CLOSER (2004)

If I were to describe Closer in one word, it would be “raw”. It portrayed a bleak picture of the reality of infidelity, with the intensity and the mystery of each character in the film pulling viewers in.

The beginning shot of Natalie Portman and Jude Law walking down a busy street, with Damien Rice’s haunting “The Blower’s Daughter” playing in the background, is probably the best opening I’ve ever seen in a film. In this film, there was no trace of Jude Law’s usual charm as seen in his other movies such as Alfie and Artificial Intelligence. Julia Roberts was surprisingly good. No ear-to-ear grinning and America’s-sweetheart-ishness, like her roles in Pretty Woman and Notting Hill. And Clive Owen was definitely a character to remember. I thought he was bad in King Arthur (well, King Arthur was bad as a whole, let’s face it), but this film definitely showed an edgier side to him.

And as for Natalie Portman. Well. This is probably the best performance of hers I’ve ever seen. She’s done drama before, as in Anywhere but Here with Susan Sarandon and Where the Heart Is with Ashley Judd, but I don’t think I’ve ever really seen her do something risky and edgy. She usually plays girl-next-door characters. In Closer, however, I think she may have outdid her veteran costars. She’s not only very beautiful, with or without the make-up (we have to hand it to her for braving that next-to-nothing stripper’s costume), but her acting never comes off as contrived. Oh yeah, and she looks great in any hair color/hair style.

Intense, is all I can say. When I saw the film, I was gripping the seat of my chair at the Clive Owen/Julia Roberts scene where they are yelling at each other during the break-up. Alice (Natalie Portman’s character) came off as a very vulnerable girl who’s trying to be strong, but has a jumble of emotions tangled up inside of her. Natalie pulled that off very well, especially in her scene with Jude Law when he admits to her that he’s been seeing Anna (Julia Robert’s character).

Overall, this is definitely a movie to see. Great cast, excellent music (come on, you can’t go wrong with Damien Rice!) and a solid script. It explored the subject of infidelity in an interesting way – venturing where no other director might have gone. Even if the theme of the story revolved around infidelity and sneaking around, it did not include the typical lewd scenes showing the sensuality of the act. It went even further and showed the physical and emotional breakdowns that the people involved in infidelity go through. So Closer is definitely something I’d recommend watching.

STAR WARS EPISODE III: THE REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)

The saga is complete!                   

I have just returned from seeing the final installment in the Star Wars saga: Episode III, the Revenge of the Sith. I find it amusing that while we were already watching the highly-anticipated final episode, the rest of the world (the West, specifically) is still in line waiting to see it, since we’re a day ahead and SM decided to show it in advance last night (May 18). So mwahahaha!

Overall, I think it was all right. Not mind-blowing and worthy of “oohs” and “aahhs”, but it wasn’t bad either. Of course, the terrible dialogue could not be ignored. What is up with the Star Wars screenwriters anyway? Who writes these godawful lines?

I cracked up when Padme was like, “Anakin, don’t do this. You’re breaking my heart!”

God help us. When lines like those are being thrown out, you just have to wonder if there is any hope left for the film industry. And let’s face it. Obi Wan Kenobi still has the worst lines. Oh and I remember the first part of the movie where Anakin and Padme were exchanging odes to each other on the balcony of their home.

Anakin: “You are so beautiful.”
Padme replies: “Only because I’m so in love.”
And then Anakin says, “No, I’m in love.” …Is this the worst conversation in the history of ever or what?

The effects were unbelievable though. The opening sequence was excellent. I felt like being in one of those Rialto rides at Enchanted Kingdom. Very cool. Oh yeah, and Yoda, as usual, was great. There were a few laughable scenes with Senator Palpatine, and Chewbacca and the wookies! Woohoo! I missed those guys.

I have to say, the transformation to Darth Vader, Anakin putting on the mask and everything– it was pretty monumental. I remember feeling the exact same feeling when I watched The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time and when Elrond says “Nine companions. This will be the fellowship of the ring.” So exhilarating.

I’m so thrilled that I finally saw it and I think I’m going to go on a Star Wars marathon this weekend. I’m gonna see episodes 4, 5 and 6 again and relive the saga.

