[DVD] Serenity (2005)

The back story of Serenity and its TV series Firefly is what stuff like soap opera is made of. Created by Joss Whedon, popular creator-scribe of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television series, the Firefly television series was yanked from the airwaves by Fox midway through its first season, but as all real life fairy tales go, the series was released on DVD, and became an instant cult classic. Hence, the movie was born given the built fan base.

And having not watched the Firefly series, I think Serenity is a satisfyingly good sci-fi movie which can stand alone. Although it will take some getting used to the characters, it'll not take too long before you get into the swing of things to enjoy what this movie had to offer. Serenity refers to the Firefly class of spaceships in an era of the future where planets are colonized and banded together as an Alliance, with a band of rebels opposing the oppression of a totalitarian regime. Think of Star Wars scenario of an Empire with its Rebel Alliance, and Star Trek with its ship and crew in focus, combined.

We follow the adventures of Captain Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew of merry men and women (doctor, navigator, pilot, ex-lover etc) as they undergo a rescue mission of one of their own, River Tam, who's a psychic turned dangerous weapon, or so they think. While they unravel the mystery and secrets of what River knows, they must outrun the ruthless Allaince's assassin who's after River, as well as fend off the deadly vicious creatures known as the Reavers.

The Reavers are extremely dangerous folk, and I kinda liken them to Star Trek's Borg - they keep coming like zombies, and are known to rape and murder. The pacing is kept very tight, with witty dialogue flying all round. Humour is peppered throughout and you'll never know when it'll hit, even up to the very last frame (no, I'm not kidding here).

The production sets, though most are CGI, are really very pretty to look at, and the advanced world they live in, is an amalgamation of American and Chinese, so much so that the characters also spout (sometimes intelligible) Chinese phrases. There are memorable moments in the movie, though the action fights are quite ordinary, save for River's battle with the Reavers which seem to beat Aeon Flux's and Ultraviolet's hands down. Her storyline did thread very closely to resemble that of Leeloo's in Fifth Element though.

Filled with deep characterization, Serenity will make you want to get your hands on the TV series to indulge in more adventures of the space crew. After watching this 2 hour movie, it's no wonder why Firefly has fast become a cult favourite. Too bad the movie didn't get a wide release locally (only a GV Surprise Screening and another one-off at Prince), which will probably serve to extend its popularity here. Good, interesting Sci-Fi, must watch.

Code 1 DVD comes chock full of extras. There's a full length feature film commentary by Joss Whedon, plenty of deleted scenes with Whedon's commentary, lots of outtakes, an laced-with-humour introduction by Whedon, three documentaries - 1. Future History: The Story of Earth That Was, 2. Re-lighting the Firefly, and 3. What's in a Firefly, and an easter egg too, which showed the creation of that weird Fruity Oaty bar advertisement containing the sublime message ala The Manchurian Candidate.

The Wild

2006 is the year of the animal animation. Earlier in the year, we had the local stinker Zodiac Race, and over the next few months, there are offerings like Over the Hedge, Barnyard, Happy Feet (no doubt inspired by March of the Penguins) and Open Season. It's an animal world out there in the world of animation.

I'm not too sure why this was made. Sure, the graphics were photo-realistic and crisp, and it had the usual elements of modern day animated flicks. But I guess it's time for filmmakers in this genre to realize that the substance of the story is of paramount importance too. Then again, it's meant strictly for kids.

However, even a 3-year old kid who attended the same screening as me, sensed a deja-vu, and didn't take too long to realize that it's so "Madagascar" (2005's offering from Dreamworks). The premise, if you strip it all down, is also about a group of animals from New York Zoo who made their way (so the motivations might differ slightly) to Africa, where they meet nasty native animals, and engage in plenty of mindless song and dance.

The Wild also adapted a few more plot elements from its own library like The Lion King, and incorporated the father-son seeking acceptance relationship from last year's died-in-its-own-hype Chicken Little, and borrowed the "I am God, worship me" plot from Ice Age 2. What gives folks? I'm aware of some rumours that the filmmakers between the Wild and Madagascar split, and those who jumped shipped to Dreamworks managed to get their product out in the market first. Still, having two movies battling each other, doesn't work well for the one released later.

The first half of the movie was bogged down by its melodrama in the fore-mentioned dad-son plot, while the second half dealt out more madcap humour. It's build up to the finale with the bulls wanting to top the food chain, sounded familiar too. There are funny characters abound, but they all lacked somewhat, especially the snake and the giraffe. The joke on the Koala, while fun initially, was repetitive and you'll really want to kick and rip any Koala soft toy out there by the time you're true.

The voice talents did a commendable job with the flimsy story, with the likes of Kiefer Sutherland, James Belushi, Janeane Garofalo, and even William Shatner grunting like animals. But the lineup is quite forgettable, especially with rival Dreamworks' offering in the horizon (also about animals!) Over The Hedge (Hey, got William Shatner too!)

As mentioned, the graphics were great though, but the storyline just stinks. I like the way the Lions were done, could have been a showcase of what The Lion King could have looked like if it was conceived some 10 years later. But you probably want to walk out of the theatre as soon as the animals start dancing to the music in the finale.

Bad rip-off!

[VCD] Two For The Money

Not all movies made in Hollywood, no matter if they have well known casts or not, make it to the big screen here. Movies like Lord of War, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and the movie for this post, Two For The Money, are good examples of those which go direct to the home market.

Starring Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey and Rene Russo, this movie features an interesting look behind the scenes of the sports betting industry. You can read my review of the movie at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below

The Tiger Blade

Sawadeeka! I actually had high hopes for this one, given the premise. But what was delivered is a nostalgic trip back to 80s Hong Kong cinema, wasting the mysticism infused which could have brought it to a high, and substituted it with a high dose of camp.

