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Tree of Life (2011) Review

June 25, 2011 //
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Yeah... Ahhhrrrt.

I am bothered. Watching this movie felt like I was back at one of my film classes again, but in a bad way. Though I find it comforting to see that there are still films out there that go against the Hollywood stereotypes, this felt like a film thesis ready to be grilled anytime by the panel, as if you needed an abstract to fully understand it.

It just felt like there were still other more interesting (and by interesting I don’t mean commercial or conventional) ways to tell this story. A life of a family told in fragments, juxtaposed with the birth of the universe and the evolution of the Earth as symbols or metaphors. I’ve seen this dozens of times from daring directors, and its usually a hit-or-miss thing.

I jokingly thought that if Nilda (2010) was compressed in one panel, it would feel like this. Fragments. Symbols. Memories. Personal.

No doubt Malick has proven himself to be an auteur here. But still, I get the feeling that this kind of thing has been done before. I can’t help but feel similarities on Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of visual treatment. It also tries to be personal, like Fellini’s 8 1/2 (though Fellini gets to pull this one off in a rather influential fashion)

The film can actually work, if the viewer gets to tie it down on a proper framework. But otherwise, carelessly appreciating this film without critically analyzing it and putting the director’s motivation in the picture
is merely being pretentious.

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Categories Films, GJ's

Sucker Punch (2011) Review

March 25, 2011 //
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if you're a Sucker for visuals, in all aspects...

And I never thought fanservice could actually transcend Japanese animation in a cinematic manner…

The makers of Watchmen and 300 bring us another post-production-heavy, action-laden flick that is sure to entertain (if at the very least do that).

The story starts with Baby Doll (Emily Browning) being sent to a mental institution by her step-father, where she tries to cope up with her realities of being in captivity by setting her imagination free. In a storytelling perspective, they have done some interesting things in suspending temporal and spatial continuity that the audience will just have to go with the flow; visual cues were present though to make sure we distinguish her real world from her dream world.

Visuals were stunning; its the type of film you’d actually want to watch in a good cinema and not on a pirated DVD copy with standing people and poor audio. The effects feel right with the entire package that it doesn’t feel overdone (though story-wise I found some recurring elements that felt a bit old after seeing it a few times). Scenes were treated heavily, very much to the feel of Watchmen and 300.

I don’t really mind the casting, it serves as a treat for the guys (or gals who like these types). Emily Browning has gone a long way from the last major film I saw her in (Series of Unfortunate Events, anyone?); though I was half-waiting for Vanessa Hudgens to sing a Disney song out of the blue.

The story is a bit light, so aside from the time and space inconsistencies, audiences will easily absorb the plot. Characters still seem to have just enough depth for a coherent storyline. Sucker Punch feels like a crossbreed between a video game rendition and an anime adaptation, which can mean a good thing and a bad thing. Predictability-wise, they still leave room for you to think what happens next, even if what you’re predicting might possibly, actually, be the one they’ll pull off.

This film doesn’t appeal to everyone (objectification of women, etc… I can imagine the feminists in the Film faculty frowning on this one) but its one of those films made for the sake of entertainment, and surely it does the job of taking the stress out of someone from school, work, family, what have you…

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RED (2010) Review

October 23, 2010 //
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Retired-Extreme-Dangerous!

Yes, Bruce Willis, you’re actually playing retired CIA Black-ops roles now. Wonderful!

This was pretty much fun for an action film. The humor is wittingly embedded in the script, especially in the editing process. The storytelling is great that they get to establish Bruce Willis’ identity as well as his boredom in his retired life in the first few minutes of the film. By the ten-minute point, the action begins with the machine guns rolling.

While Bruce Willis is being hunted down by their employers for some reason, he tries to get some answers, bringing his old team of retirees back together again in the process. Enter Hollywood’s other senior heavyweights such as John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren as they show that they’re never too old to blow something up. Bring in Mary-Louise Parker in the fray and you have one heck of a film for a relaxing, mind-free weekend.

I think this would be theater-worthy, some movie to lighten up the stressful week at work (or for the students, a sem-ender).

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Categories Films

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Review

October 22, 2010 //
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When Fate/Stay night appeared as an anime series a few years ago, I found it a bit disappointing because for a 24-episode series, it revealed little. If you didn’t follow the entire Fate/Stay franchise (H-game and backstories), you’d get stuck with a lot of questions in your head by the end of the series.

Fortunately, they came up with this. Sort of an OAV, I found it surprisingly refreshing to see the Fate/Stay characters tell their story one more time. And for a two-hour film, I think it revealed a lot.

The film starts out the same as the anime series, condensing its other earlier episodes in a 30-minute span. Wonderful, I thought, as I would finally get rid of the Saber-Shirou argument scenes of how he persistently strives to do the protecting for a weakling.

Or a Michael Jackson Thriller cameo, maybe?

Read the rest of this entry »

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Categories Anime

The Town (2010) Review

October 18, 2010 //
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The poster has this chilling effect...

For a film directed by no other than Ben Affleck himself (who for the love of God the only thing that gets stuck to my head when I hear his name is Armageddon), this is some good flick we have here.

The town is Charlestown, home of the most notorious bank robbers that the skill alone seems to be inherited from generation to generation. Doug (Ben Affleck) happens to be masterminding one of them. With the FBI suspicious of their actions and waiting for their next heist, things turn messy as Doug gets romantically involved with Claire (Rebecca Hall), a bank manager who they took as hostage in their previous heist.

Apparently, this film proved to be more than just a cat-and-mouse game with a romantic twist in it; not to mention that the cat-and-mouse aspect was great in itself already. Events would have that unpredictability factor in them, and the action scenes were breathtaking. But most of all, the dynamics on how The Town was about the town was shown: from the mafia-style powers-to-be that keep Ben Affleck from leaving the place and having a better life, to how the FBI resolves its cases by blackmailing the same people who lived trapped in the life of crime.

Its a great movie, and it has a great ending; not those Hollywood deux-ex-machina quick-fixes (or awkward ones, like the recent Wall Street “sequel”, terrible!) which adds to the value of the film.

These are those film types that may not see the hype of summer or Thanksgiving blockbusters, but are great deals nevertheless.

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Categories Films
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