A Nutshell Review: Darah
The first film to be released under the Singapore label Gorylah Pictures set up by Eric Khoo and Mike Wiluan, Darah (or Macabre as it is known internationally) is a one of a kind slasher film from this part of the region, written and directed by the Indonesian duo Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto, collectively known as The Mo Brothers, who actually had a short film version of this made back in 2007 which was simply called Dara, also starring actress Shareefa Daanish as the Mother of all Evil.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/darah-aka-macabre.html
A Nutshell Review: Taking Woodstock
I always find a certain magnetism with the 60s being portrayed on screen, with the likes of the hippie movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, rock and roll, the list just goes on. It does seem like a definitive time on the loss of innocence, and Lee Ang's movie Taking Woodstock takes a look at the formation of the Woodstock music festival, based upon the memoirs written by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte titled “Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life�.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/taking-woodstock.html
A Nutshell Review: Funny People
I guess in our current era Team Apatow has been defining the way comedies are done on film, where filthy toilet jokes are staple while casting not-so-good looking nerdy actors (re: charismatic of course) in lead roles consisting of everyday characters with issues we can identify with in broad strokes. With his hands in a lot of pies, bringing along his chums for a ride, it's somewhat of a surprise actually that this is only the third film to be directed by Judd Apatow.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/funny-people.html
A Nutshell Review: The Message
For those anticipating Lu Chuan's epic Nanking movie City of Life and Death which will premiere this week, you might also want to check out The Message, now playing in cinemas and also set during the turbulent days of the Sino-Japanese war in China in the early 40s. While Lu Chuan's film tried to portray history through an objective lens, lending to it a documentary-like feel, The Message showed how Chinese cinema has grown to tap upon those dark days to create what would be an extremely well made tale of espionage, with insurgent and spies working effortlessly to bring misery to their Japanese occupiers.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/message-feng-sheng.html
A Nutshell Review: Invitation Only
Heralded as Taiwan's first slasher movie, you wonder what took it so long (really?). Director Kevin Ko knows the ingredients to make it work though, with copious amounts of thick, crimson blood and the numerous shots of hot female bods in slinky dresses grooving to the beat right from the start for that cursory first kill as an appetizer before the main course. Heck, I think the casting of Japanese AV star Maria Ozawa was a shrewd move as well, for what it's worth, at least to get her fan boys into the theatre for this.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/invitation-only-jue-ming-pai-dui.html
A Nutshell Review: (500) Days of Summer
It's either pretty uncanny that the story of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) in this film would have paralleled a personal experience cutting in too close for comfort, or that the story by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber would cover such common ground that a disclaimer in the beginning was appropriate. Either way, this is not your typical romantic film meant for dates, but rather more of a therapy session for those still suffering from severe heartache. So allow me to indulge a little, and forgive me if I tend to ramble on, with spoiler alerts on.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/500-days-of-summer.html
A Nutshell Review: Haeundae: The Deadly Tsunami
I suppose most are now acutely aware of how increasingly devastating natural disasters have been in recent years, starting from the 2004 Asian Tsunami which swallowed thousands of unfortunate souls. Then there are the recent destruction caused by typhoons and earthquakes, the latter which we're more acquainted with given the tremors which we feel as a result of neighbouring incidents, a phenomenon not experienced until the last few years.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/haeundae-deadly-tsunami.html
A Nutshell Review: Julie & Julia
Watching this film made me want to pick up proper cooking, in whipping up some gastronomical delights to satisfy tastebuds, and what better way to bond with friends than over a delicious meal? Of course this wasn't the ambition of Julie Powell (Amy Adams) or Julia Child (Meryl Streep), two real life characters in which this film adopted from, where their passion stemmed from, well, boredom and the desire to occupy their time with something.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/julie-julia.html
A Nutshell Review: Talentime
I'm sure a Talentime contest is something that folks from my generation would have grown up with in school, and of course the more commercial version of the same would be akin to those television idol series with plenty of pomp which send cash registers ringing. There isn't an outright winner here though, since it's a performance by individuals carefully selected and rehearsed for the big day, and drawing from a multi-racial, multi-talented pool of students, it goes to show how when everyone is in concert together and contributing to their strengths, there's going to be some fireworks on display with a force to be reckoned with.
