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: 10,000 B.C.

I guess not everyone has the audacity like Mel Gibson in taking risks related to the language used in their movies, for artistic integrity reasons. Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto both did not have their characters spout English, and had subtitles for the audience to rely on instead. And for a movie based in the era that its title states - 10,000 years before the birth of Christ - I do not suppose for one instance that our ancestral forefathers back in those days speak simple English, if at all. Then again, this is entertainment for the masses we're talking about.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/10000-bc.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Rule #1

I'm sure some of you out there would conveniently associate Kelvin Tong's reputation with the dismal Men in White, forgetting that the writer-director had his success stories in his earlier works Eating Air and The Maid. You can tell clearly that I did not really enjoy MiW, nor his experimental Love Story, but with Rule #1, Kelvin Tong gets my vote of confidence henceforth, if he steers clear of bad comedy, and pretentious art house flicks.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/rule-1.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Evangelion: 1.0 You are (Not) Alone

While I knew a little about the Japanese anime Neon Genesis Evangelion through the reading of various fan sites dedicated to it, I've never actually sat down and watched an episode of the series. So when opportunity came by to experience the Rebuild of Evangelion, why not start the slate clean?

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/evangelion-10-you-are-not-alone.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Horton Hears a Who!

I've got to make a mental note that movies that have trailers playing in the cinemas for the longest time, do not a boring movie make, even if the first half of the movie plays like the extended version of the trailer, telling us things we already know, spelling out the premise all over again.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/horton-hears-who.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: SLAM

I guess in movies with sports themes, it is never really much about the goal and the destination, but rather the journey the characters take in finding strengths amongst themselves, shore up weaknesses and collectively present and mount a challenge, that makes it compelling viewing. And it's little surprise that Slam fits into this mould and what resulted is a thoroughly enjoyable film on schoolyard pride, camaraderie and 3 on 3 basketball.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/slam-world-premiere.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Step Up 2 the Streets

The opening just might inspire the return of the flashmobbers, a fad which picked up for a short time in Singapore (of which I did participate in one), and then faded into oblivion. From the get go, it seemed like a unique idea, until you realize it's all staged to gain street cred in this Youtube age, performed by "crew" members of reigning street dance champions 410.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/step-up-2-streets.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Secret Sunshine

Initially, I would have thought that Secret Sunshine had something critical to say of religion (and here being Christianity), and wondered if it would be something of a rant against the ills of blind faith, or the manipulative power of those who are supposedly holier than thou. Surprisingly, it was none of the sort and was largely non-judgemental, putting in place events as a matter of fact, and allowing the audience to draw their own judgement and conclusion.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/secret-sunshine-milyang.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Orphanage

I thought that the Orphanage had employed just about every cliched premise out there in horrorland, where the first 5 minutes probably set up an inevitable series of events that you could have seen from 10 miles out. A creepy looking mansion which functions as an orphanage, children (who are popular characters in many horror movies), and the return to a place called home. To make things worse, the story took its time to unfold, with what I perceived as a nod toward Poltergeist and Dark Water combined.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/orphanage-el-orfanato.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Vantage Point

First off, a warning. This film is not told in your standard narrative style of having the story told from start to end. I can't figure out why teenagers were chuckling at it, because it's one of the many ways to keep you in suspense as the details slowly get pieced together, with each part of the puzzle from the vantage point of 8 individuals being joined at one point or another, without which there wouldn't be any whodunnit element, and too many jump cuts from one POV to the other in one single timeline. So there's nothing really amusing about it.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/vantage-point.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Fatal Move

But alas despite the M18 rating here, the movie was still subjected to multiple edits (originally rated R21 uncut, but no thanks of course to money-making distributors), and most of the gory bits couldn't escape the censor's scissors. What made it unforgivable, was that the much awaited duel too became victim, and for that, with the insipid storyline and relatively generic action, I would have to recommend that this be skipped at the cinemas, and rent the DVD if you're really interested.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/fatal-move-duo-shuai.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Crows: Episode 0

Directing a movie based on a manga isn't something new for Japanese auteur Takashi Miike, who also adapted the ultra-violent Ichi the Killer for the big screen. However, with Crows: Episode 0, gone are the extreme violence, though it still retains some flavour normally found in a typical action flick. Known for movies like Audition and Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, both which were released here, this is probably one of his more accessible films to date, even though it treads on familiar territory with elements of the yakuza.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/crows-episode-0-kurzu-zero.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: An Empress and the Warriors