Christian Bale is the most underrated actor on the planet. I’ve seen all of his movies, and I still wonder why it’s only now that this guy was handed a blockbuster like Batman Begins. I mean, the guy started his film career with directing guru Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, so hello?

Anyway, the first film of his that I saw was Empire of the Sun and he was brilliant in it. Of course, he was like, 9 or something. Another film that had Bale in his early teens was Newsies, a musical about street kids working as newspaper boys struggling to keep their jobs. I loved Newsies. And the guy can sing! Then I saw this indie movie of his called Laurel Canyon, which also starred Kate Beckinsale and Frances McDormand. It was so-so, but again, a great performance from Bale. And then I saw American Psycho, where I began to be a self-proclaimed Christian Bale fanatic. And then came A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which he played Demetrius alongside Calista Flockhart, Rose Byrne and the gorgeous Dominic West. They all did a tremendous job (especially Kevin Kline) and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Then I saw Equilibrium, which was good, but not as mind-blowing as I had hoped it would be; although Bale was great in it, too. Other films he was in that I liked was Portrait of a Lady and a small role in Little Women, where he played Laurie, Jo’s (Winona Ryder) supposed love interest and ultimately in the end, Amy’s (Kirsten Dunst) husband.

Okay, now that the Christian-Bale-worship has reached the point where I’m naming most of his film accomplishments, I guess it’s time to get right to work. Batman Begins.

I’ve always had a fascination with Batman. I’ve always loved DC Comics as a kid. Marvel was a personal favorite, but with Batman, come on. He was the one crime-fighting superhero who was entirely human, no supernatural brouhaha. I liked the idea that the writers went for, beginning with Bruce Wayne’s transformation. To those unaware of how Bruce Wayne became Batman, the movie gives a pretty accurate description of the why’s and the how’s.

There’s also the all-star cast to talk about. Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson…I don’t know about Katie Holmes, but you’ve gotta admit that’s one cast of heavyweights. Of course, there’s also director Christopher Nolan, who did a tremendous job being respectful to the Batman history.

Oh yeah, and I have a new guy I’m looking into. Cillian Murphy, who plays the professional psychologist slash psychopath Dr. Crane. I love his glasses. And he’s kinda cute, too. I remember him from the zombie movie 28 Days Later.

One thing I didn’t quite like was the um…Batmobile. It looked like this huge piece of junk. Okay, so maybe I thought the Batman and Robin batmobile seemed cooler, but this one was just not as cool-looking. Although let’s admit it was probably more realistic than the batmobiles of the past.

An upside, though, is the ending. The writers could’ve chosen to nix a cliffhanger and start completely from scratch in the sequel, but this movie ended with a nice hint as to the next villain in the future installment:  The Joker. I give them a thumbs-up for that.

And finally, we’ve come to the reason why I’ve decided to name this entry as “Look ma, no nipples!” As you might not have noticed, or maybe as you might not have even cared to notice at all, this brand spankin’ new Batsuit is nipple-free. No crazy built-in abs, either. So yeah, I thought that needed an honorable mention.

Overall, the film was pretty good. Worth seeing, if you ask me. 

Okay, so maybe I underestimated the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise tandem.

I wasn’t planning on seeing War of the Worlds, since I had already seen the original and read the H.G. Wells classic. But since I wanted to go see a movie and refuse to sit through roughly an hour and a half of Paris Hilton’s lack of talent (read: House of Wax), what the heck.

I’m going to start by saying the effects were incredible. I mean, sure, it goes with the Steven Spielberg territory, but man. I was practically on the edge of my seat during the entire movie. I came into it with reservations, but ended up genuinely liking Cruise’s acting in this one.

Of course, Dakota Fanning pretty much takes the cake for this one, too. Brilliant acting. Big, beautiful, blue eyes. Excellent piercing scream. What more can Spielberg want? Then there’s Justin Chatwin, who plays Tom’s older kid Robbie. Okay, so maybe I just had to mention him because he was kinda cute. And finally, Tim Robbins. C’mon. The guy needs no introduction. He can play a shotgun-wielding loon in my movie any time. And of course, Morgan Freeman narrating intro and ending was just Spielberg parading his connections as a Hollywood heavyweight.

