Brad Anderson's eagerly-awaited return to the big screen since his 2004's critically-acclaimed THE MACHINIST sees him again in fine, if not groundbreaking form with his latest thriller, TRANSSIBERIAN. Obviously paying a tribute to the great Alfred Hitchcock, Anderson hones the master's claustrophobic tradition of train-thrillers that perfectly recalls THE LADY VANISHES (1938) and spins a good old-fashioned suspenseful yarn we never get to see much these days.
The story, in the meantime, is a classic set-up -- Right after fulfilling a goodwill church mission in Peking, American married couple Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer) decide to return home via Moscow on the famed train of Transsiberian in the dead of winter. The slow, six-days train ride back to home is Roy's idea since Roy himself is a great train afficiando, while they also figure it's a perfect opportunity for the both of them to work out their slightly unstable marital problem. Just as their marital problem is still on the rocks, along comes their cabin mates, ruggedly handsome Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and his much-younger girlfriend, Abby (Kate Mara), who has spent the last two years teaching English in Japan. Within a short time of period, both couple become instant friends and even share each others' little secret. Whereas Roy is as naive as ever, little does he know at all that Carlos has his eyes fixed on Jessie. There's some disturbing vibes Jessie has particularly sees on the so-called friendly Carlos but she is somehow sexually attracted to his rugged charm. As the film progresses, we slowly learn that Carlos and Abby shared dangerous secrets together, in which it doesn't take long before Roy and Jessie has unexpectedly landed themselves into bad situation. And of course, this has much to do with the film's opening scene features an eager Russian narcotics agent Grinko (Ben Kingsley) who has earlier investigating a frozen corpse with a knife buried at the base of its neck.
Seasoned genre fans will immediately recognized whatever surprises the film is going to lay out as the story slowly unfolds, in which writers Brad Anderson and Will Conroy plays it as straightforward as possible. There's no sudden, come-out-of-nowhere twist in this film here and basically, TRANSSIBERIAN sees Anderson flat-pedals the genre convention in the generic way possible.
Still, Anderson's masterful execution in which he slowly builds the carefully-laid out suspense as the climax takes place remains a must-see anyhow as everything here are so smoothly accomplished you wouldn't even mind how generic it's going to be. But really, what makes the otherwise predictable-looking TRANSSIBERIAN an extra edge is Anderson's keen observation for his thought-provoking and flawed characters that keeps the film pumping. While Woody Harrelson's extremely restrained part as the naive Roy doesn't make much of an impact here, it is Emily Mortimer that shines throughout the film. Here she is terrific as the emotionally-conflicted Jessie, and her finest scene in this film is nevertheless the one with the guilt-ridden, sexual tension she is risking involved with Carlos. The rest of the supporting actors are equally great, while Ben Kingsley delivers his usual fire he's always good at.
Technical credits are superb, with Xavi Gimenez's moody cinematography -- all filmed on locations in Lithuania, Spain and China -- gives the film's disturbing aura reflecting on the uncertainty as frigid as the frozen and snowy landscape, while the camera is always on the claustrophobic tension whenever the setting is inside the train.
Though TRANSSIBERIAN doesn't qualify as Anderson's earlier best works he had in THE MACHINIST (2004) and SESSION 9 (2001), this neat little thriller worth a look especially for those who fancies something crisp and old-fashioned thriller yarn.
One of the creepiest psychological chillers since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1998), writer-director Brad Anderson's SESSION 9 is an astonishing follow-up to his breakthrough, refreshingly romantic comedy NEXT STOP, WONDERLAND.
Small-town asbestos-abatement contractor Gordon Fleming (Peter Mullan) is way desperate to need a job of preparing the abandoned mental asylum, the crumbling Danvers State Mental Hospital that is located in Massachusetts, on the hill for conversion into a municipal office building. He's willing to do anything, including underbid the competition and promise completion in an (impossible) one week, even though project manager Phil (David Caruso) estimates they need at least twice that long to do things properly. So Gordon, Phil and their three-man crew, including middle-class dropout Mike (co-screenwriter Stephen Gevedon), pain-in-the-neck troublemaker Hank (Josh Lucas) and Gordon's inexperienced nephew Jeff (Brendan Sexton III) proceed immediately with their job under intense pressure, tapping, stripping, bagging and doing their mighty best to ignore the creepy vibe the place exudes. Not for Mike, however, he recalled clearly the scandal that helped close the place down-- not some budget cut-- but the notorious case of Mary Hobbes, a disturbed woman whose family was nearly devastated by her tales of satanism, child abuse and infanticide before the awful allegations proved to be a case of false recovered-memory syndrome. The others are freaked out of course, in additional to their own personal demons as by the building's oppressive atmosphere. Meanwhile, Gordon is overwhelmed by the demands of new fatherhood and has had a bitter fight with his wife; Jeff is afraid of the dark and Phil and Hank are at each others' throats because Hank stole Phil's girlfriend. Then something weird has happened: Hank has disappeared. Although Phil has phoned his former girlfriend and is being told that Hank is actually heading to Miami, it's actually more than meet the eyes. Bit by bit, they begin to discover that this abandoned mental asylum has the darkest secret about to freak everybody apart.
Anderson successfully creates a series of genuinely creepy atmosphere that is perfectly accompanied with shivering piano-laden score by Climax Golden Twins. Aided with a brooding cinematography by Ute Briesewitz, the film's location setting itself; the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital itself is so intensely frightening that guarantees to send the viewers chill to their bones.
The cast is similarly competent, with Anderson successfully captured their ongoing characterizations' high-pressure situation where they are up against all odds to meet impossible deadline. And the most spooky thing of all is indeed the one where Mike discovers a box of evidence where he puts on the tapes to listen obsessively of the nine recordings of Mary Hobbes' sessions with a staff psychiatrist are genuinely frightening.
Despite its cinematic achievement, Anderson's convoluted plot seems to be losing up its momentum when the climactic revelation proves to be more a head-scratching disappointment.
Still minor gripes aside, SESSION 9 remains highly recommended.
Mention the name of Darren Aronofsky and one thing that comes immediately in mind that he's the director who always remembered for thought-provoking, stylistic excesses ranging from his debut of 1998's Pi to 2000's REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and right down to 2006's THE FOUNTAIN. But Aronofsky's fourth feature, THE WRESTLER, is surprisingly different than what he's usually capable of. That said, this is unlike anything fans or audiences alike who always expect from Aronofsky and it's a small, non-flashy movie that not only serves as his most mature effort to date but also one of the year's best you've ever come across. In addition to Aronofsky's remarkable filmmaking resume, is forgotten lead actor Mickey Rourke whose faltered career briefly revived in 2005's SIN CITY but here he's finally seals the deal making a grand comeback no one could have seen him coming. But Rourke did just that -- he and Aronofsky does sounds unlikely in the first place, but after watching it, both of them are such a perfect match.
