FadedBlue_net

I’ve been pretty busy studying for exams, so sorry for the absence.  I will be watching a lot more DVDs and blurays in the next two months.  Border’s had a 50% off sale on their DVD’s so I picked up a lot!  Right now, I’ve been going through the Ghost in the Shell: SAC 1st season box.  I hope to finish my Ozu box set as early as today.

Here are a bunch of mini reviews of things I watched from the festival and since then:

All Around Us (Gururi no Koto) -4/5 (CIFF09)
Great, though quite slow.  A family-drama that leaves many messages about living life and the connections between loved ones, especially a spouse.  Some characters were a bit annoying, though it can’t be helped if art imitates reality.

Surveillance -3/5 (CIFF09)
Not horrible, but could have been much better, in my opinion.  Some twists in the plot, some of which are predictable.  But this is no action movie.  It’s almost all dialogue, and awkward dialogue at that, for the first three-quarters of the film.  Probably would have been better as a short.

Chaser (Chugyeoja) – 5/5 (CIFF09)
Excellent thriller.  Korean movies contain some of the best psycho-killer/ detective movies and this is one of them for sure.  Though not as epic as a Park Chan-wook film, it has great pacting, characters, tone, and is interesting to watch.  Some gory parts.  Worth tracking down.

Sparrow (Man Jeuk) – 2/5 (CIFF09)
Too slow, and too long.  The plot is not interesting enough to make a whole movie out of, though it did hold my attention.  What was there was executed well and had some nice imagery.

White on Rice – 4/5 (CIFF09)
Good feel-good comedy.  You kind of root for the main character, and definitely grow to like his quirks.  You can see a lot of miscommunications that a Japanese-American may come across, and this really hits home if you have some familiarity with a non-native English speaker.  Plot is a bit uninspired, but serviceable for fun.

Meatball Machine – 1/5
After seeing the excellent Machine Girl, and iffy Tokyo Gore Police… I knew that Meatball Machine could go either way.  And it was bad.  Bad in a bad way.  Even for a B-movie, there is nothing really interesting that goes on.  The characters are beyond boring… enough to make a user manual seem a worthwhile use of time.  Gross out moments are not realistic or that gross if you’ve seen either of the mentioned ultra-gore movies.  Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this movie to even gore fans.

Tale of Two Sisters (Korean) – My 2nd viewing – 4/5
Although it’s probably one of the best Korean horror films I’ve seen, the rewatch isn’t that great.  The characters are a little boring and the pacing slow, but the ending and mystery is pretty good.  Although it’s a must see for asian horror fans, you really probably only need to see it once.  Compare with Ju-On, which I can watch many times and still enjoy.

 In the interest of getting out my opinions on some great 2008 movies that are up for Oscars out before the actual awards are given, this post will be a small reflection on each of three movies: Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, and The Wrestler.  The reviewed format for each is film.

The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke is up for best actor in this very realistic story about the downfall and clinging-on of past fame of an old wrestler.  The movie itself is kind of a downer, though more reflective than sad.  Some parts are extremely graphic, which really help the story seem realistic.  If the camera work weren’t so good, I would think this was a documentary.  I suppose this is a testament to Rourke’s acting.  Though, I’m not sure if he deserves the praise because of acting as much as him fitting the role both on and off the camera.  I can’t say either way.  To me, this is a great accomplishment.  The movie is meaningful, but doesn’t go the extra mile to really move the audience, in my opinion.

Rating – 4 /5

————-

Frost/Nixon

Another contender for Best Actor, in addition to Best Picture.  Frost/Nixon is a very interesting based-on-real-life story about an interview between an Australian TV figure with the recently outed Nixon.  Especially great if you like a politically charged film.  I don’t mean this like a nation-wide politics, but on a personal level: similar to The War Room, which focused mostly on the internal politics of the campaign managers.  Nixon is played very well.  It’s a tough call of whether or not Rourke in The Wrestler is better than Nixon’s portrayal in Frost/Nixon.  The main character of Frost isn’t anything great… he is more of a silent protagonist if anything.  He doesn’t really show you his feelings as much as Nixon does.  And Nixon does get very emotional.  His confession confrontation in the last interview is amazing.

