[DVD] The Big One (1997)

It's Mr Nike Himself!

One of the earliest Michael Moore documentaries made some 13 years ago, the angle at which he's pursuing here still holds a certain truth with regards to his relentless crusade against corporations, greed and corruption, asking the pointed question why lay offs are still required for major companies still turning in a obscene profits, and we'd get to see, on camera, how the corporate suit types unconvincingly wriggle their way out through canned messages. In other words, making them look stupid because they just can't say what they do in a straight face.

As part of his book tour promoting his latest book Downsize This! across 47 cities in the United States in 50 days (grueling if you ask me), the film takes that one single question and goes on quite a predictable pattern where Moore would fly in the city, meet up with his respective Media Escort that Random House, his book publisher assigns, then try to pull off one of his in-your-face interviews as he and his camera crew marches into whichever corporation's HQ-ed in the city, before recounting his experience to a townhall audience, and showcasing scenes from his book signing where he gets to meet the man, or woman, on the street lining up to get his autograph, and of course to talk to the big guy, and lend their support to what he's doing.

The Big One basically is a road trip film documenting his travels and what he does as he goes on that crusade against corporations, especially those which have recently announced profits, yet go through a large lay-off exercise. He brings volunteers on his rounds just to prove a point that they aren't lazy or choosy, and will work if given the opportunity to do so, even at minimum wage. It's not the least surprising how Moore, with his already growing reputation then, gets road-blocked time and again by security or middle management who get sent to intercept and entertain Moore, since the head honchos naturally prefer to sit in their comfy offices and avoid the heat.

The surprise of course comes when Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, decides to grant him an audience on camera as well, though is nothing but tongue tied when questioned about his company's policy in locating their factory outside of America, and really side-stepping issues thrown his way. It's understood that nobody will like to commit anything without careful thought, but it sure does take the cake when witnessing these men, who make handsome profits, finding their rationale and excuses all shot down soundly, since their sole pursuit is undeniably, to keep making more money for their shareholders. But unlike Roger & Me, Moore gets fairly successful here in putting someone who's a somebody, on camera.

In some ways The Big One plays out like a comedy since there's plenty of stand-up moments where Moore entertains the crowd with jokes and making light of some really serious bread and butter issues regarding people's livelihood. Singapore's mentioned twice in the film, early on when Moore talks about how McDonald's gets money to promote McNuggets here, and the other when he offers Phil Knight a trip to Indonesia via Singapore Airlines no less. But I suppose if the same issues were to be discussed and addressed here in the same approach Michael Moore does, there's no doubt what will happen to the local filmmaker.

Don't expect a lot of issues brought up being taken on a detailed macro-approach or level, or extensively researched like his later films since this is fairly early Moore's filmmaking career, and it somehow felt like something done on a spur of the moment, and still much centered around the individual. While the war is not won in one film, at least the little battles the everyday man go into, which gets tracked and documented in this film, does show a ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak Inc. world we live in.

The Region 1 DVD by Miramax Home Entertainmemt comes presented in Dolby Digital Sound and a Full Screen format. Caption and Subtitles are available in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish. Scene selection is available over 16 chapters in this 91 minute film.

No extras are packed into this documentary DVD, other than a Theatrical Trailer (1:40) which spoofs Men in Black and introduces Michael Moore as the messiah of truth (quite egoistically put across if you ask me), and a series of Sneak Peeks which tells of Miramax 25th Anniversary (2:05), and trailers for Shall We Dance (1:47) and Finding Neverland (2:23), with a play all function available.

Anime Fans Listen Up!

With the successful same-day-as-Japan's-release of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - Awakening of the Trailblazer in September, Sinema will be following that up with a screening of a series of popular Japanese anime films from 15 November, and fans of Gundam will probably rejoice with the releases such as Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam I – A New Translation “Heirs to the Stars”, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam II – A New Translation “Lovers”, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam III – A New Translation “Love is the Pulse of the Stars”, and a second run of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 – Awakening of the Trailblazer screenings.

For those who are not Gundam nuts, or like me, can't tell Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam X apart, fret not, as there are two other non-Gundam anime for us to feast our eyes on.

The first being King of Thorn, which I had the opportunity to watch last year (my review here). For the uninitiated, here's a synopsis:

Medusa Virus, a sickness that turns it’s victims into stone, begins to ravage the people of Earth. In a desperate attempt to save humanity’s, a selected group was chosen for the only known cure: cryogenic sleep for many years into the future.

The group wake-up to a nightmare: freakish creatures are destroying the cryo facility that house the chosen survivors. Without knowing what these creatures are and why they are being attacked. The last remnants of civilization must band together and fight these monsters in order to survive.

They must escape the Cryogenics facility to discover what happened to the Earth during their slumber.

The other, which I intend to watch, will be The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

It is mid-december, and SOS Brigade chief Haruhi Suzumiya announces that the Brigade is going to hold a Christmas party in their clubroom, with Japanese hotpot for dinner. The brigade members Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina and Itsuki Koizumi start preparing everything for the party, such as costumes and decorations.

But a couple of days later, Kyon arrives at school only to find that Haruhi is missing. Not only that, Mikuru claims she has never known Kyon. Koizumi is also missing and Yuki has become the sole member of the literature club.

The SOS Brigade have never existed, nor has Haruhi Suzumiya. No one in the school has ever heard about her… except for Kyon.

which sounds like a trippy mindf*ck.

Hit this link to find out more, watch the trailers, and of course to book your tickets before they sell out!

The Story of Electronics

A look at the 'design for the dump' mentality so prevalent in the electronics industry.


More here, and please remember to

- Share the movie with your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students and anyone else you think might be interested,
- Read Annie's Huffington Post piece about the movie, and then commenting on it, liking it or sharing it.

Make Them Safe! Make Them Last! Take Them Back!

Perspectives Film Festival: Breaking Through Reality

Back in 2008, a group of students from the NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information started the Perspectives Film Festival which was a 5-day long event featuring some of the classic films produced in Singapore, the highlight being the screening of Lion City, which was arguably the first Chinese-language film to be made here, and the festival selected other classics such as P Ramlee's Seniman Bujang Lapok, Hussein Haniff's Hang Jebat, Salleh Ghani’s Tun Fatimah and B. N. Rao’s Sumpah Pontianak in its lineup.

That edition was soon followed up by something fun last year, with the theme on Monster Mania, where it had the likes of Godzilla, the Mighty Peking Man, and Nosferatu thrilling festival goers.

And now, Perspectives Film Festival, run by a new batch of students under the guidance of mentors from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, come together again to curate and organize this event, to be held from 25th to 28th November at the Arts House Screening Room. Selected films include the critically acclaimed animated feature Waltz with Bashir that was also screened at last year's Animation Nation, Jia Zhangke's 24 City, Abbas Kiarostami's docu-drama Ten, Gimme Shelter by Albert and David Maysles together with Charlotte Zwerin, and Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, the first single-shot and unedited feature length film in cinema history.

Tickets are available through various channels, and all screenings are priced at $10 per film for adults and $8 for students/NSFs and PAssion Card Members. Ticketing details can be found here, and you can visit the Festival website for more information.

