A Nutshell Review by daface

last SG · 2005-05-29T10:42:43+00:00

A Nutshell Review: I Hate Valentine’s DayI haven’t seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding from start to end, but from what I gathered from scenes, Nia Vardalos is qui...

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Host

This movie has already been much hyped because everyone is wondering what the Koreans saw in it to make it a resounding box office smash. So does it live up to expectations? Yes, in a different way. What I'll include below will be suitable more for a post viewing read, although most will probably have some prior knowledge about the movie from its trailers and poster. If you don't mind mild spoilers, you can proceed, until the part where I'll warn you about something major.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/host-gwoemul.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Forbidden Siren

Forbidden Siren is based upon the Siren 2 Playstation 2 (so many 2s) game. Like most video game turned movies, I would say the majority don't translate into a different medium really well. And that goes for this one too, painfully.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/forbidden-siren-sairen.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Pulse

I've watched the original movie Kairo which Pulse is based upon. As is the current trend, Asian horror movies are being adapted or remade by their western counterparts at a rapid pace in an attempt to offer something different in style of the genre to its own audiences. If you haven't watched Kairo, you might think that Pulse is genius. If you had watched Kairo however, and didn't like it, this remake will make you appreciate the original a whole lot more. If you liked Kairo, then Pulse is a blasphemy, whether or not you're a purist.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/pulse.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Banquet

It's an oriental kung fu Hamlet.

Everyone's been saying it's loosely based on Shakespeare's tragedy, and to some, the movie's indeed a tragedy with its slowness in pace and lack of action, but I'd like to see it as because of its heavy reference to Hamlet (the poisoned quill, and many other plot points and scenes), it sort of created a crutch on which to lean the movie upon, hence the familiarity to some, therefore having the source serving as a double edged sword - the movie beholden to it and eventually ending it on a weak note.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/banquet-ye-yan.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: John Tucker Must Die

John Tucker Must Die has one of the most interesting trailers for a commercial cheesy girly flick, and it works to a certain extent, with the similarity in playing along the same lines as the Kill Bill title. I remember vividly each time after the trailer was aired, that some girls seated around me will almost always squeal with delight, so it's really no wonder if this flick proves to do well at the box office.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/john-tucker-must-die.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Absent (Ausentes)

To its credit, it does keep you guessing. As the premise goes, a serene family of four moves into the suburbs, only for Julia (Ariadna Gil) the mom experiencing things that go bump, even in the day. Loving husband Samuel (Jordi Molla) and kids Felix (Nacho Perez) and Luis (Omar Munoz) do not experience these strange phenomenon, and therefore this leads to tension within the family.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/absent-ausentes.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Imagine Me & You

Rachel (Piper Perabo, a dead ringer for Rachel McAdams) and Hector (Matthew Goode, from Match Point) are about to get married after years of courtship. On their wedding day, Rachel notices Luce (Lena Headey) from the corner of her eye, and from brief introductions turned into family gatherings, turned into something more. Rachel experiences strange feelings for Luce and the feelings turned out to be mutual, but what about Hector? It's a classic case of everyone's worst nightmare come true, finding out that the person you're about to marry, or have married, actually loves somebody else, and that someone else being the same sex just compounds the effect.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/imagine-me-you.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: P.S.

At first glance the premise of the movie seemed a little like Nicole Kidman's Birth, where someone who's already dead gets reincarnated into a boy who seemed to know all her/their dirty little secrets. Anyway that was my first thought when I heard about the plot outline for P.S., but that said, this story couldn't be anywhere near Birth.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/ps.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Little Miss Sunshine

But wait, before you roll your eyes at yet another story with quirky characters, this one probably proved itself to be relatively superior given its easy going delivery, never taking itself too seriously with the messages it tried to put across, and the cast is a joy to behold. Telling the story of the Hoover family's journey cross-country to bring their young daughter to the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, it's an insane road trip movie as well in their yellow family mini-van.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/little-miss-sunshine.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Miami Vice

Written and directed by Michael Mann, who served as one of the executive producers of the original 80s television series starring Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Rico Tubbs, this is one of the rare recent Hollywood remakes that had someone from the series helm the project. However, the movie version is a mixed bag, and it's not hard to understand why.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/miami-vice.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Night Listener

The Night Listener sees Williams taking on the more serious deadpan role again as gay night time radio show host Gabriel Noone, who's just about reeling from his latest relationship woes. As an outlet for his issues on both the personal and business fronts, he gets introduced to a fan of his talk show, Pete, a childhood-abused teenage boy suffering from terminal illness, now living with a foster parent. Over time, Gabriel has established a close relationship with the boy, and now wants to meet him. Problem is, given conspiracy theories, is Pete who he claims to be?

