Whiplash

Ratings: 7.8/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Drama

An ambitious drummer gets into the best music school in the country and pushes himself to the limits to earn the respect of his obnoxious tutor, Fletcher. Whiplash is technical, exaggerated, gritty and has an ending deserving of a standing ovation. For most parts, they didn't astound, but the "twist" in the ending was indeed a drumroll stunner. 

I felt the acting wasn't that solid, simple storyline, predictable especially with the romance subplot. For most parts, I was as puzzled as the drummers, wondering to myself whether were they rushing or dragging their tempo when Fletcher was f-ing them. Wee bit graphic with the splattering of blood, but the cringes were mainly caused by the tension between the 2 main leads. 

The actual score of "Whiplash" wasn't electrifying, needless to say neither did the other soundtracks impressed. I can appreciate jazz and drumming, but the highlight of the movie was the tension and the comeback which makes Whiplash more than a "feel-bad" exhilarating movie.

Max Max: Fury Road

Ratings: 7.5/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Action

A visual spectacle of what looked like raw, crude cinematography and loads of action-packed car-chases scenes sewn together. Mad Max: Fury Road is yet another gloomy-looking post apocalyptic movie about the degradation of humanity, redemption and hope. It's horded with loads of mutated looking beings all fighting to get back a ruler's supermodel-looking wives... who were rescued by a kick-ass heroine played by Charlize Theron. An unlikely alliance was formed when Max (Tom Hardy) was thrown into the tracks of the armored tanker truck driven by Charlize Theron, literally. And I have to say, Max is one mad hardy son of a gun...

The names of the cast was catchy, with names like Immortan Joe, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), The People Eater, Nux (Nicholas Hoult), Rictus Erectus etc. it's hard not to associate this with coolness - like a graphic novel, or even a superhero cartoon. However, the names were not repeatedly mentioned, which meant that if you missed it the first time, you'll probably just identify with the cast with the way they looked (every one had their own unique look) instead of their catchy names. 

There were also many female eye candies amidst the hideous male cast. Yup, the make-up of the guys in this movie are just repulsive, with the exception of the male lead, Max. They were either massively scarred, physically mutated or had weird things stuck to either their faces and bodies. Not my cup of tea. Which really made the eye candies soooo soooo liberating to the eyes.... 

What I really liked was the stark contrast of the "good team". Mainly female eye candies, with only 2 male leads, Tom Hardy and Nicholas Hoult. Which kinda helped shined the focus on the 2 guys who were more, how should I say this, more susceptible to getting their hands dirty. Of course there's Charlize Theron, who was equally as badass, but the most human-like of all. Furiosa acted as a reminder of humanity, Max as a dependent hero and Nux as the unsung hero. 

The reason I'm not waving my underwear and making cave-man calls is because of the savagery and senseless gore portrayed. It's mainly brainless fighting, and the plot was simple. There was a slight twist, to be more accurate a U-turn in the plot, which didn't bode well with me. My wife said that it's about finding new hope, I say it's much ado about nothing. 

Action scenes were cool, intense at times, and the best fight scene for me was the one without vehicles (ironically) - the duel between Furiosa and Max. I was never a huge fan of car chases, and this movie was 90% car-chasing action-packed.  

A revolutionary movie which dared to test the boundaries of cinematic creativity, Mad Max: Fury Road is in a class of its own, twisted but entertaining. There were horror-like scenes at times, humorous ones as well, but the bulk of it was just plain head-on-explosive-guy-flick-like impressive. However not much substance in the plot, but overall a great movie worth torturing your eardrums for.

Note:
As an afterthought just for fun, if I could I sum this up with movie references, it would be:-
A group of slasher flicks deformed antagonists and "Silent Hill" underlings mounting vehicle mods like "Death Race" to hunt down a rugged-looking Daniel Craig "James Bond" and "G.I. Jane" to bring back a group of girls who turned out to be more "Sucker Punch" girls than Victoria Secrets supermodels, set in a backdrop of "The Hills Have Eyes". Short bursts of haunting scenes reminiscence of Sam Raimi's "Spider-man" with heavy metal soundtrack. 

Unfriended

Ratings: 7.7/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Horror Thriller (Supernatural)

Scare factor: 3/5 (pretty intense)

Staying away from the trailers, I was able to keep my suspense up till the actual viewing of the movie. All I knew was that Unfriended is a movie about cyberbullying, which drove a teenage girl to commit suicide. A year later, the group of friends who caused her death was disrupted by an unknown presence in an online chat room. I was under the impression that there was some semi-supernatural stuff going on, perhaps a psychotic killer on the loose hoping to get some revenge, but nope, it was full on supernatural.

It was psychologically scary, due to its realism - filmed in the style of a first person's view of what she sees on her computer screen, *spoilers alert* with the exception of the last scene. The believable, but slightly exaggerated plot got me at the end of my seat throughout, it started with a bang, and ended with a slam. There weren't many "cheap scares", mainly because of the seemingly limited soundtrack. There were of course tension build ups, with several sudden sound scares, but most of the supernatural stuff weren't in your face-type. There were more gory-like, Final Destination style. 

You'll need a stomach for gore to be able to sit through this horror film, it was more disturbing than horrifying. Still, I was pretty shaken up. 

*warning, major spoilers ahead* It was slightly exaggerated because of the video that caused the girl's death... her shitting in her undies after getting senselessly drunk. While it's embarrassing, I don't see how it would lead to a girl shooting herself in her head. She didn't seem like an outcast, and the so-called "cyberbullying" wasn't that extreme. Just offending comments made in response to her video. But it does bring into light the issue of cyberbullying, and the consequences it might trigger. 

I especially liked the style of filming. Though simple, and minimalist, it created a great sense of realism, thanks to the unexpectedly convincing acting of the unknown cast. In fact, it didn't even seem like they were acting at all. Seemed like they were genuinely chilling out and acting according to how the story developed. I wouldn't be surprised to know that they were unaware of the script until the very last minute... which of course I know couldn't be so because of how they died. *opps, cover mouth* Ok, guess I spilled the beans, let out their dirty secrets, but hey, you've been warned. 

It was also partially enriching for me... I'm not sure if the chat room they used was Skype (yup, haven't used that before), and was impressed about how certain "bugs" were created for the purpose of the movie... Like not being able to disconnect a person in the chat group (is that even possible?), like disabling the "forward" option in email, like disabling "unfriending" in Facebook (FB), or even reporting a dead person's account in FB (does it even exist?). There's some serious eye-opening tech stuff being showcased here.

It's not the first to use the concept of online messaging, but definitely the first in making an entire movie out of it. Refreshing, seat-gripping, and raw, Unfriended is the fore-runner in low-budget horror films. No shaky camera work (ok, maybe a bit via the webcams) and I’m impressed with the occasional bad-connection pixelation, freeze panes and loading of screens which added suspense and more bonus points to realism. Though low budget, it feels like a well-thought of, well-made horror movie which has been scarcing out in recent years.