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 Spirit

I wonder what Will Eisner will think of Frank Miller's interpretation of his classic character The Spirit. While I have not read the comic books of old, I am feeling curious enough to want to know whether Miller's version sticks to Eisner's vision, or came off as his own creation, like what he did to The Batman with The All Star Batman and Robin. Miller probably got his interest in filmmaking piqued when he witnessed two of his graphic novels Sin City and 300 rake in big bucks at the box office with Robert Rodriguez (and Miller) and Zack Snyder at the helm, and thought that his stint with the former, and employing similar CG techniques, would allow for a rookie to have a go at it.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/spirit.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Bedtime Stories

At first glance from the trailer, I thought this would be somewhat as insipid as 2006's Night At The Museum, where Ben Stiller had to dumb it down to provide for mass entertainment with Safe written all over it because 'tis the season of good tidings and such. But as it turned out, Adam Sandler proved to have struck some gold with this Disney offering, and I thought it was successfully refreshing for a change after his vulgar outing as Israeli counter-terrorist operative Zohan Dvir.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/bedtime-stories.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea

Hayao Miyazaki's magic continues with this absolute crowd pleaser Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, his latest animated film, which turns on the usual sweetness to charm your socks off. I thought that the trailer featured its song which was quietly hypnotic, and I didn't have to wait for an invite to make sure I got my ticket for the sneak preview of the movie, scheduled to open here next week.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/ponyo-on-cliff-by-sea-gake-no-ue-no.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Transporter 3

I'm beginning to see a pattern here, and I'm thinking that The Transporter, if it has the legs for more movies, could be the franchise equivalent of being a poor man's cousin to James Bond. Created and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen for three installments so far, the character of Frank Martin is a roguish looking strongman with a penchant for suiting up when going about being the best of the best in personalized delivery, with no questions asked, no names, and a whole host of other rules which he will of course break during the course of the movie.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/transporter-3.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Australia

If you're making a movie entitled "Australia", you had better get it right, no? And I thought Baz Luhrmann actually hit it quite squarely on the head with his Gone with the Wind-ish sprawling epic set in the Australian outback and around the time when the Japanese Imperial Army rained bombs over the Northern Territories, with a sprinkling of his keen eye for visual flair especially in the first few minutes where he had to set the stage for everything else to happen.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/australia.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Ghajini

The tattoos on the body, the Polaroid snaps, the notes scattered around the house, and the smoking gun evidence? Short term memory loss, happening every 15 minutes. If this doesn't seem like Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Memento, then I don't know what does. Written and directed by A.R. Murugadoss, I don't see much of a nod of acknowledgement to Nolan's work, and in almost all literature, it only falls back on the fact that this is a Hindi remake of Murugadoss' own Tamil movie of the same name Ghajini, produced in 2005 (Nolan's was in 2000), which joins the ranks of films having their titles named after the chief villain.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/ghajini.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Duchess

The trailers had tried to market this as drawing some parallels to the late Princess of Wales Diana Spencer's life, given the subject matter being a lady of royal lineage being subjected to a loveless marriage which comes complete with affairs and scandals. It had even superimposed her portrait on the trailer to suggest a deja-vu of history, given that the story here is based on real people and presenting a dramatized snapshot of their lives. Until of course Keira Knightley had to stand up and say that this movie tells its own story without the need for such cheap promotional gimmick.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/duchess.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Seven Pounds

Two years ago, director Gabriele Muccino collaborated with Will Smith successfully in their year end offering of The Pursuit of Happyness, which while based on the struggles of real life struggler made good Chris Gardner, had a saccharine sweet and triumphant ending befitting of the end of year mood of putting the last year behind you, and looking forward to a better tomorrow. This time round however, the Muccino-Smith partnership has brought about a sustained doom, gloom and heaviness throughout the film that perhaps accurately mirrors current sentiments of the downturn that doesn’t look to go anywhere upwards next year as well.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/seven-pounds.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Lady Cop and Papa Crook

The success of the Infernal Affairs series, and high profile projects like Confession of Pain would have made Felix Chong and Alan Mak household names in the Hong Kong crime thriller genre. Their latest offering with Lady Cop and Papa Crook not only comes with a somewhat cheesy title (in English at least), but gone are the familiar gloom and doom that draped their more famous films as well.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/lady-cop-and-papa-crook-daai-sau-cha-ji.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Ong Bak 2