Kungfu Wingchun (功夫咏春)

Something Waiting to Happen

As the film industry in Hong Kong has demonstrated, milk the cash cow! From Mr Vampire flicks and its spin offs to the slew of King of Gambler type films, once a successful formula is spotted, we're going to see a whole range of good, and bad projects that are adamant to emulate something that resonated, until audiences say enough is enough. With the success of the Ip Man films, films about Wing Chun or Ip Man are sprouting up like wild flowers, and the filmmakers of Kungfu Wingchun has spotted a niche that's yet to be exploited, and that's the telling of the tale about how this martial arts came about.

Touted as a feminine form of martial arts for its origins as reportedly recounted by Ip Man, the film adopts from this same account for the first half at least, before boring down to expand the mythos with menacing Qing officials looking toward fame and glory by exterminating the last of all Shaolin affiliated martial arts practitioners. It's a tale of two halves, the first of which is more interesting for the origin story, before the second half action sequence takes over. But that's not to say that the sum of it all is something worthwhile of your time. In fact it's quite schizophrenic, and the production values remain unfortunately questionable and choppy.

Bai Jing stars as Yim Wing Chun, the sassy, tomboyish lass who gives her neighbours and friends a hard time since she's semi-skilled in Shaolin kungfu. The rich town bully takes a fancy to her, and decides that they should get married, if not for Wing Chun's dad to issue a challenge that her hand in marriage will be given should the bully defeat her in combat. Wing Chun's no match, but the abbess Ng Mui (Kara Hui, one time Shaw Bros legend last seen in At the End of Daybreak by Malaysian filmmaker Ho Yuhang) assists her and teaches her a new brand of martial arts. Wing Chun emerges victorious, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But just having to play out this storyline isn't that interesting, isn't it? So the filmmakers decide to bloat it with the addition of Collin Chou as a villain, so that our heroine can showcase more of her moves. Don't expect very polished Wing Chun patterns though, since she's just starting out, and probably what would be the best scenes here involve Ng Mui's instruction to Wing Chun, and some of the fight scenes with violence resembling the old school Shaw Bros kungfu movies. To get there however you have to endure some painful dialogue, and very much everything in the first half that deals with establishing the Leung Bak Chou (Yu Shaoqun) being the reluctant husband to be, who also happens to be a tea connoisseur. Plenty of unnecessary narrative fat to be trimmed away, which could have made the film mediocrely decent.

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

Can a Manly Woman Fall in Love With a Womanly Man?

That's what we'll all find out come 3rd December 2010!

The producing-directing duo of Lau Chee Nien and Han Yew Kwang, who have brought us comedies such as Unarmed Combat in 2006 and their 2008 hit film 18 Grams of Love, have returned for their third feature film titled When Hainan Meets Teochew / 当海南遇上潮州, an Un-romantic Comedy starring two leads who are neither famous nor good looking. Yes you read that right, but hey, it's a bold move that pokes fun at the romantic comedy genre.

Made with the support from the National Arts Council, the film is the debut production under their new company 18g Pictures (no prizes how that name came about!), which was set up in 2009 to create original content with a distinctive sense of humour. As the synopsis goes,

When a bra falls on Ms. Teochew, she immediately wins the lottery. Meanwhile, Hainan-boy, whom the bra belongs to begins an earnest search for her lost bra. Her trails leads her to the home of Ms. Teochew, where a struggle leads to Ms. Teochew being booted out of her rented home. Feeling guilty, Hainan-boy invites Ms. Teochew to move in with her. Will this be the start of a beautiful romance?

As director Han Yew Kwang mentioned in a released statement, the meaning of love changes as we age, and in the last 10 years he had seen how his equation of love - "50% romantic and 50% unromantic" had evolved into "5% romantic, 5% unromantic and 90% getting used to and tolerating each other", before culminating in being "100% non-romantic, yet at the same time 100% funny". Hence a film is born, with "No beautiful sets, no pretty faces and no lyrical dialogue".

I for one am anticipating this film, as the Lau-Han partnership has yielded something unique in the local comedy film scene here in recent years (including their projects for television), and this effort reunites some of their previous cast members such as Lee Chau Min, Yeo Yann Yann, Alaric Tay, Catherine Sng and Soundrarajan Jeeva from the earlier films, all familiar showbiz personalities in their own right.

Check out the official movie webpage here, or get the latest updates from the movie's Facebook page, filled with plenty of photos, videos, and a chronology of the film's development in anecdotal form all posted on the Wall.

When Hainan Meets Teochew is in Mandarin and English and is rated NC-16 for mature theme and some sexual reference. It will debut at The Arts House and Sinema on 3 Dec 2010. Tickets priced at $10 ($8 concession for students, senior citizens and NSF) will go on sale from 12 Nov. Mark those dates down on your calendar NOW!

Flowers (フラワーズ)

The Splendid Six

Director Norihiro Koizumi (Midnight Sun) brings together a stellar ensemble cast of some of Japanese Cinema's more recognizable faces in Flowers, in celebration of the woman of the times from the 30s to the new millennium, while also paying tribute to the distinct look and feel of Japanese cinema over the same time span. It hasn't struck me until now that when you look at a Japanese film, through its themes or misc-en-scene, you can quite accurately predict the specific period of time it's set in or made during, and Koizumi meticulously brings out this distinction in a beautifully melodramatic tale written by Shu Fujimoto and Yuiko Miura.

The narrative spans three generations of a family as portrayed by six different actresses in stories over the period from 1939 to 2009, where we begin in pre-WWII before flipping to contemporary Tokyo, followed by tales set in the 60s and 70s that form the bulk, going back and forth in time quite effortlessly since each character and actress hold court in their respective stories. Yu Aoi opens the film in black and white, set in 1939 as Generation 1, where her Rin spends her last day with her family and as a single woman, on the eve of her arranged marriage. But we learn that she isn't as demure as she looks and has a mind of her own, and wedding anxieties aside, is not quite ready to leave her home for a new life outside of her comfort zone. A conflict arises when she goes headlong in her disagreement with her dad.

Then we're introduced to Generation 3, which I felt was quite the smart thing to do to keep the audience in temporal suspense, since we now know what will eventually transpire in Rin's story to get to where we are in 2009, but would very much want to know the details in between. Generation 3 sees Kyoka Suzuki and Ryoko Hirosue play sisters Kana and Kei respectively, where they get together with their extended family during a death in the family. Kana's story involves her as a promising pianist being relegated to a page turner, and also coping with the confusion and dilemma of a single motherhood experience, being pregnant out of wedlock. Her sister Kei on the other hand is happily married with a toddler in tow, and is of a vastly different demeanour to the constantly sulking Kana, since her philosophy in life is to find joy in everything she does. This is again a creative brilliance in holding back just enough to keep our interests piqued, where it provides an emotional punch toward the third act of the film, and Hirosue fits the characterization like hand in glove, since I always associate her with something bright and sunny.

