DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

THIRD PERSON, the new film from writer-director Paul Haggis although not as grand a scale as his previous film CRASH which won him an Oscar, demands our attention. Gianfilippo Corticelli's dreamlike cinematography and Dario Marianelli's seductive musical score invite us into the story.  Michael (Liam Neeson), a writer is in Paris trying to finish his new book. His gorgeous inamorata Anna (Olivia Wilde) visits her, and an emotional S&M follows. Meanwhile, Michael's wife Elaine (Kim Basinger) calls to check up on him, and appears to have awareness of his indiscretions.  In Rome, Sean (Adrien Brody) is on a business trip ripping off expensive designer suits so he can mass produce them in sweatshops.  He meets a mysterious woman, Monika (Moran Atias) whose daughter is held captive by ruthless human smugglers. In New York, failed soap opera actress Julia's (Mila Kunis) life is crumbling by the minute. She is losing a custody battle for her son, and the b...

It is one of the serious contenders for basically any category this year at the 84th Academy Awards (it has five nominations) and the kind of film that Oscar voters usually root for, but awards or no awards, THE DESCENDANTS is an undeniably poignant and often humorous exploration of family, life, and death, and about things entrusted to us. George Clooney gives a quiet performance as Matt King, the workaholic father and husband who has to deal with his wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) succumbing into comatose after a boating accident.  As the trailer would tell you, Matt learns that his wife was having an affair, and the treatment of that subject is neither complacent nor judgmental; Matt seeks out the "other guy" for answers, and yet he admits later in the movie his own shortcomings that led to his wife's unhappiness.  Also, he would have to deal with taking care of his two daughters, which he has never done fully before since his wife was around to do that. An uneas...

There are many film directors who are excellent in their craft even if they do not write their own material, Scorsese, Spielberg, and Eastwood to name a few. However, I still prefer those who can write and direct, with names like Almodovar, Wong Kar Wai, Coen Bros. and after watching THE CONTENDER, my admiration for Rod Lurie solidified not only as a one-time success with his later film NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (which I saw first).  Like Eastwood, Lurie knows how to turn words off the script into interesting visual drama. Politics is really Lurie's comfort zone, and like in NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, this sophomore film from Lurie surprised me when I least expected it. Both feature heroines in great distress who rise up to the occasion and prove among everyone they are equal with men, but whereas NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ends on a sad note, THE CONTENDER emerges triumphant. Joan Allen plays Laine Hanson, a Senator tapped by the United States President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) to be hi...

There is much to love in Adolf Alix's ROMEO AT JULIET, a film based on an unpublished novel by Jean Altavas. For instance, there's the heavy use of strong colors a la Almodovar or Wong Kar Wai, to highlight the emotional context of the story, which isn't typical Adolf Alix. There was a lot of play with the cinematography and editing (the split screens are most apparent) and the musical score by Teresa Barrozo is hypnotic.  Sadly, there is also much to dislike. The musical score, however beautiful, cues in inappropriately about once or twice. There is too much exposition on the characters' back stories, which in a way felt like spoon feeding, or preachy if you will. Most of all the abrupt cuts from one scene to the next diminishes, if not completely destroys any piece of emotional attachment the viewer could have with what's going onscreen. Mention the names Romeo and Juliet in one sentence or phrase, and connotations of "love story", "Shakesperean...

Few films can make me cry. If your film could, indeed make me cry, it's my barometer for hailing not necessarily a great film, but rather a film worth the time. KIMCHI BATTLE, as the title suggests has food as its background, and like a lot of films centered on food, there are intense moments of cooking, and this is probably the best time to point out that when doing  a film with food elements, you better make damn sure your cinematography is captivating; in other words, me as a viewer should better be salivating at the way the foods are visually presented.  KIMCHI BATTLE doesn't disappoint on the visual aspect, but what makes it an important film is the quality of its writing- you have the classic sibling rivalry which not only fleshed out the issues in their fragmented family, but also mirrored the Korean national identity through the use of food as a literary device. The film's ultimate idea, is love for one's mother, or motherland in a greater sense. The Kimchi b...

Okay, before you say say "not another story about the financial meltdown!", THE COMPANY MEN, boosted by strong performances from seasoned actors and fueled by a solid and compelling script, may in fact be the best movie retelling the aftermath of yet another momentous American fiasco.  THE COMPANY MEN, as the title suggests, focuses on the American employee-the workers who fall prey to corporate pushovers and fraud. That's basically it in a nutshell, but the story even politely gives the American corporate bully the benefit of the doubt by actually giving it a chance to explain. Meanwhile, we sit back, observe, and weigh the arguments of both parties. It's corporate vs workers, but when you think about it, it's really America vs. humanity. This is the exact same turmoil surrounding the Philippine Air Lines at present. In the movie, the big bad wolf is GTX Corporation, a company engaged in ship building, located in Boston, Massachusetts. We see the effects of co...

A mix of conflicting emotions and uncertain ideals surround Robert Redford's historical drama THE CONSPIRATOR. Capitalizing on the infamous assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, the film shifts its emphasis onto a little known fragment of said event, namely the inquisition of the only "identified" woman conspirator, Mary Surratt.  Those who have little or no background on Surratt will find themselves on a thrill ride; the trial itself is a fiasco, and the outcome, though not necessarily inevitable, comes as a surprise. Past the second half of the film, you get visual hints as to what will happen to Mary Surratt in the end. A simple search on Google will tell you; I didn't have such liberty and didn't want to spoil my viewing experience so I went along. I was satisfied. Very. James McAvoy plays the young Union Captain Frederick Aiken, who after the war returns to being a lawyer, and is designated by Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilk...