A Nutshell Review: Kinky Boots
There are only a handful of movies which strike a both the hip and fun chord in me. Kinky Boots can be added to that select list of mine. It's thoroughly fun, and has a good story to tell, beneath the facade of a story inspired by the true event of a Northamptonshire men's shoe factory which takes the plunge into making boots for transvestites.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/05/kinky-boots.html
A Nutshell Review: X-Men: The Last Stand
As always, you get the beef here - stay tuned until the end of the credits for one small scene which will probably put a smile to your face. Don't say I didn't warn ya! Oh and as usual with good Marvel movies, watch out for Stan Lee too!
The X-Men movies did one thing which I thought was almost impossible to do for the movies, and that is to massage the multi-characters' egos into one feature length film within reasonable screen time. Kudos are necessary for Bryan Singer and his team for pulling the original X-Men off, then top it with X2, beating odds that sequels generally suck, what with bigger sets, action, and horrors, even more characters!
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/05/x-men-last-stand.html
A Nutshell Review: Good Night, and Good Luck.
Finally someone had the balls to bring this movie in, after the Oscar hype and all. I was anticipating this movie to compare it with the rest of the Best Picture nominees, but had to refrain from watching it from *ahem* sources, or from DVD rentals. So what's my verdict? It's a little overhyped.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/05/good-night-and-good-luck.html
A Nutshell Review: The Benchwarmers
The main reason why I would want to go watch a movie like this, which I'd bet 95% of the movie-going audience would prefer to avoid, is actually to check out what it's done to its premise. You see, a group of friends and I had an idea which we wanted to short-film, and the trailer for The Benchwarmers was so strikingly similar. Not that the story is rocket-science to begin with, but it's sometimes helpful to check out how a treatment ended up with its release.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/benchwarmers.html
A Nutshell Review: Slither
We've seen a slew of horrific gore movies hitting the screens lately, from Saw to Hostel, some hits, some misses, some remakes, brought to us by a new age group of horror directors like Darren Lynn Bousman, Eli Roth and Alexandre Aja. Slither, written and directed by James Gunn, continues the blood fad with them slimy creatures combined with zombies who walk the earth.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/slither.html
A Nutshell Review: [Cine.SG] Unarmed Combat
2006 has been a bumper year for local movies so far, with a slew making it to the big screen, or are scheduled to be released later this year. Cine.SG was just launched (you can read the Gala here), and has provided a platform for films made in Singapore, or by Singaporeans, to be screened.
Director Han Yew Kwang's Unarmed Combat is the first feature film to launch the series, a quirky comedy about a tale of two women, and a man caught in the middle. What strikes you immediately during the opening, are the still shots of the shop front of an old-school laundromat, complete with plenty of nostalgic looking equipment of yesteryears, and that infectious ear-worm of a theme tune, akin to the style and production sets of Kung Fu movies of the past.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/cinesg-unarmed-combat.html
for poster still and trailer
Link to gala details and Q&A coming soon!
