Dull thriller

Posted : 3 days, 12 hours ago on 24 August 2008 09:22 (A review of Match Point)

I've never been a huge fan of Woody Allen (I didn't even like Annie Hall, thought it was interminably dull.) This movie has some excitement in the last 30 minutes, when everything comes together/falls apart but the middle is rather dull. At nearly two hours long, it could have done with some editing to make it a snappier movie. The other problem is that Jonathan Rhys Myers is wooden faced for so much of it. It works in some scenes but doesn't work in most of them. I could not feel any of his passion for Scarlett Johannson's character, which made the whole premise of the movie (infidelity) a little difficult to believe. The climax, as I said earlier, is interesting and saves the movie from being a complete write-off.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

My Blueberry Nights review

Posted : 3 days, 20 hours ago on 24 August 2008 01:07 (A review of My Blueberry Nights)

Wong Kar Wai is one of my favourite film makers, Top 5, one of the best of all time. This is his first English language movie, the rest have been in Chinese and almost exclusively set in Hong Kong. So this movie is quite the change, it's not only in English, it's set in America, mostly in New York. It's a rare film maker who can translate his sensibilities into not only a different language but a completely different culture as well. WKW manages this transition almost perfectly, despite a couple of missteps.

The themes of the movie are familiar, not just to viewers of his previous movies. It's all about love, loss and yearning. Jude Law plays a cafe owner in New York, Jeremy, who encounters Norah Jones' character, Elizabeth, the night she breaks up with her boyfriend. Their romance doesn't exactly bloom, it's a slow burn, one with a complex flavour and after-taste. I'm using food metaphors here, the movie takes it's title from Blueberry pie after all. There's great chemistry between the leads. Norah Jones is competent for the most part and Jude Law is very good. He's the heart of the movie, despite most of it being centered around the character of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth takes off to explore a world different from her current one, without letting Jeremy know. She keeps in touch by sending him a stream of postcards. The two sub-plots are set in Memphis and Las Vegas/Nevada. The Memphis story is weak and Rachel Weisz is terribly miscast. I almost lost hope for the movie there. The Vegas/Nevada story is set around a gambler, played by Natalie Portman, who has a tortured relationship with her dying father. Natalie Portman is completely convincing, even if Norah Jones is on slightly shaky ground in some scenes. After we're done with Elizabeth's journey, the story returns back to New York for it's conclusion.

The trouble with this movie (apart from the clunker in Memphis) is that everything feels like it's been covered in a WKW movie before, most significantly in 'Chungking Express'. It's not one of his masterworks that I've become used to expecting from him. Still, it's a satisfying movie and nobody, and I mean nobody, can do romance better than WKW, even if it's a little re-cycled.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Curse of the Golden Flower review

Posted : 4 days, 9 hours ago on 24 August 2008 12:17 (A review of Curse of the Golden Flower)

I'm always entertained by quasi-historical dramas that have an interesting plot coupled with good acting and direction. This fits the bill very nicely. I was very impressed by Chow Yun Fat's performance. His cold cruelty and brutality were a change from his other roles that I've seen over the years. Gong Li was brilliant too as the suffering queen. The acting was good to exceptional throughout.

Apart from that, the convoluted plot is fairly typical of most Chinese historical dramas and I usually like those, this was no exception. The production quality and costumes were truly exceptional. I loved the chrysanthemum covered palace ground, they looked very stunning. There's much to like about this movie.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Intimate little gem

Posted : 3 weeks, 1 day ago on 5 August 2008 10:22 (A review of Once)

Watching the 'guy' and the 'girl' fall in love on screen was like taking a peek into the lives of two everyday people you meet on the street. They could be the couple walking by holding hands or the two people smiling just for each other, oblivious to the rest of the world. The movie was so wonderfully intimate, so natural were the performances that you can forget that they were acting.

I've already mentioned the incredibly natural performances. Now I must mention the excellent music as well as the performance of it. The music is so incredibly expressive and I was completely taken in. The movie is described by some people as a 'contemporary musical'. 'Contemporary musical' or not, this movie is a treat reminiscent of 'Before Sunrise' and 'Before Sunset'. It has the same raw and natural quality which was especially prevalent in the latter movie and very little in common with the average artificial and bland musical. Unarguably, an intimate little gem.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

The Dark Knight review

Posted : 1 month, 1 week ago on 18 July 2008 11:40 (A review of The Dark Knight)

Any words I try to put down will sound banal. Just a few thoughts then:

1) Set up for a third movie.
2) My favourite Star Wars movie is Empire.
3) Heath Ledger, I mourn you today. You were one awesome f**king actor.
4) How did the studio let this movie get made?

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Viva Algeria review

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 11 July 2008 01:04 (A review of Viva Algeria)

Set in Algiers, this thriller revolves around three women - a young woman who is the mistress of a rich doctor, a prostitute and a retired cabaret singer - who live in the same apartment complex. It puts a very different face on the country from what I expected. The music throughout the movie is also excellent.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Coming Back review

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 11 July 2008 01:04 (A review of Coming Back)

Pedro Almodovar loves to make movies centered around mother-daughter relationships. The movie is a mix of drama and dark comedy, possibly his best movie next to 'Bad Education'. Penelope Cruz plays a woman whose parents died in a fire. The circumstances surrounding the incident are gradually revealed as the movie progresses, along with several complications in the lives of the women in the movie, ending in a surprising conclusion. Great acting backs up the director's masterful handling of the clever and well written script.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Under Suspicion review

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 9 July 2008 11:01 (A review of Under Suspicion)

Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman deliver excellent performances in this tense drama centered around a police interrogation. There's no physical pain inflicted, only the relentless mental pressure of a interrogation that leaves no stone unturned to get an upper hand on the suspect. Freeman is brilliant as the calm and collected cop who boxes in his suspect, Hackman. Monica Belluci is also great eye candy as Hackman's wife.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Rounders review

Posted : 1 month, 3 weeks ago on 6 July 2008 02:26 (A review of Rounders)

Two of the finest actors in Hollywood play off each other in this thriller.Matt Damon plays a card shark trying to stay out of trouble. Edward Norton plays his friend who keeps dragging him back into trouble. The final poker game is so perfectly paced that you can't look away.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Ring review

Posted : 1 month, 3 weeks ago on 5 July 2008 04:31 (A review of Ring)

Japanese horror movies don't come much better than this. A mysterious video tape kills people seven days after they watch it. One TV reporter tries to uncover the mystery which leads down several dark paths.

It was re-made into a Hollywood movie that tried to 'improve' it but only resulted in making it un-focused. If you're lucky enough not to have seen the re-make yet, do yourself a favour and grab a DVD of Ringu and get the living daylights scared out of you.

0 comments, Reply to this entry