Review: Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny

Director: Liam Lynch
Main Cast: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Tim Robbins, Dave Grohl

This is the film that Jack Black was born for! It's an air guitar-playing, side-splitting, foul mouthed comedy musical which is brings out the best in Jack Black, especially for those familiar with his Tenacious D songs.



Admittedly, the plot is a bit absurd, if there is one to speak of in the first place. But who cares, with scenes that would make you laugh your arse off. The opening pre-credits sequence, featuring none less than Meatloaf and Ronnie James Dio, is in my opinion one of the best Rock & Roll scenes ever put to screen, beating the likes of anything in Spinal Tap or even the Bohemian Rhapsody head-banging scene in Wayne's World.

A movie purely only (and a must-see!) for fans of Jack Black and/or Rock & Roll, or better still, both. Definitely the This Is Spinal Tap of our times. Jack Black kicks a$$!!!!

Review: The Prestige

Director: Christopher Nolan
Main Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson

An overall interesting film by Christopher Nolan, director of Memento and Batman Begins, about 2 rival magicians trying their vicious best to outdo each other and come out tops. While the storyline is simple, the editing is a bit unusual, which is no surprise coming from the director of Memento. There are lots of flashbacks, and more flashbacks within those flashbacks, which at first do make you somewhat confused, but adds to the fascination of the film and at least stops you from dozing off!



What does intrigue me, not only in this film but many others, is why producers can't just cast Americans in American roles, and English in English roles, rather than torture our ears with horrid fake OTT accents. For example, The Prestige:

1. Hugh Jackman (Aussie) doing American
2. Scarlett Johansson (American) doing English
3. Andy Serkis (English) doing American
4. David Bowie (English) doing East European (Serbian to be exact, but who cares!)

Anyway, good film. Very gothic, with a plot that kicks dirt in the face of linearity. Shame about the last act though, felt cheated a bit when the film came up with something out of fantasy that cannot be explained. Took away a lot of the "magic" of the film, so to speak.

Eagle-eyed

Just finished watching Return Of The King on the telly, first time I've seen it since I saw it at the cinema. And then too I didn't watch it fully, as I dozed off a third of the time! Anyway, watching the ending again, I'm compelled to ask the following:

If Gandalf can use the giant eagles to go rescue Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom, if it seems so easy, why not just use the same damn eagles to send them there in the first place? Would save a lot of humans, elves, dwarves and whatever creature from dying, me reckons.

All you Lord Of The Rings fans, I expect your answer!

Review: The Departed

Director : Martin Scorsese
Main Cast : Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg

Yet again I have to start a review by apologizing for the crime of abandoning this blog for so long. The excuse is really simple, really. Going to the cinema was such a horrible experience that I actually STOPPED going to the cinema again!

However, things have turned for the better now, and my how things have turned! I’m proud and happy to announce that I’M NOW BACK IN LONDON! Finally! No more subtitles that take up half the screen, no more bad prints, no more being directed through some dodgy backdoor route at the end of the film, no more censors, and no more crying babies in a supposedly 18SG film! Actually, the only thing I’ll miss is the fact that I’m now unable to have one of those tasty 1901 hotdogs in the cinema.

So what better way to kickoff this return to the good ‘ol days of film-going than to write a review of The Departed, surely one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year in terms of director and cast. And it can’t get more mouthwatering than having Martin Scorsese directing Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio, easily the best actors of their respective generations. Add Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg to the mix, and you can understand the hype surrounding the film.

To the uninitiated, The Departed is a Hollywood remake of the Hong Kong smash hit Infernal Affairs. The plot is quite interesting actually, the story of two moles on the opposite sides of the police and the Irish mafia. They are played by DiCaprio and Damon, two actors in my opinion who still look in their early 20s after so long a time. This I feel is partly why they were cast in the film, two young apprentices, both trying their best – for different objectives, and through different means – to impress mafia boss Jack Nicholson. I would have to say that they both had familiar, clichéd roles, which weren’t a real change from what they’ve done in the past – DiCaprio, the boy who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, a livewire, prepared to fight his way through any problem, and Damon, the smartly-dressed, clean-looking all-round good guy. It’s interesting to note though that DiCaprio has taken over from the great Bobby De Niro as Scorsese’s muse, this being their 3rd film together, after Gangs Of New York and The Aviator.

