Amour

Ratings: 6.5/10
Film Class: C
Genre: Drama

Amour speaks nothing of love... it's dreary, tragic and possibly one of the most undeserving winner of the Oscars - Winner of Best Foreign Language Film of The Year 2013. It got me thinking, is this year's nominees that bad? I haven't been disappointed so far, Life is Beautiful; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Lives of Others and Departures were a few of the many winners which left me wanting more. 

When this film ended, I kinda felt that I wasted my time watching it. I was so excited to finally buy it from my local dvd store but now it almost feels like a waste of money. It wasn't ttthhhhaaatttt bad, but it fell flat on my expectations. Even Intouchables could easily beat this (Golden Globe Nominee, a different award)... 

An elderly's couple love is put to the test when the wife comes down with a stroke which paralyses one side of her body. As time goes by, her physical and mental health deteriorates, leaving her dispaired husband having to carry the burden of a promise he made to her all by himself... that he would not send her to a nursing home no matter what happens.

That's what happens when promises are made too readily, kept too blindly... leading to an inevitable tragedy... The twist in the ending happened too abruptly, and I felt the build up of empathy lacking. Before I could even bask in their love for each other, I was repeatedly thrown with scenes of melancholy. 

When it comes to an elderly's couple love, none can beat the one portrayed in Away From Her. It was a movie that till this day resonates in my heart, and mind. Amour, on the other hand is not only a "weaker" version, but also one which is highly forgettable. It almost feels like a documentary, illustrating the harsh reality of life. 

If I had wanted to watch something as tragic as this, I might as well suffocate myself with a pillow. At least I wouldn't have to sit through 2hrs of "torture". There is no silver lining, because the only clouds are overcast ones... The posters however, might just be the rainbow that this movie needs (I love how 2 versions of the posters portrays 2 different angles of the same shot). 

Prisoners

Ratings: 8.2/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Thriller

When the police releases the prime suspect behind the kidnapping of Keller Dover's (Hugh Jackman) daughter, he takes matters into his own hands and captures the suspect, effecting his own methods to force the truth out of him. But is the suspect really responsible behind the kidnappings (the town has a history of child kidnaps)? Or is he merely an innocent man who just happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time? 

That's the big question mark presented in the trailers. We already know what's coming... the kidnapping, the capturing of the suspect... but we don't know if the suspect is guilty or not. The first 45mins or so was the expected buildup, and though it took that long to progress into the storyline proper, it didn't fail to keep its audiences at the edge of their seats. 

I love the filming style, and the dull colors filling this dreary looking town played a huge part in creating the mood for this film. The cinematography during the first 45mins was rather artsy; out of focus split-screen-like shots, slow zooming-in shots of what looked like still-life images of trees and houses etc. All made to mimic the first-person view shots. 

The next hour or so was Saw-like, when Hugh Jackman started torturing this poor bugger... and the director skilfully played around with the audience's repulsion and sympathy for the suspect by presenting ambigous clues. I almost ran the risk of emotional schizo. *major spoilers ahead* I especially liked how the suspect whispered something to Hugh Jackman when he was being assaulted at a parking lot, and the chinese subtitles flashed so fast, words so incoherent it got me thinking, s*** what did I miss? Well, aparently it was intended... and to make matters worst, somehow the chinese subtitles in this movie were very tiny. Yes, tiny, like ants moving on a log tiny. 

Both Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman gave stellar performances, but there's a haunting question about Jake Gyllenhaal on my mind - is he on drugs? His strong blinking reflex was very prominent in this film, I'm not sure if it was intended, but I don't recall picking this up when I caught his other movies such as Donnie Darko, Source Code, Prince of Persia, Jarhead, Love & Other Drugs, Zodiac, The Day After Tomorrow and the recent End of Watch (yup, I've watched that many of his films... I think I'm a fan).

But he's still likeable nonetheless, despite his irritating blinking reflex. Hugh Jackman dominated the screen most of the time. Do not expect a fast-paced action thriller... There's lotsa dialogue in this, the music almost hypnotising and might not make such a great movie after a long day's work, but everything, the setting, the color scheme, the dialogue, were all crucial in creating the empathetic feel towards the devastated dad. Hell, if it was me, I'll prolly do the same. 

Did I mention that the plot rocks? It was solid. The entire story development was well thought of, and it became clearer piece by piece. Unlike most thrillers, when the twist hits, everything falls into place. Not for this, there were twists here and there, but like pieceing a jigsaw puzzle, even when left with the last few pieces, it wasn't that easy to figure out where the pieces fit in. 

The ending... *warning: major major spoilers alert* was one of the best cliffhangers out there. Normally cliffhanger endings would leave its audiences unsatisfied, but unlike most others, even the ending was so well thought of it blew me away *pun intended*. Towards the end, I wondered, how was the movie going to end with one huge portion of it uncovered? And when the ending scene came on, it wasn't the director's convenient way of saying, ok let's not elaborate this, you should know how it ends. Instead, I knew immediately (though I was stunned for 2 secs just like the rest of people in the cinema) what the director intended... made obvious by the clues he left us throughout the movie. Hugh Jackman is a hunter, he always prepare for the worst, and Jack Gyllenhaal has a perfect record for solving cases... 

The title, though seemingly literal, to indicate that the 2 kidnapped girls were the prisoners, taking into account how well thought the plot and development was, I would think it also refers to the suspect being a prisoner. This is pretty straight forward. But delving deeper, it's not just the 3 individuals, even Hugh Jackman was a "prisoner" himself. The way he keeps asking for God's forgiveness and yet did the things he did, it just goes to show how conflicted, and trapped he really feels. 

I could be overthinking it, but I'm almost as positively sure as Hugh Jackman that it's the case, even though I may not be spot on, I'm sure I'm close to the truth...

Oblivion

Rating: 7.7/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Sci-Fi

A battered Planet Earth remains, where most of its human habitants were wiped out by an invading alien species. The remaining survivors now reside in a space station. Jack and his partner were tasked to protect the power stations which extract Earth's remaining resources that powers up the space station, and also to maintain the drones which protect the power stations. However, when their drones keep disappearing and one of their power stations destroyed, it's up to Jack to hunt down the remaining alien survivors still on Earth and uncover their real motive.

I had thought Oblivion was just another modern day post-apocalytic tale, but it turned out to be a true-blue (or white since the color theme for this movie is obviously white) sci-fi action flick. It had great graphics, realistic setting, story packed a pow wow, and the only thing it fell flat on was the scripting. Not a major issue though, I easily overlooked the bad (extremely bad) scripting cos of the plot.

There wasn't many main cast, and a whole lot of Tom Cruise in this. It was refreshing to see "Jamie Lanister", from Game of Thrones (ok his actual name is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and he did good whatever little screentime he had. Even for Morgan Freeman, his few main appearances I believe was intended to add extra "coolness" to the film. 

Both female leads were gorgeous, literally, especially Olga Kurylenko (who gained popularity after being cast as the Bond girl). There was something about her this one, she made the film "complete", despite being given her bad lines. A particularly memorable scene was when she was in this shuttle plane with Tom Cruise and they had to battle some drones (3 to be exact). There was something very corny and unconvincing about both their acting, even a top-rated actor like Tom Cruise lost some points there, but I can only imagine how silly they must have felt facing a green screen, digging deep and trying hard to express whatever facial emotions they could churn out - which needless to say, failed terribly. 

The first 20 mins or so felt like a horror movie, and there was a hugh twist in the storyline. It wasn't original though, the first thing that came to my mind when the twist hit was that it ressembled another sci-fi movie, the title I wouldn't disclose here. However, it wasn't the originality but the impact of the twist which made it for me. For you curious folks out there, a hint would be that the title of the other movie has something to do with what is "broken" (ok, to be less subtle, destroyed - not the power stations) is in this film. 

Coincidentally, Tom Cruise's name is Jack Harper is in this film, and in his most recent film Jack Reacher, he starred as, Jack Reacher (duh). Perhaps there's something Jack about Tom, because he does fit the name, somehow... and both movies were pretty awesome. 

It turned out way better than I had expected, because the story nailed it. A must watch for sci-fi movie fans! Easily one of the better sci-fi films out there!

Before Midnight

Ratings: 8.0/10

Film Class: C

Genre: Drama

Before Midnight is the sequel to Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). Possibly the finale for this off-mainstream franchise which solely focuses on 2 main individuals, Jessie (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), whose chance encounter on a train to Europe (Before Sunrise) sparked a romance which spanned across 3 sequels. This trilogy is the rawest, one of the most novel, simple and direct forms of telling a love story - through the eyes of the lovebirds. It's like just tagging along with them for a day with a camera, allowing its viewers to experience a "live" viewing/unfolding of their love story. 

It's full of raw dialogue; witty, interesting, enlightening, sad at times but romantic and sweet most of the time, and never once will you be bored of them. It's your seemingly everyday dialogue, yet it is through them that you get to understand the characters' ideologies, perceptions and family backgrounds better. Well, the latter is especially true for this installment. 

Before Sunrise tells the story of their love blossoming in Vienna, yet due to circumstances, were parted. Before Sunset revisits this love story in Paris and sparks a new chapter. And Before Midnight follows them on their finale chapter of their love story in Greece. 

*spoilers ahead* Before Midnight differs from its predecessors in that there's less focus on the 2 leads, well at least for the initial part. There were more characters involved this time round which didn't work for me because it took out the "essence" of the film. The characters were interesting nonetheless, and the pace really took up when fractures started worsening during the 2nd half of the movie. The highlight for this movie was the bedroom scene, when the couples started their most detrimental quarrel, though it was awkward (and distracting) at first with Julie Delpy showing her boobs while quarreling.

