Upside Down

Ratings: 7.0/10

Film Class: B-

Genre: Sci-Fi Romance Drama

It's an interesting concept, living in an upside down world, where 2 worlds interwine with opposing gravities. Adam and Eden lives on opposite worlds, but their chance encounter creates a love story even stronger than the force of gravity. Just like any Sci-Fi movies, it's never "perfect", one world's wealthy, while the other suffers from poverty. And as their names already suggest, expect something new to be created from this Romeo and Juliet forbidden love story... 

Concept and plot wise, prettttyyyyy good. Loopholes? Guaranteed to stunmble into some with a genre like that. Acting was good. However, the narrative part of the plot was horrible, lead actor Jim Sturgess (as Adam) can act but he's not a good narrator. CG wise... quite fake but allowed the audience to experience what it would feel like living in their worlds. 

*major major spoilers ahead, read only if you have no intention of watching this movie* The ending seemingly intended to create an explanation on how the 2 of them was able to end up together... but on deeper analysis, doesn't quite make sense. First off there wasn't even a scene or an implied moment that resulted in that consequence. Secondly, having a mixture of both bloods should result in an equilibrium, meaning that Kirsten Dunst (Eden) should be floating in between both worlds instead of being able to join Adam on his world. 

However, that aside, the most impressive part of the movie was the experiment that Adam was working on... anti-ageing solution. It's not effective internally, but more on external facial features. Because there's 2 worlds with opposing gravities, using matter from the other world,  Adam was able to create an anti-sag solution. To come up with an experimental concept like this is a stroke of genius (kudos to the script writer, who's also the director) - considering the appropriate reference to the main story's concept.

I thought their love story blossomed too abruptly, the moment Eden got back part of her memory (implied in one sentence she said) she fell straight back into love with Adam, even though the scenes before that showed how distant they were. It would have been more realistic if she were to take things slow, since she only remembered bits of pieces of her past. 

Despite all its flaws, I'm marking it up mainly because of the movie's concept/plot. 

Skyfall

Ratings: 7.8/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Action Suspense

Daniel Craig is my favourite James Bond, that is if you consider a comparison of 2 actors a valid conclusion. Well you can't blame me for that, I'm not that old to be acquainted with the franchise's earliest stars, even though I've heard of their names, such as Roger Moore and definitely Sean Connery. 

But the only 2 James Bonds I've watched in full are those cast by Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Caught bits and pieces of Sean Connery's Diamonds Are Forever but that's about it. While Daniel Craig isn't as good-looking as Pierce Brosnan, he sure does have his own charm... the "hardy don't-mind-getting-all-dirty" and "suaveness-comes-along-with-that" kind.

Daniel Craig's Aced his first bond movie, Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace was so-so and Skyfall was in-between. *spoilers ahead* The opening scene was utterly impressive, but the mood gradually died off. I believe the director wanted to bring back the good ol' days, the good ol' Bond, with the bare minimal tech/weaponry support he got, Bond must find a way to stop an astute and crafty villian, a blast from the past. Not his, but M's. 

*major spoilers ahead* M is Bond's direct boss (for anyone who has ever watched any movie on Bond should know this) and is haunted by her past when one of her top ex-agents targets MI6 to execute his vengence on M. For layman, MI6 is the secret intelligence unit in Britain, the agency James Bond works for. It's up to Bond to outwit, outlast, and outplay the villain. [triad copyrighted from the Survivor reality series, which I've recently became a huge fan of!]

The villian, acted by Javier Bardem (nice! even though his acting wasn't that awesome) is always one step ahead because of his knowledge of how the agency works, forcing Bond to rely on traditional methods to even the odds. Well, at least that's the idea of the plot but I didn't see much of that though. 

What this means is that the action sequences were less ... theatrical? It lacks the *umph* I expected to see in a modern James Bond film but the strength of the plot was a good boost to its ratings. *major spoilers ahead* I was excited to see Ralph Fiennes in it, but didn't like the ending because one of the main characters was killed off. And I'm not even sure if there's even a Bond girl in this film, even if there was it's too subtle, which shouldn't be the case cos one of the unplanned trademarks of the James Bond franchise is that it acts as a platform for featured Bond girls to kickstart their movie careers in Hollywood. 

Ok, I'll be honest here, what this Bond movie lacks is "sex-y". But I still like it, more of its plot than any of its other elements. Oh, and one more thing, I also liked the artistic unofficial opening music video of Adele's Skyfall. 

The Secret World of Arriety

Ratings: 6.3/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Family Drama

I don't know why I'm always attracted to Studio Ghibli productions even though I'm not a fan. While I wasn't dying to watch it's newest film, there was something about it which appeals to me. It has a similar concept to The Spiderwick Chronicles and the yet-to-be-released animated movie, Epic. 

A family of tiny people who call themselves the borrowers are discovered by humans. The discovery endangers their very existence, yet the curious Arriety, the daughter of the family, goes against the wishes of her parents to befriend the young master of the mansion they're residing in, leading to undesirable consequences. 

The Secret World of Arriety has a more matured theme compared to its other Studio Ghiblil films, has less dialogue and way fewer main characters. It's interesting nonetheless, and less weird. But due to the lack of dialogue, it's not as attention gripping as Ponyo Ponyo, which I prefer. 

Love the characteristic vibrance of colors in every frame, and the villian is the usual semi-badass (pardon the language). Studio Ghibli's villains are always never that villainous, they're always twisted, yes, but they're never evil enough to be hated by the audience. 

The plot was the determining factor, but sadly there wasn't any spikes or unpredicability in it. No issue keeping the Secret World of Arriety a secret from yourself.

The Impossible

Ratings: 7.6/10

Film Class: B-

Genre: Drama

Follow the tragic account of an American family during the tagic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which hit Sumatra (Indonesia) and the surrounding coastal land masses. It's based on a true story of a Spanish family, instead of an American family as depicted in this film and it's about what they went through when they were hit by it while having their vacation in Thailand. 

*spoilers ahead* I thought the title wasn't so much made in reference to the possiblity of their survival but more on the reunion process. I didn't brace myself for what was to come... and ended up squirming and feeling emotionally wrecked by the magnitude of it's devastation. 

Haven't seen Naomi Watts this battered before and it was certainly heartwrenching to experience what she had to go through. Her 3 sons equally played realistic roles and Ewan McGregor has once again showed how versatile an actor he is. His best performance has still got to be as the romantic poet from Moulin Rouge though. 

The Impossible is nowhere near a feel-good movie glorifying the perservering human spirit nor the acts of kindness during difficult times. It's about digging deep down inside to find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation, and having the courage to embrace whatever life throws at you.

Expect an uneasy watch, with lotsa blood and tense graphic scenes, but it's definitely worth giving this one a go because it allows us to realistically experience what the victims of the tragic tsunami went through... so that we can appreciate our "sorry" life even more and finally start living every moment of it.