The real star of the show is undoubtedly Jack Nicholson. His character here is nasty, violent, cold-blooded and merciless. Someone you definitely don’t want to mess with. Nicholson also manages to somehow restrain himself for most parts of the film, but there were one or two scenes where we do see the good ‘ol OTT Jack.

Though good the movie may be, I still feel that there was just something missing. Maybe because of the cast, and especially the director, I expected more. Maybe I hoped that this was going to be THE film to finally win Scorsese an Oscar. Sadly it isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, The Departed is still a very good film, and I recommend it fully to fans of Scorsese, gangster films, or a combination of the both.

Review: Mission Impossible 3, Cars, X-Men 3

Sorry to those who have been eagerly anticipating my “regular” film rants (yup, all 3 of you). Haven’t been updating my blog, guilty as charged. Reasons? Well, you can say that I have other things occupying my time now (and NO, we do not have a baby yet!). Maybe some day soon I’ll post a blog on this other hobby of mine. But anyway, I HAVE been to the movies, and have seen all the hyped-about major films. So rather than going on an extended rant on films that everyone has watched and argued over a looong time ago, I’ll just comment briefly on each.

Mission Impossible 3

It’s basically a movie-length version of Alias, which is hardly surprising considering director J.J. Abrams is the creator of Alias, but instead of Jennifer Garner in kinky S&M costume we have Tom Cruise wearing latex masks. Saying that, J.J. Abrams doesn’t fail to deliver, the film’s fun and full of explosive action, though recent Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman was criminally underused as the bad guy. Certainly the best of the Mission Impossible trilogy.

Cars

I’m personally not that fond of the Disney-Pixar animated films, as compared to those generated by Dreamworks. Yes, they look really nice, the characters are cute and funny, but there’s always some sort of moral to the story to be told, which really makes parts of the film tremendously boring. Thought that those slow scenes pulled Cars down for me. Disney-Pixar should just stick to entertaining from start to end, like what Dreamworks aim to do every time as seen in the Shrek films, or even the recent hilarious Over The Hedge.

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

It was doomed to fail ever since Bryan Singer opted out of directing it in favour of Superman Returns. Action buffs and the comic geeks may like it though, as we have more new mutants and bigger action scenes than the first two films combined, which also however contributed to the mediocrity of the film from a more serious point of view.

Comas not realistic in movies

Now there's a surprise. In a report by the BBC, a "leading" US Neurologist has said that movies are "grossly misrepresenting" the comatose state. Part of the report reads as:

"For example, they often showed miraculous awakenings - often within seconds and as if from a terrible nightmare - with no long-lasting effects at all.
Other flaws included:

• A lack of feeding tubes
• Unrealistic muscle contractions
• No sign of a tracheotomy to help breathing
• 'Comatose' patients remaining muscular, tanned and well groomed"

Click here for the full report.

Review: The Sentinel

Director : Clark Johnson
Main Cast : Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria

A plot to assassinate the President of the US. A mole in the Secret Service. Kiefer Sutherland as one of the good guys, fighting against time to uncover the plot. Sounds like yet another season of 24, right? Wrong. It’s essentially what The Sentinel is all about, with Michael Douglas playing the lead as the Secret Service man wrongly accused as the mole.



Main reason why I was interested in watching The Sentinel was because it had in it the stars of two of my favourite TV shows (downloaded via BitTorrent, of course). Kiefer Sutherland from 24, and Eva Longoria is hands-down my favourite Desperate Housewife (for obvious reasons). However, both were a pale shadow of their TV selves, and gave unmemorable performances. Eva Longoria in particular was oh-so-boring, dressed in a pant suit for the whole film, though the sight of her brandishing a gun might appeal to some. Michael Douglas was his usual self, playing the type of role that he’s familiar with. Nothing special, but still effective.