Rating – 4 /5

—————-

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle delivers again.  Aside from Millions, he’s put out some of my favorite genre movies.  And now…. a Bollywood genre?   Slumdog is unlike any other movie this year.  Aside from it’s emotionally-charged “love destiny” story, it shows some of the beauty and dirt of India.  It opens up some cultural barriers between India and the West, as well as shows us how to make a feel-good ending.  You couldn’t root for the main character enough, and one can feel each tough decision that he makes throughout his tough life.  Monetarily, it is a “rags to riches” story, but emotionally, he has one dream.  It is epic and Slumdog is easily the best film up for nomination at the Oscars.

Rating – 5 /5

Title: The Mist
Director: Frank Darabont
Year: 2007
Genre: Horror
Format Reviewed: Bluray

Since I’ve seen my last Stephen King-based movie (parts of Stephen King’s Nightmares series), I’ve actually read a Stephen King book: Cell.  It was pretty good once I got used to his writing style, but the biggest thing that I noticed was his use of stereotypical, annoying characters (not including the protagonist, thankfully).  The Mist suffers the same fate.  Though there is definitely a deeper message in the movie’s story, the ‘pure enjoyment’ portion of this movie, especially the horror aspect, suffers from predictability and a lack of power.

The Mist is in a few ways similar to M. Night Shyamalan’s recent work (The Happening and Lady in the Water).  The characters contrast each other so much that it’s hard to believe any of them are real.  At least in Shyamalan’s movies, this doesn’t become a distraction.  And similar to The Happening,  the characters are often overacted or overly pronounced within the story.  Perhaps, this is due to using Stephen King’s literature as source material.  Stephen King also seems to use a lot of product placement to make his alternate reality relative to his audience, but it just comes off as cheap in the movie.

Unlike Shyamalan, who has become very good in building tension, The Mist isn’t able to build tension at all.  The horror aspect of The Mist is a failure before anything really interesting happens.  The plot element of the mist is a good idea and I feel like it could have made for a great movie, but something was either lost in translation or poorly executed.  Without giving away spoilers, the real force behind the mist is revealed at a good pace, but it just doesn’t grab you as terrifying the way it could have.  A whole movie based on the mystery of the mist may have made a great film, but the audience isn’t really given a time to reflect on the mystery or really feel the fear felt by the characters.  The special effects are actually quite good and help the movie believably unfold, but the characters’ reactions ruin the encounters with the mist.  There are too many times to get frustrated and think, “OMG get moving!!” or “why don’t they just…??”

In the end, the only good scenes are ones where people bite it and when no one is talking, which takes up less than 10% of the film time.  So in my view, this movie could cut an hour, turned into a short, and be worth watching.  As it stands, The Mist is a below average, popcorn movie for the masses.  It definitely tries to lay on deeper messages of how people deal with fear and the obvious relation to recent American politics.  In fact, this part is not done poorly, but for a horror movie, there are more enjoyable movies than The Mist.

Rating: 2 /5

Title: The Happening
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Year: 2008
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Format Reviewed: Film

I hesitate to even give this film a genre, because Shyamalan doesn’t seem to follow genre’s anymore. Well it’s arguable if he ever did. Lets get it out of the way. His movies aren’t that scary. There are a few shockers, a few “wtf is going on?!” moments, and a lot of fantasy play. This goes for everything since The Sixth Sense, which I’m finding to be more and more the outcast, rather than the epitome of Shyamalan’s work.

So why go on about the director? Well, I just wanted to bust a few myth’s about him and his career (and inflame some of the internet, as if it needed to be done) before we move on to the movie. You see, a lot of people don’t understand his movies. Critics certainly don’t. Look no further than reviews of Lady in the Water. Shyamalan is often criticized of having dumb characters, plots, and just plain not making sense or being interesting. Harsh. But that’s only if you look at them with the narrow mind-set of comparing it to genre classics and mainstream blockbusters.

