tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100032122024-03-13T22:06:42.779-07:00Reel ReviewsMovie reviews as featured in Actors Ink (http://www.nowcasting.com/actorsink)Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.comBlogger512125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-55228944888003593522013-11-29T14:25:00.000-08:002013-12-05T16:55:14.888-08:00Philomena<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on Martin Sixsmith’s article “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee,” <i>Philomena </i>is a “human interest story” that touches on many serious themes including the taboo subjects of religion and the Catholic church. Ultimately, it’s the story of one woman’s redemption and forgiveness, and a man’s journey to rediscover himself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is a high-profile journalist who has just been fired from his high-profile public job. Not knowing what to do with himself, he gets a lead on a “human interest story” that at first he thinks is beneath him. But the subject matter, and the main character of the story, Philomena, intrigues him. With a little encouragement from his editor, he decides to take on the project.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It turns out that Philomena (Judi Dench), has been keeping a secret for 50 years. As a teenager, Philomena was taken in by the sisters of Rosecrea after her parents had abandoned her. Unfortunately, Philomena “sinned” with a man and became pregnant. Eventually the convent adopted her young son Anthony to a couple and Philomena never saw Anthony again. Now she wants to find out what happened to Anthony. Martin agrees to help her find Anthony in exchange for her story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Martin finds out that Anthony was adopted by an American couple, and their research leads him and Philomena to America. Through their journey, Martin comes to know more about Philomena and regards her as a kind but naive, ignorant simpleton. Philomena thinks of Martin as rude, snobbish and opportunistic. And yet the story of her son binds them together. Martin tracks down Anthony, who was renamed as Michael, became a lawyer and worked at the White House. But the truth about Anthony/Michael soon devastates Philomena.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Judi Dench (<i>Skyfall</i>) is of course amazing as Philomena (Sophie Kennedy Clark plays the younger version). She dominates the movie in every scene she is in. Through her, we experience the agony, guilt and shame of a mother who is the victim of her faith and circumstances. We come to care about Philomena deeply, in part because of her heart-wrenching story, but in part because of Dench’s soulful performance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have never been a fan of Steve Coogan (<i>Ruby Sparks</i>) until now. As Martin Sixsmith, Coogan exudes this seriousness of a man who is confused about his life. Certainly Coogan’s sense of humor is still evident in his characterization, but his restrained and refined performance is rather unexpected. And he more than holds his own against the sublime Judi Dench.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast is solid. Special mention to Barbara Jefford (<i>The Deep Blue Sea</i>) as Sister Hildergarde, a misguided soul whom we can’t quite sure whether to hate or pity. Sean Mahon (<i>Dark Shadows</i>) plays Philomena’s adult son in mostly flashbacks, and Peter Herman (<i>Trouble with the Curve) </i>is affecting as a key person in Anthony’s life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Co-written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (<i>The Security Men</i>), the script stays rather true to the article and true events, but in a cinematic format of course. The plot unfolds gradually and naturally. It also focuses on the characterization and relationship of Philomena and Sixsmith — it is as much a story about Philomena and the journalist who is doing this for his own gain. While the screenplay does falter at times with pacing problems, these flaws are minor compared to the careful characterization, the deliberate mystery, and how the relationships are developed so naturally.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The direction of Stephen Frears (<i>The Queen</i>) is also solid. There is calm in Frears’ direction that stabilizes the rather frazzled nature of Philomena’s and Sixsmith’s journey. Frears walks a fine line in dealing with the emotional material, often successfully avoiding the melodramatic nature of such deeply tragic stories. Specifically, Frears lets the production fall away so we can focus on the characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As it turns out, <i>Philomena </i> is a deeply moving and interesting story about many things: motherhood, guilt, religion (i.e. the Catholic faith), ambition, reconciliation, forgiveness and redemption. More important, it is a love story. It is a story about the love between a mother and her child, the love between two complete strangers, and the love for the truth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Peter Herman, Sean Mahon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Stephen Frears</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope (based on article by Martin Sixsmith)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> 20th Century Fox</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for some strong language, thematic materials and sexual preferences</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 98 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 9</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.8 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-88060115379523846142013-11-22T14:56:00.000-08:002013-11-26T14:56:44.900-08:00About Time<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At first glance (and as the trailers would tell us), <i>About Time</i> is a romance with a time-traveling twist. In reality, it is really a love story — and not just about romantic love. It is a fable about love and life in general.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After his 21st birthday, Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) gets the surprise news of his life from his father (Bill Nighy): all the men in their family have the ability to time travel. While most men in his family tended to misuse the super power (for money, for fame, etc.), Dad has found the secret, but he wants Tim to figure it out for himself. For Tim, everything has always been about love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tim eventually moves to London to start a new life as an adult, and he meets beautiful and kind Mary (Rachel McAdams). When he accidentally erases Mary from his life because he used his time travel to help his friend Harry (Tom Hollander), Tim time-travels again to fix his misfortune. While Tim succeeds in getting Mary back and their lives on track again, he discovers that his time traveling has consequences; and that he cannot make someone fall in love with him, and that he cannot fix all his problems. As Dad is dying from cancer, Dad delivers one last advice to Tim on the secret of happiness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Domhnall Gleeson (<i>Anna Karenina</i>) is quite a chameleon as an actor. As Levin in <i>Anna Karenina, </i>Gleeson was handsome and rugged at the love-sick farmer. As Tim, however, Gleeson looks incredibly young (playing a 21-year-old, no less), naive and — once again — love struck. Gleeson has an ease to his performance, exuding a nervous, shy and uncertain lad who, with a little bit of practice, can achieve great things. Gleeson’s non-nonsense performance is the reason why we like Tim so much to follow his bizarre journey through time and life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is the second time Rachel McAdams (<i>Passion</i>) appears in a “time traveling” love story, and this time it is a much lighter role as the object of Tim’s affection. McAdams excels in being the sweet girl next door, and her chemistry with Gleeson is just right to pull off the relationship, which can sometimes seem a bit thin. Bill Nighy (<i>The World’s End</i>) is fantastic as Dad — a whimsical, humorous and yet warm and lovely family man.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast is strong with Lydia Wilson (<i>Never Let Me Go</i>) as Tim’s free-sprit sister, Lindsay Duncan (<i>Last Passenger</i>) as Tim’s strong and resilient mother, and Tom Hollander (<i>The Invisible Woman</i>) as a self-absorbed, narcissistic playwright.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Written and directed by Richard Curtis (<i>War Horse</i>), the film definitely has a light, whimsical fable feel to it. Even the characters seem to be more quirky than usual. Curtis decides to keep the story focused on love itself (as “time traveling” stories can go in so many different directions). The result is somewhat unbelievable at first (who, while processing the ability of time traveling, would not at least try to get a better job or a tip in the stock market?) But once we suspend the disbelief, the story gains on us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It’s not to say the plot and characters are without their conventional and trite trappings. There are some rather blatant cliches; and plot holes are all but inevitable in a story about “time traveling.” For example, one of the rules is that one cannot travel past the birth of a child, and yet at one point, Tim and his father travel to a time before his sister was born (or any of his own children). Such inconsistency, however, does not mar the general quality of the story, which really isn’t about time traveling anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In fact, time traveling becomes almost a metaphor, as Tim continues to learn and understand what life and love mean to him. I think that’s the sweetest thing about this movie — it has a very sweet, almost innocent look at life and love, and I find that rather refreshing in today’s cynical world. And that may be the film’s biggest flaw — just not cynical and bitter enough for today’s audiences. For me, it’s about time we have something so pure and fun, sometimes almost magical.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordery, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Richard Curtis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Richard Curtis</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Universal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for language, sexual content</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 123 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.7 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-137519416893800522013-11-15T02:16:00.000-08:002013-11-19T02:16:22.631-08:00Dallas Buyers Club<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on a true story, <i>Dallas Buyers Club </i>chronicles a Dallas man’s plight against the FDA to save his own life while trying to make a difference for a change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is a electrician who moonlights as a rodeo cowboy in Dallas. After being sent to the hospital for a work-related incident, Ron is diagnosed with AIDS. Neither an intravenous drug user or a homosexual, he refuses to believe he’s contracted the gay plaque. But evidence eventually proves him wrong, that he does have AIDS, and according to Dr. Sevard (Denis O’Hare), Ron has only a month to live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Desperate to survive, Ron at first steals the experimental drug AZT from the hospital. When that supply dries up, he ventures to Mexico to seek alternative treatments. There, he learns that AZT is poison and will eventually kill him regardless whether he has AIDS or not, and that there is a “cocktail” of unapproved drugs that actually works. Driven by greed at first, Ron smuggles the drugs back to the US to sell for profit. With the help of a transvestite named Rayon (Jared Leto), Ron quickly expands his client base. The more he sells the drugs to the “homos” such as Rayon, the more he realizes how utterly ignorant and homophobic he is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Soon, though, the FDA catches on and tries to stop Ron from doling out these drugs. They confiscate his supplies and threatens to arrest Ron for illegal drug trafficking. But Ron finds a way and starts a subscription-only program called the Dallas Buyers Club, so technically speaking he is not selling drugs — he is selling memberships. And Ron is the living proof that the drugs work! Business is brisk, and Ron begins to realize that despite his intention and narrow views, he is actually helping people while the FDA, funded by the big US pharmaceuticals, are killing people. Unwittingly, Ron takes the FDA in his crusade to make the drugs available to those in need.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Matthew McConaughey (<i>Mud</i>) has always been one of Hollywood’s new, prominent method actors, and for the role of Ron Woodroof, McConaughey physically transforms himself by losing so much weight that he’s almost unrecognizable as the hunky movie star. Mentally and emotionally he also transforms himself into a man who is unrefined, crude, and homophobic. Ron Woodroof is not a likable character by any stretch, but McConaughey makes it work and make us sympathize with Ron, who is a seriously flawed man but finds his purpose via a tragic personal event. McConaughey’s performance is both physically and spiritually transformative, and will likely get an Oscar nomination.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jared Leto (<i>Mr. Nobody</i>) also loses significant weight and dons dresses and makeup to play transvestite Rayon. Leto matches McConaughey’s intensity and humor to give a tour-de-force performance as one of the film’s most likable and sympathetic characters. Jennifer Garner (<i>The Odd Life of Timothy Green</i>) has a harder job with her morally ambiguous role as Dr. Eve Saks, but she fares well. Supporting cast also includes Denis O’Hare (<i>J. Edgar</i>) as a corporate-friendly doctor, and Steve Zahn (<i>Escape from Planet Earth</i>) as a cop friend of Ron’s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The screenplay by Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack (<i>Mirror Mirror</i>) is heavily character-driven. The plot amounts to a series of character movements and mishaps, but the core of the story lies in the relationships between the characters, specifically between Ron and Rayon, two unlikely friends. The screenplay has the difficult job of making us like Ron Woodroof, but through a series of careful character development and the lead actor’s heartfelt performance, they’ve succeeded in telling this difficult story about a difficult man. Borten and Wallack also manage to avoid much melodrama and over-the-top theatrics, so the story feels grounded, if somewhat “boring” by today’s Hollywood standards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jean-Marc Vallee (<i>The Young Victoria</i>) directs the movie with a near-documentary style that also helps ground the film. His no-thrill camerawork and location shots give the story a needed reality. Vallee also doesn’t let the story apologize for the characters, and the production reflects that philosophy by revealing some harder truths. It’s not always pleasant, but that’s precisely the point. These are not always-pleasant characters in pleasant situations, but Vallee handles the production with a gritty sense of purpose. The result, though, does tend to undermine the production value as the film feels, at times, unpolished. But I credit that more to the style of the storytelling than Vallee’s directorial skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Dallas Buyers Club </i>is a small film with an intimate cast of characters but big themes — government corruption, big corporate profits, the blurry lines of morality. Because of a nuanced script and stellar performances by the actors, the movie works. Don’t expect anything life-changing though. In many ways, this is what Oscar-baits look like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Denis O’Hare, Steve Zahn</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Jean-Marc Vallee</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Craig Borten, Melissa Wallack</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Focus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for pervasive language, strong sexual content, nudity, drug use</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 117 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 9</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.7 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-89598764291050143732013-10-25T19:38:00.000-07:002013-10-28T19:38:18.026-07:00Killing Your Darlings<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A biopic of sort, <i>Killing Your Darlings</i>, focuses on a murder that draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) is a budding poet who is stuck with taking care of his mentally unstable mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). His father (David Cross), however, encourages him to leave and leave he did — to Columbia University, where he meets fellow aspiring writer Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan). Allen is drawn to Lucien’s colorful, rebellious life that is so unlike his timid, restrictive upbringing. And through the wild Lucien, Allen hooks up with other budding writers such as Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William Burroughs (Ben Foster). Together they call themselves the New Vision.