A Nutshell Review by daface

daface

21 Feb 07, 23:47

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

24 Feb 07, 20:49

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

1 Mar 07, 23:38

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

3 Mar 07, 21:37

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

3 Mar 07, 23:13

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

6 Mar 07, 23:57

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

8 Mar 07, 22:18

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

11 Mar 07, 00:03

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

11 Mar 07, 01:33

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

11 Mar 07, 18:31

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

daface

11 Mar 07, 20:52

A Nutshell Review: Blood and Chocolate

From the producers of Underworld, this movie looks like a cheap cousin to the popular wolves versus vampires movie starring Kate Beckinsale. Based on a book by Annette Curtis Klause, and directed by Katja von Garnier, it's difficult not to draw comparisons because of the subject material and similar themes, this time though doing without the vampires, and sets the spotlight firmly on a group of hunted werewolves called the Loups-Garoux. Sexy sounding, but essentially a useless name for useless beings.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/blood-and-chocolate.html

daface

11 Mar 07, 22:55

A Nutshell Review: The History Boys

The History Boys is a highly successful and multi-award winning play from London's West End, and it's probably a no brainer in adapting it for the silver screen to reach out to even more people out there. But instead of being just another adaptation, what probably is rare is that the original cast of the production gets recruited for this effort, together with Alan Bennett as scribe for the screenplay, ensuring legitimacy and authenticity.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/history-boys.html

daface

14 Mar 07, 00:11

A Nutshell Review: Man of the Year

Imagine the likes of popular talk show hosts becoming the most powerful man on Earth. What do you think of the Lettermans and the Renos taking over the Oval Office? Will their humour and mass appeal pull in the votes, and give them enough to win? Or will they be in the mix solely for entertainment value, unable to put on the table serious issues that the fate of the country depends on?

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/03/man-of-year.html

daface

3 Apr 07, 00:24

A Nutshell Review: Mr Bean's Holiday

Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean first burst into mainstream TV prominence in this part of the world sometime in the early 90s, where half hour episodes containing skits of that famous character cut through all boundaries with its humour - by not having Mr Bean speak (or speak minimally, and when it doesn't matter), and set in simple, identifiable premises, he's able to reach out to all, regardless of language.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/mr-beans-holiday.html

daface

3 Apr 07, 22:55

A Nutshell Review: TMNT

The 80s was a funky time to grow up in, when kids have a wide, and I mean really wide selection of cartoons to watch, and not to mention the toys tied in to make billions. I can rattle off the toons like Mask, Silverhawks, BraveStarr, and the earlier GI Joes and He-Man, etc. It was a period of time where I celebrated in my shorts, but I vividly remember that growing up phase when somehow, the toons didn't start to appeal anymore. Probably I was maturing (ahem), and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was caught in this transition stage I was in.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/tmnt.html

daface

4 Apr 07, 23:22

A Nutshell Review: Sunshine

I have been a fan of Danny Boyle's movies, though I've watched only but a handful of his movies - Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, 28 Days Later and Millions. Teaming up with Alex Garland, who wrote the novel The Beach, and the story for 28 Days Later, they team up again for this futuristic science fiction thriller, where a group of astronauts and scientist, aboard Earth's last hope for salvation - the Icarus II, in an attempt to deliver a "payload" of nukes to the Sun's core, to reignite our solar star and bring warmth back to a freezing Earth.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/sunshine.html

daface

6 Apr 07, 02:13

A Nutshell Review: Shooter

Never mess with someone who can drop you with his gun from miles away. Snipers somehow has this aura of mystique and sexiness associated with the motto of "one shot, one kill", as exhibited in movies like Enemy at the Gates, or memorable war characters such as in Saving Private Ryan. In Shooter, this gets demystified for a while, hitting home that not only should one be gifted with the pulling of the trigger from incredible distance, a sniper is also a master mathematician, having to compute the trajectory of the round with factors of humidity, wind direction, angle etc just to hit the target.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/shooter.html

