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: Protege

The Hong Kong crime movie genre has another worthy addition to its collection, hot off the heels of the Infernal Affairs creative team's Confession of Pain. While movies of the genre of late are almost always gearing toward sophistication, Protégé plays out its story in surprisingly straight forward fashion, although the characters are draped in shades of grey. What makes the movie compelling, are the relationships formed between the principle characters.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/protg.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Ghost Rider

Mark Steven Johnson, I hate to break it to you. 3 strikes and you're out. I understand your earnestness in trying to write-direct Marvel superhero movies by trying to stay close to the source material, but somehow they all turn out to be mediocre efforts. Although you didn't direct Elecktra, you produced and wrote it, and wrote-directed Daredevil and now Ghost Rider. I enjoyed Daredevil even though most others did not, and that unfortunately was your best effort.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/ghost-rider.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Just Follow Law

Jack Neo is undoubtedly Singapore's most commercially successful director, having made 10 films (including this one), and almost each time, you'd hear his movies topping the charts and breaking box office records. His films touch the common heartlander chord with his fusion of satire and subtle jabs at topical issues, much akin to his skits during his Comedy Night days, and given a huge fan base built, it's no surprise if local audiences turn up in hordes to lap up his latest offering which set its sights on the civil service.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/just-follow-law.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Epic Movie

My opinion whether a comedy is a good comedy is fairly simple - even laughs throughout, and in having at least one sequence to make me chuckle so hard that my tears will roll down uncontrollably. I don't care if it's physical slapstick, witty dialogue or crass toilet humour. So long as my tears roll, it's a winner. But sadly, Epic Movie failed to meet the mark.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/epic-movie.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Notes on a Scandal

The movie marathon today were all Oscar nominated movies, from nominations in the major awards like Picture and Director, to miscellaneous others (Dreamgirls), and acting, in which Notes on a Scandal garnered two for both Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, who are both already winners of the coveted award.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/notes-on-scandal.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Letters from Iwo Jima

Clint Eastwood continues his WWII war drama with Letters from Iwo Jima, the companion film to last year's Flags of our Fathers. Shot back to back, this version shows the same battle from the viewpoint of the Japanese, and if compared to Flags, this is a somewhat more heartfelt, personal story about the pride and honour of the defenders of Iwo Jima.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/letters-from-iwo-jima.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls had garnered 8 nominations in the upcoming Academy Awards, but somehow missed out on all the main categories like Picture, Director, and the Actor and Actress nominations. Based on the Broadway musical, with new songs added for the movie (3 of which are in the running for Best Song), it tells of a group of singers' meteoric rise in the music industry in the 60s, and on their trials and tribulation which plague any successful singing group.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/dreamgirls.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Norbit

When I first saw the trailer for Norbit, I have to admit I was tickled, more so by the familiar antics that poke fun at weight and size. Apologies though that I'm laughing at the expense of plus sized people, and it dawns upon you if there's any valid reason why they should be constant punching bags for gags. From Shallow Hal to The Nutty Professor, it seemed that Eddie Murphy is revisiting familiar territory with prosthetics all over again, and can't get enough of piling on fake weight on himself.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/norbit.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Hannibal Rising

The story of Hannibal Lecter continues, what with so many movies starring everyone's favourite cannibal - Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon. In most of these movies, Sir Anthony Hopkins brought to live the vivid horror of the character, sending chills down your bones with his measured performance and that steely gaze. It's natural that in following recent trend, there would be a prequel movie made of sorts which goes back to the origins of the primary character, in an attempt to explain and discover who he is, and what made him to be.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/hannibal-rising.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Paris, Je T'aime

I love Paris. Having spent only 2 days in 2004 in the City of Lights is definitely insufficient, and sitting through this tapestry, a series of 18 shorts each helmed by diverse filmmakers, was pure bliss as they each create a story set around the 18 neighbourhoods of Paris itself, bringing back memories of the sights and sounds, each very distinct with their own style and narrative structure, but all focused on that central theme of Love.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/paris-je-taime-paris-i-love-you.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Fountain

After watching Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, I realize why some booed and walked out during its screening last year in the Venice Film Festival. This is one movie which you'll either hate to the core, or simply love. No in-betweens because it doesn't allow you to, with its storyline totally, and I mean totally, open to an individual's interpretation, which makes it truly unique. I suspect if I were to watch it again, and multiple times even, each experience will be different, as you draw upon and focus inevitably on different aspects of the plot. Such is how diverse and layered The Fountain is.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/fountain.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Pursuit of Happyness