I guess a new Hong Kong trend is emerging. I recall that as a kid, there was the Mr Vampire movie, which spawned a slew of Chinese vampire movies in its wake. Then there was John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, which gave birth to a whole lot of brotherhood-amongst-thieves themed films. And then there was Once Upon A Time in China, which brought about a renaissance in martial arts movies based on historical or beloved fictional folk heroes. These days, we're living in the Warring period era, where we have a fixation with armour, and more armour, thanks to movies like The Myth, Battle of Wits, The Warlords, Curse of the Golden Flower, and more to come with Battle of Red cliff, and Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/empress-and-warriors-jiang-shan-mei-ren.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Semi-Pro

Will Ferrell continues with sports theme comedies with Semi-Pro, a throwback to the 70s where the American Basketball Association (ABA) is merged in part with the National Basketball Association (NBA) which we are all quite familiar with. With his Talladega Nights on Nascar racing and Blades of Glory on ice figure skating, if I were to rank his latest effort amongst the three, unfortunately it will be ranked the last.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/sem…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Be Kind Rewind

Michel Gondry's movies came into my radar in 2004 with his excellent Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which became my movie of the year. Unfortunately though, local distributors didn't think that Science of Sleep can pull in a decent crowd, so that got to sit on DVD shelves instead. But I guess with Jack Black's name attached to this project, billed a comedy, confidence is relatively higher that Be Kind Rewind could rake in some profits.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/be-kind-rewind.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Shutter

Someone remind me what’s the point of a remake again? A dearth of ideas? Thinking that one can do the job better? Don’t laugh but one of the better Asian horror I’ve seen (probably amongst the first few too in recent years) was the Thai movie Shutter, which played on the plot device of spirit photography, those strange streaks of blurs that cover weird angles in a photograph, and with a vivid imagination, you can even make out faces of people you know, or know not.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/shu…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Bucket List

From morbid time to time, I'd wonder what my own bucket list will be, when I'm given a certain number of months left to live. Will I have things to accomplish being totally selfish for personal glory, or will the list consists of things that're more charitable toward others? It's easy to to have the former I suppose, and easily quantifiable goals such as travel the world and the likes, but I'm beginning to appreciate the meaningfulness of making a difference in the lives of others, especially so since I think I haven't done anything in that respect.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/bucket-list.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Grace is Gone

John Cusack is one of the character actors I admire. And in Grace is Gone, it centers upon his ability to bring you into his character's world. He really transformed himself into the role of Stanley Philipps with his thick glasses, walking with an instep, and that little hunch and a paunch, and delivers probably one of his finer touches in disappearing into a character that's so everyday average Joe. He's a salaryman earning his keep while watching over his two girls while Mrs Grace Philipps (Dana Lynne Gilhooley) is a career soldier who gets her tour of duty in Iraq.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/grace-is-gone.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Charlie Bartlett

You have Ferris Bueller, and Van Wilder, and now we have Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin). But unlike the other two high school dudes with natural chemistry, Bartlett got to work hard at it, stemmed from his personal issues which manifest itself as a want to get himself catapulted to the top of the popularity charts. Being from a rich household, he finds himself like a fish out of water in a public school after being thrown out of just about every private school out there for his shenanigans.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/charlie-bartlett.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Becoming Jane

Julian Jarrold gave us Kinky Boots in 2005, and now helms something I thought of as more solemn in tone with the biographical tale of literary legend Jane Austen in Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy in yet another period dramatic piece since Atonement. Here, they play star crossed lovers who get embroiled with the rigidity of class, honour and reputation back in Old England, with him being a legal student, and she, a budding novelist, where at the time isn't a career choice (if at all) for a female.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/03/becoming-jane.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon

Sad to say, I've only read the epic Romance of the Three Kingdom novels once in my lifetime to date, and an abridged English version at that. My only other contacts with this classic Chinese literature is with the China television series that I had to struggle with because the initial episodes came without English subtitles (i.e. akin to watching a Shakespearean play for the very first time and marvelling at the richness in language used), and of course, the Koei computer game that so many peers of my generation would have played at one time or another.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/04/three-kingdoms-resurrection-of-dragon.html

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