Late Reviews

This post has been sitting idle for a month, it's time to release them

Reviews of the recent stuffs I've seen on screen. The first two I watched in the recent San Francisco International Film Festival

1. Opera Jawa (directed by Garin Nugroho)



Once in a while comes a film that makes you think you're watching not just a film, but a piece of art. Not an art film, but a real piece of art. Opera Jawa is one such film. It's not a surprise to see Garin Nugroho's name on it, considering he's perhaps the closest thing Indonesian cinema ever have to an auteur.

Opera Jawa is essentially a loose retelling of the famous epic story Ramayana set in a modern time java village, focusing on the love triangle between the "Rama", "Sita" and "Rahwana" characters. The whole film is a musical done in Traditional Javanese dance and singing (hence the title, literally: Javanese Opera). There's almost no dialogue, in fact, the language is hardly Indonesian and mostly Javanese. This suits me just fine because this is the kind of musical that I like, where they create a world where it's believable to see people singing and dancing to each other. I have never watched Javanese dance before and words fail me to describe how beautiful the whole dance and songs in the films are. You have to watch it to really appreciate it. If there's any complain I have it's that the film feels too long. Javanese Dance is a beautiful art, but it's also quite slow and watching the whole thing in almost 2 hours really taxed my patience. That's what prevented me from giving this movie a perfect score. Otherwise, if you are a Javanese Art enthusiast or fanatic, you will see the masterpiece for what it truly is.

Score: 4 out of 5

There was Q&A after the screening with actor Eko Suprianto in attendance. According to him, this movie has been screened only once in Indonesia. I don't know why, but this is a real travesty.

2. Singapore Dreaming (directed by Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen)



Singapore Dreaming is a hard film to watch and review. Not because it's bad, mind you, but because I really (and painfully) identify with what the characters in the film is going through. I'm not singaporean, although I lived and studied for 4 years there. But anyone who is part of a dysfunctional chinese family, has ever lived with weight of expectations on you, and has ever lived in singapore should definitely be able to identify with this film.

This film is both a heavy drama and dark comedy that reflects on the singaporeans' inherent (and somewhat "no choice") obsession with material wealth and elitism through the story of a singaporean family who won a lottery and its aftermath. It's heavier on the drama than on the comedy. The subtlety of this film reminds me of 2006 oscar winner Crash (definitely not afraid to use the sledgehammer) - just imagine if Crash is about race relations in america, Singapore Dreaming is about Singaporeans worst nightmare, or something like that. Thankfully, directors Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen don't sugar coat their story, unlike fellow countryman Jack Neo.

I'm sorry if I can't really do a proper review of this film, feel free to talk to me about it when you have watched it.

Score: 3.5 out of 5

PS: I was very shocked and glad when director Colin Goh was present for post-screeening Q&A. He created the Singapore satirical website www.talkingcock.com and it used to fill me with a lot of laughter every week. It was definitely a real treat to see him in person, especially when you least expect it.

An interesting tidbit that pretty much tells you something about Singapore government: The movie is mostly in Hokkien and Singlish. When Colin previewed the film to the censors/film commission (forgot which one), they asked Colin if he can show the film in Mandarin in Singapore but he can show it in its original language anywhere else. Colin said his "brain just imploded right there". Eventually it was shown in its original language in Singapore, BUT, the first trailer for the film was pulled out because it feature some hokkien dialogue... hmmm.

3. Fracture (directed by Gregory Hoblit)



Hannibal Lecter goes to court, where he faces off with a talented but cocky prosecutor played by Ryan Gosling. The prosecutor thought he had the case in his hand but anybody else who has seen Anthony Hopkins in any of his Hannibal Lecter-like characters know that he is dangerously smart. When the case goes to trial, both go on a game of cat and mouse to outsmart each other.