The story, in the meantime, penned by Robert B. Siegel, is essentially familiar but efficiently-told ROCKY-style method that offers nothing we really haven't seen before but it's pretty assured nonetheless: Back in the late '80s, professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke) was a top contender who headlined matches all across the country. He's a wrestling champion of all champion who celebrated numerous glory days and he proves to be so popular that he even had his own action figure and a Nintendo game featuring his signature move of the so-called devastating "Ram Jam". But decades later, as time has passed by, Randy is no longer the superstar he once enjoyed. Instead, his aging body becomes too prone for pain and he have to result on popping pills in order to stay in shape. Once he used to be in a big-game tournament but now he is all reduced to travel along New Jersey performing in high school gymnasiums and community centers instead. The crowds aren't as large as they used to be back in his heydays, but all Randy cares it's that they are some loyal fans out there still roaring and chanting to his name. Then one day, after a particularly intense match, Randy suffers a massive heart attack. He is advised by his doctor to quit wrestling or else he might faced possible death. And so Randy reluctantly retires from the ring and forced to make ends meet by picking up some weekend hours at the local grocery-store deli, doing his best to maintain positive attitude behind the counter. In the meantime, he has a thing for local stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) and hoping he can settle down with her and start a new life together. However Cassidy isn't sure whether falling in love with Randy is the right thing to do, especially all the while she treats him more like a regular customer. Still Cassidy also persuades Randy to find time to meet up his long-forgotten daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) he once left behind. As Randy struggles to re-adjust his life as a "regular" person, he is later discovers that there's a once-in-a-lifetime rematch against his former archrival "The Ayatollah" (Ernest Miller) as the mark of 20-year anniversary.
As a battered, bruised and emotionally-depressed Randy "The Ram" Robinson, Rourke's remarkable performance alone is worth the price of admission alone and that's saying a lot already. Back in 1986, Rourke is a promising actor who is eventually making big as a A-list status following from his popular success with Kim Basinger in the iconic erotic drama, 9 1/2 WEEKS. But he quickly falls from grace for a long time after years of abusing himself with bad reputation and such. Here, reflecting his own ruined self has certainly plays the bigger role for the part he's taking here and that is what makes his character all the more believable and brutally honest to the core. He makes full use of his all-weathered look, muscled body and his real skills in his once-brief career in boxing to channel a layered and authentic protagonist we can really relate him as a flesh-and-blood human being, even though his Randy "The Ram" Robinson is fictional character. There's so much more to say about his performance because he's simply front and center in every scene -- at times poignant, reckless, funny, sarcastic, likable and heartbreaking as well. Matching to his tour de force role is Marisa Tomei, in a raw but emotionally tender performance as Cassidy, who struggled as a working single mother and a stripper tired being eclipsed by her generally degraded profession. In a smaller but nevertheless important role, Evan Rachel Wood is similarly competent. Her particular scene with Randy visiting a cold and deserted Asbury Park is memorable -- in which they try to reconnect each other to their past and end up in an impromptu dance together inside an abandoned hall. There's a certain simplistic yet powerful moment that really moves you.
For the record, Aronofsky and his cinematographer, Maryse Alberti, works on their best advantage to capture their movie in as minimal as possible without calling too much of an attention. This is a movie not to be missed.
Writer-director Darren Aronofsky's long-awaited third feature, THE FOUNTAIN has been long raised numerous curiosity among critics and genre fans alike to see whether this promising wunderkind of PI (1998) snd REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000) is going to shed out another masterpiece-in-the-making. The answer is never quite the extraordinary sci-fi experience Aronofsky has originally envisioned to be. Yes, it's a flawed movie that gets bogged down by a half-baked script and mostly, lacking of genuine emotions. But one can't deny THE FOUNTAIN is also one of the most visually stunning movies ever seen in recent memory, so spellbinding it's really hard to take your eyes off.
Pity about Aronofsky's highly-ambitious but largely simplified plot though: The movie is divided into three parallel stories which unfolds simultaneously in 16th-century Spain and Central America, the 21st-century United States and the 26th- century outer space. Beginning in the past, a bearded and long-locked Spanish conquistador Tomas (Hugh Jackman), who falls in love with Queen Isabel (Rachel Weisz), is dispatched by her to journey into the New World to locate the biblical Tree of Life, which is believed that whoever drinks the sap will gain immortality. The Tree of Life is fortunately discovered by a highly-enthusiastic priest named Father Avila (Mark Margolis), who claimed he has a unique knife taken from a dead Mayan priest that also doubled up as a map that will gives the actual location. The Tree of Life is located deep inisde the jungle that lies the hidden Mayan temple. Cut to the present-day, Dr. Tommy Creo (Jackman again) is a research scientist who has been working around-the-clock in desperate attempt to find a cure for his ill-fated wife, Izzi (also Weisz), in which she is dying of cancer. But he has always been optimistic, especially that he is very confident he will cure an ape named Donovan who has a brain tumor by using an experimental surgery through an exotic plant. While waiting anxiously for the result, Tommy spends some time with Izzi alone. Izzi shows him a manuscript titled "The Fountain", in which she has almost complete everything except for the ending. When Tommy starts to read the manuscript, he finds himself deeply hooked with the medieval tale of a warrior, Tomas from Spain sent to find the Tree of Life and gain eternal life by drinking its sap (how ironic is that?). Cut further into an unknown future, Tom Creo (also Jackman) has been living inside a giant bubble floating in the deep space, spends all of his time embraces the Tree of Life that he is transporting to the far nebula Xibalba, while reflecting on his lost love Izzi he just can't stop thinking about.
Originally planned as a $70 million big-budget production, Aronofsky's pet project is forced to shut down when Warner Bros got cold feet. Moreover, original stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett quit at the last-minute, due to creative indifference. Since then it took Aronofsky five years long to get everything made, except this time the budget is slashed into a mere $35 million. Going through numerous cuts and major re-writes, Aronofsky's finished product does have a near-quality of an epic but fails to deliver it in a considerable scope. The biggest problem is Aronofsky has seemed to be forgotten to root us deeper with these two ill-fated lovers. The characters are shallow at best, while Aronofsky's storytelling approach that deals sensitive issues of life, death and spirituality doesn't exactly lift off beyond its core surface.
Still, the movie is not a total disaster. In fact, THE FOUNTAIN, as mentioned earlier, is a visual knockout. The most noteworthy one is Aronofsky's unique vision of space, in which instead of CGI, he insists on using micro-images of chemical reactions to create a timelessness look and feel. The rest of the technical credits, ranging from James Chinlund's eye-catching production design as well as Renne April's gorgeous costumes design and Clint Mansell's mournful orchestral score sets the film's tone just right into place. And despite all the underachieving effort in term of characters development, Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz (Aronofsky's real-life partner) does their best to inject some life into their roles. Both of them really shows certain kind of affection that we really believe they're truly in love, even though connecting emotionally with them is elegantly thrown out of the window. Jackman's performance is deeply expressive and thus proving him he's more than just an actor who's forever remembered as Wolverine in the X-MEN trilogy. Weisz is equally compelling as well, though the camera seems to care more to focus on her photogenic looks instead.
Reportedly being booed off by audiences during its screening at the Venice Film Festival, only to show standing ovations a few days later, THE FOUNTAIN is hardly a masterpiece. But for all what it's worth, Aronofsky's labor of love of idolizing Stanley Kubrick's filmmaking style is pretty much evident here. How else can you explain this film has the metaphysical sci-fi feel and look of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)? There are many critics out there has been touting Aronofsky as the new Stanley Kubrick of today's generation. THE FOUNTAIN is only gets him as far as a starting point of sorts, and only time will tell from then.
After the phenomenal success of 2005's SPL, Wu Jing has quickly becomes among the most hot-on-demand martial arts actors destined for superstardom. In his first starring role since the ill-fated TAI CHI 2 way back in 1996, Dennis S.Y. Law's FATAL CONTACT is a martial arts action drama that showcases Wu's physical prowess to the max. The result is fairly entertaining, but FATAL CONTACT is also a hugely uneven movie that bogged down with too many protracted melodrama, corny love story and unusually last-minute twist (more on that later).