Will Smith has come a long way since his Fresh Prince of Bel Air days. Starring in an average of 1 movie per year, ranging from action to serious drama, it's without a doubt that he's one of the world's most bankable stars, and turns in an Oscar nominated performance for his role as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness, inspired by the events of the real Chris Gardner's life.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/02/pursuit-of-happyness.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Rocky Balboa

I enjoyed Rocky Balboa tremendously, even though it was formulaic and probably a carbon copy of the original in terms of telling an underdog's tale. Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, this is very much his comeback movie as it is for his character Rocky Balboa, when the fifth installment of the franchise was considered the weakest of the lot, and a let down to its predecessors. When the movie was announced, many people sniggered and wrote it off outright, as being nothing new to offer on the table, of letting dead dogs lie, that Stallone was out of ideas and needed to revisit past glories to try and get his career back on track.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/rocky-balboa.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK

I think one of the easiest ways to make a movie, would be to make one about mad people in a mental institution. Anything and everything can happen, you don't have to explain every minute detail, and the bottomline is, you can interpret it in whatever way you want. I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK runs along similar lines, having its two lead characters patients of a psychiatric ward, but therein lies some structure of a story about love, reaching out, and in making sense of life (not to mention the movie as well).

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/im-cyborg-but-thats-ok-saibogujiman.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Music and Lyrics

I will unabashedly say I thoroughly enjoyed this formulaic romantic comedy, given the trailer already revealed everything there is to the story. What really cracked me up was the opening credits, which blended in a cheesy pop music video of fictional group PoP, with the frequent soft focus, bad hair, loud costumes, cheesy lovey-dovey lyrics, synchronized dances, all totally spot on, bringing back the nostalgic 80s which I grew up in, with bubblegum groups that came and went, and from which PoP the band was moulded from - acts like Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, and in being a Wham! clone too, with the songs featured and that obvious reference to the George Michael-Andrew Ridgeley split.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/music-and-lyrics.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: 300

The trailers which have whetted the appetites of fanboys everywhere have now given way to the premiere of the movie. Fanboys, the wait is over! 300 hits our shores this week, and to action buffs, this is the moment that we're waiting for! Pure, unadulterated, violent action, true to the visuals of Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name, based on an imaginative retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 of his Spartan warriors defended their land against the invading Persian army, led by the self proclaimed god-king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro).

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/300.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Volver

In a tale spanning three generations of a family, at first glance this is a pro-woman movie, where most of the men portrayed are cads. However, in its relative simplicity, this movie is extremely well crafted, with a great storyline to boot. You may find yourself wondering how mundane scenes are linked together in an interesting narrative that doesn't seem to want to end, and with so many subplots thrown in along the way, you're waiting for it to collapse on its own weight, which in lesser hands, it just might.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/volver.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Happily N'ever After

The storyline here takes a peek into what can actually go wrong, if "happily ever after" gets traded for "happily never after". Fate as it seems, in Fairy Tale Land, is managed in a castle top by a caretaker wizard (George Carlin) and his two bumbling helpers Mambo (Andy Dick) and Monk (Wallace Shawn). In their lair, there's the book of fairy tales which dictates the lives of everyone in the land, a remote controlled looking glass for that big-brother peep into their lives, and a set of scales, which can be tipped into Good or Bad directions to influence the proceedings of the fairytale.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/happily-never-after.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Stomp the Yard

I wasn't the least surprised with the full house turnout at the preview of Stomp the Yard. Having held the number one spot at the American box office earlier this year for 2 weeks, and with dance competition programmes having ample screen time on local television, it's probably a no brainer for this movie to open here this week, in time for the school holidays, targeting its teenage audience who will more than likely turn up in droves to catch the latest dance movie offering.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/stomp-yard.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Messengers

The Messengers is widely publicized as Oxide and Danny Pang's first foray into Hollywood, having courted the siblings over after a slew of their relatively high profiled Asian horror movies like The Eye franchise, and obviously to milk all association with their movies, for audiences to expect the duo's signature style into a resurgence of Tinseltown's own horror genre. It's a gamble, as most of their movies are mediocre at best, though I enjoyed their debut with Bangkok Dangerous.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/messengers.html

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