Sita Sings The Blues DVD On Sale Now!

For those who have yet to watch Sita Sings The Blues, you might want to know that the DVDs of Nina Paley's film are finally avaialble!

At the store you can purchase the DVDs and also other merchandize as designed by the filmmaker, should you like the film a lot and want to have the character arts adorned on apparel.

As told to me in an email notifier,

The DVD comes in two versions. The pre-downloaded content on the disc is the same in both versions: the movie, bonus tracks like the Director's Commentary, an interview with the filmmaker, subtitles in various languages, etc. But if the content were all that mattered, you could just download it from the Internet. It's the packaging that makes the difference:

The Regular Edition (US$20) is handsomely packaged in a 4-panel "eco-wallet" designed by Nina Paley. 50% of profits from this edition go to Nina Paley, the other 50% go to QuestionCopyright.org to help with our work (and Nina's) on free culture.

The Artist's Edition (US$100; If I can I'm saving up for this!) is for serious Sita-supporters: the Artist's Edition comes in a 6-panel eco-wallet designed by Nina Paley, and is limited to a run of 4,999 copies. Each is signed by Nina Paley and comes with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity -- you can download content, but you can't download authenticity! Best of all, 100% of the profits from the Artist's Edition go to Nina Paley. It's a great way to support the artist and get a beautifully packaged DVD at the same time.

There's also the Festival Screener Edition (PAL) (US$20) - This is an earlier version of the DVD that got sent to film festivals and selection committees in 2008. It contains no subtitles, no CC Share Alike notice, and the audio is mono. Eventually there will be a shiny new PAL edition with all the bells and whistles; maybe this old one, featuring all 3 shadow puppets on a dark blue cover, will become a collector's item.

For the completist in you, you might just want to know that all 3 comes in packages of different designs. Visit http://sitasingstheblues.com/store to order yours, and you can read my review of the film here.

Those who still want to download, you can refer to my earlier posting for details.

Man on Wire

History

James Marsh directed Man on Wire to critical acclaim, and snagged amongst other recognition, the best documentary feature in this year's Academy Awards. Containing the usual talking heads styled interviews with everyone involved one way or another in high-wire walker Philippe Petit's 1974 stunt at New York's World Trade Centers' Twin Towers, this film is extremely engaging as you the audience get to participate in what is sadly a stunt that can no longer be replicated.

I guess it's already mentioned in countless of reviews that this film played out like a heist movie, where the perpetrators run through elaborate planning, trials and research in order to get their logistics all set up right. And true to a stunt of any nature, meticulous and painful planning is a necessary ingredient to ensure that the objectives get pulled off successfully with minimum fuss or injury. Surveillance is always key, and the copious amount of intelligence gathering performed by Petit and his team, is nothing short of commendable, if I may say so, involving everything from on-site surveying of activity and key locations, and helicopter rides.

But you can't help but to feel a sense of how lax security got compromised at the time, where the group can get by with fake IDs for starters, and the rest just exhibiting some confidence in order to bypass gatekeepers. Then there's always the insider to provide support, as well as an enormous stroke of luck to make everything a lot more easier, such as having the use of the freight lift to lug their heavy equipment.

While the film chronicles Petit's efforts in achieving his impossible dream, from the more humble beginnings such as initial practice in a backyard, and scaling other projects such as the Notre Dame and Sydney Harbour Bridge, what was niggling at the back of my mind were the Twin Towers themselves. There were enough images and clips shown of how the Towers got built, the sheer magnificence of it all, witnessing the erection from ground all the way up. There's this sense of pity and regrettable loss that they no longer dot the skyline of NYC, and not having personally been there before, I can only imagine how iconic those towers once stood.

Man on Wire does get a little dry sometimes since there's only one mission objective and with its participants very focused on getting the job done, and it's a shame that there's no video clip of Petit performing those multiple walks across both directions in a 45 minute period - yes, it's not just 1 walk! - compared to something similar if done today, with the proliferation of video cameras, we'll probably have multiple angles of the same thing!

State of Play

Teach the Rookie!

I'm a fan of a good investigative thriller, and State of Play combines that with some good old fashioned action from the newsroom with dogged reporters seeking perennial truth. Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy and Billy Ray, you know you're in for one gripping ride with relentless twists and turns, as between them they are responsible for stories such as Lions for Lambs, The Kingdom, Michael Clayton, the Bourne franchise screenplays, Proof of Life, Breach and Shattered Glass. Whew! Imagine all the going points about those films all combined into one!

I thoroughly enjoyed how Conflict of Interests, as a theme is examined in the film. There's hardly a black and white answer, especially when one's moral authority gets put on the line because of the conscious decision to pursue personal or professional gain above all others. Simple things, like romantic entanglements, having to investigate and dig into the dirt of friends, code of conducts violations and the likes make all the characters here susceptible at one point or another to question their own beliefs, be they misguided just because they're pursuing something for the greater good, or to make compromises for the lesser of two evils.

And of course this will somehow lead to a corruption of the process. Do leads get released to the authorities for thorough investigations, or should the press (with press freedom firmly exercised of course) be trusted to exhaust those leads in a bid to starve off investigative leaks for that one big scoop to bring glory to themselves and their paper, in the name of truth-seeking. Or would parent companies be pressured to force the hand of their employees to come up with half-truths for fueling the need for readers to continue picking up the papers for the latest, which translates to profits?

For Russell Crowe's Cal McAffrey, his journey here is never easy, with personal friendships, moral ambiguity and professional pressure all lead to one crazy navigation through choppy waters, which includes having his life put on the line and at risk when faced with any one accidental move on the chessboard. It's never easy digging and dishing out dirt, not when folks tend to shy away from a reporter and not want to be on the record, but when you think you have conflict of interests all straightened out, they will all come back to haunt you.

Thankfully for him, help (or adversity in the first place) comes in the form of Rachel McAdams' rookie reporter and online columnist (read: Blogger) Della Frye, who gets hired by the Washington Globe just because of their recognition for an online presence, and the ability to shoot straight from the hip without reliance on the presses for production for the next day. This tussle between old school investigative journalism to check everything and follow up on leads, and the new age modern mindset of quantity over quality, spawned a superb subplot and theme, with the battle of two different paradigms, though at the superficial level, a fight between thoroughness and speed, between a veteran and a new bird, and even up to the relevance of newspapers in this day and age.

Director Kevin Macdonald weaved so much into a film just over two hours, that it deserves a second watch. While it's something like Ron Howard's The Paper or even the recent Japanese film The Climber's High with their take on the journalism profession, the story ensures that what would seem like a series of random events of an apparent suicide and two night time killings, would string together an intricate web of political intrigue as well, touching on defense contractors, outsourcing/insourcing, and that of a politician's battle against opponents when he crafts bills or heads inquiries. I thought Ben Affleck adequately did what he could with the role as a Representative, together with supporting cast such as Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jeff Daniels, and Jason Bateman in a somewhat hilarious role of a middleman who's stuck in the middle of the whole mess.

