Bite-Size Reviews: Asian Cinema

THE LOVE OF SIAM (Thailand)
Rating: 3/5
Better off as a love story than a family melodrama. The Dekada Cinemanila crowd swooned over the brewing romance between these two Thai teenage boys with the same ‘kilig’ they poured on John Lloyd-Sarah or Edward-Bella, and the majority of the crowd is not even gay. I bet girls have this inexplicable fantasy of seeing two cute boys kiss. Fetish.



OLDBOY (Korea)
Rating: 3/5
After being locked up inside a seedy hotel room for 15 years without knowing the reason, Oh Dae-Su hunts down his captor and engages in a bloody spree of revenge. Twisted and unforgettable, “Oldboy” leaves us with morality questions. Beneath the gore and the violence lie dark truths about man’s nature.



PAPRIKA (Japan)
Rating: 2/5
This film is a visual parade of surrealistic imageries. It merges convoluted dreams into reality in a grim yet fizzy fashion. It is psychedelic and trippy. And the attacks on technology and man’s interference with privacy elevate the film from its apparent randomness. However, when the parade has passed, viewers will be left with nothing but a void.



THE BLIND PIG WHO WANTS TO FLY (Indonesia)
Rating: 1/5
This Indonesian film screened during Dekada Cinemanila failed to take flight due to an incoherent storyline. Monotonously dour. Pretentious script. Watch out for the most vituperative, cringe-worthy anal sex ever caught on film, and it’s not even graphic.



ANDONG (Philippines)
Rating: 3/5
Cinemalaya 2008 Best Short Film is just lovely. A Payatas kid’s obsession with winning a TV through a baranggay lottery is stifled by his younger brother’s ‘bili mo ko’ attitude. Funny, touching, and feel-good. Smile and be thankful that you have a television at home, even if it’s not HD.

Oscar Snubs and Surprises

The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards is already out. As usual, the announcement of nominations were met with raised eyebrows and shocked reactions. Continue reading to know this year’s Oscar snubs and surprises.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” leads the pack with a whopping 13 nominations, including Best Picture. “Slumdog Millionaire” follows it with 10. “The Dark Knight” and “Milk”, with 8 nominations each, come in third. However, the 8 nominations of the Christopher Nolan-directed film about Gotham City’s Caped Crusader is not enough for it to land a Best Picture nod. Just like in the Golden Globes, “The Dark Knight” was completely shut out in the Best Picture race.

But this Oscar’s biggest surprise involves Kate Winslet. She may have won a Golden Globe for her intense portrayal as April Wheeler in “Revolutionary Road”, but Oscar doesn’t seem to give her any credit for it. Instead, the 5-time Oscar nominee nabs a Best Actress nod for her role in “The Reader”, where she recently won Best Supporting Actress in the Golden Globes. Ayokong isipin kung pano nangyari yun, pero magulo talaga ang rules ng Oscars at Golden Globes, so deadma na.

Meanwhile, Kate’s on-screen hubby in “Revolutionary Road” shared the same fate as her. Well, not exactly. For Best Actor, all we have are names of Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, and Brad Pitt. No Leonardo DiCaprio in sight. Given the choice, I’ll take Brad’s name out and trade it with Leo’s.

More on “Revolutionary Road”. Everyone is raving about the performances of the “Titanic” superstars that they overlooked Michael Shannon who plays the mentally ill son of Kathy Bates, but not the Oscars. Michael Shannon receives a much-deserved Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Other surprises:
Sally Hawkins out, Melissa Leo in for Best Actress
Robert Downey Jr. for “Tropic Thunder” as Best Supporting Actor (Hurrah!)

And now, here is the complete list of nominees:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard
“Milk”, Gus Van Sant
“The Reader”, Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
“The Baader Meinhof Complex”, Germany
“The Class”, France
“Departures”, Japan
“Revanche”, Austria
“Waltz with Bashir”, Israel

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Encounters at the End of the World”, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
“The Garden”, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
“Man on Wire”, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
“Trouble the Water”, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Eric
“Doubt”, John Patrick Shanley
“Frost/Nixon”, Peter Morgan
“The Reader”, David Hare
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Simon Beaufoy

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Frozen River”, Courtney Hunt
“Happy-Go-Lucky”, Mike Leigh
“In Bruges”, Martin McDonagh
“Milk”, Dustin Lance Black
“WALL-E”, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
“Bolt”, Chris Williams and Byron Howard
“Kung Fu Panda”, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
“WALL-E”, Andrew Stanton

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”, Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman,
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, A.R. Rahman and Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance”, James Newton Howard
“Milk”, Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire”, A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E”, Thomas Newman

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Duchess”
“Milk”
“Revolutionary Road”

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
“Lavatory - Lovestory
“Oktapodi”
“Presto”
“This Way Up”

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
“Manon on the Asphalt”
“New Boy”
“The Pig”
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“The Conscience of Nhem En”, Steven Okazaki
“The Final Inch”, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
“Smile Pinki”, Megan Mylan
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306”, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Catch the 81st Academy Awards on February 22. Which film and performances are you rooting for? My money is on “Slumdog Millionaire”, may angal?

