The MOVIE REVIEW Thread

[Larry]

it's not out yet here but.

 

if there ever was a strong Oscar contender from 2006

 

Babel is it. Babel

 

Great movie, filmmaking and storytelling at its finest.

 

Proof that you don't need sophisticated effects or a rehashed story to make something great.

 

Stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and Gael Garcia Bernal.

 

not my best of all time, but definitely in my top 10

[Waterbearer]

Watched Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Brown .....and all i could say was that it's one hilarious movie.....for a supposedly dumb movie....this has gotta be a smart one......check out Baron Cohen as the french gay Nascar driver who is up against Ricky Brown.....he was funny as well.....so many highlights in the film but the kissing scene was freaking hilariuos :boo:

 

I recommend this movie as much as I recommend Borat! :cool:

 

If you could get a copy of Beerfest......That's also one freakin hilarious movie......Did I say their grandmother was a German Whore ?!!!bwahahahahah :boo:

[Waterbearer]

So far the best film this year has got to be Clint Eastwoods "Letters from Ima Jiwa" ..... I think Clint is a sure bet this year for best director esp that he made two films of the same battle (the other one was Flags of our Father) but from the opposing camps point of view.....i mean that is one hell of a concept.....not the first one...I think Orson Welles did this too....nevertheless....it is a standout.

[naru2ako]

For me Van Helsing... Lovely!

[clubber_lang]

@ Waterbearer It's Ricky Bobby and Iwo Jima...

 

Anyways, it is a bit off topic but when will Letters From Iwo Jima be shown? Or will it be an Ayala Cinema exclusive?

 

Just watched "Hostel" (finally)

 

It was really violent. Graphic. For people who can really take a hit in the gut. And the acting is not that shabby either...

[Waterbearer]

@ Waterbearer It's Ricky Bobby and Iwo Jima...

Thanks for correcting me......I was thinking of Bobby Brown when i was writing my post nyahahaha :boo:

[ImRJ]

any reviews for Eragon?

[Guest Leviticus]

any reviews for Eragon?

I saw this movie yesterday with high expectations but turned out bad. The graphics was good, the main actor (Eragon) not so good. I walked out of this movie because of too much differences with the book: no elves, no dwarves, the hordes of monsters were replaced by barbaric mercenaries, angela the witch was replaced by a bellydancer, no werecat, and a distorted ending (when I came in the theater ending na). Well.. spoilers pwede at this point because I assume that people here have read the book; Eragon did not go to the realm of the elves (no elves remember?) but stayed with the varden.

[ImRJ]

I saw this movie yesterday with high expectations but turned out bad. The graphics was good, the main actor (Eragon) not so good. I walked out of this movie because of too much differences with the book: no elves, no dwarves, the hordes of monsters were replaced by barbaric mercenaries, angela the witch was replaced by a bellydancer, no werecat, and a distorted ending (when I came in the theater ending na). Well.. spoilers pwede at this point because I assume that people here have read the book; Eragon did not go to the realm of the elves (no elves remember?) but stayed with the varden.

actually pinanood ko rin siya after making that post. i also searched the net for reviews of the movie since nauna na siya ipalabas sa ibang bansa because of the MMFF. from what i read medyo negative nga ang reviews. most critics were comparing it to star wars. one even went as fas as saying that eragon took all of sci-fi clichés and put them in one movie. i said to myself "it can't be that bad?" and since i liked the book so much, i went ahead and watched it with a couple of friends.

sad to say, the reviews were right. nakakapanghinayang kasi the book had so much potential to become a great movie and it all went to waste. parang masyadong minadali yung movie, i don't know why. parang halfway through hindi mo alam kung wala nang budget or nagsawa na lang yung direktor. there were several oooohhh moments but they just leave you hanging. even the music sucked. there was not enough character development. wala. sayang talaga. should've watched blood diamond instead. :thumbsdownsmiley:

[Gideon]

actually pinanood ko rin siya after making that post. i also searched the net for reviews of the movie since nauna na siya ipalabas sa ibang bansa because of the MMFF. from what i read medyo negative nga ang reviews. most critics were comparing it to star wars. one even went as fas as saying that eragon took all of sci-fi clichés and put them in one movie. i said to myself "it can't be that bad?" and since i liked the book so much, i went ahead and watched it with a couple of friends.

sad to say, the reviews were right. nakakapanghinayang kasi the book had so much potential to become a great movie and it all went to waste. parang masyadong minadali yung movie, i don't know why. parang halfway through hindi mo alam kung wala nang budget or nagsawa na lang yung direktor. there were several oooohhh moments but they just leave you hanging. even the music sucked. there was not enough character development. wala. sayang talaga. should've watched blood diamond instead. :thumbsdownsmiley:

 

Yeah, medyo kulang ang development ng characters.

 

But maybe sa Part 2 may mga elves and monsters na!?!

[ImRJ]

Yeah, medyo kulang ang development ng characters.

 

But maybe sa Part 2 may mga elves and monsters na!?!

let's hope (and pray) na ituloy pa rin yung sequels kahit na mukhang flop 'tong una.

[Guest Leviticus]

Yeah, medyo kulang ang development ng characters.

 

But maybe sa Part 2 may mga elves and monsters na!?!

how in the world will there be elves and monsters if in the movie they disregarded this?

 

The "Urgals" are described as: resemble men with bowed legs and thick, brutish arms made for crushing. They have yellow, piggish eyes, twisted horns protruding above the ears, and greyish skin. Kull, a particularly strong race of Urgals, are easily a match for any non-magical being of Alagaësia. They stand over eight feet tall on average, and their legs are thick as saplings, making them veritable giants.

 

By most humans, Urgals are considered monsters, as they fight humans for food and land in order to help and protect their families.

 

Now.. sa movie may nakita ka bang Urgal?

 

parang mga mercenaries lang ang meron. how about the elves? no elves there too. even the dwarves wala.

 

they did a distorted ending.

[Kurtsky Keigee]

Hmm Any Reviews on Night at The Museum?

 

Borat is really good haha..

Laughed my ass off at the hotel scene during the meeting

[pussycatdoll]

actually pinanood ko rin siya after making that post. i also searched the net for reviews of the movie since nauna na siya ipalabas sa ibang bansa because of the MMFF. from what i read medyo negative nga ang reviews. most critics were comparing it to star wars. one even went as fas as saying that eragon took all of sci-fi clichés and put them in one movie. i said to myself "it can't be that bad?" and since i liked the book so much, i went ahead and watched it with a couple of friends.

sad to say, the reviews were right. nakakapanghinayang kasi the book had so much potential to become a great movie and it all went to waste. parang masyadong minadali yung movie, i don't know why. parang halfway through hindi mo alam kung wala nang budget or nagsawa na lang yung direktor. there were several oooohhh moments but they just leave you hanging. even the music sucked. there was not enough character development. wala. sayang talaga. should've watched blood diamond instead. :thumbsdownsmiley:

 

I hadn't read the book when I saw this -- still haven't, btw -- but I got the impression that this movie was made simply to cash in on the book's popularity as well as the tail end of the LOTR fantasy phenomenon; it had the feel of the first three Harry Potter movies, I thought. No character development, bad editing, slow plot development, and a host of other things that I can't seem to recall at the moment. I was squirming in my seat and trying to stay awake before the movie was even halfway done! It seems like such a waste, considering that I heard so many good things about the book.

 

The lead actor was really easy on the eyes, though, so at least I had something to look at while I was sitting in the theater. The one scene that really got my attention, though, was the one where Jeremy Irons was __________________. Now there's a guy who can flesh out even a role as insubstantial as this turned out to be. Couldn't help wishing that he was the one playing the lead instead, or someone with his acting chops, at least. Oh, well.

Edited January 14, 2007 by pussycatdoll

[rastaboy]

saw blood diamond over the weekend...v. good movie...nice story line, credible acting, and lush cinematography...

 

more than anything, it was the cinematography that really caught my interest as i was watching the movie...made me realize to ba good cameraman, one must be a well-travelled person as well...to be able to do justice to foreign locations, one must film those sceneries as it is seen by people who live in them...and a well-travelled person (a traveller, not a tourist) does that...

 

the cinematography really made me understand the characters of the movie...

 

as for dicaprio, another credible performance post-titanic and post-aviator...but not enough to get an oscar, i think...he gave a better performance in that ganster movie with jack nickolson...

 

best performance in the movie i think is that of the black dude...

[Marshall Bruce]

I watched Saw 3 yesterday after having a Saw marathon earlier that day. Compared to the 2nd movie, I liked this better.

 

another gory movie. :boo: galing... :thumbsupsmiley: sana lang di yun yung last Saw movie. I still wanna play a game...

 

Game over.

[Wyld]

 

Curse of the Golden Flower

 

Summary from Sony Pictures Classics:

 

China, Later Tang Dynasty, 10th Century. On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival, golden flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) returns unexpectedly with his second son, Prince Jai (Jay Chou). His pretext is to celebrate the holiday with his family, but given the chilled relations between the Emperor and the ailing Empress (Gong Li), this seems disingenuous.

 

For many years, the Empress and Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit liaison. Feeling trapped, Prince Wan dreams of escaping the palace with his secret love Chan (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor's daughter. Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows worried over the Empress's health and her obsession with golden chrysanthemums. Could she be headed down an ominous path? The Emperor harbors equally clandestine plans; the Imperial Doctor (Ni Dahong) is the only one privy to his machinations.

 

When the Emperor senses a looming threat, he relocates the doctor's family from the Palace to a remote area. While they are en route, mysterious assassins attack them. Chan and her mother, Jiang Shi (Chen Jin) are forced back to the palace. Their return sets off a tumultuous sequence of dark surprises.

 

Amid the glamour and grandeur of the festival, ugly secrets are revealed. As the Imperial Family continues its elaborate charade in a palatial setting, thousands of golden armored warriors charge the palace. Who is behind this brutal rebellion? Where do Prince Jai's loyalties lie? Between love and desire, is there a final winner? Against a moonlit night, thousands of chrysanthemum blossoms are trampled as blood spills across the Imperial Palace.

 

I saw this movie and was mesmerized by it. The visuals are simply stunning. Granted I would say that most of it is CGI but the colors, the mood, the costumes - they were not only authentic, they were also visually appealing and stimulating. Obviously, tons of research was put into this movie. It was interesting how they captured the workings of an Empire to the minutest detail. From clothing, to rites and rituals, to relationships and pecking order.

 

The premise of the story is decevingly simple. An Emperor and an Empress at odds with each other. What makes the story interesting are the little subplots that pop up along the way. The story was tightly written such that you had little clues along the way as to how the story would pan out but how it actually turns out is still a huge surprise in the end.

 

The acting was wonderful. Gong Li as the suffering Empress was simply flawless. Chow Yun Fat as the ruthless Emperor gave a solid performance. Amongst the "younger" cast, the best performance was given by Liu Ye who played Crown Prince Wan. He was not a strong crown prince to begin with, and his struggle with his warring loyalties, his desire for his stepmother and his love for his girlfriend was clearly apparent in his actions and reactions. Jay Chou, a Taiwanese pop star was a revelation in his role as 2nd Prince Jai. He gave a pretty good performance and held his own against the more experienced actors in the cast.

 

As I was watching this story unfold, and as I followed it through its ending, my biggest takeaway from it was that ... dysfunctional families have been around since ... forever. We read so much now about how environment and technology and distance and all that have caused our families to be dysfunctional. Watching this movie just shows us that people in this day and age do not have the monopoly on being dysfunctional. I guess people have been that way since -- forever.

 

Their story can easily be likened to that of a modern day family - struggling against each other. Perhaps the reasons for the struggle are not as grandiose as the control of an empire but they are real struggles nonetheless. Perhaps families now do not resort to wasting the lives of thousands of soldiers in order to resolve their issues but the battles are there anyway.

 

This is a good movie because it mirrors the present day in a very unobtrusive manner.

 

This is a good movie because you walk away from it with insights on relationships and personal dynamics.

 

This is a good movie because underneath the grandeur, the drama and the glitz, its just all about real life.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2007 by Wyld

[clubber_lang]

Watched Deja Vu...

 

This time-travel film was half-engrossing, half-disappointing.

 

Just became stupid and awful towards the end...

[Don Carleone]

showing na blood diamond.. good movie.. warning lang.. medyo heavy yung movie.. so if u dnt like movies that gives u a heavy feeling, watch eragon instead..

[Wyld]

Two movies. Different eras. One common theme - Persistence and Perseverance.

 

I actually watched Apocalypto and The Pursuit of HappYness on the same night. It was raining, there was nothing better to do so my friend and I ended up at the local cineplex to watch at least 2 movies. These 2 movies were our choices. Mind you, they were not easy movies to watch. There was so much going on in both films that at the end of our marathon, we were both exhausted.

 

Apocalypto, if one looks past beyond the Mayan setting, the subtitles and the interesting production design is a simple story. Its about a man's coming of age. The story begins with a group of hunters - as men are wont to do, they were fooling around and cracking jokes after a k*ll. As they were divvying up the spoils of the hunt, they encounter a group of people from another tribe seeking passage. They were given a warning about "what was to come". This warning unsettles them but once they make their way back to camp, they settle into their usual lives.

 

They are attacked in the middle of the night, the grown men and women are taken captive, while the children are left behind. One of them hides his pregnant wife and little boy in a ravine and promises to come back for them. The story revolves around his struggle to come back to his waiting family.

 

Turns out that their captors are gathering human sacrifices because of a drought. On the way back to the captors' camp they encounter a group of lepers - a little girl suffering with leprosy gives out a prediction that spells doom for the captors but ...she is ignored. They move on and reach camp.

 

As the captives were about to be sacrificed, there is an eclipse and the high priest decrees that the drought is over. The captives are told they will be set free if they are able to cross an obstacle-course like field and run out of it alive. One of them (the main protagonist who has committed to come back for his family) kills the son of the captor's commander escapes. The Commander and his men run after him.

 

They run and struggle. Run and hide. Run and run. Across fields and river, across quicksand and a ravine full of dead bodies. One by one - his pursuers die, in fulfillment of the leper girl's prophecy. In the end, he makes it back, rescues his family and they make their way to safety.

 

Simple story, action packed. Leaves one tired and breathless. In the end, the realization is simple. Persist. Push on. Dont give up. Anything is possible if you want it hard enough.

 

Segue to ... The Pursuit of HappYness.

 

Its about a guy who seems to be at the end of his rope. His wife has left him, he is raising a little boy alone, he is selling a piece of medical equipment that no one seems to want to buy but everyone seems to want to steal.

 

He wants a good future for his family. He realizes the only way he can do this is to find a better paying job - this realization comes to him when he encounters a stockbroker parking his sportscar.

 

Our hero is a smart guy. He graduated top of his class - but it was in a small town, and it was just a class of 12. How does he make it in the "big city", in a big time firm, amongst the big boys?

 

He persists. He hijacks the Hiring Manager and goes on a cab ride with him in order to show him what he is made of, he impresses the firms' owner with his wit and humor. He visits a prospective client at home, gets to know that person and even if he doesnt get that account, it opens his door to a handful of prospective clients. He pounds the pavements, he dials the phone endlessly, he sleeps at a shelter and in a subway restroom. His bank account gets garnished by the IRS, he has to go to work carrying all his worldly possessions in his shoulder.

 

In short - everything that could possibly go wrong in his life, went wrong. But in the end, it all went perfectly right. He was the sole intern hired onto a regular position in that firm. He went on to form his own company a few years down the road. He made it.

 

He made it because he wanted it badly enough. He made it because he worked hard for it. He made it because he was undaunted by the fact that everything in his life went wrong before it turned right.

 

Again - deceptively simple story. Deceptively simple premise.

 

But the takeaway is more powerful than anything.

 

Hard work. Persistence. Perseverance. Determination.

 

Things that we badly need these days in order to make it through this struggle called life.

 

 

 

[clubber_lang]

Night At The Museum is quite a good family film.

 

It is not the funniest films of the year but it was still able to provide hilarious moments.

 

Just remember this: Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson do not make the worst comedy films of all time when they are together.

 

That being said, kids would love this more than you would but you'll still have a rather good time...

[clubber_lang]

Babel is a nice film. It was good on so many levels. It is indeed depressing.

 

However, I felt that of all the many interwoven stories, I felt this is not a great movie. I still do not see the reason why a lot of critics have gone ga-ga over Brad Pitt's performance. While it was nice, it won't blow you away. Basically the same feeling I had with the film: good but not great.

[clubber_lang]

Little Children is the one film that surprised me. I knew it was going to be different but I never thought it would be really, realy good.