Generation 2 is where the other half of the six actresses dwell in, being sisters Kaoru (Yuko Takeuchi), Midori (Rena Tanaka) and Sato (Yukie Nakama), with their stories set in the 60s and 70s, and the themes of love and family couldn't be more keenly felt here. Kaoru and Midori meet up back in their mother Rin's house for a festival, which culminates in their sharing of thoughts and counsel. We're also brought back in time for some years which deals with the story of Kaoru and her loss, which is told with a lot of heartfelt sensitivity, in a melancholic tale about loss, the fight in keeping one's memory alive, loaded with sentiments of being afraid to let go. In Midori's case, we see how a headstrong tomboy decide to embrace her feminine side and charms, which I think most modern day feminists might be up in arms against, but hey, it's the 60s we're talking about here, and things like the glass ceiling, and workplace attitudes still being quite backward if measured against today's standards.

While Midori's story may be with a tinge of comedy, Sato's story will tug hard at your heartstrings even though what's to come had already been hinted at earlier. It deals with life and death, and the unconditional love any mother develops for her child, unborn even, where calculated risks get taken in order to bring out a life and to introduce the wonders of what our world can offer. Perhaps this story arc is stylistically the simplest and the most direct, but is amongst the highest in the emotional quotient compared to the rest.

And what made it work for Flowers, is the extreme attention to detail across all technical departments, from the production sets to the costumes, with each of the actresses sticking closely to the acting styles and demeanours as warranted by characters and actresses of their respective era. It's as if we are looking and gazing at a time capsule of a period gone not only through cinema, but of cinema itself, and this works brilliantly on many levels. Fans of Japanese cinema will probably have a field day with the technical nuances found in all the scenes, techniques and style employed.

What is wonderful as well is that the actresses don't have to play their characters across the different timelines, as if each time period snapshots all of them at their respective prime of their lives, without a need for any fanciful makeup or effects to age them considerably, since there's no need to. Earlier generations are referred to by name, incident or flashback, and this provides enough glue to hold down the lineage the narrative subjects us to, without having to be too cumbersome in treatment.

Six intertwined stories about love, family and femininity by six wonderful actresses (according to the AsianMediaWiki stated they have all starred in Shiseido's popular Tsubaki commercials), and an ode to Japanese cinema spanning over 70 years cannot be any better than this. I'm a sucker for nostalgia with solid storytelling that's well acted, and Flowers earns its distinction to be shortlisted for being one of the best films this year. Highly recommended!

[DVD] Dabangg (2010)

So Soon?

I'm surprised at the speed at which the DVD for Dabangg got released, because it usually takes quite a while but I suppose with piracy rampant this wait window gets necessarily shortened for one of the most popular films this year, which broke countless of records at the box office. I'm not complaining since I can now get my hands on my copy to watch the film all over again, and hey, the songs rock too! Among the three Khans of Bollywood I have yet to find a Salman Khan film that I like, until Dabangg came along and made me a fan. If all things go right, we should see the sequel being made pretty soon since this film had set it up nicely, so I'm really looking forward to that happening!

You can read my review of Dabangg here.

The 2-Disc Region Free DVD edition of Dabanng by Reliance BIG Home Video comes presented in its original Hindi audio track with options available in Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 Stereo and subtitles in the English language only, which is only applicable to Disc One.

Disc One contains the feature in a pristine anamorphic widescreen format transfer, and scene selection is over 20 chapters. Unfortunately you're forced to watch two advertising clips by Ambuja Cement before you can access the DVD menu, and thankfully they are comedic. The staple of any Hindi film release on DVD is the special section that features all the songs in the film. Here that includes Hud Dabangg (2:40) and Tere Mast Mast (3:36), two of my favourites from the movie, with the rest being Humka Peeni Hai (2:48), Sachi Sachi (2:32) and the item number Munni Badnaam (4:52). A play all function is available as well.

Disc Two is the Special Features disc, presented in letterbox format and contains only two major features. The major bugbear for non Hindi speakers is that this disc contains no subtitles, so you can't fully get to understand what's being transpired other than to guess, and make out from whatever smattering of English that gets spoken.

The first feature is The Making of Dabangg (40:52), which is presented in a talk show format hosted by Shatrughan Sinha, with the panelists of director Abhinav Kashyap who was quite muted here, female lead Sonakshi Sinha in her debut feature film, Salman Khan as the titular dabangg policeman, and Salman's real life brother Arbaaz Khan who serves as producer of the film, and also plays his screen brother Makhanchan Pandey. Some of the topics discussed included how Sonakshi Sinha got shortlisted and selected to play Rajo, the action choreography, the usual outtakes and clips from behind the scenes, and the making of the songs Munni Badnaam which was the item number choreographed by Farah Khan and starring Malaika Arora Khan (wife of Arbaaz) and Jumka Peeni Hai, before ending with the Hud Dabangg music video.

The other feature was the Making of the Songs (27:42) of which Munni Badnaam and Jumka Peeni Hai were included in the previous extra feature, and the rest being a behind the scenes look at how the other songs were made, with Sachi Sachi being shot in Dubai, Tere Mast Mast which is one of two of my favourites, and how Salman had improvised for Hud Dabangg. The best bits in this section is the split screen presentation between the final product, and the behind the scenes put side by side for comparison. Comes with a play all function to watch all the segments in one go.

If only the extra disc was subtitled, it will make a pretty nifty release besides the slip case the DVD was packaged in.

Due Date

That Mutt Stole Our Thunder

A few years ago, you are likely to go Zach Galifianakis who? With Todd Phillips's The Hangover to thank, the rotund actor is probably one of the more recognizable up and coming comedians to hit the silver screen, and would probably be able to branch out of ensembles and support roles such as that in Dinner for Schmucks, to marquee his own film. But it's a step in the right direction now that he continues with Todd's follow up film Due Date, in a leading role opposite co-star Robert Downey Jr, Hollywood's comeback kid.

One thing's for sure about this film, if the chemistry between the two leads feel forced or artificial, the entire film will tank, because it hinges on their repertoire and ability to play off one another, in a road trip between the city of Atlanta to Los Angeles, where Downey Jr's Peter Highman has to be back in time to witness the birth of his newborn. But no thanks to Galifianakis' Ethan Tremblay, a walking talking Calamity James, they get off the wrong foot in their serendipitous meeting at the driveway of the airport resulting in a slew of unfortunate incidents from embarrassment from a bag swap and the inevitable painful arrest by an air marshal, culminating in being put on the no-fly list. Talk about how things start to go downhill as Peter had predicted, with every possession of his gone other than a soft toy monkey, he has no choice but to buddy up with Ethan who offers him a cross country ride home, being an aspiring actor looking to make it big in Hollywood.

Did the chemistry work? An affirmative yes from the get go, thus beginning an adventure of two men surviving pretty much every incident of their own doing, as if trouble lurks behind every corner, with either one being the trouble magnet. It's a typical road movie with pit stops designed to tickle our funny bones at the expense of the character's predicament, and at times you wonder whether to laugh or cry at them. Some of the best shenanigans involve the consequences of smoking weed (albeit accidentally and not much of a choice on Peter's part), and an extended sequence involving a bust up at the Mexican border, which in a way also contained the biggest plot loophole in the film.

