Tackling Mental Health In A Warm, Funny Way

I've been meaning to blog about Silver Linings Playbook for a long time. Having seen it twice now, I can conclude that even if you don't like any of the principal characters or actors, you are going to like the movie.

Mental health is a serious issue and many, many movies have chosen it as a main theme, but with a very serious and tragical treatment. With the stigma attached to this illness, comedies about the subject matter are difficult to succeed because any jokes will not be kindly taken. But director David O. Russell (The Fighter) adapted the novel by Matthew Quick into a wonderful warm, funny and touching movie.

The biggest irony of all is that even though the two lead characters in the movie are both former mental illness sufferers - Pat (played by Bradley Cooper) suffered from bipolar disorder and Tiffany (played by Jennifer Lawrence) is a former sex addict - the people who are really currently mentally ill in the movie are all those around them. The key message here is obviously this: let's not discriminate or stigmatize mentally-ill patients because, in reality, all of us may not be as mentally healthy as we think we are.

I've always been a big fan of Bradley Cooper and in addition to playing this role in such a warm, genuine and honest way, he is also the producer of the film. Jennifer Lawrence has already swept both the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Best Actress Awards for her role. At 21 when she was shooting the movie, the makeup director had to put extra liquid eyeliner on her to make her look older. Lawrence apparently fought very hard for the role because both Russell and Cooper thought she's too young to play the 'white trash' Tiffany. Now at 22, Lawrence has proven that she can take on any roles with gusto. She's excellent in this movie, but I thought Jessica Chastain is even better in Zero Dark Thirty. Nevertheless, Lawrence will definitely win the Oscar as well.

The entire cast is great and funny, but I've not seen Robert De Niro so good in a comical role in a long time. As Cooper's father, De Niro is not only extremely funny, but he's also an emotional jock with obsessive-compulsive habits. This movie was shot in Philadelphia where Bradley Cooper grew up in real life. De Niro, with his standard New York accent, was asking Cooper's visiting uncle for help when reading the script to make sure that he got the Philly accent right.

At the SAG Awards event, we also learned from Jennifer Lawrence that David O. Russell was drawn to the story because of the connection to his own son, who is bipolar and has OCD. What a great work of art and let's hope the movie will help motivate all mentally ill patients to get better!

Entertaining But Confusing 'Broken City'

In spite of bad reviews, I found Broken City quite entertaining, particularly if you're a Mark Wahlberg fan. The problem with this flick is that the writer Brian Tucker and director Allen Hughes (The Book of Eli, From Hell) are trying too hard. They make the audience work their brains out and we still can't figure out what the sub-plots mean at the end of the movie. In fact, my friends and I have concluded that some of the sub-plots are just superfluous.

Without being a spoiler, the Police Commissioner Carl Fairbanks (played by Jeffrey Wright) is totally confusing. You never know until the end which side is he playing with. While the hot Natalie Martinez (CSI New York) is still sexy playing Wahlberg's girlfriend, the story line around her is kind of weak. It's not even convincing that they've been together for seven years.

Then, there are the four principal characters: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Barry Pepper. Wahlberg, as usual, plays a damaged former cop trying to fight the bad guys under any circumstances. As I've posted before, Wahlberg needs to take a break on this kind of character trail and should maybe try playing an evil guy. But he continues to produce and perform such roles as the alcoholic Billy Taggart in this movie. While women like to see him taking his shirt off - he did it again in this one - this kind of character just doesn't earn him additional respect. Wahlberg is one of the hottest producers now as both Entourage and Boardwalk Empire are hugely popular. But he needs to break new ground by trying a different genre soon.

There's no actress nowadays that is as glamorous and as good with acting as Catherine Zeta-Jones. There's no doubt that she's done some face work, but even though you can detect those flaws on her face, she's still drop-dead movie-star gorgeous in every scene!

Having just come out of a terrible role at Les Miserables (I meant he literally can't sing), Russell Crowe is actually quite convincing as the crooked mayor of New York, Mayor Hostetler. But it bothers me that except for Canadian actor Barry Pepper who plays Jack Valliant, and perhaps Wahlberg, none of the principal characters seemed to be making any effort in putting on a New York or even American accent. And this is just plain sloppiness! Pepper who played Robert Kennedy in the TV drama The Kennedys,
is so strong an actor that he's mesmerizing in every role he plays including this one.

If you like the principal actors and don't mind being confused every now and then, you will find Broken City entertaining.

