Mini Reviews - Rundown 15/08/2011

Here is the rundown of my reviews for these movies I have seen in the past weeks.


Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest



I'm glad I got to know about this influential rap group that contribute heavily to the rap scene in the 1990s. The group's music is the main star of the film as it literally paints throughout the group's history. It convincingly illustrates the geniuses of the group when at the time, rap groups like Run DMC and De La Soul really took risks and made their craft into an art-form. The film presents both the high and low highlights of the group's career very well and takes it advantage in fleshing out the crew member's personality in both charming and interesting ways. Its now among the list of favorite music documentaries I ever seen like Don't Look Back and Some Kind Of Monster.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Tangled

Tangled

When the kingdom's most wanted-and most charming-bandit Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi) hides out in a mysterious tower, he's taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair.

I was thankfully surprised that it didn't went the route of modern pop-culture CG animated films that Dreamworks have been guilty of, but it goes back to the classic fairy-tale narrative with princesses, magic and of course, musical showtunes. But done with a very very nice visual moments and a good choice of sense and theme. The characters were fleshed out appropriately and were given some good funny and dramatic moments, none that goes out of place or goes sappy. I just found myself chuckling really hard every time the horse comes on screen, giving that attitude of a hard-ass cop. Its just priceless. The musical numbers, granted they won't be as classical as some like Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, were at least fun, tight and very well-performed and considered as a notch improvement from Princess and The Frog. All around its a fun wacky and classical film while also being a story of a girl coming of age and heading out into the world. So glad it wasn't a pop-cultured reference-filled cool-attitude film like... most Dreamworks movies out there...

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

Summer Wars (Sama Wozu)

Kenji is a teenage math prodigy recruited by his secret crush Natsuki for the ultimate summer job - passing himself off as Natsuki's boyfriend for four days during her grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. But when Kenji solves a 2,056 digit math riddle sent to his cell phone, he unwittingly breaches the security barricade protecting Oz, a globe-spanning virtual world where millions of people and governments interact through their avatars, handling everything from online shopping and traffic control to national defense and nuclear launch codes. Now a malicious AI program called the Love Machine is hijacking Oz accounts, growing exponentially more powerful and sowing chaos and destruction in its wake.

Pretty high on visuals and imagination with a pretty solid human story, though only to be halted by (what I considered) some overacting and huge sentimental aspects. The tricky thing when making a movie about a large family is the pacing and time given in getting to know each of the family members, whom some have colorful personalities and the film achieved this half way. Some contribute to the flow of the story and some brought it to a halt. What I found annoying was the main character, Kenji, brought along into the family and was painted as an absurdly wimpy guy. You just want to shake him so much and tell him to be a man! In a way, its just a nice enjoyable animated film to look at.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Due Date

Due Date

High-strung father-to-be Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time.

Immediately after you saw the trailer for this, you thought of John Hughes' classic "Planes, Trains And Automobiles" The similarity is that an uptight a-hole needs to get home at a certain time and gets accompanied by a severely obnoxious a-hole. What is the difference? While Planes delivers in genuine, emotional development and naturally turns the characters around, this film makes the duo so irritating and annoying in their series of pointlessly bad setups. There is just no reason to give a crap about these characters, their plights or any glimpse of them turning around and I just hated them more and more the more time I spent with them. The humor is just Zach being a complete idiotic obnoxious man-child that you just want to stay hell away from him. Plus the gross-out and immature humor wasn't well-thought out or didn't have a hint of cleverness. The entire journey wasn't worth a crap and you just feel like you want to smack the hell out of these people.

1 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Illusionist

The Illusionist

A French illusionist finds himself out of work and travels to Scotland, where he meets a young woman.

As a fan of silent comedic expression films like Charlie Chaplin and especially Jacques Tati, this is very much close as seeing a Jacques Tati's film made in modern time and it is truly a gem. From I read about the production, this was essentially an unproduced script by Tati, which was a love letter to his estranged daughter and the film acts as a double statement between the end of stage entertainers and a poignant look of a father/daughter relationship. Director, Chomet, was able to get the main character to look and act like Tati and the animation are just very detailed and beautiful to look. I would come with a warning that it is a slow film with almost no dialogue, so if you're not a fan, stay away. But that is really the beauty and full realization of animation that the focus is more on the art and expression and it is such a refreshing thing to see. The amazing thing is that the film is a mix of beauty and bleakness, you really observe the slow dying change of an era for one group of people and it ends harshly, but kinda realistic. If you are a real animation lover like me, go and see this film.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - 127 Hours

127 Hours

A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.