There's no doubt I've been a fan of movies starring Tony Jaa with the likes of Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong being showcases for the Muay Thai brand of martial arts, and I fondly remember those hard hitting action sequences that left me gaping, as well as the numerous replays just to drum it through to you that it's all Jaa and it's all as incredible as can be. And who can forget the latter film with that amazing single take where Jaa had to pound his way from the bottom of a building right to the top? Ong Bak 2 is a film fans like myself have been waiting for, despite it being marred by some really strange controversy, which also included Jaa walking off the set and disapperaring from production. But everything's been sorted I guess, for the film to be completed and finally released.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/ong-bak-2.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Elegy

An elegy. A form of poetry that mourns of something that has deteriorated. And in this film there couldn't be more references to this term, forming the basis of the theme and everything that happens to all the characters involved in this pensive, melancholic piece. Based on the novel by Philip Roth and directed by Isabel Coixet, this film stars Ben Kingsley as culture critic and lecturer David Kepesh, and snapshots his life during the twilight years, where physical deterioration doesn't mean a proportionate deterioration in sex drive.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/elegy.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married has been getting some pretty positive vibes because of the performance of its leading actress Anne Hathaway. And it's indeed a role that she could use as a showcase to break out of her mold as a teeny-bopper/good looker since she started off with The Princess Diaries.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/rachel-getting-married.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Changeling

J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame wrote Changeling, which is based on the true story of one woman's fight against corruption, incompetence, accusations and intimidation, all the while in searching for the truth of what happened to her beloved 9 year old son, who vanished without a trace, only for the LAPD to try and convince her that the boy they found, was indeed her son. But that's just the gist of the first hour with plenty more in store, keeping you gripped to the screen as the story develops.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/changeling.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Women

Written and directed by Diane English, which is based on both the stage play by Clare Boothe Luce and the 1930s movie of the same name, The Women is an update of sorts transplanting stories about the love lives of 4 women friends to modern day New York City, but wait a minute, isn't this Sex in the City?

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/women.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Passengers

Anne Hathaway stars in no less than three films being released this month alone in Singapore. There's Rachel Getting Married, the upcoming Bride Wars, and Passengers. Amongst the three, and I'm counting my chickens before they hatch, Rachel Getting Married is a must watch to see how Hathaway has nailed it as a credible actress, while Bride Wars from the trailer does suggest she has some comedic flair, and this one, well, is one of those attempts at her trying to diversify.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/passengers.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Red Cliff II

It's been a six month wait for the second and final half to John Woo's magnum opus Red Cliff, and for those familiar with the classic but have not watched the first installment, the director doesn't waste time in bringing you up to speed with an excellent summary, so much so that the transitional technique used was carried over to the main movie proper. And for those who complained about the pigeon soaring over the sky overseeing a football game at the Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) camp, there're perfect explanations for those too.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/red-cliff-ii-chi-bi-xia-jue-zhan-tian.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour 3D

Alright, I have to confess that I have no clue as to who Hannah Montana is, except that she is some “it”girl with some links to Disney, and was spoofed in Superhero Movie. She's a character played by Miley Cyus, daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, who has to don a long and silky blonde wig to play her alter ego, and perhaps the only time I've seen Miley perform, was lending her non singing voice in Bolt.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/hannah-montanamiley-cyrus-best-of-both.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Milk

Biopics work for me because I'm innately curious about that aspect of a person's life which makes it compelling enough for others to want to make a film out of it. This film by Gus Van Sant tells the story of California's first openly gay elected official Harrvey Milk over the span of the last 8 and definitely more fruitful years of his life where he discovers his calling ironically after confessing to a lover that he had so far not done anything constructive with his, and then with their subsequent move to San Franscisco.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/milk.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Punisher: War Zone

I will make no apologies in declaring this version and reboot of the Punisher the best amongst the lot so far. Yes it's unflinchingly violent, and for those who have issues with screen violence getting too gratuitous, then Punsiher: War Zone is not the movie for you, and you should steer light years clear of it. Being the first Marvel Studios film released under the Marvel Knights label, which is supposedly meant for mature audiences, this is probably the version that stays close to the mythos in terms of Frank Castle's modus operandus.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/punisher-war-zone.html

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: All's Well End's Well 2009

It surprised me that this Hong Kong comedic franchise still had some legs to carry on with yet another installment, given that it's been some 12 years since the last film, which started off in 1992 starring Stephen Chow at his element, filled with plenty of "mo-lei-tau" jokes, and its fair share of obvious spoofs from well know movies. It's title ties in with none other than its release over the Lunar New Year period of the year, because it's believed that cinema goers automatically head for the comedies showing in the cinemas. Right, Jack Neo?

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/01/alls-well-ends-well-2009-ga-yau-hei-si.html

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