daface

6 Apr 07, 23:12

A Nutshell Review: Nada So So

Nada So So, loosely translated as Tears For You, broke box office records in Japan last year. It's a romance story, so its box office clout is no surprise, especially when starring teenage idols Satoshi Tsumabuki (The Waterboys) and Masami Nagasawa (Crying Out Love from the Center of the World, Robocon). Given the screening I attended today was a full house, and almost everyone female, I guess I'm one of the rare few in the theatre who's there to watch Masami in her new movie, as I confess I'm totally smitten by that sunshine smile of hers.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/nada-s-s-tears-for-you.html

daface

7 Apr 07, 00:02

A Nutshell Review: Meet the Robinsons

Disney's recent animated features have been misses, with the likes of Chicken Little and The Wild performing below expectations despite the updated computer generated toons and marketing gimmicks, bringing to mind the age old adage that the story comes first. As far as animated movies go, Pixar's the one to beat, having crisp drawings perform to the tune of a superb story. Meet the Robinsons is not a Pixar movie (given that the two companies have now merged), and I'm pleased to say that Robinsons has indeed remembered to go back to basics, in whipping out a strong, engaging tale for its computer generated animation.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/meet-robinsons.html

daface

7 Apr 07, 00:47

A Nutshell Review: The Hitcher

Sometimes you wonder what's the point. The Hitcher is a remake of sorts of a 1986 movie of the same name, where you have a deranged hitchhiker trolling around a highway, taking on innocent, good samaritans who offer him a lift, and sending them to the light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps for newbie director Dave Meyers, whose filmography contains only music video productions, it seemed like a safe enough choice to make his first narrative film, a remake, and one riding on the coattails of the recent popular horror-thriller genre.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/hitcher.html

daface

7 Apr 07, 22:00

A Nutshell Review: The Number 23

Joel Schumacher re-teams with Jim Carrey in the latter's latest attempt to tangent away from the comedic genre, trying to seal himself as being capable of pulling off a dramatic role time and again. I thought he had decent outings with The Majestic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my favourite 2004 movie), though I must admit his brooding, obsessive character in The Number 23 totally wiped out traces of that trademarked smirk off his face. You don't see him smile in this movie.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/number-23.html

daface

7 Apr 07, 23:10

A Nutshell Review: Freedom Writers

It's easy to dismiss at first glance that Freedom Writers as yet another run off the mill troubled teenage class with an inspirational teacher story where the latter whips the class into shape for graduation with some unorthodox teaching methods. In fact it is, except that it's based on accounts of real persons, and that it's full of heart.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/freedom-writers.html

daface

8 Apr 07, 00:05

A Nutshell Review: The Reaping

Watching two Hilary Swank movies back to back, I thought it presented a good opportunity to see how the same actress tackles different roles, one a dramatic piece about life's lessons, and the other this, The Reaping, taking on some supernatural forces, although she almost started this movie in a lecture hall premise.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/reaping.html

daface

8 Apr 07, 10:18

A Nutshell Review: Conversations with Other Women

Conversations with Other Women is a talkie movie, along the same vein as Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, as it takes place in one single night of a wedding of a Man's (Aaron Eckhart) sister. He chances upon Woman (Helena Bonham Carter), one of his sister's bridesmaid, and proceeds to flirt with her, in the hopes of getting lucky for a one night stand.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/conversations-with-other-women.html

daface

8 Apr 07, 22:29

A Nutshell Review: Breach

Breach is directed by Billy Ray, who also wrote Flightplan and directed his only other movie, Shattered Glass, also based on real events. Based on the true story of the greatest security breach in US History, it traces the events leading to the arrest of decorated and respected FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who is one heck of a mole within the organization, committing treason of the highest order by betraying the country and selling secrets to the Soviet Union.

Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2007/04/breach.html