[DVD] Shutter (2004)

I'm Scary!

When this movie was released in Singapore in late 2004, friends raved continuously on how it managed to spook their wits out. I recall the marketing campaign too, with their in cinema posters having put up photographs circled with strange willowy figures, the subjects being oblivious to the special presence of the spectral "friends' from the nether world.

And yes it indeed took me so long to finally get to watch this, because like I admit I'm still chicken (you laugh) in watching horror movies that send genuine chills. Actually if you noticed I've ventured into watching and review movies from the horror genre as well, and most of them released these days are laughable stuff. But for those whom friends (who are regular horror shock jocks) have cautioned against, I decided to tread safely and watch this when the sun is still up. And I thought that if I didn't, then I could have well get my fair share of nightmares starting from tonight.

You see, like The Ring, this movie had taken an occasional phenomenon, in this case, those that photographers face in the form of expired film, double exposures and the likes, and gave them some ghostly reason to exist. While today's cameras have mostly gone digital, I have gone through the era of film, and have some photographs developed on film as well, so I do have some of those pictures with some of those effects as shown in the movie. It's nothing spooky, but you can't help it if your imagination chooses to run wild. I had to review and watch this because writer-directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom cut their cinematic debut with this movie, and I will have the opportunity to watch their next movie Alone, and sit through a panel discussion with them. Doing my homework is a must.

I thought Shutter managed to carve some new horror rules for the Asian horror genre, such as having the story center around a male protagonist (which current horror movies seem to give allowance to as well). And unlike many run of the mill horror movies which do things for the sake of doing them, and rely heavily technically in delivering shock tactics, Shutter had an incredibly believable, and strong storyline at its core. Story matters, and the filmmakers never seem to forget that. In providing a reason for the spook to haunt our protagonists, they have carefully developed characters, scenes, and provided enough plot development in the unravelling of its mystery, giving it a refreshing narrative presentation which still has not aged. Its revelatory scenes is one of the best ever, coupled with the best possible ending which chills, thrills and provide the spills, and it's no wonder why Hollywood came knocking in its season of movie-adaptation hunting.

Shutter tells the story of Tun (heartthrob Ananda Everingham), a freelance photographer, and his girlfriend Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee), who after a night out celebrating a friend's wedding, get involved in a hit-and-run episode. Things start to go awry for our couple, staring with the photographs that Tun takes for a living exhibiting strange wispy white shadows, some of which Jane's imagination start to think it was the girl whom they have knocked down. Talk about the consciousness feeling guilty. But investigations into the identity of the woman prove to be more than meets the eye, and cuts closer to home that they both can ever imagine, involving a girl from the past, Natre (Achita Sikarmana)

Never relying on cheap tricks, which I thought was a major plus, the production values are top notch, doesn't look cheap for one bit, and that itself lent some gravitas to the credibility of the movie and story - you just don't need quick cuts or jumpy Boo moments to scare - just a carefully developed scene which sends chilling reactions. For that matter, there was a scene that didn't even need to show the actor's face; the strength of the story and for that scene alone, was worth it.

At its core, there's a pair of sad love stories cementing the narrative, which if you remove the supernatural elements, might seem to reek of cliche romantic drama series. But in this story of doctored pictures, double exposures, and the lack of focus, it allows reason enough for some reinforcement of the popular thought that our spectral friends usually return to settle their unfinished business, to exact their vengeance, a view that I share because I don't believe all ghosts are as good natured as Casper.

All in, this is a horror movie that I'd recommend because it doesn't try too hard, and has a decent story at its core. If you're someone who believes that the camera can capture souls (even from living beings), then Shutter would be right up your alley. Certainly a more satisfying Asian horror movie to come out in recent years, and definitely trumps over many half-baked ideas for the genre that get churned out from Korean to Japan to Thailand.

The Code 3 DVD by Alliance Entertainment comes in Dolby Stereo 2.0 in its original Thai soundtrack. Audio quality is excellent, while not crystal sounding, enables the relevant audio effects to add an additional dimension to give you the spooks. Visually, the 4x3 Letterbox presentation could have been anamorphic widescreen, and the transfer is not pristine as some pops and cackles are visible in some scenes (no, we're not talking about the shots of photographs here). At times, the visuals look a bit grainy too.

Scene selection is available over 21 chapters, and optional subtitles are in Chinese. English subtitles are burnt in, so no issues with that, especially when it's devoid of spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. The special features, while the list looks impressive, actually has a combined runtime of less than 13 minutes. While split up into its respective menu options, they actually play one after another continuously.

The special features include the theatrical trailer (2:29), and a featurette titled "Scoop: In the Picture", which seeks to answer the question if those pictures with the spooks are real or otherwise, with interviews involving people in academia and the photo film industry. It did seem an interesting extra to include, but a pity it's only runs for 1:35. There's also an ambiguously titled "Feature" extra, which runs for 0:39, with its content also as ambiguous as its title, offering nothing more.

The cast and crew interviews (2:20) involved only the director-writers Banjong Pisathanakun and Parkpoorn Wongpoom, who shared the inspiration for the movie, and lead actors Ananda Everingham and Natthaweeranuch Thongmee. I thought it would be a good inclusion for Achita Sikamana, but probably that'll spoil the mystique.

Writer-director Parkpoom seemed the more talkative of the two, if the Behind the Scenes feature is to be accurate, when they share their experiences and recount incidents that happen on the set. The more action packed sequences were selected for this feature, with the Car Crash (0:55), Suicide (1:35), which I was amazed at how it was done in one continuous shot, but of course, revealed here, Ladder (1:50) which recounted a near miss accident, and Real Picture From Location (1:11) which was a real mimicking reel life where the filmmakers actually had a photograph taken on the set reveal some extra uninvited guest!

This, IS SPARTA!

So I deliberated for almost 2 days, before making a purchase on a whim, which I rarely do. RARELY.


There are 3 DVD versions of this movie available in Code 3 format here, the first is the version I got, the Exclusive 2 Disc Limited Edition with the Spartan helmet attached. The other version which cost just a little less was the one with the metal casing, which I thought would be worthwhile because it's easier to keep, and a hardier casing I suppose could allow for some hard knocks. The last version of course is a normal 2 Disc edition which comes with a scrapbook of sorts.


But of course I had to settle for that nice looking helmet. It's not cheap plastic ok? I reckon it weighs in at least at 1.5 kilos! Hope the extras (which are on a separate disc) are worthwhile. Review of the DVD to come real soon, but you can read my review of the movie here!

Who Slept With Her? aka Sexy Teacher (Nuga Geunyeo-wa Jasseulkka?)

Our Dream Teacher

The poster hailed Who Slept With Her as the "most hilarious sex comedy of the year", a classic case of tooting the horn too loudly. For sure it definitely is not the most hilarious, as most of the time, the jokes felt quite juvenile and akin to what any hot blooded lusty adolescent male will come up with.

Simply put, the object of lust is centered on trainee French teacher Uhm Ji-young (Kim Sa-rang, whom I thought looked like a more curvaceous, sexed up Jeon Ji-hyun from certain angles), a femme fetale who knows how to flaunt them - perfect tits, slender waist, endless legs, packaged in figure hugging dresses, short skits, blouses which provide an outlet for the cleavage to peek-a-boo. And putting her in an all boys Catholic school, is bound to raise the temperatures of the entire male population. We can't afford that, so we have just 3 students who will actively pursue her - the school hunk Kim Tae-yo (Ha Suk-jin), the school pervert Ahn Myong-sub (Ha Dong-hoon) and a boy afflicted with an aging disease (don't ask!) Bae Jae-seong (Park Jun-kyu), who provides the complimentary toilet humour courtesy of his character's large member.