Anyway you can check out my review of this Thai movie at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below

Poseidon

So who's smart idea was it to involve me in this sinker?

I was still a kid when I watched The Poseidon Adventure on television, which had Gene Hackman as a priest and a group of squabbling folks making it out of a capsized ship through its engine room. It was pretty exciting stuff, given the premise, and the characters that were in it - the usual selfish "villains", and an elderly sacrificing couple are some of those I remembered.

Director Wolfgang Petersen has the credentials to do a remake of the movie, based on a novel by Paul Gallico. Given that he's got his feet wet enough with Das Boot and The Perfect Storm, and enough experience helming big budgeted summer movies like Air Force One and Troy, however, what's the point of a remake?

It's a pretty short ninety nine minutes (inclusive of a nine minute end credits), and it doesn't waste much time with the introduction of our merry characters. In fifteen minutes, the freak tidal wave strikes, and it takes four minutes to capsize the boat - falling stunt people, SFX, and flying props all over the place. You can say I was pretty bored with it to have timed the sequence. Nothing too amazing, and nothing which you haven't seen done with James Cameron's Titanic, or the original Poseidon Adventure for that matter.

Perhaps it's for the action sequences, to see how far time has brought us with an update of stunt techniques and such. However, I felt that certain essential filler scenes made way to keep the running time under check, so some of the action appeared disjointed. It kind of improved towards the end when peripheral characters got out of the way, but there wasn't a scene which distinctly stood out. Petersen managed to keep most of the action well paced, though the emotional scenes just dragged and the characters were so full of cliches.

Seriously, you won't give a hoot about the characters and their respective back-stories, which were mentioned in a sentence or two in passing. Kurt Russell stars as a fireman turned mayor turned retiree who has control issues over her daughter Jennifer (Emmy Rossum, was waiting for someone to throw a corny disaster inspired line like "where will you be, The Day After Tomorrow?"), and who disapproves of her wishy-washy gutless boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel). In fact, their triangle relationship reeked of another summer movie from the past, from a certain Willis-Tyler-Affleck movie.

But leading the team (and hence getting top billing), is Josh Lucas' selfish gambler Dylan Jones, who decides to try his luck by leaving the supposedly safe havens of the ballroom, reluctantly taking along the bunch of baggage in the form of mother-son team, played by Jacinda Barrett and Jimmy Bennett (the familiar kid from the recent Firewall), a stowaway (Mia Maestro), a cook (Freddy Rodriguez) and one throwaway irritant gambler (Kevin Dillon). Perhaps the worst character is the gay architect, played by Richard Dreyfuss, whose character is gay only because it's hip nowadays to feature gays in films. His character can be a dog for that matter, and it'll probably be more interesting to see the mutt swimming around. Stacy Ferguson (from the Black Eyed Peas) makes a cameo here as a, what else, songstress.

There are plenty of gaping potholes, erm, plot holes that makes you wonder if the budget is catered only for the effects department (there were many involved, including ILM, I counted about 5 or 6 effects companies). Despite the many beautifully mangled corpses and plenty of fire and water to fill the screen, these holes just stand out so starkly. Like how a flimsy outdoor ballroom door can keep the water out, and with the kind of CPR performed, no wonder it's ineffective. Or that deep dive which was quite reckless and stupid. Despite being upside down, the layout of the ship seemed to work just as effective the other way around too, kinda weird. I remembered the original crew having a real hard time navigating around the ship. Not this one though. Perhaps they've become more intelligent.

So, the burning question is, is it worth a watch? Sure, if you haven't seen the original. Otherwise, this is just a jazzed up modernized version, which couldn't hold a candle to the original. The Josh-Kurt pairing couldn't fill the shoes that Hackman left imprinted, and the supporting characters just lacked the oomph. Too much sentimentality packed in a short action movie. It should've focused on one, or the other, or tried to achieve a better balance between the two.

The Nun (La Monja)

Hallelujah! I am Nun! Here Me Rooaaar!

This week's surprise screening at GV turned out to be the horror movie The Nun (La Monja). Seriously, I think that horror movies should try and come up with more imaginative titles, even though the story's about the character as described in the title. Who knows, soon we'll have spinoffs like The Monk, The Priest, and others belonging to various religious sects.

The basic premise goes very simply, that a ghoul dressed up in a Nun garb (so that it can lay claim to the title) goes around killing ex-convent girls. There seemed to be some sort of conspiracy involved, as the daughter of one of the victims, Eva (played by an eye candy Icelandic Anita Briem), goes on to discover, with the help of a few good friends, like a rip off of I Know What You Did Last Summer (mentioned also, by the way).

So as the body count increases, it's a race against time for our emotionally scarred (aren't they always?) heroine to uncover the truth and save the day. Delving into the sins of the mothers, the movie did the unthinkable, that with a dream sequence as the introduction. I hate dream sequences as it's a pretty cheap technique if not done correctly, and there are a couple of them in the movie.

In part, the movie played at times like Ju-On gone wrong with the plenty of Dark Water references, and they could have retitled this Unholy Water, for the circumstances and plot points in the movie. However, there are plot holes abound, so don't be looking into the storyline too deeply. You'd come to expect the standard textbook twists towards the end about the sadistic nun, and sets which look like they can rival recent Thai horror movie Dorm.