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dissatisfied with the status quo and the privileges they enjoy, these four friends dream of breaking the rules and starting a revolution. Allen’s relationship with Lucien is particularly close, complicated by the fact that Allen is attracted to Lucien, while Lucien has an ambiguous friendship with David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), and older man who seems to appear everywhere Lucien is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As Allen and Lucien become closer, Allen also becomes jealous of David, as well as confused by his own feelings. His pain and confusion leads to bouts of brilliant creativity that surprises not only himself, but Lucien as well, who has considered Allen “not quite a writer.” As Lucien and David’s friendship becomes more violent, Allen stands by and watch Lucien distancing himself from their cause, their manifesto, and from Allen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Life after Harry Potter has been pretty good for Daniel Radcliffe (<i>The Woman in Black) </i>who seems to have defied the “child actor” curse and gone on to do interesting projects. As Ginsberg, Radcliffe has to tackle a wide range of emotions and also the basic conceit that Ginsberg is a closeted gay man in love with his best friend. He’s done a great job with the role, giving us a sympathetic portrayal of a writer on the verge of awakening. Dane DeHaan (<i>The Place Beyond the Pines</i>) has emerged as one of the new brooding, young leading men (think a cross between a young Leonardo DiCaprio and River Phoenix). As the ambiguous, manipulative and temperamental Lucien, DeHaan almost steals the show from the more subdue, nuances of Radcliffe’s understated performance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Michael C. Hall (<i>Dexter</i>) plays David Kammerer with an intense but also pretentious obsession that at once draws you in and repels you. There is no question that Kammerer is a stalker, but does he deserve how Lucien treats him? Hall gives us a solid performance that makes us question that. Jack Huston (<i>Two Jacks</i>) are charming and handsome as the iconic Jack Kerouac, but he lacks the required edge to pull it off. Ben Foster (<i>Contraband</i>) is fascinating as famed writer William Burroughs; his performance is one of the most memorable in the film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Co-written by Austin Bunn and director John Krokidas (<i>Sio-Mio</i>), the screenplay is surprising relevant even though it’s a period piece set in 1944. The intellectual dialogue and subtexts could appear pretentious at times, just as the characters could, but both writers reign it in to gound it with the human drama and raw emotions. There is the quality of a play here, what with the play of words and ideas and concepts, as well as the interactions between the characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yet Krokidas introduces interesting visual styles and elements to make this film a visually stimulating piece, instead of a static play about intellectuals saying intellectual things. His characters are first and foremost kids. They may have aspired to be something grand and big and important, but they are still boys. Krokidas’s visual style (and soundtrack) is contemporary and somewhat avant garde. At times his direction seems somewhat too experimental for the material, perhaps pushing the “art” in “art form” a bit too far, but one thing for sure, Kronkidas’ direction is never boring, despite the literary and artsy nature of the material.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As a writer, I thoroughly enjoyed the themes and the nature of this writerly film. As an average moviegoer, I find the plot perhaps somewhat too personal and intimate to have a mass appeal — it may not be a bad thing, after all. This may sound like a gay coming-of-age love story, but in truth <i>Killing Your Darlings </i>is a story about a group of revolutionary writers on the verge of becoming great. If you’re ever interested in the beats generation, go see it, Darling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Ben Foster, David Cross, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Elizabeth Olsen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> John Krokidas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>John Krokidas, Austin Bunn </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Sony Pictures Classics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for sexual content, language, drug use and brief violence</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 104 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.8 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-62036824980424229492013-10-18T15:13:00.000-07:002013-10-24T09:46:57.667-07:00Carrie<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A remake of the 1976 classic that was based on Stephen King's bestseller, <i>Carrie</i> tells the story of a young girl with a tremendous and deadly power. It is also a story about parent-child relationship and bullying. How relevant!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Reclusive, religious seamstress Margaret White (Julianne Moore) lives with her teenage daughter Carrie (Chloe Grace Moretz) in a small town. When the state requires that Carrie be taken out of homeschool and put into a local high school, Margaret reluctantly let her go but constantly reminds her of the sins and evils around them. When Carrie unexpectedly gets her period during P.E. class, her classmates, led by Chris (Portia Doubleday), tease and taunt her as well as record a video of her ordeal and putting it online to humiliate her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Feeling bad for what she's done to Carrie, Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) believes that she must set things right. So she asks her popular, boy scout of a boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort) to take Carrie to the prom instead. Tommy reluctantly obliges, but later finds that he really likes Carrie. Feeling wanted and happy for the first time in her life, Carrie defies her mother and agrees to go with Tommy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, because of her part in bullying Carrie, Chris is suspended from school, and thus is barred from going to the prom. Chris decides to take revenge on Carrie at the prom. When Sue realizes what is going on, she rushes to the prom to warn Carrie, but she is too late…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As Carrie's mentally ill, religious mother, Julianne Moore (<i>Don Jon</i>) has given one of her best performances of the year. There is a good range in her portrayal, from the mentally disturbed and Bible-thumping fanatics to being a loving, concerned mother. Chloe Grace Moretz (<i>Kick-Ass 2</i>) did her best with the iconic role as Carrie, but she is no Sissy Spacek. Personally I think Moretz was miscast in this role. She is way too cute and pretty and smart (she is Hit Girl, after all), and she never really convinces me that she is this shy, helpless girl. Thus her transformation at the prom seems forced and unauthentic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gabriella Wilde (<i>The Three Musketeers</i>) is bland as Sue Snell, the moral center of the story. Don't get me wrong, Wilde is beautiful and sweet, looking the part, but her performance is underwhelming. Portia Doubleday (<i>Almost Kings</i>) does better as the villainous Chris, but her portrayal also edges on being two-dimensional. Judy Greer (<i>The Descendants</i>) does a good job as the no-nonsense gym teacher who is the only person (seriously, where are all the other teachers?) kind to Carrie. Newcomer Ansel Elgort is all right as Tommy, the kind-hearted jock, but Elgort plays it so straight that even Superman would feel threatened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen and Roberto Aguiree-Sacasa stays rather true to the original novel and movie. They only updated certain things to make the teen horror more relevant (modern-day technologies, jargons, etc.). However, they didn't do enough to update this (one could use some Hip Hop or relevant pop culture references, for example), and the whole thing feels old-fashioned. It's as if we were watching something made in the 80s but with 2013 technologies. So the result is an odd sense of inauthenticity. It feels off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And while King's story and characters still feel relevant today (religious zealots, bullying, revenge, child abuse, etc.), I can't help but feel that the treatment of <i>Carrie</i>, at least in this rendition, feels seriously outdated. The idea of some teenage girl's viral video of being tormented for having her period doesn't ring true to me in today's world. Yes, teenagers can still be cruel today, but the things they do would have been much, much worse. As a horror film, I doubt today's audience would find it riveting or scary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kimberly Peirce's (<i>Boys Don't Cry</i>) direction also is bland. The visual flair of the original movie by De Palma is gone. True, this movie feels more realistic and less stylized, but the result seems dull in comparison. Why do a remake if it can't be as good or better than the original? In that regard, <i>Carrie </i>fails spectacularly. It is still very entertaining, for sure; but it's also rather forgettable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Julianne Moore, Chloe Grace Moretz, Gabriella Wilde, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Judy Greer, Ansel Elgort</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Kimberly Peirce</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (based on novel by Stephen King)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Screen Gems</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for bloody violence, disturbing images, language and some sexual content</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 100 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 6</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.1 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-28899722765496743662013-10-11T16:12:00.000-07:002013-10-15T16:13:46.704-07:00Captain Phillips<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on merchant marine Captain Richard Phillips own account, <i>Captain Phillips</i> recounts the fateful events in 2009 when Phillips cargo ship and crew were hijacked by a group of Somali pirates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) is a veteran captain on his route from Oman onboard of the freighter Maersk Alabama. While in the open waters near Africa, four Somali pirates, lead by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), go after the ship. Phillips and the crew fend them off the first time, but the next day, when the pirates return, they successfully board the ship. Phillips tells the crew to hide in the engine room while he negotiates with Muse and his men.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The crew manages to capture Muse, but the other men threaten to kill the crew if they don't release Muse. After Phillips hands $30,000 in cash to the pirates, they take a lifeboat to escape and abduct Phillips with them as a hostage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The navy and a group of SEALS are now on their way to rescue the crew and the ship while the pirates continue to hold Phillips as hostage and demand a ransom. Phillips tell Muse and the other men that they will not get away, but they would not listen but instead threaten to shoot Phillips if he doesn't cooperate. Phillips has to find a way to save himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tom Hanks (<i>The Cloud Atlas</i>) gives one of the strongest, most intense performances of his career as the resourceful, skilled but not well-liked captain. Phillips's no-nonsense, matter-of-fact style doesn't make him popular among his crew, but that's also a reason why HE is the captain. Phillips's decisions and actions are not always the best, but they are seemingly from the clearest of his own conscience. Hanks' portrayal of the character is thoughtful, stoic and human. He doesn't set out to play a "hero." He just plays a guy who is in a dangerous situation and must use everything he's got to save his crew and survive himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Newcomer Barkhad Abdi impresses as the pirate leader Muse. His intensity matches the character's ruthlessness, and yet his character has a sensitive and introspective side that makes the character three-dimensional instead of a cliched, stereotypical villain. In fact, both he and Mr. Hanks play their characters so humanly that they, as leads (as a newbie and a veteran actor respectively), help lift this thriller to a much more satisfying level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Newcomer Barkhad Albidrahman also contributes greatly as Bilal, one of the pirates. The impressive supporting cast also includes Michael Chemus (<i>The Bourne Legacy</i>) as first officer Shane Murphy, Catherine Keener (<i>Enough Said</i>) as Phillips's wife Andrea, and David Warshofsky (<i>Now You See Me</i>) as crew member Mike.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adapted from Richard Phillips' own account of the event, the screenplay by Billy Ray (<i>The Hunger Games</i>) is taut, suspenseful, and full of thrills and twists and turns. The fast-paced script almost leaves no room for a sigh. From the very first minutes, the story pulls us in and holds us there. It is not a very complicated plot -- men attack ship, men protect ship and themselves, men survive -- but it is written in such a thrilling way that we can't help but wonder what is going happen next, even though we know Phillips and the crew survived the ordeal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Paul Greengrass (<i>The Bourne Ultimatum</i>) has made a name for himself for his thrilling direction of the <i>Jason Bourne </i>series. Here, he uses similar techniques (fast cuts, handheld cameras, extreme close ups, etc.) to give us a thrill ride that is exciting and breathtaking. Unfortunately, as with the <i>Bourne </i>series, I think Greengrass relies too much on the handheld cameras. Combined with the at-sea adventures (in a small ship, nonetheless), the result can be nauseating to watch. At times I feel seasick myself, having to avert my eyes to calm my nerves. Others may have no problem with the pervasive handheld camera shots.<i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That said, <i>Captain Phillips</i> is an exciting thriller with very human characters. It is based on a true story that touches on the issues and problems with globalization and the disparity between the haves and have-nots. Even though we know the pirates are bad, we still sympathize for them because they are only humans who are the products of their own circumstances. None of these people are inherently bad people, and that makes the story more realistic and relatable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Albidrahman, Michael Chemus, Catherine Keener, David Warshofsky</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Paul Greengrass</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Billy Ray (based on book by Richard Phillips)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Warner Bros.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for intense sequences of menace, violence and substance use</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 134 minutes</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 8</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.8 out of 10.0 </span></b></div>