One thing that strikes me is the cinematography, Hollywood doesn't make films like this anymore: a movie in which city of LA is shot in a noirish, glamorous, beautiful style where the sky is clear of pollution and the sunrise is so beautiful as if it's a very nice luxurious place to live in (unlike the urban LA in Training Day, Crash or Collateral). Cinematography aside, Hollywood also doesn't make a reasonably smart cat and mouse thriller that's actually engaging like this anymore. The game of upmanship between Hannibal Lecter and the cocky prosecutor itself is fun to watch, but truth is the Hannibal Lecter character here isn't really very smart, he's just surrounded by stupid people and predictable situations that he could take advantage of. Screenwriters could have tried harder. However, it's really quite forgivable since it's still an enjoyable game of cat and mouse and a chance to see another Anthony Hopkins' Lecter-like performance and even if the script isn't smart, at least it's got its characters right and consistent (why does the cocky prosecutor drive the old brown bmw?). After all, Hollywood doesn't make movies like this anymore.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

4. In The Land of Women (directed by Jon Kasdan)



Check this out: so we have Seth Cohen from The O.C, except he's called Carter Webb and he's a screenwriter. Whatever. But anyway, the Seth Cohen guy broke up with his girlfriend who happens to be this famous actress with a sexy european accent. So what does he do? Exactly what every screenwriter who looks like Seth Cohen from The O.C who had just broken up with a famous actress with a sexy european accent would do: go to Michigan to take care of his dying grandmother (well, the grandmother who thinks she is dying). Along the way, he meets two "women" in his neighbors: an unhappy housewife (Meg Ryan) and her teenage daughter with the regular teenage issues (Kirsten Stewart). along the way, their life is supposedly changed by their interaction with each other. Could you see where this is going?

Despite of the poster and the synopsis, this is not a love story between the Seth Cohen and any of the "women". In fact, there's hardly any romance that matters in the movie. In fact, there's almost nothing going on at all in the movie. It's just about Seth Cohen talking about life's issues with the women and bonding with them. There's an occasional hint of developing romance but nothing ever materializes. But that's not really the point, it's just about how the life of these 3 characters and through their conversations and reflections on their life, they change. Wow, if that's your type of movie, you'll probably love it.

There's nothing wrong with a movie in which nothing happens and it's just about people talking and sharing about their life. But ITLOW's (the 'cool' acronym for the movie - check out www.myspace.com/itlow - how cool) characters and their life situations/problems are either not really interesting or in the filmmaker's attempt to be low key, couldn't become interesting. Plus, the actors (except one) couldn't really help much: Adam Brody acts like he's still Seth Cohen from The O.C. Meg Ryan is mixed in this serious role, sometimes she's effective and sometimes she just goes into her typical rom-com mode. If there's a shining light in this movie, it's Kirsten Stewart whose performance was really good and very convincing, her character feels like a real teenage girl with a lot of vulnerability and confusion. If there's one reason to watch this movie, Kirsten is. She was in Panic Room and earlier this year, The Messengers. She got much talent and potential, unlike the movie which is ultimately just fluffy and inconsequential.

Rating: 3 out of 5

My version of Pursuit of Happyness

I'm so tired. I've been busy moving my stuffs from my place to my temporary joint at culun's place in San Jose. I've just cleaned the restroom and throw a lot of rubbish around 1-2 am!!

I feel kind of homeless, sorta, since I have no permanent address right now. Still looking for one, hopefully will find a good one by next week.

by the way, Culun is in for a Nice surprise waiting in the living room in August when he returns =)

POTC3: At World's Ends - a few words

and I do mean a few. This is after all, a film trilogy event based on a theme park.

I actually have 2-3 drafts of blogs waiting to be finished and published, but since this won't take long, I'll just get it out. And while at it, I'll review the first 2 movies in the trilogy as well.

Pirates of the Carribean : Curse of The Black Pearl (2003) - is a fun movie with a convoluted and needless story whose purpose is just to let Johnny Depp be Jack Sparrow - and boy did he deliver one helluva fun role (and truly deserve that Academy Award Best Actor Nomination). - 3.5 / 5

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - surprisingly, Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is subdued here. However, the story, still convoluted, but is shockingly quite good as it makes many creative uses of pirates mythology to create its own universe. Action sequences are a blast and really fun, including the highlight when Jack, Will and the commodore from the first movie had a fight in a giant rolling wheel. A great story rescues a subdued Jack. 4 / 5

Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End (2007) - If you thought Spiderman 3 is too ambitious, you ain't see nothing yet. This movie surprisingly eturns to be like the first movie. Story continues well until Jack is rescued, after which it becomes a complicated excuse again for Jack to do his stuffs. Boy does he deliver, and this time, even Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbosa provides a perfect foil as his "partner" - this is almost like a buddy movie between Jack Sparrow and Capt Barbosa. Action Sequences are better than the 1st but doesn't reach the heights of the 2nd movie. Love story arc has a VERY CORNY ENDING - be warned. Since this is like the 1st movie where the story sucks and Jack/Johnny Depp rocks, it gets the same rating: 3.5 / 5

PS: there's a scene after end credits, it's not worth sitting through the credits

Independence, growing up and an unfinished business

It's hard to believe how fast time flies and some of the people closest have grown up and sort of become independent.

Last week, Darwin quit his job in Singapore, he told me his job and employer didn't give him any opportunity for growth and he felt like a slave. Knowing Darwin, I wouldn't expect anything less but seeing him quit, I was like wow, this guy really sticks it to the man. Tin also caught the entrepreneurial bug and wanted to start business on her own in Indo, without her aunt help even. Today, I just got the news that my cousin Wilson is getting married.

2 close friends going independent and a relative getting married. wow time flies really fast. I have never felt so behind. I should do a lot of stuffs to catch up too but there's some unfinished business here.

One of the unfinished business is an introduction to filmmaking class that I took 3 years ago in 2004 in De Anza College before I came to berkeley. I was forced to drop the class halfway through to go back to indonesia. The zombie movie that I made was supposed to be for that class. Right now I have come to finish what I have started. For the past 4 weeks, I've actually been taking the same class again in De Anza, with the same teacher! My friend Alex Kasim who appeared in my zombie flick have agreed to appear in my projects again. But now, I'm really short on ideas for my final project. I have a groundhog day/Craig David's "7 days" video spoof, a drug movie, a short student/roommate version of "The Office", but I need more good and feasible ideas. Hopefully it will all turn out well, on the meantime, I might turn this blog into some kind of production diary of my film class, if I have time and energy to update the blog, of course.

Free Paris Hilton fan letter rebuttal

Paris Hilton is going to jail for 45 Days.

It's one of those days when you know that God exist and he is fair.

But of course, Paris fans aren't taking it and they're actually trying to send Gov Arnold Schwarzenneger with a letter, which can be seen in Paris' myspace page. The content is just ridiculous and I just can't resist taking a dig:

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
Let me first begin by saying that I grew up as a child enjoying all of your wonderful films. You really are the truly great action hero for our time. You are doing a great job in the great state of California.

I grew up on Arnold movies too. But really, stop trying to kiss ass here. Seriously, did you watch Batman & Robin? and a great job in the great state of California? whoa, kiss ass hyperbole here.

Hilton is notable for her leading roles on the FOX reality series The Simple Life and in the remake of the Vincent Price horror classic “House of Wax”. In addition to her work as an actress, she has achieved some recognition as a model, celebrity spokesperson, singer, and writer.

Well, let's see... a sleazy reality TV show, an attempt to hide the sucky horror remake by referring to the original. Most importantly, let's not forget the immortal internet Sex Video tape appropriately titled "One Night in Paris" which has inspired many internet porn thespians.

... countless celebrities have been “slapped on the wrist” for similar incidents recently. Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson, Tracy Morgan, Wynonna Judd, to name a few, were arrested and never did a day in jail after their initial arrests for drunk driving /DUI /DWI charges. ... Singer/actress Brandy Norwood’s California Highway accident, although no proof of DUI was evidenced in her accident, resulted in the death of a young wife and mother in California, yet Brandy walks free as of today, never doing any time and a woman is now dead possibly due to her reckless driving.

Precisely, since all these celebrities have walked away scot free, it's time to put a stop to it and if Paris Hilton would be the first to be punished, then SO BE IT.

