Godzilla

Ratings: 5.5/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Sci Fi Action

This version of Godzilla glorifies the Japanese prehistoric fictional legend, a monster which feeds on nuclear energy capable of mass destruction. However, unlike the previous Hollywood film, Godzilla's this Godlike monster, a creature which maintains balance, humanity's last line of defence against other monsters like it. The trailer tend to throw the audience's expectations off, portraying Godzilla as yet another devastator, but this T-Rex (big head, short hands), Iguanodon (scaly skinned), Stegosaurus (spikes at the back) and alligator (tail) chimera shows you its less commonly seen good side. 

I happened to bump into my friend after the movie, and when he asked how it went, the mentally beat up me replied... "It's quite "gina" (meaning child-like, childish)". For a lack of a better adjective, that was all I could think of to sum up my 2hr long solo movie experience. Not sure if it was cos' of the sound effects, as I was seated at the leftmost end of the cinema, or was it the overly simple storyline, or was it the exceptionally bad acting from the main lead, or was it the insanely ridiculous way Godzilla somehow always manages to come back to life from a near-death state (reminds me of Ultraman), but it just felt soo.. sooo.... horrible. 

There wasn't enough action, too much poor scripting, poor acting, poor development that I just thought to myself, "Are we there yet?" We do get to see Godzilla's full frame pretty early in the movie, but the monster duels were always either cut out too quickly after some teaser exchanges of blows or they just too flukishly ended. 

The best part of it was the opening credits... after that, everything else went downhill. Just like Godzilla, the movie went dangerous close to the core... being sucked in... let's just say it sucked to the core. No stinger at the end, so you could spare yourself the agony and get out of the cinema before the monster "ate your brains".

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Ratings: 8.4/10
Film Class: B
Genre: Fantasy Comedy

What’s amazing is that the greatest “secret” of Walter Mitty is that he was scheduled for a remake in 1994 (yup, there’s an even older version in 1947)… but due to loads of production hiccups, we only get to see him now (2013). Ben Stiller wasn’t the first choice, to act or to direct, but ended up doing both, with stellar results.

While initially pretty corny, it slowly evolved into something rather abstract. Walter Mitty is the manager of the negative assets sector of Life magazine; basically he develops photos for his company from film negatives. It’s old school, and his job is put on the line when his company was brought over, with an impending downsizing of the company. He was tasked to develop the photo for the last issue of Life Magazine, using negative 25 that was sent by an independent photographer, Sean O’Connell who has contributed to many of Life’s cover photos. However, in the roll of negatives that Sean sent, negative 25 is missing.

Walter Mitty lives a rather boring life. He zones out most of the time, and enters his fantasy world. He has taken a liking to this new colleague of his but has not found the courage to ask her out for a date. So how does a missing negative 25, a chronic day-dreamer and his love interest come together? That’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty for you.

*major spoilers ahead* There’s so much character empathy and fantasy corniness that it greys the line between fantasy and reality. On one hand we get so conditioned to think that what looked outrageous would surely be part of his fantasy, but on the other when it hits that they are realities, coupled with the character empathy built up in the course of the film, it churns out a really feel-good feeling that few movies have been able to achieve. It’s… psychedelically beautiful.

The soundtrack charms too, and that one scene about the helicopter, without giving too much away, is a scene that’s gonna stick in my memory palace for a long long time. I went like “w** just happened” after that scene, and the amazing thing was that Ben Stiller gave that exact same expression.

At one point I was wondering where the movie was leading to, cos it seemed like everything he did was much ado about nothing. And yet Ben Stiller is a master of teasers, because I was reeled in like a little guppy, wanting to uncover the fantasy mystery as to what negative 25 was. However, I was about to get my hopes all dashed with all the convincing throw offs when perhaps he thought, ok, it’s enough, time to reveal what the photo is to my cringing audience. And the best part, it’s worth sitting through all the mental and emotional abuse for. That last scene was like an unintentional twist, a finale that wraps everything up just perfect. But it’s not just that, at the end of the day, it’s more than just a mystery, it’s a journey into a day-dreamer’s life, and an experience to “grow” with him.

It’s no blockbuster quality, but it’s ace material, with fantasmic execution. 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Ratings: 8.6/10

Genre: Superhero Action Thriller

Film Class: A

Marvel has redefined a new genre in today’s movie industry: Marvel’s very own superhero espionage film. What? Espionage? You heard me right. I was reluctant to give Captain America 2 a go, considering how badly it failed for its first installment. I hate to say this, but Captain America, has redeemed itself. I even think it’s better than most other Marvel movies.

Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, has to face a formidable foe, the winter soldier, a henchman of the criminal mastermind who has compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D is an intel cum special ops agency which has turned against Captain America and he must uncover the conspiracy which threatens billions of innocent lives around the world. Together with his new team comprised of other superheroes like the Black Widow and Falcon, he dashes through multiple layers of deceit and battles overwhelming odds to rise once again as the country’s hero.

This isn’t mainly a superhero movie… it felt more of an espionage thriller unlike your usual Marvel superhero movies. Considering Captain America is like a human on steroids, it makes him more ordinary, more relatable. No self-healing or flying abilities, Captain America tackles the villains head-on with only 1 weapon in his hand, his invincible shield. I think the most defining factor of Captain America is that he’s fallible and the audience were able to feel for him because just like he was at the start, we were all totally clueless as to what was happening and what was to become. 

The storyline started off pretty innocently, but developed into something more abstract, for the thinking audience. The twists, the jokes, the conversational relation to other marvel superheroes like Tony Stark, aka Iron-Man makes this film more exclusive than it would seem. Because if you’re new to the Marvel Superhero World, which there’s no excuse for you to be so, you might be lost at times during some of the dialogue exchanges.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an adrenaline pumping, mind-twisting fusion of fantasy and reality. A superhero movie worth saluting to.  

PS.:  There are 2 stingers at the back, one after the first roll of credits (which featured Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver leading to the 2nd Avengers movie), the other all the way to the end. So do stay back for the stingers. Even though the latter might not be that “worth” it since it was pretty short, it’s pretty important because it gives a hint to where the Captain America franchise might be leading to. 

All Is Lost

Ratings: 7.8/10

Genre: Drama

Film Class: C

All Is Lost is about a resourceful sailor’s battle to survive the open seas after his yacht gets hit by a floating shipping container. It’s quite the worst case scenario, where it’s not just his yacht that’s leaking, his communications are all out and he’s lost at sea.

With imminent storms and threatening sharks, cliché but necessary, this is a one-man movie for survivor, a showcase of veteran actor Robert Redford's acting prowess. And he sure does fit his role impeccably.

Despite the fak-ish CG, Robert Redford is able to convince me that he’s really out there in the open seas and his perseverance for survival was easily contagious.

Don’t expect any ridiculous talking-to-oneself commentary, every time he starts doing something, you’ll just have to glue your eyes to the screen if you want to figure out what’s on his mind. It’s quite enlightening, and eye-opening, some of the stuff he does in the movie, looked realistic and probable. If I were to ever get lost in the seas myself, I might even resort to deploying a couple of his onscreen efforts to save myself.  

I guess the one important question on everyone’s mind is probably “So did he survive?” With a bleak title like this, and without giving anything away, I can only reply, “What do you expect?” 

But this movie isn’t about expectations, it’s about exposure, it’s about knowledge. Don’t even harbour any hopes of figuring the backstory because the only “explanation” and background story of him you’ll get is as vague and minuscule as his probability of survival.

Even though it got a bit draggy at the end, I enjoyed it. It’s one storm of a survival story. 

Frozen

Ratings: 8.1/10
Film Class: A
Genre: Animation Fantasy

Anna, a fearless, down-to-earth and lovable princess must track down and find her sister Elsa who isolated herself in the ice mountains to protect those around her. Unknowing to Elsa, aka the ice queen, her isolation had caused her kingdom Arendelle to fall into an eternal winter. Anna meets Kristoff, an experienced mountain man and a snowman Olaf, magically brought to life by her sister, and together they must battle the chilling adversities to bring happily ever after warmth in Disney’s new found princessy tale.

Disney has finally “created” 2 new generation princesses (1 princess and 1 queen to be exact) that people can relate to. Not since Mulan has there been a princess marketable enough to be put in the ranks of the “old gang”; princesses from Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Litter Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and of course, Mulan. In fact, there’re about 11 princesses, with the newer additions such as the Princess and The Frog, Rapunzel and Brave.  But this time round, Disney has finally hit a breakthrough, and it’s about time.

Countless covers of the hit-song “Let It Go” sang by one of the leads, Princess-turned-Queen Elsa (ironically her only song in the movie) have further popularised this much talked about Disney movie, enhanced by Disney’s added publicity efforts with the release of the official 25-languages version of the song.

And no, I’m not an ambassador of Disney, but I find it necessary to include the little trivia at the top because I knew about them before actually watching the movie. My expectations were of course, sky high.