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-41251439198548118542013-10-04T13:21:00.000-07:002013-10-08T13:27:01.804-07:00Gravity<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As science fiction thrillers go, <i>Gravity</i> is a rare treat. It is big in scale and spectacles, but also intimate in terms of human drama.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a medical engineer enlisted by NASA to install an instrument on the Hubble telescope. Accompanying her on the space shuttle Explore is veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who is doing his final mission before retiring. During one of the procedures, while they're spacewalking, Mission Control (Ed Harris) notifies them that the Russians have demolished one of the Russian satellites, and it has created a chain reaction where debris are heading their way at the speed of bullets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With little time to change course, the space shuttle and the crew are being bombarded by the debris. Stone gets separated and is spinning out of control into space. With only six month in space training, Stone has no experience in disaster like this. Eventually, Kowalski finds and rescues her. They realize that the Explorer has been destroyed and everyone onboard is dead, and communication with Mission Control is gone. Their only option is to find their way to the Russian space station. As their oxygen is quickly depleting and a new wave of debris is fast approaching, it's a race between life an death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sandra Bullock (<i>The Heat</i>) gives one of the strongest performances of her career as Ryan Stone. The story is told almost entirely from her point of view and she carries the film on her shoulders. Bullock's portrayal of the scientist with deep personal regrets combines both brain and heart to make the character believable. Her emotions range from condescension to utter fear and confusion, and she is convincing with her silent resolve and inner strength in the direst situations, when her character is all alone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">George Clooney (<i>The Descendants</i>) also nails it as astronaut Matt Kowalski. He portrays the character as the badass space cowboy with a great sense of humor and humanity. Compared to Bullock, his screen time is relatively limited in this largely supporting and pivotal role. There is one scene where he gives Dr. Stone a lifesaving tip that showcases Clooney's charm, sex appeal and acting versatility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Written by director Alfonso Cuarón (<i>Children of Men</i>) and son Jonás, the screenplay is actually rather bare-bone. The plot is straightforward -- it's simply a story of survival. There are not a whole lot of twists and surprises, and the dialogue may edge on the cliche side. Yet the Cuaróns have crafted a suspenseful thriller nonetheless by stringing a chain of events that never leaves Dr. Stone. The events are larger than life with the vast backdrop of space and Earth, and yet the story is surprisingly intimate as we delve into Stone's mind and heart as she tries to survive the unimaginable with little time to mourn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While the screenplay may be the weakest link, the rest is purely spectacular. Cuarón's attention to details and how he stages the actions and events and space are jaw-dropping. The special effects are stunning, and the action sequences actually pull the audience in, rarely letting go. With the deft use of close ups, reflections, and long shots, he has created a poetic rendering of disasters in space, and that is unlike anything I've seen since, perhaps, yet another disaster movie, <i>Titanic.</i> Cuarón's intense direction, paired with Bullock's and Clooney's impeccable performances, has created an all-immersive experience that is both spectacular and intimate. He has pushed the cinematic envelope further by using all the dazzling technologies and special effects to tell a very human story. Such gravity for a "popcorn" sci-fi thriller!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Alfonso Cuarón</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Warner Bros.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, disturbing images and language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 90 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 9</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 10</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 9</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 10</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 8.3 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-79638824436918076942013-09-27T11:19:00.000-07:002013-10-02T11:19:43.656-07:00Don Jon<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Joseph Gordon-Levitt has, over the years, matured as an actor and a thinking-woman's sex symbol. Now with his writing and directorial debut, he has grown as a filmmaker as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), known as Don Jon to his friend, is your regular good guy. Typical for his Italian heritage, Jon is devoted to his life, his family, his church, and his friends. He is also quite a player, and is addicted to pornography. Even though he has no trouble hooking up with beautiful women, he could only "lose himself" with porn. Yet when he meets sexy, beautiful Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), he realizes that he could fall in love and everything could change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, not quite. Even though he really adores Barbara, he is not convinced that anything has changed. Also Barbara wants Jon to improve himself, so he enrolls in adult classes. His friends are puzzled by his changes, but his parents are delighted that Jon is finally settling down. And yet Jon doesn't seem all that happy after all. He is still often angry; and he is still addicted to porn. Only now he is more secretive about it as Barbara forbids him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At his class, he meets an older woman named Esther (Julianne Moore) who seems to have a crush for Jon. Annoyed by her approach, he tries to avoid her but somehow finds her mysterious and alluring at the same time. Meanwhile at home, his relationship with Barbara explodes when she discovers that he has been lying about watching porn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Joseph Gordon-Levitt (<i>Loopers) </i>is a solid actor who has been stuck with lighter roles until recently. He wrote, directed and acted in this movie so it seems that he has complete control of the character and the story, and it shows. His acting is confident, natural (if not a bit overly aggressive), and sexy. Scarlett Johansson (<i>The Avengers</i>) also plays against type as the sexy, manipulative Barbara. Together they make a good pair and play off each other nicely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Julianne Moore (<i>Being Flynn</i>) also turns in a great performance as Esther, the lonesome "strange" classmate who has a crush on Jon. Moore's subtlety gives the character an extra layer of truth that slowly reveals how the character plays a role in Jon's life. The supporting cast does their job effectively. Tony Danza (<i>Crash</i>) is somewhat over the top as Jon's hot-tempered father. Glenne Headly (<i>The Joneses</i>) is delightful as Jon's mother, and Brie Larson (<i>Short Term 12</i>) has only two lines but delivers them with amazing insight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gordon-Levitt's screenplay is quirky (it reminds me of (<i>500) Days of Summer, </i>also starring Gordon-Levitt himself), bald and raunchy. He doesn't shy away from the bald theme of sex, which earns the film a much deserved R rating. Granted, his version of the "straight male" is somewhat cliched and stereotypical: Don Jon is all <i>machismo</i>. There is no subtlety in that characterization; fortunately Gordon-Levitt gives the character a softer, more boyish inner core -- that this man just want to love and be loved like everybody else. The dialogue can be somewhat stiff and blunt, and the introduction of Esther seems forced. However, this being his first screenplay I find it rather well done. It is short and to the point, and often amusing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His direction is also blunt and to the point. The style is very contemporary and non-apologetic. He uses repetition to depict Jon's inner self and the symbolism is well placed. The pacing is great and the tone is right. The film does get somewhat somber and serious near the end that seems slightly out of sync with the rest, but soon it picks up again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gordon-Levitt first filmmaking effort pays off. Although not on a grand scale, this should further establish him as a solid filmmaker and an emerging force in young Hollywood, which is in dire need for fresh breaths.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, Rob Brown, Jeremy Luke</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Joseph Gordon-Levitt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: </b>Joseph Gordon-Levitt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Relativity Media</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for strong graphic sexual material, dialogue, language and drug use</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 90 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.7 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-33746105141818349622013-09-20T13:37:00.000-07:002013-10-02T11:25:33.647-07:00Prisoners<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Prisoners</i> is not your normal everyday Hollywood mystery-suspense. Using a kidnapping case as the backbone of the story, it examines complex themes such as family, morality, and to some extent, religion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is a religious man, but he's also a practical man, always ready for the worst disasters. He and his wife Grace (Maria Bello), teenage son Ralph (Dylan Minnette) and young daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) live in a Pennsylvania suburb and are good friends with neighbors Franklin (Terrence Howard), Nancy (Viola Davis) and their two daughters (Eliza and Joy). After Thanksgiving dinner, Anna and Joy go outside to play but they never return.The family's search leads them to an RV that was parked in the neighborhood earlier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned to the case. He arrests Alex Jones (Paul Dana), the driver of the RV, as a potential suspect, but due to the lack of physical evidence and the fact that Alex has the IQ of a 10-year-old, Loki has no choice but let Alex go. Infuriated and convinced that Alex is involved in the kidnapping, Keller decides to take matters in his own hands. He abducts Alex and locks him in an abandoned apartment building. He coerces reluctant Franklin to help him interrogate Alex. Also a religious man, Franklin believes what Keller is doing is wrong, and eventually he drops out, forcing Keller to deal with Alex on his own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, Loki's investigation leads him to a priest who is hiding a dead body in his basement, and a recluse who buys children clothing at a thrift store. It also leads him back to Keller, whose odd behavior puzzles Loki as Alex has somehow disappeared.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hugh Jackman (<i>The Wolverine</i>) has sharpened his dramatic skills in the past few years, earning his first Oscar nomination in <i>Les Miserables</i>. Here, Jackman plays the conflicted man -- a man of faith who is also desperate to find his daughter -- with great intensity and power. His character is the most complex and difficult in the movie, and he does a good job. Jake Gyllenhaal (<i>End of Watch</i>) plays a simpler character named Loki -- a dedicated, introspective detective. Yet Gyllenhaal plays the character with a depth and sensitivity that defy the stereotype. What could have been a cliched "detective" character turns into a very human character in Gyllenhaal's sensitive portrayal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Other than the two leading men, the supporting cast is extraordinarily strong. Viola Davis (<i>Beautiful Creatures</i>) and Maria Bello (<i>Grown Ups 2</i>) play the grieving mothers with heartbreaking intensity. Terrence Howard (<i>The Butler</i>) is also good as the meek Franklin, whose sense of morality conflicts with his dire effort to find his daughter. Paul Dano (<i>Ruby Sparks</i>) is superb as Alex Jones, and Melissa Leo (<i>Olympus Has Fallen</i>) is also solid as his aunt Holly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Aaron Guzikowski's (<i>Contraband</i>) screenplay is taut and suspenseful. It follows familiar suspense-mystery footprints, but at the same time deviates to examine something more disturbing. What is right and what is wrong? In the name of justice and personal anguish, is "torture" right? Guziknowski doesn't provide the answer, but through the character Keller, there are plenty of questions that he raises to provoke us. He also taps into one of the biggest, most unimaginable fears of any parent: losing a child in insidious situations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As a mystery, there are plenty of obligatory red herrings and wild goose chases, some of which could become tedious and predictable for the avid mystery fans. For everybody else, however, the puzzles are well thought-out, if somewhat manipulative, and it's a fun thing to connect the dots and see if the audience gets it before the Keller or Loki does. As in the any mystery, the clues are there and they are doled out gradually to lure the audience in and keep them in the story. Some of the clues and connections do seem rather contrived, however.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But Denis Villeneuve's (<i>Incendies</i>) direction keeps everything tight together. His style is gritty and gloomy, perfectly supported by Pennsylvania's winter landscape. The pacing is right except for a few slow spots (at 153 minutes the movie does feel a little too long). Villeneuve plays it close to his vest, often cutting away and letting the audience take their guesses or make their own conclusions. The technique works beautifully. He also slows down enough to develop the characters and let the actors bring their characters and relationships to life. I appreciate that. The slower pace also allows the audience to collect the clues and piece it all together. The downside is, of course, the astute audience could be a step ahead of the story. The payoff, however, is excellent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Prisoners</i> is a moody, suspenseful and skillfully crafted drama that is both entertaining and thought provoking. Even though there are familiar mystery and suspense trappings and manipulations, I think the audience will be willing to become prisoners in the theater for this movie for 153 minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano, Dylan Minnette</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Denis Villeneuve</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: </b>Aaron Guzikowski</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Warner Bros.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for disturbing violent content including torture, and language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 153 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.9 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-53496986148978484512013-09-13T14:45:00.000-07:002013-09-17T14:45:45.261-07:00The Butler<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Butler</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Director Lee Daniels became a household name with his critically acclaimed film <i>Precious. </i>With <i>The Butler</i>, which is loosely based on the life of real-life White House butler Eugene Allen, Daniels also focuses on the plight of one African-American individual with the civil rights movement as his backdrop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker; with Michael Rainey Jr playing young Cecil) is the son of a cotton farm worker (David Banner). After an incident that results in Cecil's father being shot dead, Cecil is taken in by the estate's caretaker (Vanessa Redgrave) and becomes a servant. Throughout the years, Cecil advances in the career as a black servant. Meanwhile, he meets the love of his life, Gloria (Oprah Winfrey), and together they have two sons, Louis (David Oyelowo) and Charlie (Elijah Kelly).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Through a series of events, Cecil is hired to become a butler at the White House during the Eisenhower (Robin Williams) administration. Under the supervision of head butler Carter Wilson (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Cecil begins to blossom. As he focuses more and more on his job, his home life with Gloria and his sons, especially Louis, suffers. After Louis goes off to college as Fisk, he joins a student group and eventually drops out of school and become actively involved in the civil rights movement. This puts a huge strain on his relationship with Cecil, who pride himself as someone who serves his Presidents and country, not fight against them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cecil and Louis become estranged, and Gloria turns to the bottle as their family falls apart. Meanwhile, the civil rights movement heats up, and Cecil secretly fears of his son's safety. While having all the insider knowledge, Cecil feels like an outsider as he has no voice, and his loyalty to his employer is at odds with what he feels is right for his people. All this comes to a head during the Reagan administration, and Cecil has a decision to make.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Forest Whitaker (<i>The Last Stand</i>) has always been a solid, fantastic, understated actor. In the role of Cecil Gaines, Whitaker exercises his restraint and grace and personifies the butler with dignity and a constant sense of conflict and struggle. Whitaker should be commended for his subtle portrayal, never rising above a certain level of camp and overt drama.