Category: review

I gather that a great number of girls as well as men are raving about 300. And as we speak, the movie has broken 3.12 million US last weekend, and I am amongst those completely unsurprised.

Yet as I left the theatre, why was I not raving about it as all those other men and women? For sure, it kept me quite enraptured throughout. It is a visual feast like no other I’ve seen in a very long time. I can only think, maybe, of The Curse of the Golden Flower or any of it’s other Asian cousins such as The House of The Flying Daggers to compare to the grand imagery of thousands upon thousands of warriors in battle, but even these pale in comparison to how grand this one turned out.

Images of Spartans, properly and as near identical to the original comic book series (I am assured), make this movie a guaranteed classic. An astounding visual array of fantastic special effects, award – winning CGI and a tremendous effort throughout.

Not to mention the brilliant casting of Gerald Butler as the tough, virtuous King Leonidas, who singlehandedly imo, brings to this movie an aspect the effects cannot. And that is acting out an interesting, well – formed character in the King – made a wholly believable person entirely due to him.

Even better is Rodrigo Santoro as the threatening, overwhelming Xerxes, whose “I am kind.” monologue somewhere in the 3rd act is a thunderstorm of a performance. Almost like a dance, near trance like he convinces Ephialtes, the disillusioned, disfigured Spartan to change sides, leading Leonidas and crew to their death. So compelling is that scene I wished I could rewind it at the movie theatre to see it over again.

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Of all the James Bond books, Casino Royale happened to be the first one I read when I was in high school. I remember it was a boring summer, and after watching one of Roger Moore‘s outings (which I remember to be Moonraker), I wanted more. I also remember choosing it because it was the first of the series, and besides it wasn’t thick enough to overwhelm me.

Imagine my surprise then, when instead of the rather comical, space age type story I was expecting, I instead got a very intense, very serious story about a secret agent whom, while passionate about his work, was conflicted between it and the mutual attraction developing between him and British Treasury official Vesper Lynd. Deciding to pursue a quiet life with Lynd, a twist evolves when Lynd admits she is a double agent and commits suicide in order to spare him, leaving a note assuring him of her love. Bond is hurt and humiliated, but reveals later still his genuine feelings for her.

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Low on budget but high on star quality, low on eye candy but high on story, low on effects but great on entertainment value.

This is what I think of American Dreamz, and when you’ve watched it, you’ll hopefully agree that it’s the type that’s best appreciated the way it is.

It’s been awhile since we’ve gotten a good satire, and Dreamz delivers like a Fedex truck. It makes fun of everything and everyone – politics, popular talent shows, people behind those talent shows, terrorists, celebrities, basically everyone who’s ever though a little too highly of themselves. This movie just brings it on.

Plot

The plot is simple. American Dreamz is a wildly popular talent show hosted by Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant), (do I need to indicate what show it criticizes?), and the movie follows the stories of its latest discoveries Sally Kendoo (Mandy Moore) and Omar Obeidi (Sam Golzari).

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There are many ways Miami Vice could have sucked. They could’ve dwelled on the past. The espadrilles and white blazers. The classic Ferraris and the flashy guns.

The boats, the music, the fashion, all of which Miami Vice had a great impact on in the 80s. Any of which could have been the basis for a movie, considering that many movie remakes these days are willing to work with anything no matter how shallow. It could’ve even gone the Starsky and Hutch comedic route, and it’d still probably be a hit. Besides, you already had Jamie Foxx there, playing Det. Rico Tubbs, which used to be played by Philip Michael Thomas, whose Hollywood star went kaput after the TV series. Foxx would’ve had us rolling on the floor laughing our guts out with material like that.

Instead, Michael Mann wrote the single most stylish, exciting movie I’ve yet to see this year, and the only one I wouldn’t mind seeing over again.

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There’s not much to say about RV – Runaway Vacation, so maybe doing it bullet point style I’ll make it more readable:

• First Robin Williams film I’ve seen after quite a while.
• Starring pop singer ‘JoJo’ Levesque who’s fast becoming a star and who did fairly well with her role, so fans would definitely want to see her in this one.
• Basically a story about the chief character’s (Williams) attempt to try and get his dysfunctional family to spend time together via a cross country trip in an RV (recreation vehicle), while at the same time trying not to miss an important presentation to merge an upstart soda company with his bigger company, run by tyrant boss Will Arnett, all the while not telling his family about it.
• I’ve not seen Adam Sandler’s Click yet, but I presume the story is more or less the same.
• It isn’t particularly clear why he doesn’t want to tell his family that he is trying to do both things at the same time, albeit this is the main detail in the plot that puts him in all the funny situations. Williams is constantly battling time, gadget misfirings, traffic, and his family’s wailings to try and do both.