But we're not going to nitpick at the plausibility of the episodes encountered by the duo, especially when we're more than likely to wonder if Peter can arrive safely in one piece as the injuries begin to mount. While most episodes are played out for laughs, there are interspersed with more dramatic elements such as the running thread on Ethan's need to get the ashes of his father, stored in a coffee tin yet specially set up as another plot device for a wicked gag, to the Grand Canyon. It's all about the usual themes of a budding friendship and the development of camaraderie after a more than destructive introduction, a coming together of strange bedfellows who will otherwise in their own circle of everyday life wouldn't even get to meet.

And with road movies, cameo appearances have become a staple. Juliette Lewis, last seen in The Switch, appears here as a weed dealer who mixes and matches her offerings from her kitchen, while Jamie Foxx contributes his two cents worth as Peter's long time friend who also turns out to be the ex of his wife Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), and provides a small degree of a subplot as to whether he and his wife have already gotten over each other, or not, though it didn't offer much as it got blown over in less than 5 minutes. The best supporting appearance has just got to be Sonny the dog, who probably trounces all the best lines Downey Jr and Galifianakis get, with just an incredibly sick but unexpectedly funny scene involving, well, you got to find out for yourself, suffice to say it may have contributed to the higher rating of this film as well.

It may not be Planes, Trains and Automobiles which I deem as my personal favourite road trip film of all time and I'm setting my benchmark against it, but Due Date does not even come close to that classic unfortunately. That said, it still has enough laughs in it for a weekend romp and comes recommended for the two lead's comfortable screen chemistry with each other.

The Housemaid (하녀 / Hanyo)

Dangerous Liaisons

The buzz on this film is ringing out loud. A remake of the original film by Kim Ki-young, widely considered one of the top Korean films of all time, this updated version by Im Sang-soo is a lot more revealing and explicit in nature for the modern audience probably sensitized to it, being one of the films selected for competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and its two limited screenings during our Korean Film Festival were one of the earliest to have sold out. Needless to say it makes good sense for a commercial release here.

The premise is simple, where Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) got invited by Byung-sik (Yun Yeo-Jong) to serve in an uber-rich household made up of three members - the master of the house Hoon (Lee Jung-jae), his very pregnant wife Haera (Seo Woo) expecting a pair of twins due anytime soon and hence the need for an extra help around the house, and their daughter Nami (Ahn Seo-hyeon) with whom Eun-yi forms a strong friendship with, since a child is non-judgemental on someone's background and social standing.

As much as most would like Eun-yi, a divorcee, to enter the household and see an opportunity to seduce Hoon, this is not that movie, and neither was that the motivation at all. We see the fairly impoverished background that Eun-yi came from, and living amongst the rich and powerful provided a chance to live the high life, since the family is extremely wasteful. With Byung-sik showing her the ropes necessary to do her job, from the bowing to the serving, the cleaning and being at the beck and call of the household members, the hardship probably is well worth it for the perks that come with the job, ones that are beyond the reach of ordinary folks.

So when things turn, you'll find yourself wondering the exact motivation she allowed herself to open up (pardon the pun) to the come hither of the master of the house, who has a penchant for alcohol and being brought up with a silver spoon, there's no such thing as a No to any of his request, although on the outside he may be that rich gentleman, it's not far-fetched to think that these folks would consider money as the basis for all things going their way, and money being the basis to bail themselves out of trouble, and to keep the mouth of others shut. Money as the root of all evil, probably couldn't be more true here if those with the means decide to abuse it, given the mindset of theirs that they can always get away from the blame game.

But what's more engaging in the film is the power play amongst the characters, who are well, mostly female, fawning over the attention, the riches and the ability of what the man in their life can offer. There's Byung-sik being extremely envious with her protege she introduced to the household, being the non-jaded, hard and younger worker who earns the trust of the family, and probably she had wanted to show the young upstart her place in the hierarchy established. And of course the main cusp of the problems Eun-yi will face stem from the child in her, threatening the balance of power especially that of mistresses and maid, with stuff that's what television melodramas get made of. To the audience, we don't feel that Eun-yi is of the scheming type, but to the other women, here's a chance of their objectives being detailed by something most unfortunate, a major threat that can come sooner or later in their lives that they have to act, and stop now.

Jeon Do-yeon deserves all the acting accolades she has received thus far for her role, and we feel the pain she has to go through in having traumatic experiences forced upon her just because she's in no position to bargain, until the defining moment in the finale where she gains the upper hand but at what a price at scarring the family for life. I haven't seen Lee Jung-jae in action since Il Mare, and here he does an about turn in a negative role that portrays the caddish behaviour of someone who has it all, while the young Seo Woo portrays the wife that's quite reasonable to begin with, that typical tai-tai but with innocence, until hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

It is the power struggles and the changing of the household dynamics that makes The Housemaid an engaging watch as we witness an internal rot that was waiting to happen. While it may not reach the heights of Kim Ki-young's original, Im Sang-soo's version still keeps things tight and is a wonderful exploration of how perceived threats redefines relationships especially that amongst those with material benefits. Recommended!

Action Replayy in eastman color

From my personal observation, we are entering the Bollywood equivalent of the summer blockbuster period, where the Deepavali / Diwali holiday season marks the start of a number of much anticipated releases by renowned filmmakers and recognizable stars, amongst those in my radar include Guzaarish starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to Ashutosh Gowariker's historical epic Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.

The film by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, based on the 1994 Gujarati play Action Replay, reminds you of Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future, only that the narrative isn't as tightly woven, and the time travel element and danger kept to a bare minimum, other than being a plot device to bring Bunty (Aditiya Roy Kapoor) back to March 1975 before his parents Kishen aka Kitchen Kumar the hotel restaurateur (Akshay Kumar) and Mala (Ash) got married. They had spent the last 33 years in a never-ending bicker, putting up false pretences at times, while at other times just let it rip in public or in front of their restaurant employees. This culminates in their wedding anniversary celebrations, where a decision is made to go their separate ways. Not wanting that to happen, Bunty conveniently hijacks a time machine belonging to his girlfriend's uncle, who just so happens to be a scientist, believing that if his parent's arranged marriage was instead a love marriage, things will turn out a lot better.

The main gist centers on the virtues of a love marriage, which is still something of a taboo back in those days, where arranged marriages were the norm. Some will argue of course that you'll grow to love someone when things get arranged, but in this case, it reflects on what if the marriage turned out to be sour from the start? And as Bunty soon finds out, the characters of his parents cannot be at more odds with each other, his dad being the cowardly bucktoothed teenager who gets frequently bullied by his Dad (Om Puri) and peers, including that of Mala, who's a headstrong, bold tomboy lacking feminine graces, exuding a steely exterior and up to her fair share of shenanigans with her gang that includes Kundan (Rannvijay Singh) whose affections for her will be one of the major obstacles Bunty and Kishen have to overcome.

It is manipulation of the first order, where the first half deals with how Bunty creates desire between the two enemies, trying to turn them into lovebirds. But here's where the story fails big time, tackling this in rather choppy instances with large plot gaps forgotten to be filled out, especially how Bunty becomes major chums with both his dad and mum (and his grandparents for that matter as well) despite literally appearing out of nowhere. While I understand a song and dance had taken care of this, I still felt it was rather hastily done just to get that cumbersome development out of the way. And hasty is probably the word most apt in putting aside logistics such as clothing and money, in how a boy from the 21st century doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, and conveniently too goes back to the future in what turned out to be yet a hasty wrap up of the film that does the emotional core of Bunty great disservice in his about turn and attitudes toward marriage.