The acting's pretty forgettable, with the cast speaking in perfect heavily accented English. And since most of them are pleasing to the eye, the story must weave in a love scene in the middle of a witch-hunt. What gives? Hello, got hantu, still got mood ah? Then again, the ghoul is a pretty cheap animated/SFX which has a built in AI of popping up every now and then, in various fashion, just to elicit screams from timid audiences. The characters also break every unwritten rule in the Do-Nots in horror lore, so you know and expect their just desserts.

Can you possibly enjoy this movie? Sure you can. Just ensure that you're watching it in a full house (should be easy, since local folks are suckers for anything remotely horrific), and laugh at those who are so jumpy they scream at every "frightening" scene. It's pretty fun, and adds to the atmosphere, besides what's going on the screen. Surround sound doesn't even come close.

Think of it as watching an episode of Scooby Doo without the wisecracks, and it's a pity that the gory moments in the movie had to be censored for a PG rating. Those could possibly have been the best bits, now left rotting on the censor's floor board.

The Child (L'Enfant)

Cannes International Film Festival winner, must be of some quality ok? Winner of the Palme d'Or 2005, The Child actually has one heck of a rich storyline, if you see past the obvious. Allow this arthouse movie to sink in after you leave the theatre, and you'll come to appreciate it a lot more.

You can check out my review at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below:



Haven't gone to the Picturehouse yet? Let this be the jumpstart you need :-)

Bewitching Attraction

Billed as a romantic sex comedy, Bewitching Attraction is neither full of raunchy sex (ala another movie in town now - Lie With Me), nor is it full of laughs. It's an acquired taste, with sporadic nudity and sex, and rests its wit in black comedy instead.

Starring Moon So-Ri in the female lead role of textiles professor Eun-suk in a rural town, and Ji Jin-hee as Park Seok-gyu, a comics illustrator turned lecturer, Bewitching Attraction relies heavily on the chemistry of its leading cast to carry through a convoluted plot. Eun-suk, a lady with a limp, is extremely promiscuous, having had sex with most of the men in her faculty, possessing with her much influence on the men with her sexuality. An environmental activist, she also harbours ambitions in branching into television, hence the early sex sequence with a TV show producer - nothing much really, just full of pumping action.

Enter Seok-gyu into the fray as the new lecturer, and the other folks feel threatened with the arrival of the good looker. You'd thought for a minute that the two will hit it off straightaway, but both have this cold shoulder exhibited. The rest of the story deals mainly with the slow revelation of a deep dark secret these two share way back in high school, which involves death in a plot line similar to that of Dorm's swimming pool. In some sick fashion, I kinda enjoyed(!) the way it was played on screen, it looked horribly realistic.

And the black comedy continues from then on, as if both characters are that forbidden alignment of the stars, that when brought together, will cause the tragic demise of those around them. I've got to give the movie credit though, that these sequences happen when you least expect it, or if you are expecting it, the delivery will still manage to surprise you for a bit.

And is it just me, or does Moon So-Ri look like Michelle Chia from certain angles in the movie? Somehow she looks really to die for at certain angles, while other angles made her look pretty ordinary. You gotta check it out to see what I mean.

But it's recommended only if you cannot get tickets to other more worthy summer movies. With the barrage of Korean movies of the same genre lately (dealing with romance), this could possibly be one of the weakest K-offering this season.

Find Me Guilty

I have them to thank for the hairdo

We're all familiar with Vin Diesel being the new action hero, with his buffed muscular body, bald pate, gruff voice and his high octane movies like Fast and the Furious and xXx. He took a different path into comedy with The Pacifier, and now, into drama with Find Me Guilty. How did he fair?

Pretty good, in spite of the focus being on his new look hairdo and belly (ok, so it's prosthetics and makeup assisted). Playing a real life mobster Jack DiNorscio, and the true story of his defense of himself in court without a lawyer, in an extremely long trial spanning 21 months, where it's the US Government versus the Lucchese crime family.

The movie started off promisingly with a tense scene classic of any mafia movies, that of a hit job, though it's laced with some unexpected humour. Alas, just as you thought the movie will go uphill from then on, it actually stalled and cruised along, before tapering from the halfway mark until the end.

Diesel as DiNorscio deftly balanced dramatics with flair for comedy, labelling himself as a "gagster" rather than a "gangster", inevitably forming a bond with the jurors of the case, getting into the skin of the prosecutors and having a hard time convincing his fellow chums that his loyalties still lie with the family, that he'll never rat them out or knowingly jeopardize their chances in court. However, amongst his buddies, he fared the worst, having to defend himself in court and go home to his jail cell, where he's still serving time. It's a bit like doing your all for your family, but yet experiencing a non-reciprocal feeling from them.

You probably won't care much for the other characters, consisting of many minor role hoodlums and their numerous legal representatives. Perhaps the only other role having prominence is Ron Silver's Judge Finestein, who has to precede over this gruelling cast and at the same time reining in DiNorscio's antics.

Although this movie boasts the using of actual court transcripts for its dialogue, there are not enough compelling arguments, objections, challenges and square offs. Rather, the movie zooms by quite quickly to the basic significant courtroom sessions - it's obvious you can't cover 21 months worth of material in 2 hours.

So for those eager to watch top-notch courtroom drama, you might go away a little disappointed, but if you buy into Vin Diesel's charm, and of course for Vin Diesel fans, you might go away enjoying every moment of his screen presence.

When a Stranger Calls

Thank you for calling 1-800-SOS. For Russian, press 1. For Mandarin, press 2. For Arabic, press 3....

When a Stranger Calls belongs to the group of this year's remakes, with movies like Poseidon just over the horizon. Director Simon West (Con Air) helms this updated version, with plenty of relative unknown casts, which signals either the death rate is high (it isn't), or that established stars are steering clear from a potential turkey.