The plot, if any so to speak, besides everyone wanting to bed the teacher, is based on the school's disciplinarian and his dogged pursuit to try and uncover some hanky panky shenanigans going on between teacher and student(s), and the introductory scene set the stage in the form of a a "who did it", before the movie unfolds in a series of modus operandi styled introduction to each and every suspect, making this movie character focus based.

Those *ahem* expecting some skin and flesh to be shown will be utterly disappointed. Kim Sa-rang's assets remain under wraps, and you see nothing, so don't bother. Sometimes in movies of this genre, the supporting cast will be the substitute flesh-barer, but here, you get none. It's played out more like a comedy (and a very weak one at that), with some "sex" elements for the sole purpose of trying to add onto the laughs, rather than to raise some temperatures. You don't get to see anything, and there was a running gag which relied to sound effects, coupled with cheap visual effects to try and elicit some laughs.

However, Ji-young the teacher, as a character, is interesting enough, in that she knows how to manipulate her looks to get what she wants. I'm sure many of us would know someone like that, and sometimes I wonder about how ethical it is to engage in this type of manipulation. Each wink, each twinkle of an eye, each smile, always seem so purposeful, and sometimes she does cross the line and tease the students by seemingly falling for their antics, or getting a little closer to fulfilling their fantasies.

Other than that, I would think "sex comedy" should have sex AND comedy. Eye candy cock teases don't count. Save your money for a repeat viewing of your favourite blockbuster now showing, or catch this on discs format.

Broken English

Woe Me

Broken English referred to, and this is the more obvious reference, the way English is not spoken by native speakers, thereby creating at times some comedic situations when accents come into play to dilute the actual meaning of the words. But Zoe Cassavete's movie isn't an outright comedy, or one which deals with language in Mind Your Language style. It's actually a dramatic look at Romance, from the point of view of a 30-something.

And this actually turned out to be a Parker Posey vehicle, as the actress takes the lead role of luckless in love Nora Wilder, who is into her 30s, and as per societal judgement, gearing towards an old maid zone. Perhaps I belong to the other gender, and hence understand some of the predicaments faced ala the movies starring Zach Braff of late (The Ex, The Last Kiss), thus not being able to fully appreciate the point of views from Cassavete's characters. But try as I could, I thought it fell short in presenting its points succinctly, instead by adding too many sub plots without much depth, the entire narrative turned out to be rather scattered.

Maybe deliberately done to highlight that life throws you the occasional curve ball that you can hardly dodge from, but watching how Nora gets put through the paces of meeting men and then finding out that their incompatible, which usually happens quite fast, Broken English initially turned out to be quite episodic. Scenes change, characters get introduced, things happen, and then the next big thing occurs. While not disjointed, it did seem a little superficial, and hardly allowing you room to feel for Nora or to be in her shoes and walk around in it a little.

Things get interesting when Parisian Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a friend of a colleague, enters her life, and then for a moment you fear the worse as shades of Before Sunrise/Sunset start to creep into their conversations of just about anything, and their gung ho attempts to spend quality time together, wherever they may be, go to, or end up at. For a minute I thought Vienna would be swapped for New York. The pace was not deliberately slow, but you can feel its length, especially during the third act when the locale gets shifted overseas, and you start to secretly hope that it'll all end soon, whatever the outcome.

Being a debutant Zoe Cassavetes written-directed by movie, I think it had shown signs of promise, just that it is unfortunately not polished enough. What made this movie watchable is the ever reliable Parker Posey performance, where the weight of the entire movie fell on her lithe frame. She made this movie bearable to continue watching despite her character's frequent misery, and kudos to her are well deserved. Watch this only if you cannot get tickets to Harry Potter.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Welcome to the New Order

Finally, Harry Potter's gotten a decent clean cut hairstyle, compared to that ghastly shaggy dog manes that he spotted in the previous installment Goblet of Fire. The much touted scene here is The Kiss (about 1 hour into the movie), but seriously, that's much ado about nothing compared to what the rest of the movie has in store for audiences around the world. Just so you know, I've still not read any of the books by JK Rowling thus far, preferring to rely on cinematic magic to condense the ever increasing thickness of the novels into 2hrs and 10-20mins of full sensory invasion.

As a movie franchise installment, it doesn't waste time introducing characters or what's been done - either you know it, or you don't. So for those who have not watched Goblet of Fire, then please do, as Order of the Phoenix starts off pretty much from where the previous left off, with Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) left haunted with his experience of battle with the dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, who also gained recent notoriety with his mile high exploits). Soon he finds himself devoid of friends, save for those loyal 2 - Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and plenty of pent up teenage angst of being unable to figure things out and make things right.

Yes, Harry's all grown up now, and instead of the usual teenage dalliances, he gets troubled with the ways of the world, of school politics, ministry politics, an evil Lord after his blood, and many more just to make him break. Even the staunch fatherly figures of godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) and Headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) seem so distant when he needed to reach out. Our boy wizard surely has his plate full.

Without spoiling the plot, I thought the movies have already developed a formula in presentation, and its predictability comes in the form of starting with the Muggles, then a little scuffle, before proceeding to Hogwarts for the semester, uncover a certain mystery, get tangled into that mystery, where solving it leads to a major fight sequence, followed finally with some resolution, yet having a reminder loom around that while the micro stuff have been attended to, the macro issue of his parentage, his scar, his affiliation with Voldermot, are still not addressed in its entirety, and satisfactorily.

Despite the structure, I've come to enjoy the franchised installments so far, as they play out like X-Files episodes - with mysteries that can be solved within the episode itself, yet having that long drawn conspiracy theories that continue to make you come back, just to learn whatever you can on new developments. As our characters grow (and actors grow in real world time), the story also develops and becomes more mature - gone are the cutesy antics in the earlier movies, and these get replaced by the darker themes, and in both mood and tone. Certain subplots do seem to get introduced quite haphazardly, but I suppose they're there as unmovable plot devices in order to stay true to the novel's actual plot development.

The supporting cast continue to grow, and the introduction of Imelda Staunton's Folores Umbridge will indeed incense anyone - the quintessential teacher from Hell. Fans of Hermione and Ron will perhaps rue that their idols somehow get lesser screen time, and spend most times in the background. But I thought that each time when they get together and the scene is just on our 3 buddies, you just can't help but feel for the camaraderie so strongly forged, given that they've spent years and 5 movies together already. There's a scene where they smiled (yes it's that simple), but somehow, it rung through as being so genuine, so heartwarming in spite of the story's contextual doom and gloom, it's like a beacon of hope that no worries, everything will be alright. That simple scene alone won me, that this is indeed a movie with important themes on love and friendship, that in the face of adversary, you just know who to count on.

Some may complain that the movie doesn't really feature much or new magic spells, but that I believe stays true to the storyline with many of Umbridge's unwarranted rules and regulations imposed on the student population. But when it's time to duke it out, I'd say the special effects were second to none, with the battles between the magic practitioners nothing less than spectacular, and since it's done by Industrial Light and Magic, then I'll state that they have been designed to be more intense that the Star Wars lightsabre fights - given of course we're dabbling in the realm of magic, where anything and everything goes, and to perfection as rendered in the movie - truly an awesome sight to behold when the masters settle it mano a mano.

I think this is the best Harry Potter movie so far (I've made mention that Goblet of Fire was, back in late 2005), even though it's still a cock tease. Guess we've got 10 days to find out what will really happen to the boy wizard, and thereafter, stay interested enough to want to watch the remaining two movies. I'd like to say that I can't wait (to read about the ending in Deathly Hallows, and for the last 2 movies to be made).

1.18.08

Sorry folks for the lack of updates, been taken ill since Sunday night, but am on the road to recovery with the help of some medicine and plenty of sleep, so you should see a review of Harry Potter in the next few days.

