The Jacket

Ratings: 8.2/10

Film Class: C+

Genre: Suspense

This movie must have been inspired by The Butterfly Effect, since the former came out a year before this movie did. However, comparing both of them, though The Butterfly Effect was almost "legend", The Jacket didn't come in too far off either.

A Gulf War veteran who supposedly died miraculously survived a gunshot to his head. However, a murder incident of a patrol cop puts him as the prime suspect and failing to remember anything of the incident, the court decides to send him to a mental instituition for the criminally insane. Tied to a strait jacket and forcefully "imprisoned" in a morgue drawer as a form of his rehabilitation, he experiences a warped reality which will change his life and the lives of those around him forever.

The first impression this movie gave me was that it was a pyschotic horror film, well, I can't help but not think that because of the poster and the weird movie title. I had initially thought the jacket to be some sort of an animal, my bad, should be the jackal, but it stayed with me all these years and steered me away from this movie. After finally setting my mind to catch it, all I can say that it was one of the best decisions I've made about watching a film.

This movie really has more susbtance than it looks, and it deserves much more recognition than it has. Adrian Brody was sublime in his performance and Keira Knightley added a little bit of "sunshine" to this dark film. Daniel Craig did good whatever screentime he was granted as the only friend Adrian Brody has in the asylum.

I was pleasantly blown away with the development of the story and I honestly didn't "see it coming". The opening sequence gave us a short insight into the protagonist's background, and created a gradual build up of a spiralling trail of suspense with all the experiments and what Adrian Brody was experiencing. Fact or Fiction? You decide. Then it eventually veered off a different path from what you would expect and delivered a highly memorable closure.

Truly an unsung hero of its genre, and like how I've always put it, a hidden gem of filmology.

The Machinist

Ratings: 7.0/10

Film Class: C+

Genre: Suspense

A machinist who hasn't slept for a year begins to doubt his own sanity when he starts seeing things that no one else can and begins suspecting everyone around him. I can't help but compare this movie to Memento. Memento was one of the top provocative movies I've watched and so far, no other movie has been able to top that. The Machinist brings a similar flaire and genre, promising a ending with a twist to it.

The cinematography was intentionally and aptly dull, and the undertone colors brought out the raw character of the main protagonist, Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale). What was possibly the main reason why I decided to catch this rather unknown 2004 film is that it featured an anorexic Christian Bale... a jaw dropping skeleton-like character. Trivia has it that he lost a record breaking 63 pounds (about 29kg) just for this movie.

Taking that "Wow" factor aside, the storyline, while novel and provocative, didn't inflict that much of an impact to me. The ending was good, and though the trailer might have given the main twist away, it makes a good thought-provoking movie for anyone out there who's sick of slapstick comedies and wanna veer away from that genre for a bit. On the contrary, it seems watching excessive amounts of movies of such genres tend to condition me to predict a normally unexpected ending even before it comes, taking away whatever appeal it has left for a movie which highly depends on that aspect for its success.

Paul

Ratings: 5.8/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action Comedy

Two geeky hardcore comic fans travel to US to visit the annual Comic Con exhibition. Planning their route to cover all the UFO hot spots in America, they eventually come head on with a real life alien... Paul. Paul's on the run, and the only way home is through the help of the two unknowing friends.

While I'm a huge fan of Hot Fuzz, this movie didn't work for me. Even though the talented cast reunites, I felt that the script and humor were weak.
The first half of the movie sent shivers of cold humor down my spine, and I forcefully let out short bursts of laughters to set the mood. However, things went a little draggy towards the middle but thankfully, the second half of the movie managed to salvage some grace to it.

For me, genre of such movies would work as long as they have witty humor or script, or as long as there's somewhat of a storyline behind it. Both of which Paul failed to excel in. The story was by far one of the most predictable and the only "twist" in the movie was really unjustifiable. Ie. It didn't make sense. The events that led up to it were inconsistent with the plot.

In essence, I was disappointed. I expected more even though I prep-ed myself for a lame movie. Sorry Paul, but you're no celebrity joker, you're just an excessively vulgar alien on the loose. An out of this world time waster.