Thankfully things start to pick up in the second half where the Kishen undergoes a major exterior makeover to woo the girl of his manipulated dreams, and becomes that suave lady killer, although always shaking on the inside once his game is over, which lead to numerous opportunities for mirth which does get tired after a while, despite great comedic timing by Akshay Kumar, spouting what I suspect would probably be a popular catch phrase amongst the younger crowd when they emerge from the theatres. The plot after the interval will probably irk feminists out there, as it suggests that girls get easily taken over by those with the bad boy image, and who will fall for the many manipulative games the guys play on them. There never was a real threat experienced in a way despite competition from Kundan who can sing in two voices, because the time travel paradox doesn't seem to kick in on Bunty each time Kishen and Mala seem to drift emotionally further apart which would have threatened his existence.

Action Replayy marks the reigning Queen of Bollywood's third release (out of four) this year with the likes of Raavan starring opposite her real life husband and Endhiran with Superstar Rajnikanth, and her role here is quite unlike those that I've seen before, since her Mala is mostly displaying negative traits at least for the beginning of the film, before succumbing back to a vulnerable, wistful lass who thinks Kishen does not like her for her meanness displayed earlier. I thought she had lighten up the film thanks to a refreshing portrayal of a spoilt and bratty teenager who doesn't tolerate nonsense from her peers, but dishes some of her own on unsuspecting, weaker folks like Kishen.

As with most Indian films, the song and dance numbers are perhaps what saved the film from becoming a bore. Retro is in, as seen from the success of Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, and this factor cannot be ignored as the filmmakers here have recreated costumes and sets reminisce of the time, aided by special effects to recreate the landscapes from the past. But if you were to treat this as a time travel film, then the paradoxes here are just tremendous to be ignored. So the best bet to enjoy this is to accept the plot device for what it is, and to marvel at the performances of the stars and the beautiful retro look and feel instead. I wished the story could have been more coherently delivered though, and the English subtitles should have been more in sync for the first 20 minutes.

Unstoppable

Train Men

In 1994 we have a pulsating chase movie set up with a speeding bus that cannot go below 50 miles per hour, hurtling through crowded streets and even performing a jump to cross a break in the roads, with plenty of cop cars in hot pursuit, and the good guys trying their mighty best to rescue all unwitting hostages and save the day. That was Jan de Bont's Speed, and until this day I haven't found an equal playing on that one same gimmick, until Tony Scott's Unstoppable.

Granted this is no gimmick of course, as it's inspired by the real life incident in 2001 known as the "Crazy Eights" where a freight train, through the carelessness of man, gets to roll off along its tracks carrying too many cars and too much hazardous material, posing a danger to residents in towns that lie in its inevitable path, with the brakes off and the power on. For dramatic cinema this culminates to the train pulverizing everything thrown in its path in attempts to make it stop, even at the expense of a derailment plan costing millions of dollars in direct and indirect damages to people, property and the environment. We get plenty of screen time demonstrating just how mean this monstrosity of a train is, especially when it growls and rumbles loudly through the sense-surround audio in a decent cinema hall.

The film wastes no time setting up the blame game on those responsible for the debacle, and Tony Scott does what Tony Scott does best, weaving the material in his usual break neck pace of quick edits and cuts in presenting a film that, like a train, is set on reaching its destination on time in unrelenting speed, which worked surprisingly well at keeping you at the edge of your seat as events unfold. It seems Tony hasn't had enough of playing with trains yet with his last film being a remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, and here he reunites with leading actor Denzel Washington (third feature in a row after Deja Vu and the aforementioned!) who decided that it's probably more fun at the helm of a locomotive engine as an engineer, than coordinating efforts from inside a control centre, a job that falls onto the lap of Rosario Dawson's Connie, who provides that tension filled perspective from within the confines of the control room being the liaison between her troops on the ground, and the board room bureaucracy.

Lending additional eye candy is Chris Pine, who drops his Captain Kirk swagger to play a unionized train conductor, who provides some dramatic gravitas in being the new kid on the block with plenty of baggage, both emotionally through his battle against a restraining order from his wife and kid, and professionally deemed as some kind of a white horse riding on his last name, coming in to replace a bunch of experienced veterans at their game. The story by Mark Bomback had time to dwell fleetingly between workers protected by a union and those who aren't and standing to lose a bunch of benefits when they get the pink slip, and the fight between youthful energy and what practical, technical experience can bring to the table. The film celebrates the strengths different parties in an organization can offer, although reserving scathing comments through the characterization of those sitting in cushy offices during a crisis, making all the arrogantly wrong decisions because they can, and consciously making a choice not to listen to those they deem insignificant down the corporate ladder, preferring to resort to threats.

Outside of those moments is where all the action is, albeit there would be some if watching in a hall not equipped with proper sound, may think there's nothing interesting in watching a bunch of guys chase a runaway train. Truth is you'd probably get a kick out of the authenticity of the film, especially with the utilization of industry lingo that raises that sense of reality up a notch, putting you in the thick of the action as it unfolds. With the narrative also getting peppered by television newsreel presentations, it provides the feeling that you're witnessing everything live. If you're looking for a film that grabs you by the collar and never lets up from the get go, despite its predictability at times and how invulnerable you know the leads are, then this is the film for you, and it's difficult not to root anyone on in this Tony Scott film since you know what's at stake, the death defying stunts and to desire a favourable outcome. What works is that it's never about emerging as heroes, but the ability to harness one's skills and coming from wanting to do the right thing, despite the odds.

Highly recommended, and I'll include this into my shortlist for one of the best, and a definite high adrenaline pumper amongst my favourites of the year. All aboard!

Megamind

Three's Definitely A Company Here

The handsomest and most evil genius of all time versus the hero who fights with well-coiffured hair and a smirk, and a hero wannabe who decides that his newly gained powers is an avenue for sloth and riches. If there's one thing consistent in Megamind the film, that will be the huge ego issues everyone seems to possess, from Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) to Metro Man (Brad Pitt) to Tighten (best kept under wraps in case the trailers haven't ruined the surprise).

Megamind touches on the classic tale of purpose, destiny and purpose. I wanted to prefix those attributes with “human”, but these two sworn enemies of Metro City actually hail from outer space, where their home planets get engulfed by a black hole, but not before both get to spiral out of their planets through their rocketships ala the mythos of Superman. Finding themselves landing on earth, one becomes a city's protector because of the good nurturing done, while the other got the shorter end of the stick landing inside prison, and through a series of misfortune decided that enough's enough, and throws his weight on the other side of the moral spectrum.

The film turns the superhero genre on its head, and one of the most obvious spins the storytellers here have a field day with is Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 's Superman, with Metro Man clearly modelled after the Last Son of Krypton with his do-gooder ways and blessed with similar superpowers of flight, strength and that heat vision, and Megamind that of Lex Luthor, but infused with a lot more comedy which also came courtesy of a fishy sidekick aptly called Minion (David Cross). Then there's Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) who is the equivalent of Lois Lane, the news reporter with whom everyone associates a love relationship with Metro Man, and Hal (Jonah Hill) her geeky cameraman for the TV news channel who clearly has the hots for her. You'll earn your ticket back with a penny for every Supes related element discovered in the film.