State of Play is one intense roller coaster ride that didn't shift down from fourth gear throughout, with foot firmly on the pedal all the way to the finishing line. Great score, great ensemble cast and an engaging story all contribute to make this a film that I would consider breaking into my top 10 favourites of the year.

Drag Me To Hell

Girl Fights Back

This film sucks a lot. As if the mouth tends to get in the way and having stuff shoved deep into it, be it the chin or even an entire arm socked right into it. Or at least that's one of the images that got is now permanently scarred in my head. With its copious amounts of drool salivating out from mouths, extremely wet slobbering and dribbling from lips, Drag Me to Hell is erm, deliciously frightening yet funny at the same time, thanks to Sam Raimi going back to his horror roots and delivering one thrilling ride with an old school flavour to it.

Raimi has shown that he has that flair of combining shock-horror techniques, and I mean really shock-horror with the usual bag of tricks of noises building up to beating crescendos, light and shadow play, and a multitude of boo-worthy moments with in-your-face nightmarish imagery, he also has this touch of humour thrown into it all, many times causing you to scream and yet laugh at the same time at the silliness of it.

In between the scary episodes which were very well designed, there's this theme of self-preservation running strongly throughout. I guess anyone in the right mind, if they have to go to the underworld, would do so only if dragged there, because there's this innate need within us that automatically kicks in for self-preservation or during the advancement of self-interest.

What I enjoyed about Drag's protagonist Christine Brown, is how a tough-as-nails cookie she is. I had wondered how it would have played out if Ellen Page had not left the project, but Alison Lohman, for all her daintiness, proved to be no pushover either as she really exhibited plenty of spunk and found some inner strength to sock it to her opponents when it mattered. You'll find yourself rooting for her as she sometimes turn the table around and emerge victorious, but soon enough you'll understand that the evil forces that lurks in dark corners may prove to be a little challenging for a mere mortal, especially since it comes in the form of a real battering ram.

One of the better things here is how the trailer didn't spoil everything for you, leaving some room for a lot more surprises up the filmmakers' sleeves, such as the car park scene so prominently featured in the trailer, having a lot more to do in the film with the set up of the hex, that made you root a lot more for Christine. Then the special visual effects in this film didn't disappoint. Without going over the top or overly reliant on computer generated imagery, it's a visual extravaganza beautifully crafted for this roller-coaster of a ride. However on the whole, the story got pretty predictable fairly quickly, and the ending was somewhat akin to waiting for that one big practical joke to deliver its expected punchline before calling it quits. Still fun though, watching it play out as intended.

Hollywood horror churned out more misses than hits with all its lacklustre remakes, more often than not of the Asian horror films, but Sam Raimi has shown the way that there's still some glimmer of hope in the genre by Hollywood if they'd stopped their reliance of adapting from others, and rely a little on their own ingenuity to thrill and entertain. OK Sam, could you get back to work on Spidey 4 now?

[Italian Film Fest] A Whole Life Ahead (Tutta La Vita Davanti)

Smart

Here's the pragmatic approach that parents tell their children here - study the sciences because that will provide you a job. For Marta (Isabella Ragonese), even a top degree with honours in Philosophy fails to land her a permanent job, drawing some sharp contrast against peers who have dropped out of college, but steadily climbing the career ladder. The film has intent to examine the plight of permanent-temporary workers, you know, those who are under temporary contracts, but have to perform tasks and take on responsibilities just as how a regular staff would, but minus the staff perks.

I suppose companies take this approach with an eye wary on their bottom line, and sees this staffing strategy as something that's cost effective, virtually eliminating benefits from the payroll. The film might have been effective, with the introduction of unionist Giorgio (Valeno Mastandrea) who tries to understand the plight and conditions in the fictitious company Multiple (manufacturing who knows what product), but somehow lost its mission objectives midway because of a complication in matters of the heart, thereby relegating its own subplot.

This film is about the surreal journey of Marta as she tries her best to seek out a job, believing that her academic qualifications would open door. Contrary to her beliefs of course, Fate comes into play to introduce her to a single mom Sonia (Micaela Romazzotti) who works as a tele-marketer for Multiple, and recruits her into this really strange company with a very wide male-female division of the sexes, and feel-good ra-ra practices such as singing motivational songs at the start of each shift, and the receiving of cosmetic, encouraging SMSes in the morning everyday.

In other words, they operate much like a cult group, where performers get rewarded with dubious prizes, and laggards in the company get shipped out unceremoniously, with little dignity. Such is the sweat shop that Marta finds herself in, if not for her intellectual ability in internalizing the process in double quick time, and innovating in her job so as to perform with moderate inputs. For those who have worked in companies, or amongst peers who require you to jump, sing, shout, dance out loud in celebration of your employment or to serve as a mental prep booster before you commence each day, this film would definitely ring a bell.

And while the narrative might seem all over the place, it is precisely how director Paolo Virzi coaxes a coherent and at times zany story out of the multiple events, and myriad of characters. There's Daniela (Sabrina Ferilli) the floor supervisor who's a control freak, and harbours the hots for CEO Claudio (Massimo Ghini) who on the surface is the typical all-caring boss with a finger on the company's pulse. Then there's the romantic knot that Marta inadvertently gets herself into, and fellow sales partner Lucio 2 (Elio Germano) who preps himself almost all the time to think that he's the best of the best.

Throw in plenty of song and dance, self-reflection moments, gratuitous sex and nudity, changing relationships, and you have a film that tries too hard to cover a wide spectrum of ideas, but end up missing the bullseye more often than not. The film has its moments, but nothing too memorable besides those song and dance numbers that make the Beach Boys and some folk songs hip again.

A Whole Life Ahead screens at The Picturehouse on 9 June Tuesday at 915pm. Tickets are on sale now.

[Italian Film Fest] Good Morning Heartache (Riprendimi)

Fickle

Some would tell you that documentary filmmaking takes place in the editing room, where the director will craft a certain angle from the hours of footage shot, and come up with something meaningful for the audience. For filmmakers Eros (Alessandro Averone) and Giorgio (Stefano Fresi) who have broken their banks in order to make something about the struggles of temporary art practitioners, little would they know that their friends' bust up would be that proverbial spanner in the works, slowly turning their project into a nightmare.

Armed with their trusty cameras, their initial aim is to capture every single moment between an aspiring playwright-actor Giovanni (Marco Foschi) and his wife Lucia (Alba Rohrwacher), who's a temp video editor, but early on in their project they witness, through their lens, the abrupt breakup between the two, with Giovanni walking out on his wife and child. Naturally the filmmakers get stumped by the sudden development, but decide to persevere and see what their recorded observations could come up with.