Kong (Wu Jing) is a traveling circus performer from China who's touring Hong Kong to earn better living. One night, he is spotted by a triad boss Ma (Eddie Cheung) who is particularly impressed with his lightning-fast martial arts performance on the stage and wants Kong to fight for him on the underground boxing circuit. But Kong rejects his offer since he knows underground boxing is illegal and if caught, he will be risking being expelled from Chinese national team. However, Siu Tin (Miki Yeung), a cute-looking girl who has a secret crush with Kong, urges him to take up the underground boxing since the pay is very good. Kong eventually agrees to participate, where he make full use of his martial arts prowess to take down his opponent, while Siu Tin is in charge of managing and negotiating the bet. After an impressive fight, Ma is very pleased with Kong's performance and sets up one of his men, Captain (Ronald Cheng) to offer Kong and Siu Tin a place to stay and some extra cash for other necessities. Captain is a low-level gangster who swindles his way of living by performing magic tricks in front of his fellow colleagues but deep down, he is actually a humble kungfu master. When he noticed the way Kong's fight is not brutal enough, he begins to tutor him how to fight as mean as possible. Both Captain and Kong eventually become good friends, while Kong is subsequently falling hard for Siu Tin. Fight after fight, Kong has won plenty of money but things take a sharp turn when Siu Tin reveals herself as a gold-digger after all. Her so-called love with Kong is actually based on material desire and life is all about being smart and makes a lot of money.
Dennis S.Y. Law's screenplay is not just a merely straightforward action movie about underground boxing. In fact, he tries so hard to be very ambitious as well. Aside from inserting comedy and romance into the mix, he also wants the viewers to feel about the dark moralities that exploits the worst side of human nature (particularly the one involving Siu Tin). Such meaty approach is usually rare to be seen for Hong Kong movie but one must applaud that Dennis S.Y. Law is at least tries to be different. Unfortunately, being different is one thing. At two-hour long, the movie simply drags a lot. Apparently Dennis S.Y. Law prefers most of his scene to be shot in long takes (especially during melodramatic moments) that it's just painful to sit through until one might wished to hit fast-forward instead and get to the point. It doesn't help either when the story is too verbose. There are just too many talks about everything philosophical, and almost hardly engages into visual narration instead. And as mentioned earlier, the movie takes a sharp turn on a last-minute twist throughout the climactic finale. For an action movie like FATAL CONTACT, you would have naturally expected to be an all-hell-breaks-loose martial arts showdown. Instead, it's such a surprise that this movie ends up one of the most shockingly dull anticlimactic finale ever seen in recent memory. The twist, of course, involves around the true color of Siu Tin's hidden agenda. Make no mistake, it's actually something provocative except that it feels like it belongs to a different movie altogether. To make things even worse, the eventual ending is particularly so depressing it will leaves you speechless and of course, very frustrated.
As for the cast, the actors are quite exceptional. Wu Jing's role is likable while his screen presence during martial arts sequence (where he trains Sanda in Beijing for the sake of the movie) is engaging enough to keep the action fans happy. His naive character also suits his wooden style of acting well enough, though he's still far away from becoming a worthy leading man status. The rest of the cast are equally credible, but the real surprise comes from Ronald Cheng and Miki Yeung. The usually-annoying Ronald Cheng almost steals the show as Captain. His comic timing is hilarious but thankfully not irritating, while his somewhat subdued performance in some parts is quite admirable. As for Miki Yeung, her two-dimensional character as Siu Tin manages to bring some necessary depth to her dramatic acting chops with equal flair.
In the meantime, Li Chung-Chi's action choreography is grounded with less wirework and throughout impressive. It's just too bad the final fight sequence between Kong and a Portland street fighter (Timmy Hung) is simply unsatisfying and very disappointing.
When LADY COP & PAPA CROOK was first announced for September 2008 release, this highly-anticipated action comedy has fast generating enormous hype on the big-screen return of Hong Kong's former box-office darling, Sammi Cheng after three-year hiatus of sinking depression since her 2005's ill-fated EVERLASTING REGRET. Unfortunately LADY COP & PAPA CROOK has attracted more publicity for all the wrong reasons, forcing the movie to be postponed due to the strict Chinese government censorship requirements. The movie's original version proved to be so controversial that the filmmakers have to reshoot some of the scenes before resubmitted to the Mainland Chinese censors for final approval. The result was an agonizing six-month delay and by the time the movie has finally see the light of its day in the first week of January 2009, it is obviously clear that the cut version of LADY COP & PAPA CROOK is a messy affair.
The story involves John Fok (Eason Chan), a triad kingpin responsible for illegal red diesel trade in Greater China. When an oil tanker explodes accidentally during a police raid, he is forced to lay low of his business when he is being investigated by Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese police. He is frustrated enough already for the matter but that is just the beginning. Things become chaotic when his only son, Jimmy (Buzz Chung) is kidnapped. Enter Senior Inspector Maureen Szeto (Sammi Cheng), a short-tempered police detective in charge for the kidnapping case. She is very strict when comes to business but a sore loser when comes to personal life. Her longtime boyfriend, Michael (Conroy Chan) is a struggling artist who spends too much slacking around with his so-called artistic masterpiece. Worst still, she suspects Michael is seeing somebody else and also discovers that she's coincidentally pregnant when she is assigned for the case. In the meantime, John has trouble working with her and the rest of the police force, and so do his fellow triad family members including Uncle Wing (Joe Cheung), Uncle Fok (Felix Lok) and Ron (Wilfred Lau) where they also equally expressing their disapproval. However, John's estranged and heavily pregnant wife, Yammy (Michelle Ye) beg her husband to let the police handle the kidnapping case which ultimately leaves him no choice but to agree in the end. As the cops are confining at John's house to set up for the investigation, John has a troubling agenda of his own -- apparently he needs to settle a score with his triad rival, Donald Ng (Patrick Tam). But there's something more than just an ongoing feud between two rivalries, as both John and Szeto starts to uncover hidden truth behind the mysterious figure responsible for the kidnapping of John's son.
No doubt that Alan Mak and Felix Chong's screenplay tries hard to wrap around with various sub-genre of domestic comedy, kidnapping drama and gritty triad action all over the place. Such mix-and-match genre is a norm for Hong Kong cinema but the story turns out to be more confusing than an overall entertaining outcome. Perhaps the biggest problem lies on their half-baked idea to inject something worthwhile during the course of the movie. Whether it's the fault of the Mainland Chinese censors or it's the fact that their screenplay is haphazardly written all along, remains anybody's question. But what is obvious here that the movie drags a lot to get to the point while the story is terribly awkward when it tries to deal with many (unfunny) comedic situations involving Maureen Szeto.
Speaking of Maureen Szeto, Sammi Cheng is trying hard to bring back her cutey-aggressive persona to the table that once made her popular in Hong Kong cinema but her character proves to be more annoying instead. It is clear that her role is somewhat reflecting the similarity one Miriam Yeung had in LOVE UNDERCOVER series but too bad everything seems to be ill-fating, especially when comes to compare with most of her fellow cops. It is certainly disappointed that her presence here is badly miscast. On the other hand, Eason Chan is typically intense in his hot-tempered role as a frustrating triad boss. But his character is also largely underwritten, and his onscreen chemistry with Sammi Cheng is almost non-existent.
