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Looper (2012)
Entertaining time travel scifi
Director R.Johnson brings another good addition to the sci-fi scene with Looper. Rather coincidentally the film is released in almost yearly continuum with other solid sci-fi films such as Inception (2010) and Source Code (2011). It is good times for the sci-fi film fans.
I was somewhat concerned initially with Looper's cliché-ish time travel plot as most of these films tend to implode on their own absurdity. Adding to my negative expectation was the fact that the one of the main actors is no other than Bruce Willis whose last sci-fi undertaking Surrogates (2009) left much to desire.
Thankfully my negative preconceptions were quickly dissolved as Looper kicks up the gear right from the start and wastes no time with lengthy introductions. In no time the viewer is plunged into the dystopic future where criminals send their victims back in time to be executed and thus leaving no evidence behind. The story follows one of these futuristic executioners Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose execution routine is disrupted when his older himself (Bruce Willis) from the future appears in front of him to be executed.
The story can be a bit hard to grasp initially and requires some processing, but after the initial confusion dissipates the film becomes thought invoking and rewarding.
To me the director did a great job keeping the film together and quite easily approachable despite its complexity. It also helps that the film is well balanced between action, suspense and intriguing story elements to maintain interest factor high through the film.
As much as I liked Looper and its intelligent sci-fi scheme, it cannot be overlooked that the film has quite a profound change around half way into the film which might act as a deal breaker for some. Where the first part can be considered relatively easy going and light in mood despite the occasional violence, the second part is quite the opposite. The seriousness level is tuned up considerably in latter part with B.Willis struggling with his conscience about terminating children to save his wife and the appearance of a raging prophet child is also quite heavy to digest. Personally I appreciated the change of tone as it brought more depth to the film, but can understand that it is not everybody's cup of tea.
Lastly as the script is based on Time Travel there are bound to be lots of plot holes, but if one can tolerate/ignore them, Looper offers a very entertaining couple hours.
Sanshô dayû (1954)
A powerful tale of human plight
Sansho the Bailiff is Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi's great contribution for film industry. The late director is remembered for his mastery of the long takes (uninterrupted shot lasting longer than conventional takes) which he uses to full effect in Sansho the Bailiff.
The film tells an excruciating tale of human cruelty and compassion of two 11th-century Japanese aristrocratic children who are sold to slavery. Sounds bleak and in all fairness there is very little uplifting to say about the story. In fact the film draws its great impact from emotional turmoil and despair which the children, Anju (Kyoko Kagawa) and Zushio (Yoshiaki Hanayagi), experience during their long and miserable captivity. At a glance one might think Sansho the Bailiff was uneventful film, but the director's great skill to draw drama out of human plight quickly captivates. For such a slow paced and actionless drama film, I was truly impressed how effortlessly the film managed to keep me fully immersed with the film through the running time.
For its great age, Sansho the Bailiff, has truly aged gracefully and it still witholds great emotional impact even after ~60 years since its creation. Director Kenjo Mizoguchi truly created a beautiful classic with Sansho the Bailiff and after seeing the film I now fully understand and agree with all the praise western critics and film-makers alike have given Sansho the Bailiff.
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Strangers on a Train is good, but not Hitchcock's finest
Strangers on a Train is yet another great psychological thriller from director legend Alfred Hitchcock. The film might not be among Hitchcock's most famous and recognized thrillers but it contains all of the director legend's trademarks; excellent directing far ahead of its time and a story filled with mystery, intensity and suspense.
Strangers on a Train tells about a chance encounter on a train which entangles two vastly different character's and their destinies' together. Guy Heines (Farley Granger) is a promising young tennis player in love crisis with his blackmailing ex-wife unwilling to allow him to pursue happiness with another woman. On a train ride Guy encouters a seemingly harmless gentleman, Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) who has a morbid solution for Guy's problem. As Guy shrugs off Bruno and his crazy plan to commit a perfect murder, little does Guy know that Bruno in his delusional mind is fully committed in going through with his homicidal plan.
