A Nutshell Review: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li is a straight forward film without much depth in its story, and it's relatively lower production budget translates to many of the jazzy special prowess in the game being considerably toned down. Perhaps director Andrzej Bartkowiak's intention was to have it more rooted to reality, but therein lies the danger see, because this film has tremendous parallels with that of another super-powered movie called Elektra. Both have recognizable female actresses in the lead role, and they share a plot involving secret organizations, mystical healing, an experienced teacher to learn the ropes from, and plenty of hokey martial arts. Even the training sequence looks super summarized, uninspiring and filled with unremarkable, cliched dialogue.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/street-fighter-legend-of-chun-li.html
A Nutshell Review: Gran Torino
You know Clint Eastwood means business when he stares down at you with those steely eyes, and his rumbling, booming voice tells you to either make his day, or to get off his lawn. Either way, only a fool would want to stand his ground, with anyone else preferring to back off and never cross the man again. Having a weapon pointed straight at you adds to needless convincing too.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/gran-torino.html
A Nutshell Review: 12 Rounds
Renny Harlin has been relatively quiet these days, but I won't be shy in stating for a fact that I had enjoyed some of his action movies in the past, with the likes of Die Hard 2 (despite all the loopholes), Cliffhanger with Stallone, Driven (also starring Sly) and The Long Kiss Goodnight even. Despite being better known for duds starting with Cutthroat Island, Mindhunters and even The Covenant which turned out to be a comedy, 12 Rounds turned out to be better than expected, also because John Cena looked the classic action hero that Hollywood so sorely misses.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/12-rounds.html
A Nutshell Review: The Unborn
Written and directed by David S. Goyer, who is still in his infancy in being at the helm of feature films, but no stranger to writing screenplays from the horror genre to the reboot of the Batman franchise, you would have thought that he might have steered clear of the usual cliches that plague a horror film. Imagine that the following all made it to his film The Unborn - mirrors, demonic kids, setting in toilets, insects, darkened corridors, dogs, haunting nightmares, and of course, a pretty woman in the lead.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/unborn.html
A Nutshell Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Welcome to the Isla Fisher show, where despite her diminutive size she holds court throughout and I thought she's finally getting the recognition she deserves in being able to marquee a film herself. One cannot forget how she burst onto the scene in Wedding Crashers as the psychotic stalker after Vince Vaughn, and from there some other bit parts like those in Wedding Daze, and one of my favourites from last year, Definitely, Maybe. She has this indescribable aura, that goofy grin, and that incredible perfect timing for physical comedy, without looking stupid.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/confessions-of-shopaholic.html
A Nutshell Review: Fanboys
You really gotta take yours hats off to the writers of Fanboys, because while one might think it's easy to have the majority of the lines here adapted from some memorable one-liners from various of fan-supported films, contrary by the time you sit through this, you would have gathered new found respect in having to string it all and having them make some sense, though some may have felt a little forced (pardon the pun).
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/fanboys.html
A Nutshell Review: Aa Dekhen Zara
Jumping from great heights and into a swimming pool is firmly a cliche in my books. Hollywood overuses it, and I see that influence has crossed borders as well. Need an escape when your character is cornered? Well, leaping off a building automatically means a body of water deep enough to cushion impact down below. There's nothing more lazy than that nowadays, so thumbs down to any story that offers this quick fix, like a "Goto" statement in a program, rather than opting for a more elegant programming structure.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/aa-dekhen-zara.html
A Nutshell Review: Climber's High
The title's misleading enough to signal thoughts of mountain climbing to figure in this film. Yes it does a bit, but probably came across stronger as an analogy running alongside the main crux of the story, that being set against the historical backdrop and event of Japan's, and the world's worst single-aircraft aviation disaster where more than 500 passengers perished from JAL flight 123 that crashed into a mountainside.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/03/climbers-high-kuraimazu-hai.html
A Nutshell Review: Handsome Suits
Handsome Suits might be Japan's answer to Korea's 200 Pounds Beauty, and given the success of the latter movie which deals with women's vanity in wanting to look good, this one is the equivalent, but centered on men instead, denying the focus on grooming as much as we like.