Gangster Squad is No Untouchables

Watching Gangster Squad is like watching a very inferior The Untouchables. In fact, it's worse - it wants to be The Untouchables, but director Ruben Fleischer is not Brian De Palma.

Having said that, if your expectations are low, then you'll find the flick very entertaining because the costumes are great and the cast of male actors is very handsome. But why fine actors such as Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling appear in such an empty movie is just beyond any reason. Even though Penn has won many awards, I always find him a bit overacting just like Leonardo DiCaprio. And he's definitely exaggerating his role as Mickey Cohen in this one. The aging Penn seems to have taken his doses of Botox and facial expressions are just lacking - a smirk here and there and always giving a feigned, tough wise-guy kind of look!

Josh Brolin is so handsome that it's almost distracting. Unlike Elliott Ness who is believable because he's got his vulnerabilities, Brolin's character as Sgt. John O'Mara just lacks credibility because he's so focused on being the stubborn, good cop that he seems to be ignoring his friends, colleagues and family.

There's something wrong about Ryan Gosling's performance. As alcoholic Sgt. Jerry Wooters, Gosling almost strikes me as gay in his very effeminate role and voice in the flick. All the actresses in this flick are dispensable, so even Emma Stone's talent is wasted in this one. Stone's strongest asset is never her looks and to cast her as Grace Faraday was a big mistake.

Everything is predictable in this movie and there's no depth either in the plot or the acting. This is really not surprising since director Ruben Fleischer made his fame from Zombieland and music videos. What surprises me is that how did the team of six producers (including Fleischer as executive producer) assemble such a strong cast to play in this souless movie?

A Must-See Controversial Movie About Killing bin Laden

If you didn't know anything about award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's background, you would have thought that perhaps she's born of a military family. Both of her two most recent works, including the Oscar-award-winning The Hurt Locker and her current Zero Dark Thirty were named after specific military terms which are jargons to lay movie-goers like me. But the 61-year-old woman director was the only girl born to a librarian and a paint factory manager. So with her education in fine arts institutions first as a painter, and then a graduate from the film program at Columbia University, one wonders why she has a track record of picking the most masculine subjects - cops and gansters, bikers, FBI agents, nuclear-powered submarine, the Iraq war and now, more recently, the CIA and the U.S. Navy Seals' capturing and killing of Osama bin Laden.

I have to admit that I wan't a fan of The Hurt Locker even though Jeremy Renner is one of my most favourite actors. But the movie won Bigelow numerous awards including being the first woman to receive an Academy Award for Best Director. Now history might repeat itself again in next month's Academy Awards event except that Bigelow is not among the Best Director nominees for Zero Dark Thirty even though the film is up for five Awards - Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing. The movie is controversial because of the waterboarding torturing of 'detainees' used. We all read about the Acting CIA Director protesting to the film studio and via a media statement that even though CIA operatives have met with the film's production team prior to shooting the movie, the torturing techniques used in the flick were inaccurate. There were speculations that this is the reason why Bigelow didn't get her Best Director nomination this time round.

Whatever people say about the accuracy of the plot details, Zero Dark Thirty (a military term referring to 30 minutes after midnight and is prevailingly pronounced as Oh instead of zero) is a fabulous film! What strikes you is the outstanding screenplay written by Mark Boal who is also one of the producers. He also wrote The Hurt Locker and In The Valley of Elah, another terrific film. While the thrilling plot and war scenes keep you on the edge of the seat, it's the screenplay and the dialogue that's captivating.

The entire cast is very strong, but Jessica Chastain is exceptional as always as CIA agent Maya. Chastain has expressed in various interviews that playing the role of real-life woman CIA operative who was the real heroine behind the capturing and killing of bin Laden was, in a way, Chastain's method of celebrating this woman's accomplishments. I also thought that Australian actor Jason Clarke, who plays another CIA agent Dan, should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Unfortunately, I think because he's the main U.S. agent executing the torture in the film, that's why he might have been snubbed by the Academy.

The movie is so intense that you wouldn't feel that it's 157 minutes long. For most of us movie-goers who already know the story's ending, to keep us biting our fingers throughout the film was a huge feat. When bin Laden was finally killed in the movie, I couldn't help but recall the TV newscasts of President Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the entire senior U.S. Administration staff watching the whole thing unfolding in the Oval Office's Situation Room.

Even though you may not have a stomach for violence and torture, this is a must-see movie because it's history!