More at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/tiff-2009-review-talentime.html
A Nutshell Review: The Blue Mansion
It's been an extremely long pause between Forever Fever (retitiled That's The Way I Like It in the USA) and his latest film The Blue Mansion, some 11 years where he had too many other projects to be listed that were accomplished between these two films, but it was a wait well worth it. Just ask the Japanese fans, who were equally thrilled that they could savour his latest offering just after its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival, I've always felt that Forever Fever, which also starred Adrian Pang, was ahead of its time in terms of how a Singapore mass appeal film could be made, without relying on cheap gimmicks, but instead possessed a strong story and an all round excellent delivery from its ensemble cast. The same continues in The Blue Mansion.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/blue-mansion.html
A Nutshell Review: The Hurt Locker
There are enough films out there made by the West over the years on the current theatre of war in the Middle East, either indirect political thrillers like Syriana or Lions for Lambs, or action based ones such as The Kingdom, or Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, which is a superb, microscopic examination of the state of confusion, fear and desperation for survival seen from the eyes of a small, three man detachment from the Explosive Ordinance Unit, who basically risk their lives on a daily operational basis to disarm bombs and improvised explosives so as to save countless more of civilians and fellow soldiers alike.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/hurt-locker.html
A Nutshell Review: This Is It
And you cannot get better ringside seats than what this film has to offer. Culled from various rehearsals sometimes of the same song, it allows you to see how MJ finetunes and experiments with various ideas, especially for his dance. His stage performances were always a spectacle, and the sheer amount of effort in pyrotechnics and special effects, would make you wonder how awesome the actual London performance would have been, which sadly will never materialize beyond the ideas tossed up in this documentary.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/this-is-it.html
A Nutshell Review: London Dreams
I've got to admit though my interest in the film is none other than to follow up on Asin's phenomenal Hindi movie debut with the blockbuster hit movie Ghajini last year, and while it took almost 12 months for the release of her latest Bollywood movie (her first real one since she starred in an earlier, original version of the same role), she's one of the many stars I'm following as my introduction to the current wave of Hindi films, from Deepika Padukone to Ranbir Kapoor, and of course the established ones, which includes Salman Khan in this same film.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/london-dreams.html
A Nutshell Review: My Sister's Keeper
I've been a fan of films that deal with genetics and cloning, because they always come with that staple moral dilemma that allows you to ponder a little about how science has and will progress, and how we harness that knowledge to do good, or exploit it for selfish desires. Gattaca has always ranked amongst my favourite, and though not really science fiction, My Sister's Keeper would be there as well for there's nothing to stop its suggestion that a child could be engineered, based on current technological capabilities.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-sisters-keeper.html
A Nutshell Review: Saw VI
It's pretty amazing how a small film with essentially a two-man cast set predominantly in a stank toilet, could eventually spawn a franchise lasting 6 movies long now, and a contemporary cult anti-hero with Jigsaw and Tobin Bell the actor joining the hall of horror infamy. And what more too with the villain quite clearly not doing any killing himself, but does so indirectly through some mad scientist manner in creating ingenious contraptions that get audiences lapping up for more.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/saw-vi.html
A Nutshell Review: Spread
The one scene that will strike you and linger around after you walked out of the cinemas, it's the final scene. It's no spoiler, but it walked right out of National Geographic, where you see up close, how a toad devours a mouse. Swallow in fact, allowing it to semi-digest, while occasionally tugging at the tail. It's downright gross as a parting short, but the camera stayed firmly on it for minutes during the entire end credits.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/spread.html
A Nutshell Review: Love Happens
