The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ratings: 7.3/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Whimsical Comedy

Wes Anderson's film style doesn't follow the conventional Hollywood films, if you don't already know. I know of many of his movies, yet have only seen, perhaps 2. This, and the Fantastic Mr Fox. His use of bright colors for every single freaking scene is bold, yet refreshing. The use of whimsical songs lighten up the mood, and the scripting is pure genius - elaborately subtle, the funny serious type. However, I wouldn't exactly say this is a light hearted movie, and at the end of it, it feels quite... with the lack of a less offending word, meaningless. 

I guess you either worship him, or are impressed by him. I'm the latter sort. It's impressive alright, but not the kind of movie which I fancy. Despite having many of my favourite stars, especially Ralph Fiennes, I couldn't feel the movie - all I was treated to, was an entertaining delight of colors, star-studded cast and cutsy music. 

Ralph Fiennes star as Gustave, a legendary concierge in charge of The Grand Budapest Hotel. There's a new lobby boy, who eventually becomes his most trusted friend, and together, they journey through adventures of corruption, prison-breaks and assassinations. This is the story of how his lobby boy, came to own the Grand Budapest Hotel... 

I would recommend this, not for the plot, but for the cinematic genius and entertainment value. It's in a class of its own - cheesily classy. 

Midsummer's Equation (Detective Galileo)

Ratings: 8.3/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Mystery Drama (Japanese)

This sequel to Detective Galilieo's Suspect X is one of the most "soul-ful" Japanese movie I've seen. I might be overthinking things, but the "extended ending" really distorts my inner equilibrium. You can say this movie felt like a 2 chapter series, the first 3/4 of it was Chapter 1 about Manabu Yukawa, aka Detective Galileo, an astute physicist, being invited to a small town to explain to the townsfolk about an upcoming seabed mining plan. The townsfolk are against the idea because they wanna protect the marine landscape, whereas the mining company's there to convince them otherwise. 

What would seem like the main plot turned out to be a minor part of the entire movie - the seabed mining almost seemed redundant at some point, that the scriptwriters merely injected it as a "excuse" to get Yukawa to this small town. True enough, there wasn't much purpose of the seabed mining plot, an absolute throwoff subplot. Though there was some rationale afterwards, it was obviously a forced link. 

Despite the above, and a rather monotonous flow of events and dialogue, there were so many "human factors" that made this low profile movie a hidden gem. Before I finally speak of its glory, I have to also add that I don't see how this is a sequel to Suspect X, merely another movie on the Detective Galileo's hit series. 

*major major spoilers ahead, do not read on if you haven't watched the movie*

I thought it rather mundane and disconnected at first, about how Yukawa became involved in a supposed suicide case in the small town. He initially didn't care much about it, but it was a little boy who sparked his interest. I wondered how important the little boy was, I mean, how important could he be? Considering he was not even that related to the family which the opening sequence focused on, basically the mystery which was to be unravelled. 

It turned out, the little boy not only brought the themes of "innocence" and "inquisitiveness" into this dreary setting filled with multiple layers of disjointed secrets, he also brought a controversial lesson to be learnt in life - to unknowingly be an accomplice to a crime. He was made use of to carry out a crime, which he would always be guilty of, whether be it in the eyes of the law, or whether its within his own moral compass. Like they always say, the truth hurts. 

It's so bad that at some point, I just wondered to myself whether the truth should even be unravelled. For once, or one of the few rare moments in cinema history, the lie was really better off than the truth. Though Yukawa did what was merely right, it felt wrong. 

Of course, it wasn't just the boy. The father of the female lead and the female lead herself also stole a huge bulk of the limelight. There was one scene so provocatively strong and emotionally powerful that will surely "haunt" me from time to come. And that one scene was about how her father told Yakuwa that his hypothesis was wrong. Initially it seemed merely to be a scene of denial. But it wasn't just that. 

To really understand what that scene meant, and what my following explanation about it is, it's better that you watch the movie first before reading on. Briefly put, the backstory that is, is that his fake daughter Narumi killed the extorting wife of her actual Dad, so he and his wife tried to cover it up. Narumi's actual Dad having found out his daughter killed his wife, confessed to a crime he didn't commit. All was well, until this movie started. The apparent suicide of a man, who happened to be a cop. That's when Yakawa found out that he was murdered by Narumi's fake Dad because he found out that the cop was digging into the past, after realising that he (the cop) had falsefully put a man (Narumi's actual Dad) behind bars. 

And when Narumi's fake Dad rebutted to Yakawa that he did not murder the cop, and that Narumi is his daughter, he wasn't in denial. He said what he said because he wanted to protect his daughter. He was remorseful alright, but he didn't admit to his murder because that would mean that there was indeed something to hide, which also meant that Narumi did indeed murder someone.

It was a movie about love on a higher level, about the love of parents, about a daughter's realisation of her parent's love for her. This movie wasn't about justice, it was about finding out the truth. 

Detective Galileo's Midsummer Equation is a sum of human predicaments to the power 2.

Maleficent

Ratings: 6.5/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Fairy Tale Fantasy

Maleficent wasn't magnificent. But I have tons to say about it. This movie probably met with an identity crisis - the trailers portrayed a darker side of the classic Sleeping Beauty story we are all so familiar with (actually I'm not) but turned out to be "brighter" than expected. It tells the story from the perspective of the wicked witch... well, at least that was what I thought she was all along... turned out not all the wicked spell casters are witches, for Maleficent was a powerful fairy turned evil due to the betrayal of her first love. Evil isn't even the appropriate term to use here, let's just say she "lost her way". As to whether she eventually found "her way back", think I just gave it away.. *opps* (no spoiler alert here cos Maleficent's the main lead for a reason duh?).

The acting was pretty bad, generally, possibly because the cast had to act in front of a green screen most of the time. Almost every scene was so CG-ed, and the CG wasn't great, making it too unbelievable. The fantasy world that Maleficent lived in was actually pretty cool, with all the interesting mystical creatures, but was made unbelievable because Angelina Jolie's and Elle Fanning's acting gave it away (there was something unnatural about the way they acted). 

I didn't quite get the theme of the movie. It wasn't too "dark", it wasn't too "bright", it was neither here nor there. In the presence of a greater evil, I guess it makes the villains look good. The director crushed the Sleeping Beauty's story by portraying how scheming her Dad (King) was. I mean if it was meant to be a dark version of the Fairy Tale, he should have gone all the way. I was rooting for Maleficent from start till end, I mean what the prick right, since when did the spectrum of good and evil in the fairy tale universe reverse itself? Imagine the Beast psychologically terrorizing Belle to be with him, or the seven dwarfs plotting to cannibalise Snow White, or the Fairy Godmother cursing Cinderella with a disease that would consume her in her later years... should I continue? 

It's warped, it totally ruined what fairy tales are meant to be, and should be meant to be for the rest of eternity. And the "twist" at the end, was similar to Frozen, true love's kiss, I knew it was too easy. But yet, an applaudable point was that it wasn't too draggy. The true love kiss's part was straight to the point... though the lead up was choppy. 

It was a decent Disney film, but it won't be a "legendary" one for sure. A couple of giggles, and a scene with a touching quote from Angelina Jolie won't make me wanna lay eyes on this a second time though. But strangely enough, I... kinda recommend this film... Perhaps Maleficent has cast a spell on me...