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oprah Winfrey (<i>Beloved</i>) once again reminds us that she is first and foremost an actress, not just a personality. While perhaps not the greatest actress alive, Winfrey holds her own next to Whitaker, and her portrayal of a conflicted wife and mother is affecting. David Oyelowo (<i>Lincoln</i>) is also excellent as Cecil's deviant, headstrong son who is so idealistic that sometimes you want to smack him in the head, while admiring his courage and conviction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast is like a who's who in modern black film history. Mariah Carey (<i>Precious</i>) proves that <i>Precious</i> was no fluke for her, and we can all forget about the atrocious <i>Glitters. </i>Cuba Gooding Jr. (<i>Don Jon</i>) is somewhat typecast as the sassymouthed Carter, but Lenny Kravitz (<i>The Hunger Games</i>) is the strong, silent type as fellow butler James. Terrence Howard (<i>Dead Man Down</i>) is also solid as Cecil's philandering neighbor, who carries on a brief affair with Gloria.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Presidents and their wives are also a who's who list of veteran actors: Robin Williams as Eisenhower, John Cusack as Nixon, James Marsden as Kennedy, Liev Schreiber as LBJ, and Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda as Ronald and Nancy Reagan respectively.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While the acting in general is good, I feel that the screenplay by Danny Strong (<i>The Hunger Games</i>), and Daniels' direction are rather heavy-handed when it comes to the civil rights movement, as if they want to cover as much ground as possible. What comes off is a more like a history lesson than drama, and at times I feel that the material strains to be relevant in parallel to Cecil's life story. Also, the drama is now shifted from Cecil's fascinating career as a White House butler (we yearn to see more interactions and insider drama with the Presidents, the First Ladies and the White House staff) to street drama of violence and injustice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don't get me wrong, black history is important and this serves as a good reflection of what African-Americans had to endure in the past 50 years, long after Americans fought in the Civil War. Still, as a drama, the backdrop history takes center stage. At times I feel that Louis Gaines is the true protagonist of this story, as Cecil is by and large passive and reactive. And yet we don't get the full scope of Louis's story either. So what we can is a hybrid that feels more like a lesson in Black History (and a who's who list of Black leaders) than a biopic. At the end, I wasn't moved because the story feels too preachy and academic, instead of personal and intimate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Redgrave, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Terrence Howard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Lee Daniels</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Danny Strong (based on Wil Haygood's article)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Wienstein Company</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, language, sexual content and thematic material</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 132 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 6</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-45836994348696823152013-09-06T13:04:00.000-07:002013-09-10T13:05:39.696-07:00Short Term 12<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While semi-biographical based on writer-director Destin Cretton's own experience, <i>Short Term 12</i> is an intimate drama that deals with the psychological problems of the troubled kids as well as their caretakers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grace (Brie Karson) and Mason (John Gallagher Jr) help run a foster care facility for troubled kids called Short Term 12 -- most kids stay there for less than 12 months, even though there are exceptions such as Marcus (Keith Stanfield) who has been there for three years. Grace and Mason also are secretly dating. When Grace finds out she's pregnant, she has a tough time deciding whether to keep the baby (and tell Mason) or do what she thinks is right as she believes she would make a terrible mother.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grace and Mason also both came from broken homes. Mason himself grew up in a foster home, and Grace was sexually abused by her father, who is now safe behind bars. But Grace never really deals with her trauma and she keeps everything inside. Mason, on the other, says whatever is on his mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When a new girl named Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) arrives at the facility, she invokes the maternal instinct within Grace. Also Jayden's background reminds Grace of her own, and she suspects that Jayden, too, has been abused by her father. Yet Grace has no proof, and in frustration, Grace lashes out on Mason. In light of their conflict, Grace further believes that she is unlovable and unsuitable to be a mother.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The assemble cast focuses on two leads: Brie Larson (<i>Don Jon</i>) as Grace and John Gallagher Jr. (<i>Newsroom)</i> as Mason. The pair has tremendous chemistry together. Larson is the silent, strong but kind type of girl next door that you can't help but have feelings for. And Gallagher plays the goofy, relaxed Mason with strong conviction and his affection for Grace is palpable. You can't help but root for the pair as they are fundamentally good people with a lot of baggage but not by their own wrongdoing. And they are there to help the kids to cope with similar problems (many troubled kids come from broken homes and child abuse).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kaitlyn Dever (<i>The Spectacular Now</i>) plays the moody, antisocial Jayden perfectly with both spunk and vulnerability. Stephanie Beatriz (<i>Southland</i>) and Rami Malek (<i>The Master</i>) play the other two workers effectively. Keith Stanfield (<i>Short Term 12) </i>stands out as Marcus, a brooding 18-year-old whose imminent departure from Short Term 12 creates much internal turmoil.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on his own experiences and his same-titled short film, the screenplay extends the drama of the foster care facility to include a core romance between the two leads. The result is a much more multi-layered drama that only examines and sheds light on the troubled kids, but also the aftermath of these problems even as adults. While Mason seems rather well adjusted (basically because he grew up with great foster parents), Grace continues to struggle even though she puts up a strong front.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cretton's screenplay and direction are both intimate and personal, and packed with emotional punches. His down to earth and casual style also adds to the material as there is a certain documentary feel to it. Granted, at times the shaky handheld camera shots made me nauseous. That and the occasional heavy-handedness of the plot and message are my only gripes. Certain parts (especially with regard to Jayden's history) seems too obvious and contrived.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Still, the production is realistic and full of genuine emotions. You simply cannot peel your eyes away from these characters and you feel deeply for them. Technically the movie feels like an indie, but that's part of its charm. It's not a glossy Hollywood production. With stellar performances from the young actors and the director's keen, personal eye on the material, <i>Short Term 12 </i>is worthy of our increasingly short-term attention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Stephanie Beatriz, Rami Malek, Keith Stanfield</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Destin Cretton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Destin Cretton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Universal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for language and brief sexuality</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 96 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.8 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-52255619160886382662013-08-30T13:10:00.000-07:002013-09-03T13:11:12.502-07:00Kick-Ass 2<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Kick-Ass </i>was revolutionary as the first R-rated teen superhero flick starring potty-mouthed teens kicking asses. <i>Kick-Ass 2</i> follows the same footprints; no wonder it feels less fresh and more predictable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Soon after the events of <i>Kick-Ass</i>, Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) wants Mindy/Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) to train him to be a real kick-ass. But Mindy has promised her dead father and her new caretaker Det. Marcus (Morris Chestnut) that she will not doing her crime-fighting bit anymore. Instead, Mindy tries to fit in high school.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So Dave joins an underground crime-fighting league called Justice Force headed by ex military Col. Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey). The group of rogue superheroes are thrilled to have the original superhero Kick-Ass join them, but what Dave really wants is for Mindy to be there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, after his father was killed by Kick-Ass, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) vows to avenge his dad's death. He decides to become the world's first and most bad-assed super villain Motherfucker, and recruits a group of criminals to be his minions. Together, they seek out the Justice Force to destroy them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Aaron Taylor-Johnson (<i>Anna Karenina</i>) reprises his role as Dave/Kick-Ass with a new ease as the actor matures. Taylor-Johnson has an effectively naive, nerdy look and demeanor that work well for his character, but we also know that he can be hunky -- as evident in roles in films such as <i>Anna Karenina</i> -- as Kick-Ass, the original superhero. He and Chloe Grace Moretz (<i>Hugo</i>) form a great brother-sister pair that has a weird, but not entirely uncomfortable, romantic tension as Mindy is coming into her own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast includes Jim Carrey as the Colonel. Carrey brings his usual eccentricity to a relatively straight role that definitely draws our empathy. Morris Chestnut (<i>Identity Theft</i>) is dutiful as Mindy's legal guardian. John Leguizamo (<i>Ice Age</i>) has a brief but affecting role as Motherfucker's mentor and loyal butler. And as Motherfucker, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (<i>This Is the End</i>) tends to overact. I understand this is a comedic comic book movie, but I think Mintz-Plasse is the weakest link. Olga Kurkunina stands out as Mother Russia -- you will have to see her to know what I'm talking about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jeff Wadlow (<i>Kick-Ass</i>) continues his stride with this sequel. As a comedy, it is pretty dark in places, and not as funny as the first one. There are some tiresome jokes (e.g. "My mother had nice guns!" - "Don't talk about your mom's tits like that!") and ridiculous situations (e.g. Chris knows exactly who Kick-Ass is, so how difficult is it for a billionaire to find Dave?). The <i>Mean Girls</i> subplot about Mindy and high school is also out of place, as funny as parts of it are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While this is not as good as the first <i>Kick-Ass</i>, the action is still top-notch, and the general humor is there (who wouldn't love the nasty Mother Russia?) And the chemistry between Mindy and Dave is what holds the entire story up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you loved the first <i>Kick-Ass</i>, you'd love or at least like the sequel. For casual fans, be aware that the movie is extremely violent with teenagers saying filthy things. If you can handle it, you may have a kick-ass time at the theater.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Morris Chestnut, Lindy Booth, John Leguizamo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Jeff Wadlow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Jeff Wadlow (based on Mark Miller's comic books)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Universal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for extreme violence, pervasive language, crude and sexual content, brief nudity</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 103 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.0 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-62485161943166261962013-08-23T13:20:00.000-07:002013-08-27T13:20:30.436-07:00The World's End<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like <i>Shaun of the Dead, </i>and <i>Hot Fuzz</i>, <i>The World's End</i> has similar set up that makes fun of the Brits and horror/sci-fi genres. And like those films, the filmmakers are having a great time trying to give the audience a great time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gary (Simon Pegg) is a recovering alcoholic and his big idea is to gather four of his best friends from their young days, head back to their hometown and finish the bar crawl they started 20 years ago but didn't finish. The chums, all respectable "adults" now, agree for old time's sake, but Gary is on a mission. He's determined the hit the last bar, The World's End, of the golden mile.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When they get there, everything seems normal except nobody in town recognize them. Also, the guys are concerned about Gary, who seems to be stuck in the past and can't move on. When an old flame Sam (Rosamund Pike) shows up, things get even more heated between the boys as Steven (Paddy Considine) is also in love with Sam.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As the evening progresses, things take a strange turn that results in a "out of this world" brawl in the bathroom of one of the pubs. The five friends discover a dark secret about their hometown, and they need to pull themselves together, escape and survive. However, Gary insists that they should stay and finish the bar crawl. Obviously, Gary has an ulterior motive, and he has no idea that the fate of mankind rests on his and his friends' hands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Simon Pegg (<i>Star Trek</i>) and Nick Frost (<i>Snow White and the Huntsman</i>) are the premium British comedic duo. They could almost -- almost -- do no wrong when they join forces in a comedy. And there's a reason. Individually Pegg and Frost are both well trained comedic actors with perfect timing and delivery. Together, they are a dynamic, funny duo with chemistry to spare.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Martin Freeman (<i>The Hobbit</i>) is effectively droll as businessman and Sam's brother Oliver. Paddy Considine (<i>The Bourne Ultimatum</i>) is understated as the group's lovesick stud muffin. Eddie Marson (<i>Jack the Giant Slayer</i>) is wonderfully timid and agreeable as Peter. Rosamund Pike (<i>Jack Reacher</i>) is beautiful as Sam, but she is also resourceful when the situation calls for it. Pierce Brosnan (<i>The Ghost Writer</i>) has a small but pivotal role.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Written by Pegg and director Edgar Wright (<i>Hot Fuzz</i>), the screenplay actually follows a pretty typical set up with ultra fast-paced dialogue, plot movement, and snappy scenes that are decidedly British. It has elements of <i>Shaun of the Dead, </i>especially where the end of the world scenarios are concerned. But the tone and actions reminded me more of <i>Hot Fuzz</i>, as doe the broad, crude humor. There are a few dull spots in the beginning and the movie leads us down a mundane path. At times it gets a bit irritating as Gary continues to act like an idiot and the boys indulge him. But once the twist comes and the story takes off unexpectedly, the plot clips along, hilarity abound.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wright's direction is spot on. Again, the movie reminds me of <i>Hot Fuzz </i>and <i>Shaun of the Dead</i>, also directed by Wright. In a way, <i>The World's End</i> feels like the third film of a trilogy, even though the three movies do not share a common plot or character thread.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While <i>The World's End</i> is not perfect, it is a roaring good time to be had for anyone who enjoys silly, broad British comedies and parodies of the sci-fi horror genre. See it before the world ends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike, Pierce Brosnan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Edgar Wright</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Universal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for pervasive language, sexual references</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 109 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-29670059869455227182013-08-16T13:10:00.000-07:002013-08-20T13:10:46.269-07:00The Spectacular Now<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Coming of age movies are hot now, especially ones that have the pedigree of being adapted from a popular novel, such as last year's <i>The Perks of Being a Wallflower. </i>Tim Tharp's <i>The Spectacular Now</i> rather falls in the same category but with an utterly different protagonist and a central love story that is both sweet and haunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sutter (Miles Teller) is a popular teenager who strives to live in the moment without plan thoughts on his future. A senior, he hasn't even applied for college yet and has no idea whether he would even graduate high school. But life is good with girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson) until a misunderstanding gives her a reason to break up with him and hook up with class president Ricky (Masam Holden).