The highlight for Before Sunset was the most vivid for me, also a bedroom scene, but it was more romantic with Julie Delpy strumming a guitar and singing a song which she composed. I was trying hard to recall the highlight scene for the very first movie, Before Sunrise, did a quick youtube search and while I didn't quite find it (the park scene was the closest I got), I was surprised to find that the starting scene where Ethan Hawke tried to convince Julie Delpy to alight the train and spend the day with him, he talked about time travel. 

This is particularly interesting because, *drumroll*, a slight trivia spoiler here, is that at the end of this movie, Ethan once again talks about time travel. I'll have to give props to the director for the ingenuinty of starting and ending his franchise with the same "topic", whether intentional, or not. But this subtle concidence not only reinforces Jessie's ideologies, but also the director's fine eye for details.  

One of the other demerits I found with this movie is the way both of them were conversing with each other. They still felt kinda apart, which made more sense for the first two movies since they weren't together yet, but after being husband and wife, they somehow manage to engage in intellectual conversations without any physical closeness. I mean merely holding hands and having an intellectual conversation might have added a nice subtlety to it.

However, this is debatable because looking at the overall context of the movie, the lack of physical intimacy while strolling along the streets of Greek could be due to their degrading relationship. Still, I believe the love between the both of them was strong even at the end of the movie. *warning, major spoilers ahead* Especially true for Julie Delpy's case since she said she no longer loved Ethan anymore. I believe she said it in a moment of spite, I mean afterall, we all know that most of the time we regret the things we say during a heated argument. As for Ethan's case, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that his love for Julie Delpy was as solid as a rock. 

Before Midnight presents a side of the harsh reality of marriage. It's not without its ups and downs, and warns signs of a broken marriage. However, it also sheds a positive light on the differing views of man and woman, and how to manage our expectations and tackle such problems in future (I'm newly wed). Ultimately, one must never lose sight of why we fall in love with another person in the first place. If we manage to convince ourselves otherwise, then we have only ourselves to blame for failed marriages. 

Pacific Rim

Ratings: 9.0/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Sci Fi Action

It's Gundam meets Godzilla. If there ever was a live action Gundam movie that is. It's plain simple machine vs. monsters, end of the world scenario if humans don't defeat the oncoming alien species that is sneaking through a portal from the seabed. It's has an interesting take on how aliens would invade earth by, and all these while we thought it would be from the "heavens", "hell" would be a good place to start looking. 

While there are inevitably flaws in the story, it makes a cool CG-dominated non-stop (almost) action packed movie with most of the action scenes taking place in the dark. I might have missed the important bits about why the aliens didn't send armies of monsters at one go but a pathetic few every now and then, as if to tease/challenge the human race, but it sure even the odds. In fact, most of the time the humans barely survived an attack.

The cast is relatively unknown, and though not stellar, creates a more "realistic" feel with what looked like your everyday common-folk characters instead of the usual "Hollywood" glam. Also, there's a certain raw look which makes this a more realistic film than Transformers. Actor Ron Perlman is a tickle to watch, always getting giggles from the audience whenever he's introduced as a supporting cast like in his other films, obviously one of main reasons for making it into the director's favorite list of actors. 

There's a westernized anime fusion in this, hints of Japanese influence/inspirations here and there, and which was pretty obvious by starring the rather out of place Rinko Kikuchi (female lead who starred as Mako Mori). Even the terms used to describe the machines and monsters were in japanese. The little girl acting as the younger version of Mako stole the limelight despite having only a mere 10-min screentime. *major spoilers ahead* That said, the part of her savior appearing felt kinda cheesy, killing the mood of the "short clip" of her demise. To look on the bright side, it created what seemed like a glaring closure for that chapter of Mako's background story. 

There are funny bits scattered throughout the film but none too noteworthy. The main focus was the awesome fighting scenes between the machines and monsters. There's a good buildup of intensity for the fighting scenes and the highlight came midway (parts of it are shown in the trailer). The ending, though not as satisfyingly long as the fight scene in the middle, was a visual spectacle of boomz. 

I was silently hoping to get a glimpse of a possible sequel after the credits but all I got was "What the hell happened to my boot?". (In this case it's not a stinger but a "sting" I guess. Cos the extra scene came midway during the credits)

Pacific Rim is a sure hit among the guys, but might not fair as well for the ladies. The closest thing to romance you'll find here is a forehead kiss, and the only "hugs" are the direct opposite of bromance... 2 guys beating the crap out of each other. 

Though the machines and monsters might look the same due to the color hues, there are some really commendable efforts invested into the details. The types of weaponry and fighting styles were clearly distinguishable for both the monsters and machines. 