A Nutshell Review: Silent Hill
Never piss a mother off by taking away or threatening her child. We've seen plenty of tough mamas in contemporary movies, and Jodie Foster comes to mind in having personified the tough-as-nails mum in Panic Room and Flight Plan. NO, she doesn't have a part to play in Silent Hill, but the premise, about a mother on a journey to recover her daughter from the clutches of harm, couldn't be more familiar.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/silent-hill.html
A Nutshell Review: The Omen
The remake of The Omen will mark a triple grand slam of horror movies I watched in a week (which is so rare), with Slither and Silent Hill making up the other two. From one demonic kid in the latter movie, to Damien, one of the earlier demonic kids in cinematic history, this remake, like most remakes, will make you wonder, just what is the point?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/omen.html
A Nutshell Review: RV
If I were to tell you I grew up watching Robin Williams do his "nanoo nanoo" on television's Mork and Mindy, then yes, you'll know how ancient I am. The last movie I've seen with Williams in it (ok, just his voice), was the animated feature Robots. His is a career with pretty defining movies, like Dead Poets Society and Awakenings, to darker fare like recent movies Insomnia and One Hour Photo, vastly different from his comedic roles like in Mrs Doubtfire and Cadillac Man.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/rv.html
A Nutshell Review: King and the Clown
King and the Clown was South Korea's best selling film of 2005, having sold more than 12 million tickets over a span of 7 weeks. But after watching it, it's difficult to fathom the craze, nor about the New York Times hype that it "may be the equivalent of 'Brokeback Mountain'". Not that it is a bad movie, it is actually entertaining and tells an intriguing story in the courts of the Korean emperor.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/king-and-clown.html
A Nutshell Review: Just My Luck
The only Lindsay Lohan movie I had ever watched was Mean Girls (2004) on board a flight to Europe, and I thought it was a pretty entertaining chick flick. Herbie Fully Loaded somehow didn't appeal to me, so Just My Luck was next on the screens here. There's another little story too on how we picked this DVD in Petaling Jaya, KL, Malaysia, together with Scary Movie 4, and then donated it, but heck, that's another story for another day, and it really was just our luck that night of the purchase.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/just-my-luck.html
A Nutshell Review: The Road to Guantanamo
Guantanamo Bay has surfaced in the news again, with the apparent suicide of 3 inmates. For the uninitiated, Guantanamo is set up by the US to hold enemy combatants for interrogation, those captured in the War on Terror. But the movie questions, just how exactly effective the interrogation is, or whether perhaps, as per widely held suspicion, that the folks now inside one of the most notorious prisons, are mostly innocent folks caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/road-to-guantanamo.html
A Nutshell Review: The Local Director's Series
If you're keen to learn more about our local directors' happenings and films, here are two which you might be interested to read about
Royston Tan
http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/dvd-launch-roystons-shorts.html
Han Yew Kwang
http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/retrospective-han-yew-kwang.html
A Nutshell Review: Scary Movie 4
I'm a fan of campy grossed out politically incorrect comedies, so films like Top Secret!, Airplane, Hot Shots and Naked Gun, are right up my alley. For some strange reason, I never did watch any of the past Scary Movies, save for the bits shown in various trailers. And I'm sad to say that Scary Movie 4, is unfortunately, not very funny.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/scary-movie-4.html
A Nutshell Review: Krrish
Krrish is a sequel to the blockbuster Koi... Mil Gaya, also directed by Rakesh Roshan, but no worries if you haven't seen the first movie - you'll be brought up to speed in no time, and Krrish will also work if it stood alone. First off, it's a superhero movie combined with science fiction, so that was a plus point to have this movie reintroduce me to Bollywood once again. And it worked. With romance, action, and some comedy thrown into the mix, what can one ask for more for pure entertainment?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/krrish.html
A Nutshell Review: Havoc
I could start off this review in Singlish by saying "This movie damn havoc", and it just about sums it up accurately and nicely. Sex, drugs and gangsterism from the hop is hip culture, this movie attempts to provide a social commentary about the lives of super rich teenagers in the Palasades, wasting their bored lives away by trying to emulate another culture they think is cool, the wannabes who chose not to conform to the norms, but try their darndest best to be one in the 'hood.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/havoc.html
A Nutshell Review: Superman Returns
Superman returns! And in a style befitting a worldwide pop cultural icon easily recognizable from that distinctively red-yellow S-shield. Being stuck in production hell for almost 2 decades since the last movie installment, Bryan Singer has resurrected the Man of Steel for the silver screen, with an all new cast made up of fresh faces and veterans, even Marlon Brando, as Jor-El.
In the hands of lesser directors, it will be tempting to make a Superman movie consisting of mindless slugfests, capitalizing Supes' invulnerability. Early drafts of a new Superman movie wanted to do just that. In the hands of unimaginative storytellers, this same invulnerability will also prove to be a bane, and therefore translate into a bore. Singer, based on his track record of his successful X-Men movies, in massaging multiple favourite characters and telling a compelling story, weaves his brand of magic into Superman, giving us not only what everyone would come to expect, but also an extremely important factor that makes this movie a winner -
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/superman-returns.html
A Nutshell Review: Thank You for Smoking
I was attracted to the movie because of its title - Thank You for Smoking. It's not politically correct - where's the "not"? And the trailer looked like it was a whole lot of fun as well, with a tobacco evangelist spreading the good news about smoking and cigarettes. Coincidentally, this movie also turned out to be this week's GV Surprise Screening selection.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/thank-you-for-smoking.html
A Nutshell Review: Re-Cycle
Be careful what you wish for, because sometimes, they just might come true, whether you like it to or not. A writer's inspiration can also be adapted from real life events, with a dash of dramatic license added to spice things up for the reader. And an environmental message which is worked quite effortlessly into the narrative, makes one wonder in awe too.