Face it, we're more than likely to turn the blind eye for someone who looks good. Maybe not necessarily drop dead gorgeous, so long as they're pleasing to the eye. The movie plays on the observation of how possessing good looks would open doors and help in getting a leg up in life, like a satire on the sad reality of life that is, but in its simplicity comes a well told story with plenty of pathos to think about, ranging from being true to oneself, and again a constant reminder not to judge a book by its cover.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2008/10/tiffcom-2008-review-handsome-suits.html
A Nutshell Review: Shinjuku Incident
If my original plan had gone through, I would've probably watched this late last month during the Hong Kong International Film Festival with all the fanfare of this Derek Yee movie being one of two opening films of the festival. And I guess we all know how the the filmmakers decided to plough ahead with its release despite the Chinese censors not given its blessing yet, thereby effectively shutting it off the screens in China, but I reckon never off its streets given the relatively rampant piracy situation.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/shinjuku-incident-xin-su-shi-jian.html
A Nutshell Review: 8 X 10 Tasveer
It's probably a coincidence that the latest Bollywood offerings the last week had to do with photographs. In Aa Dekhen Zara, Neil Nitin Mukesh plays a photographer who discovers the secrets of a camera that has (well, I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag) powers to do with time. And in 8x10 Tasveer (photograph), Akshay Kumar plays forest ranger Jai, working for Environmental Protection in Alberta, Canada, who possesses the supernatural ability of transporting his soul back to the past, assuming the point of view of the person in the photograph whom he's staring at.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/8-x-10-tasveer.html
A Nutshell Review: Battle in Seattle
The fears of peaceful protesters turning the situation ugly would raise alarm bells for the authorities here. After all, there is little guarantee that there are no bad apples in a barrel, so I guess a more hard-lined stance was adopted to prevent damage of anarchic proportions that would cost us needless millions of dollars in repair bills. Then of course you have the issue about civil liberties versus the need to maintain the peace and the never ending debate on which is more important.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/battle-in-seattle.html
A Nutshell Review: L-O-V-E.
After the phenomenal box office success of Cape No. 7, it sure didn't take long for leads Van Fan and Tanaka Chie to be starring in the same movie again, albeit not exactly opposite each other, because L-O-V-E. is an anthology of four short films by directors Chen Yi-xian, Vincent Fang, Huang Tzi-chiao, and Jiu Ba Dao, who each were at the helm of their own stories, delivering their own brand of what it means to be in love.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/l-o-v-e-ai-dao-di.html
A Nutshell Review: School Days With A Pig
Our nature is such that we care most for the people we are related to, and know on a personal level. Otherwise, it's likely everything else is just a number, a statistic, something that feels so distant that it's genuinely difficult for us to sympathize, or empathize beyond a cursory statement that explains how we should feel as decent human beings. In increasing levels of concern when a tragedy occurs, if something strikes overseas, it's unfortunate. If it's local then it's lucky it didn't affect someone we know. If it does and it's not family, we offer our condolences. If someone we know becomes collateral damage, we suffer inconsolable rage even.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/school-days-with-pig-buta-ga-ita.html
A Nutshell Review: Fast & Furious
The tagline caught my attention, promising a brand new movie with the original cast of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. With the relative box office success of the first film, the sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious saw only Walker returning, with Tyrese trying very hard to step into the big frame of Diesel's without much success. Tokyo Drift picked up the adrenaline from the East's Initial D, injecting the franchise with some Asian flavour, though the only good thing out of that was the introduction of Sung Kang's character Han. So the 4th movie tries to bring together all the best characters to appease fans, and the timeline of this installment sits snugly in between the first and second movies where we learn that Han and Toretto do go all the way back together. Perfect.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/fast-furious.html
A Nutshell Review: Knowing
It's been quite a while since Alex Proyas was at the helm of a film, the last being I, Robot back in 2004 where he adapted Isaac Asimov's science fiction classic of the same name. He continues to dwell in the sci-fi realm again with Knowing, with leading man Nicolas Cage plucked from his National Treasure roots because his character here, MIT professor John Koestler, follows in the tradition of running around everywhere in search for answers and the truth.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/knowing.html
A Nutshell Review: Revolutionary Road