In any case, I've finally watched the "rockly awesome" (ok, this is a made up phrase and inside joke with a friend) trailer that had teased the audiences in North America prior to their screening of Transformers. Bootlegs of the trailer made it to YouTube but were soon taken down....

Wait! It's Up Again!


Anyway, the official trailer is up at Apple, and you can find it here. Fact is, I'm drooling too - it's such a cock tease, and anyone who is into monster movies, special effects movies and the likes, will not doubt have their interest piqued, especially when it is produced by JJ Abrams, whom another friend said whatever that man touches, have turned to gold. Well, I disagree, but anyway...

Thoughts of Godzilla came to mind obviously, but I am putting my speculative money on...

ULTRAMAN!

Yeah, as ridiculous as it might sound (to you), don't forget that Hollywood had bastardized Godzilla, and the Power Rangers, so why not something as iconic as that Japanese hero, and with Abrams' magic touch, we could see some decent treatment.

In anycase, we'll know come 18 Jan 2008. That's about 6 bloody months away. Thanks for building the anticipation early. And if it really turns out to be Ultraman, you heard it HERE first LOL

[DVD] About Schmidt (2002)

Clock Watching

Retirement can be a scary thing. I suppose it's about 40 years before I hit retirement age (given that it's a moving target on the increase), but I do confess at times I think about it, a time where I presumably have the opportunity to do whatever I please - travel, read, and of course watch more movies at discounted ticket prices, and so on, but whether or not I will have the strength and energy to do so will be a different story, and more importantly, whether my retirement funds will be sufficient to support a lifestyle I choose.

Anyway I was surprised with About Schmidt. At first glance I thought it was going to be a mundane movie, but it had plenty of heart, and many moments of contemplation which actually made me ponder deeper about those sunset times. Jack Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a Vice President of an insurance company who retires at the start of the story. Naturally it takes much getting used to, and with time on his hands, he thinks about the legacy, or the lack thereof, in which he is leaving behind.

From not being appreciated by the younger generation taking over his office, to trying to patch ties with his estranged daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) who's about to get married to a blue collared "loser" Randall (Dermot Mulroney, note that I put that word in quotations, because I thought I'd become fast friends with people like that, those who are genuinely earnest), much against his wishes, here's a portrait of an extremely sad, lonely man trying to take stock of his life, where little routine things suddenly become significant.

The first half of the movie set the scene, before the second half takes us on a road trip of sorts, much like Broken Flowers or even Elizabethtown, during which Schmidt exhibits more of his insecurities and fear. Jack Nicholson did a superb job as usual fleshing out the character of Warren, with the cinematography being tip top in bringing out the detachment he experiences with his environment. You can feel his pain and wanting to belong, holding dear to treasures of his heart, especially his daughter. And to borrow these lines from his earlier movie, Jack's Warren Schmidt personifies "I'm only laughing on the outside, my smile is just skin deep. but if you look inside I'm really crying, you might join me for a weep!" to a T.

Based on a novel by Louis Begley and directed by Alexander Payne (who brought us another road trip movie Sideways), one of the highlights of the movie is Warren's communication with an African child he adopted long distance. Through his letters, it becomes clear the issues he's grappling with, and some of the white lies he tells, which mirrors the way he lives his life. And I must say as much as movie endings are important, About Schmidt has one of the simplest, but most powerful message it brings out, and that is while we worry about the legacy we live behind in the world for generations to come, sometimes it's not necessary that it must be something monumental. The simplest gesture, straight from the heart, is all there is to make a difference, and stamp your mark.

With an excellent waltz like theme for Warren Schmidt, and that shot of Encyclopedia Brown (nostalgia! I read that as a kid!), I'd recommend About Schmidt anytime should anyone ask which recent Jack Nicolson movies one should watch. Be warned though, the Code 3 DVD is censored, especially those bits with Kathy Bates (I suspect for, erm, nudity).

The Code 3 DVD from Alliance Entertainment comes in widescreen 1.85:1 anamorphic presentation, or in full screen (1,33:1). Visual transfer was decent, and audio comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Scene selection is over 15 chapters, and subtitles are available in English or Chinese.

The Special Features included are the theatrical trailer (2:25), deleted scenes and a featurette known as he Woodmen Sequences. The deleted scenes were presented in "raw form", but it turned out in better quality than I thought. Clocking in at 30:36, about 9 scenes were included here, most of which were omitted to speed things up especially in the first half of the movie (watch it and you'll know why). The deleted scenes are Scene 17 around a dining table, which was painful to director Alexander Payne to remove because of its personal nature, Scene 22 which was shot in the lobby of Woodmen of the World building, Scenes 34-37 which I agreed should be removed because it interrupted the flow of Schmidt's angry letter, Scenes 68-71 which was some excellent father-daughter screen time, Scenes 88-93 touching on Schmidt's arrest, Scene 103 which was not in the theatrical version but in the network TV and airline version, Scenes 110-113 with Schmidt visiting Pioneer Village, Scene 152 involving the highway patrol after an incident at the trailer park and Scene 161 at a breakfast diner.

The Woodmen Sequences are a series of short films made out of shots of the Woodmen of the World building, as well as shots of Omaha, like an ode to both the building and the city. Consisting of 5 short films with a total time of 13:35, they are all distinctly different in style and feel, with short film 1 looking like an alternate opening credit sequence, short film 4 like a comedic short, and short film 5, being the longest, but the most experimental.

The Ex aka Fast Track

Yay!

If I were to look at it, I would say The Ex aka Fast Track forms a loose trilogy of sorts with regards to growing up, and somewhat like a natural progression in the different stages of life that Zach Braff's characters form when stringed together. With Garden State, it's in the 20s where you're having a feel for the ground, exploring your options and not knowing exactly what life will dish out to you. With One Last Kiss, so you think that you're dead sure about your other half, you're getting married and vowing to spend the rest of your lives together, and suddenly an ingenue comes along, and cast doubts about that.

Plenty of what-will-you-do moments, with outcome that are different depending on your values, but totally possible, and brought out earnestly through Braff's performance as the everyday man. In The Ex, Zach Braff plays the blue collar salaryman whose hotshot lawyer wife had just given birth and as agreed, she'll be a stay home mum. But he just got fired from his job, thus sending their agreement into red alert zone. Taking up his father in law's offer, he uproots himself, wife and baby and starts work in a new age advertising company, only to meet up with his wife's ex.

You'd come to expect the usual jokes about not fitting into a totally different corporate culture with its own idiosyncrasies, conflict with the parents, and the constant threat posed by the wife's ex Chip Sanders played by Jason Bateman, which I bet almost every male would want to kill given his attitude and back stabbing nature. It's classic office politics at work as we root for the survival of Zach's Tom Reilly, though at times you'd expect him to have a little more backbone, and a little bit of smarts to survive the jungle out there.

If that sounds a little like Meet The Parents, it does. And it also is styled after Just Friends in the rivalry department, where two guys do battle over a girl, only that this time, it's the third party up against a married couple. Though I'd say it again, nothing beats riling you up when you see how the bastard at work gets away with almost everything, and get incensed with his obvious intentions to bang his ex, i.e. the wife.

The flow of the movie did seem a little broken at times, which I suspect that there were a lot more filmed than was put on screen, perhaps saving them for the DVD release. The ideas injected into the movie were numerous, but that made for the narrative feeling a little scattered. For instance, Amanda Peet as the wife Sofia Kowalski didn't really have much to do except nurse the baby, and be in some of the most trying comedic scenes such as the ones involving yoga.

Fans of Braff will not want to miss yet another familiar performance, and remember to stay tune during the credits for a coda, as well as various bloopers, some of which are genuinely funnier than the bits that made it to the movie.

