Recent Posts
Watchmen is the most recent comic book film adaptation and it hits all the right buttons. In saying that, it's not at all a masterpiece, and doesn't command the reverence as last year's The Dark Knight. But I don't think that's Zack Snyder's intention. He wanted to make a faithful crowd pleaser. And please it did.
I watched Watchmen with fresh eyes. I wasn't familiar with the graphic novel and am in general not a reader of comics. But I am familiar of comic book films - Spiderman, Batman, X-Men, etc. They idolise the vigilante and good overcoming evil in a dark world. Watchmen seems to take these generic conventions and piss all over it. It's like an overwhelming punch in the face you take a while to recover from, but once you do you appreciate what Watchmen dishes up instead - vigilante hell. Let's face it, if superheroes were real, this is what they'd really be like. - angry and disgusted with having to always save the world from its own self destructiveness.
In a dystopic 1985 where Nixon is still President, The Cold War is ongoing and masked vigilantism is outlawed, The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) brutally murdered. Believing there is a conspiracy to destroy what's left of The Watchmen, Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) begins his investigation to track down the killer. Along the way we are introduced to Daniel Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson), the awkward retired Nite Owl II, Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) also known as Ozymandias, the smartest man in the world, Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman) also known as Silk Spectre II and her lover Dr John Osterman (Billy Crudup) or Dr Manhattan, a man who was transformed into pure energy and is now a big blue naked man. As Rorschach continues to unravel the mystery, bigger things are revealed that will ultimately change the world.
Yeah, big stuff. And way too many characters to be able to follow in one sitting. Still, rather than get overwhelmed by the massive jolts of non-linear stories of all of these characters, you can tune out a little bit and just appreciate the intricacies of all these interesting characters, told almost lovingly but always with its biting sardonism. The performances were all great, Jackie Earle Haley is exceptional as the noirish Rorschach. For such a small, insignificant looking man, he is at times utterly frightening and you can't take your eyes off him. Ackerman and Wilson bring much needed warmth and personality to this otherwise detestable group of supposed heroes.
Visually, it takes a bit of getting used to. You never get the comforting feeling that this is a world we are in any way familiar with. The colours, the sets, even the physical movements seem of another world with different rules to our own. The violence is beyond cringeworthy, it is unabashedly gruesome and appears to take immense pleasure in making its audience squirm. The music also made sure we never fully settled in, using an unconventional soundtrack with Bob Dylan and Simon And Garfunkel. Just in case you didn't already know this isn't just another comic book movie. It really went out of its way to be different.
Verdit? Critically speaking it's nothing special. It succeeds in being different in comic book conventions and separates itself from the likes of X-Men and Spiderman, but in the end it looks and feels like another example of the dark graphic novel adaptation overall, in the same area as Sin City or V For Vendetta. But entertainment-wise it's a real treat. 7/10
Darren Aronofsky, responsible for the emotionally devastating Requiem For A Dream, offers us an intimate look at an aging pro wrestler at what could be his last moments of his career in The Wrestler.
Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling in the 80s. We slam to the ground and the honeymoon is over when we see Randy now, middle aged, weary, his still impressive body sore all over after another small time battle. His loyal legion of fans and admiring fellow wrestlers surround him, but he is alone. He works at a supermarket to make rent and regularly goes to a strip joint to have warm company with stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). After a personal tragedy, Randy tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) but she is too scarred by his years of neglect to let him in so easy. Randy is now facing life outside of the ring, and it doesn't welcome him with open arms.
Filmed on a very low budget, The Wrestler is very simply filmed. We follow Randy's huge figure from behind as he goes about his daily routine to keep up his appearance as the invincible killing machine. Appearing like a friendly giant woefully trying to find his place in the world, we immediately sympathize with this modern tragic hero. With the physique of a gladiator with long blond locks and a solarium tan, he seems like he's wasting away serving at the deli and clumsily picking out clothes for his daughter. He is a man stuck in his heyday, unable to grasp the present and the possible future without his devoted fans.
