A Nutshell Review by daface
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A Nutshell Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
It was peculiar, but it might be signs of things to come. When I entered the theatre this evening for the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest gala premiere today at Cathay, on screen was this static frame of the PoTC logo, with the words: "Singapore, Home of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, May 2007". If I may read too much into it, does it mean that there will be no effort spared in having the World Gala of PoTC3 right here on our shores, since Singapore was mentioned in both PoTC1 and PoTC2? And with Chow Yun-Fatt's wife being from here, does it mean we got an additional boost? One can only dream, but you heard it here first.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/pirates-of-caribbean-dead-mans-chest.html -
A Nutshell Review: Murderball
Murderball is a sport otherwise known as Wheelchair / Quad Rugby. Played by quadriplegics, it is a 4 on 4 rugby game on wheels, which requires plenty of strength, speed, and that armoured wheelchair which almost doubles as a kind of bumper car as the sportsmen battle it out for supremacy on a regular basketball court.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/murderball.html -
A Nutshell Review: How Much Do You Love Me?
How Much Do You Love Me? examines that emotion called Love, or what it's perceived to be. Will you make pretend and move in with someone? Are you loving someone because of his riches? Or because of his huge wiener or her hot body? Is it purely lust or love? And how in the world do fugly people snag all the hot chicks too? Between money and love, which would you choose (and taking too long to decide doesn't earn you brownie points)? Like Pretty Woman, only with less candy fluff, how can someone fall in love with a whore? (Ok, so it might sound politically incorrect, but that's how the movie plays it out)
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-much-do-you-love-me-combien-tu.html -
A Nutshell Review: Nacho Libre
In the day, I'm a lowly friar condemned to the impoverished monastery kitchen to serve up gruel for my beloved orphans, or otherwise being assigned to perform uninteresting churchy things. At night, I'm Nacho Libre, moonlighting masked Luchador (mexican wrestler), cannon fodder in the amateur wrestling ring!
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/nacho-libre.html -
A Nutshell Review: Helen the Baby Fox
Helen the Baby Fox belongs to the family of movies which feature cutesy animals and the relationship with their human protectors, along the lines of movies such as Lassie and Free Willy. Interesting enough, the subject of a fox (besides fox vixens in many Chinese folk tales) actually is a novelty in itself, and having bestowed upon him disabilities adequately fueled plenty of heartwrenching moments.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/helen-baby-fox.html -
A Nutshell Review: The Lake House
In any case, what probably excited audiences to the remake, is the pairing of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, one which has been long overdue since their very first pairing which sizzled with chemistry, and that being on an action movie no less - Speed. While both had moved on to star in various romances with other counterparts such as Charlize Theron, Cameron Diaz, Bill Pullman, Ben Affleck and Harry Connick Jr., the wait is over as they now reunite on screen in The Lake House.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/lake-house.html -
A Nutshell Review: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
There will be no doubts, comparisons between the East's Initial D, and this one from the West. In my opinion, this one edged out Initial D. There are many aspects in which Tokyo Drift is superior, and naturally having a bigger budget means that the filmmakers can afford to put more cars on showcase, more cars involved in races, and more races in varied locations like a tight car park, on the streets of Tokyo, and as a homage too to the source, they couldn't miss the mountain range. Scenes were for both day and night, unlike Initial D's predominantly night scenes.
Read more at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/fast-and-furious-tokyo-drift.html -
A Nutshell Review: Lady in the Water
I love it. And in the spirit of all movies Shyamalan, I'll keep mum about the plot.
I loved the pace, the control, and the development of how the plot unfolded. It had a whodunnit feel of a mystery that is carefully revealed layer by layer. The ensemble cast and characters were fantastic, with each character possessing usefulness to the story and to peer characters, and their eccentricities make them a joy to watch. You have the Korean mother and daughter, the Vietnam Vet, a father and son, a new neighbour, a group of cock-talkers, a guy who works out only his right side, and so on. Although most of them are one-dimensional, they are no less than endearing in their own way, like those in Cocoon or Batteries Not Included.