10th Golden Tomato Awards

BEST FILMS - WIDE RELEASE

1 - WALL-E
Rating: 96%
Charming, audacious, and timely, Wall-E's lighthearted magic and stellar visuals testify once again to Pixar's ingenuity.

2 - The Dark Knight
Rating: 94%
Dark, complex and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga.

3- Iron Man
Rating: 93%
Director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey make this smart, high impact superhero movie one that even non-comics fans can enjoy.

4 - U2 3D
Rating: 92%
3D transports the viewer to an intimate seat at a U2 performance, for an exhilarating musical experience at the price of a movie ticket.

5 - Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Rating: 88%
Del Toro crafts a stellar comic book sequel, boasting visuals that are as imaginative as the characters are endearing.

6 - Kung Fu Panda
Rating: 88%
Kung Fu Panda has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation makes for winning Summer entertainment.

7 - Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Rating: 85%
With ample laughs and sharp performances, Forgetting Sarah Marshall finds just the right mix of romantic and raunchy comedy.

8 – Bolt
Rating: 85%
Bolt is a pleasant animated comedy that overcomes the story's familiarity with strong visuals and likable characters.

9 - Tropic Thunder
Rating: 83%
With biting satire, plenty of subversive humor, and an unforgettable turn by Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder is a triumphant late Summer comedy.

10 - Ghost Town
Rating: 83%
Ricky Gervais' consistently sharp performance and beautifully dry execution transform this otherwise mainstream comedy into an endearing, funny, and altogether snappy romantic comedy. With ghosts.


BEST FILMS - LIMITED RELEASE

1 - Man On Wire
Rating: 100%
James Marsh's doc about artist Phililppe Petit's artful caper brings you every ounce of suspense that can be wrung from a man on a (suspended) wire.

2 - Taxi to the Dark Side
Rating: 100%
Taxi to the Dark Side is an intelligent, powerful look into the dark corners of the War on Terror.

3 - The Wrestler
Rating: 98%
Mickey Rourke gives a performance for the ages in The Wrestler, a richly affecting, heart-wrenching yet ultimately rewarding drama.

4 - The Band's Visit
Rating: 98%
The Band's Visit is both a clever, subtle slice-of-life comedy, and poignant cross-cultural exploration.

5 - 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Rating: 97%
Featuring gut-wrenching performances from Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu, 4 Months is a gripping portrayal of life in Communist Romania.

6 - Let the Right One In
Rating: 97%
Let the Right One In reinvigorates the seemingly tired vampire genre by effectively mixing scares with intelligent storytelling.

7 - Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Rating: 97%
Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is a fascinating, informative, entertaining and especially introspective account of the American 'enhancement' culture.

8 - Trouble the Water
Rating: 97%
This incredible documentary displays the tragedy and mismanagement of Katrina along with the heroism of strangers and survivors.

9 - Slumdog Millionaire
Rating: 94%
Visually dazzling and emotionally resonant, Slumdog Millionaire is a film that's both entertaining and powerful.

10 - My Winnipeg
Rating: 95%
My Winnipeg is a charmingly irreverent 'docu-fantasy' from the unpredictable mind of Guy Maddin.


WORST FILMS

1 - One Missed Call
Tomatometer: 0%
One of the weakest entries in the J-horror remake sweepstakes, One Missed Call is undone by bland performances and shopworn shocks.

2 - Strange Wilderness
Tomatometer: 0%
Strange Wilderness is a laugh-free comedy that's both aimless and overly crass.

3 - Deal
Tomatometer: 0%
Employing multiple cinematic clichés and milking stale performances, Deal proves inadequate for even the lowly regarded poker movie genre.

4 - Witless Protection
Tomatometer: 0%
Larry the Cable Guy continues his critical losing streak with this insipid, tasteless caper comedy.

5 - Disaster Movie
Tomatometer: 2%
Returning to their seemingly bottomless well of flatulence humor, racial stereotypes, and stale pop culture gags, Friedberg and Seltzer have produced what is arguably their worst Movie yet.