Using a documentary-style approach, we get pretty close into the world of pro wrestling. We see the battles, the overwhelming cheers from the audience, the self inflicted pain Randy puts himself through week after week, the doctors routinely tending to his awful wounds, the camaraderie of the wrestlers backstage - it's all depicted to us in an honest, unbiased and deeply intimate manner. To me it made wrestling look less like mindless violence and more like a dedicated performance, with these men putting themselves through so much to create a realistic battle of an almost mythical quality, and keep the elated fans screaming for more.
The performances were superb. The fall of Randy "The Ram Robinson cuts to the bone. Although it wouldn't seem surprising when observing his reckless lifestlye, his foolishness is stripped bare before our eyes, and we cannot help but feel pity for the broken man who ultimately broke himself down. His rough boyish charm and funloving attitude can't even keep himself up anymore, as he feels himself becoming a relic. But his pain is silent, slowly simmering inside him. Marisa Tomei brings such warmth and complexity to her role, fleshing her out into a flawed but admirable human being to what could have been a throwaway character. There was not enough of Evan Rachel Wood, which was a real shame because her brief moments with Randy were heartbreaking and did so much in so little time.
The Wrestler was an unexptectedly deeply affecting film. With its bare style of filmmaking, it's easy to overlook the well crafted screenplay by Robert D Seigel which made this such a standout piece. Mickey Rourke was Randy Robinson. 8/10
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were two of the biggest comedy names in the world when Baby Mama was released in cinemas, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, Baby Mama doesn't quite deliver like Fey's last extremely clever and sassy screen venture, Mean Girls. But don't fret, Baby Mama is not as lame as the trailers make it out to be.
Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) is VP to a prominent Health Food company and now in her late 30s, she's succumbing to her nagging maternal urges. However, Kate can't seem to find the right guy, the adoption agency can't put a child in her lap for several years and her doctor doesn't like her uterus to have IVF treatment. Desperate and running out of options, she turns to the head of a surrogate company, Chaffee Bicknell (Sigourney Weaver), to find her a "baby mama". Kate finally gets a bone when a working class couple Angie and Carl (Amy Poehler and Dax Shepard) offer to carry her baby. But Angie and Carl soon break up and Angie decides to crash Kate's apartment for the duration of her pregnancy. Meanwhile, as they try to get along, Kate meets Rob (greg Kinnear), who may be the perfect man who's come at a bit of an inconvenient time.
There are a lot of times where the film feels pretty gimmicky, with plenty of idiosyncratic characters (such as Steve Martin's hippie boss to Kate) supplying evenly spread awkward moments and random segues to grab extra laughs when there's a lull in the story. These moments, with Tina Fey's usual mix of sharp wit and fantastical silliness, and were indeed very funny, but they didn't quite disguise the script's lack of originality. It's a credit to both Fey and Poehler as actors who carry this film like pros, able to nail every punchline while also juggling the tender dramatic moments.
Michael McCullers does a decent job at writing and first time directing, making sure the centre stage contains only Fey and Poehler. This is smart of him, since they definitely know what they're doing and I don't know if McCullers has quite got it yet. The script, although failing to create intelligent characters (even Kate is strangely thick sometimes for the sake of the story lasting a few extra minutes), it does do well in capturing the woes of single-womanhood and pregnancy. But he could have done more with the male characters in the film, to make a nice balance to the overall tone, which at best was lightly fluffy. At times it seemed the ladies were doing all the work. Which was fine, as Baby Mama managed to be much funnier than you'd expect, but the lack of proper acting support made it look more like an extended SNL sketch.