Marco Foschi plays the perfect cad as the irresponsible chap who decides to sever ties without explanation. And to ensure that you cast plenty of doubts on his character, he immediately picks up and hooks up with a good looking doctor Michela (Valentina Lodovini) whom he embarks on another physical relationship with. Alba Rohrwacher on the other hand is physically as frail as she is emotionally fragile, devastated by the inexplicable turn of events, and for the most parts of the film, wanders about in a confused state seeking solace from all the wrong places. The story by Anna Negri and Giovanna Mori seem to be more sympathetic toward the female character of Lucia, while crafting some really wonderful girl-power moments for her to bask under, and nasty ones for Giovanni to dwell in.

Production-wise, this is quite experimental, with camera angles and techniques shifted around to mirror guerrilla filmmaking, and for all its voyeuristic moments following their mark from the restrooms to the bedrooms, the fourth wall gets broken countless of times either in reel or real terms, since it's a film within a film. It does require some getting used to as the narrative could shift from a narrative one to a documentary talking-heads interview as conducted by Eros and Giorgio. There's some comedy to break up the monotony and depressing state of affairs, but nothing slapstick to jar the flow of the story.

Too much gets jammed into the tale though in the last third of the film, with character motivations revealed and the realization some go through, not to mention an end which confirms what's been niggling about a particular person's rather emotionally careless behaviour. An interesting presentation of a tale dealing with the vagaries of the heart.

Good Morning Heartache screens at The Picturehouse on 8 June Monday at 915pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Peace and Quiet

My only exposure to the father-daughter make believe Disney World that Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus have gotten themselves into, as the reel father-daughter team up as Robby Ray and Miley Stewart, was the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour 3D film. While I had enjoyed her performance with 3D gizmos, it didn't actually pique my interest enough to follow the adventures of Hannah Montana and her alter ego, which is some art imitate life imitate art kinda tween series, which has recently been green-lit for yet another season.

In this other big screen dramatic outing, Miley and Billy Ray embark upon a journey back to their roots in Tennessee, well, more like the former being conned into making that trip back because she has turned out to be kind of a spoilt little brat, thinking that her Hannah Montana persona is the is-all and end-all, that bright camera flashes and screaming fans are forever, instead of the closer ties that bind.

For a non-fan, this film is easy to follow and quite no-brainer. After all, it's a Disney production, and family friendly with good moral themes for (young) fans to be sublimely influenced, which serves the other purpose called profits from merchandising. So resentful little Miley has to get back in touch with nature, relatives, and have a go at a relatively adult romance who comes in the form of a strapping young cowboy, her childhood friend actually, Travis (Lucas Till), who's spending the summer working for her grandmother. And the romantic angle doesn't just open up to herself, but opportunities are abound for her single dad too.

But seriously, romance or the lack thereof doesn't provide enough adversary for our pop singing sensation. That enemy comes in the form of Oswald Granger (Peter Gunn), a pesky paparazzi reporter who snoops around trying to unravel the mystery and dig up the dirt on Hannah Montana for an English tabloid, which will of course threaten her very existence! How diabolical is that! And Miley/Hannah's bitch-fight with Tyra Banks (which actually is a Xerox copy of what Isla Fisher did in Confessions of a Shopaholic) was that last straw which made dad Robby Ray pull the plug in order to save Miley's soul, since it's affecting her lyric writing, and her music.

The plot then goes on a blah as the diabolical villain gets forgotten midway, and follows Detriot Metal City where the lead has to juggle his double life in a scene which calls for his presence at different locations. And add to that, there's a threat looming in her hometown of Crowley Corners where modern developers are just waiting to erect a shopping mall, which Hannah holds the key to preventing their rustic life from being rudely interrupted, so this calls for, what else, a fundraising concert!

Yes, it's engineered to allow Miley/Hannah to perform every now and then, which is just about the best thing in the film. As I had mentioned before, between the bubblegum pop lyrics that Hannah sings about, and the more meaningful and fun numbers Miley gets to stage, it's little surprise that I prefer Miley's performances a lot more than when she dons that blonde wig and pretends to have a lot more fun. And my personal favourites would be Miley's soulful duet with her Dad in Butterfly Fly Away, her heartfelt performance on stage during the finale, and anyone who disses Hoedown Throwdown really needs a head check. I'm not sure if the dance moves will catch on like the Macarena, but I'm sure fans out there are already perfecting that boogey already, which would fit right into mass line-dancing.

I may not be and am still not a fan, but I'm quite convinced Miley Cyrus has what it takes, and charismatic enough to be the next big thing coming out of the Disney assembly line of manufactured stars. You go, girl, make that climb!


Learn the Hoedown Throwdown

[Italian Film Festival Opening Night] The Girl By The Lake (La Ragazza Del Lago)

Gazing

At first glance the synopsis might have suggested some similarities with the New Zealand film In My Father's Den, and indie film The Dead Girl. After all, the pace started to pick up when the body of a young woman is found by the lake (hence the title) of a small and quiet Italian town, with the story progressing like an investigative drama that made me wanted to scream Twin Peaks!

In essence, this film by Andrea Molaioli, based upon the novel by Karin Fossum, runs very much like how an investigations is set out to be, full of red herrings, half truths, deceit, together with plenty of doubt, and little leads to plough things forward. For that, I thought it captured the dilemma of an investigator really well, with Toni Servillo in excellent form as Commissario Sanzio, a stoic, no-nonsence police investigator who together with his small team, have to solve this strange case. If I may say so, it puts the audience into the thick of the action really well, with the ABCs of an investigation - Assume nothing, Believe nobody, and Check everything, superbly brought out.

And that started right from the beginning too, as things are not quite they seem, and I was quick to pass judgement on the film, thinking that it was an open and shut case too soon, and too obvious. For those who enjoy a good dose of investigative drama, then this film would be right up your alley. There are frustrations of course when you find yourself drawn into the events of the picture, working toward trying to solve the case before Sanzio does, but each time being thwarted, and going back to the drawing board if you had missed a potential lead, or had been blindsided and failed to pick up clues that the actors give out, akin to playing a game of Cluedo.

But those who don't enjoy wrecking your brains too much, fret not too. The story is rich enough not to dwell too much on the police work, deftly splitting its time to dig into a little more of its central characters so that they flesh out in more three-dimensional terms, rather than being flat. The ensemble cast deserves credit for making their characters believable, and hence all the more difficult when you try to weed out the possible suspects with clear motivations. In particular, we see more of Sanzio's personal life in the film, where he has to deal with a wife suffering from advanced dementia, and a growing teenage daughter (Guilia Michelini) with whom he sometimes fail to see eye to eye with. He may be tip top in the professional front, but on the personal end it does seem like he does require some assistance.

There would be those who might complaint that the ending was too convenient, but trust me having been there and done that, there are occasions when folks know their game is up, and resistance is just plain futile. To me, for personal reasons, this was as accurate a movie as can be that had brought out similar feelings during probes into what had happened, and you know what? A little eclectic techno music on the side does no wrong too!

The Girl By The Lake screens at The Picturehouse on 5 June Friday at 9pm, and again at The Arts House on 13 Jun Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are on sale now.