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Distraught, Sutter gets drunk and meets Aimee (Shailene Woodley) a sweet but average girl who goes to the same school as Sutter. Normally Sutter would not even look at someone like Aimee, but being in a tough spot of having just been dumped, Sutter becomes intrigued by Aimee, who is unlike any girl he's ever known. His strange urge to want to help Aimee come out of her shell eventually turns into affection for her -- she is, of course, already smitten with the popular yet previously unavailable Sutter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But a rebound cannot end well. Sutter knows that and believes Aimee will forget about him soon enough. As Aimee falls deeper and deeper in love with him, Sutter becomes frightened of his own deepening feelings for the girl, and he starts to avoid her. At home, Sutter is also dealing with his own demon, a desire to try to locate and find his father (Kyle Chandler), who has abandoned the family since Sutter was a very young boy. To know who he is, Sutter desperately needs to know his father, as he's convinced that he is his father's son.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Miles Teller (<i>Footloose</i>) first burst into the business with his outstanding role in <i>Rabbit Hole</i>. Reminding us of a young Shia LaBeouf, Teller is a strong talent. He plays the complicated Sutter with an internal sweetness that we can't stop rooting for him even though he often acts like an irresponsible jerk. Sutter handles his aloof scenes just as well as he did with his emotional ones. Shailene Woodley (<i>The Descendants</i>) was amazing in the <i>Descendants</i>. Here, she plays an utterly different character as the sweet, naive, smart but passive Aimee who is smitten with a boy who is not good for her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brie Larson (<i>Don Jon</i>) is sparkly and beautiful as Cassidy, the objective of Sutter's affection. Masan Holden (<i>Forgotten Pills</i>) has a brief but effective role as Sutter's best friend. By far the most recognizable stars of the movie are Kyle Chandler (<i>Zero Dark Thirty</i>) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (<i>The Moment</i>) as Sutter's estranged parents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adapted by Scott Neustadter ((<i>500) Days of Summer</i>) and Michael H. Webber ((<i>500) Days of Summer), </i>the screenplay stays true to the tone and dialogue of Tharp's YA novel. Neustadter and Webber are no strangers to stories about young love, and they deliver the central love story between Sutter and Aimee with great realism and sensibility. We have a feeling that Sutter is on a rebound and that Aimee should not fall in love with him and get hurt, and yet we also root for them to find themselves as they are good for each other (well, not all the time). The writers handle the "bad boy/good girl" story with delicate balance without being cliched and overwrought. The back and forth dance between the two leads is interesting to watch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That said, the screenplay is not without flaws. The references to alcoholism and the reveal of Sutter's father are rather heavy-handed. The "father issue" subplot also feels somewhat out of place, even though it helps explain Sutter's character and his eventual awakening. Still, the subplot at times feels like a different movie, and would have benefited with more screen time and development for Chandler's and Leigh's characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Still, under James Pondsoldt's (<i>Smashed</i>) deft direction, the movie has a down to earth quality to it that grounds the sometimes obnoxious characters and storyline. Pondsoldt understands the material, and he keeps it real for the better part of the movie. The result is a likable summer sleeper about teen love and growing up. It may not be the most spectacular thing you see this summer, but go see it NOW anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Masam Holden, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> James Ponsoldt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber (based on novel by Tim Tharp)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor: </b>A24</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for alcohol use, language and some sexuality involving teens</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 95 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.8 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-22486084835975160262013-08-09T22:03:00.000-07:002013-08-14T22:03:35.760-07:00Elysium<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Neill Blomkamp burst into Hollywood with his groundbreaking South African sci-fi drama <i>District 9</i>. This is his big budget Hollywood follow-up and the result is not as impressive as I hoped.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the year 2154, Earth has become polluted and overpopulated. The rich and privileged have built a paradise on a space station called Elysium, where advanced technology helps keep them healthy and safe. Back on Earth, ex-convict Max (Matt Damon) has been working nonstop to save up for his trip to Elysium. That has been his dream since childhood, and he is determined to go there. An incident at work exposes Max to a high dosage of radiation, and he has only about five days to live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Max needs to go to Elysium now so he can get healed, but he doesn't have enough to buy a black market ticket. So he volunteers to do a job for an underground op Spider (Wagner Moura), who wants to kidnap an Elysium citizen (William Fitchner) and download secrets from his brain. Spider outfits Max with a body army and a team to carry out the mission, but something goes wrong with Elysium Security Officer Delacourt (Jodie Foster) sends a mercenary named Kruger (Sharlto Copley) to hunt Max down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When Max gets seriously injured, he seeks help from his childhood sweetheart Frey (Alice Braga) who is now a nurse. Alice needs to take her daughter to Elysium, too, as she has late stage Leukemia. Max promises Frey to take them there. Once they get there, Max realizes his mission is bigger than he thought, and he must decide what to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Matt Damon (<i>Behind the Candelabra</i>) is no stranger to playing down-and-out action heroes, as he did in the <i>Bourne </i>series. Here, Damon achieves a new level of grunge and toughness, further establishing him as one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood. Granted, this is not one of the best-developed characters that Damon has played, but he's done his best bringing the humanity to the role. Jodie Foster (<i>Carnage</i>) has surprisingly limited screen time playing a corporate snake as Delacourt, but her role is two one-dimensional to make any real impression. Her arc also doesn't seem fully developed, and that leaves me wanting more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sharlto Copley (<i>District 9</i>) teams up with Blomkamp again and plays a very different character this time: a mad man who is out for blood. Copley has the movie's most flamboyant and outrageous character and he gives it his all. Alice Braga (<i>On the Road</i>) is beautiful and sweet as Frey but she, too, has very limited scope to play her character.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast includes Wagner Moura (<i>Father's Chair</i>) with an over-the-top performance as Spider; William Fitchner (<i>The Lone Ranger</i>) doing his best as a dispassionate Elysium billionaire, and Diego Luna (<i>Contraband</i>) in a gentle turn as Max's friend Julio.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Blomkamp's screenplay has some neat new concepts and builds on his usual social commentary about the rich vs. the poor. The high concept ideas sound great on paper, but seem to get lost in the execution as it is more complicated than what the story requires. The plot turns out to be a more standard "man saves the world" one with a lot of Hollywood action and violence, but not enough suspense and mystery. Also, I feel that the character development and arc are not up to par with what Blomkamp has done before. What made <i>District 9</i> so good was not only the structure, social commentary and the wicked ending, but also how the character develops throughout the story. I feel that is what is significantly lacking in this one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The direction is adequate. It has all the standard Hollywood action adventure, sci-fi trimmings. Special effects are great. The world that Blomkamp has built is similar to that in <i>District 9</i> and it works. The design and rendering of Elysium is also astounding. Production value is pretty good. The action violence can be over the top at times, with lots of exploding body parts and gore. I think they are necessary, to have a point, if only the story is stronger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think <i>Elysium </i>is a decent attempt as a follow-up for Blomkamp, but can't help but feel rather disappointed by the writing and execution. I don't mean that he has sold out to Hollywood, but it seems that he's more interested in the entertainment value here than what he has to say.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, William Fitchner, Wagner Moura. Diego Luna</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Neill Blomkamp</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: </b>Neill Blomkamp</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Sony</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for strong violence and language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 109 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
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Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-31963861461923791062013-08-02T13:20:00.000-07:002013-08-06T13:21:09.351-07:00Blue Jasmine<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For me, Woody Allen is often a hit or miss. He's usually better when he's only directing and not acting in his films. With <i>Blue Jasmine, </i>Allen stays out of the spotlight, which shines primarily on Cate Blanchett. That's a great call.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) has lost everything. The wife of wealthy investment banker Hal (Alec Baldwin), she has a nervous breakdown after Hal was arrested for running a Ponzi scheme. She gets better, and with the little possession and money she has, she flies from the Hamptons to San Francisco (via first class, no less) to stay with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) hoping to start over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At the core, Jasmine is a snotty elitist who rides on her good looks and good taste, and she has no patience for anyone who she deems "losers," such as Ginger's ex-husband Augie (Andrew Dice Clay). And yet she clings to Jasmine as she is her last hope to survive, even though she doesn't really think much of her adoptive sister or her new beau (Bobby Cannavale) and friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Trying to start her life over again, she becomes a receptionist for a dentist while taking computer classes so she can eventually take online classes to become an interior designer. Her plans are deterred when she meets dashing widower Dwight (Peter Sarsgaard). However, Jasmine's troubled past, her mental instability and narrow world view soon threatens her new-found happiness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cate Blanchett (<i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i>) is absolutely stunning and amazing as Jasmine. The movie rests squarely on her shoulders and she delivers a tour-de-force performance as the layered, fragile, but snooty Jasmine. Her range is stunning and the layers she's brought to this shallow, obnoxiously elitist character is incredibly subtle and nuanced, and yet affecting and mesmerizing. You don't want to like her character, but you can't help but want her to find happiness, and it's heartbreaking to watch. Blanchett is haunting to watch. This is truly Blanchett's show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast does a fine job matching Blanchett's superb performance with some exceptions. Alec Baldwin (<i>Rock of Ages</i>) is in excellent form playing a scoundrel; however, it seems that he's channeling his character in <i>30 Rock</i>. Sally Hawkins (<i>Great Expectations</i>) is also wonderful as Ginger, a very down-to-Earth, likable character that is a complete opposite of Jasmine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Andrew Dice Clay (<i>Whatever It Takes</i>) stands out like a sore thumb, however, among his fellow veteran actors. Even though he fits the character perfectly, Clay simply doesn't have the acting chops to match the stellar performances of his colleague. Bobby Cannavale (<i>Lovelace</i>) somehow turns his caricature goofy Italian loser into a likable, three dimensional character. Peter Sarsgaard (<i>Lovelace</i>) also turns in a good performance as the love-sick puppy who wants to marry a hot mess.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The screenplay by Allen (<i>Midnight in Paris</i>) is not his strongest, which is riddled with quite a bit of stereotypes and cliches. In fact, without the actors' excellent performances, the characters all sound familiar and cliched on paper. The situations also lack Allen's usual sarcastic, humorous wit. Instead often I feel that he's going for the obvious, cheap laughs but creating quirky and absurd characters that border on being human cartoons. If not for the strong anchor of actors such as Blanchett and Baldwin to hold it down, the story seems to fizzle and is rough on the edges.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Allen's direction also seem to lack a certain finesse that we saw in his recent films. There's a certain low-budget feel to this movie. I am sure Allen didn't work with a budget of hundreds of millions, but compared to the production value of <i>Midnight in Paris</i>, this movie looks cheap (except for the New York and Hamptons sets, of course).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Despite my indifference of Woody Allen's inconsistency, I actually did enjoy the movie mostly because of the actor, led by a stupendous Blanchett. If you're a fan of Blanchett or Allen, you wouldn't be disappointed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, Andrew Dice Clay, Bobby Cannavale, Max Casella, Peter Sarsgaard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Woody Allen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: </b>Woody Allen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Sony Classics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for mature thematic material, language and sexual content</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 98 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.3 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-59465099995956762382013-07-26T13:45:00.000-07:002013-07-30T13:46:08.602-07:00The Way Way Back<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Way Way Back</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Coming of age stories are a rage right now, judging from the popularity of recent flicks such as <i>The Perks of Being a Wallflower </i>or <i>Adventureland. The Way Way Back </i>is cut from similar cloth, but lacks the certain edge of its compatriots. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The last place Duncan (Liam James), a socially awkward 14-year-old, wants to be is at his mother's (Toni Collette) new boyfriend Trent's (Steve Carell) summer home near the Hamptons. Not only does he miss his father, Trent is a narcissistic jerk. Duncan constantly feels ostracized and unwanted. His awkwardness around their neighbor's daughter Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) further aggravates his misery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fortunately, Duncan finds his refuge at a local watermark where he meets one of the managers there named Owen (Sam Rockwell), who is basically a boy stuck in a grown man's body. Owen and Duncan immediately hit it off, like long-lost brothers; and to put the young man out of his misery, Owen gives Duncan a summer job at the park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eventually, through the extroverted Owen and his peers, Duncan learns the social skills he so sorely lacks. He also becomes more confident in himself to stand up to Owen, to defend his mother, and to find the courage to befriend Susanna.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As Duncan, Liam James (<i>2012) </i>exudes the right amount of awkwardness and introversion to make the character work. James is not the best young actor in the business, but his lack of acting finesse actually works in his favor in this role. As his counterpart, Sam Rockwell (<i>Seven Psychopaths</i>) is excellent as a man who needs a new perspective. Their friendship is heartfelt, bordering on creepy "bromance" if not for their respective heterosexual interests.