While the story and the characters are mostly mixed results, Alan Mak and Felix Chong's direction remains stylish and fairly engaging in certain parts. It's just too bad they get too ambitious by throwing everything in the mix. One of the highly-disappointing Hong Kong movies of the year.
After the underrated effort in 1995's MAN WANTED, Benny Chan is finally back for good in this highly-entertaining action blockbuster, BIG BULLET, that puts him straight into the Hong Kong cinematic route as one of the best on-demand action directors around.
Lau Ching-Wan plays as a maverick cop Sgt. Bill Zhu, who is recently demoted into the Emergency Unit for clocking a superior officer after a botched assignment. Bill is well-known for his ugly reputation of not doing things by-the-book and his attitude alone creates conflicts within his new group, particularly the strictly by-the-law Inspector Jeff Chiu (Jordan Chan). When a case involving a ruthless gang of thieves lead by a notorious leader nicknamed The Professor (Yu Rong-Guang) and his equally violent right-hand man Bird (Anthony Wong) planned to smugglee a huge amount of money out of Hong Kong, Bill and his team are determined to stop them at all cost.
If the plot sounds so simple, it is. Benny Chan, Susan Chan and Joe Ma's script is essentially a bookended formulaic cop-vs.-robber action thriller that dominated the 1990s-era of Hong Kong cinematic genre. It is also very commercial at best and if you are looking for something deep within the context of this movie, you might as well steer clear.
Otherwise, BIG BULLET is one heck of an action extravaganza that packed with a big wallop. Two of the movie's action-packed highlights are the daylight shootout scene in the middle of the city where Bill and his team trying to stop The Professor and his gang and the intense nighttime car chase scene. It's just too bad that Ma Yuk-Sing's action choreography tends to go a bit overboard -- the supposedly exciting climatic showdown atop a moving plane (an obvious inspiration from the ending of 1990's DIE HARD 2) is bogged down by messy editing and blurry camerawork.
Still the movie manages to benefit from a solid group of actors. Lau Ching-Wan's no-nonsense screen presence is as engaging as always, while Jordan Chan creates a terrific contrast to Lau Ching Wan's renegade cop role as someone who is very disciplined on the other side. Then there's Yu Rong-Guang and especially the ever-reliable Anthony Wong as the sadistic villain who has a taste of violence are all perfectly cast.
Despite most of the flaws, BIG BULLET is nevertheless one of the better action pictures in the 90s. On the plus side, the movie gets nominated for an incredible 9 Hong Kong Film Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Lau Ching-Wan and took home an award for Best Film Editing. A must-see.
Years after exploring into different territories including wuxia genre (1993's THE MAGIC CRANE) and Gen-X dramedy (1995's HAPPY HOUR), acclaimed director Benny Chan attempts to bank in the current popularity of Hong Kong's action sub-genre involving divided loyalties of undercover cop (e.g. 1987's CITY ON FIRE, and 1992's HARD-BOILED) in MAN WANTED, and mixes with a dash of love story in the vein of his own 1990's hugely-popular A MOMENT OF ROMANCE. The result is fairly entertaining and gritty enough, but largely overbearing due to its groan-inducing sappy love story.
Lok Man-Hwa (Simon Yam) is an undercover cop who has spent enough time devoting his loyalty to a big-time triad boss Lu Chan Feng (Yu Rong-Guang) until he finally reveals his true identity during a botched drug deal on the piers that erupts into an explosive gun-battle with the police. Hwa is reluctant to shoot Lu, and wants to arrest him instead. Unfortunately Lu refuses to surrender and tries to make a harsh getaway where Hwa is thrown out of the car before it blows up at a police roadblock and plunges into the ocean. Hwa is left devastated and feels guilty over Lu's death. Lu's girlfriend, Yung (Christy Chung) who has a secret crush with Hwa, ends up hating him very much. A year later, Hwa is now promoted to police inspector and he is currently on the case involving forged credit card. Ironically, the case has something to do with Yung, who resulted into such criminal offense for the sake to find a living. Instead of arresting her, Hwa wants to make amend to her and promises he'll be there for her if she needs him anytime, even though he knows he has forsaking his long-time girlfriend June (Eileen Tung). As Yung begins to fall in love deeply with Hwa, Lu makes a sudden return. Apparently he is still alive and determines to settle a score against Hwa.
Chak Ming's screenplay is overall effective, particularly on the questionable theme about loyalties and betrayal. Benny Chan's direction is equally solid when comes to handling tension-filled situations (notably on the opening scene and the all-hell-breaks-loose climactic finale involving a battle-to-the-death between Hwa and Yu). The cast is also subtle enough, with Simon Yam in his meaty role as a naive and guilt-stricken cop who is very sentimental when comes to loyalty. Although his character feels pathetic, especially the one involving his clear stupidity to fall into Lu's web of vengeance, there is no denying Yam's presence remains engaging enough to root for. Yu Rong-Guang is fine as usual, portraying his sociopathic role with intense sense of aura.
Unfortunately it is that overbearing love story between Hwa and Yung that almost crippled this otherwise solid effort. Likewise, Benny Chan has a soft tendency when comes to romantic moment and that includes the shrill musical montage in some scenarios. The love story is hardly affecting and serves more of an annoying distraction than a necessity to the overall story. It doesn't help either when Christy Chung's performance is firing blanks and looks wooden most of the time.
Based on the characters created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, THE GREEN HORNET originally began life as a radio show in the 1930s before eventually being adapted into two movie serials in the 1940s. But it's not until the arrival of TV's short-lived series (which sadly lasted only one season) of the same name, which starred Van Williams as both the Green Hornet and Britt Reid, and then-unknown Bruce Lee as Kato, has gained mass attraction.
During the 1990s, a much-anticipated big screen version is being greenlit with then-music video director Michel Gondry is hired to make his feature movie directorial debut. At that time, George Clooney and Jason Scott Lee are slated to star as both the Green Hornet and Kato but the proposed movie underwent numerous re-writes (which involves screenwriters Chuck Pfarrer, Rich Wilkes and Edward Neumeier). The movie was then eventually languished in development hell, and Gondry left the project while Clooney dropped out to star the much-maligned BATMAN AND ROBIN in December 1995.
Then in April 2000, Universal tries to revive the movie again by roping Jet Li to star as Kato, and Christopher McQuarrie is hired to write a script. Unfortunately none of them really materialized and Jet Li ended up working on THE ONE (2001). By November 2001, Jet Li and the producers (Charles Gordon, Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin) were no longer involved after Universal have spent about $10 million in development since 1992.
In February 2004, Miramax president Harvey Weinstein roped in Kevin Smith to write and direct the movie. Smith was very interested to helm a superhero genre, especially after he failed his writing gig on the equally development hell project, SUPERMAN LIVES. He approached Jake Gyllenhaal for the lead role in March 2004, and he managed to write several script treatment. But after few creative differences, Kevin Smith eventually left the project but instead went on to write the Dynamite Entertainment's 11-issues comic-book series in the late 2010.