The only complain I have is the sound, which I believe to be the fault of the theatre's and not the production of the film. If you're wondering, the title "Pacific Rim" possibly came from the crack in the seabed, which was the portal between our world and the alien's, which looked like a rim underwater. And the fights are mostly at the pacific coast. 

Pacific Rim has made the dreams of most anime fans come true, anime-styled movie with awesome Hollywood graphics. Best of both worlds. What more could they, we, ask for?

Despicable Me 2

Ratings: 5.5/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Animation Comedy

Villian-turned hero Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villian League (AVL) to stop a new anonymous supervillian who stole an evil turning serum from a secret laboratory in the Arctics. It's up to Gru and his new AVL partner to uncover the identity of this supervillain and his true intentions. 

For you blind fans out there who's probably cursing me cos of the extremely low ratings, hear me out objectively. Despicable Me 2 has lost the focus of it's orginal intention. Even though Gru and his 3 little darling sweethearts are still in the movie, let's face it, this is a Minions movie. It has taken the same route as Ice Age, diverging the focus from the main leads, and has resulted in a complete different concoction of silly and childish humor. No doubt the minions are cute and entertaining to watch, but not when they take up close to 80% of the entire movie. Because of that, the director compromised on less build up for the other characters.  

I seriously didn't know what I was watching. And the most disappointing part was that the focus on the 3 little girls was pathetic, which really made it for me in part 1. The youngest girl was so cute she made my day with her cheek bobbles in the first movie, but the only thing I can remember for this sequel is the minions acting all spastic over and over again. 

Don't get me wrong, it was absolutely entertaining to watch the minions, but there was too much of them and because every situation or scene they were in was a guaranteed "stupid" moment, it became spastic overtime.  I'm perhaps too harsh with the adjective. To be blunt, it was too childish for me. The minions were being cute for the sake of being cute so pardon me for not appreciating this kind of humor. 

I found myself mildly laughing throughout the movie, with a good 2-3 really funny scenes, and though there was a decent plot with an impressive vibrance of colors to really liven up the screens, this animated sequel reminded me of the famous proverb "Too much of anything is good for nothing", and has glamously shed light on what it really means. 

I'm almost 100% positive that another sequel will be made, whether it's a Minions movie or a 3rd instalment of Despicable Me, it's going to be downhill from here on... sigh.

Jack Reacher

Rating: 8.2/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action Thriller

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) is a drifter and a former major in the U.S. army military police corps. He had recieved many military awards but went off the grid, reasons unknown. As claimed from one scene, he cannot be found, unless he wants to. He resurfaces after a former miltary sniper went on a killing spree and shot 5 random victims. The reason of his reappearance? To convict the murderer of his crime. This seemingly straight forward case was picked up by defense attorney Helen Rodin, who also happens to be the District Attorney's daughter, and manages to persuade Jack Reacher to investigate the case further. You know what's coming... nothing is as it seems (if not there's wouldn't be a movie) and Jack uncovers a conspiracy which puts both his and Helen Rodin's lives on the line. 

Thankfully, Jack Reacher is almost as untouchable as Bryan Millis, retired CIA agent from the movie Taken. With that knowledge, through the introduction of his character, makes his unadvantageous situations less intense. It's not a bad thing, cos' despite so, Tom Cruise's superb acting sometimes makes you forget that he's that invulnerable with his occasional panicky expressions. All I'm saying is that it's less of a character empathy movie but more of a "can't wait to see him kick more asses" movie. 

It turned out way better than I had thought it was capable of achieving. There's plot, there's humor, yup, humor alright, not a one-off thing but little bits here and there, there's action, coolness and the only thing lacking, is romance. Which of course, isn't vital in an action thriller. I'm not watching this movie for "aw" moments or kissing scenes (zilch in this one, it's a sexually clean movie), I was hoping for stress-relieving action and I got more than what I hoped for... 

Jack Reacher is so underrated there wasn't any hype about it when it came onto the big screens, reasons I can only assume lies in the main lead. There has been bad publicity about Tom Cruise recently, still, I think he's one of the giant actors (even though he's only 1.7m in height) in Hollywood who can really act. 

*major spoilers ahead* Puzzled by one point of the movie was why the murderer paid for parking. It was brought up around 3 times by Jack Reacher, and though the "truth" was staring blatantly at me, I was a bit lost cause there wasn't a direct explanation of it. I kinda shut my brains off. Well, if you were as confused as I was, I found out that because the coin used for the parking had the murderer's prints on them and it was to frame the suspect. And since it was to frame the suspect, it had to be planted, which ie. to say, paying for parking, didn't make sense. Literally. It's just there to fabricate the evidence. 

Shucks, I had to use a bit of brains afterall. All in all, Jack Reacher was really fun to watch, exciting, intense, and engaging. Cute at times with its light-hearted humour.