The main problem of the film to me though is having Kiefer Sutherland as a Secret Service agent trying to uncover a plot to kill the President. Sutherland is, like, one of the most iconic TV star in the past 6 years. I mean, he practically is 24, and if he intended to shake off the Jack Bauer image and do something else for a change, well he couldn’t have chosen a worse role. The film literally just needed his character to torture someone for information, and we would have 24 – The Movie.

So is The Sentinel worth watching then? Well it’s a good film, but you’ll get LOADS more drama, suspense, action and pure unadulterated fun watching a season of 24 instead.

Review: In Her Shoes

Director : Curtis Hanson
Main Cast : Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette

So here goes, my first DVD review. Got a feeling that there’ll be more reviews of these for the same reasons stated in my previous post. I just don’t look forward to going to the cinemas anymore!

In Her Shoes is basically a “Chic Flick” based on a “Chic Lit” of the same name. It stars Diaz and Collette (the mother in Sixth Sense) as sisters; one a responsible, workaholic lawyer, the other a party girl who’s drunk more often than sober (hey, it rhymes!). I have watched and enjoyed a few similar films in my time, but I just didn’t get In Her Shoes. It was boring from the start, and didn’t take me too long before I was playing on my trusty ‘ol PS2 to help me through the ordeal. It’s not some guy thing, you know, the typical “oh these kind of films are not made for you guys, it doesn’t have any guns or explosions” remarks. It. Just. Is. Boring. Much like this review, then.

Review: Inside Man

Director : Spike Lee
Main Cast : Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster

I haven’t been putting up new reviews for quite a while now, for various reasons. Partly because of the recent actuarial exams, and also because of my disillusionment of the whole Malaysian cinema experience. Really can’t remember the last time I went to the cinema without someone talking loudly on their mobile, or kicking the back of my seat. What amazes me is that even at GSC in One Utama (the best in Klang Valley!) with its more than ample legroom, some jerk still feels that its not spacious enough and needs to kick on the seat in front!

Well anyway, finally made the long-delayed trip to the cinema, to watch what, based on the personnel involved, should be a good film. My wife wanted to watch it because it had Denzel and Jodie Foster, while for myself, it being the latest Spike Lee “Joint” was reason enough. Though admittedly I haven’t watch all his films, I really enjoyed those that I did. There’s that independent feel to them, relying on the fast-paced, raw, edgy, foul, funny, well-written dialogue. Can't seem to say the same about Inside Man though. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good film, though I have seen better heist films. You also really can’t go wrong when Denzel and Jodie are involved, together with the rising Clive Owen (albeit with fake American accent). Only thing is, I feel it’s too commercial, too Hollywood-esque for my liking. I went to the cinema expecting a Spike Lee film, but got a Tony Scott film instead.

Review: Memoirs Of A Geisha

Director : Rob Marshall
Main Cast : Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li

Memoirs Of A Geisha is an entertaining adaptation of the novel of the same name (which is highly thought of by those who have read it). The film stars the current who's who of Asian cinema in Ziyi Zhang (who's officially changed her name from Zhang Ziyi - marking her increasing Hollywood profile), Ken Watanabe (superb in The Last Samurai), Gong Li and our own (Datuk) Michelle Yeoh.

Nothing much surprising in the storyline itself, which is typical of a rags-to-riches story, with the obligatory highs and lows experienced by our heroine along the way to becoming a geisha. In fact, I think that the film (the book too?) just had one too many of the lows, and not enough of the highs. The abrupt, artificial and contrived ending to the film is symptomatic of this. If the film really is a faithful adaptation of the book, then it's as if the writer suddenly realised that he had wrote too much, with all the twists and turns in the plot, and was running out of pages. So he decided to just end it suddenly on a high note. I mean, I have nothing against happy endings, just that in Memoirs, there was no real build-up to it. It was just conflict after conflict, and then suddenly girl gets boy and they live happily ever after.

The acting in Memoirs was generally good, with special mention given to Yeoh and Watanabe. Zhang also performed admirably well in her English speaking debut, though she did sound like she memorised her lines without understanding a word she's saying, a bit like Jackie Chan in Rush Hour. Same goes for Gong Li. However, both are really stunning, especially Gong Li as a slutty and scheming geisha. They look too alike to each other though, and I actually got them mixed up on more than one occasion.

