A Nutshell Review: Lakeview Terrace
Watching this movie brought back some memories of the well-publicized spat between neighbours in the neighbourhood of Joo Chiat, with their antics which included the shining of spot lights at each other's house, the trading of barbs and insults, and the use of video recorders to tape down the other's antics. Naturally there are no weapons involved, but otherwise, Ithought Lakeview Terrace rang home some of the issues that these folks probably faced day to day. I'm not sure what the outcome of that spat is now though.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/lakeview-terrace.html
A Nutshell Review: Sing to the Dawn
I believe this animated movie could be crowned as arguably the most expensive local movie ever made. After four long years since the idea was mooted to adapt from one of Singapore literature's most widely read books (thanks to secondary school literature lessons), and S$7.5 million to produce, it finally marks its release in the theatres this week. I wonder why the filmmakers and investors were brave enough to plough so much money into this production, given that the largest ever one-time box office gross for a local film was only about S$6 million dollars for Money No Enough, with no film in recent years ever getting close to that kind of amount.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/sing-to-dawn.html
A Nutshell Review: High School Musical 3: Senior Year
My only exposure to High School Musical was from a chalet gathering last Christmas where a friend who was a fan brought his DVD and shared with us what's there to like from this highly popular franchise. The DVD has countless of versions released to milk its fan base, that I've really lost count just how many variations (Encore? Extended Dance?) there are out there in the market. Even then I didn't really watch High School Musical 2 completely, only zooming into the catchy song and dance numbers, and as for the first movie, I was only familiar with one or two songs that became like anthems for working together?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/high-school-musical-3-senior-year.html
A Nutshell Review: [REC]
REC has been making its rounds in the festival and cinema circuit, while us folks here have to sit around and twiddle our thumbs, wondering if it'll ever make it to our shores. Hollywood reckoned it was worthy of a remake, and they did Quarantine, which was surprisingly made quite fast, and was penned to be released here as well. Guess someone got smart and decided to pre-empt that remake version with the original, and for some, the decision will be whether to double dip, stick to the original, or the remake when it's released at the end of the month.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/rec.html
A Nutshell Review: Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden
If this movie knows where he is, there'll be international headlines made, and the filmmakers will get that US$25 million (or more?) bounty that is placed on his head. Of course it will be silly to presume that this film can find the answers to the multi-million dollar question, or even come close to it, so just what was the intention?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/where-in-world-is-osama-bin-laden.html
A Nutshell Review: Fashion
The glamourous world of fashion gets put under the spotlight with Madhur Bhandarakar's Fashion, a story which tells of the rise and fall of a fictional Indian supermodel Meghna Mathur, played by ex Miss World Priyanka Chopra, who holds court with her performance as the phoenix finding her own standing in an industry known for ruthlessness and fickleness that comes with changing its representative face with the seasons.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/fashion.html
A Nutshell Review: Roadside Romeo
I guess the number of dogs in Disney's repetoire isn't enough, and this year they're looking to grow the kernel which houses the likes of the 101 Dalmations, Goofy, Pluto, Lady and the Tramp with Bolt, Beverly Hills Chihuahua and of course, Roadside Romeo and his pooch friends hailing from India.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/roadside-romeo.html
A Nutshell Review: Quantum of Solace
While many have applauded the new direction that James Bond has taken with Casino Royale, the same would likely be scratching their heads wondering at Quantum of Solace, not only is the title bewildering on the surface, but the film felt like it might have all the ingredients of sealing Daniel Craig's stint as Bond, but yet also felt like a middle film of a trilogy, firmly continuing where we left off, but yet not being able to stand on its own for a lack of a clear and strong finish.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/quantum-of-solace.html
A Nutshell Review: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith are back in their animated animal roles which 3 years ago saw their zoo animals being transported to Madagascar in a typical fish out of water tale, where they had to rely on their street smarts and friendship to survive in an environment they do not fully understand. While it's the usual pop-culture jokes and witty one liners that plague recent animated films, there were some gems in that movie, the ones which stuck suck as the crowd favourite penguins stealing the whole show, as well as the madcap rave party tune Move It!
