3 Reviews

As promised by my last entry on Oscar, this is part of my attempts to watch as many 2006 films as possible, especially the ones that have been oscar nominated. and here are the last 3 movies I have watched.

Pan's Labyrinth (directed by Guillermo Del Toro)

Pan's Labyrinth is another entry to an already crowded pool of overrated movies in 2006. While it's not a bad movie, but given the praise and awards (including 6 academy awards) that has been bestowed on this movie, it's hard to see what's the fuss is about. This film essentially tells 2 stories: one is an elegant but slightly dark fairy tale experienced by the protagonist Ofelia and the struggle between spanish rebels and the fascist spanish army that takes place in post civil war northern Spain in 1944. The movie moves back and forth between the 2 stories effortlessly, but I don't see any good parallelism between the 2 stories. It's like watching 2 movies in one. This is probably due to my lack of knowledge on Spain's history. But it is still a problem. But the film does boast great production design, especially on the fairy tale creatures (so maybe they deserve the technical oscar nomination). However, just because it's a technical triumph doesn't mean it's a great film. Ultimately, the 2 stories in the film are only marginally interesting and they're not much better when combined either. So, overall, it's a well made, polished film but it doesn't deserve the acclaims it has been getting.

Rating: 3/5

Letters From Iwo Jima (directed by Clint Eastwood)

Letters From Iwo Jima is part of the 2 films by Clint Eastwood about The Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The first one is Flags of Our Father (which I haven't seen) showcasing the American perspective and this one provides the Japanese point of view. Kudos must be given to Clint Eastwood for choosing to shoot this movie entirely in Japanese and employing Japanese actors (not just any, but well knowns like Ken Watanabe and Shido Nakamura) to ensure the authenticity (unlike *cough* Memoirs of Geisha *cough*).

This film tells the story of the Japanese futile attempt to defend Iwo Jima - from preparation to the ultimate defeat. However, it does not work like a war documentary, rather it focuses on a few characters, primarily on a private named Saigo (played by Kazunori Ninomiya) and General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (played by Ken Watanabe). Both characters write and narrate their letters to their family throughout the battle, providing the view on how futile the war is. This film is refreshing in how it humanizes the japanese, I have never seen a film that's not japanese-made that portrays the japanese military soldiers as regular people. This perhaps hurt the movie a little bit because in the real battle not all soldiers are as nice. But make no mistake though, this is not a feel-good movie, the japanese lost the battle and since this film is told from the japanese viewpoint, it is grim and to the filmmakers credit they didn't try to glorify the americans either. Overall, this is an effective and welcome entry to World War II movies especially since it's rare to tell the story from the enemy's perspective (especially when it's done well, objectively by an outsider)

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Casino Royale (directed by Martin Campbell)

James Bond is back in good form, finally. After the travesty known as Die Another Day, the filmmakers decided to start things fresh by doing many things: recasting bond, take him back to basics, getting rid of a lot of baggage (like gadgets, silly one liners). As one of the most overhyped film even before it was made, it's hard to escape controversy and this film has its shares. From the casting of Daniel Craig (deemed "too ugly" by some fans who just don't know better) to the use of poker in the film, instead of baccarat in the original novel. However, the end result blow them all away. This is one of the best James Bond film ever; it's not just a damn good James Bond film, it's a damn good film too.

For a James Bond film, this movie doesn't have as many action as the other. Make no mistake, this is one of the best action movie of the year with many truly exciting action sequences, but they only take place in the beginning and the end of the movie. The rest is about how James Bond try to beat his enemy Le Chiffre at a high stakes game of poker. But, the action isn't missed because it's during this moments that we get to know Bond as a character, we see him grow from a cocky first time agent to what he is as we know him, we see him fall in love with a character that represent what a "Bond Girl" should be not just in looks - Vesper Lynd. It might sound corny, but this is also a character driven movie where we see James Bond's characters are formed through tragedies and betrayal and the movie is compelling because of that and it makes it raise above all other entries in the franchise.

