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: Sunshine Cleaning

It’s relatively easy to dismiss this as a chick flick, given that the story’s by Megan Holley with Christine Jeffs at the directing helm, and stars what would possibly be the female up-and-coming stars in Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, but you’ll be doing yourself no favours should you have any preconceived notions that it should be light and chirpy. There are some easily identified emotional issues here that would strike a chord in you, and there’s plenty of real world sensitivities built into the characters that make them an absolute delight to follow and spend time with.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/sun…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: New York

Ths spat between the Bollywood producers and exhibitors have finally come to an end for now, and this Aditya Chopra produced film becomes the first off the blocks locally, and what more than a summer film that had its promotional trailer playing since late last year finally being able to see some light, starring some of my favourite Bollywood stars like John Abraham and Irrfan Khan.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/new…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: HERE

It may seem like a joke, where a question was asked “Why are you here?” and the reply went “because I’m not there”, but in many ways this film does suggest that you focus your thoughts on the now, no matter how distractingly attractive it may be to allow your thoughts to wander elsewhere, given the many spatial opportunities to do so. HERE is writer-director Ho Tzu Nyen’s debut feature film, and it’s quite a feat too that it got itself into the official selection of the 41st Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes this year. If cutting edge and an unconventional approach is the way to go, then HERE has plenty for those who’s game for a cerebral boggle.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/her…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Threads of Destiny

From Crying Out Love from the Center of the World to Sky of Love, it’s almost a given to have a local release of the hottest Japanese teenage romance movie in Singapore. After all, it seemed like the Koreans have fizzled out, while the Japanese are still going on strong in this genre as far as local box office releases are of any indication. Given novels that are churned out and translated for the big screen, there’s no lack of new genre material, and with up-and-coming stars waiting in the wings, there’s no better way to get them acquainted with audiences through films that paint a saccharine sweet picture of Love.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/thr…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Brothers Bloom

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, whose only film credit so far is the excellent Brick, with The Brothers Bloom he proves that he’s not a one hit hack job, and continues to showcase his very creative, visual eye for beautiful images, and possession of a very keen storytelling sense in elevating a story about 2 con-men into fairy tale proportions.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/06/bro…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Kambakkht Ishq

Akshay Kumar must have felt that 2009 thus far was harsh on him. While I had enjoyed his earlier offerings of the year with the Hollywood-funded kungfu extravaganza Chandni Chowk to China, and his Nicolas Cage-like role in a thriller film like 8×10 Tasveer, critics have generally panned both of those films. Unfortunately I think he had lost me on this one, which was a film of two halves, the first which I enjoyed, but it became quite a drag to plough through after the interval.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/kam…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Duplicity

I suppose I’m just hungry for an engaging tale about corporate espionage, given an occupational interest in the subject, and most times the stories usually find an easy way out in their scenarios that it all seems a little far fetched, or implausibly weak in execution because sometimes simple and effective counter-measures exist in the real world that having to see it on screen means an insult to the audience’s intelligence to a certain degree.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/dup…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: 20th Century Boys 2 – The Last Hope

It’s been a relatively long wait for the sequel to 20th Century Boys, and a word of warning to those who intend to catch The Last Hope. Either you have to be a thorough fan boy of the first film to have a photographic memory of what developed, or you’d have just recently watched it on DVD, in order to be able to dive right into this film’s proceedings. Being a fan of the manga series probably wouldn’t help as much since the story would depart from the established mythos, and it’s sad to say there isn’t so much of a recap of key events and characters from the first film. You have been warned, and newbies better stay away.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/20t…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

I think Ice Age has already established a strong franchise, and if it sticks to its own narrative formula, it should still find some legs to carry on the laughs with more movies to come, since the character base keeps on expanding, and unless the box office receipts tells the filmmakers otherwise. Like the adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/ice…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Haunting in Connecticut

“Based on a true story”. I’ve now begun to take things with a pinch of salt, because those five words more often than not just tries to give a horror film some street cred, trying to deflect some knuckles of familiarity by claiming that it’s something experienced versus something dreamt up. I have one of my own too (that happened to someone else), which is based on a creepy mirror bought from Thailand being hung in a room, and thereafter a child continuously claiming that she sees a man standing by the window licking an ice cream every night. while the mom didn’t and couldn’t see anything, she got freaked out nonetheless. This stopped when the mirror got covered up and locked in a cupboard.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/hau…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Fifty Dead Men Walking