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/madagascar-escape-2-africa.html
A Nutshell Review: Talk To Me
Don Cheadle's star is probably burning a little bit brighter now since the blockbuster hit of this summer's Iron Man had announced that he will take over Terrence Howard's role as Jim Rhodes given the latter being unable to agree on contractual terms with the studios. While Cheadle might be more familiar to audiences here as one of Ocean's 11 to 13, it was in Hotel Rwanda that made me sit up and take notice, playing a man caught in a genocide, having to protect his family, his friends, and his job all at once.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/talk-to-me.html
A Nutshell Review: The Carrot Cake Conversations
Perhaps the only way to enjoy this particular variant of the carrot cake dish is to imagine a fantasy Singapore of sorts, one where prostitutes look like an ex-Miss Malaysia, where people are generally unhappy with their present lot (ok this might be true after all), and all seem to have lack of avenues to vent their frustrations and angst, keeping it all pent up inside.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/carrot-cake-conversations.html with Videos from the Blog Aloud Session!
A Nutshell Review: Body of Lies
If you'd believe the angle the trailers adopted for this movie, I guess you're more than likely to deem it an adversarial duel between DiCaprio and Crowe, with the latter being some armchair smarty-pants willing to risk it all to "save civilization" by betraying the former. Well thankfully, the story is a lot more than that, and being a clash of ideals, personality and tactics, while still working on and for the same side, makes this a much more gripping thriller to sit through.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/body-of-lies.html
A Nutshell Review: The Good The Bad The Weird
It's not difficult to see why The Good, The Bad, The Weird is number 1 at the Korean box office this year, given that the titular roles are handed over to some of the heartthrobs such as Lee Byung-hun and Jung Woo-sung. But the real scene stealer here is Song Kang-ho as The Weird Yoon Tae-goo, with some of the best lines and given the moral ambiguity of his character, rather than being the Good Park Do-won (Jung) and the Bad Park Chang-i (Lee) which is cast in stone, simply endears himself to the audience, and not to mention the extended screentime devoted to him too.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-bad-and-weird-joheunnom-nabbeunnom.html
A Nutshell Review: Dostana
Dostana scores a number of firsts. One being set entirely in Miami, with the glorious shots of golden beaches and opportunities for the cast to show off their toned bodies (for the first few minutes, John Abraham seemed too eager to get rid of his singlet every few minutes). And the other first scored was that this is the first Bollywood film to have a focus on a gay relationship, albeit a faked one, between its two leading men. For an industry that's still sans on-screen sex, where kisses still bring upon rage, and nudity a no-no, is it any wonder why this premise, together with its A-list stars, will draw in the crowds without a doubt?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/dostana.html
A Nutshell Review: The Sky Crawlers
The Sky Crawlers seem to live up to its name, that it really took its time to tell a story, but in doing so, allowed for the narrative to sink in. After all, it's brought to us by Mamoru Oshii, and as far as his filmography goes, this Japanese maestro's works is often deep, and have more than enough room for multiple viewings, each time allowing you to take away something different, or unnoticed from the previous time round.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/sky-crawlers-sukai-kurora.html
A Nutshell Review: Cape No. 7
Based on the skimming of the synopsis alone, I thought Cape No. 7 bore some resemblance to an upcoming Japanese film The Shonen Merikensack which was featured in the recent Tokyo International Film Festival. Well, at least the characters have to come together to form a band, and are managed by a lady. And that this film had Japanese elements in it too. But this is a Taiwanese movie, and its success back at home, being its #1 film of all time, has undoubtedly raised the curiosity level as to what actually made this movie tick, so much so as to garner numerous nominations in this year's Golden Horse awards.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/cape-no-7-hai-jiao-qi-hao.html
A Nutshell Review: City of Ember
This film is strictly for kids. Not pimply teenagers though, but children whose parents will take comfort in knowing that this film is thoroughly family friendly fare, with nary a swear word, tame action sequences, no embarrassing physical romance they got to cook up an explanation for, and an inspiring theme that has to do with hope and working hard to achieve one's goals.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/city-of-ember.html