I wasn’t totally swept off my feet, because somehow there’s still a hint of “girl-liness” in it (duh) but it sure was a darn feel good movie. There were many original songs sung by the characters almost without intermission… at the start at least, which made it close to being an animated musical. However, the story took a more serious turn after the first half of it, less singing, more character and story development.  

Frozen is a daring one, because it breaks the norms of Disney’s usual fairy tales. I shan’t thaw too much here, but despite the twists and lovable characters, I still find the songs to be the greatest asset of this little gem. A movie I will surely revisit when I have kids of my own… A sure hit with the younger ones, especially with your little princesses. 

Non-Stop

Ratings: 7.7/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Action Thriller

Action "superhero" Liam Neeson returns as a kickass air marshal who is put to the ultimate test... to track down a terrorist mastermind disguised as one of his flight's passengers. It's the ultimate test as it's the rest of the world (almost) against him because he was set-up to appear to be the terrorist hijacking the plane. All he had to do was to transfer 1.5 million to an offshore account, if not someone on the plane will die every 20 mins. Problem is, the account is under his name... 

While the movie's not "Non-Stop" action, it sure was "Non-Stop" suspense. 

There's a couple of more popular cast, such as Julianne Moore and Corey Stoll (he screwed up my suspect radar because I just finished watching a season of the US drama House of Cards with him in it, before that I didn't know who the hell he was...), which makes you wonder whether they are the ones behind the ploy. I don't wanna disclose too much here, because the plot and its build-up is going to take your mind on a roller coaster ride, and I wouldn't want to deprive you of that. All I can say is that the twist's a good one, it keeps you wondering till the very end. Everyone's a potential suspect. 

The film's only shortcoming is that it wrapped up too fast. There wasn't much explanation, and you'll prolly have to piece together some crucial parts yourself after the credits roll if you can't stand ambiguity like me. How the call was made and the reason for Liam Neeson doing what he did just before unravelling the identity of the mastermind was sloppy. 

That said, I love how his past was brought back up on the plane, a little verbal back story there to draw you further in to empathize and root for the imperfect protagonist. 

Non-Stop isn't one to blow your rating charts away, but it's guaranteed to excitingly crash land your movie experience.

Ilo Ilo

Ratings: 6.2/10

Film Class: C 

Genre: Drama

Ilo IIo is about a dysfunctional Singaporean family in the late 90s during the financial downturn. It's a film about the relationship of a Filipino maid and an obnoxious boy and the journey of how she became a part of the family. 

What I'm most disgruntled about is that there's no explanation as to what the title even means. You'll have to google to find out that it actually refers to an island in Philippines, where the maid supposedly comes from. It's such an important aspect that I don't even recall any movie committing such a fundamental fault. 

For all inferences sake, Ilo Ilo could mean her son's name, for one who is not versed in the language. I'm not sure what the intention of the director was, but at least Jack Neo bothers to even put better thought in his titles (and I generally don't like Jack Neo's movies). 

Ilo Ilo can be considered a climax-less film, a soap opera of some sort which brings back few memories of what it was like in Singapore decades ago. 

Was it a true reflection of how life in Singapore was like? Maybe so, well my family never had a maid so I wouldn't know. Was the storyline credible? *major spoilers ahead* Especially the part about the 4D numbers? Not very likely since the timeline doesn't stretch long enough. 

But I have to give props to the cast, acting was credible and thanks to them, I was drawn into this dreary movie. However, if you were to ask me whether Yeo Yann Yann, the mother, deserve to win the best best supporting actress Golden Horse award, the answer would be no. I'm not saying her acting was bad, but it wasn't fantastic. Not sure why she won, probably because of the publicity about her being really pregnant and still having to act, and I don't want to sound unsympathetic but even for that one important scene which featured her breaking down, the shot was so far away from her bed frame that there's no way to really "assess" her acting pro-ness. 

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but deep down inside, I know it's an overhyped film. I don't want to be hypocritical here and say that I'm proud of the film, that it makes me proud to be a Singaporean, all I can say is that I'm impressed it managed to bag so many awards considering it's not outstanding. It came no where near Eric Khoo's 2005 film Be With Me which till this very day, haunts my library of local films. 

I guess no true-blue movie buff can resist the urge and curiosity of catching Singapore's very first glory movie, it's even nominated as one of the Best Foreign Film Award for the upcoming Oscar's. I wish it the best, even though ironically I don't think it deserves to win, I'll be happy if it does. And that's the Singapore spirit for you, conflicted patriotism.