Clocking in at a relatively short 87 minutes, it's primarily made up of two acts. The first, which takes a full one hour, is the setup. Our heroine, Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), chalked up 800 minutes of talk time on her mobile phone (do the math), and as a lesson in responsibility, her parents had confiscated her mobile and grounded her. To pay off her debt, she works part time as a babysitter, and looking after the wealthy Mandrakis' kids, is her first stint.

The huge Mandrakis mansion gets a full tour treatment, as it is where all the action will take place. Plenty of rooms (makes for good hiding), an indoor pool sized aquarium-pond (to get wet in, for the wet T-shirt treatment), and check this out - motion detector lights, which you just know will contribute to the scares with the manipulation of lights and shadows. Naturally, prank calls, red herrings are aplenty, which chalks up this act's runtime, but most of them fall flat in the suspense department.

There's a minor trend emerging, with actors being the unseen, providing and acting through their voice instead. Recent attempts include Edward Norton in Kingdom of Heaven, and Hugo Weaving's V for Vendetta. Here, Lance Henriksen does the honours for the anonymous, nameless psychotic killer, but it just falls flat. Why? The script doesn't give him much dialogue. Most of the phone calls made were of the silent (mind-masturbatory) nature, which I felt was a waste - they could have also casted some unknown instead, and the job will still get done.

The second act, where the main action takes place, is too little too late. And the bogeyman, well, is purely a bogeyman with no name, no history, just air-dropped into the movie. Those expecting blood and gore will be disappointed, as basically it's a one -woman show to hold your attention in the first hour (eye candies always succeed), and this act will have her resolve everything in double quick time, ala Rachel McAdams in Red Eye. Don't expect any form of character development, nor subplots that will engage.

The ending tried to be too smart for its own good, and came across as a cheap way to end the movie. There's not much of goodness to highlight from this movie - no scares, no thrills, no enigmatic villain, and plenty of security flaws, especially with that door alarm - the only thing it's good for, is to provide a number for 4D.

Paradise Now

Are we at the Pearly Gates?

Paradise Now was the Palestinian film which won the Golden Globes this year for best foreign language film, and it's no wonder to see why it did. Touching on very real, contemporary and the sensitive issue about the relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it takes on the much talked about and feared weapon of terrorists / freedom fighters, that of the suicide bomber.

And for that, I applaud the movie's take and narrative, which treads the very fine line and provides the audience aspects from both ends of the spectrum. The introduction is nicely set up, that the Israelis view the Palestinians with suspicious eyes, while it is the case of contempt the other way around. It doesn't set out to glamourize dastardly deeds, but presents a more intimate look into the making of a martyr, the motivations behind those who have willed themselves to political suicide, as well as presenting arguments for a more peaceful resolution through negotiations.

Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are childhood friends living in the city of Nablus. They're essentially the working class, and on the surface, your average joe with non extremist views, living in a city where explosions are common everyday events. But before you know it, it's revealed that they are freedom fighters living a life of normalcy, and beneath the happy-go-lucky facade, they're ever ready to die for their cause. This movie humanizes the anonymous faces we often see in the news, thereby drawing flak from certain circles.

A chance presents itself, and the two of them are assigned to an unnamed group's latest and largest operation in 2 years, a bombing in Tel Aviv. Here's where things are interesting, as rituals are presented as the duo prepare themselves for their appointment with Paradise.

And this movie doesn't hold back in making fun of precisely this sacred promise of going to Heaven after the violent act of murder is committed. Watching it being presented through dialogue by their chief operative, makes you wonder how gullible and easily manipulated would-be martyrs can be. But just as you're ready to generalize the simplistic behaviour of suicide bombers, the movie's third act will arrest you with a twist that deeply explores the agendas, personal vendettas and the likes, which transcend all reasons and logic, providing more than enough fuel for motivation.

Worry not though that the movie will be heavy in theme. There are adequate light hearted moments to break the seriousness, and interesting visual details like the handless bomb-maker, puts things into certain perspective. Or that tongue-in-cheek reference to The Last Supper as well.

The ending was superb. My guess is many weaned on Hollywood will not come to appreciate it as it yanks the carpet from under your feet. Those who are accustomed to big, loud explosions might find it puzzling. But I thought it was a brilliant way to end it, a silent purposeful statement that continues throughout the end credits, stripping away any glamour of violence, whatever the cause, reason or rationale used to justify it.

Paradise Now is a film rooted in realism despite its fictional storyline. It is without the usual glitz associated with recent films touching on the subject (Syrianna comes to mind) and makes perfect use of its smaller scale to tell a more intimate, but no less powerful, story.

Lie With Me

Eager to watch a movie fit for Yangtze, but too shy to step into the theatre? Well, here's some news for ya! If it's arthouse cinematic porn you're after, but you prefer to enjoy such skin flicks at a more comfortable "mainstream" cinema, then head on down (got pun?) to watch Lie With Me.

It's an unabashed film with plenty of sex, but despite its R21 rating, there're still a few bits censored. You can check out my review at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below

Mission: Impossible III Singapore/Asian Gala

M:I:III Gala

The Singapore/Asian Gala for Mission: Impossible III was one strange event. Taking place at 4 locations (GV Grand, Cathay Orchard Cineleisure, The Cathay Cineplex, Shaw Lido), my friends massb, dgital and I were assigned to the Shaw Lido event. massb and I were there courtesy as consolation winners in Mediacorp's contest, while dgital was there on assignment for movieXclusive

Why are we Waiting?!