6 - Meet the Spartans
Tomatometer: 2%
A tired, unfunny, offensive waste of time, Meet the Spartans scrapes the bottom of the cinematic barrel.

7 - The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Tomatometer: 3%
The Haunting of Molly Hartley is a rather lifeless horror endeavor, with a pedestrian plot and few scares.

8 - In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Tomatometer: 4%
Featuring mostly wooden performances, laughable dialogue, and shoddy production values, In the Name of the King fulfills all expectations of an Uwe Boll film.

9 - 88 Minutes
Tomatometer: 5%
88 Minutes is a shockingly inept psychological thriller that expertly squanders the talent at hand.

10 - The Hottie & the Nottie
Tomatometer: 5%
The Hottie and the Nottie is a crass, predictable, and ineptly staged gross-out comedy that serves little purpose beyond existing as another monument to Paris Hilton's vanity.


Source:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/rtawards/

Review: Slumdog Millionaire (5/5)

Jamal is an uneducated street kid. He works as a “chai wallah” (or tea server) in a call center company and lived practically his entire life in the slums. With this credentials, his only shot at a staggering 20 million-rupee cash pot is through the lottery or games of luck such as “Deal or No Deal” or “Wheel of Fortune”, but not on game shows that require intellectual prowess such as “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”.

So after Jamal consistently gave correct answers to questions that covered the fields of poetry, mythology, history, cinema, and sports among others, the show’s host and producers were suspended in disbelief. They got him arrested and tortured on suspicion of cheating on national TV. To quote the unnamed cop who is cross-examining him, he said, “What the hell can a slumdog possibly know?” Jamal matter-of-factly remarked, “I knew the answers”. Of course he does. He does not only know the answers, he experienced them first-hand. It is as if every single unfortunate incident in his life has been building up to this. Life may be cruel to Jamal but through this quiz show, life is about to redeem itself. Living life is certainly a form of education in itself and as the old folks say, experience is the best teacher.

So then begins the interrogation with Jamal. He walks us through his life and explains how he knew the answers to the game show questions. In the eyes of Jamal, we see how his mother was brutally killed in a Hindu-Muslim riot, how he was forced to beg on the streets by a mob of child exploiters, how he escaped their clutches, how he met his first love Latika, how his brother Salim intentionally separated him away from Latika, and how he found her only to lose her again. The narration segues from tiered flashbacks to the videotaped game show.

The inspiring love story between Jamal and Latika may be the emotional jolt that gives the film a humanistic touch, but to label “Slumdog Millionaire” as a simple love story would be an unqualified insult to Simon Beaufoy’s sweeping and tightly-penned screenplay that utilized Mumbai as a central character in itself. We see the shanty houses as they turn into skyscrapers. We take a glimpse at the harrowing criminal underworld abundant with cold-blooded murders, greed, brutality, and exploitation. The expose on the roundabouts of the Third World life gives the film an undeniable social resonance.

Meanwhile, Danny Boyle’s commanding direction guides us through the nooks and crannies of Mumbai’s alleys to give us a personal tour of the city – not afraid to show the gritty and the dirty. With the film’s frenzied pace and dynamic camerawork coupled with an eclectic score, we find beauty in the ugly. In “Slumdog Millionaire”, the grotesque marries the exuberant to produce a vivid travelogue reeking of vivacious energy and effervescent colors.

And now, Jamal is only one multiple-choice question away from 20 million rupees and a chance for the better life fate has kept him away from for 19 years. Will he get the correct answer? Will he use his last lifeline – call a friend? Yes or no? Is that your final answer?

In the heart-thumping climax, we become witnesses of cinema’s most intense dramatic build-up. It is an ultimately gratifying finale, but it is inevitable not to be moved to tears. The coherent script ties all the elements together in panache of grand visuals and exploding emotions. “Slumdog Millionaire” is no doubt the best film of the year.

More Movie Posters of 2008

If the eight movie posters that I posted recently aren't enough, then here's more. My personal rule is that: only one poster per movie can make it to the list. But since most of the movie posters included in my Top 8 have more than one incredibly good poster in its collection, I've decided to post these as well.

Aside from my Top 8 Movie Posters of 2008 (as seen on http://failed.multiply.com/journal/item/141/141), here's another set of 8 posters that I really like.

And now, here's the teaser poster of the next Batman movie, the follow-up to Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed and box-office smash "The Dark Knight". No word yet on what its title is gonna be. From the looks of it, I guess you already know who the next Batman villain will be. Clue: Let's put a question mark on that face of yours. *wenk wenk wenk*