Daniel Craig may not be "handsome", but he definitely the perfect representation of good reboot to the franchise. He brings a lot of guts, muscles, and no-nonsense to the role. Eva Green (aka the most beautiful woman in the world) is perfect as Vesper Lynd, not just in looks - Vesper Lynd isn't another bond girl for james to fuck, but she is also a human being and more than a match for James Bond's ego. There's no better scene to show that in the movie than a scene in the shower where James Bond tries to comfort a crying Vesper after a murder - they both just sit there and lean on each other. It's a scene that I didn't expect to appear in a bond movie but it's there and it works.

Kudos for the filmmakers and the great cast for making things right this time and finally erasing the stink of Die Another Day. However, since this film is about James Bond's beginning, some of the good things that we see here might not remain in the future ... but that depends on what direction the filmmakers want to take for the next James Bond movies ... bringing him back to the old James bond? or to an exciting new unknown direction? I sure hope it's the latter.

Rating: 4/5

2008 election continued ...

Speak of the devil, just as I blogged about it yesterday, John Kerry decided not to run for the president. I say good for you sir, you served your country well enough, there's no need to go through another humiliating campaign.

I wanna add another candidate that I missed: Al Gore. Okay, I admit I never really liked Al Gore when he ran in 2000. But last year, I saw An Inconvenient Truth and my opinion of him change. I like the person he has become since he lost that election, especially his quest to educate people about global warming. However, just because he champions that issue doesn't mean he will make a great president. So yeah, there's a lot remains to be seen from him and i'd say no to him.

and speaking of Barack Obama. Yesterday, I learned that he attended public school for 4 years in indonesia when he was young. Fox News then claimed that he went to an islamic madrasah and therefore would be sympathetic to muslim terrorists. CNN then debunked that claim by visiting the school that Obama attended only to discover that the public school actually teaches to students of various religions including christian and buddhist. The school curricullum has a religious class period during which students will split to go to the class of his/her faith (eg the christians students will go to christian class, the islam will go to islamic class etc).
As someone who used to live in Indonesia, I can verify that this is true for many public schools in Indonesia. The reason I write about this is not about Obama, but about US schools. This model of education teaching different religions in a school is a perfect way of separating church and state without actually having to ban/prohibit any material from being taught in schools as well as fostering mutual respect among religions. In US, I read about parents and groups advocating Intelligent Design to be taught along Evolution (which is a thinly disguised attempt by extremist christians to discredit Evolution) as well as schools prohibiting some religious expressions including praying and many other similar conflicts between church and state. Hey, maybe the system here can already learn from a working and tolerant model in Indonesia, the so called "madrassah" which turned out not to be as extremist as the fox news claimed.

Watch the CNN debunking investigation video here to see what I'm talking about.

2008 US Presidential Election

Warning: Potentially offensive political discussion ahead.

Besides Oscar, there's another popularity contest heating up here. It's the 2008 US Presidential Election - the search for next George W Bush ... or not? Last week, Hillary Clinton finally announced that she's running for president, ending a long speculation. But here's my 2 cents on the current (popular and potential) candidates:

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton - I don't think Hillary is a bad leader ... but she is really too divisive in US, with many people surveyed that she will never vote for her. Sounds corny, but what America needs is a uniter, not a divider - Hillary is certainly a divider. So yeah, I believe democrats is doomed to lose the election if Hillary becomes the party's choice.

Barack Obama - Barack Obama, on the other hand have become a popular figure among the americans for the past few years and I kind of like him too. However, he hasn't even completed his first senate term yet and this election bid seems to be riding on his popularity. I think he's too inexperienced for the presidency right now and he should wait till the time is right. But the recent revelation that he lived and attended public school in indonesia for 4 years actually made me even more like him because he might be sympathetic to indonesia's cause. hehehehe

John Kerry - hasn't announced his intention to run. But just for the sake of it, I will say that I like John Kerry, from what I've read about him during the 2004 election and I think he could make a good president. But the dude is so prone to bad PR even after the election and with the ghost of 2004 election following him, I think he shouldn't take the chance at all.

and my pick is - John Edwards. In 2004, I read about John Edwards when he became John Kerry's running mate and it amazes me that americans do not want to pick this guy. He did not come from any elite family and heck he did not even go to any elite ivy league university. He came from a poor family and his achievements including becoming a senator has been from his own hard work and during his legal career days, he used to represent families and children against big corporation. and because of that I believe he would be the best choice for the american people because he understands what it's like for the regular americans, not the elite ones because he's been like one of them.