I liked Strangers on a Train especially Robert Walker's portrayal of mentally unstable Bruno made a permanent impression and would go as far as to say that he is the highlight of Strangers on a Train leaving other actors completely in his shadow. Story wise the Strangers on a Train is quite typical Hitchcock film as the director has always been master in creating suspense out of ordinary characters who find them in most unordinary situations. This is especially true with Strangers on a Train as it begans slowly with seemingly unengaging story and characters but in no time the viewer is fully immersed and engaged in Hitchcock's mystery. There was a phase around middle of the running time where I felt that the story made no real progress and the intensity dropped somewhat, but thankfully the film managed to pick up the intensity towards the end climax.
In the end Strangers on a Train in my books is not among Hitchcock's best thrillers, but it is still a very good film and I doubt anybody who enjoys a good psychological thriller would say otherwise.
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Mesmerizing, yet imperfect scifi epic
Cloud Atlas offers a mesmerizing scifi experience which at the same time might just be too big of an undertaking for filmatization. The gargantuan proportions of the 2004 source novel does not dishearten director trio, Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer, as they bring Cloud Atlas to the big screen.
Talking about epic undertaking, Cloud Atlas novel is composed of 6 loosely interlinked stories taking place from 19th century to mankind's distant future. Each story share some variation of the main characters and depict how their actions have direct consequences for the future. Sounds confusing and there is no denying that Cloud Atlas is a challenging film to grasp initially, but once the viewer gets the hang of the story mechanics the film transforms from confusing mess into something thought provoking.
Not all Cloud Atlas' stories are equal and I felt more drawn towards the dystopic and apocalyptic scifi worlds of the Wachowski siblings which were so very unreal and yet managed to stay completely credible at the same time. Unquestionably Wachowskis futuristic worlds lack the human touch of Tom Tykwer's stories, but to me the stylistic realisation of these unreal visions of future were simply inspiring. No matter which of the stories the viewer prefers the entire production is paced and edited seamlessly making the film coherent experience overall. No easy feat with 6 different stories and 3 different directors! In addition to technical praise extra notation must be given for the films actors who give out solid performances. One is however above others and I was positively surprised to see veteran actor Tom Hanks really break away from his comfort zone and provide terrific performances through the film.
Despite the overall positive impression I got from Cloud Atlas, it cannot be overlooked that cramming 6 separate stories into single film is poised to generate problems. This becomes especially evident towards the end of the film when it becomes clear that there simply is not enough running time to allow all 6 stories to fully develop to their maximum potential. This could have been overlooked alone, but honestly I was disappointed to see that the film lacked a climatic closure where all the stories would merge together.
Despite the films shortcoming Cloud Atlas offers a unique film experience and undoutbly withholds content to last multiple viewing sessions. It is a film best assessed with feeling rather than reason to ensure best end result.
End of Watch (2012)
Intense documentary-style film
With tittle End of Watch writer David Ayer - mostly known to big crowds as the writer of excellent crime film Training Day - tests his skills in directing with good results. The film tells a straightforward story of two young LA police officers, Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (Michael Pena) and how they deal with hazardous situations on their daily patrols at the City of Angels.
What immediately separates End of Watch from the crowd is the documentary-style directing, which means that the whole film is presented to viewer as if they were watching real life events via Officer Taylor's video recorder. This challenging directing method enables the director to put the viewer literally right in the middle of the action as Taylor and Zavala roam around the streets waiting another perilous dispatch call. Documentary-style is a tricky business as it is so very easy to blow the atmosphere with even the slightest glitch, but thankfully End of Watch manages to retain the atmosphere credible through the film ... mostly. There were few scenes which felt somewhat overdone and disconnected from reality which reduced the credibility somewhat, but thankfully these scenes are few and far between and do not affect the whole experience.
