DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN came out during the height of the 'Twilight' fever, and as such one cannot help comparing the two. First of all, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN being compared to Twilight is shameful. The distance is so far. The film is a silent, moody, and atmospheric treatment of the vampire genre. You have an adorable young vampire girl named Eli, whose real age we'll never know, who gets close with a young bullied boy named Oskar. At times LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is a love story between two unlikely individuals, and what amazes me is how strong the scenes are where the two of them are together. Let's say the part where Oskar attempts a blood promise, and Eli drools over his blood, and especially that climax where I'm waiting for Eli to rescue Oskar from local bullies, and she does- those are moments you never forget. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is also an unconventional vampire movie, devoid of any irritating and poorly- written backstory about the characters, and instead fi...

INSIDE JOB is by no means an easy documentary feature to sit through. It's enraging, filled with too many details and pulls no punches. That said, I do commend Charles Ferguson for this film, which I felt was a well-researched and comprehensive take on the global financial crisis of 2008.  INSIDE JOB is long and there are so many issues being discussed. People are saying a lot of stuff. It employs the same technique used by Michael Moore in his documentaries where key personalities are profiled and money trailed. Moore himself commented on the same issue via his earlier CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, but where Moore emphasizes the victims by showing what happened to ordinary Americans, Ferguson brought out the big guns and dragged the major culprits of the global financial fiasco.  Interestingly enough, INSIDE JOB is able to interview a few important players and through Ferguson's leading questions, the subjects revealed some hideous and embarrassing facts. Similar to Alex Gibn...

ARTHUR is a predictable tale that we have seen countless times already. What makes it bearable is the presence of Russell Brand. Without him, the film just falls apart. Oddly enough, every other actor works in conjunction to him, except Jennifer Garner, who surprisingly makes a fool of herself. Basically the plot is about a rich man who is forced into a loveless marriage, then there's the poor pretty girl, then the perpetual conflict of how to tell the pretty girl he is about to be married.  As the fun-loving, alcoholic, and carefree billionaire, Russell Brand brings his own brand of comic timing and wit into a somewhat lifeless story, making the film not only watchable, but hilarious. ARTHUR has its moments, and while I may not have watched the original 1981 film, this version is a real laugh-getter. Helen Mirren as Arthur's nanny Hobson is prim and proper and is along for the comedic ride; Greta Gerwig is just sunny to look at (because the storyline involving her characte...

It is always fun to watch inspirational sports movies, because at the end there’s always the anticipation of a great triumph. Sports being a very vast genre, directors need to shape their film based on a chosen sport and shape it in a way that is unique from the rest of the pack. SECRETARIAT is another entry in the horse racing sub category, preceded by Gary Ross’s SEABISCUIT and that famous Elizabeth Taylor movie debut which earned the attention of audiences worldwide. What makes SECRETARIAT work, aside from it being a true story is the captivating performances of seasoned leads John Malkovich and most specially, Diane Lane. If you’re not a fan of horse racing (and I am not), most certainly you will not have known about the history of Secretariat the horse. I didn’t know about his winning streak and hall of fame status, and chances are most audiences share the same fate, so in order for SECRETARIAT the movie to work, the filmmakers really ought to dish up some entertaining races co...

I was surprised at MEGAMIND. Though I was hesitant at first, thinking it is a ripoff of DESPICABLE ME (at least the bit about the minions in MEGAMIND was obviously lifted shamelessly from said movie), the film actually has a big heart, and the sidekick conveniently named Minion (David Cross) is so funny it hurts. I like films who bend the genres. This time, the superhero genre is given a new twist when the bad guy becomes the good guy (or vice versa, if you will). Will Ferrell lends a cool voice to Megamind, and for a second there maybe he's more effective doing CGI animation than in flesh and blood. Tina Fey is Tina Fey, and an almost unrecognizable Brad Pitt as the stereotypical hero Metro Man is a brilliant addition. Even Jonah Hill is enjoyable. Like WATCHMEN, MEGAMIND gave us something new about superhero tales. And for that alone, I am humbled never to judge again before seeing anything. RATING: 4/5 

I liked the first film. I thought it was an unsettling comedy which showcased Robert De Niro's comedic side. The second one was also good, thanks to Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman. This one, they changed the director (with all due respect to Paul Weitz whose CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT I loved so much) and ran out of jokes that the focus turned on more sex and THE GODFATHER references.  While some of THE GODFATHER jokes are quite funny, the film itself in its entirety, is not. The plot springs left and right without cohesion, and Jessica Alba plays another stereotype. Even Barbra Streisand is reduced to a TV sex guru, while Dustin Hoffman is a wannabe flamenco dancer. There's some fine plot points in LITTLE FOCKERS, like the relevance of the erectile dysfunction drug to old age and  Blythe Danner role playing with Robert De Niro to rekindle their intimacy, but most of the story is rehashed. When will Jack Byrnes stop obsessing about conspiracies in hi...