Sometime you have to take a movie a bit more light-heartedly and try to enjoy it as a dose of entertainment.  Here is a great example.  The plot and characters should not be taken so strictly into having dramatic, realistic performances, but rather as an emphasis on the role of the audience in moving the mystery of the plot forward. Shyamalan has done this from the very beginning: throw the audience a teaser trailer of what looks to be a captivating thriller with a number of scary moments, then at the release relax the film to unfold a mystery with a very simple plot with a several missing details. And so The Happening has very little to do with its image of a post-Apocalypse thriller.  In fact, there is a lot more comedy than thrills in the movie.

The Happening contains Shyamalan’s best attempt at a deeper message in a movie yet. Using very pop cultural references in nearly every non-action scene, and his usual style of dialogue, The Happening reveals both it’s superficial and deeper message at the same time. It’s one of those “if you get it,” then you will understand every little detail of the movie. If you don’t… well, it’s still a fun ride. The imagery and pace is as good as it has always been for him, so by the end of the runtime it feels fresh, compact, and lightly satisfying.

Although it is released as a mainstream movie, The Happening would be better off as an art house flick. It’s style is connected so much with it’s auteur that it shouldn’t be compared with other epics and polished classics. You can like this style or not, but there ought not to be an automatic demerit because of personal preferences. Unfortunately many will be disappointed as they were with The Village and Signs, but anyone who enjoyed those should appreciate The Happening for the story and message it quite successfully portrays.

Rating: 3 /5

Title: Planet B-Boy
Director: Benson Lee
Year: 2008
Genre: Documentary
Format Reviewed: Film

Planet B-Boy is a documentary about hip-hop inspired break dancing.  The film explores the phenomenon and how it spread throughout the world, how it is perceived, and how it is continued in the past few years, in a worldwide competition held in Germany.  Although it is nice to get an overall background on the subject (especially for those not familiar with it but have an interest, like myself), the real prize of this movie is seeing what b-boy’ing means to each country’s team, and more specifically to each b-boy themselves.  The story follows several top-ranking teams from around the world in a way that it shows the true unification power of what the dance can bring, as well as inspiring and empowering the viewer, as the b-boy’s have done themselves, to pursue their own dreams.

The poster for this movie may be a poor portrayal of b-boy’ing.  That is, you can’t really feel the music in a still picture like this.  B-boy dancing can only be truly felt with the motion picture and music going through your body.  This is surely the one thing the film must do without being a failure.  Even if the story was poor, the characters dumb, and run time too long… anyone going in to see this movie is wanting to see some good dancing.  Planet B-Boy does this well in many eye-candy shots of b-boy’ing in public places around the world, and performances from the world competition which serve as the climax of the film.

But the climax is not so just for pure enjoyment of the music and dancing.  There is an emotional intensity to the story, as we see the backgrounds of each team and their members.  They all seem to have different reasons to dance, and victory is a means to some other personal goal.  Even further, one can’t help but get caught up in watching another person work year-after-year to pursue what they love and find a way to express themselves.  It truly gives a perspective on life and begs the viewer to ask themselves: What are you doing to express yourself?  And are you working towards your personal goals in life?  There is nothing more empowering than seeing another human being reach this state of near-nirvana.

reviewer’s note: the film is “unrated,” but is safe for all ages.

Rating: 5 /5

    I re-watched No Country For Old Men, making tonight my second viewing of the film.  I have to say, it is a lot better when you “get it.”  There certainly is a significant message behind this film and one’s appreciation of it can be greatly increased by a deeper reading.  Here are some of my notes.  Of course, this is just my personal reading of the film, and only parts that I can remember on the fly.