It's the familiarity of the characters here that augments the enjoyment of this animated piece by Dreamworks, and clearly when done right like the film here, it's a whole lot of fun, and brilliantly animated as well with a decent romantic core the catalyzes the second half rivalry between Megamind and his creation. The film plays on the notion of how there has to be evil in order for good to triumph over, of how we prepare for war to keep the peace, and how heroes get defined by the villainy they go up against. That, as well as the usual never judging a book by its cover and the likes of the usual moralistic messages in Alan J Schoolcraft and Brent Simons' story, makes it rather preachy at times.

But for comic book and superhero fans, this film probably addresses square on why villains appeal, because they make the heroes look good, and if there should be the disappearance of either side, the entire sense of purpose would probably vanish, and interest waned. It is this thought that gets played out in a lot of detail in Megamind as the anti-hero struggles to find his place in society, and discover good values that far outweigh what he has been conditioned for.

An eclectic soundtrack of contemporary songs also fit in well into the film, and one from the late King of Pop naturally found its way into the finale. With a host of voice talents such as J.K. Simmons, Justin Theroux and even Ben Stiller at its disposal lending cameo appearances, Megamind has what it takes to entertain, and although I didn't watch this in 3D, none of the scenes witnessed do require that format, other than for a handful of deliberately created ones which I thought Metro Man's flight in the beginning of the film en route to his rescue of Roxanne, will probably take the cake.

Red

My Kinda Size

The individual parts here are greater than its sum, and it pains just watching how Robert Schwentke is unable to extract the best collective performance from the strengths of his ensemble cast. While the film still worked - an action caper with huge doses of comedic elements - you'd somehow have the feeling that it lacked a certain X factor to gel together, thus a few scenes stand out strongly, while others just fizzled into mediocrity and familiar grounds already covered by very recent contemporary films such as The Losers and The A-Team. Do we need another story of another black ops team who are wronged / victims of the Agency and are planning a hit back while on the run? No.

One couldn't be faulted if the A-list cast proves to be a draw, with the likes of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox leading the charge of mostly retired operatives who are called to arms when their ex-employer deem them too much of a threat, only to learn that these senior citizens still have much up their sleeves and still very much a force to be reckoned with. The villains don't really threaten our heroes, but their battles, often loud and involving plenty of weapons from handguns to an assault sniper rifle, gets the adrenaline pumping.

The saving grace is of course Malkovich's portrayal as a paranoid conspiracy theorist, no doubt thanks to an occupational hazard, and the character shines apart from the rest because of Malkovich's delivery. If only the rest of the film could have supported his intensity, and if the pace kept tighter rather than allowing it to drone on, this could have been more memorable than this rather forgettable, generic effort.

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

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec)

Désolé Singapour vous n'obtenez pas de voir ce

French filmmaker Luc Besson has been responsible for some of the most enduring contemporary films from action thrillers like Nikita and Leon the Professional, to a personal science fiction cult favourite of mine The Fifth Element. Of late he has chosen to relinquish the director's chair and taking up story, scriptwriting and producing duties at his Europa Corp, although taking the chair back again with more family friendly adventures such as The Minimoys series, adapted from his series of children's books. His latest live-action adventure adapts from Jacques Tardi's series of comic books featuring a female adventurer quite like in the mold of Indiana Jones.

Adele Blanc-Sec (Louis Bourgoin) is smart, resourceful, and quite the alpha-female go-getter with a dash of sassiness about her, and these are precisely the kind of characters I suppose Luc Besson has been comfortable dealing with in his filmography. His Adele doesn't equip herself with weapons other than a rapid wit and a sharp tongue to disarm her enemies, setting her sights at far flung adventures where her publisher would send her to, though at times like this film, decide to detour and follow her own agenda. And for those taken in by the subtitle of the film promising something along the lines of Stephen Sommer's The Mummy films, let's just say to drop those expectations, because there isn't any Imhotep to lock horns with.

Besson keeps you guessing for the most parts as he unravels the story before you, opting to place you in suspense as you figure out how the multiple sub plot lines will come together and make relatable sense. It assumes that you have some knowledge of the basis of the lead character, but fills you in along the way nonetheless. With plot devices such as a Pterodactyl hatched from an egg in a museum and now taking to the skies of Paris, the attempts to capture that flying dinosaur by inept hunter Justin de Saint-Hubert (Jean-Paul Rouve), a promise of a romance between the shy scientist Andrej Zborowski (Nicholas Giraud) and Adele, and the need for Adele to steal a mummy from Egypt, all boil down to the extreme lengths the titular adventurer will go to save a family member.

Of course there's a need to keep things balanced up, so in contrast to the more dogged Adele comes on the side of the law, the bumbling police inspector Leonce Caponi (Gilles Lellouche) with a penchant for food, a need to be found from the mysterious psychic powers of ally Marie-Joseph Esperandieu (Jacky Nercessian), and a clash of good and evil with the villainy of an unrecognizable Mathieu Amalric as Dieuleveult with whom Adele crosses with early on in the story. It's a pity though that Amalric's screen presence was limited as his character Dieuleveult had so much potential, but the extraordinary adventures were indeed split down to Adele's quest, and everything else, peppered with a handful of quirky characters set to entertain, and a series of wry humour especially on that oh-so-familiar critique of society's top down approach to get things done which was brilliantly executed.


There''s no scrimping on the production values of this period piece set just before WWI and an infamous tragedy that marked the dangers of human arrogance, which should make a follow up film quite interesting should the filmmakers pick up from where they left off. Incredible production sets and costumes are what beautify the film, and the CG effects used to enhance the viewing experience went fuss-free, although it didn't break much new ground since movie audiences weaned on the Hollywood Mummy franchise would already be accustomed to how mummies move and behave, albeit with less civility.

Unfortunately though, the film did not manage to survive unscathed. I was looking forward to a scene where our heroine would be sitting in the bathtub and reading out letters of infatuation written by Andrej as she had hinted she would, only for a quick jump cut made and you're left high and literally dry. Having watched the dubbed English version during this screening, I will recommend that you head on to The Cathay to watch this so that you can immerse yourself in the aural pleasures of the French language and get by through the English subtitles (if you don't speak French) because while it's a relatively competent voice cast trying their best to emote as they could, I'm quite the stickler for authenticity and whatever's coming out of a character's mouth to be in sync with their lip movement, and have to struggle not to be too perturbed by it.

The opening film of this year's French Film Festival in Singapore, don't walk out just yet when the credits roll, as there's a coda that comes up midway. Don't berate what's essentially a fantasy piece that occasionally found pleasure dwelling on the absurd, but prepare for something that's visually gorgeous, narratively unusual and outlandishly entertaining.

Haunted Changi - The Enhanced Digital Version + Cast and Crew Q&A

Come Back For More!