The main attraction of this story is not of the violent politicking between the British and the IRA, where you see how either side become both the oppressed and the oppressor with their imposition of rules and regulations executed sometimes on a whim. This film doesn’t seek out to preach the truth and has from the start stated that it had taken plenty of liberties with the story, inspired by the true story of an undercover agent’s role in the IRA, being a trusted source and informant to the British, until he was played out as a political pawn and had to forever be on the run. Welcome to the world of clandestine operations, where the only rule of the game is to survive.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/fif…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Love is in the air. While the muggle world and the world of magic are under siege from the forces of evil, I guess there’s always time for our growing teenagers to be frustrated more by the affairs of the heart, rather than be troubled with whether the fate of the world is within your control to steer from collapse, unless of course you’re Harry Potter, the Chosen One.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/har…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Crank: High Voltage

Crank: High Voltage is the ultimate guilt trip for an action junkie. Just to state for the record that I had parked my brains at the door and totally enjoyed the very first Crank film when many had condemned it because of its WTF ending, but I thought it did serve its purpose since there were plenty of implausible situations our hero Chev Chelios, played by one of my favourite contemporary action stars, Jason Statham, got put through. Implausibility seems to be the buzzword here as well, being consciously mentioned very early on in a direct continuation from where we left off in its predecessor, 3 months after Chelios ran amok in the city.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/cra…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Female Games

Kan Lume continues to push the boundaries involving relatively taboo themes that Singapore narrative films have traditionally steered clear from. While one may seem to think offhand that this film centers around lesbianism, this film is anything but solely that, though obviously it’s an easy selling point, but presented here in this pared down version is still a keen observation into the psyche of females, which you’ll hear or experience yourself from time to time with regards to girls checking other girls out, in a competitive sort of fashion.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/fem…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Murderer

The credentials attached to this production is somewhat stellar, and I got to admit I was hooked by the trailer, which stylishly promised something of quality hidden behind the very obvious red herrings thrown around. Lensed by Lee Pin Bing and starring Aaron Kwok, whom I’ve grown to admire his choice of projects which highlight his developing credibility as a serious actor, this film started off strong, but ended with an unsatisfying, weakened whimper in a schizophrenic manner.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/mur…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: A Frozen Flower

A Frozen Flower got billed here as “The Year’s Sexiest Blockbuster”, and writer-director Ha Yu’s movie could probably be also billed as an equivalent to Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower, given its period setting and schemes within a royal household, plenty of gorgeous costumes, opulent production sets, with a tinge of wire-fu martial arts and a chock load of mixed romances thrown in for good measure too.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/fro…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: The Hangover

I guess you’ll probably know by now the yardstick I use for comedies, and that’s if I don’t laugh until my tears flow uncontrollably, then it’s not 5-star funny. Granted that there wasn’t any comedic situation here that had warranted my laughter from the belly and opened my tear ducts, it did have some classic moments that would bring out some genuine mirth, albeit sporadically, though the film managed to fuel itself up to last the 100 minute distance.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/han…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Fighting

One of the reasons why I’m watching this, is because of the probable rising star in Channing Tatum. No stranger to the teenage demographics because of his starring role in Step Up (and cameo in Step Up 2), and in the upcoming lead role in summer blockbuster G.I. Joe as Duke, Fighting is one of those films that gets him to showcase his sculpted and chiselled features for a role that’s more brawn than brains.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/fig…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Plastic City

Shot mostly in Brazil and against a blue/green screen, Plastic City had all the trappings of a classic gangster flick. After all, it has Hong Kong veteran Anthony Wong whom we all know can go crazy if the role calls for it, and Japan’s Jo Odagiri who is more than just your pretty boy actor as showcased through his range of characters in his filmography. Unfortunately, under the rookie directorship of Yu Lik-Wai, this city became too sprawling a convoluted mess of half-baked ideas and ambitious presentation that fell flat on its face.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/pla…

daface SG

A Nutshell Review: Public Enemies

It looks like Michael Mann just can’t get enough of playing cops and robbers, and with previous efforts from Heat to Miami Vice, he just about goes to show that he can weave some exciting scenes of pursuit, testosterone charged shoot em ups, and parallels between those on opposite sides of the law. What more, he has the services of Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as his leading men, set in a time during the Great Depression where desperate men turn to desperate measures to survive.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/pub…

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