I will say that this is a superior version than a film I really really hate so much, which is Into The Wild. Both of these films present a character that gets stuck in a sticky situation because of a dumb and arrogant decision they make and that they came into a harsh environment totally unprepared. From my view that because of that, these films has to work very hard to make the protagonist likable and sympathetic. While the film "Into The Wild" made the protagonist such an unlikable egotistical d-bag throughout that made me uncaring of his demise (and frankly deserving), this film at least made this character played by James Franco go through a spiritual realization of one's self and does want the audience to really care of his survival. This is probably the first time I have seen Franco really take his acting up a notch and does a real good job for his one man performance especially in one enclosed spot. Danny Boyle's use of cinematography and editing are heavy stylized and they are at times that this element comes off as pointless and overly-done. At times, I kind of wish Danny Boyle would make a subtle film and tone down on his edgy style or strike a balance between style and substance like Black Swan. The film didn't really exactly blow my mind, but it is to me certainly better than Slumdog Millionaire. And geez if you gonna watch this film, you really better have a strong stomach.. because..... ecckkk!

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Catfish

Catfish

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our ... read more In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives.

By the end of this film, people will have a grand mixture of feelings towards the outcome. People will find it sympathetic and heartfelt or complete disgust and hate (and I'm in the latter). And people will also question whether this film is a complete truth or a complete hoax and they will have a huge debate on that. Whether it is, you really have the admire the filmmakers' techniques in keeping the audience guessing and nervous throughout the film. Even having the audience question about the morality of the digital social media such as Facebook and whether the secret was right or wrong, true or false. It is a very neat film to check out and will have you talking about it as soon as you finish it.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Fighter

The Fighter

A look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid '80s

Sure that the film follows a typical boxing rise-to-grace story, but what really sells this movie are the amazing performances by the cast especially Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. It is not much of a boxing film as it is more about family and being your own person, to be able to step out of the shadow. Markie Mark gave a great performance, but it is Batman himself, Christian Bale that stole the entire movie with his extraordinary performances. Never seen an actor that is so committed to the role even by exchanging body types from completely skinny to completely buffed. Certainly one of my favorites of 2010.

4 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Town

The Town

"The Town" is the tale of four men -- thieves, rivals and friends -- being hunted through the streets of Boston by a tenacious FBI agent and a woman who might destroy them all

Ben Affleck may not be a great actor, but he sure is a great director. The guy knows how to make an engaging, thrilling film filled with great action. While the character are written as a bit one-dimensional, it is the cast of actors that delivers the amazing performances and not once put the film in a complete halt. Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner gave a great performance and even Blake Lively of Gossip Girl(of all places) gave her time to show her acting chops. Not really a brilliant film, but certainly one of my favorites of 2010.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Black Swan

Black Swan

BLACK SWAN follows the story of Nina (Portman), a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughter,s professional ambition. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well.

Only Darren Aronofsky can make a film that is as visually crazy, devious, psychological disturbing and very beautiful that is just about ballerinas. From the guy who brought you a little depressing film called "The Wrestler" and a even more depressing film (which is one of my favs of all time) "Requiem For A Dream", this is one psychological journey of one girl striving for perfection and goes spiraling out of control literally. Portman does a magnificent performance as a timid mousey girl who is forcing herself to give into the sexual pleasures and darkness in order to be The Swan Queen of the play. And how you see her transformation from being the White Swan she's known as to becoming the seductive and fierce Black Swan is quite extraordinary and you do see her rise and downfall.

The use of practical and make-up effects gives the body horror so much cringe-worthy and it really plays with both the character's mind and our minds as well. It is something Cronenberg would be proud of. Probably the one thing I have complaints about (which this will be a great example) is when they introduce the CG in. With practical and make-up effects, you can tell its real and they enhance the mystery and horror of what the character goes through. But when CG is introduced, it takes away the mystery.

This is a roller-coaster version of the ballet Swan Lake and you feel like you are watching a classical operatic ballet with all the craziness and psychological disturbance. It is dark, unnerving and even beautiful. And plus we have to thank David in giving us one of the most hottest scenes ever filmed involving Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.... oh my god...