Anyhoo, I wasn’t completely blown away. Okay, so maybe I was blown away a little bit–just a teensy bit. But I think it was pretty good. What was even more surprising was the intensity of the film. Lots of shrieking and chaos, but the intensity was off the Richter.

On a further note, the film shows exactly how humans would act given a frenzied situation such as…well, an alien invasion. Humans would never act calmly in a situation like that. No reason would prevail; sensibility would go out the window. Instead, we’d revert back to primal form. Rabid animals clawing at each other for survival. Seeing that on screen was scary.

Anyway, so hats off to Cruise, Spielberg, Robbins and Fanning. I had an interesting movie experience.

Oh, and just for the record: I still believe aliens exist. And they will come for us, eventually (insert creepy Twilight Zone music here).

I just saw Wes Craven’s new suspense thriller Red Eye and I have to hand it to Craven - the guy knows how to make something out of nothing. The story is mainly about a woman named Lisa (Mean Girls‘ Rachel McAdams) who takes the red eye flight to Miami, where she works in a hotel. In the airport she “befriends” this guy Jackson (28 Days Later and Batman Begins‘ Cillian Murphy) who turns out to be a psycho who holds her hostage during the flight. He’s asking her to move a hotel guest (a prominent political figure) to a room where he can be taken out by hit men in a yacht outside the hotel. If she does this her father (who is at home and being monitored by some hit men) will go unscathed. Sorry. I suck at making plot summaries.

Basically the story revolves around Cillian and Rachel’s characters. The movie kind of reminds me of Steven Soderbergh’s Phone Booth, where the setting of the story is basically just that one phone booth that Colin Farrell is being taunted in. In Red Eye, the focus is in the 45 minutes that Cillian Murphy’s character Jackson convinces, taunts, aggravates Rachel McAdams’ character until she gives into him.

So you could say that in the beginning, Craven wouldn’t have had anything to go with. If it were any director, they would probably have overhyped it and over-SFXed it to the point of no return. For Craven, though, I applaud him for keeping it real and for keeping it simple.

As for the acting, I salute Rachel McAdams too. She and Cillian Murphy went well together.

Rachel – I never knew she had it in her. She’s a great actress. In some scenes though, I got kinda annoyed at how pretty she still looked even after all that tripping and trauma. That’s probably the irrational audience viewer talking, though. As for Cillian, the guy never ceases to impress. After 28 Days Later I was a fan. In Batman Begins he was great in that too. In this one, he definitely outshone Rachel. In my opinion, at least. He has these unbelievable deep blue eyes that just bore into your skull when he looked at you. And he has a great taunting voice too. He makes a great villain. With him the intensity is never absent.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone. I mean, there are only a few people who have an open mind for a simple movie with great acting. I liked it because the script was well-written. I liked Phone Booth too, because it sort of started the whole I-don’t-need-multiple-characters-and-five-zillion-locations-just-to-make-a-good-movie thing. You have a simple story resting on the back of two great actors and you’ve got a good movie.

So yeah, Red Eye‘s a good movie if you want your money’s worth anyway. This is better than the absolute waste of money that is The Dukes of Hazzard, in my opinion.

I never thought I would ever actually enjoy a Kevin Costner movie, but in this case, The Upside of Anger is now one of my favorite films.

The movie stars Joan Allen (Face/Off) who plays Terry, an incredibly furious and uptight mother of four kids whose husband ran off to Sweden with his secretary. Kevin Costner is Denny, who is one of Terry’s husband’s friends. He ends up being Terry’s drinking buddy and soon they develop a very dysfunctional relationship that centers on Terry’s crazy mood swings.

I loved the script. Mike Binder was totally onto something here. The script was very subtle yet witty, and Joan Allen was incredibly funny with it. I loved their dynamic, Kevin Costner and Joan Allen. It made for an enjoyable film.