Re-Cycle is the latest horror thriller from the acclaimed Pang Brothers, whose Bangkok Dangerous I had enjoyed tremendously. Perhaps an Asian answer to Hollywood's Wachowski Brothers with their flair for interesting visuals and stories which thread on many levels, Oxide and Danny Pang's latest movie stars Angelica Lee (or Lee Sin-Je if you prefer), already having her fair share of spook fests in her filmography.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/re-cycle.html
Check out the gala and a link to the Q&A here: http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/gala-premiere-re-cycle.html
A Nutshell Review: Hoodwinked
Anne Hathaway is currently disrobing on our local screens, and I suspect by the time Havoc finished its run, then she'll be heard but not seen, only lending her voice in the animated feature Hoodwinked, by Blue Yonder Films and Kanbar Entertainment. By not being a product churned out from the usual Disney-Pixar-Dreamworks-Fox studios, it's a delightful departure from the expected norms we already have formed by offerings from the mentioned studios.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/hoodwinked.html
A Nutshell Review: 4:30
All these bells and whistles take a backseat in 4:30, a quiet film save for some lines of dialogue. The closing film of this year's Singapore International Film Festival where it played to a sell out crowd, the first thing that comes to mind is, is this a Singapore movie? With a style so commonly found in arthouse films, you'll probably be amazed that we do have someone here capable of crafting a contemplative movie immersed so richly in green hues. A previous short film closest to the mood and visuals to 4:30 would be Sons (you must check it out!)
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/430.html
You can also check out an earlier interview session with Royston by clicking on this link http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/06/kopi-with-royston.html
A Nutshell Review: The Unforgiven
No, this isn't about the US Marine Corps, with the tagline above used in Jarhead. The Unforgiven is a Korean army movie, which I likened in similarity to Jarhead, in that there is no war action. This independent film follows the life of a new recruit, Lee Seung-yeong (Seo Jang-weon), in his journey through the Korean armed forces, and his brotherly relationship forged with his close friend and superior Yu Tae-jung (Ha Jung-woo)
continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/unforgiven.html
A Nutshell Review: Waiting...
If you had enjoyed Empire Records, which snapshots the exaggerated life of employees in a record store, then you'll enjoy Waiting..., which adopts the same formula, but for employees in a restaurant called the Shenaniganz. Either that, or you've worked in a restaurant before that you can identify easily with some of those nasty or nice customers you've encountered before. You are the folks that have inspired this movie.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/waiting.html
A Nutshell Review: Basic Instinct 2
I was still underaged when the original Basic Instinct made its debut in the local theatres under the relatively new R rating system, but suffice to say many already know of the kinky scenes, especially the infamous crossing and uncrossing of legs sans panties which sealed Sharon Stone's status as a Hollywood femme fatale.
It's been 14 years since, and the sequel is just released here. Which makes one wonder why, given the question would anyone still be interested to see an aging body doing her thing again? It's no wonder that the preview crowd was mainly elderly uncles and aunties, who apparently had a good time dissecting whatever plot there is to this movie, and of the occupational hazards of being a mental doctor if your mental strength is found wanting.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/basic-instinct-2.html
A Nutshell Review: Mistress of Spices
The number one appeal that this film had for me, is to see Aishwarya Rai in action. I've never seen the movies of Miss World '94, and missed out on Bride and Prejudice. Written by the same team, Mistress of Spices is a mythical tale which makes the Indian spices the star of the movie, set in a medicinal store, with Rai as the conjurer and mixer of modern day "bomoh" like medicine to cure mankind of their ills.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/mistress-of-spices.html