4 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Tron: Legacy

Tron Legacy

Sam Flynn (GARRETT HEDLUND), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (JEFF BRIDGES), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant Quorra (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey of escape across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

From the first time we set our eyes on the gorgeous teaser, we were blown away that the sequel to Tron is finally happening after 20 years. Now 2 years later and the film is now here, is the wait really worth it? Probably not. The problems that were addressed in the original Tron film is still applied in this: the lack of interesting and engaging story, not many cool characters and the terribly slow pacing. And despite the film is ACTUALLY named after the hero character in the first film, that character has been brought onto the sideline and doesn't get that much screen-time. The visuals are very pleasing to the eye, the action sequences are pretty cool and the score by Daft Punk kept the film rolling, saving it from becoming that stinker of a movie. Like Avatar, its a nice and pretty firework show, but its very hallow, empty and unfortunately boring for the majority of the film.

2 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.

Even though I'm not a fan of the animated series, I have seen some episodes of the show and it is brilliant and had so much going in it. That said, the film really did sucked. But I'll just say that the film is terrible, but it is not THE worst film this year. But boy, Shyamalan sucks really hard in this one. The problem with this film is that when the mythology and concept of the series is about martial arts with elemental bending skills (which is a badass concept), M. Night goes out of the way to make the film so much boring and dull with so little action and spectacles thus turning it into another bad Harry Potter knock-off. There is some nice story going on, but the narrative goes at a giant snail-pace and all the characters have to be melo-dramatic about everything. Not much we see Aang(the main character) get captured again and again and always slips away from badguys when they are NOT looking at the time! And there are so many pointless setups and buildups to everything that is so not rewarding to the audience. Shyamalan... maybe just stop making films for 5 years and take a loooong vacations, because your losing streak in films are getting worse and worse. But I'll give you a compliment...

Since this is not called "Avatar: The Last Airbender" like how it is originally called because James Cameron used it for his film, I'll say this:

The Last Airbender is a very terrible movie, but I don't hate it.

Avatar is a better made movie, yet I have SO MUCH hatred for it.

Shyamalan is spared from my pure fiery hatred.... for now...


1 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His "Good Time Charlie" exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan-which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.

Its a very well written and greatly performed film about the event that will end up biting on America's ass. What is really charming about this film is that it doesn't play it too serious and overly dramatic as it is provided by the humor and dialogue that keeps the film momentum really going. Even the ending has some little humor to it. Tom, Julia and Phillip are Oscar-winners and they showed how much of great actors they really are. Check it out.

4 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon

Meet Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, heir of the Viking chiefdom, but a boy with one very big problem: a hero he is not. "How to Train Your Dragon" is the riotous story of Hiccup's quest to hunt down the fiercest dragon, bring it into submission, and-hopefully-pass his initiation. Instead, he ends up... read more Meet Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, heir of the Viking chiefdom, but a boy with one very big problem: a hero he is not. "How to Train Your Dragon" is the riotous story of Hiccup's quest to hunt down the fiercest dragon, bring it into submission, and-hopefully-pass his initiation. Instead, he ends up with the smallest, most ornery dragon - it's even toothless! Thus begins the hijinx of the world's most lovable, unlikely hero and a most reluctant "beast."

A surprisingly, sweeping and lush animated film of a boy and his pet dragon, especially coming from Dreamworks who are now learning a thing or two from Pixar. Even though I would complain about Jay Barucehl's annoying nasel voice and the not-so-subtle scene translation from humorous to sweeping epic, I still had fun with the imaginative designs on characters and dragons, the great orchestral score, good voice performance (san Jay Baruchel) and the thoughtful and well-written story. And its kinda funny that all the Viking kids sound very teen American while the adults sound stone-cold Scottish. Viking girls really do drop their balls.

4 out of 5 stars


P.S - Toy Story 3 is still better

Mini Reviews - The Other Guys

The Other Guys

Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city's top cops whom they idolize -- only things don't quite go as planned.