As part of its Halloween celebrations, Sinema Old School had brought Haunted Changi back for a one-off screening using its enhanced digital version and session moderator Sueanne Teo of Sinema Old School assembled the principal cast and crew of filmmaker Tony Kern, and actors Audi Khalid (as Audi Khalis the cameraman), Andrew Lua (as Andrew Lau the director/editor), Sheena Chan (as Sheena Chung the producer) and Farid Assalam (as Farid Azlam the soundman) to be on hand for a 60 minute up close and personal interaction with members of the audience and gamely participated in the film's exposé to reveal what was real, what was not, and what really freaked them out.

Needless to say the discussions were all in spoiler territory so watch the entire proceedings only if you have watched the film, which is coming soon to screens in Malaysia and Brunei in November, and Indonesia in December. For those in Singapore, Sinema Old School will also be screening the film in November, so check its online ticketing page for more details of dates and times.


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Related Links
Production Blog - http://hauntedchangi.blogspot.com
Official Film Website - http://hauntedchangi.com
Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/hauntedchangi
My discovery of the film - http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2010/02/coming-soon-haunted-changi.html
My Review of the film here
Production Talk @ SINdie - http://sindieonly.blogspot.com/2010/05/production-talk-haunted-changi-by.html

I Give My First Love To You (Boku No Hatsukoi Wo Kimi Ni Sasagu / 僕の初恋をキミに捧ぐ)

Counting Down

Again this film marks one of the many I've missed from last year's Tokyo International Film Festival, so I'm pretty glad it finally made its way to our shores. The premise is a sure giveaway of the plot, but anyone wishing to watch a Japanese romantic weepy will know what you're in for from the start. I Give My First Love To You doesn't deviate from the formula, but like others that came before it and for others in the same genre to come, what fans almost always do is to hold onto whatever sliver of hope there is for the couple in question to be together forever in a happily ever after, against the odds of what medical condition one or both of them suffer from.

Here the lovebirds are portrayed by Masaki Okada as Takuma Kakunouchi, the boy who suffers from a weak heart condition and is given a death sentence that he will not cross 20 years of age, and Mao Inoue as Mayu Taneda, the daughter of his doctor (Toru Nakamura) with whom he falls in love with during his frequent trips to the hospital when young. Needless to say they grow up together, and in one of their childish games, he promises that he will survive and marry her, wished upon a four leafed clover she finds in the field. They grow up as a couple and have each other for support in school, but as Takuma is aware, his days are numbered and are looming over the horizon, and so is contemplating giving her up so that hopefully she can find someone else to grow older with.

Much of the scenes that require you to pull out your tissue packs involve how clingy Mayu can be in not relenting in her feelings and her resolve that one day Takuma may just pull through his condition, or that the proper heart donor may just come along, which the narrative of course will introduce, but not without putting the characters through some morality checks, and in so take the opportunity to explore why the necessity to keep some red tape onto these medical administration and the technicalities and rationale behind such confidentiality clauses, otherwise, well, you can see how family members can be put in a spot, be it the donor's or the recipient's. There's a key scene that makes one think how what can be perceived as selfishness, is nothing more than again that bit of hope every family member and loved one hold on to.

The narrative doesn't promise much about how Takuma tries to scout for an appropriate chap for his girlfriend to fall in love with, since Yoshihiko Hosoda's Takashi was a little too pushy and in fact, irritating to begin with, nor does it have a lot of screen time to dwell on the potential distraction Takuma faces with another fellow female patient Ryoko (Yoko Moriguchi), but whatever it managed to cover in between the primary couple's life touches on the necessity for them to spend almost every waking moment with their significant other and to make such moments count, which Mayu knows and Takuma finally learns to appreciate a lot more. The latter half of the film then switches tact to demonstrate the extent how a loved one will likely go through in their grief and hanging onto whatever little hope a situation may bring, and that extends to family members as well, not such the romantic other half. After all, any death or potential death affects a larger community.

I will not deny this makes a perfect date movie, since the message here is quite clear on the appreciation of someone else no matter how quirky they can be, and never to doubt anyone's commitment. Between the two leads whose performances were key in fleshing out the intricate characters and making them believable and engaging, Mao Inoue shines as that cheerful ray of sunshine in Takuma's life, and her antics are what brings about the light hearted moments in the film. It's melodramatic territory sometimes, but your typical Japanese romantic movie that will tug at your heartstrings this will be. Be prepared and pack those tissues. Recommended.

The Last Exorcism

Praise Him

A word of caution if you're expecting The Last Exorcism, as the name implies, to be anything remotely close to horror classics such as The Exorcist, or even The Exorcism of Emily Rose. While the title may compel you to believe it's a horror film that deals with duels between a servant of God and miscellaneous demons sent from the nether realm, this is instead a film that touches on the evils of man, where we tell lies and engage in deceit for material gain, holding control over fellow man with smoke and mirrors, and aiming its narrative squarely at that of false prophets, explicitly and without mincing its words.

The Last Exorcism follows the recent fixation of having horror flicks made in the first person horror-cam which had discovered its place in the found footage mockumentary sub genre (the latest being Paranormal Activity 2). We follow a documentary crew of Iris Reisen (Iris Bahr) and her cameraman who are working on one of the subjects, Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a charismatic priest who is anything but the real deal, as his expose in the first half of the film tells. He deliberately exposes the hoax that he is, simply because he's tired of having to lie and deceive members of his congregation who are all too eager to blindly follow in whatever crap he has to say. The first half of the film dwells extensively on a wink-wink showcase on how gullible people are in making themselves the subject of slick scam artists, and Cotton also shows the tricks of the trade used in so-called “exorcisms”.

While you may take all these with truckloads of salt, one thing cannot be denied, and that's how susceptible recent society has become in turning toward religion for answers about the unknown. Just like how good cannot exist without evil or how heroes cannot be made without villains, Cotton made a poignant remark about how people just have to believe in demons, because without which there will be no God since the very existence of a Satan comes hand in hand with that. For the small townsfolk in New Orleans, with its mix of voodoo and hoodoo and whathaveyous, the now very skeptical and disillusioned Cotton decides to demonstrate an example of how demons don't really exist, and all the tales of spiritual exorcisms are nothing but elaborate hoaxes cooked up to reinforce the notion of God. His new calling in life, as he worked with the documentary crew, was to expose the truth behind exorcisms which have so far become deadly in execution, and if he could go out there to prevent an accidental or innocent death, he would have fulfilled his mission.

So his sights are set on that of the Sweetzer farming family, where widower Louis (Louis Herthum) had written a letter to Cotton pleading for help to rid his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) of her possession. I won't spoil any surprise, but suffice to say things don't go always as planned, with questions constantly raised about whether the Reverend had bitten off more than he could chew with some inexplicable moments that build on the previous in a thrilling crescendo of twists and turns, to its intense finale. Bear in mind though, that I'm not talking anything about crab walking, violent levitations or spewing of goo from the mouth, but playing out more like a whodunnit mystery.

Daniel Stamm's film plays on your constant questioning whether the Reverend, who is obviously without the full knowledge of his faith, nor even bearing the faith himself, can be equipped to do what he's thought to be doing, hence the dilemma when things go from bad to worse. Showmanship can only bring you so far, while I was reminisced of a moment in the 80s film Fright Night where one has got to have faith for a simple thing like a crucifix to work. However this film also serves as a story about one priest's redemption and his human decency to do what's right, versus having to wash away all responsibility since he's already paid, and have and was given multiple opportunities to walk away into the sunset.