The crowds were gathered eagerly to anticipate the main event for that evening at Shaw Lido, and that is the rapelling of 4 stuntmen and the revelation of the new LED screen on the facade of the building. In my opinion, and no offense to the organizers, this must be one of the most plain gala openings ever. Can't hold a whisker to what M:I is all about. You can view the clip of this below



It was over in less than 2 minutes, but what was on screen caught our attention - the winners of Mediacorp's contest sharing their experiences of the World Gala in Rome. We were only a whisker away in potentially being there! Damn! Tay Ping Hui was the celebrity host who accompanied the winners, and they got Tom Cruise to call their moms :-P

Anyway, back to the local gala, we proceeded back to Lido's cinema foyer, hoping to rub shoulders with some local celebs, but as it turned out, it was cordoned off for DHL staff - you see, they are a major sponsor of the proceeding (and of the movie too I suppose), so I guess it was a company event of sorts.

Spot the Celeb!

We only spotted Phyllis Quek, Wong Li Lin and Allan Wu amongst the crowd (see if you can spot the latter two in the picture above). There was one more relatively unknown Ch5 female artist dressed in a white cowgirl gear. Err hello, Brokeback was so last year ok?

There wasn't much entertainment except for a short dance sequence by 3 dancers, and one more by a female toddler. What gives? Though I think they had a lot of fun dancing to bastardized versions of the Lalo Schrifin classic theme tune, especially the toddler. Sorry no pics of the skimpily clad dancing baby, by then I was too bored to whip out my trusty cam




Security was extremely tight at Lido's Hall 1, there was a queue line and plenty (at least 8) security folks checking bags for contraband like cameras. massb and I were assigned to Hall 2. Security was lax (surprise), so I managed to take pictures of what you're about to see. At first we thought Hall 2 was gonna suck, but as it turned out, it has been transformed into a Digital Hall as well. So take note!

Inside Hall 2

DHL sponsored all the goodie bags (8 days mag, one pouch cum bag, one pen cum calculator), in addition to free Pepsi and popcorn. All the bad pre-show event programme is forgiven :-P

Goodies, Freebies, Freeloaders Unite!

You can read my review of M:I:III here, and as usual, when the credits roll, everyone started to rush for the doors. Carpark coupon not enough ah?

What's the Hurry?

As for us, well, it's the conventional way home by the MRT...



Did I mention we were dressed for the event, well, sort of?



All in all, it was a pretty uneventful Gala, not quite fit for a blockbuster like M:I:III. But what the heck, I suppose plenty of others who attended had fun in one way or another, at least the movie was well worth the wait.

Mission: Impossible III

Hunt be Nimble, Hunt be Quick!

The burning question in everyone's mind will be, does this third Mission live up to its hype, justify its mass publicity, and above all, surpass the first two movies? In my opinion, M:I:III makes it an explosive start to the summer lineup, lives up to the hype it built, but though it took on a more personal look into the life of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, I still felt, and no offense to JJ Abrams, that while it balanced action with personal drama effectively, somehow it lacked that X-factor oomph after all the smoke has cleared, to truly make it one heck of a classic action thriller.

Sure, elements of M:I are there, the mysterious calls, high octane action and technology driven gadgets which self-destruct in 5 seconds, save for the missing traditional opening sequence where images and agents photos are juxtaposed as Lalo Schifrin's theme comes blaring. But that nit pick aside, and don't get me wrong, I did enjoy JJ Abrams contribution to the franchise on the whole.

The gem in this movie is not that large explosion on the bridge where everything blows, or those action scenes in Shanghai. Rather, it's the first few minutes. It's truly intense, and I'd say it's one of the better suspenseful openings of films this year, which sucks you in right into the heat of things, and slowly demands an emotional response from you, which is quite rare in a genre movie like this. It provided Cruise a platform to showcase his acting range of fear, moments of calm, intense rage, desperation, all rolled into one, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, just absolute chilling. If you think that the teaser trailer piece by him is good, wait till you take a look over here, right at the start.

Ethan Matthew Hunt the man is explored in depth, and faces domestic issues that most uniformed men do - the dreadful fear of a loved one put in harm's way. It never is easy to suppress those romantic and primal emotions, and it makes matters worse when you're an agent sworn to secrecy. Hunt in this movie explores this side of his humanity, as he gets embroiled in yet another impossible mission. And I thought given Cruise's recent relationship and marriage to Katie Holmes, it might have helped him to bring across those emotions fairly easily.

This time round, JJ Abrams made better use of the Team. Comprised of old hand Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Zhen (Maggie Q), we see the classic IMF teamwork in action as they go from mission to mission, properly utilizing their skill sets. Well, that is until somewhere along the line where you start to realize that Stickell's the joker with the punchlines, Declan's a generic agent, and Zhen is a looker. Well, at least there's a team!

The main villain, Owen Davian (Hoffman), turned out to have very limited screen time, but the Academy Award winning actor managed to make the most out of it. Although his Davian character is one of the more ambiguous villains of late, with agendas not fully spelt out, he gives you the feeling that he's one whom you will do your utmost not to mess with. Either finish him off and do it twice for good measure, or suffer the consequences this cool killer dishes out.

There are some nice "first times" in this movie, like watching how the agents banter amongst themselves while executing their plans to a T, how a latex mask is created in real time, and the showing of the interiors of the highly secretive IMF office, but there are some rehashes from the first two movies, and even references from Cruise's earlier movies like Top Gun (motorcycle alongside runway anyone?). Shades of plot repetition like a mole in the organization (I think every secret organization will surely have one), leaping from buildings (I think this is a Hunt specialty) and techniques like falling and breaking fall with the use of cables just inches off the ground, are tongue-in-cheek like references.