[DVD] Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

New Chick In Town

I suppose the hype surrounding Terminator Salvation made me want to revisit some of the previous films, and got myself into buying the Extreme Edition of Terminator 2 with the irresistible lenticular cover, and bury myself into Rise of the Machines despite not liking it the first time round, because I thought the filmmakers had been quite slip-shody in making the film.

Specifically, there was a glaring continuity error in the film that really got to me, enough to submit a goof to IMDb.com. But having to sit through this no less than 3 times, listening to the commentaries and witnessing the sheer amount of effort gone into making the film, and its contribution to the mythology (despite some additional screw ups to the timeline), there's some new found respect for the film. While it's not as sexy as T2, it does have its moments and the big-bang action sequences didn't seem a let down like they were the very first time round.

With Kristanna Loken being the latest Terminator model T-X, I thought that was pretty much a no-brainer since you need to top Robert Patrick's liquid metal outing in the previous movie, and what more by making the new, more lethal machine monster a member of the opposite sex - nice to look at from the outside, but whoa, when she seeks out her prey, there's little to do but run. Schwarzenegger on the other hand seemed to become friendlier here than from his T2 outing, though no less losing his screen presence each time he comes on. Sure some obvious stuntman moments were observed, but that said, Arnie's too big a star and of course no longer a spring chicken to be put into grueling stunts like the ones featured here.

What I felt was missing from the latest Terminator film, was Humour. Then again, being in so bleak a future, there's really no room to monkey around. But here, and in the earlier films, there were little moments which broke the dreariness of continuous running from a monster that just wouldn't stop pursuing, and doing so without being too stupid. I still crack up each time the "Talk to the Hand" scene comes on.

Pace wise, the film takes place in about 24 hours to Judgement Day, which was only postponed in the aftermath of events in T2. John Connor (Nick Stahl) stays off the radar and lives life in an extremely low profile manner, but with the Skynet of the future still sending its latest technological creation back in time, it's only a matter of time when he pops back into Skynet's radar and the chase continues. Here, the machine's plan is to take out Connor's lieutenants when they are still geeky nerds (or at least they're shown to be), and this film introduces us to one Katherine Brewster (Claire Danes), who would later on look like Bryce Dallas Howard, the future wife and second in command of the future resistance leader.

And so, T3 provides its own canonical elements into the world that James Cameron created. We see the future John Connor with a prominent scar on his face, and plenty of machines that were introduced here, being pre-cursors of what we have already seen, or would see in Terminator Salvation. Things such as the prototype T1 which is many generations earlier from the basic T101 model, and resembling more like the bulky, cumbersome ED209 in Robocop, and those of the flying Hunter Killers, courtesy of the late Stan Winston and his team

T3: Rise of the Machines still isn't my most favoured of the lot in the franchise, but having ploughed through this DVD, made me discover newer elements that added to the enjoyment of the film itself, and of the franchise.

The 2-Discs Code 3 DVD by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment has the feature film presented in anamorphic widescreen format, with audio in English available in 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS, Subtitles is available in English, and Chinese (Simplified or Original), and scene selection comes in 33 chapters.

Disc 1 contains Two Commentary Tracks. The first is by Director Jonathan Mostow, and cast members Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken, except that they didn't record this altogether, but done separately in different cities, where the actors recorded their own segments. Only Danes (doing her very first DVD commentary ever) and Mostow had their sessions done together, and the most chatty of them all was of course Schwarzenegger himself sharing plenty of nuggets of information. Each of them have their personal anecdotes on the set which they shared, but I would have preferred if they had a track where all had recorded this together rather than artificially spliced together.

The second commentary had Director Jonathan Mostow telling us a lot more going into the breakdown of the scenes, like a proud father sharing all the achievements and elements he had contributed to the franchise, as well as plenty of behind the scenes information on how scenes were constructed and shot. Other than that, this disc contains Trailers for T3, both Teaser and Theatrical versions, the T3 Video Game Trailer, T3 PC Game Trailer, S.W.A.T, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle directed by McG, Men In Black II and The 6th Day which also starred Arnie.

Disc 2 is the Special Features disc, presented in letterbox format, with subtitles for some of the features available in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Thai. The first feature is a rather standard Documentary - Inside Termainator 3: Rise of the Machines (13:00), which contains interviews with cast and crew, and plenty of behind the scenes clips. Then you have the very classic section called the Sgt. Candy Scene (1:50), which if kept in the actual movie, would be one heck of an iconic moment, as it tells you why the T101 looks like Arnie, and sounds like him too. If only it becomes canon by getting itself onto the final cut of the film!

Terminal Flaws: Gag Reel (3:00) captures a whole lot of actors breaking into laughter, their insane ad-libbing, and even crew getting into the way of a shot - thank goodness Christian Bale isn't John Connor here, or the Bale Out might have occurred way sooner!

The T3 Visual Effects Lab would be the section for most techies, in witnessing what techniques were employed to create movie magic. Each segment follows a formula presentation, in posing you the challenge, then which tools of the trade get employed, before showing you the final product. Introduction (2:35) has director Jonathan Mostow, and various technological wizards coming in to discuss about makeup, visual and special effects, and how they all have to come together in agreement on how shots are to be done. Be amazed by the whole array of tools they have at their disposal, from animatronics and puppets to CG and miniatures.

Initially I had thought that there's nothing too groundbreaking in the effects department of T3 compared to T2, but the sheer amount of work done as documented here would make you appreciate the effort a lot more. Crane Chase (7:48) documents how good old stunts still have their place in modern movie making, with CGI employed on the flipping of the crane which was as photorealistic as can be.T-X Transformation (8:02) showcases how morphing is done through CGI, motion control, layering and blue screen. Talk about 10 months of work for just a few seconds on screen! Future War (8:40) demonstrates how SFX miniatures, robotics and CGI gel seamlessly to provide that flash forward glimpse into the Skynet dominated landscape of the future, while Crystal Peak (9:24) deconstructs the final battle between the battle-torn terminators in a mix of miniatures, robotics, make up, special effects, and plenty of green fabric. The segment took an unexpected pause with Create Your Own Visual Effects which puts you at the driving seat in deciding what kind of effects you would like to incorporate into the Future War scene, before the final 10:07 duration of a segment with CRS Lab explains all the details that went into the real performing robots, such as the T1, created by Stan Winston and his team, and plenty of others such as the whack-fest between T101 and T-X, Arnie's near-decapitation and the particle accelerator which wrecked havoc on the T-X.

The Skynet Database is the one-stop shop for trivia fans and those clueless and wanting to know more of the mythos, be it the humans or the systems that have graced the movies so far. The Terminator Timeline seeks to put everything in the last 3 films in a nifty timeline. I didn't scrutinize it to the last detail so I can't vouch for its accuracy here, but narratively it seemed alright. Storyboards (3:54) only had the entire action sequence at Crystal Peak given the treatment where you get to see a storyboard side by side some actual moments of the film.