Besides, let's look at some names there: Nick Nolte is an acclaimed Academy Award Nominated actor. Mel Gibson, as regrettable as his recent racist outbursts may be, is one of the finest oscar winning actor/filmmaker working today with quality and well-known works ranging from Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Braveheart and Passion of the Christ. Even Brandy has won a Grammy and besides, Brandy is actually currently liable for vehicular manslaughter charges, which is worse than what Paris is facing.

and what is Paris' achievements? One night in Paris? "Worst Supporting Actress" Razzie for "House of Wax"?

I'm not saying some drunk drivers should be excused. but if you can excuse any of the names above, who would you choose? you decide.

In my humble opinion, if the late Former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late Former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we as compassionate human beings can undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well.

I won't argue with this one. it speaks for itself. however, I just want to remind Paris fans that Arnold is the governor who wouldn't pardon Stan "Tookie" Williams last year despite the popular calls to do so. What makes you think he would pardon Paris? and what would the state of California think if he does that?

To Arnold, I just have one request, please put back funding to education. Maybe if more californians are educated, you won't receive these kind of silly letters ever again.

First Week of May

Happenings of last week:

I lost my integrity. I finally voted for a contestant in American Idol for the first time since its inception 5 years ago. I broke my long held vow not to ever vote, even for a contestant that I like. It's all my sister's fault really. She begged and pleaded me like hell to vote for Chris Richardson. I finally gave in and felt really bad about it. Thank goodness that Chris Richardson got booted out. Damn u, sister. another funny thing about this is that I put "I lost my integrity" as my nickname and a friend said something like "damn, I thought you lose your virginity"

San Francisco International Film Festival is going on now. Watch any good film if you'd like. I have watched Opera Jawa and Singapore Dreaming. Both are worth the visit to SF and admission. I also tried for Paprika by Satoshi Kon. but boy, that film had its rush tickets queue just as long as the Spider-Man 3 line. So I didn't get it either. Novie said she downloaded it, so I might just get it from her.

I was browsing facebook and I found out that one of my favourite professor in Berkeley, Randy Katz, who teaches Logic Design Class (CS 150), have a facebook profile. I visited my class newsgroup and found out that he indeed announced it there, so it's not fake. one of the wonders of facebook.

My roommate didn't get his H1, so does my friend. It's really sad and ironic because now that I'm the only person I know among me who get the H1, I'd become lonely. I don't know if this H1 thing is a blessing or a curse.

As a consequence of my roommate not getting H1, we have to move out separately. I'm now looking for new place to stay around Bay Area beginning next month. I'm also complicated by the situation that my cousin Raymond is likely to come to De Anza next January and my uncle would request me to stay with him. Now, I'd pretty much like to live on my own because I've started to cherish my newfound freedom and I think letting my cousin live on his own and start learning how to live independently might be the best solution. It's not that I don't want to live with my cousin, it's just I know what my uncle's intentions are and i'm pretty much supposed to be his guardian. But I have already learned enough from the time my sister was in De Anza. I'm always unwittingly stuck between the conflict of parent and child where I'm the middle man guardian. Sigh. But my uncle is one of the best person in the family to me, so I'm trying to think of a long term housing solution for this solution. One which might involve my old roommate Lawrence and a De Anza (and ex Monk's Hill) friend, Indra.

Lastly, couple of weeks ago, I was hit by a cupid. I was quick enough to react and pluck out the arrow. I realized it was an old arrow that hit me before. But it was too late, the effect of being hit by the arrow has started to manifest itself. But with enough preserverance and concentration, the effect should disappear within a few weeks.

Spider-Man 3 - A few words

I just got back from a midnight screening of Spider-Man 3 and here's my quick, and perhaps only review about it.

I guess I could write a few paragraphs lampooning the movie, pointing out every faults and unintentional moments of hilarity, making the movie sounds more like a comedy. But I won't. This movie is flawed. I expected it. It tried to do a lot of things, as shown by having 3 villains (including Venom who truly deserves a stint on his own). I disagreed with a lot of choices the filmmakers made about this. I came in with low expectations. However, in the end, I thought Sam Raimi and co have made a courageous and worthy effort to achieve their lofty ambitions and completed a trilogy quite successfully. The story is very complicated (it could be Babel of comic book films). Plus the movie also have to show their obligatory exciting summer movie action sequences and tell their story well. There have been summer films like this before like Van Helsing and last year's X-Men: The Last Stand that fell short. For Spider-Man 3, the filmmakers are barely able to pull it off, but in the end, I am quite satisfied with their efforts.