If you're a nitpicker, there are also quite a number of obvious security-related flaws in the plot (hey, you're IMF!) - use of codenames is a must, as is the procedure for transporting highly dangerous criminals. It's probably broken a number of standard protocols, but hey, it's a summer movie, so please don't look too much into it (that's a reminder to self). On a fun side, it did have a poke at the US foreign policy, but that's only a poke, before tossing that idea aside from boring audiences who are in for some cool set action pieces.

The much beloved theme surprising becomes a little low key in the score, so don't hold your breath as you wait for it to come on. And if you have a question as to why DHL has so much clout in the marketing efforts, the movie will provide you a satisfactory reason.

All in all, M:I:III provided a fair share of action and quiet moments, personal vendetta versus grande plots and schemes. Will I root for another M:I sequel? Sure, why not, as this installment proved that there is still some mileage in the franchise, after the disastrous M:I:II. It's a good start to the summer.

The Mission: Impossible Dossier

No, am not going to venture into the classic television series, where there are countless of material written, from cast listing to episode guides, which you can find out more by clicking on the links below

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~gnudawn/mission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible

I'd like to share my thoughts on the Cruise-Wagner movie franchise, with the third in the series due out this week in Singapore.

Good Morning

Just a quick intro for those who are clueless to this billion-dollar (by the time the third movie gets released) movie revenue franchise thus far, Mission: Impossible's basic story is espionage, with jet setting locales combined with nifty agents skilled in deception, latex masks, and technology. They hunt down terrorists with grande plots to take over the world, yadda yadda, and it's up to our good agents at the Impossible Mission Force (IMF, not International Monetary Fund, though I think their operating budget is about the same size) to foil their diabolical plans.

In the series, Jim Phelps (leading the team from the second season on) and his fellow agents get ample time through the seasons to build their reputation as super spies, and plenty of purists and fans of the TV series felt betrayed that their beloved screen heroes suffered the indignity on screen in the first Mission: Impossible movie.

Your mission, should you decide to accept

Mission: Impossible 1

This Brian De Palma directed M:I was largely panned for its treatment of characters from the television series, in particular, the heroic Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) who committed treason and betrayal to the IMF. It would have seemed against the established character in the series, but don't forget, ultimately this is a Tom Cruise vehicle, and naturally he's the star with his own billing on the marquee, so a new character, the central character of Ethan Hunt, was created.

The other gripe that many folks had, that given Tom Cruise, this movie degenerated into a one-man show/army. M:I was always about teamwork, though the movie had shades of it in the mission gone awry in the beginning, with casts like Jon Voight, Kristin Scott Thomas, Venessa Redgrave and Emilio Estevez, it's basically Ethan Hunt up against impossible odds to clear his name. Well, I've no qualms about this, given the storyline that was written, it's got to be a one man show. But don't forget, there was a team element with the recruiting of agents Franz Krieger (Jean Reno) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and of course, help from fellow survivor Claire Phelps (the beautiful Emmanuelle Beart).

I liked this movie. It's stylish, slick, sophisticated, about what you'd come to expect from Brian De Palma. Despite it's boo-boo on internet email address, it had one of the most interesting trivia, that Ethan Hunt NEVER fired a single shot from his gun. In no way would you have expected that in a spy movie ya?

Also, this movie anchored the M:I movies with incredible sequences like the exploding fish tank (ha!) and that eye-popping visual in the train tunnel with the exploding chopper propelling Hunt onto the train. Always liked that. In addition, it had one of the most spoofed sequences in its infiltration into the CIA. Extremely quiet and intense, with a little comedy thrown in with the help of a mouse.

Cassette Soundtrack - Collector's Item?
Inside Cover, it spells Mission:Impossible

With the help of U2's Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, the all too familiar theme by Lalo Schifrin was given a slick update for the 90s, together with the soundtrack composed by Danny Elfman, make it one soundtrack to own.



But of course there were certain flaws and omissions (like that love scene between Ethan and Claire which was suggested in the trailers but not shown in the final product - probably will make the Hunt character look like a damn adulterer) which stood in the way of making this M:I a classic.

Mission: Impossible 2

Keeping up with Cruise's intention that each M:I movie be helmed by a different creative director to make one film distinct and unique from the other, John Woo was selected to give the sequel his creative spin, that is, the slow motions, white doves fluttering, and plenty of gun fights.

I disliked this movie, for the above. Imprinting it with Woo's signature made it feel like a generic Woo movie, not a M:I movie. From slickness, it got stained with tired action genre repeated ad nasuem, and the incredible just became truly implausible. Not even Anthony Hopkin's uncredited cameo could lift this movie from the doldrums of commonality.

From M:I:1's sophisticated action sequences, we got dumb sequences like the collision of motorcycles head-on, and the leaping of its riders into a mid-air bear hug. What gives? The knife fight for its finale is pretty intense, but like I said, the entire movie plays out like a plain action flick. Lacks intelligence, lacks finese. It's out and out wham-bang-thank-you-ma'am. Especially preposterous was the girl-wooing (pardon the pun)-car-chase sequence where the vehicles interlock and spin around and around at the edge of a cliff. You'd just wish they crash and burn and the movie ended there.

Surprisingly though, this movie made a lot more money than the first installment did. I suppose non-Asians really dug into John Woo's style. Over here, we've seen enough.

Gone is the ensemble cast of well knowns, and we got relative unknowns back then in the likes of Dougray Scott (who must be kicking himself for turning down X-Men's Wolverine for this turkey) and Thaandie Newton. The storyline was some whacked out disease called Chimera, which the baddies want to use and unleash a worldwide epidemic, and to enrich the coffers of their pharmaceutical backers.