Rise: Blood Hunter

Harder!

Plenty of nudity bits, this movie is a quick hack consisting of plot elements from Kill Bill, The Crow, Blade and Elektra. Lucy Liu stars in a dud of a movie which doesn't deserve to be released during summer season. If you're in need of a bad comedy which takes itself too seriously, then this might be the movie for you, though I'd advise against watching it.

To read my review of Rise: Blood Hunter at movieXclusive.com, click on the logo below:

Invisible City

Yesterday

I must confess I had eagerly anticipated Tan Pin Pin's latest work Invisible City since I caught wind of its production. Given that I had enjoyed Singapore GaGa tremendously, and having had the opportunity to view Invisible City in a special bloggers' screening, I just can't contain my glee enough. But the mood I experienced when watching the movie was somewhat sombre if compared to GaGa, which had lovely tunes sprinkled around.

If I could use a word to describe Invisible City, it will be 'Important'; an aptly timed wake up call. Given the recent (coincidental) slew of news on conserving aged architectural beauties, I thought the documentary touched upon issues of importance vis-a-vis those articles, that as material things get demolished and destroyed, what's left are the memories of what once were. And when memories fade, become faulty, not get recorded in some medium as evidence of its existence, what then? It is as if what was had fused into a part of our current Internet world, of being something virtual and intangible from a long time ago, and sadly unrecognizable.

Like how Invisible City was consciously made to just scratch the surface of its deep undertones, forgive me if I do not manage to encompass succintly all the emotions I felt when watching this documentary. Rather, I'd prefer to touch upon what intrigued me, and hope that after watching it, you'll feel something stirring inside, and be interested enough to want to talk about it too.

What I enjoyed about Invisible City, are the moments where it inevitably made you think, about existentialism, about memories, about immortality. The quest of some to want to leave their own mark in the vast world we live in, to make that drop of proclamation - "I was here!" - heard.

If I can so boldly intrude on Pin Pin's important piece of work with a reference to geeky pop culture, there are approximately 4 million of us on this tiny island, each shaping our own experience, grappling with own own issues, and our own interpretation of what makes our country. Unlike the Borg Collective where everyone can understand, feel and experience what our fellow men had gone through just because, we realize that while each of us have pertinent, interesting things to share, it doesn't get any easier getting that audience. What's recorded in the annals of history, as the cynical saying goes, are done by the victors. But there are always two sides to a coin, and what about the views of those on the flip side, aren't their experiences worthy enough to make the coin complete, and in turn, our understanding whole?

I don't deny that it's not an easy movie to sit through despite its 60 minute runtime, not because it is boring, but because by the time the documentary ends, you're likely to be overwhelmed by concurrent thoughts of what went on, and be bursting to share and discuss the many intricate subtexts that present themselves in the different narrative threads.

There are plenty of visible gems in the documentary, the tangible ones are the photographs, and colour films of Early Singapore that get shared with the audience, of a world no longer in existence. While Eng Yee Peng's excellent Diminishing Memories dealt with change from within her hometown, Invisible City dealt with the similar subject albeit on a larger scale. Real life on the streets of old captured candidly for posterity, colonial styled buildings forming part of our skyline, yet all are unlabelled until the end credits - it does make you pause and wonder if knowing them didn't matter because they are no longer there.

Do we need artifacts to convince us of something, of time capsules, buried treasures that need to be dug out, something to hold and feel, versus something more abstract, like memories, experiences, that are more difficult to preserve. As Pin Pin shared, this is like a documentary on documenting, which I thought was like art imitating life. And in a skillfully shrewd manner, I thought one of the best moments was the presentation of a Japanese reporter's finding out more about those recollections on WWII, and the eventual outcome of her article, bringing about almost an unavoidable comparison with Mr Han's experience with the clampdown on student activists in the days before our independence, that while the Japanese were shameful about their war past and having them adjusted for the history books, here too is a small account from a point of view rarely seen and heard, if at all. by a contemporary generation.

What makes history? I think history is made up of emotions. Emotions that are universal, emotions each of us are capable of feeling, that Invisible City is able to elicit. Invisible City is indeed a gem in itself, open your eyes, think, experience and feel.

Keen to watch Invisible City and watch for free? Click here to find out how - from the 19th-21st July 07! Tan Pin Pin herself will be present for a Q&A session after the screenings!

Otherwise, Invisible City will screen exclusively at The Arts House

Tickets at $8 (Adults) and $6 (Students with ID)

Available from The Arts House Box Office, 1 Old Parliament Lane, Singapore 179429.

Ticketing hotline: +65 6332 6919 (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 11am-8pm)


Screenings at The Arts House (Afternoon and Evening Shows)

22 Jul 4:30 6:00

23 Jul to 25 Jul 7:30 9:00

31 Jul to 3 Aug 7:30

4 Aug 4:30 6:00 7:30

5 Aug 4:30 6:00

7 Aug to 10 Aug 7:30

11 Aug 4:30 6:00 7:30

12 Aug 4:30 6:00



***Q&A***
There was a Q&A with director Tan Pin Pin after the screening, and here are some points which I managed to pick up. Any errors here are mine alone of couse, and there are spoilers, so tread carefully if you choose to proceed. You have been warned!

1. There was a portion of recollection where the screen turns black. Just a voiceover and nothing else. Naturally this was space for you to let go and allow your imagination to run loose.

2. There was no listing of names during the documentary, though interviewees were credited in the end credits. This was deliberate so that the audience does not get distracted, nor start to box in their views and perceptions of who the person might or could be.

3. The documentary was unscripted and was made during the editing phase. It was a ground up, organic approach to filmmaking.

4. Mr Han Tan Juan himself was present for today's screening and sitting through the Q&A, he shared that he can feel that the audience and himself are from a vastly different generation, of different eras and experiences. He found it difficult to talk to his own daughters about what he went through, and thought more so for other people to understand. After all, he had his citizenship revoked, and had been in jail.

5. This film is more emotional than political (given some subject matter touched upon), which I agree.

6. On whether Pin Pin herself would consider donating her own films to the National Archives - there are good and bad points, on accessibility and non-accessibility of material in there.

7. The ratio of film shot and the final cut was 50:1. A full transcript of the scenes and dialogue was made available so that Pin Pin can randomly access scenes and footage during editing, rather than to sit through everything again.

8. Pin Pin had wanted to seek out and share what she found, rather than to seek out, and keep these to herself.

9. The Chinese title is rich in word play (sorry, my Chinese is a bit weak to fully appreciate, and translate it into its various English equivalent)

[DVD] Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers (Urutoraman Mebiusu ando Urutora Kyôdai) (2006)

Shuwatchi!

I grew up watching Ultraman on television, so much so that back then I can sing the theme song, in Japanese (of course not knowing exactly what it meant)! With so many variations on the Ultra heroes, it's actually quite easy for a kid to follow, with each episode having a different ugly monster wreck havoc on Earth (ok, make that Japan), and each time Ultra-whoever will transform himself, do battle through his kung-fu moves, until that red light on his chest blinks as an indication to stop monkeying around, and then he finishes the monster with his signature moves.

Ah, nostalgia! But what I did like about Ultraman, was indeed the intricate modelling done on the landscapes of Japan, and how they get so painfully destroyed by the monster imitating Gojira, or when our hero is on the receiving end of a smackdown to the ground. And the special effects, though so dated today, were really captivating to a kid those days. I have many fond memories of my collection of Ultraman figurines, which somehow mysteriously disappeared after cousins came visiting one afternoon many years back. Over the years, especially after television stopped airing updated episodes, Ultraman faded, but always had a special place inside my heart.