Three years later, as in March 2007, producer Neal H. Moritz acquired the movie rights and Seth Rogen is hired to star and co-write the script with frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg. By then, Columbia Pictures is taken over the movie and Rogen was also hired as an executive producer. But up to that time, Rogen had not begun writing the script yet even though he's been hinting that the tone would be something out of a buddy action movie in the vein of 48 HRS (1982) and LETHAL WEAPON (1987). With Rogen's vision still hanging in limbo, Columbia Pictures eventually hired Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow to star as Kato and direct his first Hollywood feature as well. It was an exciting news for most of the fans around the world, but Chow dropped out as director due to creative differences. Michel Gondry is brought back to direct the movie, on which Chow had remained his role as Kato. Still Chow also dropped out as Kato in July 2009 over scheduling conflicts of other projects. By this time the release date had been pushed to July 9, 2010. Chow was eventually replaced with Taiwanese singer-actor Jay Chou, and the studio negotiated Nicolas Cage to play the gangster villain. Cage rejected the offer to play the role of Benjamin Chudnofsky because he's not interested to portray a straightforward bad guy (the role which eventually went to Christoph Waltz).
Despite the eventual completion of the movie, THE GREEN HORNET was slated for mid-summer release in 2010. But the movie still underwent numerous release date shuffles until the studio pushed it all the way forward to the dumping month of January 2011, cited more post-production tinkering to convert it into 3D. As history known that a long-in-development movie underwent series of troubled productions, it's no surprise that the much-awaited THE GREEN HORNET is overall a major disappointment. The movie has a few entertaining moments, but for a supposedly ambitious project with the caliber of Seth Rogen and visionary director Michel Gondry on the helm, it should have been something a little more extraordinary. Instead what we have here is a typical would-be $100 million action comedy extravaganza disguised as potential summer tentpole release.
Ever since a kid, Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is an irresponsible and no-good slacker who spends most of his time partying and sleeping with girls. When his father, James Reid (Tom Wilkinson), media mogul of The Daily Sentinel, dies from a hornet sting, Britt is shocked to learn the truth and he is the sole heir to inherit the family business. But he knows nothing about running the media empire, until he comes up a radical idea with his late father's handyman, Kato (Jay Chou) to moonlight as masked crime fighters to battle against the city's most high-powered criminals. Armed with their indestructible and weapon-heavy, custom-made car called The Black Beauty, the masked duo named themselves as The Green Hornet and Kato. It doesn't take long before the public grows very interested with these mysterious crime fighters, while Britt's The Daily Sentinel is increasingly popular with their action's front-page headline. Then along came a resourceful new secretary named Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), who helps them gathering all sorts of intelligence that will help them take down notorious underworld kingpin Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), a crazed criminal who is hell-bent to rule the entire city. When Chudnofsky is getting annoyed with their crime-fighting antics, he hatches a diabolical plan to take them down at all cost.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's screenplay harked back the good old-fashioned formula of buddy action-comedy genre, which is not surprisingly, pretty much uninspired and glaringly shopworn. The middle part is especially draggy and underwhelming, while the introduction of Cameron Diaz's Lenore Case and the love triangle subplot involving her, Britt and Kato is awfully pedestrian. In the meantime, Michel Gondry's direction is surprisingly subdued, considered his visionary body of work (e.g. 2004's ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF A SPOTLESS MIND) in the past. Still, in his first big-budget feature, he manages to deliver some worthy action set-pieces. Among them are the "Kato-Vision", where the suspended-motion fight scene involving Kato detect every possible threats from his opponents before proceeding into necessary course of action. The other one is of course the explosive, action-packed and (surprisingly violent) finale where all-hell-breaks-loose between the masked duo and Chudnofsky's heavily-armed gang.
The cast are a mixed bag, with Seth Rogen (who sheds 30-pounds for a leaner look) is pretty much the same old Seth Rogen we often seen him in the past. He's funny in some of the scenes but he is overall badly miscast as a rich slacker. As Kato, Jay Chou's Hollywood acting debut is surprisingly admirable, considering his lackluster acting skill evidently seen in his Asian movies. He's certainly playful for the part and does show some convincingly nifty moves during the movie's many hand-to-hand combats. But Christoph Waltz, fresh off from winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his memorable portrayal as Col. Hans Landa in 2008's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, hams up his Chudnofsky role to the fullest until his character becomes so cartoonish he's more of an overgrown laughing stock than a compellingly scary villain he supposed to be. Case in point: the climactic scene where Chudnofsky grows tired of being a so-called ordinary villain and decides to re-branding himself as "Bloodnofsky", a supervillain who wears a gas mask and a red jacket (no, I kid you not). The less said about Cameron Diaz the better. In fact, her role is pretty much thankless and frankly, a burden to the overall plot. And of all the actors, James Franco particularly steals the limelight from everyone in an unbilled cameo as a smart-talking club owner-cum-drug dealer. In the movie's first five memorable minutes, his verbal insult against Chudnofsky is so full of wits and energy that it'll be more fun if the director didn't choose to kill off his character too fast.
Overall THE GREEN HORNET is a huge, missed opportunity that does little justice to the source material.
Revenge has never been this grisly and mean-spirited in I SAW THE DEVIL, the highly-anticipated fifth feature by extraordinary filmmaker Kim Ji-Woon (2008's THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD). Although revenge genre is nothing new and has been countlessly flooded in the Korean cinema ever since the enormous popularity of Park Chan-Wook's "Vengeance" trilogy, Kim Ji-Woon's I SAW THE DEVIL is a unique beast of its own -- and I've gotta admit that this is among the most uncomfortably violent and genuinely intense experiences I've ever seen in a long while.
The movie begins with a serial killer Kyung-Chul (Choi Min-Sik) abducting a female victim (Oh San-Ha), who is apparently stranded in her car with flat tire on a snowy night. After knocking her head repeatedly with a hammer, he takes her back to his place. He spares her no mercy by dismembering her before he disposes her various body parts all over the place. The particular female victim happens to be So-Hyun's (Lee Byung-Hun) fiance who is an agent working for the National Intelligence Service. Upon discovering her grisly death in which her decapitated head found in the river, So-Hyun is completely devastated and make a promise to his dead fiance as well as his father-in-law, Jang (Jeon Kuk-Hwan) who is a veteran homicide detective, that he'll find and torture the killer at every way imaginable. So he takes two-week leave to set out a vigilante mission in which he begins his search and uses unorthodox method to gain information from some of the suspects until he confirms that the one he's been looking for is Kyung-Chul (especially after he found the engagement ring left where his dead fiance is slaughtered). So-Hyun manages to find Kyung-Chul in a greenhouse, where he is about to rape a school teenager. A brutal fight ensues, but instead of So-Hyun having his chance to kill him, he forces him to swallow a capsule which is actually a tracking device and later decides to set him free. Soon a series of cat-and-mouse chases begin as So-Hyun relies on his GPS to track down Kyung-Chul's whereabouts. And each time Kyung-Chul is up to his rape-and-murder routine, So-Hyun is repeating the same process by torturing him and letting him go again. However, at some point, So-Hyun seems to be underestimated his prey, and things take an unexpected turn when Kyung-Chul manages to outsmart him in a game of reversal.
