies aside, this quirky rom-com that takes place within a meta-fiction concept is smart, funny and surprisingly poignant)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: From Disney and Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Best Animated Film, Wall-E, 2008) comes John Carter - a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs's classic novel, John Carter is a war-weary, former military captain who's inexplicably transported to Mars and reluctantly becomes embroiled in an epic conflict. It's a world on the brink of collapse, and Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands. Stunning special effects, great characters and villains -- and complete with extraordinary bonus features -- John Carter is a heroic and inspirational adventure that will thrill the entire family.
MOVIE REVIEW:
I dare say if Disney has taken the plunge a decade earlier to make “John Carter”, it wouldn’t have to write off a US$160 million operating loss. Then again, the movie version of the 1917 Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel went through such a tumultuous journey that it qualifies as another separate tale to be told.
Helmed and co-written by Pixar alumni, Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E), John Carter’s running time clocked in at around 132 minutes but the whole viewing experience seems to be twice of that. Much of the problem lies in an uneven pacing and uninspiring action sequences. Stanton might be an expert when it comes to CG animation, for his debut live-action, you can easily point out the glaring flaws even though the movie costs a whopping US$250 million to make.
The biggest fault of all lies in the protagonist, John Carter played by Taylor Kitsch (Battleship) Not that Kitsch is a poor actor mind you. John Carter is a fish-out-of-water character much like Jake Sullen in “Avatar”. Instead of Pandora, Carter is brought to mars following a mishap and ends up meeting some weird green creatures called Tharks and falling in love with a certain Princess of Helium (Lynn Collins). At this point, “John Carter” plays very much like “Avatar” except the latter is set in the future while the former in the American civil war era. While I’m not insinuating James Cameron taking liberties with the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic at least the man can tell an engaging tale filled with adrenalin filled action sequences. “John Carter” on the other hand brought nothing impressive or fresh to the table and our dear hero ends up leaping from one place to another without much of a goal except to settle some local dispute and marrying the girl he loves.
While Taylor Kitsch never raises the material to any level is surround by a competent cast with Samantha Morton (Minority Report), Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) chipping in mo-cap performances as Tharks which explains you don’t see their faces on screen. Mark Strong (Green Lantern) unsurprisingly for the 150th times appears as a villain. And the casting list goes on with Ciaran Hinds (The Woman In Black), Dominic West (Johnny English Reborn), James Purefoy (V For Vendetta) and Bryan Cranston (Drive) taking on forgettable roles.
The production design on the whole is lush with plenty of exotic costumes on display. Kitsch’s character on the other hand is pathetically left clan in a tiny piece of loincloth. Poor guy must be feeling pretty cold beneath for the seven months shoot. The spaceships are nothing like you have seen probably they look liked they are built on bamboos or wood. Don’t ask where they got the materials from. There’s even a cute dog-like creature Woola and two gigantic white apes thrown in for some excitement. Yet Stanton somehow fails to crank up the magic amidst all the fantasy and visual parade. We know there’s a problem when George Lucas’ “Star Wars Episode II” has a higher rewatch value as the airborne and battleground sequences were executed with more flair.
Is “John Carter” that bad a movie? Honestly nope. It’s more or less a movie which you have seen before elsewhere. It has epic written all around just without much of an adventure to talk about. Ironically, the source material actually inspired movies such as “Star Wars” and “Avatar”.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
100 Years in the Making is a too brief 10 minutes feature that chronicles the works and life of Edgar Rice Burroughs including archive footages and interviews with Andrew Stanton, Michael Chabon and Jon Favreau.
Director Andrew Stanton and producers Jim Morris and Lindsey Collins delivers an informative, entertaining commentary track that covers plenty of production aspects such as the casting, visual effects, design etc in Audio Commentary with Filmmakers.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
“John Carter” DVD looks and sounds equally good. Images are brimming with sharpness and details. Dialogue and ambient sound effects are well-balanced and Michael Giacchino’s score is a pleasure to the ears.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception, Blood Diamond) stars as J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years. Hoover was feared, admired, reviled and revered, a man who could distort the truth as easily as he upheld it. His methods were at once ruthless and heroic, with the admiration of the world his most coveted prize. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life. Oscar Winner Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven) directs an all-star cast including Naomi Watts (21 Grams), Armie Hammer (The Social Network) and Oscar Winner Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love) as Hoover’s overprotective mother.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Most audience will probably be more interested to know about Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest supermodel girlfriends than a boring chubby man called J. Edgar. Unfortunately, the “Titanic” actor loves challenges so much that his pick of acting choices in recent years can be quite taxing on the casual audience.
Directed by the prolific senior citizen of Hollywood, Clint Eastwood (“Gran Torino”), J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) was the first director of FBI and this biographical drama written by Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”) traces his beginning from the Bureau of Investigation to being Head of the FBI and his subsequent achievements such as introducing criminal science investigation and pursuing high-profile robbery and kidnapping cases. However, it’s Hoover’s private life that is more intriguing as he is rumoured to be a cross-dresser, homosexual and his lover happens to be Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer from “Mirror Mirror”), the associate director of FBI and close working partner of Hoover.