A Nutshell Review: Four Christmases
I can't help but to chuckle at how Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) got busted on national television no less, for having everyone whom they have lied to, see exactly where they are - at the airport trying to get to their vacation destination rather than accepting the invitation from their families to spend the season's greetings with. After all, as far as Brad's mantra goes, you can't have families without "lies". Anyway it is a situation that I'm fairly familiar with, and his reaction when the television camera gets poked in his face, brought back the memory of my own busted moment many years back.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/four-christmases.html
A Nutshell Review: Muallaf
Yasmin Ahmad's Muallaf finally hits the screens, and it scores a number of firsts from her filmography thus far. For starters, it's a departure from the Orked storyline which the last three (or four if you count Rabun) had centered around, and quite amazingly, it's predominantly in the English language. Save for the return of Sharifah Amani in one of the lead roles, and supporting roles with Tan Mei Ling and even Ho Yuhang, we see new faces here, with leads Brian Yap and Sharifah Amani's real sister Sharifah Aleysha also in this film as her onscreen one.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/muallaf.html
A Nutshell Review: The Secret Life of Bees
It's been two years since we last saw Dakota Fanning on the big screen here, in a film which was a adaptation of the literary classic Charlotte's Web. And what a career it had been for this child actress, now an adolescent, to have grown from scream queen (no thanks to her stint under Spielberg's War of the Worlds) to one controversial role in Hounddogs, which I doubt would make it to our shores here.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/secret-life-of-bees.html
A Nutshell Review: Zack and Miri Make a Porno
If I may sound like a prude, it's been a while since I laughed so hard and so loud at and with a comedy, given that most have been relatively lacklustre flicks of late. And it took a Kevin Smith one to do just that, with its unadulterated, no holds barred treatment of material where anything and everything goes, where there's no such thing as taboos to be avoided, and somehow, the more vulgar the merrier, as this is definitely one unapologetic movie. You have been warned.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/zack-and-miri-make-porno.html
A Nutshell Review: Quarantine
Call it a case of deliberately engineered deja-vu, that I consciously decided to sit through this American remake of the recently screened Spanish horror film [REC]. Well of course the purpose is to discover if what's essentially the same story and technique employed, could get screwed up in a remake, given that Hollywood more often than not, lets down the original brilliance which they think they can replicate easily to translate to box office dollars.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/11/quarantine.html
A Nutshell Review: Bolt 3D
To echo the biggest fan in the film, Bolt is fully Awesome! Or at least the 3D version of this film, especially the first 10 minutes where we see the superdog in action, showcasing super powers such as his eyes shooting laser beams, speedy acceleration, super strength, and his signature super bark. These are the avenues where 3D gets put to good use, but don't expect every aspect of the film to come flying toward you from the screen.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/bolt-3d.html
A Nutshell Review: All About Women
It must have been crazy to brand this as Asia's answer to the wildly popular Sex and the City, because for all the star power in its female cast, whom besides Zhou Xun, I thought the rest had hung to the coattails of their more popular co-stars such as Stephen Chow and Jay Chou in order to give their cinematic career some needed boost. And what must Tsui Hark be thinking if he reckoned that he could get in touch with his inner feminine self to bring to an audience something about the modern women's psyche on relationships?
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/all-about-women-neui-yan-fau-pui.html
A Nutshell Review: Sex Drive
Despite what I would deem as a glut as far as teenage sex comedies are concerned, it's easy to have seen one to have seen them all, but Sex Drive still managed to arrest some attention from start to end because the screenplay by John Morris and director Sean Anders, based on the book “All The Way” by Andy Behrens, has plenty of genuinely funny moments, delivered by an excellent fresh faced cast supported by unlikely veterans hamming it up.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/sex-drive.html