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/night-listener.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Rob-B-Hood

Here, his screen time is almost equally shared with co-lead Louis Koo, with the both of them playing unsavoury characters - thieves with vices, with Chan as Thongs, a hardcore gambler with family issues, and Koo as Octopus, a married womanizer and fast car lover. They turn to their current profession of thievery to sustain their lifestyle, and the brains behind the duo's brawn is Landlord, played by veteran Michael Hui, a man whose wife is devastated by the loss of their only child.

Full Review at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/rob-b-hood.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Lower City

Two childhood friends, Deco (Lazaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura) meet Karinna (Alice Braga), a stripper looking for a cheap ride to the city of Salvador, in exchange for sexual favours with the boys. Who could pass up a blonde like that, and in record time, we see the friends getting it on with her inside their steamship.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/lower-city-cidade-baixa.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Scoop

Scoop marks Woody Allen's second movie shown locally this year (the other being Match Point), both set in England and both starring his new muse Scarlett Johansson. In what is probably reel influenced by the real, Johansson was recently crowned sexiest woman alive by Esquire magazine, and you wouldn't have expected her to take on the nerdy look of Allen with those glasses and neurotic behaviour. But she did.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/09/scoop.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: You, Me and Dupree

If the saying Two's a Company and Three's a Crowd is anything to go along with, then the third person in a sacrificial team up here, is unfortunately Kate Hudson. Sure, the movie is about how the newlywed Peterson couple, Carl and Molly (Matt Dillon and Hudson) invited trouble into their lives when Carl's best friend Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson) "temporarily" lives with them, it's precisely her role as the frustrated wife turned sympathizer who gets less screen time, less development of sorts, and as a comedy, less of the laughs.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/you-me-and-dupree.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Taladeega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

At one glance, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (what a mouthful) is surely the live-action version of this summer's Cars, with its setting in NASCAR racing, the drive (pardon the pun) to be number one on the race track, and its storyline in finding out what truly matters in life besides the race (oops, another pun) to the top.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/talladega-nights-ballad-of-ricky-bobby.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Departed

The big question on the minds of those who have seen the original Hong Kong movie is whether this Hollywood remake is worth watching. I'd say hell yeah, down to your last dollar, weekend price or otherwise.

Find out why! http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/departed.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Silk

Two reasons why I watched this. First, I've been recommended this film by a friend. Secondly, it starred Barbie Hsu - with a name like that, why shouldn't I want to watch this? Ok, so I know she starred in the Taiwanese pop-drama television series Meteor Garden, and am just curious to see her in yet another horror movie. And since I'm in post-birthday celebrations, I also learnt she's a day older than me.

OK, so more about the movie here http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/silk-gui-si.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: American Dreamz

At first glance, it truly looked like the big screen adapted version of the wildly popular reality tv series American Idol, with a similar "singing talent" competition featured throughout the movie, sharing the same title. Writer-Director Paul Weitz had actually weaved a cunning parody and satire about the modern day US politics, domestic and foreign affairs all rolled into one. The obsession with reality shows, the ignorance of the most powerful man in the world, the determination of those wanting to wreck havoc in truth, justice and the American way.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/american-dreamz.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Death Note

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, so goes the saying.

What happens if you have the power to bring about death to any individual with just the mighty stroke of the pen? How would you use your new found ability? Would you decide to inflict capital punishment and take away lives of criminals, convicted, suspected or otherwise? Would you be the grim reaper, transfixed in your own branding of right and wrong, backed by the power of mortality?

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/10/death-note-desu-nto.html

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