Excellent Screen Adaptation of Epic Musical

I was trying to delay seeing Les Miserables over X'mas because the depressing story didn't seem to fit in well with the jolly Holiday Season. So having finally watched it earlier this week, I was pleasantly surprised. No wonder the movie has garnered eight Oscar nominations - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, Best Original Music (the new song Suddenly was written for the movie), Best Sound Mixing, Best Costumes, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling - 25 years after the Broadway musical won eight Tony Awards.

Les Miserables was never one of my favourite musicals, but the large-screen adaptation is an excellent masterpiece on all fronts and, in fact, is even better than the stage version itself! Director Tom Hooper makes the transitions between scenes seamless and beautiful. Under his lenses, the distinction between good and evil;  the misery of the poor and deprived; the beautiful love story; and the vigour of the French revolution are all portrayed with perfection. After such great feats as The King's Speech and Les Miserables, Hooper is now added to my most-respected directors list.

The cast is wonderful as far as the acting is concerned. Anne Hathaway is such a talented actress that it's not surprising that she's one of the few leading actors who can really sing. Hugh Jackman's performance as the lead actor in this film certainly transcends his X-Men fame. Having said that, there's acting and there's singing. Apart from Anne Hathaway who is just outstanding as a songstress and actress, most of the other lead actors in the film are just mediocre singers. By now, we've all read about the challenges this film's actors had to face by singing live throughout the movie. Russell Crowe should definitely never take up a musical role ever again - even his acting has been kind of lacklustre of late! I heard that Paul Bettany was originally considered for the role of Inspector Javert and he would have done a much better job than Crowe. Although gifted and trained as a singer, Jackman is more impressive as an actor playing Jean Valjean instead of his vocal skills. Eddie Redmayne is one of those British actors who always exceeds your expectations, but you can never remember his name or which was the last movie he's in.

In spite of my dislike of Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, both of them are convincing as buffoon characters and I'm surprised that Lady Bonham Carter can actually sing! But I thought the most outstanding songstress in this flick is 22-year-old Samantha Barks who plays Eponine. I've read that she won this role over Taylor Swift and this is certainly no small feat.

Hugh Jackman may not beat Daniel Day-Lewis in the Best Actor category, but let's hope Les Miserables the movie can do better than Lincoln at the Oscars next month.

A New Perspective Of Condemning Slavery

I love watching Quentin Tarantino's movies because they are like cartoons with real-life people in it. They are always extravagant, violent, ultra-creative and extremely funny. I guess this sums up his new movie Django Unchained as well - brilliantly original, skillfully crafted, hilariously funny, wildly entertaining and cooler than Jay-Z!

The director's eighth movie took him 130 days to shoot with some of the wild, wild West scenes (taking place in the south, rather than the West) filmed in California, Wyoming and at the National Historic Landmark Evergreen Plantation in Wallace, Louisana, just outside of New Orleans. That's why Candyland looks stunning in the movie - the ultimate castle for all evil white men!

Every Tarantino film has a key message - for Django Unchained, the message is loud and clear: slavery and racial discrimination are despicable and abominable, and should be avenged! Tarantino decided to drive home this message via a Spaghetti-Western genre - his first attempt ever! And it's such an original masterpiece!

As a long-time Tarantino fan (I've seen and loved all his movies), I've come to expect a couple of things when I go experience his works of art: original creativity, clever screenplay, stylish execution, the use of quirky but aptly-selected music, and so much violence that it becomes super comical. All these attributes exist in Django Unchained again. Even then, Tarantino sensitively postponed the worldwide screening of the movie after the horrible Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut.

The cast is outstanding and each of them deserves an Academy Award for either Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor. I can't even imagine how Will Smith (Tarantino wrote the entire story with Smith in mind for the role of Django Freeman) could have done a better job than Jamie Foxx who rode his own horse Cheetah in the movie and, for his equestrian skills alone, I can go see this film one more time. Although both Leonardo Di Caprio and Christoph Waltz are nominated for a Gloden Globe as Best Supporting Actor, I think this should be given to the latter who manages to outshine everybody else once again or to Samuel L. Jackson who has a powerful, albeit minor role in the film.

I read somewhere that director Spike Lee refused to see the movie because he thought Tarantino misused the 'n' word too many times and that Lee claimed that he respects his ancestors too much to watch such a 'ridiculous' movie. Well, I'm not going to repeat how Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson defended the movie, but to the diehard group of Tarantino's followers and fans, most of whom are young men, the movie is a different and less serious way to condemn black slavery than Roots, Lincoln or The Help.

Tarantino first made his fame in La La Land as a screen writer, so it's not surprising that he's not only up for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay, but also as Best Director and Best Movie. Let's hope it's not going to be beaten by the very boring Lincoln!