The conclusion was slightly disappointing as it dripped with sentimentality which didn't quite fit with the rest of the film. But if you are a fan of Fey and Poehler, then Baby Mama will be a treat, not a disappointment. The leading ladies will charm you with their kooky mishaps and take this film up from what could have been another cheesy and forgettable chick flick. 7/10
Although the premise sounded interesting and the cast looked promising, in the end I found Rendition, directed by Gavin Wood, quite lame. Attempting to be gritty, it was a lightweight political thriller where its only edge was in the gruesome torture scenes and the bomb attack at the beginning of the film. It's all pretty watered down from there.
There are 6 stories that we follow. One is of Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal), a US analyst who survives a suicide bombing in an Arab nation and is assigned to observe the interrogation of a suspected terrorist. Abasi Fawal is an brutal terrorist interrogator, the target of the attack. Fatima and Khalid are lovers, Fatima is Fawal's estranged daughter and Khalid is a political extremist. Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) is an American-based Eqyptian Chemical Engineer, who is kidnapped by CIA operatives and is taken outside US soil to be tortured for information about the recent terrorist attack that killed one American. Isbabella Fields El-Ibrahimi is a wife and mother whose husband disappears without a trace, and seeks out old friend Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) to help her find him. And Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep) is the one in charge of ordering Renditions for suspected terrorists, and is determined to get the dirty work done to protect her country. There's a lot of people to follow. But we don't get to know any of these people in depth, so none are especially sympathetic or interesting.
[ Click here to read more ]
Se7en is now considered by many to be a modern masterpiece. With an amazing script by Andrew Kevin Walker and artfully directed by David Fincher, the film struck with such calculated psychological violence to the audience, much like the horrific physical violence inflicted upon the victims in the film.
Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is about to retire in 7 days. He's tired of the urbane decay he has to face everyday in his line of work and has lost all hope that his efforts can make any difference. A new headstrong detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) is to take his place. A string of horrific murders are revealed and the clues left behind by the killer indicates that the victims are each guilty of one of the 7 Deadly Sins - lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. Mills and Somerset decide to work together to find the killer before he strikes again.
[ Click here to read more ]
Thanks to this year's Sydney Festival, there are many exciting events running for us film afficianados, one of these offfering being iiNet Films Alfoat at Darling Harbour. I went to check out Run Lola Run, which was being shown with live music of UK electronic rock band The Bays, performed below the screen. It really doesn't get any better than this. You get an open air screening of an international successful action packed film and a live concert of amazing music simultaneously at the beauty of Darling Harbour with absolutely no money out of your pocket.
It was great to watch Run Lola Run again. Like the recent Slumdog Millionaire, it's an edgy, thrillingly filmed film with a simple premise tied with the idea of fate determining one's destiny. The band performed their improvisational music pretty closely to the original soundtrack, keeping its edgy electronica sound while adding some subtle hip hop funk for a slightly more chilled out, musical experience as well as a cinematic one. They were never off the beat and they went comfortably with all the chaotic action going on onscreen. Neither medium overshadowed the other, which made for a one of a kind experience, despite the rain and the uncomfortable seating arrangements.
[ Click here to read more ]
Pixar has an exceptional track record. Almost all of their offerings to date have made audiences and critics the world over rave with infinite praise. WALL-E proves to be their best work yet.
WALL-E, short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-class, is a lone robot on Earth 800 or so years into the future, dutifully cleaning up what has made the planet uninhabitable for humans. WALL-E appears to be the only robot still functional after centuries of cleaning up, and after all these years, he has developed human-like qualities. He exhibits an eager curiosity for the trinkets he finds in the piles of rubbish he goes through and is exchanted by old footage of Hello, Dolly!. We also discover that WALL-E is lonely, and other than a cockroach (expect them to survive!), WALL-E is highly deprived of loving company. But along blasts in a sleek and highly advanced-looking robot named EVE, and WALL-E is as smitten as a robot can be. But EVE hasn't come to Earth to make friends. She has an important mission to save the world.
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Add Comments
Comments (2)
Read More
Comment by Sarah Kikuchi
on Baby Mama (2008)