However, I can never forgive the movie in making fun of the disguises. Latex masks are almost the de facto tool used by the IMF in their masquerades and infiltrations. Here, this technique was given what I deem as the opera effect - no, it's ABC (peels off mask), who happens to be DEF (peels off another mask), but is in fact, GHI!!! (peels off yet another mask). Oei, this is not Chinese Wayang ok? Truly made fun of, intentionally or otherwise, by the scriptwriter Ronald D Moore (stick to Sci-Fi, ok?) and with a straight faced direction by John Woo.

The theme signature tune was given a rock update by the limp Fred Durst and his equally Limp Biskit, and they bastardized the tune for their theme song "Take a Look Around" (which sucks by the way). Talk about opportunists. Hans Zimmer composed the soundtrack, which I thought was pretty mediocre except for the Nyah theme, which stuck with its ethereal sounds.



On the whole, this sequel was a letdown, a plain action movie done in a generic John Woo fashion. So it made a lot of money, but it surely didn't win a lot of new fans. I could picture the M:I purists foaming in their mouths now.

As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed

My friend Shaiful and I were just a whisker away to have attended the World Gala Premiere in Rome, had we won Mediacorp's contest. It was widely advertised in the local media, but somehow from what we observed, many had shied away from this golden opportunity. They even laxed the rules for having a male-female couple - same sex couple, or individuals, are allowed to participate.

No pain, no gain, never participate, no hope.

So we decided to go for it, and we had to don black clothes and gear, given prop guns, and huddled in an extremely small booth with a video camera, had to introduce ourselves the producers, and tell them why we deserved to go to Rome. It didn't help that I thought of kick-ass lines only AFTER we had done the shoot. WTF.

Not only that, we had to improvise some action in that small booth, Shaiful with his prop M-16, and me with twin handguns. Didn't realize that there was no roof over our heads, and shoppers from the upper floors can see what these two idiots are up to :-P Before we left, we had to provide 3 static cool-action sequences, which I thought we did well. Not sure if we'd have the chance to see the pictures though.

The secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions

It was a pretty tense one week waiting for the results, which I thought we had a fairly good chance of attending the World Gala, though the local one wouldn't be that bad after all, since winning the sponsored trip to the World Gala would mean a tremendous logistical begging from the army to release me early from in-camp training for this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we won, it'd be my second encounter with Cruise, and I'll definitely try and get my cassette autographed lol

Gala Invite

So the results were in, and some other lucky couple (dunno who) has gotten that chance. For us, the local gala will suffice. :-)

This article will self-destruct in 5 seconds

What are my expectations of the third movie? From what I've seen from the trailers and whatever material gleaned from production, I would say it's pretty positive.

Helmed by J.J. Abrams, who had been very successful on television with his Alias and Lost series, this movie promises to go back to Teamwork, bringing back an ensemble cast and team concept in the likes of Ving Rhames (third outing), Lawrence Fishburne, Maggie Q, Keri Russell, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Michelle Monaghan and Capote turned villain Philip Seymour Hoffman. At the same time, the story also takes a closer look at what makes a secret agent tick (i.e. opportunity for some Cruise alone action/drama. Spotlight gotta be somewhere still you know?)

With the theme done by Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles which I enjoyed, and frequent Abrams TV collaborator), and the teasers of action sequences having a field day in theatre and television trailers, I have a cheeky question though, it seemed like Ethan Hunt likes to leap out of / into buildings. Adrenaline junkie I tell ya!

It's been 10 years since the first Mission: Impossible. Let's see if this could be the best amongst the trilogy.

Are You Ready?

Time to light the fuse....

*cue signature theme by Lalo Schifrin*

[SIFF'06] Noriko's Dinner Table

This Japanese film is my closing film for this year's SIFF. It tells of a compelling family story, where "safe" is boring, and a child is off looking for that spark in life to spice things up. Turning her back to her family, Noriko makes her way to Tokyo to look up her internet friends, friends she came to know through an online forum. At first everything seems puzzling, until she realize that they are all "actors", folks providing "rental family" services to lonely people out there, yearning to belong.

It's ironic that Noriko had turned her back on her real family, only to join a surrogate one, pretending to be close knit to a lot of other strangers. She takes on her online persona, and forgets about "Noriko", the life she left behind. Which makes it really strange - why would anyone want to abandon their own family, and comfort zone, to make believe with others? It's a social exploration of alienation, and on a separate note, tries to look at the trend of suicide clubs in Japan.

One harrowing scene that was replayed, was that of 54 female students jumping off a train platform in unison. Taking on pseudo-security camera views, and plenty of blood with the smashing of heads on track (in full glory), it'll make you wince, yet wonder in astonishment, the question of Why.ß

Running parallel to Noriko's narrative, are a few others, like her dad's, her sister Yuka's (who also joined Noriko in her new role), and a forum founder Komiko. Taking on parallel and different points of view, it is no wonder that this film clocks in at slightly more than 2 1/2 hours. The father seeks Noriko and Yuka and wants to start afresh by welcoming them home, but find that the siblings have already disowned their lives thus far, preferring to pretend to be someone else, someone they have total control over, someone that they have created for themselves.

The movie started off strongly, but the pace sagged around the half way mark, before picking up again for the grand finale. It also helped that almost all the female cast in this movie are eye-candy, contrasting the seriousness of the issues presented, with their outward cuteness and pretty faces.

It's a pretty weird story, with strange characters, those who don't bat an eyelid over suicide, taking it as a form of higher calling. However you'll still be stuck at the Why question, as the movie doesn't offer any concrete answers, and somehow teased with an ending hinting of a possible sequel, that probably wouldn't be made.