No doubt that I SAW THE DEVIL is extremely violent movie not suitable for those with weak stomach. Series of violence, blood and gore flow freely in this movie and director Kim Ji-Woon spares no mercy to depict them as graphic as possible to the dizzying height that makes you feel squeamish, even for those die-hard fans. In fact it is so extreme that the movie has originally obtained a rare 19+ (the most restrictive rating in Korean cinema) and forced to re-edit for a total of seven cuts to avoid complete ban for theatrical release. Among the most glaring cut is the depiction of cannibalism in the dinner scene where Kyung-Chul and his serial killer partner, Tae-Joo (Choi Moo-Sung) originally had body parts on their dinner table, but was later modified in the final release to have beef instead. Despite some of the cuts, the movie remains very disturbing to watch for. Such scenes including a suspect gets his genital beaten up brutally by a hammer is certainly make your eyes winced, while one particularly memorable scene where the camera spins 360-degree during when Kyung-Chul brutally stabs his knife against a driver and a passenger in the taxi cab.
The cast are superb, especially with brutally intense performances by Lee Byung-Hyun and Choi Min-Sik. Still at 144-minutes, a movie about revenge like this is certainly overlong and at times it would be favorable if Kim Ji-Woon omit some of the repetitive scenes at least half-an-hour shorter. Another gripe is Park Hoon-Jung's screenplay which is a bit self-indulgent for its graphic portrayal of revenge. Other than watching Lee Byung-Hyun and Choi Min-Sik going after each other in a series of violent cat-and mouse chases, we learn little about their characters until it's become so apparent that Kim Ji-Woon intends to make his movie more of a visually shocking experience than a cohesive whole.
Minor quibbles aside, I SAW THE DEVIL ranks as one of the best Korean movies of the year and certainly up to the standard of Park Chan-Wook's "Vengeance" trilogy.
From sports comedy (THE FOUL KING) to horror (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) and gangster (A BITTERSWEET LIFE), director Kim Ji-Woon is certainly the particular rare breed who has easily slipped from different genre after genre with relative ease and of course with equal success. His fourth effort, in which he dubs as "kimchi western", is certainly his most ambitious project he ever tackled. The result is THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD, in which of course, a Korean makeover of Sergio Leone's classic western, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. It's certainly fresh and innovative to see something out of ordinary that you won't normally expect in a Korean film. At the bright side, the film is hugely enjoyable and spectacular enough to warrant this a must-see in theaters for ultimate cinematic experience. On the other side, it's hardly the best thing Kim Ji-Woon manages to craft out in the overall cohesive whole -- the film tends to be sloppy, lackluster and sometimes empty-headed on the narrative front.
As for the story, the film takes place in 1930s Manchuria where we are treated against three different gunmen: Cold-blooded killer Park Chang-Yi (Lee Byung-Hun), which naturally being "The Bad" of the title, hijacks a train in order to steal a treasure map from a Japanese official onboard. However, "The Weird" - Yoon Tae-Gu (Song Kang-Ho), has already got his hand on the map right before him. Yoon manages to escape with the map away, prompting a series of long pursuit ahead. Rounding up the pursuit is of course, "The Good" - in the form of shotgun-baring bounty hunter, Park Do-Won (Jung Woo-Sung) who is on the hunt to take down both Park Chang-Yi and Yoon Tae-Gu. Nevertheless, three of them naturally cross paths and later finding themselves on the run from the Imperial Japanese Army, Manchurian bandits and Korean resistance fighters as they each try to outwit each other on a quest for the buried treasure.
Following close templates of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY with a quirky Korean twist, the story isn't particularly special by any means. Despite obvious attempts to amp up narrative tension by providing each of the main characters' dark past and hidden agendas, the film remains a good exercise when comes to its all-hell-breaks-loose nostalgic fun. Suffice to say, this one qualifies more as "style-over-substance" than anything else matters. For that department alone, it's a true cinematic blast as mentioned earlier: the action scenes are well-staged -- from the opening train sequence to the three-on-three showdown finale with each delivered in such stylistic gunplay that evokes the best of John Woo.
The three casts are fun to watch for, though their characters are sadly neglected into strict caricatures. And likewise, Kim Ji-Woon proves to be a masterful visual stylist when comes to technical values -- everything from panoramic widescreen compositions to its heart-pounding music score -- are equally top-notch. Not a great masterpiece as one might hoped for, the film remains a rollicking good time of a crowd-pleasing entertainment.
Derek Cianfrance's romance drama BLUE VALENTINE first gained headline for its notorious NC-17 rating due to the movie's explicit sexual material, in which the studio (Weinstein Company) has aggressively appealed to the MPAA to cut the rating down to R instead. It's certainly a controversial movie, especially with recognizable faces by the likes of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams involved, but really, it's nothing more explicit than an emotional downer that is particularly depressing.
At the heart of the movie, is a story about the estranged relationship between Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams). The movie jumps back and forth in time, in which, we first learn that Dean and Cindy are two young married couple who has a lovely daughter named Frankie (Faith Wladyka). Their relationship is particularly rocky at the moment, especially with Dean has become a slacker these days. He drinks a lot, he smokes a lot and most of all, he has lost his ambition to strive for bigger potential ever since he is settled as a family man. In the meantime, Cindy has been constantly stressful in her workplace as a physician's assistant. If that's not enough, their dog has been missing from their backyard for quite some time. It gets worse from there when Cindy discovers their dog's dead body lying alongside the road. Dean suggests they need to take their time off against everything and spends quality time just the two of them alone in a outer-space-themed hotel called "The Future Room", in hopes to rekindle their lost love while their daughter is placed under care by her grandpa. From there, we starts to learn traces of flashback of how Dean's younger days as a mover first falling in love at first sight with Cindy when she is still studying in a college. Although they subsequently fall for each other, things doesn't go particularly smooth especially all the conflict involving Cindy's jealous ex-boyfriend Bobby (Mike Vogel). Worst still, Cindy also discovers she is pregnant with Bobby's child but Dean is willing to take responsibility and finally decides for both of them to start a family together.
Movies about a broken marriage is nothing new at all, and not surprisingly, the story here is as predictable as it goes. Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis and Cami Delavigne's screenplay almost screams something like out of a LIfetime Channel but at least they manage to write something that are both brutally honest and emotionally penetrating. As for its unflinching portrayal of sex, the particular subject material is raw and graphic but nothing really explicit as one might lead to suggest in the first place.
Still above all, this movie remains a true acting showcase for both talented young performers of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Both of them certainly deserved award-worthy recognition with their superb, yet well-calculated performances. Indeed they shared excellent chemistry together as their characters feel real and perfectly restrained without resorting into Hollywood onscreen couples-type cliches.
2011 kicks off with this year's first major motion picture released in the dead zone of January month, and the (stinking) honor goes to none others than SEASON OF THE WITCH. Not surprisingly, just about everything involving this train wreck of epic proportion is rotten egg (in this case, rotten spell) -- extensive reshoots, numerous date changes, poor test screening preview and equally uninspired trailer. What's more, this is the second time in the row actor Nicolas Cage is nothing but bad news following from his last year's fantasy fiasco, THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE.
The opening scene though, holds a decent promise where a priest finds himself haunted by a witch he had earlier hanged at the bridge. Had thing continues to be as equally inspiring as that scene itself, the movie would have been an entertaining medieval romp. Too bad it doesn't take long before the rest of the movie nosedives faster than we think. What follows next is a series of cheap-looking and lazily-constructed montage of two 14th-century dedicated knights Behmen (Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) fighting numerous wars in the Crusades. After discovering their last battle involving the innocent death of women and children, they grow fed up and decide to return home. However the place they called home has become a land infested by a deadly plague. When they are brought in to meet the disease-stricken Cardinal D'Ambroise (Christopher Lee), they are assigned on a mission to escort an imprisoned girl (Claire Foy) who is thought to be a witch, to a remote faraway abbey in hope to strip away all her witchcraft power. Accompanying them on their journey is a small crew that includes a priest Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore), a knight (Ulrich Thomsen), a wisecracking swindler-turned-guide Hagamar (Stephen Graham) and an altar boy Kay (Robert Sheehan) who desperately wanted to become a knight. Along the way, they meet various form of troubles.
