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: Rush Hour 3

Should movies make money, then the Hollywood rule of thumb is to make another, and another, until the franchise runs out of steam. The original Rush Hour was a Jackie Chan vehicle of sorts to break into Hollywood, and it made a lot of money with the mis-pairing opposite Chris Tucker in a buddy cop movie formula filled with action and comedy. Rush Hour 2 was made 3 years later and made even more money, but it took 6 years for the second sequel to be made, and 9 years for the entire trilogy to be done (pray tell, will there be another sequel?)

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/rush-hour-3.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

Move aside Transformers. Retire John McClane. Matt Damon is back as the best of the best prototype secret agent-assassin Jason Bourne, and his Ultimatum wins the best action movie of the summer, hands down and without a single thread of doubt! Loosely based on the Robert Ludlum novels of the same name, the movie version starring Damon in the titular role, have already established itself as serious, slick, and got almost everything right in the spy movie genre. It owned James Bond, and in my opinion, possibly one of the best franchises out there.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/bourne-ultimatum.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Hostel: Part II

Between the first Hostel released last year and its sequel, there have been countless number of torture porn movies released, like Turistas, Captivity, Wolf Creek, and the likes, so much so that audiences these days (or fans of the genre) bay for more blood to be spilled, the gorier the merrier. In that respect, Hostel Part 2 failed to live up to its predecessor's success in sticking to the blood, gore, violence, drug and nudity clauses that have become staple, and instead, opted for a perceived balance with its earlier film, which made it turn out to be a yawn.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/hostel-part-ii.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Ratatouille

The Pixar juggernaut continues! I've always been enthralled by the movies that Pixar puts out ever since Toy Story, and through the years, Pixar has built a brand of trust amongst movie goers, with quality storytelling using animation as a tool to tell them, not because it's cool to do things through the medium, but that it adds a certain powerful, believable dimension, with stories rooted to universal themes, yet jazzed up by the structure in which it's told. The Incredibles ranked amongst my favourite so far, but writer-director Brad Bird has topped that with Ratatouille, a story about a rat, and probably the most mature of the Pixar stories to date.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/ratatouille.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Brave Story

Say "Anime" these days, and the brewing spat between the local anime community and the company Odex will spring to mind, with the latter suing illegal downloaders of their licensed anime and allegedly gloating over the internet, leaving a bad aftertaste amongst the online folks. But I'm not into serialized anime (ok, I hear those chants of you-don't-know-what-you're-missing), but frankly, I prefer animated movies, as they're to the point, and nothing beats watching them on the big screen.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/brave-story.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Dead Silence

In 2004, James Wan and Leigh Whannell burst into contemporary horror-thriller genre with their highly successful movie Saw, and had created quite an enigmatic character in Jigsaw, the serial killer with highly questionable morality issues. Success had meant spawning a slew of sequels, though they hadn't really had much direct control over the quality of the subsequent movies, which I thought to date had made quite a neat trilogy.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/dead-silence.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: License to Wed

Marriage is serious stuff. I've come to realize that it takes a lot of commitment and trust in order to walk down the aisle and dedicate your entire lifetime from that point onwards to the welfare of another human being, and that's not counting the fact that some kids would be in tow in the future as well. Forever is a very long time, and just how sure are you to say "I Do" to the significant other, that the relationship should at least stay the same, or in the best case, improve and grow from strength to strength. If someone has problems keeping promises, then an eternal vow, wow.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/license-to-wed.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Willow Tree

Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, and us mortal man have absolutely no idea what to make of it, opting for the most parts to blame the big guy when things don't go our way, only to find out that the fault lies in ourselves. No, I'm not suddenly pious and wanting to spread the word, but Majid Majidi's The Willow Tree evoked such a feeling and reminder to myself, that it's always so easy to blame "somebody else", even though that someone could be the guy up there.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/willow-tree-beed-e-majnoon.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Poltergay

I'll have to admit that Poltergay is a lot of fun, for straight folks and gay folks alike. It's probably something that Kelvin Tong's Men in White could have been - smart, witty and with that level of cheekiness, without almost always falling flat on its jokes. If it could have been at least what Poltergay was, then it won't have to suffer the misery of a relatively poor box office, or DVDs that I think most people would stand around the shops to watch for free, rather than to purchase a copy for personal consumption.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/poltergay.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Skinwalkers

The poster may look menacing, but Skinwalkers is actually a tame pussycat. In the hands of ordinary filmmakers, this is what you get - mediocre, "have we seen this before" moments, and plenty of unintentional comedy, for a werewolf genre that tried to reinvent itself, and exhausted its game plan. To give itself a mystical feel, it developed its own uninteresting mythos about some prophecy (not again!) that will come true after the appearance of the red moon.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/skinwalkers.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Hairspray

Teenager Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) has a dream, and that is to join a group of hip teenagers in a dance programme on television called the Corny Collins (James Marsden) Show, especially when she has a crush on the show's heartthrob Link (Zac Efron). But as you know, despite being pleasant, blessed with a good voice and groove, possessing a wonderful never-say-die attitude and positive demeanour, television's all about glamour, and being plump means she's out of place, especially for TV producer Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer) who sees her as a constant thorn undermining her and her engineered-for-success daughter Amber (Brittany Snow).