There were the new versions of late, what with Ultraman Tiga, Dyna and what have yous. I found their design to be un-Ultraman like, especially with their shades of blue. Watching some episodes didn't trigger my interest, so I did not pick up from where I left off. However, in celebration of 40 years since the creation of the very first Ultraman, a new movie (only released in disc format here) was spotted on the shelves, that of a certain Ultraman Mebius. While I thought his colour scheme was right, and the new kid on the block very nicely designed and pleasing to the eye, what caught my interest was the words "Ultraman Brothers", and in the same cover, you see the heroes of old, including Ultraman, Ultraman Jack, Ultraseven, and Ultraman Ace, together with Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Zoffy. Wow! But the barebones DVD coupled with its unattractive price put me off for a bit, until I saw a preview of it being shown on the television of an electronics shop.

And I was sold!

Confirming it with Richard that it indeed was from the same movie, I bought the DVD, and rarely do I pop it into the player immediately (I still have stacks of DVDs unwatched), but I did for this one. And I loved it tremendously, nevermind the kiddish plot and central theme of "the power of confidence can give you courage" kinda fortune cookie sayings.

For the uninitiated (as if I was an expert), Yi Lai is in the GUYS formation, one of those world wide policemen with snazzy equipment and vehicles to combat monsters that invade earth, but almost without a doubt never using such firepower given the presence of Ultraman. Yi Lai is Ultraman Mebius, and when called upon, he has this transformation device attached to his wrist to being him up to size. Mebius is quite athletic, and has a range of powers which this movie will introduce you to, coupled with a streak of green in his level of experience. After all, Mebius had selected to come to earth because he wanted to find out whatever happened to his brothers Ultraman, Jack, Ace and Seven.

The quartet had been living a life of seclusion of sorts in their human form, sacrificing their ability to transform in order to imprison a vicious monster. And you know what the best part is? The filmmakers got the ORIGINAL human actors to portray their aged counterparts, and fused some montage shots from their respective series of yesteryears! You just cannot get any more cooler or more authentic than that! Pure nostalgia flowing I tell you! And this lends some weight when the quartet had to counsel Yi Lai and dispense some tips and tricks to our new rookie protector of earth - we've been there, and done that!

Not to spoil the story (which isn't much anyway), the action sequences are to die for. Fans will recognize our respective heroes' signature killer moves, and after 40 years, CGI has crept into the movie in the depiction of our heroes' battles against the monsters, but that is not to say it's forgetting its man-in-a-rubber-suit heritage. You get the best of both worlds combined, with close-ups and more physical stunts done by stuntmen, and the more fantastical, in flight action rendered through computer graphics. It's pure eye-candy, and one which you're definite to watch on repeat!

This is a recommended must watch for all Ultraman fans out there, and I'm already eyeing the original series boxset which is currently still priced beyond my reach. Tears will flow when I watch those episodes I tell you! And Mebius does seem interesting enough for me to want to follow his exploits. So if anyone out there wanna get my a gift for whatever occasion, you probably know what to get me now, don't you? :P

The Code 3 DVD from Scorpio East does leave one wanting though. For a DVD touted as "40th Anniversary Movie Deluxe Edition", there are zero extras, which is a pity. Visual transfer does look a little grainy in the beginning, though it doesn't get obviously noticeable as the movie wore on, and it's quite unfortunate it's in a letterboxed edition versus an anamorphic widescreen transfer.

Audio is in either English or Japanese (Dolby Stereo 2.0), but for heaven's sake, stick to the original Japanese track. I have no idea who did the English dubbing, but it is the most awful piece of English you'll ever hear in your entire life. The voice acting was horrible, and sounded as if they've just learnt English as a language, with zero emotions, and had marbles in their mouths, much like how a robot would perform if asked to read a script. I'd say to really enjoy this, turn on the Japanese track, and if you can't understand Japanese, then turn on the subtitles for either English, Chinese or Malay.

And speaking of the subtitles, they aren't perfect too (or at least the English ones weren't), with some noticeable grammatical errors now and then, and laziness in part to punctuate their sentences correctly, especially those that require an apostrophe - sometimes it's included, other times it's not.

But minor gripes aside, don't let them ruin the movie experience. This must be watched on as big a screen as you can get. With a runtime of 1:32:34 split over a scene selection of 6 chapters, the menus are pretty plain, except for the main menu which has some animation on it showcasing the various transformation from man to the respective Ultramans. Stick around for the end credits too, as they will show more nostalgic scenes from the older series, as well as scenes of the 40th anniversary celebrations where cast past and present gather in the company of Ultramans.

July Is Local Female Directors Month!

If you're asking me why I am stating the gender, it's because the year to date have seen Kelvin Tong, Jack Neo, and if you want to stretch it a little, Max Makowski and Graham Streeter debut their latest films on the big screen in commercial releases. I'm leaving out the festival and one off screenings, otherwise we'll have Jasmin Ng for Pink Paddlers and Lynn Lee (together with James Leong) for Aki Ra's Boys. (You can view the 2007 lineup here)

So for the month of July, we make up for the surplus in testosterone, and we have Tan Pin Pin presenting her follow up documentary to Singapore GaGa entitled Invisible City, and Wee Li Lin making her narrative feature film debut with Gone Shopping, starring Adrian Pang and Kym Ng.

Gone Shopping will have a press conference that is open to the public, on Thursday 28 June 4pm at the Marina Square Atrium, and a Charity Gala Premiere on 24th July 07. The movie opens on 26th July 07.

Invisible City will be screening at the Arts House from 22 July to 12 Aug 07. Tickets are already available, so get yours today. I will hopefully be able to bring you a review on the 3rd/4th July.

Here are the respective website links, teasers and theatrical trailers. Enjoy, remember those dates, and get your tickets!

Invisible City - Tan Pin Pin, 19 Jul
Trailer

Trailer


Gone Shopping The Movie - Wee Li Lin, 26 July
Teaser 1

Teaser 2

Teaser 3

Trailer

[DVD] 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Tame Me

10 Things I Hate About You is one of your typical teenage romantic comedy, loosely based on William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Taking place over a semester with the introduction of new kid on the block Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and culminating in the school prom, the movie has a surprising number of sight gags and plenty of pop music throughout, so much so that it really does have a bloated soundtrack which seem to give a whole extended music video feel to it all.

As with plenty of the Bard's stories, there's quite an ensemble cast assembled, starting with the Shrew herself Kat (Julia Stiles) and Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik), two sisters who are living under their father's strict house rules of no dating until graduation. Despite Dad's ultra protective nature in having his daughters live out his worst fear of being impregnated, the rules do get modified - Bianca can date if Kat dates, and that in itself is a tall order given Kat's nasty I-don't-give-a-damn attitude.

And the suitors in competition are none other than Cameron, who's after Bianca, and his rival the school heartthrob Joey (Andrew Keegan). As with Shakespeare's stories, expect a little strategizing and some mistaken intentions at certain points, with Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger with that trademarked frizzy hair) being roped by the two men to woo Kat, thereby freeing them to go after the girl of their dreams.

Without gazing into the crystal ball, you'll know that Patrick will probably fall for Kat for real, and thereby complicating matters, affecting even his own chances. For the most parts I thought where in the movie will the title be referenced, because it doesn't seem to be the case, but when it finally is included into the plot, it's actually quite an emotional, moving piece.

The introduction perhaps inspired Pretty Persuasion, with the orientation of the rookie in the school premises, pointing out the various cliques and school politics. The supporting casts, especially the school teachers, were fun and totally opposite what you might consider proper conduct. And I thought it was pretty fluffy material until the romance between Patrick and Kat touched upon impressions, and the building of walls as a defense mechanism to fragile hearts. I thought that was a pretty frank outlook, with the characters mentioning it as a matter of fact.