DARKMAN is old school comicbook hero, but Sam Raimi's protagonist in his first major Hollywood outing is not just any hero- he does not fight for any moral cause but rather for revenge for what some evil bastards did to him, namely disfiguring him and burning his lab to the ground just when he's about to crack the secret to synthetic skin technology. Basically a revenge story, we get to see a very magnetic Liam Neeson as a man descending into madness for his physical appearance, and at the same time we are entertained by the face imitations that will later be copied by MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 and FACE/OFF (or not). Neeson can be bright and breezy, then turn mad scientist all of a sudden. He has that talent for improvisation. For me, what makes DARKMAN effective is Raimi's decision to keep DARKMAN rooted to reality. He has no superpowers. He cannot fly. His power comes from an insatiable need to right wrongs, and because of that he is unstoppable. Towards the ending, when Pe...

M*A*S*H* is a surprise for me. It starts out rather bizarre, but halfway through the film, when the anti-authority hijinks burst onto the screen, especially that Last Supper tableaux, I knew this is going to be a fun ride, and what's great about this Vietnam War satire (the context in the movie is presented as the Korean War) is that the goofs are unpredictable. They come out left and right and without warning.  To better characterize the film, let's just say PLATOON meets MONTY PYTHON. M*A*S*H* stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and focuses on three army surgeons (Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, and Elliott Gould) as they go on making life during the war like a picnic. You got a by-the-book but lusty Major whom the surgeons call "Hot Lips" (Sally Kellerman), an escapade in Japan involving blackmail of a general by photographing him in a brothel, and a riotous football game which closed the film, and I could not have imagined any other way to close this hil...

To be able to fully understand the central subject of James Marsh’s acclaimed documentary MAN ON WIRE, you have to be able to identify with the said central subject— the tightrope walker Philippe Petit. You need to at least have a grasp of where he’s coming from, his dreams, his arrogance, his ego, his unshakable desire to break barriers, etc. etc. MAN ON WIRE is a stirring feature by means of its construction. The story is built upon the premise of a man retelling how he and his crew (very much like Ocean’s eleven) managed to stage the highly dangerous tightrope stunt across the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. We see a dramatized account of the hours leading to the WTC performance in stunning Black and White; then, old footages of Philippe during his younger years are spliced in, showing us his previous escapades, how he prepared for them, and eventually, how he had this idea to pull off the stunt at the twin towers. For me, the film’s most powerful scenes are: ...

SOURCE CODE, like what many critics are saying is a Sci-Fi version of GROUNDHOG DAY. The opening sequence is intriguing, gets a bit slow as it goes on, and then redeems itself somewhere before the third act, as the plot twist is revealed, and the subliminal humanity surfaces. Basically, the use of repitition and alternate versions as plot device, existing since Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON, has been repeated and reinvented over and over, but only few managed to do it effectively, like VANTAGE POINT, and most especially INCEPTION.  Here, director Duncan Jones, from a script by Ben Ripley manages to make the storytelling exciting by making the story predictable on purpose, then throws the viewer all of a sudden off course. Gyllenhaal is hero material here, and Michelle Monaghan is lovely as ever, though not necessarily given enough space to explore her character. Vera Farmiga is prim and proper, and is the story's actual hero, while Jeffrey Wright is in full character, as the head...

Fox Searchlight, the indie film arm of entertainment giant FOX, comes in handy when you need some intelligent light-hearted arthouse films in the tradition of Alexander Payne’s SIDEWAYS, or the most recent THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT by Lisa Chodolenko. But I’m not here to kiss Fox’s ass. CYRUS benefits from a strong talented cast that includes John C. Reilly, who is a real charmer; Marisa Tomei who’s already proven her versatility from drama to comedy and vice versa; Catherine Keener who is an indie regular, mostly playing unapologetic, highly independent modern women, and; Jonah Hill, usually seen in Judd Apatow movies, but has come a long way since then playing just a comic relief, herein the titular character who is as complex and outrageous to observe. Said cast would not have been great were it not for the film’s biggest asset— the quality of the script. The Duplass brothers wrote the script, aside from directing the film and I really believe the greatest films are the ones which p...