With tongue in cheek, I thought this Sam Mendes movie offered audiences a peek into how Jack Dawson and Rose's lives would have been, should they live through that night to remember together, and settle down in the USA. The free-spirited Dawson would find his life now quite the bore as compared to his free-wheeling days of a drifter, now rooted to a nine to five job he doesn't believe in, and lives his life like a robot only to pay the bills. As for Rose, she being stuck at home as a housewife also doesn't seem like the life she thought she signed on for, with the realities of matrimony settling in to demolish notions of a once daring romance.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/revolutionary-road.html
A Nutshell Review: The Sniper
If not for the picture scandal, this film would have been released about a year ago, and would likely have solidified Edison Chen's position as box office draw given his stellar performance in crime-action flicks like Dog Bite Dog and pop idol fare such as Initial D. But we know what had happened over the span of a year, though I suppose the decision to hold this film back would have helped it in increasing the curiosity surrounding this, given his last / first performance since the scandal. After all, the producers have to make the best out of the situation.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/sniper-sun-cheung-sau.html
A Nutshell Review: Taken
It's been just too long waiting for an action thriller that will knock my socks off, given too many bland attempts that left me wondering if the genre is too tired for my liking, with nothing left to wow. Then comes the Europa Corp team of Pierre Morel directing a Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen story, and Taken now ranks as one of my contemporary favourites for its simple story executed with so much style and gripping pace, that you'll be left breathless by the time the end credits roll.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/taken.html
A Nutshell Review: Crossing Over
Like Crash, Fast Food Nation and Babel before it, Crossing Over consists of multiple storylines bound together by a common theme examined, sometimes with just a few characters straddling across the narrative threads to link them up explicitly. Writer-director Wayne Kramer examines the issues behind the illegal immigrant problem in USA who are either trying to lay low in avoiding the law, or trying their best to gain legal residency with each experiencing different challenges that lie ahead in their quest.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/crossing-over.html
A Nutshell Review: 252 Signal of Life
While a movie like this would likely contain a tragedy of epic proportions and a celebration of the human spirit, one can't help but to laugh at its missteps, the heavy melodrama, and sheer ridiculousness of an ending that probably insults the professionalism of the uniformed group it wanted to put in good light. It becomes an unintentional comedy of errors that just makes you shake your head knowingly that it could have been something more interesting to begin with.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/252-signal-of-life-252-seizonsha-ari.html
A Nutshell Review: Sell Out!
My personal measure of an excellent comedy, is whether or not it reduces me to tears that roll uncontrollably coupled with some really deep-felt hearty laughter. While I'd like to pride myself with a good sense of humour, it does take some effort to really elicit that kind of a reaction from me, and Sell Out! does that by the bucketload, and through a variety of methods ranging from slapstick to the wry, from the staring-in-your-face obvious to the wink-wink-insider-jokes too.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/siff09-sell-out.html
Watch the Q&A from the Singapore International Film Festival here: http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/siff09-sell-out-q.html
A Nutshell Review: The International
The trailer had set up The International as some big-bang espionage thriller, made all the more sexier since it's released in the middle of this financial meltdown we're all experiencing, asking where have all the money gone, with banks collapsing left, right and centre, or on the brink of doing so if tons of public funds are not injected into the rabbit hole of the system that hasn't really bottomed out yet. But then again, watching or theorizing if the premise is remotely possible, since it involves a corrupt bank gone rogue in some misguided vision to make more profits, or to gain control of debt in third world economies, might not sit well with an audience already in doom and gloom, given some moral ambiguity all around, and the half-baked ending too.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/international.html
A Nutshell Review: 17 Again
The plot element is nothing new, and we've seen enough of body swaps, or younger folks wishing they can't grow up fast enough, or older ones reminiscing the old days, wondering if a change in decisions then would have resulted in a different life, hopefully for the better, now. However, such formula makes for a good box office reason to continue production, especially when you get to cast the “It� person of the moment (think Jennnifer Garner with 13 Going on 30), hitting the new generation with a star from their cohort. So it's yet another Zac Efron vehicle for him to shine in, and he's actually quite good at it, outside of the High School Musical series, about time now.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/04/17-again.html