Patrick Fabian does his role as Reverend Cotton really well, portraying him as the slick, suave and confident schmuck who while does the unscrupulous in the hoodwinking of those seeking his spiritual guidance and help, does realize that he actually wields some influence in making others become better people through the simple effecting of his charisma and position as a Reverend. Ashley Bell as the designated scream queen also performed admirably when she has to vividly portray someone who has a demon in her with her contortionist ability coming in handy, and balances that with the usual innocence that such demons crave to possess bodily. Much can't be said about the other two main leads as they stay behind the camera for the most times, or other supporting characters as they don't get much screen time, but as far as the found footage style goes, The Last Exorcism gets better marks for not unnecessarily inducing dizzying scenes for you to feel nauseous.

The ending may pose a few questions that allows for open ended discussions, but as per the narrative development in the film, there were already subtle little clues dropped, especially in passing remarks that were casually floating around, if an audience were to pay attention to them rather than to close the mind off since the film did not exactly pay off what one would have expected it to. Perhaps this is exactly that which the film is trying to address, to open one's eyes and ears and be acceptable to things out of expectations and the norm, rather than to blindly and faithfully accept hook line and sinker and what others dish out to you.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Birds of the Same 3D Feather

While I had made it a point not to watch any more life action films that feature talking animals, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole doesn't really count though its superb animation and attention to detail make the owls here look vividly alive and like the real thing. Directed by Zack Snyder and based upon the book series Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky, it's no wonder why the film's pacing seemed to roll along at breakneck speed because it condensed a total of the first three volumes into the film narrative.

In some ways the story may seem to draw some parallels with Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. We follow a young owl Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) who develops his inner potential which is The Force equivalent that he taps upon when in flight, although he's still raw with that ability until he got trained by an old battle-weary and scarred owl Ezylryb (Geoffrey Rush) who turns out to be the legendary Lyze of Kiel. But before that he and Gylfie (Emily Barclay) have to escape from the clutches of the evil "Pure Ones" who are hell bent on conquering the world with some Death Star like contraption, and in the process have to abandon Soren's envious brother Kuldd (Ryan Kwanten) who got seduced by the dark side and decided to throw in his lot with the enemy, forcing a Cain and Abel situation naturally.

Yes this is very much Bird Star Wars in a clear and classic tale of good versus evil, with the adventures of Soren and Gylfie in their quest to find the urban legend of the Guardians (read: Rebel Alliance) and joined by a rag tag of owls (and a snake) who bring different skill sets to the team, including their bickering. A pity though that most of the supporting characters good and bad get relegated to caricatures, failing to exploit the ensemble voice cast assembled such as Hugo Weaving, Helen Mirren, David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia and Sam Neill.

While the storyline is simple to follow for kids, and for the adults there are enough references here to damaging class and caste systems where owls are segregated into their species by the evil Metalbeak (Joel Edgerton) and his minions where less superior owl stock get to become slaves for slave work, where on the side of the Guardians it's a meritocracy set up where owls get to learn basic but broad based skill sets before they choose what they are strong in for focus in that profession, things like navigation and armoury. The plot in the extremely rushed second half deals with the setup for a big fight which was prophesied and time wasn't wasted in the determination to go into war. After all, sometimes we have to go to war to keep the peace, no?

Zack Snyder has a penchant to design fight sequences in stylized slow motion, from 300 to Watchmen, and now this, although I thought it was quite justified because otherwise we'll see nothing much other than a glorified chicken fight with two fowls clashing head on, using weapons fixed to their thin legs to inflict damage to fellow opponents. That said the attention to detail is tremendous, and being caught in slow motion allows you to take it all in visually since the birds got digitally animated, and shoddy work will definitely show especially in feather and wing designs up close. The 3D flight sequences will also set to wow, and you'll often find yourself ducking when an entire flock come toward the screen in high velocity, or swoop down from behind

I was expecting much less, but got pleasantly surprised by the quality of animation. Being able to draw some parallels with a much known sci-fi film also helped to balance that rushed narrative void of much character development, and if there's a sequel planned, I'll be quite game to continue with the mythos. Oh, and make it for the screening early, especially if you're watching the 3D version, because a Warner Bros Animation looney toons short precedes the feature film, with a typical Road Runner vs Wild E Coyote challenge in 3D glory that fans of Road Runner, like myself, will be celebrating watching our speedster pop out of the screen. Beep beep!

It's a Wonderful Afterlife

It's Not Me

While I understand the Indian masala films usually involve having everything including the kitchen sink thrown into the plot, which will have enough room for the story to combine romance, mystery, drama, comedy, song and dance all together for possibly something for everyone to enjoy, It's a Wonderful Afterlife somehow had all these ingredients coming together, but felt a little too contrived at mixing everything up and gelling them all nicely, especially since it had a trailer that's not quite accurate, and it seemed more like a typical 3 hour film rather than its 100 minute duration.

Gurinder Chadha's more famous for her directorial breakthrough Bend It Like Beckham, which arguably introduced Kieira Knightley to the world, and here she combines an ensemble with the likes of Jimi Mistry, Sally Hawkins and the Indian actors Sanjeev Bhaskar, Shaheen Khan, Adlyn Ross and Ash Varrez in a film that started like an investigative drama with a potential serial killer on the loose in the Southall district of London, the policeman D S Murthy (Sendhil Ramamurthy) who had been transferred in for investigative work in his own community to sniff out details of the suspects, Roopi (Goldy Notay) and her mother Mrs Sethi (Shabana Azmi) who is desperate for the former to get married with much of her rejection based on her plumpish looks, Roopi's best friend Linda (Hawkins) who finds her inner Indian self and is somewhat of a self-taught spiritual guru, and the list goes on.

At best, the plot and its subplots were extremely scattered, and somehow it seemed that Chadha didn't manage to find common ground for all of them to coexist, with each plotline threatening to upstage and distract one from others. Prime to everything hinged on Mrs Sethi's rather protective quest to look for a potential husband for her daughter Roopi, and how the former's dealing with rejection led to an eventual five spirits tagging along with her, who through her guilty conscious is the only one able to see them all. The cat is let out of the bag early, and it's somehow not so much of a mystery other than a zany comedy to have these friendly ghouls make jokes at every opportunity.

The romantic leads of Sendhil Ramamurthy and Goldy Notay also lacked believable chemistry though the rushed romance didn't help their cause since the detective also had to juggle an ulterior motive, while that between Jimy Mistry and Sally Hawkins went down the road to explore how some people groove to the beat of other cultures since they're not at home with their own. Sally Hawkins though had a single major scene which mimicked a horror film where a woman scorned unleashes hell on earth during her own party, probably a comedic highlight of the film that defied all logic and pushed the film toward absurdity.

I had enjoyed Gurinder Chadha's works such as Bride and Prejudice, and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, but somehow this entry into her filmography seemed like a step back. Let's how she finds her groove back pretty soon with a stronger and more coherent story rather than leaving things scattered around.