For the look of the poster and even trailer, you'll think it'll be an all-out action-comedy especially from the likes of director Adam McKay. Sadly the only time you'll get that is when you see both Samuel L Jackson and The Rock having a crazy action scene at the beginning of the film. There are a few chuckles and laughs, though jokes do get reused by the last half of the film and it gets tiresome. And there is nothing to actually care for with any of the characters or anything and you don't get much of this film. Its not bad and Mark Wahlberg proved to be funny alongside with Will Ferrell. Eva Mendes is hot, but her whole reason to be in the film is to be hot. And its nice to see Michael Keaton after a long while. Its not terrible, but its not great either.

2 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - [REC] 2

[Rec] 2

The action continues from [Rec], with the medical officer and a SWAT team outfitted with video cameras are sent into the sealed off apartment to control the situation.

A well-thoughtful and tightly-expanded continuation to the revolutionary hand-held scare-fest. I would admit that the idea of supernatural leap from the first to the next film will kind of throw people off, but no matters as it still provides a damn thrilling ride. Having part of the film focus on the SWAT team can make the narrative a little terrifying as they are more protected and armed and the additional focus on a group of mischievous kids proven to be sometimes pointless in the film. Other than that, it is a worthy sequel to the REC saga.

3 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Across The Universe

Across the Universe

A romantic musical told mainly through numerous Beatles songs performed by the characters. A young man from Liverpool comes to America during the Vietnam War to find his father. He winds up in Greenwich Village, where he falls in love with an American girl who has grown up sheltered in the suburbs. Together they experience the sweeping changes of America in the late 60's.

Wow.... that was a colossal mess. With the musical that has every potential to be visually mind-blowing, the film really suffered from the lack of character development, plot development, consistency and uninspiring singing performance. And like Moulin Rouge (another musical I HATE!), its a worthy idea to integrate some of the Beatles songs into the story/film, but there was nothing inventive and creative used in those songs and the people giving the covers were so forced and try-hard. Some of the characters were a waste of celluloid, such as Prudence which the film can really benefited without her since she really didn't bring alot to the story. The thing with musical is that it has to be an all-rounded great performances for both the singing part and the non-singing/drama part and the drama parts are so boring and un-interesting, which wasn't really enough to keep the film going. The psychedelic trip-out scenes were visually great to look at and very freaky that they are so dangerous to stoners and pot-heads. Yet it also abandons the film's story and they can come across as point-less. If you like to see Disney's teenagers doing an amateur job on covering Beatles song, then here it is.

1 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans

A remake of the 1981 mythical adventure film about the myth of Perseus. To win the right to marry his love (Andromeda) and fufill his destiny, Perseus must complete various quests and battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the Princess Andromeda.

At least it doesn't go for the fantastical and campy approach the original had and go for the dark and gritty reboot. Though the actors weren't all very interesting to go with especially with Sam Worthington (hot from Avatar) still being as bland as we saw him last time. Neeson and Fiennes are both fun and knew they were having fun as bickering brothers of the Gods and Arterton was just fine. The action sequences and fights were indeed cool, but some were just rushed and built up kind of anti-climatic. It is not a bad film, but not epic either.

2 and a half out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine

Adam (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend; Lou (Rob Corddry) is a party guy who can't find the party; Nick's (Craig Robinson) wife controls his every move; and video game-obsessed Jacob (Clark Duke) won't leave his basement. After a crazy night of drinking in a ski resort hot tub, the men wake up, heads' pounding, in the year 1986.

Another raunchy guys comedy that really require a brain to enjoy. Set up as another "Hangover", some of the humor are laugh-out clever and funny while others are resorted to toilet jokes and yet manages to work. The cast gave a good performance and were enough to not be resentful and unappealing especially with Chevy Chase giving a great cameo. It is a fun movie and worth a rental.

3 out of 5 stars

Mini Reviews - Shutter Island

Shutter Island

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are summoned to a remote and barren island off the cost of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

You know, if you're like me and see so many many movies in your life, then chances are you'll probably know the twist in the ending. I sure did with like 20 minutes into the film. No doubt that this is Martin Scorsese back to his artistic and visual self shown in previous works like the remake of Cape Fear. The cinematography is beautiful and the haunting/creepy factor has been shot up to 10. The cast has done a solid job and the plotline is done at a steady pace. As for the twist, it is one factor if the audience will actually buy into that. For me, I didn't buy it at all and allows me to see the entire film with questionable aspects. However it is a nice looking thriller that you wouldn't mind checking out.

3 and a half out of 5 stars