This film is also quite emotional. However, it really tries to coax a lot of emotions from the audience through a lot of complicated story in a short time as such many emotional moments actually feels forced. If the movie earns your emotion, it owes a lot of debt to the great performance of actors Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco (although Franco does have his moments of camp). It's just a summer movie, but they played their hearts out for this one. However, there are also scenes of camp and unintentional hilarity from Tobey and James, but that probably can't be helped given the nature of the story, and they're quite entertaining and easy to overlook (unless... see next paragraph).

Now, I believe the reviews are out and they're mostly mixed to negative (I have a feeling this film will show up undeservedly in many worst of 2007 lists and also my most underrated film of 2007 list). I understand the reactions. It's a very ambitious movie, and it is undeniably flawed. It's easy to criticize a flawed movie. If your tolarence for needlessly convoluted plotlines and forced emotional moments are low, then you're probably gonna hate this movie. For comic book fans, it really depends on how fanatic you are to the comic, I think the more fanatic you are, the more likely you're going to hate it (especially if you're a venom fan). However, when I look from the context of the first 2 films and see how this film fits in the trilogy, I think this movie has earned its place to successfully complete the trilogy despite of its flaws. This film could probably be The Godfather III of the comic book films. I've always thought that Godfather III, no matter how flawed, is overly maligned but it was still a great film that greatly completed the trilogy. Spider-Man 3 is like that, but for me, Sam Raimi has done a good job given the ambition and scope of the movie and gave a good closure to a movie trilogy. Here's hoping there won't be a Spider-Man 4, unless it starts afresh.

Final Rating: a solid 3.5 out of 5

PS: SPOILER
In my previous summer movie preview entry, I predicted that Mary Jane, played by Kirsten Dunst would die. I have been proven wrong. Mary Jane does not die in the movie. But one important character die. I told you this is an emotional movie, or at least a movie that tries to be one.

Take A Stand! - 09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0

I originally have some other things to write about, but this cannot wait.

My friends and fellow readers, it's time to take a stand, for we could probably be in a watershed moment in internet history?

A few days ago, some dude post the code to decrypt and hack most HD-DVD movies so that they can be played in linux (or pretty much everywhere). The code pretty much spread everywhere. I noticed it on Sunday night, on the top page of Digg. At first, I didn't react much since I'm not into this whole HD movie experience anyway. But this morning, naturally, the AACS (Advanced Access Content System), the group who made the standard for DRM (Digital Rights Management)/encryption for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray has sent cease and desist letters to almost everyone (including Google!). At first, it appears the stories are disappearing and even digg chose to remove the stories. However, people keep putting the code back through re-submitting stories and putting them on comments, and digging those stories and comments, etc. So much until almost all front page stories on digg contain the code.

and having seen the reaction of its readers, digg and its founder, Kevin Rose, has taken a stand. a very bold one. (and in this case, the immortal star trek slogan "where no man has boldly gone before" rings true). Kevin Rose and digg, a major web 2.0 website has defied the powers that be and posted the code, even at the risk of having the site taken down. This could have unforseen circumstances, digg could be taken down and that would be the worst website takedown since Napster or Pirate Bay. But, AACS could also accept their fates, seeing that once the pandora's box is open, it cannot be closed.

Now, I'm not doing this to watch HD-DVD. But I'm doing this to take a stand against the powers-that-be. Against DRM and shove it up their arses. and never has the stand felt so strong until digg took its stand. If digg is brave enough to go for it, why don't we post it?

What happens next? who knows? (although I believe that AACS will generate a new code) will digg stay around? will this pointless post or blog stay around? who knows, but I really feel that the time has never been more right to do something brave, something stupid, something foolish, something unknown, something rebellious like this, and all it has to do is just post some magic number:

09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0

this number is probably the most beautiful number since pi, it probably contain the answer to all questions in life and everything, maybe jesus even. but most of all, it plays hd-dvd =)

So, my fellow friends and reader, if you do share my sentiment, take a stand, and post that number.

- R