Anyhoo, this is from the movie. I thought this was genius, so here goes:

It’s real, though. The theory. Even when it isn’t, it [anger] can change you, turn you, mold you and shape you into something you’re not. The only upside to anger, then, is the person you become. Hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they’re not afraid of its journey. Someone that knows that the truth is at best a partially-told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits and that in its wake leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm. But what do I know? I’m only a child.

I just rented Wuthering Heights, which is an MTV adaptation of the Emily Bronte classic. It starred Erika Christensen (Swimfan, Traffic), Chris Masterson (Malcolm in the Middle), Katherine Heigl (Roswell) and Mike Vogel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Wrong Turn). And just for the record, this is a really, really bad movie.

First of all, how dare they butcher this classic? How dare they? But hey, what do you expect? MTV Productions says it all.

If you want to waste an hour and 30 minutes watching kids smooching each other for no apparent reason, listening to really bad music, and cringing at the poorly-written script, Wuthering Heights is the movie for you.

I guess you could say I had it coming. I knew beforehand that it was an MTV production, but I went and rented it anyway. I thought that since Erika Christensen was on the cast, it was going to be at least okay. I mean, Erika has a pretty decent resume. Traffic, Home Room, The Upside of Anger…I guess the crew just used the good-looking cast to market the film. Which is typical of MTV.

Wuthering Heights, I mean, it’s Emily Bronte, you know. I thought it was going to be like Crime and Punishment in Suburbia or something. Or Baz Luhrman’s Romeo+Juliet. But nooooo, this is such a poor excuse for a fim.

If you wanna see an incredibly hot Katherine Heigl or a gorgeous Mike Vogel, then go see this. If you wanna see bad scriptwriting, mediocre acting and hear mind-numbing music, this is the film for you.

I laughed myself off my bed watching this stupid movie. But hey, we need stupid movies like these to balance the whole film industry, right?

Wrong. Horrible movie-making is just horrible movie-making. Period.

I rented a bunch of movies last night. Paz Vega’s Carmen, Storytellers with Selma Blair, We Don’t Live Here Anymore with Mark Ruffalo and Laura Dern, and Thirteen Conversations about One Thing with John Turturro and Alan Arkin. It was just coincidence that they were all about sex.

All right, I admit, I’m a pervert. Plain and simple.

Anyhoo, so Paz Vega [Spanglish] is this beautiful prostitute-slash-banditwoman named Carmen who seduces this young soldier Juan. Eventually Carmen becomes the cause of this young soldier’s demise. The guy is obsessed with her and they have plenty of sex and everything, but then Carmen is just a prostitute at heart and she doesn’t want to be tied down with the guy. So she wraps him around her little finger and plays with him until he gives into her whims. Eventually he kills for her, and finally, ends up killing her too. Very torrid and um…let’s just say there was lots of nudity.

And spitting. Yes, don’t forget the spitting. Plenty of spitting too.

Storytellers, although it is supposedly a Sundance Film Festival pick, I didn’t really love. Selma Blair bared her breasts and everything (which is such a serious actress thing to do, but it’s not like there was really anything to see), so you know. Moving along.

Thirteen Conversations about One Thing I had expected to be good, considering Alan Arkin was in it. And John Turturro. But it wasn’t all that good, really. It was just interrelated lives and stuff. I wouldn’t really do any good with giving a synopsis since I fell asleep watching it.

We Don’t Live Here Anymore I was completely surprised by. I had expected it to be good, since I know Pete Krause [Six Feet Under] is sort of picky with his movies. Let me just say that Peter Krause is really good-looking.

Anyway, so the movie started off okay, with Laura Dern dancing drunk with Peter Krause and Naomi Watts. Mark Ruffalo, who plays Laura’s husband Jack, is having an affair with Naomi Watts, who plays Edith, Peter Krause’s wife. The story basically revolves around adultery, marriage, family life, relationships in general, jealousy…I liked the movie because it had a different approach to telling the adultery tale. It wasn’t “We can do this, you and me! This is a marriage!” sort of thing. It was raw, real and straight to the point.

I thought Mark Ruffalo played a great cheating husband, and Naomi Watts…Let’s just say she looks the part of a cheating wife. Peter’s character was just cocky in every sense of the word. Egotistical, arrogant, charming. Love love love the guy.