The Alibi

A dream service for those adulterous men and women out there. A service which takes your calls, handles all potentially tense situations of private eyes and that suspecting spouse, essentially taking care of you on the side while you bang. Sounds good? I think so too, at least in a business sense.

Ray Elliot (Steve Coogan) runs such a service. It's a money spinner, based on statistics that one in 4 men stray, and one in 10 women cheat. He advertises his risk management career through word of mouth, and takes pride in his job in bailing clients out of seemingly explosive marital situations. The pre-requisites? A calm cool mind that can spin out stories and tell them with a straight face.

Lola Davis (the hot Rebecca Romijn) is his new management recruit, and without much orientation, plunges into the job head on. Initially you might think the movie will develop on the above company politics scenario, and have the two leads get involved with each other romantically. But no, before you can get to see the next fling, the movie heads on to classic crime noir territory.

On his last field job, Ray's client accidentally kills his mistress in a bout of S&M, and it's up to Ray to clear the mess up, violating one of his principles that his company doesn't provide alibis for crime. However his reputation and integrity is on the line, and he has no choice but to cover it all up.

And you'll probably wince at the amount of challenges Ray goes through in having this done, and having a price put out on his head. It's essentially one heck of a caper, as we witness how Ray Elliot schemes and plot to get his rear out of situations that's seemingly impossible, and incredibly lucky to get out of. It's full of crossings and double-crossings, and while you might be lost at certain plot points, just hang in there as all will converge for the finale, leaving you with a smirk, quite satisfied with the outcome.

What's fun in this movie is the huge ensemble cast that play the many characters on screen. Another X-Men franchise regular, James Marsden (Cyclops) is here as the inept himbo Wendell Hatch, Ray Elliot's last client, and we have a myriad of characters like hitmen, gangsters, cops, an unsatisfied wife, etc from a cast of Selma Blair, James Brolin, Sam Elliot, Jaime King, John Leguizamo, Deborah Kara Unger, and the likes.

One thing's for sure, having a huge network of those whom you have deposited emotional or material help with, certainly will help bucket-loads when the time comes. If you're up for a caper, then I'd recommend The Alibi, for its fun.

Election 2

Given local election fever, it's somewhat apt that this movie gets its release during this period. Sort of a tongue-in-cheek tie in with the local political environment. I was filled with a whole lot of skepticism when other local reviewers from the mainstream media started to laud this movie with fantastic ratings. While the original movie had won plenty of awards, the bastardized politically correct version that was shown here, did not do it any honours, and my review highlighted the version's weak ending(s).

However, I was still game to see how this movie panned out, and to my surprise, it met my expectation of a good triad movie. You can actually forget that you've watched the politically correct version, and enjoy this movie as it's meant to be. But for those who have not watched the first movie, fret not, you'll be up to speed within 10 minutes, though you might grapple with certain scenes and characters.

Suffice to know that the Wo Shing Society undergoes leadership changes every 2 years in a democratic manner, and current leader Lok (Simon Yam) will have its term completed soon. However, he becomes, as we learn towards the end of the first movie, power hungry, and demonstrates the character change which was missed in the original bastardized version.

Lok has to select a potential candidate amongst his 5 godsons, and Jimmy (Louis Koo) presented the best option as the one who has the smarts for raking in new business for the Society. However, his interest is only in making money, initially that is, until he's seduced by the fact that with power, the mainland Chinese will give him more respect, and with that, the potential for more business.

The movie becomes similar to the original's scheming and plotting to gain the upper hand, in the run up to the election for the next leader. The focus here is on Jimmy, and his grand scheme to push himself to the forefront of the elections. It's classic "black eats black" plotting for power, title and money.

The much touted violence, can rival some of those that Hollywood churns out. Rarely panning away, the camera captures and at times teases with the blood splatters, spurts and stains, what with equipment like sledge hammers, hammers (somehow the weapon of choice), and, get this, a meat grinder. Many in the audience squirmed, and it's a tad uncomfortable watching the dismemberment of a full human body.

It may seem a little ordinary given the recycled storyline of triad power struggles, but what lifts this movie is the last 15 minutes, where the revelation sets in. You'll see who's actually playing who, and rings home the thought of being careful what you wish for. Squabbling over scraps and neglecting the bigger picture and threat, will always prove to be fatal, as there are always vultures waiting in the wings. It's ironic that for all the election is worth, it degenerates, not within choice, to the installation of a puppet like figure. To the authorities, corrupt or sly, whichever way you look at it, it's always advantageous to have a known evil, rather than an unknown one.

I really recommend this movie, at long last, a decent triad movie with a finale that will really distinguish this amongst others in the genre. One more thing too, I also dig the very powerful theme song with the guitars and drum beats. Really brings out the tension and the mood.

Jasmine Women

When a star becomes big, his/her older movies which never see the light of day locally, will get its moment. Jasmine Women is Zhang Ziyi's showreel, in my opinion, and it finally will make its way to our shores in May.

For the fans, you're in for a treat. For her detractors, give this one a watch, and let me know what you think? It's beautifully filmed, and stars veteran Joan Chen too, who was last seen on the local screens in Saving Face.

Three chapters, two main leads, different eras of China spanning 50 years, it's quite entertaining. You can read my review at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below

Have You Watched Singapore GaGa?

I suppose the poster above says it all. Don't go through what I did, being denied 3 times to view this masterpiece because each screening I wanted to go to, was sold out. Get your tickets ya? And don't miss this! Thank your lucky stars the run got extended due to popular demand.

The details once again:
Singapore GaGa at The Arts House, 4-14 May
Weekdays 7.30pm & 9pm
Sat & Sun 3pm & 4.30pm

Q&A with Director Tan Pin Pin on 6 & 7 May


You can read my review here