I also feel that some of the supporting cast, especially the Auntie and Mother characters, were cast merely because they spoke good English, and were very theatrical and stagy. It was as if they were performing live on a theatre stage, and spoke every line word by word, which sounded really false. It actually reminded me of some of the Malaysian supporting cast in the Jodie Foster and Chow Yuen Fatt-starring Anna And The King.

All in all, Memoirs Of A Geisha is an entertaining film, which you would expect from the director of Chicago, if nothing more than that. I don't expect it to win any major awards, except maybe for best set and costume.

Review: Oliver Twist

Director : Roman Polanski

Main Cast : Barney Clark, Ben Kingsley

The main problem with this film is that is has already been filmed before. The 1968 version, a musical no less, is one of the most loved films of all time, filled with classic sing-along songs. The new Roman Polanski (The Pianist) version, though, has no songs. And Oliver without the songs, is just plain boring and disappointing. I want Artful Dodger to start singing to Oliver when he first finds him "Consider yourself, our friend! Consider yourself, part of the family!", or Fagin singing "You gotta pick a pocket or twooooooo, you gotta pick a pocket or two!". The anticipation of the songs is heightened more by the fact that everyone looks exactly the same in appearance and costume to the musical version, especially Artful Dodger and Fagin. It's like a remake of the 1968 film, rather than a remake of the original book. Without the songs, of course. Maybe I'm saying this because I have a soft spot for musicals, but I'm sure that those like me who have seen the 1968 film would agree with me. I mean, it's like watching The Sound Of Music but without the songs!

At over 2 hours long, it's a real bore of a film, and had me looking at my watch every 10 minutes, longing for it to end quickly and spare me further suffering. I thought my torture was finally over when Bill Sykes got killed. Finally! And they lived happily ever after. The End. Well, not exactly. Polanski saw fit to add a lengthened scene at the end to show Oliver meeting Fagin for the last time. Aaaaarrrgghhhh!

Review: King Kong

Director : Peter Jackson
Main Cast : Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody

So here it is, my first review in months, for various reasons. And what better way to kick start this blog again than by reviewing what is possibly the film of 2005. When the first of the Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) films had its premiere in central London several years ago, I was told by a friend who was there that while everyone cheered and applauded when Viggo, Elijah, Orlando & co stepped out of their limos, none recognised one overweight man who looked like he hasn’t seen a razor in years. None other than Peter Jackson himself, director of obscure cult flicks like Braindead and Bad Taste, whose most mainstream film up to then was the Michael J. Fox-starring The Frighteners. Cue three years later. He is an Oscar winner and his LOTR trilogy has been said by many to be the best movie experience of all time (butt cramps and all).

So you could understand the pressure and on him to follow up on LOTR, and the tremendous hype generated ever since the making of King Kong was announced. Just to add to the pressure, at a cost of almost US$300m, it is even more expensive than Titanic!

What is King Kong all about then? Well, I’m sure almost all of you have watched the 1977 version with Jeff Bridges and the hot Jessica Lange (well, back then anyway). What most of you may not know though is that it isn’t actually the original version. It is actually a remake itself of the original 1933 stop-motion classic, with various significant changes made in the plot, to suit it to a modern-day setting. Peter Jackson’s version, however, is an actual remake of the 1933 one, down to the character names and 1930s New York setting.

Honestly, I did have early reservations about Peter Jackson doing King Kong. I mean, here was the creator of Braindead, one of my personal all-time favourites. He’s done great for himself, Best Director Oscar on the living room shelf, and more successful than in his wildest dreams. So it’s okay for him just to take a step back maybe, to appease old-time fans like me with a film that takes us back to his early days, or at least something original. Instead, he opts for a high budget, CGI-filled remake of a 1977 film about a giant Gorilla and a pretty lady.