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I watched Napoleon Dynamite, director Jared Hess’ second movie and the movie used to promote Nacho Libre, and I loved it.

The thing is, it’s one of those movies which you’d probably feel you shouldn’t have liked. I’ve always been big on movies with good stories, and Napoleon Dynamite is the opposite. It’s a hodgepodge of almost unrelated skits and situations, like those Tito, Vic and Joey movies of yore, where the chief character(s) just bounce around from scene to scene and something funny happens.

The saving grace is Napoleon himself, played by Jon Heder, who exudes dorkability to the extreme. He’s not a geek. He’s not a misunderstood nice guy. He’s a complete dweeb at the ultimate level, the kind of guy you couldn’t get far away enough from in school. So who cared about the disjointed skits? Napoleon Dynamite is such an insufferable dork you’re replaying his scenes, buying his t-shirts and voting for Pedro months after the movie (incidentally you’d have to have watched it to understand what that meant).

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I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t expect much. I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t think I’d title this review “I Wanna Get Out Of Here!”. I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t approach this movie without bias, that, inspite of myself, I’d approach local films on an even perspective, where I would discuss their merits or lack thereof, instead of having negative expectations by default, so as to be surprised (oh alright, “happy” then), if it achieves any semblance of a coherent story, or some measure of believability, or, frankly, anything worthile whatsoever.

But then, what can I say? At the end of the movie, we were recalling scenes from it, laughing, smiling, and feeling good, which incidentally, is reason to smile even more, since that is exactly what the movie was supposed to do – make us feel good.

I Wanna Be Happy is a story of three generations of a typical Filipino family, trying to adjust to the earth-shaking news that their eldest members, played wonderfully by The Great Eddie Garcia and Gloria Romero, have decided to call it quits, months away from a 50 year anniversary. Throughout, the three siblings Jun, Rory and Tish, played by Joey Marquez, Cherry Pie Picache and Diana Zubiri, deal with personal issues of their own.

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I read somewhere months ago that Keira Knightley, at the very first premiere of the first Pirates of the Carribean: Legend of Jack Sparrow, held hands with co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, as I understand now, in an act of support, both giving and receiving, as they sat down along with, I assume, their friends, family, the rest of the cast the Hollywood Press to watch it for the first time.

After several minutes into the movie, Orlando Bloom blurted out, as Ms. Knightley relates, the words “hey, this isn’t so bad!”, or something to that effect.

Above story I remember well for three things, primarily the poignancy of great and famous movie stars such as they seeking and finding solace in one another’s company heading into the release of a film they found reason to doubt. Secondly, suddenly realizing it wasn’t so bad after all, and finally, her honesty in admitting as much, somewhat I imagine, an indication of her youth (she would have been 18 at the time), or just plain good old honesty, with no intention to delude anyone into believing she, or any of them it appears, were any at all confident.

It is sad therefore, that after watching the second of apparently two additional installments of the film no doubt inspired by the success of the first, I am fairly sure that Ms. Knightley will have no tales similar to the above to tell, her honesty and forthcoming character notwithstanding.

Simply because, unlike the first, this movie will likely not elicit the same reaction from Orlando Bloom. Unlike the first, which was surprising, and therefore, entertaining, this second is boring, and ergo, dissapointing.

Continue reading Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Coming out of the theatre, you will realize the most important thing about this film as I have, which is: Not To Take It Seriously.

In fact, I propose we put that right beside the PG13 rating. For example: The Fast And The Furious: TOKYO DRIFT. PG 13. Do Not Take It Seriously.

Yes that would work. Either that or, ‘If you’re looking for a good story, or an in depth look at the human soul, then look elsewhere’, but I guess the first one would do just as well, and besides it’s shorter.

The premise speaks for itself. Miscreant white boy (with a Texan drawl to boot) who drives too fast gets kicked out to his Dad in Tokyo, the worst actor they can find this side of the Pacific. You know the rest. He meets up with some bad elements, challenges chief bad guy to a race (even if he doesn’t have a car. Beat that.), and gets his butt kicked at first. He is then taught by a master, and triumphantly returns said butt-kicking to initial butt kicker.

He also gets the bad guy’s very hot girlfriend, who like most eye-candy, actually has a heart of gold, and always hooks up with the fastest guy. I mean, what if white boy didn’t show up? She’d still be with bad guy, right? Where have I seen this before? Mr. Miyagi, is that you?

Having said that, why would I still recommend it?

Continue reading The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift