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Bin-jip (2004)
A definite must see
Of the countless movies that attempted to portray "love at first sight", so few of them have been convincing. Granted, it must be extremely difficult to show two people truly in love without those endless hours of stimulating conversation, flirtations and laughter. With its two main characters uttering not a single word, 3-Iron presents just such a love story and manages to convince even those as cynical as myself.
The movie starts with Tae-suk, a very unusual young man who breaks into empty houses, not to steal or indulge in sinister acts, but to hang around in someone else's home. He uses their bed, eats their food and wears their clothes. In return for these unsanctioned privileges, Tae-suk does the laundry, finds something broken and fixes it. On one of his escapades, he mistakenly enters a house that is not quite empty. Sun-hwa, an abused wife, has been hiding in her room for God knows how long. After a few days of living in the same house, the couple meet and fall in love immediately. Upon her angry husband's return, Sun-hwa runs away with wordless Tae-suk without a moment's hesitation and joins him on his adventures (No I didn't spoil the film. This is just the beginning).
Kim Ki-duk (director of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
and Spring) has again succeeded in mesmerizing us, this time with a story of two lost souls floating aimlessly in a crazy world and then finally coming together, as if it was always meant to be. And despite the minimal conversations, the film lacks neither humour nor suspense and is actually quite entertaining. A definite must see.
V for Vendetta (2005)
Fun to watch, but nothing more.
You have to give it to the Wachowski brothers (the writers); they do know how to entertain. But shallow entertainment is all you get out of this completely naive portrayal of totalitarian Britain post-9/11, post-bird flu, post-disintegration of America, post-closure of all underground stations in London. The country is now ruled by a dictator (Hurt) whose only source of power is numbing people with fear of basically everything around them. And for some reason, it seems that the only form of evil government to be found is an exact replica of the Nazi regime. If only the brothers could open their eyes just a little bit, they can see the making of totalitarian governments that abuse people's fears for individual gains all around them.
The movie tells the story of assimilated Evey (Portman) who encounters the masked and courageous V (Weaving) when he rescues her from a fate worse than death. V is actually a "terrorist" who blows things up, among other atrocities, in order to wake the people of Britain from their slumber and remind them that their government is meant to serve them and not the other way round. Evey slowly unlocks the secrets of this mysterious man, uncovering corruption and unspeakable acts that consequently expose her real self.
Although Weaving and Fry (as Dietrich) give charming performances, I am still baffled by the choice of Natalie Portman as Evey. Even if the casting director was forced to put in an American actress in order to boost box office returns, couldn't she at least have picked someone who can speak with a British accent? Anyway the movie is actually fun to watch. Just don't expect anything more out of it.
Happy Endings (2005)
Is there life after Friends?
Is there life after Friends? The only reason I watch movies starring one of the six main cast members of the show is the hope that some real talent lies there. Until now, I must have seen everything except talent. But in this film, Lisa Kudrow tops it all. I don't think I've ever had to endure such awkward acting, obvious even as she walks into a room without saying a single word. I'm not sure if she was just putting in too much effort trying not to look and sound like Phoebe or if Phoebe is simply the only character she can play. Either way, it was quite painful to watch.
The film is basically three loosely connected stories and for some unclear and baffling reason, it opens with a scene from the end as Mamie (Kudrow) is hit by a car. We are then reassured by the writers - through text that constantly and randomly appears on the screen in the middle of conversations - that she will not die because this movie is sort of a comedy. Flashback to 20 years ago, step-siblings Mamie and Charley (Coogan) have sex and Mamie gets pregnant. Flash-forward to now, Jesse (Bradford), a young documentary filmmaker, approaches Mamie with knowledge about her son that had she given up years ago. If she agrees his filming the encounter between mother and son, he will lead her to him. He needs this to get into film school. She refuses, and in a scene lifted from an 80s sitcom, offers him another story instead: Javier (Cannavale), an illegal immigrant turned sex worker. Javier is actually Mamie's boyfriend, a masseur who seems to give out happy endings to some of his female clients.
Story number two is about Charley, who now runs a restaurant and is actually gay. His lover, Gil (Sutcliffe), had given his sperm to their lesbian friends Pam (Dern) and Diane (Clarke) because they wanted a baby. According to Pam and Diane, they didn't use his sperm but in fact resorted to another source to get impregnated. Charley is almost certain that the couple is lying because they don't want to share their child with them.
In the third story, freeloader Jude (Gyllenhaal) buddies up to Otis (Ritter) because she found out his dad is filthy rich. Since Otis is gay (and in love with Charley), Jude finds her way into the dad's arms (Arnold), with whom she unwillingly and unexpectedly falls in love.
Kudrow's pathetic performance aside, the movie was simply pointless. I don't believe that stuffing the cast with gays and lesbians gives any more dimension to a badly written, badly performed, non-sensical script. I seriously couldn't have cared less about any of the characters, whether Mamie would find her son, or if Gil is the biological father of the baby, or if things will work out for Jude. Give this one a miss for sure.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
I hope Lost doesn't unfold as this one did.
Although I haven't been to the theatre for a while, I was more than willing to make an exception for M:I III for two reasons. Call me a teenager but I'm a sucker for Cruise on the big screen. Second, and more important, I was dying to see what the creator of my favourite new show Lost can do in Hollywood. Anyone who can come up with such a creative and gripping series is sure to dazzle in the theatre. So I went...
And god how I wish I'd stayed in...
The only impossible mission I could find was to transform such a lousy under-developed script into something even remotely entertaining. What's with the latest fad of starting the movie with the scene before the last? Quite simply, it made the first hour meaningless, because we knew the bad guy would eventually escape, that he'd get hold of Hunt's (Cruise) girl and threaten to shoot her (if not indeed shoot her!) if the whereabouts of the "Rabbit's Foot" is not revealed. Granted the scene is intense and well made, but it is one of the rare good scenes in the movie.
So Ethan Hunt is now in love and getting married to super hot nurse Julia (Monaghan from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). He no longer works in the field and is instead training agents. Julia thinks he works for the department of transportation but starts to feel something's off when he keeps going away on conferences for a "few days". Hunt has actually taken on an assignment to track down agent Lindsey Farrell (Russell) who has been kidnapped by super evil Owen Davian, played eeringly well by Hoffman (from Capote). In fact, Davian is so evil that he places a nitroglycerin capsule inside a person's brain through the nose and activates it once they escape. A few minutes later, the capsule explodes and the victim dies immediately, like a robot that has been turned off. That was probably the only cool gadget in the entire movie. Well OK the other cool gadget was Cruise in a priest's cassock as he sneaks into the Vatican and does his stuff. Nice touch.
But seriously, the plot line is thin with hardly any action sequences worth enduring the cheesy scenes for. One memorable one I'd like to share is when Agent Declan (Meyers) and Agent Zhen (Maggie Q) are in the car waiting for Hunt to come out of a building. Zhen starts whispering something and Declan asks her what it was. "It's just a little prayer that I used to say to get my cat to come home." A very serious straight-faced Declan replies "Can you teach it to me?" If that's not vomit-inducing cheese I don't know what is.
Anyway, if this movie is any indication of how Lost is going to unfold, then I don't know if I'm gonna be able to watch Season 3... Who am I kidding? I know I will.
Junebug (2005)
Amy Adams is a star in the making.
Ten minutes into Junebug and I was beginning to think, "Not another dumb meaningless movie about the southern US
" Twenty minutes later and I was completely absorbed but I didn't know why. It could have been a combination of the indie feel and the impressive performances. It could also have been that this movie unfolds with sweetness so delicate it's almost impossible to resist.
The film tells the story of an encounter between English-born New York-living art-dealing Madeleine (Davitdz) and her sister-in-law, North Carolina-born-and-raised housewife Ashley (Adams). Madeleine and hubby are visiting his family for the first time since they got married, only because a potentially great artist lives close by and Madeleine wants her hands on his work. Upon arriving at her in-laws, Madeleine is taken aback by Ashley's apparent over-enthusiasm at finally meeting this refined, worldly and glamorous addition to the family. Soon after, Ashley is polishing an awkward Madeline's nails, telling her of trips to shopping malls.
Another dynamic is at play during this time, George (Nivola) and his less-successful and resentful brother Johnny (McKenzie). It seems that in his younger years, George was the talk of the town. A few days in town and he's already back on the map while Johnny feels like an outsider in his own home.
The movie develops so slowly you don't even feel it until you're completely immersed. The characters are revealed right before your eyes, shedding layer after layer as the movie progresses. Junebug leaves you with a bittersweet feeling, kind of wishing you could stay down there in North Carolina just for a few days to know what it's really all about. Though all the performances are quite good, Amy Adams upstages the entire cast with her wide-eyed enthusiasm and genuine compassion. We should definitely see more of her after this.
Paradise Now (2005)
Touches upon a sensitive topic very sensibly.
You'd think that a movie about Palestinian suicide bombers made by a Palestinian would spark at least a bit of controversy (forget the extremists and fanatics - they always find something to complain about). But somehow, Abu-Assad managed to avoid that, finding just the right balance between an outright condemnation of suicide bombings and the attempt to portray the inner struggles of those committing them. The movie thus forces the outside world to look at the issue from a different perspective than the prevailing view that a Palestinian suicide bomber is a heartless fanatic only concerned with killing as many Israeli civilians as possible. It also raises another question: Why are these young men, and women, really committing these acts?
The movie traces a few days in the lives of Said (Nashef) and Khaled (Suliman), two young Palestinian friends who work together, albeit half-heartedly, at a car mechanics shop. Incidentally, they are both on the "waiting list" to perform an attack on an Israeli target. Their time has finally come and they are set to perform just such an attack in Tel Aviv. As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that the main reason Said is so adamant on going ahead with the bombing is that when he was a kid, his father had been lynched for being an Israeli informant. He is certain that his sacrifice would cleanse the family honour, despite the suffering they would have to endure. Suha (Azabal) is Said's "voice of reason". As her dad is a well-known and well-respected resistance leader, she is privileged with a sense of morality only accessible to those living in the West. Her arguments resonate of a New York Times column on the Middle East, logical, convincing and inapplicable.
The movie is set in Nablus and Tel Aviv and shot on location, further giving it an authentic feel. Paradise Now has its comic moments, at least at the beginning. For example, Khaled gives his passionate well-prepared video farewell, only to find that the cameraman had forgotten to turn the camera on. The film condemns neither the suicide bomber nor the Western world, but rather the forces that set them in motion. These are the Israeli occupying forces and the leadership of the factions that send these young men to their deaths. They are promised angels and heaven upon their deaths by arrogant men who believe are too important to carry out the acts themselves.
Munich (2005)
Spielberg was brave to do this one.
Writing a review of Munich independent of my personal experience during the war proved a difficult task. After all, I did have nightmares of Israeli operatives targeting all my family members ruthlessly and without any remorse the night I saw it. This says something though, that the movie got to me and for that, I have to give Spielberg credit. I also have to give him credit for being courageous enough to do it. Despite my countless reservations on his so-called objectivity, he did criticize the Israeli revenge policy, advocating the premise that violence only begets violence.
The movie recounts the events of Operation Bayonet, the Mossad's retaliation to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. On the surface, it is an action-packed thriller with good guys and bad guys. The good guys are Israeli agents who speak English to each other while the bad guys are overweight Arabs who only speak in a language the average American will not understand without subtitles (which were not always provided for some reason). But Spielberg manages to sneak in a few scenes that instill doubt in both the viewer and the agents (at least some of them) that maybe the unquestionable morality of the operation is in fact questionable.
Munich is highly entertaining, despite its long runtime. It has its cheesy moments but also its confrontational and thought-provoking ones. Although I was expecting a movie that is highly biased don't get me wrong, it is biased I felt it sent a strong message to Israelis and to the rest of the world. The best way to describe it is in Carl's (Hinds) words: "I knew guys like you in the army. You do any terrifying thing you're asked to do, but you have to do it running. You think you can outrun your fears, your doubts. The only thing that really scares you guys is stillness."
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Kilmer and Downey have unbelievable chemistry
2005 was a great year for films dealing with serious issues. It was. And I'm grateful for it. But it was missing that one good comedy that everyone will watch and adore, simply because it's so damn funny. Well at least I thought it was until I saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This is it. Film Noir meets Action Comedy. Pulp Fiction meets Ally McBeal. Most importantly, Val Kilmer meets Robert Downey Jr. And man do these two have unbelievable chemistry that catches you way off guard.
This is your typical mystery, crime, whoddunit flick. There's a murder or two, an investigation, "the girl" and some shooting scenes. It doesn't really matter though cause the plot is inconsequential and is just there to get the two going. The director is the writer of all the Lethal Weapons, but this time, he's in full control. Makes you wonder how those four would have turned out if Donner had taken a back seat.
Great stuff. You simply have to watch this.
Syriana (2005)
Highly disappointing, superbly inaccurate.
I think Syriana was one of last year's most anticipated and yet disappointing movies. The only recurring thought I had while watching was, "Huh?" The plot, in a nutshell, is conspiracy, American foreign policy in the Middle East, and lots of oil. CIA cooperative George Clooney gains twenty pounds and learns to make Arabic sounds but has yet to pronounce a single comprehensible word, let alone have a clue about the culture. He visits a Beirut I've never been to; a Beirut where militiamen occupy every single rooftop and drag Americans out of service cabs, tear out their fingernails and then set them free.
The movie aims to shed some light on America's meddling in the Gulf. A respectable cause except that it goes as far as showing a scene of the American army targeting a Gulf prince via a satellite missile because he was too "idealistic". I'm pretty sure that's not standard procedure. Young oil broker Matt Damon is the only watchable character in the film, torn between his family, his career and unveiling the truth.
I would have given the writers credit for at least trying to show the other side of the story, but I can't even do that. The whole thing just seems like another political sensationalization. Criticizing American policy in an unconvincing and far-fetched manner is exactly the same as painting every Arab, or in this case, Pakistani, as a terrorist. Do some real research for God's sake.
Walk the Line (2005)
Disappointing and shallow
Walk the Line is one of those movies that almost everyone likes. So I get labeled as "harsh" and difficult to please. Well, maybe I am but the thing is I do understand why this film was successful and why people enjoyed it. Technically, there's nothing to criticize. Witherspoon as June Carter is riveting, giving the southern twang an endearing quality. The music is definitely entertaining. I have to admit that scene with Cash and Carter singing a duet of "Time's a-Wasting" is quite memorable. But for me, that's just not enough.
This is a movie about the life of a legendary musician, Johnny Cash, played not-so-brilliantly by Joaquin Phoenix. Cash's brother dies in an accident at the beginning, and Mr. Cash senior, who favoured the brother, seemed to blame Johnny for his death. A music lover since childhood, Cash struggles to make a career for himself as a songwriter and performer. He's controversial, messed up and in love with Carter. This is enough to describe the remainder of the movie.
Now I don't know much about Johnny Cash and his music, but I can't claim I learned any more after watching Walk the Line. Call me difficult but when I see a biographical film, I expect the makers to put in some effort in trying to understand and portray the different dimensions of the personality in question. All I got was that his brother died, his daddy didn't love him and Carter was the only thing keeping him going. I'm just not convinced that this formed the essence of Johnny Cash and his music.
And by the way, I don't know why this is a taboo in Hollywood, but I am brave enough to say it: Joaquin Phoenix is not a good actor. Let's face it.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Brilliant cast, epic love story
Love is all about the moment, the time spent together, the when and the where. Brokeback Mountain is the setting of that moment, one they could never get back. The rest of their lives is just centered around the memory of Brokeback Mountain, never amounting to much because they got stuck in that time. I'm a sucker for a good gay love story and this film moved me from minute one.
Ennis (Ledger) and Jack (Gyllenhaal) are two gay cowboys who fall in love in the summer of 1963 while working as shepherds on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. Needless to say, their relationship is taboo and they end up leading separate lives, each married and living far apart. They never forget each other and occasionally meet up on "fishing trips", desperately trying to recapture the time they had together when they first met. Time takes its toll, and the love they felt becomes a burden on both.