Bragi Schut Jr.'s script is essentially formulaic and worst still, awfully pedestrian. Despite fascinating subject matter involving medieval action adventure and witchcraft, there are surprisingly little imagination that could have expanded in this kind of genre. Instead the movie spends too much time with Cage and Perlman exchanging jokes, wisecracking and telling stories about how great things used to be. So any sense of adventure-filled story is almost second-to-none.
Taking thing granted as well are bad casting. Both Cage and Perlman play their roles a little too modern and doesn't fit well as those kind of knights who went through a lot of difficulties. The rest of the supporting actors are equally forgettable. Only Claire Foy sheds some light to her lively character.
Continued his downfall is director Dominic Sena who previously held an underwhelming effort, 2009's WHITEOUT (which ironically also a victim of bad publicity) and of course, the equally forgettable 2000's GONE IN 60 SECONDS in which he and Cage teamed before. Likewise, he has little sense of pacing and his direction is strictly amateurish. All the special effects are as cheap-looking as they goes, and the action set-pieces are pretty much uninspired or downright goofy (particularly the lame ending where Cage fighting a CG creature). Only the scene involving Cage and his crew attempts to push a cart over a creaky suspended bridge has a worthy moment of engaging suspense.
This is the movie that should have dumped as direct-to-DVD release instead.
After spending decade helming dramatic movies (2008's DEFIANCE, 2006's BLOOD DIAMOND and 1998's THE SIEGE), writer-director Edward Zwick's latest directing effort is certainly a refreshing change of pace. At the first glance, LOVE & OTHER DRUGS is a good old-fashioned romantic comedy that recalled the glory days of its genre in the 1990s, with wonderful onscreen chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from lack of primary focus from its overall content as Edward Zwick is trying too hard to juggle between a bittersweet romance dramedy and a thoughtful character study about corporate slice-of-life.
Based on the book, Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy, the story takes place in 1996 where we first meet a smooth-talking womanizer Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) who got himself fired as an electronic store salesman for sleeping with his boss's girlfriend. He quickly get his life together and eventually lands himself a lucrative job working as a Pfizer pharmaceuticals rep where he requires to travel around selling Zoloft to healthcare professionals. Partnered with a middle-aged senior rep Bruce Winston (Oliver Platt), Jamie tries hard to convince a client named Dr. Knight (Hank Azaria) for subscribing his product. Unfortunately Dr. Knight is a tough client to crack since he's currently subscribing Jamie's rival rep who sells Prozac. But Jamie never gives up and works his way up by starting to flirt with nurses and doctors so he can placed free samples of his products on their shelves. During his subsequent trial, he meets Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway), a beautiful first-stage Parkinson's patient whom he quickly falls in love with. Like any other romantic comedies, Jamie and Maggie doesn't see eye-to-eye for each other until they eventually start sleeping together. At the beginning, their relationship is strictly sexual as Maggie has make it clear that she doesn't want any romantic commitments. But as their relationship goes on, Jamie begins to have genuine feeling for Maggie and true love is soon blossoms. However, as Jamie's career is taking off to a soaring new height after hitting big time selling the newly-released drug called Viagra, and Maggie's incurable disease begins to get worsen from time to time, both of them realize to doubt about their relationship.
As mentioned earlier, the two leads are the anchor of the movie. Not only that, it's rare nowadays (especially in mainstream standard) to see them engaged in lots of sex and spend most of the time getting naked. No doubt Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are certainly acted well together, and their chemistry feel like lived-in couples that is both wonderful and involving. Gyllenhaal's performance is lively and spontaneous, and Hathaway steals most of the limelight every screen she's in as a charismatic and emotionally sympathetic character.
It's a shame that Edward Zwick's would-be meaty direction is hugely uneven. There are times the movie waste too much time on settling one issue after another, and the subplot, particularly the one involving Jamie's slacker brother Josh (Josh Gad) is very irritating. His supporting character could have been axed altogether since his scene is really unnecessary. If that's not bad enough, the ending is rather mushy it's almost as if Edward Zwick is attempting to go Cameron Crowe-like filmmaking route (read: 1996's JERRY MAGUIRE).
Whatever early speculations that surrounding Edward Zwick's LOVE & OTHER DRUGS as one of the year's Oscar hopefuls (it's Edward Zwick's movie!) is simply far-fetched. Had Edward Zwick placed his picture a rather down-to-earth approach, the movie could have been a good and earnest result.
One word: PATHETIC. That is pretty much sum up for this much-hyped "documentary" cryptically titled as CATFISH. You have to applaud the way how Universal studio has manipulated (most) of the viewers with their effective, yet highly-deceptive trailer and marketing promotion that is simply too hard to resist. "A shattering conclusion". "The best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never directed". Some of these intriguing taglines has no doubt make this "documentary" all the more frightening experience to look out for. Unfortunately, CATFISH is hardly the would-be phenomenon that (most) people expecting to be the next THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999). First thing is, CATFISH is a fake documentary and worst of all, it's not a thriller as the trailer lead us to believe. Instead, it's more of a cautionary drama about the dark side of social networking site.
The story centers on three aspiring filmmakers (Angela Wesselman-Pierce, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost) who shoot day-to-day life of their fellow friend, a New York photographer named Nev Schulman who is having a virtual relationship via Facebook with a talented eight-year-old Michigan-based artist named Abby. Their friendship is soon blossoms, and Nev is subsequently befriends with the rest of Abby's family via online which includes her mom Angela and Abby's hot-looking stepsister, Megan. Nev is particularly impressed with this highly-talented family. Aside from Abby's painting, Angela and Megan are also musicians. Nev has become fond of Megan, and begins to flirt with her on Facebook before eventually spoken to her on the phone. After several months of flirting and getting to know with the rest of Megan's friends and family members through Facebook community, the filmmaking trio plans a business trip to Colorado where Nev will have his golden opportunity to meet Megan in person for the first time ever. However, things doesn't seem right when Nev suspects that Megan and Angela may not have written or performed some of the songs they've uploaded onto Facebook. So Nev and his filmmaking buddies decide to drop in on Abby's family unannounced where they subsequently discover something beyond their expectation.
On paper, CATFISH is certainly sounds intriguing and it's no surprise that viewers will more or less expecting some kind of shocking discoveries of what lies beneath the truth about Abby and her family. As a matter of fact, there are some fairly tense moments in CATFISH, particularly in the now-infamous scene where they explore Megan's property in the middle of the night. But once they visit Abby's house the next day, all the buildup quickly downfall into a huge cop-out. As mentioned earlier, this is not a thriller of any kind and there is no serial killer or something like it. Not surprisingly, by the time the truth is revealed as well as the meaning behind the cryptic title itself, none has actually justified everything that comes before. Even taken as a cautionary drama or disturbing romance drama of sorts, CATFISH remains as pathetic as it goes. It's especially questionable and unbelievable of these three smart and tech-savvy New York hipsters could have been so easily manipulated by this sort of Facebook relationship scam.