Then comes the more forgettable extras, like Dressed To Kill (2:10) which is just a small snippet of the costumes and clothes of some of the characters in the film, such as the leather jacket, sunglasses and shotgun that makes Arnie the Terminator. Toys in Action (7:03) has Todd McFarlane marketing the T3 toys which has great attention to detail modelled to capture key scenes, and rounding things up, Making of the Video Game (8:57) has cast and crew talking about the merits of the video game, which serves as a companion piece of sorts.

[DVD] Not Easily Broken (2009)

Home Base

Newly weds beware! This is about as close to a reality check a movie can offer, once you're past your honeymoon period, and the challenges in life start rearing their ugly head to threaten to rip your vows apart. It's a little interesting, albeit formulaic film about the love of a couple being put through a series of tests that run like a soap opera, and having some religious undertones to it as well. But it's actually decent enough to tell a good story with some humourous moments thrown in for good measure. Don't expect too fantastic a storyline, and you may just find Not Easily Broken somewhat entertaining to sit through, with some good moral lessons and tips to survive a union of two.

You can read my DVD review of Not Easily Broken at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.

[DVD] Anaconda 4: Trail of Blood (2009)

Same Old

It's kind of a surprise if the home video market demand would clammer for the latest installment of a movie from the Anaconda franchise. Granted of course that this was shot back to back with Anaconda III, but the open ended finale has left room for more. Only if you're up for some cheesy, repetitive CG snake, a wafer thin plot, and a heroine that's the B-grade version of Lara Croft, then you just might want to pick this up to see how mediocre a film like this actually is.

You can read my DVD review of Anaconda 4: Trail of Blood at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.

Terminator Salvation

We're Here To Save The Franchise

One thing's for sure about the Terminator franchise now, we can begin to dash all hopes of a Cameron-Arnie comeback, given the former has mentioned he has done all he wanted with the first two films, and the latter now a politician. Terminator Salvation, with McG at the helm and a bevy of writers attempting to do a one-up on the original two films, only managed to bring about a thrill ride which is miles better than the third installment, but has plenty of catch up to do if the new films were to stamp their authority on the franchise.

For the most parts, you would have felt that McG and his team had wanted to play it safe. For starters, there are numerous elements here, from one liners to artifacts to references and events that serve as a throwback, or homage, to those seen in the earlier movies. Which is good in a way, because it reminds us that characters like John Connor (now played by Christian Bale) have come a long way and Salvation reinforces their character traits a bit more. Fans will likely have a field day with the dozen easter eggs that can be identified, and I guess that the filmmakers are trying to tell everyone that they've got a good grasp of what has happened, and to trust them in moving the franchise forward.

Then there's the play on you, the audience, with your back knowledge of certain events that will happen, such as Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) coming into the mythos in the now-future, the raging war between the humans and the machines, and how Skynet is still scheming to get rid of the leader of the Resistance, only to be a little more cunning in its methods. It's a little no brainer in picking up where T3 had left off with Judgement Day, though like John Connor's voiceover in the trailer, this is not the future he was warned about, as something's not quite right, and different from his personal expectations.

The setting here is not something not seen before, with post apocalyptic environments done to the death in films such as Resident Evil. But this film felt more like The Matrix Revolutions, with more cerebral potentials making way for all out action. Under McG's guidance, whom I think has taken a huge leaf from Michael Bay, Terminator Salvation brings us to that bleak sci-fi future which is pretty much void of everything, where everything that can be blown up in a fireball, will be. And the explosions get larger and more intense as it goes along, with mushroom clouds ballooning over many horizons, and with robots of all shape and sizes entering the fray. I particularly liked the lumbering T-600, the precursor to Arnie's T-800, and this film allows the witnessing of Skynet's design sophistication, knowing we're eventually going to be introduced to the later models already seen in previous films.

But story wise, John Connor is the franchise's Neo, or so he takes it upon himself to think. He's been brought up by his mom Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton lending her voice here), the equivalent of a Morpheus, to believe that he's the next The One, humanity's saviour from the machine world. Only that because how Skynet's assassination efforts in the future/past have been thwarted time and again (T-800, T-1000, T-X), we now face a future that could, and possibly is, a tangent of what was the original sequence. If you want to talk about a time-travel-mind-warp, this is it, since three films as chronicled skewed events that would happen in the future. Connor, to his band of rabid followers, is their messiah and prophet, as he has battled Skynet's creations before, and could predict what would be next in the assembly line. To his superiors (yes, he's not Resistance Leader), he's just lucky with his guesses, but little do they know of the Bible that he refers to - his mother's audio tapes.

With this belief in being The One, Connor irks the leadership more so because his primary objective in saving Reese, boils down to the fact that without Reese, his own existence will be in jeopardy, and can no longer fulfill the role he believes he will, in being the salvation of mankind. And I thought that provided an angle that would have elevated the film, if not for forgetting about Connor mid way with the focus on new character Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), and that of the action sequences.

But don't get me wrong. Sam Worthington is a discovery in this film, bringing his ghost in the shell Marcus Wright into being the most tragic figure thus far in the storyline, tussling constantly between humanity, and his unknown destiny. Destiny seems to be the flavour of this year too, in reboots especially. Star Trek suggested that what will be will be, even though the journey to enlightenment will take a knock and a meander, but you'll get there. Here, we all know John Connor would be the leader of the Resistance, and we will journey with him to that stage, albeit with some kinks along the way.

In fact, Bale seemed to be second fiddle to Worthington's presence, but here's a warning shot - don't forget Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese. I think he has a knack of reprising roles in long-standing franchises, with his Chekov being very well liked in Star Trek, and now his Reese bearing some similarities in mannerisms to Michael Biehn's take. I'll definitely be paying attention to this young actor as he moves Reese's character forward in future installments. And of course, the very pregnant Kate Connor (Bryce Dallas Howard, previously Kate Brewster played by Claire Danes) might spring a surprise or two later as well.

Am I looking forward to the next installment? Yes, to no surprise of course. Terminator Salvation, like all the reboots and remakes you have out there of well known and beloved franchises, served its purpose as being the bridging film, cementing known knowns only to gain acceptance from the audience, before boldly moving forward on its own two feet, hopefully.

Partnership

The Young Victoria

The Queen

The cinematic interests in the British monarchy continues with Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901), after having seen in recent years, the efforts with Keira Knightley's The Duchess, Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth films, and Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman's take on the Boleyn sisters with The Other Boleyn Girl. More contemporary stories would include Helen Mirren's award winning portrayal of The Queen on the current reign of Queen Elizabeth II at the turn of Princess Diana's death.

Each of the films mentioned featured stunning actresses with acting gravitas (ok, so some may dispute Johansson) or were the flavour of their moment, and each film had a definitive moment in their historical character's legacy that it becomes a no brainer to have those events featured, and in fact Elizabeth had enough to span two films. However, The Young Victoria, as the title already suggests, is a lite-version of the young queen's life, and if you're looking for that definitive event, or the staple political intrigue that plague all royal households and their dealings with shady, self-serving politicians, unfortunately there's nothing of depth here.