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast is an eclectic mix of veteran dramatic and comedic actors. As Trent, Steve Carell (<i>The Incredible Wonderstone</i>) plays against type as a straight, charming, handsome jerk. He sinks his teeth in the role without making it a cartoonish, stereotypical bad guy, just an ordinary man that we'd all love to hate. Toni Collette (<i>Hitchcock</i>) also does a great job as Duncan's passive mother. Allison Janney (<i>Touchy Feely) </i>is so good playing the dizzy, overzealous neighbor. As the object of Duncan's affection, AnnaSophia Robb (<i>The Soul Surfer</i>) seems somewhat out of place, and her character is a bit forced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Directed and written by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the minds behind the fantastic <i>The Descendants, </i>this screenplay surprisingly feels rather slight and "afternoon special" at times. In many ways it feels like a knockoff of <i>Adventureland</i>, which is also set in a park with an eclectic group of characters and a dysfunctional family. It has a good coming of age arc, but all too familiar, cliched, complete with the young love interest. It lacks the quirkiness of <i>Adventureland</i>, the immeasurable sadness of <i>Wallflowers</i>, or the edge of <i>Mud. </i>The humor also seems rather amateurish, bordering on cartoonish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The direction also reminds of of <i>Adventureland</i>. Unfortunately, since that movie is set in the 80s, the nostalgic tone works very well. In this movie, I got disoriented and it took me a while (and seeing an iPhone) to realize the story is set in current time. The pacing also seems off at times and the beginning definitely drags -- it takes too long for Duncan to meet Owen. The characterization is good, but the pacing can be tightened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's not to say <i>The Way Way Back</i> is a failure. Much of it is enjoyable and it's a nice coming of age story that only feels familiar because of the typical characters and plot line and the unfair comparison to the superior <i>Adventureland.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Liam James, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peets</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Directors:</b> Nat Faxon, Jim Rash</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Nat Faxon, Jim Rash</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Fox Searchlight</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for thematic elements, language, some sexual content and drug use</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 103 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-53090149323970340182013-07-19T13:33:00.000-07:002013-07-23T13:33:22.458-07:00Man of Steel<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do we need another <i>Superman</i> movie? Apparently DC Comics and Hollywood think so, but this time producer Chris Nolan and director Zack Snyder (both no strangers to superheroes) want to take a different approach than in the past.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) has always feel different from the time he was a child. After growing being ridiculed and for learning to control his super powers, Clark sets out on a long self-discover journey to find himself and, most important, who he really is and where he came from. His search leads him to Alaska where spaceship has been hidden under the ice for millennia. There he finds out the truth about himself, that he is Kal-El, the son of Jor-El (Russell Crowe), chief scientist of Krypton. The planet, due to its unstable core, was destroyed years ago with the rest of its citizens including Kal-El's parents. They tried their best to save their people but after they failed, they found a way to send Kal-El to Earth, one of Krypton's old outposts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What Clark/Kal-El does know is that Jor-El's nemesis General Zod and his minions were exiled from Krypton because of treason. But the planet's destruction set them free, and they are tracking Jor-El's son to Earth. They also discovered that Jor-El has injected the genetic imprints of the entire Kryptonite population into Kal-El, and through him, Zod will be able to revive their race and take over Earth as their new home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Feeling ostracized by people of Earth, Clark has to make a decision which side he is on. Should he continue to hide his superpower as his adoptive father Jonathan (Kevin Costner) once told him that humans are not ready for him? Or should he embrace his power to protect Earth and humans against his own kind? Where does he loyalty lie? And is Earth ready for him as one of its own?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lots of existential questions for a summer popcorn superhero movie as universal and well-known as Superman. What writer David S. Goyer did was giving Superman a darker, more complex personality and backstory. Clark's struggle as a child and young man ring true as an outcast. Gone is the cockeyed optimism of yesteryear's <i>Superman </i>universe, where Superman is revered and worshipped<i>. </i>Instead, Superman is feared, misunderstood, ridiculed, and marginalized as nothing more than a threat to mankind. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In Goyer's version, Clark Kent's life purpose is more murky, and the character himself is more ambivalent and confused. Even though Kal-El is all Kryptonite, Clark Kent remains very human after all. He struggles with his conflicting feelings about himself, his purpose, his place in a world he's called home since he was a child. He struggles between his true identity and his new identity as a human. He struggles between his feelings for Lois Lane (Amy Adams), and his duty as the world's ultimate protector against things and people like General Zod.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On many levels, this darkened version of <i>Superman</i> works, even though some may feel uncomfortable with the amount of changes the filmmakers have made to the original characters and cannon. Let's face it, Superman is not the Dark Knight. By making Clark more brooding and complex, Goyer has deepened the characterization and given the story and characters more layers, and yet he's somehow stripped out some of the defining characteristic of Superman. The truth is Superman is NOT the Dark Knight. Superman has always been the light and God-figure, the super boy scout of the universe. So this change fundamentally changes how we see Clark Kent/Superman, which can be good or bad depending on how attached you are to the Superman you know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Henry Cavill (<i>Immortals</i>) has done a good job portraying this new Superman. He is incredibly good-looking and chiseled, definitely super fit for the role. What's impressive is that he also brings sensitivity and complexity that we really haven't seen since Christophe Reeves, and Cavill's portrayal is more in line with Christian Bale than Reeves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Amy Adams (<i>Trouble with the Curve</i>) is amiable as the iconic Lois Lane, but I feel that she is somewhat miscast. That's not to say her performance is bad; it's just that I don't see her as Lois Lane and after seeing the movie, I still don't see it. There's just something off. Michael Shannon (<i>Premium Rush</i>) plays General Zod with all the villainy he can muster but to me, he lacks the subtlety and sublime layers of Terence Stamp, who remains the definitive General Zod for many fans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Diane Lane (<i>Secretariat</i>) and Kevin Costner (<i>The Company Man</i>) are both excellent as the Kents, given the over-the-top production some needed down-to-earth quality. And Russell Crowe (<i>Les Miserables</i>) brings great dignity to the role of Jor-El, which surprisingly has a much bigger role in this version.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Zack Synder is no stranger to big budget superhero extravaganzas, and by and large he delivers. Maybe a bit too well. The movie's quieter moments (the flashbacks, the introspection, Clark's solitude, etc.) are very well handled. The action sequences, however, are topnotch Hollywood stuff. Unfortunately, eventually the actions feel drawn out and overlong. One battle after another, we can't help but feel exhausted. The movie is at least 30 minutes too long, and much of the subplots could have been cut. The problem is that Synder and Goyer tried to put both the origin story and a revamped <i>Superman II</i> plot into one movie, and that's just too much. It simply feels like two separate movies being stitched together into one and the over the top actions, and there are many, become distractions instead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Granted, <i>Man of Steel</i> is still superbly watchable, entertaining, and popcorn worthy. With the added layers of characterizations and the darker aspects, this could have been outstanding like the <i>Dark Knight </i>trilogy. Unfortunately, Goyer and Snyder have bitten more than they could chew and the result is an overlong, over-complicated mash-up of two different movies. It would have been better if they had made this a two-part series instead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Christopher Meloni, Laurence Fishburne</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Zack Snyder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>David S. Goyer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Warner Bros.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and some language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 143 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 9</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 9</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.8 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-80095781004755907912013-07-12T12:58:00.000-07:002013-07-16T12:58:33.390-07:00Pacific Rim<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Clearly influenced by Japanese anime of giant combat robots and monsters (<i>Kaiju</i> in Japanese), del Toro's <i>Pacific Rim </i>is unabashedly bombastic, loud, larger than life, and fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After the first Kaiju's (big monsters) destroyed some of the world's biggest cities, the world reacted by creating the Jaeger project: Jaegers are giant robots that can fight and defeat the Kaiju's. But the way that Jaeger works require two pilots who are "drift compatible" to operate; the Jaeger proves to be too dangerous for one person to handle. Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) is one of the Jaeger pilots. But after his brother/co-pilot was killed in one of the battles, Raleigh quits the program and retreats into obscurity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Five years later, the Jaeger project is being shut down as the world's government determines that the Jaegers are insufficient to stop the Kaiju's, which are coming at increasing frequency, through an inter- dimensional rift deep under the Pacific Ocean. Director Pentecost (Idris Elba) decides to run the operation as a rote project, and he recruits Raleigh again as he is one of the remaining pilots. At the base, Raleigh meets science officer Mako (Rinko Kikuchi) who happens to be a pilot-in-training and more important, drift compatible with him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At Raleigh's insistence, Pentecost agrees to let Mako become Raleigh's co-pilot, but Mako's emotional instability threatens everyone's safety and the effectiveness of the Jaegers. Because Raleigh is connected to Mako, he discovers from her memories a deep secret. When the Kaiju's threaten to put a final nail in the coffin for mankind, the remaining four Jaegers must rise to the occasion and defend Earth, maybe for the last time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Charlie Hunnam (<i>Sons of Anarchy</i>) successfully channels a young Heath Ledger or Garrett Hedlund as the would-be hero. The character Raleigh is handsome, charming, and sensitive. He is also an alpha male. Hunnam has done a good job, in a broad action-adventure way. Idris Elba (<i>Prometheus</i>) once again plays the military type as Director Pentecost, and he does it really well with great resolve, authority, and heart. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rinko Kikuchi (<i>Shanghai</i>) impresses as the unlikely heroine of the story. As Mako, Kikuchi is smart, typically Asian (meaning quiet and respectful), but also resourceful and resilient as the strong, silent type. She and Hunnam have good chemistry together to portray the would-be lovers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast comprises of good actors doing typical, cliched comic-book characters. Charlie Day (<i>Monsters University</i>) is particularly annoying as Dr. Newton Geiszler who is more of a buffoon than a scientist (and why do filmmakers always depict scientists as these buffoons?). Burn Gorman (<i>Johnny English Reborn</i>) is Day's counterpart and is just as foolish. Max Martini (<i>Colombiana</i>) reminds me of Sean Bean in <i>The Lord of the Rings </i>even though he's playing a futuristic Jaeger pilot. Robert Kazinsky (<i>Red Tails</i>) is all cocky as Raleigh's rivalry. Clifton Collins Jr. (<i>Parker</i>) is a bit lost in a minor role, and Ron Perlman (<i>Bad Ass</i>) has a flashy role as a "Chinese" smuggler.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The screenplay by Travis Beacham (<i>Clash of the Titans</i>) and Guillermo del Toro (<i>Don't be Afraid of the Dark</i>) follows a pretty simple, standard framework of a sci-fi action adventure. The premise and story remind us of yet another giant robot-alien franchise: The <i>Transformers</i>. The comparison is inevitable. Fortunately, Beacham and del Toro have done a better job developing the characters and plot between the big fights and set pieces. Their characters are at least believable and likable, and there are actually scenes that move the characters forward instead of just letting them be chess pieces.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Still, this is a giant robot vs. giant monster movie, so don't expect Shakespearean writing and character development. What we've come to see are, you guess it, giant robots fighting giant monsters. And we get what we deserve. Under del Toro's unapologetic direction, the actions are bombastic with full-on energy. Everything is done on a grand scale, including the mass destructions. It brings us back to the pure joy and awe of watching old <i>Godzilla </i> movies in which the giant monster destroys the entire city. Here, we get to see the Jaegers and the Kaiju's destroy San Francisco, Tokyo, and Hong Kong with style. That's got to be satisfying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Still, del Toro has a few missteps. He gives away the plot too quickly in a rushed prologue that leaves not much to the imagination. There are not enough scenes where we can witness the awesomeness of the Kaiju's (or the Jaegers, for that matter). There are way too many scenes shot at night or in dark situations, and too many close ups that it's difficult to discern what is going on. At times the action sequences become so repetitive that I start to worry: "Is this yet another Michael Bay's <i>Transformers</i>?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, del Toro is no Michael Bay. He's much better. Granted, <i>Pacific Rim</i> is nothing as profound and beautiful as <i>Pan's Labyrinth. </i>But as genre sci-fi action/adventure, it does a good job entertaining us with bombastic larger-than-life action sequences and out of the world special effects. With its international cast and exotic locations -- and did I mention giant robots and monsters? -- this should do very well at the home box-office and around the Pacific Rim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., Ron Perlman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Guillermo del Toro</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Travis Beacham, Gullermo del Toro</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Warner Bros.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, brief language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 132 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-84915331509226449632013-07-05T23:14:00.000-07:002013-07-09T23:14:15.420-07:00The Bling Ring<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on Nancy Jo Sales' <i>Vanity Fair </i>article about a group of teenagers who burglarized celebrities' houses, <i>The Bling Ring</i> is an odd irony. On one hand the movie scrutinizes the US teen culture of celebrity worship and materialism; on the other hand, it draws attention to them, making them even more (in)famous than they already are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Marc (Israel Broussard) is a high school junior who just transferred to "dropout" school in Los Angeles. With low self-esteem and trying to fit in, Marc eventually makes friends with Becca (Katie Chang). Becca and her friend Chloe (Claire Julien) are free-spirited "old souls" who are obsessed with the latest fashion and celebrity gossips; Marc, a fashion-designer wannabe, feels right at home with them. Soon, Becca coerces Marc to go along and break into Paris Hilton's house while she is not in town.