Republicans:

Rudy Giuliani - Rudy Giuliani did very well as NYC mayor. achievements include lowering crime rate and managing the aftermath of september 11. However, even if NY is one of the biggest city in the world. Does being a successful mayor in a big city makes him well qualified to run a country, especially the most powerful one? that remains to be seen ...

my choice is: John McCain - for well ... i like him. hehehehe and after what he suffered in 2000 election against George Bush, he deserves his run this time. and he isn't as divisive as Hillary Clinton.

Independents:
dunno, but if Ralph Nader wants to make another run for it, I'd say go ahead. It's his god damn right to do it. The democrats were so wrong about him "stealing" votes from Al Gore in 2000. The Dems have only themselves to blame for losing 2000 and 2004.

Closing disclaimers:
I am aware that when talking about politics, especially when it comes to American Politics, it tends to get readers angry, especially when it comes to making comments/ observations about people. Readers get angry when something negative is said, no matter how trivial, about someone they support. So let me just say upfront that I have done little to no research on this entry and hence all that I wrote shouldn't be taken seriously. this writing was written out of boredom. But i reserve the right to have an opinion and write this. So yeah, if u're angry about this writing, go ahead and flame it, but make sure you realize that u're flaming against something worthless (well, 2 cents worth) and pointless.

Oscar oscar oscar

Oscars nominations have been announced yesterday. The biggest news is that Dreamgirls got the most number of nominations with 8 but no Best Picture. Bah, who cares when 3 of them actually belong in the same category: Best Song (long considered by people to be a joke category). I was most surprised that Leonardo Dicaprio was nominated for "Blood Diamond" rather than "The Departed". I haven't watched Blood Diamond yet, but for me, Leonardo Dicaprio's performance in The Departed was phenomenal - it is better than Tony Leung's in original Infernal Affairs (and tony's performance was already excellent too) and was the only thing that shines in the overrated movie - it is the one performance that finally buries Titanic's Jack Dawson to rest. Can't believe it got beaten by a role that require the dude to put an unconvincing accent. But I shall watch Blood Diamond and revise my opinion later.

But my overall feelings about Oscar has diminished. I no longer care about it. In the past, I used to be very passionate about it (esp during Saving Private Ryan's loss to Shakespeare In Love and Gladiator's undeserved best picture and best actor win). But right now, I no longer care. The news, the media, people talk about it all the time, the so-called experts, critics have their own lists and predictions and reactions to the nominations - there is just too much discussions that made me no longer care. and besides, what are the chances that YOU have actually watched those movies?!?!?!

I normally have my own personal awards for movies. But I feel that I still have more movies to catch up to before I can validate the award. So I shall try to watch the following 2006 movies (if they're still playing):

- Letters From Iwo Jima
- Dreamgirls
- Children of Men
- Babel
- Blood Diamond
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Apocalypto
- Little Children
- The Queen

... and although seemingly non oscar choices:
- Miami Vice (on dvd)
- Casino Royale
- The Host
- The Banquet
- Crazy Stone

and complete my award before the oscar winners are announced on Feb 25. I would also post my oscar predictions the day/night before the big day (need time to see where the buzz will go). But I'm quite certain of one thing. Despite the strong buzz, I think Eddie Murphy will NOT win the Best Supporting Actor. This is because he has this movie opening in Feb 9 that looks really bad ... so bad it might make the voters to reconsider their judgement.

New Years Resolution

One of the consequences of my lazy writing is lateness. I intended to post my new year's resolution much earlier but now it's almost 2 weeks into the new year. Nevertheless, here they are:

1) Lose weight and get fit
2) Start writing, writing and writing. Goal: complete a screenplay by the end of the year
3) Make another short film, it's been almost 3 years since the god damn zombie flick.
4) Be more financially independent and responsible
5) Be more active and knowledgeable in general
6) Be more confident and self-depreciate less
7) Have better fashion sense (means buy more clothings)
8) Start developing some software (optional)
9) Develop new interests: maybe wine appreciation, guitar, drumming or some other sports like basketball (!) OR
10) Rekindle old interests such as playing Violin or Piano
11) a resolution that always in this list coz it hasn't happened yet. Only smart ppl or ppl who know me well know what this is, but u can guess =)

... and chances are, few if not none of them will be achieved (but at least resolution #11 must happen, it's long overdue). I can only hope.

oh yea, there's this addictive IQ/Intelligent online game called www.godtower.com . My sister introduced it to me and I've been hooked. I've been on level 8 for now. Try your luck

it's been a long time ...