How wrong I was though. For starters, some of the scarier scenes on Skull Island were vintage Peter Jackson. I sat up in my seat, biting my nails with glee as others around me tried their best to hide behind their own (and other people’s) hands, as the film crew were attacked by the savage villagers, or when they were eaten alive by the giant bugs and worms. Mark my words, these scenes in particular were top-notch, piss-in-your-pants scary. Certainly scarier and more disturbing than most of the “horror” films out there. To the point that I seriously advise parents out there to take caution if your small child is watching it.

And what about the dinosaur scenes? Just awesome, I tell you. Much much better than the three Jurassic Park films combined. Wait a minute, I hear some of you say. Why the hell are there dinosaurs in King Kong? How far-fetched and ludicrous can this idea be? Why the necessity to mess up and dilute the film with so many other gigantic creatures? It’s KING KONG, not Jurassic Park!??!?! Well, as I said earlier, Peter Jackson’s version is based on the original 1933 version, the film that inspired Jackson to make films in the first place. So without the original film, in all its black and white stop-motion glory, we wouldn’t have Braindead, or even LOTR for that matter. Anyway, back to the point. In that early film, King Kong did fight dinosaurs. So Jackson was totally appropriate to include dinosaurs in his version, albeit the jerky stop-motion of yesteryear has been replaced by gorgeous, sumptuous CGI. In fact, my favourite scene in the whole film was the one where Kong, Naomi Watts and two full-sized T-Rex were falling down a deep chasm, moving through the oversized vines as they fall. Classic scene, worth the price of the movie ticket alone.

I’ve already mentioned how great the CGI is in King Kong, but you would expect no less from the creator of one of the most realistic CGI characters in Gollum from LOTR. And Andy Serkis, the guy who did the motion capture for Gollum, is at his best again doing the same thing for King Kong. He apparently went all the way to Rwanda just to study the gorillas in their native habitat, and it really shows. King Kong goes through the whole range of emotions, using every single muscle available in his face, especially during the scene where he watches Naomi Watts doing her thing. I dare say that King Kong should be up for a Best Actor gong at the Oscars, or at least Andy Serkis anyway. Seriously.

King Kong is the true star of the film, and none of the human actors can even come close to upstaging him. Not that they were crap either. Jack Black (one of my favourite comedy actors of all time ever since he stole the show in High Fidelity), gave a terrific understated performance as the maverick and determined-at-all-costs director. He made sure not to let all his goofiness and mischief out so as not to detract too much from his character in the film, in case he steals the limelight. Naomi Watts is perfect as the blonde damsel-in-distress. Well to tell you the truth all she does is scream her lungs out most of the time anyway, something that is not beyond the horror veteran of The Ring 1 & 2. However Watts does add that extra dimension and depth to the clichéd blonde heroine role. Adrien Brody though gives us yet another showing of his usual doe-eyed kesian dumb expression, the one he always his in his other films like The Pianist and The Jacket, which makes him look like a damsel-in-distress himself rather than the supposed hero of the film.

A common complaint of the film that I get from quite a number of people is the 3 hour playing time, and the fact that he only makes his grand entrance more than an hour into the film. Well I simply have to beg to differ. I personally think that the first hour of the film (before they actually get to Skull Island) was the perfect build-up for to action to come, to explore the circumstances and motives of each character, to make the options that they make later on in the film seem plausible. Particularly the steadfastness and film-or-die attitude of the director (Jack Black) and the relationship between Watts and Brody. It’s what separates the film from the myriad of B-movie straight-to-Astro monster/horror flicks. However, the wait is well deserved, as when the action starts, boy does it start! It’s one chase after another, one fight after another, one dinosaur/giant bug after another.

The action doesn’t really stop until we get to New York, and that only for a short while until King Kong breaks from his shackles and wreaks havoc on the city. Until, that is, he’s reunited again with his human girlfriend and they decide to go for a bit of skating on the frozen lake. Ermmmmm. Well I’m obviously just being picky here. To wrap, King Kong is a great film, would provide you one of your best ever movie experiences (if you catch it at the cinema), and is just about my film of 2005 (well among the ones that I’ve seen anyway). Peter Jackson’s last film was Return Of The King. Well, the King HAS returned. King Kong, that is. Long live the King.