That's not to say The Young Victoria is without. Directed by Canadian Jean-Marc Vallee (best known for C.R.A.Z.Y.) and written by Julian Fellowes, this film chronicles in very plain terms, ,the life and times of Victoria (Emily Blunt, soon becoming the new It girl) when she was a child, the troubles she faced before Coronation such as the eagerness of her mom The Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson) and her advisor Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong) to appoint themselves as joint-Regent to her throne, as already planned for by reigning King William (Jim Broadbent). As if that wasn't enough, the political power play enters the picture with Lord Melbourne (Paul Bettany) being a Prime Minister-in-waiting trying to gain the trust of the new Queen, and subtly plants his own trusted allies into positions within the palace. On one hand you'd understand the need for a young, and new Queen to have trusted people in key positions, but on the other, are they really acting in her interests, or in the interests of others?

Even this angle of intrigue creeps into her romantic story with Prince Albert (Rupert Friend), where their relationship forms the bulk of the second half of the film, and pretty much everything already included in the trailers. For both, they've been brought up under the influence of others, and told each step of the way exactly what to do. Even their union may seem like a firm registration of an alliance, if not for both lovers recognizing their common need to establish their own grounding, and to do so with the help of each other. Instead of being pawns, there's this constant search and probing of opportunities to break out of stifling, and at times absurd, rules and regulations. Trust also becomes a much valued commodity, and loyalty too can be traded for wanting to set the slate clean.

However, all these themes become but a breeze through the narrative, from childhood to romance, marriage and children. In fact, there's so much fast-forwarding here, especially the last few minutes filled with inter-titles, that it actually leaves the audience wanting for more, and room of course for another movie, which I suspect would probably not see the light of day, but perhaps a television series might pick up on the film's response, and come out with a mini-series or such. It's a pity that all the effort here in ensuring the gorgeous costumes, sets and art direction would be confined to a film that's quite lightweight in theme and brief mention of issues, that they don't really challenge the protagonists in order to allow for some overcoming of character-defining adversary.

With its star-studded cast, one would expect more, but one would be left wanting more instead. Recommended for those who are ever curious about Kings and Queens in the British Monarchy, only as a complement to other more engaging stories available in the other films already mentioned.

Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms (Disco Ormene)

That's The Way I Like It

School holiday season would dictate more animated and family oriented films being released in the theatres, and while we would rue at having to wait until September for Pixar's Up, we have to make do with the rather lacklustre Monsters vs Aliens with 3D gimmick, and the little unknowns (pardon the pun) like Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms, set in the insect kingdom with earthworms species being put in the spotlight.

I suppose it's a challenge to animate earthworms. After all, they're tiny, they're slimy, and you just can't tell heads over tails. But no matter, this Danish animation managed to have it all worked out, fusing disco singing and dancing, with an effective, if not tried and tested, formula about turning zeroes into heroes. Released as the dubbed English version here, the animation is easy on the eyes, going for a very clean look with just enough visual details that prevent it from clogging up your senses. Disco lovers will no doubt find themselves tapping to famous tunes of the Disco era, such as Blame it on the Boogie and evergreens from the Village People, amongst others.

But I was rather surprised and pleased at the more mature theme a show for kids had attempted to tackle, and that's on discrimination. It's set very early on in the film that the earthworms are of lower caste in the insect kingdom, getting no respect or love from the larger community, just because they are at the bottom of the foodchain, having no valued skills other than to maintain the compost of their shared habitat. Literally the shit job if you'd like, and having a career none other than to do that for the rest of their lives. One cannot even aspire to be the CEO of their compost company, because it's a position reserved for other insects to manage over them.

So dreamers like the titular Barry, who dreams of being a disco singer/dancer with his own band, have no place in the community for his lack of willingness to conform, unlike best pal Tito, a fat worm looked down upon and being made fun of because of its weight. Barry finds his true calling one day when he gets passed down his dad's old box to help him in his middle-management examinations, and soon finds enough inspiration to turn his dream into reality, even if it means dodging his protective mother's queries, and having absolutely no clue going about doing so, assembling a rag-tag team of worms with raw talent that needs plenty of polishing.

Throw in a romance subplot, and a chief adversary in the form of a ballad crooning beetle who sees them as a rival in their bid to win 10 Grand in a Top of the Pops equivalent contest, and you have a neat film which has great musical tracks and a simple story with a main theme that children can grasp onto. It's a little inspiring as well with the entrenched thought of dreaming big, and working at making one's dreams come true, with what matters being the journey and the experience gained, not everything focused solely on the destination and material goals.

Echelon Conspiracy

Eagle Eye 2

At one glance, it's easy to dismiss Echelon Conspiracy as yet another Eagle Eye wannabe. Face it, it has a man who receives mysterious and anonymous instructions, being on the run from authorities, and constantly getting put into various lines of fire. Only that despite its plot loopholes and common ground factors, this B-grade movie is a lot more fun than the big budgeted action thriller from last year, and Shane West being a lot less irritating that Shia LaBeouf.

West (the only other recent film I saw him in was Red Sands) plays a computer engineer Max Peterson, who while in Bangkok for a job assignment, receives a mysterious DHL (thank you product placement) package which contains a state of the art mobile phone (I want one!), seemingly bundled with real time information which provided him a Final Destination moment, and insider trader information. He doesn't know who's tipping him off, but like every ordinary Joe out there, nobody's rejecting money-spinning messages once the results have been verified.

Which brings him to Prague and Moscow and back to the USA in a semi-global wild goose chase in order not to look cheap, first by Ed Burns' John Reed, an ex-FBI agent now working for a conglomerate whose casino Max tries to fleece from, then from Ving Rhames' Agent Dave Grant, under orders from NSA chief Raymond Burke who has higher orders to allow Dave to work outside of the country (yep, that's unbelievable loophole #1 if you wish). In any case it's a reluctant cat-and-mouse chase of sorts and cooperation in others as the trio play at this dangerous cloak-and-dagger in trying to find out who the source of instructional messages that have caused the lives of the recipients. No prizes to be won after you sit through some 20 minutes of the film actually.

There's plenty of slime thrown at the Bush Administration by writers Kevin Elders and Michael Nitsberg, aiming the gunsight of their story squarely at the Patriot Act, and the playing of the trading of freedom for big brother type of surveillance, which is lengendary of the NSA. Perhaps there's too much credit here given for being able to come up with THE ultimate supercomputer able to crunch facts and numbers, to be the tool of choice when tapping into just about every telecommunications device in the world to churn out threat reports. A little science-fiction thrown in of course, with big assumptions that everything is connected on the world wide grid, and coupled with an ending that would astonish non-techies, but a comedy to nerds.