It's been a long time since I wrote. Well, that's mainly because of the laziness that I vow to beat. It's not easy, but i'm trying.

So, many things, not all interesting, have happenned since I last wrote:

I finally moved back to Mountain View, ironically the very city I spent most of my time when I first came here studying in Foothill. Of course, I have to spend some time adjusting back to the environment.

I'll be damned if I don't miss Berkeley. I'm not a big fan of the city. But i'd be lying if i don't miss the school (all the nights spent studying), the acton apartment and its parking space (but not the too sensitive alarm system), the beautiful views of the bay, the vicinity of San Francisco, and most importantly, my old and new friends in Berkeley. I would still visit the place from time to time but that won't replace all the good and bad memories spent there.

Cal beat Texas A&M to win Holiday Bowl. Yay, that was a good match and good performance by the Bears, if only they could do it consistently. USC beat Michigan to win Rose Bowl - boooo, the trojans suck. and Ohio just lost shockingly to Florida - that really made my day.

Tinaga visited SF with her family. I was really happy to see her here. She's probably the first person from singapore or indonesia to visit me in SF who's not a family member, and she'd be the last person I'd expect to see. Margaret and Yunita visited US before, but they couldn't meet me ... that sucks. But anyway, Tinaga was here and I took her around SF. Unfortunately, she had to follow her family for most of the time and that reduced the amount of time we can spend together. But they were really fun and meaningful time spent together. Thanks a lot Tin, for coming to visit me in US, especially during the time when most of my good friends are not here. and I hope the rest of you in singapore/indo like Ronny/ Darwin can visit me here... even Ivan and Carter in Canada never visit me ... sigh ... lol j/k.

I've been playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on Gamecube. This is my first Zelda game ever and I really enjoy it. I have logged in 8 hours and defeated the first boss. There is maybe 50 - 60 hours more to go and I intend to do it all the way to the end. After that, I will sell my gamecube and get a Wii. Oh, by the way, this game is the reason why I don't buy the Wii at launch. I have been waiting for this game for ages and guess what, Nintendo chose to release it for Wii first. So, screw you, Nintendo. Anyway I've been looking for Nintendo DS Lite also. Damn, they're hard to find.

Last 2 movies watched: Rocky Balboa and Curse of The Golden Flower.

Rocky Balboa is an excellent movie - if you're a Rocky fan already, especially the original academy award winning film. This isn't the cartoonish sequel of Rocky II - V. In fact, there isn't a lot of fighting in the movie, it's just about Rocky adjusting to his life without the love of his life - Adrian and how it lead him to fight again. In some way, the movie is Stallone's reflection of his own hollywood career and I guess through this movie, he wanted to convey to everyone that he wants some respect and want to show that he can still make a good movie - like the original Rocky. In my opinion, he has succeeded.

oh btw. in the previews leading to Rocky, I watched one of the worst trailer of all time that made the whole theater laugh:



Curse of The Golden Flower is on the other hand, another failed attempt at martial arts epic by Zhang Yimou. It's better than his last attempt, House of Flying Dagger, but it's still quite bad. There's more plot in Curse than House, but ultimately, it's quite bad and pointless. Unlike House, Curse hardly has interesting action (signs of the actions getting more boring and conventional, perhaps) and less beautiful cinematography, its visual strength comes unexpectedly from its production design instead which is full of Gold in costumes and the palace. Chow Yun Fatt and Gong Li did okay. But best acting job is by Liu Ye as the weak eldest prince. Jay Chou is again, getting a lot of undeserved criticism, he didn't really have a lot of screen time, but he did okay. I guess his singer image is hurting his acting career. Anyway, the movie is disappointing. It's not even so bad it's enjoyable/funny/good epic disaster like The Promise. Too bad, because Zhang made the excellent Hero. Now it's 1/3 for him and next time a chinese director wants to make a chinese epic, you'd better be more cautious than optimistic.

Anyway, I've written too much. I guess that's all for now.