Overall End of Watch works very well and delivers a credible documentary-style film experience. The films success was evident for me towards the end of running time as the characters had really grew on me and I felt strong connection with the officer pair as they joke around and share their most intimate experiences during their patrols.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Slow start for the Hobbit trilogy
After some 10 years since his grandeous Lord of the Rings trilogy, director Peter Jackson is ready to unleash his next great nerdgasm for the masses in form of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film is the first part of a trilogy based on J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit novel and very much focuses on building the foundation for the upcoming sequels.
Unsurprisingly Jackson's new Hobbit film holds a lot resemblance with his previous Middle Earth fantasy films, no reason to break a winning concept right? Unfortunately things are not perfect with Jackson's latest landscape tour of New Zeland. This already becomes painfully evident from the draggingly slow introduction scene which seemingly go on forever, thankfully the pace picks up after the slow start, but here and there are scenes which feel prolongued on purpose. There is a simple explanation for the pacing and screenplay issues; with the film's script closely following the original novel (besides some odd addition from the producers), the book's ~300 pages barely carry enough content for a single film, let alone for a Trilogy!.
Another evident difference with Hobbit compared to the LotR films is the quite substantial difference in atmosphere. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey feels at times even childish compared to the more mature and darker LotR films. Again the explanation can be traced to the director's choice to make the film resemble the novel as closely as possible, and as it is widely known, J.R.R Tolkien's Hobbit is a children's fantasy fable at heart. I respect the director's choice to honor the novel by making the depiction resemble the original novel closely, but especially the funny humor stemming from the novel's less mature origins does feel out of place in otherwise mature production.
But there is a lot good in An Unexpected Journey as well. The story is much more linear and easier to follow than with LotR films where the story is carried forth by separated character sets. Also despite some prolonged scenes, the Hobbit is overall well paced and contains good mix of fast paced action and slower scenes. I also found the few songs and the musical twist it brought into the film very pleasing. Lastly but not least, Jackson's latest film is visually stunning and offers a very stimulating film experience with its latest and greatest special effects seemingly integrated with New Zeland's breathtaking scenery.
Perhaps the weakest link of the film was the character set that is understandably challenging. With 13 almost identical Dwarfs accompanying a Wizard and a Hobbit plus plethora of supporting characters, it is easy to see why even nearly 3h running time is not enough to familiarize with each character.
Thus The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey overall might be a less successful Trilogy launch than LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring was, but by no means a complete disaster. However should the Hobbit Trilogy wish to rise on par with the LotR films the successor Hobbit films need to be considerably stronger candidates.
Der Name der Rose (1986)
Intriguing murder-mystery from the middle ages.
1986 film adaptation from Umberto Eco's best-selling novel, The Name of the Rose, is a witty murder-mystery film bound to leave a permanent impression.
Name of the Rose begins with a Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) arriving to a religious convention with his apprentice Adso of Melk (Christian Slater). What was supposed to be a peaceful theological gathering at Italian monastery soon takes a turn for the worse as monks start to die under mysterious circumstances. While others seek a more divine explanation for the deaths, William of Baskerville being a man of reason resolves to more earthly investigation techniques to explain the events.
William of Baskerville as a character is a satisfying combination of legendary investigators like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, with a little religious twist which makes him unique, and I could think of no better match to portray the character than Sean Connery with his gentlemanly charm. From the directing perspective, French director Jean-Jacques Annaud's realistic directing style and his brutally honest depiction of middle age monastery life and its downright grotesque people and oppressive atmosphere might put off some viewers, but I found it a nice change from modern day Hollywood cleanliness.
The film does have a rather slow start but thankfully the intensity picks up around half way to the film as the murder mystery plot deepens. Also could not ignore some of the abrupt scene changes with the film which seemed bit out of place and tell of less than perfect transition from novel to film, but these were minor glitches and nothing great enough to hinder the film's overall resolve.
The Name of the Rose is not an easygoing film but I urge everybody to give it a try as it has a terrific cast, involving story and its out of mainstream directing style provides a realistic peek into one of the darkest time periods of mankind's history.