Recognizable names such as Burns, Rhames, Sheen and even Jonathan Pryce lend some gravitas into a slightly-above average thriller, which if you put aside the implausibles, actually is of some fun. Shane West though makes a good alternative to the over-exposed Shia LaBeouf, and hopefully we get to see opportunities presented to him to step up into more mainstream, big-budgeted action roles, because frankly, today's Hollywood cinema needs a new It boy to be doing all the running, rather than going back to the same old name currently.

I just cannot stop laughing at the lack of ingenuity of the filmmakers of having the BBC news channel spoofed as CCD (C'mon, can you be a little more creative than this?) with similar colour schemes employed, and an English accent too. Echelon Conspiracy isn't going to win over any fans, but it was fun while it lasted. Just check your logic at the door.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Another Long Night

I didn't particularly enjoy my first Night at the Museum as I thought it had tried really hard to be funny, and going from set piece to set piece from within the New York Museum of Natural History, taking a while before it got its engine cranking. For me, the funniest Ben Stiller comedies had been the relatively more adult fare like There's Something About Mary, The Heartbreak Kid and such, but this family friendly fare surprised me, and belonged to the rare few sequels which actually surpassed the original.

This Battle of the Smithsonian (Singapore opted to drop this subtitle for the more idiot-proof numerical "2") has Shawn Levy going back to the director's chair, and written by the returning team of Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, who seemed more at ease this time round in bringing back the characters created some 3 years ago, while infusing a lot more of new folks without breaking a sweat. For those like me who believe that bigger is not a certainty it's better, this night at the museum proved that it can be delivered and done so with more fun as well.

If you can get past the idea that in 3 years, Ben Stiller's night guard Larry Daley is now a CEO of a company making household products, and from time to time still visits his old friends back at the Museum such as Octavius of Rome (Steve Coogan), cowboy Jedediah Smith (Owen Wilson), Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallgher), Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), "dum-dum" Easter Island Head (Brad Garrett), the skeletal T-Rex and the mischievious monkey, whom we all have gotten acquainted with in the first film. Dr McPhee (Ricky Gervais) now informs him that these old exhibits will now be archived in Washington's Smithsonian Institute (hence the title), but Monkey decides to bring along Ahkmenrah's magical golden tablet responsible for their nocturnal coming to life, hence setting up the new adventures for Larry when he receives a distress call from Jedediah.

Played out like a rescue mission, Larry becomes embroiled in new adventures now set in Washington, where a larger footprint of exhibits offers a lot more artifacts coming to life and providing some entertainment, ranging from pop culture references to Hank Azaria hamming it up as chief villain Egyptian Pharaoh Kahmunrah who speaks with a nasty lisp. Joining his villanous plan to take over the world (with possession of the tablet Larry now holds) are historical bad guys like Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest), Napoleon Bonaparte (Alan Chabat), Al Capone (Jon Bernthal) and his posse of gangsters who happen to be in black and white.

On the side of the good guys, we have the gigantic Abraham Lincoln and The Thinker (also voiced by Azaria), a not-too-bright General Custer (Bill Hader), Sailor Joey Motorola (Jay Baruchel), an American Gothic painting, some bobbing-heads Albert Einstein (Eugene Levy) and singing Jonas Brothers cupids. Amy Adam's sprightly Amelia Earhart provides for some strong feminine influence opposite Larry Daley, and an angle for a romantic subplot too.

It's not much of a plot as well this time round, but the larger scale provides an avenue of the night time activities to go beyond the four walls of one museum. This time round it doesn't try too hard to be funny because it actually is, with Hank Azaria stealing plenty of thunder each time he comes on screen with his Kahmunrah almost always screaming. The scenes he shares with Stiller were some of the best here, especially with the insane dialogue coupled with their comical timing that would provide me reason enough to watch this film again.

Other than that, this new outing at the museum allows for a perfect family outing to the cinemas, being family friendly as it is with nary a swear word or violence, which is cartoony of course. Predictable but has its moments, thanks to the expanded cast of familiar faces, and new ones to the franchise (yes, I predict there's enough bandwidth for another round!)

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Der Baader Meinhof Komplex)

Stand Off

Although the events portrayed in The Baader Meinhof Complex dates back to the 60s and 70s, this look back at West Germany's struggle with political extremism and armed resistance holds some relevance in today's terror threats, given that it's never always just about tackling the issue as an independent silo, but there's this inter-connectedness with events around the world that shape rationale, objectives and outcome.

Director Uli Edel has crafted an engaging political action-thriller if you might, from Stefan Aust's book about the founders of the Red Faction Army (RAF), one of Germany's violent left-wing anti-capitalist group, whose logo is a combination of a Red Star and an MP5 sub-machine gun. It captured quite succinctly the coming together of the group in their armed push to get their ideologies through to an audience. It doesn't set to glamorize the group, but puts forth the events as they happened, from founding right up until the demise of the first generation leaders, in a trial recorded as Germany's most expensive to date, and the controversial end to it.

The terrorist techniques then don't really differ from those of today, such as bombings, kidnappings, hijackings and assassinations. Terrorist camps become training ground for members to get equipped with guerrilla warfare, and hats off to Uli Edel and his team in accurately reconstructing the major events as accurately as possible, and how they allowed for the smooth juxtaposition of archived newsreels, which at times made the movie play out almost like watching a documentary with ring-side seats to the series of world events, from US political elections to the Vietnam War, and even to the massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. And everyone knows that innocent civilians, once they become unnecessary collateral, tend to chip at the legitimacy of the methods employed, thus being the catalyst to a slide in support. If anyone needs a 101 to terrorist techniques, then the RAF's host of methods employed as seen in the film, allows for that glimpse.

Like what is commonly said these days about one faction being overly zealous in pushing their ideologies across the table, only to encounter an equal force opposing in the other direction, the armed resistance here seemed to have pushed for the justification of a police-like state in order to counter their threats and to keep them under control. But what I found more intriguing, is how support for their activities come from a much wider geography, a network of like-minded individuals or groups who form that kind of help and support for training and logistics, which still holds true in today's context. Also, for any grouping without its charismatic leader clearly in control, it'll still manage to thrive under the next generation of leaders, but focus on the objectives would probably be skewed or diluted, with much deviation from what was originally intended. And there are always eager beavers who would not think twice at solely using violence to achieve their goals.

Art direction was top notch in recreating the feel of yesteryear, and the cast does a great job in their convincing portrayals of historical figures. Despite its runtime of close to 150 minutes, it never for a moment felt dreary to an audience unfamiliar with the politics or significant world events of the time, partly also because of the kind of relevance it holds today, and under Uli Edel's astute direction in keeping a quick pace. If there should be shortcomings, then perhaps it didn't exactly put forth the appeal of the group of anarchists, because at one point it mentioned support coming from one in four Germans, but doesn't go beyond the Us or Them syndrome, or provided some depth into the court proceedings, which in the film looked more like a circus than to serve any purpose.

Germany's entry into the Foreign Language Film category in this year's Oscars, The Baader Meinhof Complex is thoroughly riveting and engaging, and should be in your list of much watch films of the week, instead of opting for the week's summer blockbuster offering.