Still, don't expect the masterpiece although it's based on a classical play. The editing and narrative flow do seem to be choppy at times, with transitions proved to be quite abrupt, allowing me to suspect that some scenes ended up on the cutting room floor for some reason, except to smoothen the flow. It's quite jarring and sticks out like a sore thumb, but nonetheless it's still a fairly enjoyable movie for a lazy weekend afternoon.

Code 3 DVD from Touchstone Home Video is a barebones letterboxed edition in aspect ration 1.85:1. Subtitles are available in English, Mandarin, Bahasa and Korean, and scene selection is over 22 chapters. Given the number of outtakes shown during the end credits, there are a number of deleted scenes which sadly, were not included in this DVD release.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 (Jopog Manura 3)

Nothing Beats A Catfight. Meow!

Director Cho Jin-gyu of the original action-comedy My Wife is a Gangster returns to direct this sequel. However, without the return of the titular Wife Cha Eun-jin (Shin Eun-Kyung), this movie is nothing more than just a namesake, but there's no stopping the linkage with the box office success of the earlier movies. The new Wife here (though she's actually a guest rather than a Wife) is none other than sultry looking Shu Qi, who plays Aryong, the daughter of a triad leader (what else) in Hong Kong, starring Ti Lung in a supporting role.

There are some bits shot in Hong Kong, and in the Cantonese language, which is all fine and dandy (given it's rare here to hear complete Cantonese dialogue in movies no thanks to the Speak Mandarin campaign), but what was bad in these scenes were the plenty of subtitles - in English, Mandarin and Korean, which cover almost 50% of the screen.

As the story goes, Aryong offends some gangsters in her homeland, and in a bid to ensure her safety, her father gets her packing overseas to take cover from the impending gangland war. She gets packed to where else, Korea (it's a Korean production after all), and becomes a guest to some Korean mafiaso, with Ki-Chul (Lee Beom-su) and his posse being the hosts and guardians of Aryong. But with the bumbling inept fools, you're quite certain who's the protector, and who's in need of protection here.

It's a fairly average movie with the usual lost in translation jokes, the clashing of cultures and of course, societal norms in a male dominated society. Mistaken intentions and deliberate translation errors to pursue individual character ends are the staple here, and some of them are genuinely funny, but like the adage, too much of a good thing cheapens it, especially when it continues to milk and replay scenes, such as over the dining table. You can see most of the jokes coming your way, and it depended very much on the actors' skill in delivery - that exaggerated body language, or that wide-eyed stare of disbelief and suspicion.

The action sequences are nothing much to wow about, especially with Shu Qi's superwoman Aryong character, who's almost only the character here who can fight. Given the number of goons thrown at her, you can't help but feel that many action scenes remind you of The Bride in Kill Bill, as she dispatches henchmen with so much ease, she rarely breaks into a sweat. And most times, with that deliberate long hair obscuring her face, you can bet your last dollar it's a stuntman taking over that lithe frame.

Some cheap shots were incorporated into the storyline, playing to Shu Qi's ex-vamp, slutty image of yesteryears. Guess you can't help it when you have some notoriety in your history, and scenes of boob grabs and woman-on-top staircase-induced gyrating scenes were in the movie quite unnecessarily, if nothing more for some juvenile laughs.

But all said, it's still a tad enjoyable, especially when you can't get tickets into the other blockbuster movies like Transformers and Die Hard 4.0 currently showing. Sometimes, movies like this when released at the same time of the expected sold-out movies, makes its cash by being the catch-all net from the expected overflow.

The Flying Scotsman

I Wanna Go Fast!

The Flying Scotsman is a formula sports biographical movie, based on the book written by a champion cyclist Graeme Obree. As with sports biopics like Cinderella Man and The World's Fastest Indian, Scotsman tells the story of the underdog's triumph against himself and his adversaries through innovation in technique, technology, and of course, perseverance sprinkled with grit and determination. But of course, like A Beautiful Mind, there are inner demons that have to be worked out, before assailing to the summit.

Graeme Obree (Jonny Lee Miller) is a bike enthusiast who works as a courier and owns a bike shop. Life's pretty plain, until he inspires to break an aged old World Hour record for longest distanced pedalled on a bicycle. But record breaking is an expensive ambition, and he realizes that aerodynamics will play an important factor. What I liked about the movie is to witness his keen observation and experimentation at work, to design the perfect sports bike, and riding techniques which some of us would have observed on television in the 90s.

Thus the movie begins charting the ups and downs of his career, starting with his built from scratch and from spare washing machine parts bike affectionately called The Old Faithful. It's something that man and machine, when united seamlessly, is able to go the distance. But of course, what I also liked is perhaps the stereotypical boardroom suits, of the powers that be, who are dead set in making life difficult for Obree, introducing absurd rules, regulations and terms in order to upset the spirit of innovation, and maintain their absolute control over the sport.

There are some moments which seem to mar the movie, despite understanding that they have to be introduced to give our on screen character more than one dimension. Struggling with injustice from the past affected Obree's EQ, but a good support structure in his wife Anne (Laura Fraser), manager Malky (Billy Boyd) and good adviser Douglas (Brian Cox), it makes a constant reminder that no man is an island, and that with good people supporting and believing in you, that's one of life's greatest gifts.

The theme track is excellent in itself, but unfortunately, none can replace the contemporary classic theme composed by Vangelis from Chariots of Fire. The track scenes though do get repetitive, but that's the nature of the sport - on the track, and usually alone when breaking records. When up against an opponent too, you're on opposite ends of the track, so there is no such thing as a photo-finish moment. Recommended movie despite its formula, if you're in need for some perk up when you're feeling down and low about yourself.

You can read more about Graeme Obree here.

[Short] Ah Ma

Ah Ma, the local short film which was selected for the 60e Cannes Film Festival to compete in the Les Courts Metrages En Competition for the Palme d'Or Short Film award, nearly walked away with the top prize, but settled for a Special Distinction award, which is a mean feat in itself, having been 1 amongst 11 others chosen from a pool of 3000 short films from around the world.

Naturally, the curious amongst us have a chance to view Ah Ma, directed by Anthony Chen, on the big screen, courtesy of GV's screening of the short at Cinema Europa prior to The Flying Scotsman.

Made on a budget of S$10,000, it is without a doubt that Ah Ma is well shot. Veering to the artistic film corner, it is a contemplative yet simplistic piece which is based on Anthony's own Ah Ma on her deathbed, and the camera capturing a snapshot of the moment, of the emotions felt by each member of the family. With some recognizable faces from local television and movies, I thought the scene stealer was the little boy, whom I thought was a character perfectly captured during times of impending death - the childlike innocence unaware of the grief of the immediate family, and continues to behave as such in its own little world, unburdened by any thoughts of remorse and regret, of perhaps not spending enough time, or perhaps losing the opportunity to make amends of sorts.

Now I know how an award winning short should look like ;)

However, in today's screening, it seemed that most of the audience (of 7) were oblivious to the screening of Ah Ma. Some wondered loudly if GV had played the wrong movie, and though some posters were put up, honestly none were prominent enough. While the papers have mentioned this special screening arrangement, it does seem that these folks don't read much too.

Some had the audacity to talk loudly and laugh at the movie (I seriously don't think anyone can laugh at scenes of deathbeds), but the worst behaviour exhibited was this man who got up, played with the Cinema Europa entrance door, talked loudly to the ushers that I could make out "what kind of movie is this? I do not watch such productions!", walked in and out of the theatre hall, before asking how long is it, and left the theatre only to return just after The Flying Scotsman got played.