Anyway, I thought there was just so much intensity in this movie. It tries to convey that yes, adultery starts off as just sex, but then as it goes deeper, the intentions change and the people change as well. It’s no longer about sex, it becomes something about love, about regret, and about how different married life can be once you’ve been hitched for a long time already.

It’s about not just staying because of the kids, but because you remember why you chose the person you married to begin with. It’s about trying to fix whatever’s broken, instead of giving up. It’s about revenge, but guilty revenge. Not cold-blooded or cruel, just the hurting kind of revenge.

Laura Dern did an excellent job in this movie, in my opinion. Naomi Watts just sat there and looked pretty. Oh, and she had sex with Mark Ruffalo, too. But that’s pretty much it.

So yeah, I’m waiting for my eyes to bleed from staying up all night and day watching four films in a row. Darn it, I think I’m going blind from all the boobie-baring.

I rented two Charlize Theron movies yesterday: Aeon Flux and North Country. The overall conclusion: go see Aeon Flux if you appreciate the Charlize Theron who appears practically naked in her Aeon costume. Oh, and if you’re a sci-fi fan. And if you’re an avid Jonny Lee Miller fanatic [for those who do not get this remark, Jonny Lee Miller plays Sick Boy, a character from Trainspotting].

If you’re one of those critic types who actually enjoys watching the Oscars, who can cry boatloads because of your oozing empathy skills, who appreciates seeing a gorgeous gal like Charlize Theron get down and dirty working in a coal mine up in Minnesota, who can listen to blatant sexist discrimination without flinching (okay, so maybe a little twitch can be considered), and who (optional) has undying love for Sean Bean (he plays Boromir in the Lord of the Rings movies)…If so, go watch North Country.

Aeon Flux is actually the film adaptation of the MTV cartoon series similarly titled. Its graphics I can’t quite compare to any other cartoon, but am I right in saying they used a little rotoscopy in this one? Dunno. But anyway, it’s actually sensible of Charlize to choose not to wear the original Aeon Flux costume, because frankly, in the MTV series, Aeon barely wears anything. Her costume is like, a strip of black cloth over her privates or something, which is acceptable, if you’re a guy. Well anyway. I’m glad they decided to cover her up a bit. Although some people would disagree and say the film barely did any covering up. Ah, but who cares.

Anyhoo, the plot revolves around this last remaining city on earth, due to a wipeout that kills the entire planet, save for a few 5 million survivors. The city is governed by the Goodchild dynasty, headed by Trevor Goodchild, who is played by New Zealand actor Marton Csokas, who’s best-known for playing mostly villains in movies such as The Bourne Supremacy, Kingdom of Heaven and xXx(that’s um…Triple X). Oh, and to LoTR buffs, this guy played Celeborn, Galadriel’s bitch, remember? Mwahahaha! Sorry, I think I had a moment there.
Well anyway, Charlize plays Aeon, a member of the rebel group of Monicanswho’s like, some sort of assassin. She’s ordered to kill Trevor Goodchild and intead, finds out that there’s some sort of conspiracy and that she has a past she’s been oblivious to yada yada yada. Some people think Famke Janssen (Jean Grey in X-Men) would’ve made a great Aeon, but I disagree. Charlize did a pretty good job. She had Aeon’s voice down, I’ll give her that.

Anyway, on to North Country. I think I may have dried up my tear ducts on this one. This is a tremendously exhausting film, man. It’s sort of like Erin Brockovich goes to the Minnesota coal mines, you know? Lots of single-mom-with-two-kids stuff, and definitely a ton of sexual harrassment going on down there. Charlize plays a single mom with two kids who, because of domestic violence care of her jerk husband, she flees to her hometown of Minnesota to seek refuge with her parents. Her dad, played by Richard Jenkins (you might remember him as the very funny Nathaniel Sr. on Six Feet Under), is a sexist old geezer who hates her guts because she got pregnant way too early. Sissy Spacek plays her mom, who’s a little more forgiving, but under the command of her husband nonetheless.