Italian Film Festival 2009

Heads up, people! This year's Italian Film Festival will run from 4th to 20th June (with the 3rd being an invite only Opening Night event), and the line up and schedule of films are already available in full here as a PDF file download.

Presented by the Italian Cultural Institute in partnership with the Singapore Film Society, The Picturehouse, Cathay Cineplex, The Arts House and the National Library Board, this year's lineup seemed to have expanded, not only in screening venues as already listed, but having a slate of FREE - yes you read that right - screenings during the festival period too!

2 fringe programmes will be made FREE to the public, and they are no pushover films, mind you. For those who are into animation, then you shouldn't miss Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto's shorts and feature length films. But the other fringe programme piqued my interest sky high since I'm a fan of the thriller genre. A total of 4 "Gialli" - thriller genre - films are going to be shown at The Arts House, so there's no prizes for guessing where I'll be during that week!

From the main programme, I'd likely be catching The Girl by the Lake, Good Morning Heartache, and A Whole Life Ahead. If time permits, then perhaps The Wind Blows Round and Skylark Farm starring Paz Vega as well.

Seriously, I can't wait! Share with me your choice of films?

Blood: The Last Vampire

Blade In Schoolgirl Uniform

Jeon Ji-Hyun, now known as Gianna for this international film, trades her demure demeanour for something that action junkies will probably find reason to cheer about - having a beautiful heroine kick some serious butt with her near-invincibility and possessing a blade that cuts through vampires, monsters and demons like hot knife through butter. But seriously, do we need another half-vampire, half-human hybrid being for the big screen, even though this has anime roots?

If done well, I don't see why not of course, with enough room for yet another vampire hunter, since the closest if anyone wants to compare modus operandi with, will be Wesley Snipes as Marvel's Blade. I am trying really hard to find redeeming factors for this film, but alas the negatives seem to outweigh the positives a lot more, and draw tremendous attention that you'll find hard to ignore.

First of all, there's the issue of Saya (Gianna), being the all powerful hunter that she is, actually succumbed to an old pitfall - never have your hero sit on the pedestal that it becomes absolutely effortless when facing adversary. One slash of her katana means instant death, and thus there's no kick, and no challenge. She rarely broke a sweat (OK, so the heavy downpour might disguise that a little) when dispatching scores, and I mean scores, of faceless, nameless beings, that by the time the next action sequence rolls around, you know what to expect - hack, slash, hack, slash, wash-rinse-repeat.

No doubt Gianna's no true-blue martial arts practitioner, director Chris Nahon decided to spice things up a bit through extremely fast cuts, close ups, and a dash of time-lapse or slow motion here and there. Stylistically it may look gorgeous, but you become well aware that these were employed to mask short-comings in the action sequences, directed by Corey Yuen. No offense to Corey, but I felt that Blood was in need of some genuine edge-of-your-seat excitement in its battles, because Saya does look like a one-trick pony, until the last set action piece provided a little glimpse into more powers that she possesses. Everything in-between was nothing new, nor accentuates her abilities for an audience unfamiliar with the source material.

Then there's the outcome of over-reliance on badly delivered CGI. No doubt wanting to stylize blood spurts probably to lessen the impact of very graphic violence and dismemberment, again something overly done becomes the spoiler for the broth. The rooftop chase was cartoony, though I'm quite sure the intent wasn't to infuse some animation at certain points in the film. What I thoroughly enjoyed though, even if it was rather old school and done countless of times, is the ninja attack set in a leafy forest. Execution was swift, with a real sense of peril, up until the point Saya enters the picture, without which it was a treat to see her guardian and trainer Kato (Yasuaki Kurata) take on a hooded army relying heavily on cunning and trickery.

But the biggest culprit to bog down the film from reaching its expected potential, is the severe lack of credible villains. Everyone else besides chief demon Onigen (played by Japanese actress Koyuki) was like a side dish appetizer meant to pass time until Saya meets Onigen in the showdown you see in the trailer. No offense to Koyuki, but her English diction here really made one strain the ears to try and make out the threats she's dishing out (I had Chinese subtitles available to assist thankfully), and despite her awesome powers, she failed to heed the prime lesson that most cinematic villains have fallen for - that an egoistical soliloquy is always a waste of time. Not to mention that the final third of the film seemed like it was a rushed job to get to where it wanted to be, and out of convenience too.

There were some nice moments such as the whole set up of the ultra-secretive Council (like a Men in Black predecessor) and the clean-up jobs that the lower rung operatives have to conduct each time Saya cleans out the demons, and it was a pity that the entire council got forgotten midway. Clint Mansell provided the score, but unfortunately there wasn't a memorable tune that came out of it. And to round up the disappointments in this very choppy film, what was unforgivable the sense of deja-vu in having a scene lifted from Underworld: Evolution. Think flight from danger with a winged beast attacking the getaway truck, and you get my point, attack for attack - swooping from heights, slamming of the windscreen, driving on a mountainous winding road and the ripping of doors, with such similarities just too close for comfort.

Bottom line is, Blood: The Last Vampire is a straight forward action film. Forget the wafer thin plot and try to ignore the potential where certain scenes could have been made better. It's nice to look at with plenty of style over substance, and unfortunately nothing more.

Dance Subaru!

So You Think You Can Dance?

Ballet and Swan Lake isn't exactly my cup of tea, but Dance Subaru! convinced me to stick around for its sensible storyline which reflects on the principle notion of keeping your friends close, and your enemies closer. Meisa Kuroki stars as the titular character Subaru, who had to live through tragedy and parental objection, in order to pursue her dream of dance. She runs away to a cabaret where she becomes the protege to an ex-ballerina Madam Isuzu (Momoi Kaori) and like a martial arts practitioner, has her innate talents honed by multiple teachers along the way, not only in Ballet, but Contemporary Dance, Hip Hop and the likes.

Surprisingly this dance film has a lot more to do than just showcase its dance moves. Essentially it contains a very true to life story on human nature itself, how we from time to time succumb to envy, where friends can become rivals either on personal or professional terms. Here, we see how super cool Subaru has two friends/fiends in Mana (Sano Miku), whom she knew since childhood, and peer critic Liz Park (Korean model Ara), who is seeking out new inspiration to her craft. At times the characters' rivalry reminded me of that in the Japanese animation film The Piano Forest, where one of the protagonist harbours envious thoughts at his friend's raw talent, making light of the hard work he has to put in to become one of the best.

That aside, it's also a reminder of how one has to learn both to work independently and become a star player, and also be adaptable to become a team player should the situation calls for it. And the dances here provide some excellent avenues for that as well, when we journey with Subaru to unlearn what she has learnt, and picking up new vibes and skills to become a more well-rounded dancer.

This film is not strictly for dance fans, as non-fans could easily follow the universal themes here, and of course, pick up a tip or two about dance, Ballet, and Swan Lake.

You can read my review of Dance Subaru at movieXclusive.com by clicking on the logo below.