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The thrill of getting away with stealing from the celebrities (not to mention the allure of the high end goods and cash) becomes a drug for them. They invade more celebrities' homes and privacy; they steal more expensive things. With the money, they party hard. And they become more daring and start to brag about their conquests to others, including Nicki (Emma Watson) and her best friend Sam (Taissa Farmiga). In a matter of months, the "Bling Ring," with Becca their ring leader, has stolen more than three millions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As they become more daring and flamboyant, they also become more careless. Soon, the group is arrested. The bizarre twist is that their arrests and eventual sentences make them a notoriety. Celebrities themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Except for Emma Watson (<i>The Perks of Being a Wallflower</i>) and Leslie Mann (<i>This is 40), </i>the cast is mostly unknowns. Katie Chang (<i>A Birder's Guide to Everything</i>) is particularly impressive as the detached, "cool" chick who is a reckless pathological liar with a criminal mind. Her cold, detached demeanor and sociopathic disposition are perfect for the character. Israel Broussard (<i>Flipped</i>) is arguably the protagonist of the story, and he shows a good mix of naiveté, vulnerability and charm to make us care about him even as he makes all the wrong choices.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is not Emma Watson's best role, but she does a good job portraying another pathological liar. Her last scene is actually quite chilling to watch. Clair Julien (<i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>) doesn't really have much to do except to act cool and detached as another member of the Bling Ring. Taissa Farmiga (<i>Middleton</i>) makes the best out of her role, as a out-of-control teen who gives me the willies. Leslie Mann plays Emma Watson's mother with a self-deprecating sense of humor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Written and directed by Sofia Coppola (<i>Marie Antoinette)</i>, the screenplay has all of her usual touches: rather off-kilter, episodic, documentary-like and often seemingly irreverent as the characters romp around doing bad things. Coppola's writing and direction style are both laid back, minimalistic, but filled with subtexts, texture and layers. That said, the plot is rather thin and it's sometimes hard to follow a bunch of unlikable characters that don't seem to have any redeeming values, even though we can relate to them at some levels (we've all been young and stupid!) Coppola tries to balance the act by portraying these characters matter-of-factly while injecting her subtle sense of social commentary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The irony is that while Coppola seemingly criticizes our society's obsession with fame, lifestyle and celebrity, she is also seemingly glorifying the notoriety of these heinous acts of selfish indulgence to a point that we can't help but be fascinated, itching to Google the real Bling Ring. Perhaps that's what Coppola's aiming for, to project a mirror for the audience so that they can see that they're just as intrigued and fascinated with these people much like the "foolish public" whom we chide for being obsessed with reality TV and celebrities. In a way, she reminds us that we are ALL guilty of being part of this culture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I like <i>The Bling Ring</i> quite a bit, even though I really don't care of any of the characters. Perhaps my own moral codes and judgement are hindering me from being fully engaged in these characters and their story. Still, Copolla has done an admirable job in turning a rather one-note story into a multi-layered character study of peer pressure, obsessions and fame-centric culture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Sofia Coppola</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Sofia Coppola (based on Vanity Fair article by Nancy Jo Sales)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor: </b>A24</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for teen drug and alcohol use, language, brief sexual references</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 90 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.2 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-63120731526240715522013-06-28T13:12:00.000-07:002013-07-02T13:13:58.899-07:00The Heat<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Buddy cop movies are a dime a dozen these days, but one that stars two top female comedians is something new. And if <i>Bridesmaids </i>has taught us anything, female-centric comedies with strong leads and good writing is hot these days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">FBI agent Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is a top-performing agent disliked by her colleagues because of her know-it-all and difficult-to-work-with arrogance. She is up for a promotion but her boss (Demian Bichir) is reluctant to consider her unless she cracks a serious drug case in Boston. So, with her promotion at stake, off she goes to track down a murderous drug lord named Larkin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Her investigation leads her to the Boston PD and a drug dealer named Rojas (Spoken Reasons), forcing her to work with an abrasive, loud-mouthed cop named Mullins (Melissa McCarthy). The methodical Ashburn and "anything goes" Mullins hate each other right from the start, but with a lot to lose, they must work together to bring Larkin to justice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It turns out that Mullins's brother Jason (Michael Rapaport) may have a connection with Larkins, but Mullins is reluctant to put him in danger. Meanwhile, Ashburn is willing to use anything, anyone to get what she wants. As the two women work together grudgingly, they discover they are actually not that different.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sandra Bullock (<i>Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close</i>) is one of those rare beauties who excel in both serious drama (she won an Oscar for <i>The Blind Side</i>) and comedy. Granted, this is a role that feels familiar: a combination of <i>Miss Congeniality </i>and <i>The Proposal</i>, both in the "hit" column for Bullock. So obviously the star feels right at home with this character.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since her breakout role in <i>Bridesmaids, </i>Melissa McCarthy (<i>Identity Theft</i>) has been doing pretty much the same schtick that one begins to question her range. But she does it so well that it's hard not to think of her when you see a character like Mullins. McCarthy has a great ability to be obnoxious and abrasive while at the same time display great heart and vulnerability. Mullins is a part specifically made for her, and she does a great job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Furthermore, Bullock and McCarthy have great chemistry together and that's 80% of the battle when you're making a buddy cop movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The supporting cast fills their roles adequately, but we all know this is really Bullock's and McCarthy's movie. Demian Bichir (<i>A Better Life</i>) is square as Bullock's boss -- the serious actor surprises with his humorous side even though the role is entirely straight. Marlon Wayans (<i>A Haunted House</i>) plays dashing, charming agent Levy with, well, great charm. Michael Rapaport (<i>Last I Heard) </i>is ernest as Mullins's troubled brother, and it's great to see Jane Curtin. Newcomer Spoken Reasons is somewhat annoying a local drug dealer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Let's face it, the story and plot of a buddy cop movie is secondary to the characters and on-screen chemistry. That said, this script (by Katie Dippold) is serviceable, providing the right circumstances and plot twists to keep the movie interesting. Some of the scenes serve no other purpose than giving Bullock and McCarthy something hilarious to do. That said, there are some clever moments that did catch me my surprise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The dialogue is sharp, crude, and funny. You can tell the writer and the actors have a lot of fun with these lines, which are by and large hilarious. McCarthy, in particular, gets the best lines with her explosive, abrasive characterization. Bullock plays the "straight woman" so her lines are more reserved and lame, but they work well as a team. They're like fire and ice, and it's a perfect combination.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Paul Feig's (<i>Bridesmaids</i>) direction is also serviceable. It's not as tight and fluid as <i>Bridesmaids</i> but his grungy stile works well with the movie's setup. Most of all, Feig peppers the movie with memorable if minor characters and let his leads work their magic together. Buddy cop movies is all about chemistry, and Feig knows that he's got it in Bullock and McCarthy, and he simply retreats to let his stars shine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sure, <i>The Heat</i> is derivative and the story is pedestrian, but it is also a great pleasure to see two female comedians at the top of their games. Their chemistry and the sharp dialogue are what make the movie great fun to watch. They sure have turned up the heat!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Jane Curtin, Spoken Reasons, Thomas F. Wilson, Michael McDonald, Taran Killam</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Paul Feig</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writer: </b>Katie Dippold</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> 20th Century Fox</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> R for pervasive language, strong crude content and some violence</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 117 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-20012914447824224622013-06-21T13:08:00.000-07:002013-06-25T13:08:25.168-07:00World War Z<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Does the world needs another apocalyptic zombie movie, aka <i>Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, The Walking Dead… (</i>and the list goes on). Apparently, Hollywood thinks so. Granted, <i>World War Z </i>is based on Max (son of Mel) Brooks's phenomenal bestseller that installed many fresh ideas into the genre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gerry (Brad Pitt) is an ex-UN special operator who is now a stay-at-home dad with wife Karin (Mireille Enos) and two young daughters. On their way to school and work in Philadelphia, all Hell breaks loose when people start to go crazy with rabies-like symptoms and attack and kill others. Gerry also observes that it takes only 12 seconds for the dead to "turn."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Surviving the disaster is only the beginning. After Gerry and his family are rescued, he is ordered to help an investigating team to try to find out the origin of the outbreak, in hopes of finding a vaccine. Thus starts Gerry's globe-trotting while trying to be one step ahead of the "affected." His journey takes him to North Korea, Jerusalem, and India, but nothing turns up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Instead Gerry continues to find himself in dangerous situations where human nature is in direct conflict with mother nature, and more and more people are being turned. What Gerry discovers is that the zombies are dormant by nature unless provoked by stimuli such as sound and movement. And one clue after another, Gerry finally realizes the virus's weakness; and with an act of self-sacrifice, Gerry needs to prove himself right once and for all so he can save mankind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brad Pitt (<i>The Moneyball</i>) is in fine form. The lines and weathered face of this superstar somehow add charisma and wisdom to the characters he plays, and Pitt's portrayal of Gerry is multi-dimensional and deeply affecting. Mireille Enos (<i>Gangster Squad) </i>is solid as Gerry's determined and resourceful wife. They make a good on-screen team and we believe that they're two loving parents whose top priority is to keep their family safe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">French actress Daniella Kertesz (<i>Loving Anna</i>) impresses as Segen, a soldier whose job is to protect Gerry, and who ends up being part of Gerry's superb companion. The supporting team does great work here all around, including James Badge Dale (<i>Iron Man 3</i>) in an heroic turn as Captain Speke, Matthew Fox (<i>Speed Racer</i>) as a parajumper, and David Morse (<i>The Odd Life of Timothy Green</i>) as a bizarre ex-CIA agent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Based on Max Brooks's best-selling novel, the script of this new zombie romp is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goodard, and <i>Lost'</i>s Damon Lindelof. The story itself isn't really all that original -- what the writers have brought to the genre is a new twist and a slew of believable characters that focus on one man and his family. Most zombie movies focus on one or two set pieces and a specific location, but <i>World War Z </i>takes us on trip to let us witness the horror on a global scale. The plot opens with the usual mayhem and doom, but quickly turns into one man's quest to find an answer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Still, one cannot argue that the genre is showing its age and fatigue. Everything does begin to look derivative, no matter how "fresh" the writers want to make it. The idea that zombies move in lightening fast pace and swarm like locusts is interesting and, quite honestly, breathtaking to watch. But everything else does seem to have that "been there, done that" feel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So it all comes down to the execution. The cast has a done a great job, for sure. Marc Forster's (<i>Quantum of Solace</i>) track record has been spotty. Somehow the idea that <i>Finding Neverland'</i>s director is doing a zombie movie is an odd one, but I think Forster rose to the occasion and delivered one hell of a nail-biter. The opening sequence is chaotic, frightening, suspenseful, and powerful. There are some duller moments, of course, but over all the pacing is good. Some of the set pieces are phenomenal to watch, such as one of the most exhilarating plane crashes on screen. Some may argue that the camerawork could be better, but I had no problem with his choices. It adds to the immediacy and urgency of the sequences. It's an exciting movie to watch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Despite its derivative story and the limitation of the genre itself, <i>World War Z</i> offers something new and fresh, and with its effective cast headed by a strong Brad Pitt, and the capable direction of Marc Forster, it is a movie that is worth watching, even if it doesn't solve any world problems, per se.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, David Morse, Matthew Fox, Ludi Boeken</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Marc Forster</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goodard, Damon Lindelof (based on novel by Max Brooks)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Paramount</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for intense frightening sequences, violence and disturbing images</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 116 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 9</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 9</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.5 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-69373269480725348432013-06-14T13:16:00.000-07:002013-06-18T13:24:48.137-07:00This is The End<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Once in a while you come across an idea that is so brilliantly absurd that you get all excited about it. How the execution comes along is another matter, but for high concepts, <i>This is The End</i> -- an apocalyptic tale centered around a bunch of self-absorbed "real" Hollywood actors -- is pure gold.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When Jay Baruchel visits Seth Rogen in Los Angeles after a long time apart, Seth invites Jay to come along to James Franco's housewarming party. At the party, Jay feels uncomfortable because he doesn't like Seth's friends such as James, Michael Cera, Craig Robinson, and he outright hates Jonah Hill. He finds an opportunity to ask Seth with him to get a pack of cigarette, so he can express his discomfort to Seth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At the convenience store, a calamity happens and Jay witnesses something otherworldly. They returns to James' mansion trying to warn everybody, but it's too late. When everyone rushes out, they are either struck by something or get sucked into a giant sink hole in the ground. Jay, Seth and the other guys find refuge back in James' house, trying to figure what is happening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With little food and water, the friends begin to turn on each other. When an invited guest, Danny McBride, shows up, the tension gets even worse. Eventually Jay figures that what they're experiencing is the apocalypse, as described in the Book of Revelation. The world is going to end and every one will die, and that means each of them must redeem himself before he could be received into heaven, or forever be condemned to Hell. As the men bicker and fight and try to survive, could they learn their lessons and redeem themselves in time for Rapture?