Anyway, so Josie, Charlize’s character, is looking for a job so she can move out of her parents’ house and raise her kids well. She is offered a job at the mines by her tough-talking friend Glory, played by Frances McDormand (Almost Famous). Josie accepts, and winds up in a pretty shitty mess. Turns out the mines are home to some very perverted, viciously sexist men you could ever imagine. The women who work there are constantly being verbally abused, sexually harrassed and simply picked on by the men working there. They just don’t think women have a place in the mines. Charlize sucks it up at first, but then she can’t take it anymore and so she decides to sue the coal company.

This story is actually based on a true account, which eventually led to the creation of an anti-sexual harrassment policy that has affected companies worldwide. So yeah. Erin Brockovich versus the coal mines this time, not the water company.

Anyway, Charlize gives a very good performance in this one. I smell Oscar, people. This will probably be nominated for Best Picture or something. Charlize is definitely getting acknowledgment for her role in this. I mean, people are praising her for being the kind of actress who doesn’t mind getting dirty and looking like crap for the sake of a movie [see: Monster].
So yeah, see this film, you guys. It’s well-written, has a great cast which includes Woody Harrelson and Sean Bean, and it’s just one of those films, you know, that just leaves you wanting to have a very good moral compass to live by. It’s very touching, harsh at times, but overall, painfully honest.

Finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally! I have been agonizing for ages and ages! After visiting and revisiting the magical land of Narnia through pure imagination and through the vivid imagery of C.S. Lewis, FINALLY!

I got that feeling again. The exact same feeling I got when the opening credits of The Fellowship of the Ring appeared onscreen. I felt choked up and ready to cry. It was the exact same feeling when I met Brandon Boyd (yes, until now, this still seems surreal). I felt elated, but at the same time, on the brink of bursting into tears. Of joy, of course.

I cannot even begin to communicate how much this means to me: being able to see what I have long dreamt about in my head come to life on the screen. I remember sleepless nights when I would stay up until dawn finishing the Chronicles and sometimes, even waking up to see my book tear-stained and gripped tightly between fingertips. C.S. Lewis is a master, and Andrew Adamson has done his work justice.

Purists will be extremely happy at the outcome of the movie. I think this was as faithful to the book as you can possibly hope to be. I think it helps if a fan of the books takes up the challenge of making the story come to life. Take Peter Jackson, for example. As a fan of Tolkien, he wasn’t about to screw things up and butcher the story just to make a couple of million bucks. Andrew Adamson, you definitely have my well-earned respect.

The casting of the film was excellent. The Pevensie kids were well-cast. William Moseley, who played Peter, was very good. I think this is a star in the making, people. The same can be said for Georgie Henley, who plays Lucy. That little girl is another Dakota Fanning.

I don’t think it’s fair to give a select favorite scene in the movie, because frankly, I adored the whole film. But according to the scene where I most got choked up in, I think it would have to go to Peter’s surge of bravery upon seeing that his brother Edmund had fallen, courtesy of the White Witch. William Moseley is a great actor. I expect a great many things to come from this guy.

Now you know I hate comparisons to Harry Potter, so let me just kill what most of you are going to say, that he’s another Daniel Radcliffe. I disagree wholeheartedly, because I do not think Daniel Radcliffe can truly act. He looks the part of Harry Potter, but he does not have a decent serious-acting bone in that body. Which is why he won’t ever escape the role of Harry Potter. He will be remembered for how he resembled Harry and played Harry, but not for his awesome acting skills. On the other hand, William Moseley will do wonders.

I give lots of credit to Walden Media for the excellent special effects. They definitely outdid themselves in this one. I can’t say enough thanks to Andrew Adamson for having the balls to take on this beloved masterpiece by Lewis. Let’s just hope and pray for a sequel that’s as good as this one.

But let me just say hats off to Walden Media and Andrew Adamson. As well as a big thumbs up to the four Pevensie kids. I guess I’ll see you all in The Horse and His Boy. Oh please Andrew Adamson, give us a good Shasta and Aravis!

Let’s see…right about now, Lewis’ books are going to sell like hotcakes, now that the masses have been alerted about the newest fantasy fiction craze. Oh hell. Here we go again.