*** SPOILERS ***

First of all, the story is excellent, superficially.  The suspense aspect of the film should not be ignored as a means of entertainment.
There are several characters who are supernatural (non-human):
- Anton Chigurh is the ‘angel of death,’ or the reaper.  Anyone who sees him, well.. it is their time to die.  (Accountant: “Are you going to shoot me?” Anton:”That depends… do you see me?”)  There is once chance to live though… call the coin correctly.  I think this may just be the random chance of life/death.   Anton is obviously sent from hell… notice his smile when he is told to “go to hell.”  Notice, too, at the end where he tells the kids that they “never saw him.”
- The sheriffs are ‘angels’ (of life) or guardian angels.  They watch over their cities.  Notice the hats are rounded to symbolize their ‘hallows.’  They are seen with lit backgrounds around their heads (as did Anton).  Some angels are still in training, and others are retired.  How old one is depends on how much evil they have seen.  Thus, why Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is older than his dad in his dream.
- Everybody else are normal people.  Though some people are various deals in place with the angel of death… but obviously they all die.  The only person who lives from Anton is the gas station owner.  Carla Jean, and the accountant died.
- The cause of all their deaths are from greed.  Money is not just the literal cause (from the story), but also metaphorically the death from the introduction of wealth in society.  You can get this from the talks by Sheriff Bell.
- No one knows when death will come, and they are never ready for it.  Listen to the final conversation between Carla Jean and Anton.  It is always coming for you, and there is no escape.  Llewellyn made a ‘deal with the devil’ by not supplying the Mexican int he truck with water, which is a life source.  Instead he will take the money.  We see his conscious play out when he wakes up in the night to take the water to him.  But the deal has already been made.  Also notice how the Sheriff describes the way that when steer are slaughtered via the air gun, they are “dead before they knew what hit them.”  Thus, Anton’s use of the air gun is fitting.
- The entire story is not about Llewelyn and his greed of money.  This is a subplot.  The story is actually about Sheriff Bell, who becomes an angel long ago, as he describes at the beginning of the story, but now is going to see his final episode of greed and humanity that makes him quit as an ‘angel’ and move on to death/the afterlife.  It goes without saying that the dream Sheriff Bell recites at the end of the film is actually his proceeding to the afterlife and quitting of being a “sheriff.”  Thus it is fitting that the film ends here.

In light of all this… I my rating for this film is:

Rating – 5 /5

Title: Sunshine
Director: Danny Boyle
Year: 2007
Genre: Sci-fi
Format Reviewed: Bluray

Here comes another film from Danny Boyle, who you may know from 28 Days Later, or even earlier, Trainspotting.  Sunshine is an instant classic in both the natural apocalypse and sci-fi genre in general.  Quite simply, it’s Armageddon taken much more seriously, better acting, a thousand times more suspense, and a dose of 2001: A Space Odyssey surreality.  Not to mention awesome special effects, which are deliver very well through the visuals and full bitrate DTS from the bluray.

So what’s so great about it?  Well, first off… there hasn’t been a really, really good sci-fi like this since I-don’t-know-when.  I guess since Jurassic Park, but that wasn’t quite the “spacey” sci-fi that Sunshine is.  The story is believable enough (because it’s true… just about 5 billion years off of reality), and just by watching the film by itself, I didn’t really find the unrealistic things that fills many other critics’ review of the film.  If you know what sci-fi is… that is fiction… then you shouldn’t have a problem giving up some science holes for this all to pull together in the end.

One surprising thing, literally, was the amount of suspense in Sunshine, both surreal psychologically and fight-or-flight style, anxious horror suspense.  In fact, watching this one alone in a dark room was almost too much.  It freaked me out more than even some of the best horror films.  The characters are a little “American” in that they have some ego problems, but this is actually quite believable in context.  Astronauts that have been stuck in the same vessel for months on end.  It probably would get to the average person.

To its merit or demerit, depending on your psychological state, the movie can be quite depressing.  There are many times where the crew must choose to go on a safer path with less chance of success in their mission, or to risk lives (or definite loss of) in order to have a little more chance of success.  Someone has to draw the short straw.   And what if you are the one… who now has to come to the understanding of your death?  Who can be ready for that?  In any case, one soon learns that the mission is heading for disaster and the crew must fight on to succeed and save the world on their last chance.  This gives the viewer something to root for, and a satisfying goal to be achieved.  In this way, the film leads you on a journey of inevitable, without leaving out the very real and challenging decisions of life.  There is something to be learned about humanity in its endeavors that are both caused and saved by itself.

Rating: 5 /5