 

It has its flaws in terms of narrative but over-all, it was a deep study in the way of life o0f a lot of Americans. Highly recommended. I feel this is the most overlooked film of 2006. (in our case, 2007)

[Pinatz24]

I watched Rocky Balboa yesterday and it was not what I expected. The fight scene was not that good, his opponent looked like a basketball player considering that he was the reigning boxing champ. To sum it up, it was just about an old guy having a mid life crisis.

[Wyld]

Volver

 

A film noir disguised as a chick flick. In a sentence that is how I would describe this movie. Pedro Almodovar does an excellent job of weaving a story that is so reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock with its many twists and turns.

 

The film opens with the Spanish ritual of widows cleaning their graves. There we meet Raimunda, her daughter Paula and her sister Sole. They are cleaning the grave of Irene, their deceased mother/grandmother and much is being said about how lucky she was to have died in the arms of the man she loved. In that first scene, we also meet Agustina - their neighbor and apparently, a close family friend. In the first ten minutes of the movie, we have actually met half of the film's main characters.

 

Raimunda, Sole and Paula proceed to visit Tia Paula - their elderly aunt/great aunt who lives by herself. She is so old she talks about Irene (the women's mother) as if she was alive. Sole goes up to use the bathroom and feels their deceased mothers' presence so strongly she is spooked. What is weirder is how their apparently blind aunt is able to cook food for them to bring home.

 

After they visit their aunt, they also visit with Agustina. Agustina is haunted by the disappearance of her mother. She is also a kind soul who looks into the women's elderly aunt whenever she can. They talk about the disappearance of Agustina's mother, which happens on the same day that the women's mother passes away.

 

As they make their way home, Almodovar uses the windmills of La Mancha to establish a transition point. This is a constant in the movie. As the characters make their way to and from Madrid and La Mancha, the windmills are like a gate that they pass through. In Madrid, we meet Paco. Raimunda's constantly drunk husband who apparently has the hots for their daughter. He has also lost his job for what appears to be the nth time. In the morning, we see how Raimunda shuffles 3 jobs to make ends meet.

 

Raimunda makes her way home only to find out that her husband tried to rape their daughter and in the process was accidentally killed. Mother and daughter struggle to find a hiding place for the body and a solution is unwittingly offered when their neighbor asks them to look over his cafe as he is moving to Barcelona. The body is stuffed in the huge chest freezer, for now.

 

Their aunt passes away and Sole gets the surprise of her life when the ghost of their dead mother decides to join her in Madrid. She stuffs herself in the trunk of the car and moves in with Sole where she helps her in her beauty parlor business. In time, Paula meets her grandmother; by then only Raimunda does not know that the ghost of their mother is in town.

 

Agustina contracts cancer and asks Raimunda for one last favor before she passes away - that Raimunda ask the ghost of her deceased mother what really happened to her mother who disappeared. And this is where the story gets really interesting.

 

Much of the twists and turns in the story happen in the last half hour of it. Much of the revelations are also in the last half hour. The movie does not contain the trademark Almodovar suspense but the revelations at the end are so gently given that you feel as if you were indeed, hanging on a cliff for the past hour and a half waiting to find out what really happened. Almodovar created the film to make it as if it were a gentle train ride: one that almost lulls you to a sense of relaxation; then he hits you with revelations left and right to make sure you walk out of the theater with your eyes wide open.

 

The acting was good - all women in the film played their parts very well. I was pleasantly surprised to see Penelope Cruz in her element (after her more bland Hollywood ventures). The rest of the ladies did really well - the mother Irene, is sad and funny all at the same time. Agustina, the lady in search of her mother was tortured yet resigned. She was cool as this elderly lady who smoked pot and had a hippie mother. Sole and Paula (the daughter) whose parts were less colorful likewise had their moments to shine in the movie.

 

In the end, while Volver is a chick flick because its a film about how women stick together through generations, misunderstandings and trials; its also a film about life. Its treated in a very film noir manner by Almodovar who uses the twists and turns in the lives of these women to weave a tale about how life really revolves around "returns" and coming full circle.

 

Volver means The Return - and in the context of this movie the word return takes on many, many different dimensions. The interwoven stories in this film show us those dimensions with crystal clear precision. Its both witty and heartbreaking, its a beautifully told story. One that is worth returning to.