I mean, if you don't like, can just sit down and shut the fuck up right? Serves you right for your ignorance, got free movie/short also complain, might as well watch Scotsman in another cinema chain if you just want to watch that movie. Oh, I think you must be one of those who don't read too.

Live Free or Die Hard / Die Hard 4.0

Return of the Supercop!

Yippie-Ki-Yay, motherfucker!

John McClane, USA's supercop, returns to the big screens. being at the wrong place at the wrong time yet again, kicking some major terrorists ass since the original Die Hard way back in 1988. It has been almost 12 years since Bruce Willis last starred in the definitive cop role, which some would arguably state that Die Hard had kick started the action movie blockbusters in the late 80s to 90s.

I was just a 12 year old kid when I watched the original Die Hard, with a bruised and battered McClane surviving on gut instinct and an incredible amount of sly wit to turn the tables on the bad guys despite being heavily outnumbered. And with a building not big enough as his playground, Die Hard 2 saw him move up a level to weave in and out of an airport. Samuel L Jackson tag teams Willis in Die Hard with a Vengeance, where they run around NY City playing Simon Says, and now, McClane has to take on a group of multi-nationality mercenary geeks who threaten the entire USofA. The playground keeps getting bigger, but that's only befitting a supercop, ain't it. both in threat level and geography.

Mark Bomback's story in Live Free or Die Hard continues to paint a picture of woe for McClane. You'd expect a supercop like himself to be highly decorated, rewarded, commended etc, but as it turns out, he's painfully divorced, has almost nothing except for the shirt on his back, his daughter Lucy, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, (Death Proof, Final Destination 3) refuses to acknowledge him, and nothing could be worst than an escorting mission right out of 16 Blocks, right?

And that's where he gets to the fabled wrong place wrong time territory, getting back to the formula. In fetching an easily impressed geek hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long), he finds himself in the thick of the plot to bring down the national infrastructure in a coordinated takeover using a Fire Sale methodology which Farrell unwittingly contributed, and it's up to the duo to save USA, especially when the old school cop obviously had his inadequacy and disdain for technology show, sometimes leading to comedy.

While most of the action sequences have been shown in the trailers, and while they might look like your usual car chases, explosions and gun battles, somehow there is still a "die hard" feel to them all. Perhaps this can be attributed to formula again, and some familiarity of "have we seen this before" (aka the lift shaft sequence), only to have them being updated for today, and of course, being a little faster, a little more furious, than our aging hero could handle. There's a scene which might make some scream "True Lies!", and Maggie Q unfortunately is a tad overrated, relegated into a typical role that if it's Asian, then there must be some kung-fu involved.

And speaking of the bad guys, the Die Hard franchise have always featured foreign subversive elements, like Euro terrorist Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) in Die Hard, and his brother Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) wanting to avenge Hans in Die Hard With a Vengeance, while some General in a fictional country made McClane Die Harder. The trend continues here, especially with the employment of Frenchmen who can do Parkour. The motivation, save for Die Harder, has always been the same - Money.

The bad guys of course never learn from history, and repeat the same mistakes. In this one, while they seem a little smug with themselves, actually work with less loyalty than those in the other movies. Timothy Olyphant's Thomas Gabriel comes from within, out to prove a point as a disgruntled ex-government employee, Obviously Thomas has no respect for history, and although he has access to records, is quite oblivious to know who he's messing with, and repeating the same mistake as Hans Gruber did in taking a family member hostage. Despite some similarities in plot development in the hopes of stalling McClane, the formula too extended to things like McClane making contact with the bad guys without actually seeing each other in the flesh.

That bit though contributed to a kink in the production, with a somewhat major error in having the walkie talkie seem like a working telephone, and bad editing made mouth movement out of sync. There are other loopholes, or some would deem ridiculous, preposterous or impossible sequences (just like how I say Die Hard With a Vengeance had this scene where Willis and Jackson slam onto containers, and yet survive), but hey, so long as McClane gets to kick some arse in a satisfactory manner, without mercy and almost always with a quip, I'm not complaining.

Die Hard 4.0 is indeed another hurrah for John McClane. Willis has played other cop roles like in Hostage, Sin City, Mercury Rising, 16 Blocks and the likes, but none of them are as memorable nor as definitive as McClane. Of late there is a return of old school heroes like Rambo and Rocky teaching their contemporary peers just how to stamp their mark in action flicks, and there absolutely is no doubt on McClane's successful return.

Yippee-Ki-Yay indeed!

Look Ma, No Guns!

Transformers

Watch Out Prime!

Growing up in the 80s, you can't help but take notice of the Transformers toys which can change from various vehicles to robots, or the cartoon series which had a pretty good run, with its fair share of spin offs having different character variations (Headmasters anyone?), settings in outer space, 3D animation (Optimus Prime as a mean looking gorilla), all great symbiotic marketing strategies between the toys and the cartoons. But one thing about the animated series though, both the Autobots and the Decepticons had lousy aim, which the Movie (1986) sought to correct, and "traumatized" (well, at least me when I was a kid watching this) kids with mortality for the beloved bots.

When Michael Bay was announced to have taken over an updated movie version of Transformers, I was a bit apprehensive, especially when character designs started to leek, and I admit, they were not really pleasing to the eye, and most, if not all, had vehicle model updates. So if anyone's a stickler that the characters must look like their animated originals or the toys, then it is likely you'll probably not enjoy the movie since you can't stand the sight of blasphemous character designs. There are some liberties that the cartoons take, which the movie tries hard to address, especially with the transformation bits, designing which part goes where instead of hiding unwanted bits (especially wheels) magically, though broad strokes for certain characters were maintained.

But I'm glad to say, this IS a Transformers movie, albeit a little updated in Michael Bay style for the big screen, a worthy summer popcorn blockbuster which delivers and satisfies. It bears Bay's signature style, and truly, it was one heck of an adrenaline ride from start to finish, pausing only to allow you to breathe a little (with some comedy which might not be everyone's cup of tea, like that call-center bit), before ripping everything up again. It's loud, it's noisy, with the usual camera work you'd come to expect from Bay's brand of total mayhem when he unleashes the action. There are times when the intricate character designs work against the movie in the action sequences though, with too many details on screen, and the robots seem to be collapsing in a heap of metal when they clash head on. But these scenes of robots clashing in an urban landscape were mighty realistic, as are the slick transformation sequences, and will leave the fan boy inside you whooping for joy.

Fans should be pleased with the effort that went into the live action movie. I was grinning from ear to ear with the little sly bits of references incorporated, like the classic transformation sound effects inherited from the cartoons, and if you keep your ears peeled, you might pick out lines here and there which were reminiscent of the cartoon series and the animated movie back in 1986. The scene in the autoshop with Bernie Mac was fun, especially with the jab at having an actual Volkswagon Beetle parked beside the new look Bumblebee (which I thought behaved like Herbie the Love Bug for the most parts of its introduction, despite the update in look). There were some inevitable Bay movie references like the flare bit for signalling which was a tad too obvious, camera swirling around characters, the slow-motions, and yet another highway sequence.

The story's not as bad as I would expect it to be, but it's nothing to shout about as well, being but just a vehicle (pardon the pun) to move the story from action sequence to action sequence. It managed to cram quite a bit in its 143 minute run time, especially in its many human fronts on dealing with a perceived invasion - you have an updated "Spike" (Shia LaBeouf) and his new girl Mikaela (Megan Fox) being caught in the thick of things with their direct friendship with the Autobots, a group of soldiers led by Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) dealing with Decepticon attacks in the Middle East, and Secretary of Defense Keller (Jon Voight) trying to understand the situation by enlisting a group of hackers, which includes Maggie (Rachael Taylor). As you can tell, the humans have quite a bit going on, and Transformers allowed them to get in on the action as well, making it man versus machine too.