Thor

Ratings: 9.1/10
Film Class: A
Genre: Action

Holy Thor. This movie is seriously under-publicized. It's so so much better than what it looks. The main character might not be "photogenic" in the poster but he's one hell, or heaven of an actor. The performance of this unknown actor was nowhere near mediocre. Oscar winning performances from the outstanding cast, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman, Antony Hopkins (Odin) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), another rather unknown actor. Perhaps one of Natalie Portman's best performances as well .

This is one of the best Marvel movies I've seen. Extremely unexpected, but it worked its magic on me. I love astronomy, and this movie's CG about the stars and galaxies allowed me to appreciate the greater grandeur of the beauty out there. It's like a superhero documentary action-packed movie. Superhero being Thor existing in our world, documentary because of the magnificant CG about space, and action-packed for the non-stop action prevalent throughout the movie. It was literally hard hitting, awe gasping action from start to end. And they weren't senseless scenes but contributed to the build up of the characters' development.

What I'm really impressed isn't just the storyline, the acting, the CG, or the scripting (which were exceptionally funny and relevant), but that the main focus of the film was kept on Thor. I was worried because of the introduction of the band of warriors fighting alongside with Thor, that the movie would lose its focus. *spoilers ahead* The 4 warriors had their limelights at the start of the movie, showcasing their different abilities. But towards the end, when the ultimate destroyer started havoc on Earth, they were cast aside easily because their powers were no match for the being and it was up to Thor, or not, to save the day.

Anthony Hopkins was also quickly "cast" aside and that spared screentime for the mortal Thor, which allowed us to indulge into his character development without much distraction. Though the sparkling of the romance between Thor and Natalie Portman was fairly accelerated, it was necessary to keep up with the pace of the movie.

The ending scene was totally breaktaking. The movie transported me into a different realm, a realm of the Gods and it's a movie that's gonna linger in my mind for a long long time. It's a very holistic movie, well directed, superb cinematography, and awesome fight sequences. It wasn't just a movie to me, it was a whole different experience. I had thought initially for it to be similar to Clash of the Titans, and even though I liked Clash of the Titans despite many negative reviews, the former is inferior to Thor. Thor is a mix of Clash of the Titans (touches on humans and gods), Avataar (a different whole experience) and Incredible Hulk (a mighty superhero in the making) combined to make the ultimate movie... Thor.

PS.: Do stay back for the after credit scene. *Major Spoilers ahead* For those of you who missed it, don't wanna spend another $8-$10 watching it again and cant wait for the DVD to be out, the scene was about 2 mins long, one of the longest I've seen. It's about the veteran male scientist, being invited to a secret hideout where he meets Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson cameos) speaking to him about an ultimate machine. There was no mention of a recruitment even though we all know Nick Fury is the one in charge of gathering The Avengers. After which, there is a mirror which shows the reflection of the scientist, but instead of his own reflection, it shows the reflection of Loki (means he's still alive but have no idea what that means... Possession? Metamorphosis?). Still it's a scene you wanna stay back for.

Thor ranks as one of my top favourite marvel movies of all time. Thor is not just a movie, it's an experience, it's a lesson and it's an eye-opener.

Orphan

Ratings: 7.1/10
Film Class: B
Genre: Horror

After much curiosity, I've decided to check out this critically acclaimed horror film which made its debut in 2009. Often confused with The Orphanage, I simply categorised both movies to be identical. While most people may term this under the Thriller genre, I find it too disturbing to group it as such. This is no Hannibal Lector or Scream style, more of the Exorcist type even though the storyline is based on a thriller concept. Perhaps the director was confused between what genre he really wanted to deliver. It isn't a demerit in any sense though, just that it left me with a feeling of cognitive dissonance.

A family decided to adopt an older child so that their presently adopted kids can have an elder sister. Haunted by the loss of their first child, they resorted to adoption to ease the pain. The entire movie is about the Mother moving on, and the breaking up of a "happily" adopted family.

I liked how the script included a mute daughter which created an additional element of suspense. Also, all the cast delivered a higher than average performance, and though the storyline wasn't that smooth, the script was decent and the suspense build up was murderous. It's no ghost story, but it's a horror film alright. Good stuff, but not my kinda stuff.

A little interesting trivia I read from imdb, that the poster looks disturbing because of the symmetrical portrait of Ester (the disturbed orphan). It's actually 2 mirror images superimposed to create that unpleasant feel. The ending was quite interesting, I would call it a slight twist which did more good than harm to the storyline. Overall, a pretty good horror film.