With a brilliant cast, this epic love story will affect even those most opposed to homosexuality. It's not about gay love. It's about forbidden love. And it is in this love that Lee was able to merge the beauty of midland America with the beauty of a passion that inevitably turns into pain. You can't help but feel it. I know I did.
The Weather Man (2005)
Feels a bit like life...
David Spritz (Cage) is a Chicago weather man frustrated by his lack of knowledge of meteorology, more so of his failed marriage and separation from his family. He is taunted by doubts about his celebrity, torn between a chance to become a national weather man at a major network in New York and the increased frequency of fast food being tossed at him from driving cars.
Spritz is constantly faced with situations where he can prove he is the strong confident man his disapproving father (Caine) would be proud of, only to fail on each occasion. The only time he does act is by slapping his wife's boyfriend with a glove for no apparent reason. The result? "Here's something that if you want your father to think you're not a silly f**k, don't slap a guy across the face with a glove because if you do that, that's what he will think." The movie feels a bit like life. You want it to go somewhere. You want something meaningful to happen. It rarely ever does. Eventually, you have to admit to yourself that you have limitations and accept things the way they are. I find that extremely depressing, because it could well be true.
Un coeur en hiver (1992)
Makes me fall in love with French cinema all over again
Not many movies can draw a parallel between music and love with such delicate refinement as Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver. The film revolves around an unspoken unrequited love between Stephane (Auteuil), a violin craftsman, and the beautiful Camille (Béart), a violin virtuoso and also his patron's lover. For some reason, either out of loyalty to his friend, fear of commitment or a conviction that he does not deserve anything as perfect, or maybe a mixture of all three, Stephane pulls away. He not only pulls away, he does it with such ruthlessness that comes in complete contradiction with his character. A character that holds a violin as if it were the most fragile item in the world, and yet does not hesitate to shatter a woman's heart by simply saying, "I have decided to seduce you without loving you." But in the end, as he himself realizes, he is only destroying himself. This movie makes me fall in love with French cinema all over again.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Well written and well acted with a cool 80s feel
So
Jeff Daniels can act
Didn't see that one coming. Actually, all of the cast of The Squid and the Whale give a convincing performance in this movie, written and directed by Noah Baumbach. The two kids, Frank and Walt, whose parents are getting divorced, are numb to all of life's surprises. They act like two cynical adults who've seen it all, but have the emotional capacity of
well kids their age.
There's something really sinister about this film, especially since it was based on Baumbach's own childhood experience. He describes a family, very Jewish while her son plays his song for the school recital, his mom asks him if he's sure he can do this, because "there will be a lot of people there." and slightly comic the dad is embarrassingly cheap, turning a blind eye to his son's girlfriend paying her own share of the bill at a restaurant. What disturbed me most though was the writer's perception of his own father, a selfish, bitter, and heartless man, whose only concern was to settle scores with his wife, not really caring about his children's feelings. It's sad that he couldn't come up with a single good memory of his dad. At the end, you get the feeling that the issues have been resolved, but I think there is more soul-searching to be done, and maybe some forgiving as well.
Still, the movie is well written, well acted, and has a cool 80s feel to it. I'd definitely recommend it.
Capote (2005)
Capote is played fabulously by Hoffman. A must see.
When Gerlad Clarke was writing Truman Capote's biography, the latter told him "I won't respect you unless you tell the whole truth". And in Capote, the biographer, scriptwriter and director have tried to do exactly that. The movie spans five years of the author's life, when he was writing his book, In Cold Blood, about the murder of an affluent Kansas family in 1961. The book probably made him the most famous writer in the US.
The investigation into the murder takes a backseat to a thorough examination of Capote's character. Was he a parasitic writer who would do anything to get his story or was he striving for a higher cause? Did "In Cold Blood" refer to the murder or to the writer's actions? After each scene, you find yourself changing your mind either way. Capote makes you believe that whatever he was doing had to be done for a reason that will be revealed later. Though it is never revealed, the actions cannot be condemned.
The movie is superbly written, giving not three, but four dimensions to Truman Capote, who was played fabulously by Hoffman. It's a must see.