Read more at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/lady-in-water.html -
A Nutshell Review: Dragon Tiger Gate
Adapting comic book storylines into feature films is not new in Hong Kong, and adapting styles from how Hollywood does things, isn't new to the industry either. The opening credits of the comic-book flipping sequence seem to announce that this movie is aping the standards set on comic book films in the West, as well as to set expectations straight that whatever is played out is pure fantasy, not Oscar winning material.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/dragon-tiger-gate.html -
A Nutshell Review: Hard Candy
Hard candy is an internet slang for an under-aged girl. And this actually reminded me of a social experiment that a friend and I conducted in the internet chat rooms some 5 years back. There were always plenty of talk and reports about how dangerous the Internet is, with the chatrooms being a gold mine for pedophiles chatting up little girls, and then doing dastardly deeds with them when they're enticed to meet up in real life.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/hard-candy.html -
A Nutshell Review: Adam's Apples
The premise of this movie seemed simple enough, about Neo Nazi called Adam (Ulrich Thomsen) being sentenced to community service at a church. A priest, Ivan (Mads Mikkelsen), informs Adam that in order to complete his hours of service, he must have a goal in mind. And that goal actually turned out unexpectedly, as a passing remark, to be as banel as baking an apple pie, with apples found in the apple tree grown on the church's premises.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/07/adams-apples-adams-bler.html -
A Nutshell Review: S11
It's very different from all the local fare this year, because they dared to tell a tale in a non-linear style. Centered around the worst night of their lives, 3 characters converge at a Paya Lebar petrol kiosk, where their lives will forever be changed. The loner Terence, perpetually stuck in mono because of his lack of lam-pah-ji (balls) to break out of the monotony of his existence. The loser Ben, who was fired from his job, and is always cowering in the presence of his domineering mother. And finally, the lolita-like babe Michelle, who owes loansharks a debt of money, and has only the night to figure out how to repay it.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/s11.html -
A Nutshell Review: The Beat That My Heart Skipped
I think Thomas Seyr (Romain Duris) could be any of us in the working class. Stuck in two worlds about what he really wants to do, versus what he has to do. In the shady corner of the real estate business relying on underhand tactics, he finds no joy. In the other world which presented itself as an opportunity to start again, he must upgrade in order to be accepted. It never is easy, then again, life never is to begin with.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/beat-that-my-heart-skipped.html -
A Nutshell Review: Click
With comedies, I half expected the best bits to make it to the trailers. They always do these days, and leave the actual movie much to be desired in the laughs department. Click however, was a totally different ball game altogether, not that it was lacking in laughs, but never did I expect the 2nd half of the movie to go where it went. It might be formulaic, but the message it has for the audience, rings through so effectively through Adam Sandler's performance.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/click.html -
A Nutshell Review: See No Evil
WWE (or WWF back then) stars are no strangers to taking that leap into the movie world, with legends like Hulk Hogan starring in B-movies like Suburban Commando and Thunder in Paradise, or more contemporary figures like The Rock starring in various action movies like Walking Tall and The Scorpion King. Not only the lead roles, but they take on smaller bit roles like Diesel's stint as The Russian in the Marvel comic book movie The Punisher.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/see-no-evil.html -
A Nutshell Review: Me and You and Everyone We Know
Written and directed by Miranda July, Me You and Everyone We Know is an indie film that has gone on to win several film awards around the world. It finally opens in the theatres here, but it's difficult to see what the fuss is all about.
