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Archive for the tag “2006”

06 Oct 2012
12 Comments

Pan’s Labyrinth

Bottom Line: Not a Grimm fairy tale–a grim fairy tale.

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Alex Angulo, Ariadna Gil, Cesar Vea, Doug Jones, Ivana Baquero, Ivan Massague, Manolo Solo, Maribel Verdu, Roger Casamajor, Sergi Lopez

Pan’s Labyrinth is a somberly spellbinding experience, just as brutally harrowing to our emotions as it is captivating to our spirits.  It’s a story rarely ever told, let alone so beautifully.  All right, there’s Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its umpteen adaptations.  Pan’s Labyrinth is quite comparable to that universally familiar story, but it goes without saying that this is no cheerful escapade, nor is it meant for young children.

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Posted in Drama, Fantasy, War, [Film Reviews] and tagged
15 Sep 2012
14 Comments

The Prestige

Bottom Line: Ironically, The Prestige is Nolan’s least “prestigious” work.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Andy Serkis, Christian Bale, Daniel Davis, David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Samantha Mahurin, Scarlett Johansson

Certain films can by no means turned off, no matter how long they take to warrant your fullest attention.  The Prestige is a prime example: in the simplest of terms, we often get an odd feeling that we’re watching an arthouse picture, presenting a narrative purely extensive on a recent BBC docudrama.  It does feel uncomfortably strange to say something like that about something, ANYTHING with the name “Christopher Nolan” pierced across it.  Christopher has written–sometimes alongside his brother Jonathan–and directed some of the most fascinating motion pictures in recent memory: Inception, Memento, and The Dark Knight, to name a few.  And Nolan does present a mesmerizing (and in this case, particularly amusing) intrigue along the lines of those masterpieces.  He also assembles a spectacular cast, in which even David Bowie delivers well.  But no matter how much more “prestige” and original embellishments flourish through this 130-minute period mystery, it’s a struggle trying to push past the uneventful, seemingly repetitive narrative.

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Posted in Drama, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
14 Jul 2012
7 Comments

Batman Begins

In case you wondering, I am, in fact, excited for the forthcoming release of The Dark Knight Rises, the final entry in director Christopher Nolan’s three-part “Batman” interpretation. So last night, a week away from the wide release of that anticipated film, I decided to watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight back-to-back. I’ve seen them both before, but I thought I’d not only refresh my memory of them, but also write up two separate reviews.

Bottom Line: A thorough explanation on the Caped Crusader’s origins.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Rade Sherbedgia, Rutger Hauer, Tom Wilkinson

BATMAN BEGINS may have been billed and released as one consolidation of a film, but fundamentally, it works as two separate pieces. The first piece expounds upon Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) back story. It’s the portion of the film Tim Burton likely wishes he could have incorporated into his version, 1989′s BATMAN, for longer than ten minutes. We learn about Wayne’s motive to become the Batman, his feeling of guilt for the death of his parents, and his chronic fear of bats. It’s a worthwhile character study. The second piece is when the film evolves into the superhero movie we’re used to. Wayne has been suited up (the film goes as far as to explain where he got his gear) as Batman, an attempt to make criminals around Gotham fear him as he feared bats. The key criminal taking over the town is a doctor concealed by the identity “Scarecrow” (Cillian Murphy), a thug whose weapon is a drug that makes citizens of Gotham fearfully hallucinate.

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Posted in Action, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
15 Jun 2012
7 Comments

Paris, je t’aime

Bottom Line: Assez plaisant.

Directed by: Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuaron, Bruno Podalydes, Christopher Doyle, Daniela Thomas, Emmanuel Benbihy, Ethan Coen, Frederic Auburtin, Gerard Depardieu, Gurinder Chadha, Gus van Sant, Isabel Coixet, Joel Coen, Nobuhiro Suwa, Oliver Schmitz, Olivier Assayas, Richard LaGravenese, Sylvain Chomet, Tom Tykwer, Vincenzo Natali, Walter Salles, Wes Craven
Starring: Aissa Maiga, Alexander Payne, Barbet Schroeder, Ben Gazzara, Bob Hoskins, Bruno Podalydes, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Cyril Descours, Elias McConnell, Elijah Wood, Emily Mortimer, Fanny Ardant, Florence Muller, Gaspard Ulliel, Gena Rowlands, Juliette Binoche, Leila Bekhti, Leonor Watling, Lionel Dray, Ludivine Sagnier, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Margo Martindale, Melchior Beslon, Miranda Richardson, Natalie Portman, Nick Nolte, Olga Kurylenko, Paul Putner, Rufus Sewell, Sergio Castellitto, Seydou Boro, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Yolande Moreau

Atmospheric, easygoing French romance is a collection of eighteen short films from twenty-two different filmmakers. Each story sets up in Paris and details a story about love (not always necessarily a conventional “love story”) that occurs in the city. Accumulated together, the small slices of life can act as mere plot points in a story of both the native Parisians and tourists alike, making this perhaps familiar to those who have visited Paris, familiar to those who have lived in that city, or those who are wishing to be there at some point in their lives.

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Posted in Drama, Romance, [Film Reviews] and tagged
12 Jun 2012
12 Comments

Letters from Iwo Jima

Bottom Line: Bleak but marvelous view of the famous World War II battle.

