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
No comments:
Post a Comment