Plenty of things went right in my opinion. The casting of Peter Cullen to voice Optimus Prime was a major coup in lending this movie some credibility, as is the replacement voice of Megatron with Hugo Weaving's. The filmmakers too addressed the issue of Megatron pretty nicely - the handgun will just not work in a live action film, and would especially be stretching it a bit should the handgun turn into a gigantic robot. The selection of the Autobots was probably ideal in having Ironhide, Jazz, Ratchet supporting Bumblebee and Prime, leaving the rest for possible future movies. Prime's sympathy for humans again gets exploited by Megatron (though most times verbally, which got repetitive), and what was quite lacking, were the weapons. Prime's black cannon, if I'm right, only managed a very brief appearance, as does Megatron's, as the battles are more fist fights rather than laser gun battles (which they might miss!) And was that Prime's Autobot Leadership Matrix peeking out of his chest?

Watching the Autobots roll out on a highway brought out the goosebumps, and with the door being left open for follow up movies, should this do well in the box office, then we can expect more rolling, and the advent of more characters! And if rumours of the coming of Unicron are correct, then we all know what to expect of Megatron.

Hoo Yeah!

[DVD] Barton Fink (1991)

DVD Cover

This is my first time viewing a Coen Brothers movie, so why not start with one which had won them the 1991 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or award for Best Direction, and a movie which had also garnered an award for Best Actor in that same festival year for lead John Turturro as the titular character.

Barton Fink is a successful playwright, the talk of NY City after the staging of a highly successful play to the delight of critics. His ability and dream of writing for the theatre about the common man, for the common man, strikes box office gold, and while his intentions are noble, let's face it, a man's still gotta pay his bills. An opportunity arose with an offering from Hollywood in getting him to write a studio's wrestling picture. So off he goes to the West Coast, but all he could muster was one line, before being struck by writer's block.

His prima dona demeanour and intentions somehow strike a chord in me, in that there are folks out there who have a distain for the rather formulaic Hollywood movies that get churned year after year. There's little creativity that goes around to come up with something different, and plenty of rehashing the same old tried and tested material to pull wool over audiences. With Barton's passionate speeches about his noble ideas, you can't help but to agree with the imperfection of the system.

And there are plenty of wry humour in the movie, most of which slyly prods the Hollywood studio system of yesteryear. You can't help but laugh at the veiled references, especially that of having a clueless head honcho who's in the film business not for the love of films, but in it for the profits (hey, it's a business after all). But it's not always about the movie business, as a good part of the movie also focused on Fink's friendship and camaraderie with his hotel neighbour, a certain insurance salesman called Charlie Meadows. an affable man who's more than meets the eye.

I'm quite certain that Barton Fink has more subtexts and harbours a lot more depth that I would have gleaned from superficially from the first viewing, and certainly, this movie deserves at least a second viewing or more. With plenty of interesting dialogue laced with quick, dark wit, and interesting incidents encountered by Barton Fink, this movie is beautifully shot, especially the finale containing an pseudo action sequence.

Code 1 DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment comes in widescreen anamorphic with aspect ratio 1.66:1. Visual transfer is crisp, and audio comes in English Dolby Digital 2.0, or English, Spanish and French Mono. Subtitles are in English or Spanish. Scene selection is spread over 28 chapters.

The special features contain only the photography stills (21 of them), and trailers for this movie, Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing. The only other major extra is the collection of 8 deleted scenes, and usually is the edited portions of scenes in the movie (versus additional ones). What's neat is those portions that remain in the movie are recollected in black and white, while the deleted parts remain in colour. The 8 scenes are Richard and Poppy Loved the Play (0:40), Garland's Pitch on Hollywood (3:25), Desk Clerk Calls Barton (1:16), Barton Bonds with Charlie (1:04), Barton Meets Mayhew (0:43), Sink Overflowing (1:10), Detectives are Downstairs (2:27) and A Note Under the Door (0:55).

Hooked On You (Mui Dong Bin Wan Si)

I'm Hooked On You Too

When I first heard about this movie and read the synopsis, I thought it would be one of the regular run of the mill romantic comedy productions that Hong Kong churns out every now and then. And I am glad that I'm proven wrong, that this movie had its moments which totally charmed me, not so much because of the eye candy cast, but the story. I'm sold when the story somehow touches me in ways I'd rather it not (cutting too close to experiences and personal life), but in doing so, makes me appreciate it a whole lot more. Richard has a knack of inviting / introducing me to movies that surprise me (like My Name Is Fame), and this one is no different.

I'm sure most of us have set up some goals at some point in our lives, be they one of those 3-5-10 year plans. I never did something formal, but in my mind had this sort of rough guide about where I want to be and what I want to do. Naturally doing well in a career of choice, and probably getting settled down some time in the future did make its way to those plans (though scratch that settling down bit for now, and snuff that laughter!) One thing's for sure, this movie blog was an accident of sorts, an indirect result of one of those plans gone awry, not that I'm complaining, but it goes to show that life can be unpredictable, that you might find some other goals or calling that appeal to you that you just want to jump along head on.

And while Miriam Yeung's Mui holding out for that Mr Perfect, and not knowing that Mr Perfect for you is right under your nose probably seemed typical for a movie like this, what I thought had given her character an added dimension, was her certainty in proclaiming that she'll never want to begin a relationship with someone in the same business as her, and that means totally writing off Fishy (Eason Chan), a fellow fishmonger from the Fortune Market they both work in. She's holding onto a dream that one day she'll be able to break free of her bonds of debt, and start a totally new life out there in the world sans smelly fishy odours, and probably if her partner was someone from this side of the world, then it'll constantly remind her of a life she wants to forget. Or, she might be looking down at the profession she's in, stereotyping her once business adversary as amongst the lower class of society.

Which makes one reconsider what it takes for one to woo someone else who has written you off from the onset. Do you persevere in the hopes of getting that elusive dream fulfilled, or do you decide that enough's enough and abandon all hope? On the flip side, you'll also start to ponder if you should be holding out for that perfect someone, or actually to make something perfect with someone who just might not meet your criteria. Had some of these thought swirling while sitting through the movie, despite its outright veneer of what may be deemed as fluff.

In the most superficial manner, it is a romantic comedy where Mui and Fishy play off each other, the usual opposite attracts kind of story, where the lady thinks lowly of the frog, but the frog discovers some inner beauty in the lady, especially with her industry, and secretly assists her along obstacles in life. Despite its formula and the various reasons it touched me as mentioned, I can't mention enough of identifiable moments for anyone who had been in, and out of relationships. Being a comedy, while you might be able to see some of the jokes coming from a mile away, there are some which are genuinely funny and will catch you off guard, especially a certain scene which you have to keep your ears peeled, when the characters launch into a discussion relating analogies between sex, relationship and fishing. I wish I had seen this in Cantonese though.

Another thing I enjoyed is how the story takes place over a period of 10 years, starting from the handover of Hong Kong back to China, and having the story unfold in front of a backdrop of changing social and economic times, highlighting certain pertinent events in the course of history, like the SARS outbreak, MLM fads, scams like fake marriages and the likes. However, the presentation at times seem a bit choppy with editing failing to keep pace with the movie, and too many characters introduced (some of whom are lovable in their own right though, especially the Fortune Market stallholders and patrons) made them seem rather one dimensional, and at times, unnecessary.

But overall, I view this as one of the sleeper hits that might just surprise me when I compile my top ten for the year, for the reasons that it made me think, having a good ensemble cast with great chemistry between the leads (I thought Stanley Fun Shui Fan made an interesting appearance as the dad), and best of all, being able to identify with them, and the relationship issues they face. Hey, I'm entering my 30s too!