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/hairspray.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Jesus Camp

Jesus Camp is a horror movie. And the horror is real, not made up, doesn't rely on cheap special effects or tried and tested techniques to make your heart jolt. What's horrific is the systematic brainwashing of children, to have them believe something so abstract, by using devices such as toys, and fear. Children are highly impressionable, and watching the little ones put through a regime of highly charismatic thought processes, and perhaps even empowering them, what you get are little monsters. Angelic faces, but with hearts so demented, they are children no more.

Continues at: http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/jesus-camp.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Contract Lover

Kate stars opposite Richie Ren (or Jen, depending on what rocks your boat), as couple Rachel and Fat. They're the atypical modern day couple living it up in Beijing, though the latter is suspect of the former's promiscuity. He loathes the time when he has to bring his girlfriend back to the village to meet his parents, and to get the stamp of approval from his father (played by Yuen Wah). So they device a plan, and that is to look for a substitute girlfriend (hence the title Contract Lover), whose mission is to be as disgusting as possible, so that Dad will tell Fat to find anyone else better than the current beau, and hence, for Fat to introduce Rachel.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/contract-lover-hup-yeu-ching-yan.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Blood Brothers

Inspired by John Woo's Bullet in the Head, Blood Brothers ventures into the tried and tested boys in the hood gangland story about honour and comradeship, only to find out that there's a little more to girls, gangs and guns. The movie looks great with beautiful sets, costumes, props, but there was a general sense of being emotionally empty beneath the shiny looking veneer.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/blood-brothers.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: 1408

If you believe in urban legends, there are some pretty nifty ones out there regarding hotel rooms. You know, the ones about not requesting for a room with a double bed when you're alone, or to check under the bed, cupboards for erm, extras, or the golden rule to knock before entering. Pah! you may say, but some deem them standard operating procedures as you just do not know the history behind the strange room you're going to spend the night in.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/08/1408.html

The Asian Film Symposium is back! Click on http://www.substation.org/afs for more details!

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Evan Almighty

Surprisingly, Evan Almighty is not a comedy per se. A sequel to the Jim Carrey movie Bruce Almighty, where Steve Carrell played a television journalist Evan Baxter - the one with the rubbery face giving Jim a run for his own money, this movie is sans Jim, and Steve is thrust into the leading role, with writer Steve Oedekerk (the one who gave us androgynous Barnyard cows) providing Evan Baxter a fast track in his career, to that of a newly elected Congressman.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/09/evan-almighty.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: No Reservations

No Reservations is a remake of Bella Martha (Mostly Martha), a German movie made way back in 2001. The premise is entirely the same, and I thought the local distributors were sly enough to hold back the release of this movie to coincide during the time of the local premiere of Ratatouille. I suspect it's to rub off the Pixar animated movie's successful telling of a story set within a kitchen, to orientate moviegoers to the various roles and functions within the restaurant kitchen, so that we're all ready for this when we're in the mood for some love.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-reservations.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Last Legion

There are many adaptations and versions to the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, with Merlin the sorcerer, and of the magical sword Excalibur, some versions which set it into stone, while others, handed out by a lady in the water. The Last Legion is essentially touting a story about the beginnings of Excalibur and how it took to the former. However, it took a long route to tell this story, going all the way back to 400-something AD, a time where Rome is in turmoil.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/09/last-legion.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Home Song Stories

The Home Song Stories made its debut at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and I've waited a long time for it to come to our shores. A joint Singapore-Australian production, it's an autobiographical story of writer-director Tony Ayres' childhood, of what he remembers about his mother, a songstress who uprooted her children and migrated from Hong Kong to Australia, and their struggles to etch a living surviving in a strange land.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/09/home-song-stories.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: I Know Who Killed Me

Maybe because it's Lindsay Lohan's way of telling the cinematic world she's grown up now and would like to be cast in more mature roles, with her taking on dual characters here as all American rich girl next door Aubrey Fleming, and white trash stripperella Dakota Moss. Like Anne Hathaway before her who had shed her clothes to announce her arrival (in both Brokeback Mountain and Havoc), Lohan prances around in skimpy costumes, gyrating on a dance floor showing off her pole moves, but yet stopped short from showing what she has already exposed in real life.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-know-who-killed-me.html

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