Love happens when you least expect it, and in this film, it's something put on the back burner as well, since it's a story dealing with facing one's problematic past, and moving on with life in the present. Love​​​​​​​​​​​, if it happens, is nothing more than a by-product stemming from acknowledging one's mistakes, and the gaining of new found self-respect from a hypocritical life that one has been leading in denial.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/love-happens.html
A Nutshell Review: Jennifer's Body
Megan Fox has the noisy Transformers movies to thank for in propelling her to fan geekdom, where her Mikaela character had probably captured more attention amongst the fan boys who are just as ecstatic about catching some mindless, high-octane Michael Bay action, as they are trying to figure out what the bombshell has got to do with robots. Which is pretty little of course rather than to ramp up its sexy quotient, and to think that Fox herself would be more suited for a role such as this one, in which she plays a demonic cheerleader out to seduce and devour boys.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/jennifers-body.html
A Nutshell Review: Pandorum
I've not been too impressed with that many science-fiction thriller/horror films set in outer space since, well, probably Alien and Aliens, but Pandorum turned out to be something of a different ball game altogether. It's been too long since I last enjoyed a film of this genre, and who would have thought this was something originally planned for a direct to video release. It looks gorgeously dark, and pretty much entertaining from start to finish, keeping you guessing until the mid-way mark, while letting the gloomy, pessimistic atmosphere envelope you.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/pandorum.html
A Nutshell Review: Lesbian Vampire Killers
I'd have to admit that this comedy is really great for a Monday night after a start to the work week, and seriously, you're not going to care much about the flimsy excuse of a plot that would've raised some interest due to its focus on the sexuality and sensuality of vampires.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/lesbian-vampire-killers.html
A Nutshell Review: My Girlfriend is an Agent
If one should read the premise and have watched the trailer, the film most steeped in its reference comes to mind and that's Hollywood's Mr and Mrs Smith starring the It couple Brangelina. This is sort of a Korean reply to that film, and starring two hot, good looking stars in Kim Ha-Neul and Kang Ji-Hwan, who knows if there could be as much sparks flying in real life as in the reel as well.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-girlfriend-is-agent-chilgeup.html
A Nutshell Review: Capitalism: A Love Story
You'd either enjoy Michael Moore's documentaries like a one man force exposing the inadequacies and falling of man and the system in his extremely subjective viewpoints presented in a hard-hitting manner, or dismiss him as another hack and bad filmmaker, just as how someone during the documentary quipped in telling him to stop making films. By now Moore's reputation is notorious, and it's a bit of a riot watching how he's now in probably every watchlist and blacklist in corporate America.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/capitalism-love-story.html
A Nutshell Review: Astro Boy
Truth be told I'm not too acquainted with Astro Boy, other than reading up here and there, and seeing how popular he is in Kyoto that his stature appears almost everywhere near the main JR Station. Which of course the film has suited me fine, approaching it without baggage to watch an origin story right down to how Astro Boy loses his shirt for that naked upper body iconic look.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/astro-boy.html
A Nutshell Review: Amalfi
I guess even coming back from the Tokyo International Film Festival my appetite for Japanese films still isn't satiated. Amalfi is Fuji TV's 50th anniversary film, and it's no holds barred in terms of the production values, jet-setting throughout Rome, with a bevy of star, even getting Sarah Brightman herself to perform the number “Time to Say Goodbye� on screen.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/10/amalfi-amarufi-megami-no-hoshu.html
A Nutshell Review: Humpday
Awarded the Sundance Special Jury Prize, the premise is pretty much hilariously insane, though I'm not sure if there will really be straight guys out there who will decide to go do it with their male best friends, perhaps only in a state of drunken stupor with false bravado in not wanting to lose face? Which is exactly how this film portrayed its lead protagonists in their attempt to justify their once-in-a-lifetime project pact using a film festival as an end to justify their means.
Continues at http://anutshellreview.blogspot.com/2009/11/humpday.html