Make no mistake, CATFISH has actually some interesting ideas within the context of their subject material but too bad directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman are certainly too naive the way they tell their story here. For all the heavily-misguided hype surrounded here, they surely made a total fool out of us.
When the remake of the 1969's TRUE GRIT was first announced, the ideal combination of the Coen brothers (who previously won multiple Oscars for 2007's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) and Jeff Bridges (who recently won a long-overdue Best Actor Oscar for last year's CRAZY HEART) has immediately spark a wide speculation among critics and insiders that this highly-anticipated western saga is touted for another multiple Oscar glory come next year. Unfortunately, this remake of TRUE GRIT is surprisingly a major disappointment -- a supposedly good old-fashioned Western genre that tries too hard to impress but ends up as a half-baked result instead.
When her father is robbed and gunned down by a notorious outlaw named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) immediately arrives at Fort Smith, Arkansas to avenge the death of her father. She seeks the grizzled and trigger-happy U.S. marshal Rueben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and pays him considerable amount of money to help her locate Chaney at all cost. Cogburn agrees for the deal, but in the condition that she is not allowed to follow at all. However, the stubborn-looking Mattie insists on joining the manhunt in which she ends up purchasing a horse and manages to join Cogburn and a Texas ranger named LaBeouf (Matt Damon) along the way. As they set their rocky journey across the Choctaw Nation to pursue their target, Cogburn and Mattie are gradually respecting each other and their unlikely friendship is formed.
Unlike the 1969's Henry Hathaway original version (which won John Wayne his only Oscar), the Coen brothers' TRUE GRIT is more faithful to Charles Portis novel. It's certainly a blessing for those who read the novel before, but at the same time, it's also a mistake for being too faithful. The biggest problem of adapting a long-winded novel into big screen that the entire movie is tend to be too verbose, and the Coen brothers doesn't seem bother to streamline the heavy-handed context for leaner approach. Not surprisingly, the movie is a tedious slog for most of the parts it feels like eternity. It doesn't help either when a movie with a supposedly straightforward premise about revenge is so slow-burning that you'll wish when is Cogburn and Mattie going to get their intended target in the end. This is not saying that a Western genre have to be more on shoot 'em-up fare but too bad the Coen brothers' adapted screenplay is crammed with too many unnecessary moments needed badly for proper editing. And for those who is hoping exciting gun battle sequence will be sorely disappointed by the lack of action here. Instead the action is as brief as they goes, but when the action comes (particularly the night shootout scene at the rocky hill and the horse-riding, shoot 'em-up finale in the open land), the result is simply spectacular and well-staged.
Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is a great find and she delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as the headstrong Mattie Ross. She is certainly an excellent actress destined for better future, and in fact she's the main anchor that drives the movie's biggest strength. However, Jeff Bridges is surprisingly a major letdown, considering the amount of hype have been given to him. His grizzled turn of Rooster Cogburn is admirable and frankly, isn't all that surprising. He is certainly born to play this kind of role, but any chance of him to score a second Oscar (which some of the critics have predicted) is sadly many miles away. Here, he grunts and growls too much that his throaty voice and excessive mumbling are so difficult to hear what he is trying to say all the time. In the meantime, the rest of the supporting actors including Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, are largely forgettable.
After a misguided detour in last year's A SERIOUS MAN, it seems almost certain that the Coen brothers are making a distinctive comeback. Too bad all the hype that surrounded this movie is merely smokes-and-mirrors.
After scoring an astonishing 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for the critically-acclaimed SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008), director Danny Boyle is suddenly on top of the world. Naturally his following movie, 127 HOURS, has critics and insiders already predicted another multiple award-worthy recognitions long before the initial release. Perhaps at this particular reason alone, 127 HOURS turns out to be somehow over-hyped. Make no mistake, it's not that the movie here is bad. In fact, it's a good movie that deserves some award recognitions. Except that it's not a great masterpiece one might hoped for in the first place.
Based on an extraordinary true story by Aron Ralston's memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place, we first see how Ralston (James Franco) who is so looking forward to spend a day of hiking, mountain-biking and rock-climbing in Utah's Blue John Canyon. After parking his truck by a mountain near Moab, he spends a night there. The following morning, he peddles his mountain bike across the rocky mountain until he encounters a pair of young female hikers, Kristi (Kate Mara) and Megan (Amber Tamblyn), who both have gotten lost while searching for a local landmark. Ralston is kind enough to guide them the way, in which the three of them later having fun sliding down a rock crevice and drop into a hidden lagoon. Soon after, Ralston bids farewell to them as he continues his own journey while Kristi and Megan are happy to invite him to a party they're throwing the following night. And so he goes deep into the canyon all alone, when something unexpected happens -- a boulder falls off as he glides down a crevice and pins his left against the wall of stone. Over the course of 127 hours, he tries everything he can think of to set himself free but eventually realizes he's facing a harsh situation that the only way out is amputate his trapped hand with his cheap made-in-China multi-tool.
For most parts of the movie, 127 HOURS is a mesmerizing experience that is both heartfelt and at times grueling study of how a person will go to great length in order to survive. The first 15 minutes is particularly breathtaking (which includes Boyle's brilliant use of split-screens) as we follow the course of exciting journey Ralston is having fun with the nature and of course, having fun with the two female hikers. The scene in which they dive deep into the hidden lagoon is no doubt beautifully photographed and wonderful to look at. But once the real story kicks off, this is where writer-director Danny Boyle and co-writer Simon Beaufoy truly excels. The rest of the movie is mostly occupied by just one person and a boulder, which might be a tedious slog if given to inexperienced filmmaker who doesn't know how to make use of limited scenario. But not so for Boyle and Beaufoy, who never at once, resulted the movie into static moment.
Thanks to a compelling tour de force performance by James Franco (a role originally intended for Cillian Murphy), his one-man performance alone is an amazing revelation to prove what a great actor he is and his presence alone is worth the price of admission.
But this is also a terrific showcase for Boyle, who never ceased to wonder in term of visual flair. Like SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Boyle incorporates every necessary visual style (creative camera angles, POV shot, etc.) to make his picture as extraordinary as possible. Such scenes like how Ralston's mind wandering various thoughts of his family, friends and ex-girlfriend through a series of hallucinations are simply wonderful and heartbreaking. Despite the grueling nature of the movie, Boyle manages to slip in some surrealistic sense of humor as well. One particularly memorable scene involving a surreal chat show scene where the increasingly delusional Ralston imagines himself as a superhero, a TV host, and a caller rolling all-in-one. Aside from Boyle's amazing visual flair, A.R. Rahman has again composed a vivid display of surreal music score that complete the movie into an exciting whole.
All good things aside, 127 HOURS remains a flawed movie. Despite clocking at 93-minutes, the movie feels somewhat a bit overlong. The much talked-about graphic amputation scene (shot in one take with multiple camera angles), which is supposed to be the movie's highest selling point, is somewhat overrated. It's not nearly as shocking as one might heavily touted in the first place, at least not to the similar effect 2004's SAW has achieved better in the hacksaw-amputation scene. Yes, there is some nauseating graphic moment the camera showing how Ralston keeps penetrating his blunt knife into his bleeding arm but the supposedly shocking scenario is often toned down by shriek of guitar string-like effect which is quite annoying for its own good.
Though not up to the par of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Danny Boyle's 127 HOURS is still a worthy follow-up to that multiple Oscar-winning movie.