A lot of critics cite the subpar makeup and boring plotting as factors why “J. Edgar” is underachieving. To be fair, the aged makeup effects on DiCaprio and Tolson is passable and despite the endless rumours, no one in fact can prove Hoover to be gay or is he plainly in a deep ‘bromance’ with Tolson since there’s no physical documents around or reliable witnesses to verify. At the end of the day, Black’s scribing is a mere summarization of Hoover’s career giving audience highlights into the elusive man. Is he a tyrant? Is he an alleged homosexual who craves for his mother’s attention and advice? Is he a paranoid director who keeps secret tabs on presidents? Guess only God knows not even Black or Eastwood.
And this is precisely the glaring problem of “J. Edgar”. Since there are no hard facts or concrete proof to sustain much of the happenings, audience is only given fleeting sequences on Hoover’s personalities and his works in the bureau, likely most of them can be found in history textbooks and libraries which make the viewing experience slightly underwhelming.
Those who are familiar with Clint Eastwood’s directorial efforts will know that he sure takes his time developing his story and characters and with very little accompanying music. And that’s probably account for the boring factor. But Eastwood is definitely a master working with his actors. Naomi Watts is convincingly icy cool as Hoover’s loyal secretary, Helen. British thespian Judi Dench is superb as Hoover’s no-nonsense mother and the particular scene where she muttered “She rather has a dead son than a daffodil for a son” will send shivers down your spine. Armie Hammer delivers an eye-opening performance as Tolson while Leonardo once again proves why he should at least earn an Academy Award nomination.
Technicalities wise, the design of the period setting and costumes is top notch. While this talky drama on one of the most controversial and powerful figures in America history can be meatier, it remains one of the must-watched drama all thanks to the excellent performances from the cast.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The main cast and crew talks about participating in this biographical drama in J. Edgar: A Complicated Man. Pity there’s very little behind-the-scenes and production anecdotes.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Colours are intentionally bleached so as to achieve a period look though images still look sharp and detailed. Dialogue which made up a major part of the movie is clear while Eastwood’s music score is almost nonexistent and the only powerful movement is a bomb blast in the beginning of the movie for the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock – encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way – he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him.
MOVIE REVIEW:
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is an absolute challenging movie to sit through. Not because the subject involves the aftermaths of the tragic 9/11 event rather it involves an eleven-year-old boy being too smart and annoying that the well-intended message of lost and hope is lost amidst the exploitative moments.
Newcomer Thomas Horn (who looks slightly similar to a younger Freddie Highmore) plays Oskar Schell, an incredibly intelligent, matured, self-proclaimed inventor who lost his dear father, Thomas (Tom Hanks) in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Unable to cope with the sudden loss, Oskar sets off on a task to find the lock of a key he discovered in the belongings of his father hoping to find answers while the relationship between his mother (Sandra Bullock) and him distanced by the days.
While it’s basically a tale of grief and the loss of loved ones, the whole movie becomes a tiring road journey for Oskar (and the audience as well if I may add) as we follows him in and out of New York searching high and low for a person called “Black”. It doesn’t matter if the people he met along the way enable Oskar to connect the dots, the boy simple wants closure. However, director Stephen Daldry (“The Hours”, “Billy Elliot”) crafted a somehow depressing, emotional powerhouse that the 129 minutes running time become a drag and left one utterly drained when it becomes too repetitive for its own good.
Max von Sydow who was nominated for an Oscar for his role plays a mysterious, mute man who went on the hunt with Oskar. In fact, the character has a far more interesting premise that we were hoping to learn more but sadly, isn’t. Sandra Bullock who went on a long hiatus after the acclaimed “The Blind Side” turns in another amazing performance as the suffering and helpless mother, Linda. Tom Hanks on the other hand proved his voice performances on the answering machines alone is worthy of an award.
Despite not being a likeable character, Horn is terrific as Oskar. Remember Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense”? He plays the slight autistic Oskar to a tee. He recites his lines like a pro and the last scene with his mother brought a tear to our eyes. Thomas Horn is the latest young actor to watch out for, this boy has the goods.
Alexandre Desplat provides the splendid and haunting piano score while Chris Menges’ cinematography brought New York Cityto live especially for those who aren’t familiar with the landscape, this adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novelhas its fair share of flaws but the fine acting alleviate the screen material a little.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Finding Oskar is an 8 minutes segment that focused on first time actor Thomas Horn, the talented child actor that impresses the director, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. Horn is such a smart boy that he is learning Mandarin as well.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Dialogue is clear and more impressive is the wide range of ambient sound effects that keeps the movie alive and affecting. Visual is sharp and colours presentation is natural.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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