Hodejegerne (2011)
A fine Nordic crime thriller
Headhunters, a less known Norwegian crime thriller that has a lot going for it. The film is packed with realistic action, entertainment and has a interesting story with non-mainstream characters, so what is there not to like?
Firstly the novel based script is compelling with a story revolving around Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), a egoistic upper class snob who happens to be one of Norway's most accomplished headhunters. Not exactly easy to relate to main character, but things turn considerably more interesting when Roger's undercover career is revealed. In order to support his lavish life style, Roger resolves to art thievery which by chance puts him in path of his greatest peril, Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau). Clas being a former mercenary distinguished in the field of intelligence gathering is looking to work for a surveillance company Pathfinder for which Roger is managing recruitment process. Without revealing too much of the story, from here on Roger and Clas are entangled in a high paced deathly duel where they try to outsmart each other with mortal consequences.
I liked Headhunters, it is a terrific example of skilled Nordic filmcraft at its best which combines good directing, credible acting, dark realism and intelligent story which all together make it overall a very enjoyable package. There were some script quirks and the pace of the film at times was breathtaking, but nothing major to gripe about.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
The worse film ever, I do not think so.
Plan 9 from Outer Space carries the ungrateful honor of being considered THE worse film ever. While I agree that on technical terms the film leaves much to desire, but does that alone make Plan 9 the worse film ever made? I do not think so.
Edward D. Wood Jr. was quite an character and a mediocre director at best (Insight entirely based on Tim Burton's 1994 biographical film Ed Wood), but his most famous production Plan 9 from Outer Space is unjustly labeled as the worse film ever. Granted the script, acting, screenplay and technical execution overall are sub par, but even with all its shortcomings, one must admire the directors relentless will to pursue his vision and produce films which defy the mainstream.
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a movie which simply cannot be taken seriously and thus judging it purely on its technical merits alone seems unfair. I found myself mostly amused by the campiness and clumsy improvisations to which the director had to resort to in order to complete the film. And there were times when I found myself honestly interested with the out of this world story of space invaders who aim to stop humans from creating a doomsday weapon.. With the help of Zombie henchmen!
Plan 9 from Outer Space is technically a bad film, no question about that, but I could name a dozen worse and more annoying films easily. Once the viewer gets past the film's technical shortcomings there is actually an oddly entertaining film experience hidden within the crude outerior shell.
Dredd (2012)
British comic 2000 AD's antihero Judge Dredd finally receives a worthy film adaptation.
For those not familiar with Judge Dredd's character, the comic is set in dystopic future where the only thing standing between order and utter chaos are the ultimate law enforcement officers called Judges. These Judges, empowered with authority to police, judge, jury and execute criminals on the spot are the true embodiment of police state and authoritarianism. Dredd's world is a grim and oppressive as one can imagine and depicts one of the worse case scenarios to which another global conflict might plunge mankind. The bleak and unconditional world makes Judge Dredd the perfect comic character for an action film and thankfully Dredd does not disappoint.
The film does not sport a big budget or complex script which at times shows as average special effects and lack of grand story elements, but what it lacks in budget and complexity, it compensates with sheer attitude. The story is fitting in its simplicity for a straightforward action film where Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is dispatched to investigate recent murders at one of the huge ghetto skyscrapers of Mega City 1. Tagging along side with Dredd is a telepathic rookie Judge Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) and together they plunge directly into the hornets nest to confront with a ruthless drug lord MA-MA (Madeline Madriga) and her countless thugs.
Truthfully Dredd does not bring anything ground breaking to the table, but the production stays true to Judge Dredd character and Karl Urban gives a credible performance as uncompromising and absolute Judge Dredd. Due to the budget constraints, simplistic script and action orientation, Dredd is not out there to win any grand prices, but it does pay much deserved homage for the legendary British cartoon character and is overall a very decent action film.