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All the main actors play versions of themselves -- much exaggerated and warped versions. James Franco (<i>Oz the Great and Powerful</i>) plays himself as an obnoxious prick who seems to be secretly in love with Seth Rogen. Seth (<i>The Guilt Trip</i>) pokes fun of his own stoner persona and lukewarm career. Jonah Hill (<i>The Moneyball</i>) is surprisingly subtle by playing himself as a conniving twit. Jay Baruchel (<i>Cosmopolis</i>) probably plays his character the closest to his true self -- a naive, nervous actor who doesn't fit in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Craig Robinson (<i>Peeples</i>) plays up his teddy bear persona by adding a little raunch and nastiness. Danny McBride (<i>Your Highness</i>) fully takes advantage of his obnoxious on-screen persona by giving us a full-on asshole that we'd love to hate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are too many cameos to mention. Michael Cera (<i>The End of Love</i>) possibly has the best role in his life by playing himself as a drug-abusing, sex-crazed loudmouth. Emma Watson (<i>The Perks of Being a Wallflower</i>) plays herself a slight variation of her persona mixed with her characterization of Hermione. Other notable cameos include Mindy Kaling, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Rihanna, Paul Rudd, Channing Tatum (in a hilarious, spit-inducing cameo), and Aziz Ansari.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The screenplay by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen builds upon the high concept: How would a bunch of self-absorbed Hollywood actors behave during the end of days. The genius that comes about is not the story or the plot, but by allowing the actors to play an altered version of themselves and the relationships among one another. According to Seth Rogen, 50% of the movie is improvised. And according to Even Goldberg, he tries to push the actors' buttons by asking them to do the most outrageous feats. The result is evident on screen. The story itself follows a rather simplistic "end of the world" disaster movie path, probably somewhat too heavy-handed in the Biblical interpretation of the apocalypse. I wish they would scale that down (it's a distraction to me) and focus more on the characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The movie works best when it allows the actors to play off one another. James Franco has great chemistry with everyone, especially Seth Rogen. His one scene with Danny McBride (you will know which scene I'm referring to) is awe-inspiring -- I have no idea how the actors can keep a straight face. There are plenty of raunchy and nasty jokes to go around (bodily fluids, potty jokes, sex humor, homosexual references, etc.) and they work, albeit sometimes mindless and sophomoric, because of the chemistry between the actors. We've come to love these comedic actors' onscreen personas, so to see them mesh these personas with their "reality" is a treat in itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The ending is somewhat too cheeky for my taste -- I'd prefer something darker, to keep with the tone of the movie (granted, it is a broad comedy). And parts of the movie drags, and some of the jokes fall flat. Still over all, the movie is a laugh-a-minute romp that if you don't take things too seriously, you will enjoy it immensely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, Emma Watson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Directors:</b> Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen (based on Jason Stone's short film <i>Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse</i>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Universal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, brief strong language, and some sexuality</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 126 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.2 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-46765344296162275252013-06-07T13:11:00.000-07:002013-06-11T13:12:08.763-07:00The Internship<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Part buddy comedy, part giant ad for Google, <i>The Internship </i>is a tepid story that tries so hard to re-team wedding crashers Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson while being earnest and wholesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) are two brilliant salesmen and best buddies whose careers are outdated because of the digital age. After they've lost their jobs and ways of life, Billy has a great idea? Why not change their careers to embrace the new world by becoming interns at one of the best technology companies in the world, Google?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By a stroke of luck and the sympathetic vote of Lyle (Josh Brener), a junior manager at Google, Billy and Nick successfully get into the summer internship program. But the competition is fierce; Billy and Nick feel immediately out of place among all the super-smart college students. Soon they team up with a group of "outliners" mentored by the kind and enthusiastic Lyle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As their competitors and detractors such as the cocky Ivy-Leaguer Graham (Max Mingella), rigid Internship manager Mr. Chetty (Aasif Mandvi) or indifferent manager Dana (Rose Bryne) continue to dismiss them as losers, Billy and Nick must find their way to not only get assimilated the new technology world, but also teach these kids a few things about teamwork, self-esteem and being human.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vince Vaughn (<i>The Watch</i>) and Owen Wilson (<i>The Big Year</i>) are a good team together. Not all of their movies worked -- the <i>Wedding Crashers </i>was a smash but <i>Hall Pass</i> was a mess. Here, they are somehow in the middle of the pack, thus in a way mediocre. They are engaging enough, but never really rise about their usual schticks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rose Bryne (<i>The Place Beyond the Pines</i>) looks smart enough to work for Google but sexy enough to be Wilson's love interest, but ultimately Bryne has nothing to do except being the latter. Aasif Mandvi (<i>Premium Rush</i>) has some fun playing a stiff corporate manager, but somehow I wonder how he ended up at Google? Max Mingella (<i>The Social Network) </i>twirls his proverbial mustache as the main villain but his portrayal of the bully is too over the top without any kind of humanity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The teamsters fare much better. Josh Brener (<i>The Big Bang Theory</i>) is sweet and adorable as geek-master Lyle. Dylan O'Brien (<i>The First Time</i>) is affectingly aloof and guarded as Stuart. Tiya Sicar (<i>The Domino Effect</i>) is sexy and sweet as Neha. Tobit Raphael has one of the best roles in the movie as Yo-Yo Santos; we just want to give him a hug while laughing at him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vaughn and Jared Stern (<i>Wreck-It Ralph</i>) head the writing team. The script is a lukewarm hodgepodge of comical ideas that borrow heavily from other movies, including Vaughn's own. The buddy formula is familiar but a bit stale. The jokes also rely heavily on stereotypes and the inherit humor in the cultural difference between the tech-savvy young and the tech-phobic old. It is hard to believe that a bunch of 40-something men would be so out of touch -- what kind of men in their 40s don't have a smartphone or iPod, who still listen to mix tapes or make 80s pop references? Granted, Vaughn is trying to exaggerate the gap between his character and the "kids" but I think the parody is too extreme to be plausible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are too many plot holes to mention as well. While I can take a leap of faith to believe that Google would actually accept them as interns, I just don't buy it that two seasoned salesmen can't find any job other than selling watches. Everywhere you turn there are sales forces, and clearly if they're as good as we're led to believe, they can find a sales job anywhere instead of taking an internship. Besides, since being an intern is unpaid, how are they making a living for the summer as we're led to believe both men lost everything. By pushing for the extremes for laughs, the writers are also pushing for unbelievability.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Also, the construct of the story is as old-school as you can get, and the insistence of having a villain such as Graham cheapens the journey these men are taking to embrace the brave new world of technology. They really don't need this good vs. evil plot. Just to see them struggling through this brave new world would be amusing enough. And I kind of resist the notion that being a geek is boring and "missing out on life" and the only way one can learn to "live" is by partying and going to a strip club and getting drunk. What kind of message is that?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Granted, director Shawn Levy (<i>Real Steel</i>) has a breezy, friendly style that makes the movie enjoyable and engaging. The plot clips along just fine and the movie has enough chuckles to entertain. As a comedy, though, <i>The Internship</i> is as mediocre as the lead characters are in life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Bryne, Aasif Mandvi, Max Minghella, Josh Brener, Dylan O'Brien, Tiya Sicar, Tobit Raphael</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Shawn Levy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Vince Vaughn, Jared Stern</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> 20th Century Fox</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for sexuality, some crude humor, partying and language</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 119 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 6</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 7</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.0 out of 10.0 </span></b><br />
Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10003212.post-76109400800173385482013-05-31T13:03:00.000-07:002013-06-18T13:16:47.348-07:00Now You See Me<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">© 2013 Ray Wong</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Movies about magicians are difficult to do well (ask Steve Carell). <i>Now You See Me</i> takes a different approach as a suspense/thriller. While it is no <i>The Prestige </i>or even the <i>Illusionist</i>, its entertainment value should keep it in the game for at least a few weeks before the next big thing comes along.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley (Isla Fisher) and Jack (Dave Franco) are four small-time magicians who seem to try to say something with their acts. Atlas is by far the most accomplished but he is no superstar, and McKinney is a washed up "mentalist." They are all recruited by a mysterious benefactor who promises them, as a team, a spectacular career.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One year later, that's exactly what happens. Emerging to the Vegas scene as the Four Horsemen and backed by rich businessman Tressler, they magically rob a French bank in front of a grand audience. More interestingly, they give the money to the audience and keep nothing themselves. Their stunt attracts international fame as well as the FBI. Without any proof that they actually robbed the bank, though, FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) can't do anything except to track them down to their next act, hoping to catch them in the act.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next, the Four Horsemen stage a phenomenal show in New Orleans that not only redistributes Tressler's wealth to a carefully selected audience, but also manage to disappear without being caught. Who is behind them? What exactly are they trying to do? What is the final act (which will be in Manhattan)? And how can Rhodes stay a few steps ahead of them so he can bring them to justice?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For all its slick production and an impressive ensemble cast, it's ironic that the main cast doesn't really have much to do. Jesse Eisenberg (<i>To Rome with Love</i>) plays a slicker, more cynical version of himself as the controlling Atlas. Woody Harrelson (<i>The Hunger Game</i>) smug McKinney who has a moral conscience. Isla Fisher (<i>The Great Gatsby</i>) is sexy as Henley and James Franco's brother Dave (<i>Warm Bodies</i>) is ernest as the most inexperienced magician of them all, Jack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While the Four Horsemen are the focus of the story, they seem peripheral when compared to the other key players. Mark Ruffalo (<i>The Avengers</i>) is effectively befuddled and frantic as Rhodes. Melanie Laurent (<i>Beginners</i>) is effervescent and likable as Rhodes' unlikely Interpol partner Alma. Morgan Freeman (<i>Oblivion</i>) gets to shed his regal persona to play Bradley, a smug, arrogant ex-magician who makes a killing by revealing other magicians' tricks. And Michael Caine (<i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>) is in fine form playing a smug, arrogant businessman. Michael Kelly (<i>Man of Steel</i>) and Common (<i>Pawn</i>) join the cast as agents Fuller and Evans respectively.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The screenplay by Ed Solomon (<i>Charlie's Angels</i>), Boaz Yakin (<i>Safe) </i>and Edward Ricourt is definitely slick by design. From the first scene to the last, the plot is fast-paced, clipping along with twists and turns only slowing down occasionally to let us get to know the characters a bit. But not too much. In fact, while the plot is slick and engaging, I can't really say the same about the characters. They all seem stereotypical and cookie-cutter. We don't know much about them, and we end up not caring if we know much about them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While the plot is plausible given the grand illusion that is in store for us, the motivation is really murky. We understand, at the end, what the real motivation is, but what drive four magicians to commit crimes that could get them imprisoned for a very long time? All for ego? That doesn't make sense and is never completely explained except for some mumble-jumble about <i>The Eye</i>. I guess it's all about the honor and "code" between magicians but I didn't completely buy it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The production under Louis Leterier's (<i>Crash of the Titans</i>) direction is glossy and slick, if somewhat frantic (please stop the swooping crane shots already -- give me a headache) and out of control at times. Still, for a movie about magic tricks and a recurring theme of "how they did it?" Leterier relies too much on CGI effects, thus the magic tricks appear unauthentic and fake. Of course you can perform any kind of magic tricks if you use CGI, and it's hard for the audience to connect to reality -- how would they actually do it if it was real and not special effects?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don't get me wrong, <i>Now You See Me</i> is highly engaging and entertaining, and the plot does twist and turn having me wonder where it is going and how it is going to end, and what is the story really about. And the final twist is rather clever -- I didn't see it coming. Still, with all its gloss and fun, it is not something I will remember. Now I've seen it, I doubt I will see it again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Stars:</b> Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Michael Kelly, Common</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Director:</b> Louis Leterier</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Writers: </b>Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Distributor:</b> Summit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>MPAA Rating:</b> PG-13 for language, some action and sexual content</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Running Time:</b> 115 minutes</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ratings:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Script - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Performance - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Direction - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinematography - 8</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Music/Sound - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Editing - 7</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Production - 8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Total - 7.4 out of 10.0 </span></b>Ray Wonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13998594108956468112noreply@blogger.com0