Miranda plays one of the two major leads, Christine, in a community tale with an ensemble cast of minor characters. Her role as a contemporary artist looking for her break and earning a livelihood driving an "Eldercab", spews too many philosophical lines and basks herself in many contrived situations, and gets herself involved romantically in an unconventional manner with Richard (John Hawkes), a shoe salesperson recently separated from his wife and tried his hand (pardon the pun) at self-immolation.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/me-and-you-and-everyone-we-know.html -
A Nutshell Review: My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Look! Up in the Sky! It's a bird! No, it's a plane! No, it's G-Girl! New York City's newest superhero, with powers and origins adopted from Metropolis' Man of Steel. She can fly, has super-strength, can hear the frequency of a police radio, able to shoot beams from her eyes, looks like Uma Thurman... she's the ultimate hot babe any dude can ask for.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/my-super-ex-girlfriend.html -
A Nutshell Review: Umizaru 2: Test of Trust
Umizaru belongs to the kind of movies glorifying whichever the uniformed group under their spotlight. Those which I have enjoyed include the obvious US Navy pilots in Top Gun, the firefighters in Backdraft, and the Secret Service in In The Line of Fire. While those are Hollywood movies, Japan also had in 2004 made a movie about a rookie team of Coast Guards in Umizaru, and this follow up sequel brings back search and rescue diver Daisuke Senzaki (Hideaki Ito) and his team into what is probably another Poseidon like adventure.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/umizaru-2-test-of-trust.html -
A Nutshell Review: The Ant Bully
First, let's get the obvious out of the way. The ants in The Ant Bully look suspiciously similar to those in Antz (199
. Powered by voices from recognizable stars, Antz had a more direct romance theme applied to it, whereas I felt The Ant Bully had a stronger social message to put across, given atrocities that are happening in our world right now.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/ant-bully.html -
A Nutshell Review: Crazy Stone
So far, the FOCUS: First Cuts series of movies have been rather mediocre. Taiwan's The Shoe Fairy was rather plain, Hong Kong's I'll Call You was concentrated too much on its effects, and Singapore's Love Story was just awful. The three aforementioned movies lacked a compelling story to tell, and I was holding my breath on how a movie titled Crazy Stone will present itself.
I bought into it, hook line and sinker, within the first ten minutes.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/focus-first-cuts-4-crazy-stone.html -
A Nutshell Review: Pretty Persuasion
I kinda liked this film for almost all the wrong reasons. It's politically incorrect and doesn't make any apologies for doing so, but yet demonstrates a notion that we can be bigots, and yet not be consciously aware of it. After all, it's what has already been internalized, but it becomes exposed quite naturally through our actions and dialogue.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/pretty-persuasion.html -
A Nutshell Review: Pretty Persuasion
I kinda liked this film for almost all the wrong reasons. It's politically incorrect and doesn't make any apologies for doing so, but yet demonstrates a notion that we can be bigots, and yet not be consciously aware of it. After all, it's what has already been internalized, but it becomes exposed quite naturally through our actions and dialogue.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/pretty-persuasion.html -
A Nutshell Review: The High Cost of Living
Just to share some quick thoughts on this new local movie. As you would've known by now, I've taken a keen interest in Singapore films, past and present. I got to admit this one was flying under my radar, and I didn't notice it until The Picturehouse publicized it in one of its recent email newsletters. The poster caught my eye, because it had a handgun on it. Sure you can laugh, but seriously, when was the last time you heard of a local action movie (and those co-produced by Mediacorp Raintree don't count)?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/high-cost-of-living.html -
A Nutshell Review: Lucky Number SLevin
It's a snappy, snazzy movie with a very slick plot, and I'll not discuss any more of the movie, the premise, nor the themes, otherwise it'll be a dead giveaway. Suffice to say that I'm quite impressed by the way the movie unfolded, and how the editing kept certain key scenes under wraps. However, it is difficult to stop eagle-eyed viewers whose brains are working in overdrive, to figure out the entire plot before the midway mark.
Read more at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/lucky-number-slevin.html -
A Nutshell Review: Passabe
Already we've seen a bumber crop of local movies hit the screens this year, and it's rare to have a documentary or two as part of the offerings. To start off Cine.SG's 2nd slate of local movies, Passabe, the James Leong and Lynn Lee documentary about Timor Leste in its run up to independence, gets its extended run at The National Museum's Gallery Theatre.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2006/08/cinesg-passabe.html