“He studied the Americans. So he knows how to beat them.” –Kazunari Ninomiya as Saigo

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Eijiro Ozaki, Hiroshi Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Ken Watanabe, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, Takashi Yamaguchi, Takumi Bando, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Yuki Matsuzaki

Note: Letters from Iwo Jima has been billed and released as a motion picture of its own, but it essentially works in a one-film companionship with Flags of Our Fathers.  Therefore, you may notice quite a few comparisons between the films in this review, but hopefully nothing that processes over-the-top.

Dreary yet authentic WWII drama is Clint Eastwood’s blanketing follow-up to FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.  Rather than American veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, recalling the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi, this film depicts Imperial Japan’s vision of the Battle of Iwo Jima, through the narrations of the letters sent home to the family of soldier Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) detailing the horrific and tragic events occurring day after day.

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Posted in Drama, History, War, [Film Reviews] and tagged
29 May 2012
8 Comments

Flags of Our Fathers

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Bottom Line: More than just a war film…

“No sense being a hero if you don’t look like one.” –Jesse Bradford as Rene Gagnon

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Adam Beach, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Jesse Bradford, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Ryan Phillippe

Poignant drama chronicles the lives of the three men–John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach)–out of the six total who survived after raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi in 1945. The film follows their time during post-traumatic stress disorder, where we see flashbacks of the struggles at Iwo Jima during World War II, as they are reminded of these events by many of their everyday experiences. In an even more interesting sense, reverent historical document delves into the history of the famous photograph captured on Mount Suribachi, raising a few questions as to how accurate the photograph actually was.

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Posted in Drama, Epic, History, War, [Film Reviews] and tagged
26 May 2012
8 Comments

Notes on a Scandal

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Bottom Line: Shocking, unpredictable, engaging.

“I hadn’t been pursued like this for years…I knew it was wrong, and immoral, and completely ridiculous, but, I don’t know.  I just allowed it to happen.” –Cate Blanchett as Sheba Hart

Directed by: Richard Eyre
Starring: Andrew Simpson, Bill Nighy, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Juno Temple, Max Lewis

Heavy, shocking thriller tells of two high school teachers, Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) and Barbara Covett (Judi Dench). We recognize Mrs. Hart as a cheerful, young woman, happily married, and the mother of two children. She teaches quite leniently in the educational area. Ms. Covett, on the other hand, rules her classroom like “a battle axe,” as she describes herself, and outside, she is an older, chain-smoking woman whose only companion is her cat. The two women meet each other, and they become great friends for quite a while. Their friendship, however, begins to take a different route, one night at a school concert, where Ms. Covett witnesses Mrs. Hart having sex with Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson), one of her students. Rather than reporting this, Ms. Covett decides to assist Mrs. Hart in trying to not let this become a criminal case, but insists that the affair end.

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Posted in Drama, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
04 Apr 2012
9 Comments

Lady in the Water

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Bottom Line: From the director of The Sixth Sense comes a massive slap in the face.

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Giamatti

Unforgivably weird mystery-thriller centered on character Cleveland (Paul Giamatti, who sets the unrealistic record for the longest time to stay underwater without scuba gear), the heavily stuttering superintendent for an apartment building called The Cove. He becomes irritated by the nightly presence of a woman swimming in the pool and decides to investigate. When he decides to do so, he nearly drowns but is saved by this night swimmer, who introduces herself as Story (Bryce Dallas Howard). After noticing her unusual fear of a dog-like animal that only visits when she is around, he consults with an Asian college student residing in the building. He discovers that she is a “narf,” or a sea nymph, as in a bedtime story the college student was always told as a young child.

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Posted in Cult, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
31 Mar 2012
2 Comments

Scoop

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Bottom Line: Shockingly unfunny Woody comedy.

“This guy’s the son of a lord! He’ll take us to the tower of London and behead us!” –Woody Allen as Sid “Splendini” Waterman

Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane, Scarlett Johansson, Woody Allen

The above line is about the funniest line you’ll find in this disappointing, odd Woody mystery-comedy about Sondra (Scarlett Johansson), a young journalism student. She is called up as a volunteer at a children’s magic show put on by Sid Waterman (Woody Allen), who is using the stage name “Splendini”. When she is put in a Chinese box as an illusion, she sees a departed journalist named Joe Strombel (Ian McShane). Strombel tells her of a scoop she has to investigate, about Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman), an alleged serial killer. She decides to use a false name when tracking down Peter, but when she finds him…he strikes her as attractive, and they start up a relationship.

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Posted in Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, [Film Reviews] and tagged
13 Dec 2011
11 Comments

Déjà Vu

Bottom Line: Typical crime thriller with a sci-fi twist and an overlong extension.

Directed by: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Jim Caviezel, Paula Patton

Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is his name, and he works as an ATF agent in New Orleans. His current assignment is to catch a terrorist who bombed a ferry within the first five minutes of the film (thank God I didn’t skip through the opening credits–that might’ve been the only attention-grabbing scene in the entire film). He is told about a superb technology that, Doug realizes, can do more than solve the crime: it will allow him to travel back in time to prevent the crime from happening.

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Posted in Action, Adventure, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged

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