High-Touch Movie In A High-Tech World

The silent movie The Artist turns out to be such an exquisite pleasure to watch. How on earth did it ever lose to Tree Of Life as The Best Movie at The Cannes Festival last year? Silence is not only golden, but it teaches every single member of the cinema world a lesson - why put words in actors' mouths when acting skills speak the loudest? On top of that, a black-and-white movie trumps all colour and high-tech 3D productions of the contemporary world!

Movie critics everywhere love this production by French director Michel Hazanavicius. There are some spoken words and subtitles, but they are kept to the minimum. All expressions are on the face and in the eyes! And even though I'm not a pet lover, I couldn't help but got smitten by the dog superstar in the movie - Uggie!

The acting in this movie is just beyond excellent. I hope Jean Dujardin (a Clark Gable look-alike in the movie) will go on and beat George Clooney in the Best Actor Award category at The Oscars next month. His leading lady Berenice Bejo (the Argentinian-born wife of the movie's director) deserves equal accolades. Supporting actors including John Goodman and James Cromwell (famous for his role in Six Feet Under) are equally impressive. Also, perhaps Merryl Streep can take a lesson from this silent film about "Making Way For The Young?"

There are a lot of movies on the big screen which pull the audience's heartstrings, but this one does it with class, wit and close to perfection. It makes you wonder why the rest of the world can't accomplish such great feats with spoken words?

Annoying Flashbacks In The Iron Lady

Watching The Iron Lady is like seeing a documentary with annoying flashbacks. I would only wish that they just reduce all the flashbacks to just a couple, but then, I'm not a director! As a feminist, I would have loved to support a movie featuring one of our first women political leaders in history, and directed and written by women as well.

However, the movie is very mediocre. I wasn't surprised because director Phyllida Lloyd also directed Mamma Mia which I intensely dislike. The key takeaway from The Iron Lady is that no matter how smart and powerful a woman is, she, like others, has to face dementia and old age towards the end. There's a constant effort to make this production as poetic and tragic as Shakespeare's King Lear, but somehow it didn't quite work that way. The irony is that even though Thatcher was hated by so many Brits during her reign, what she has fought for turns out to be quite true now, e.g, her fierce reluctance to have Britain join the EU. Look what a mess the euro and Europe are in right now!

I've never doubted Merryl Streep of accomplishing just anything as an actor. And this movie is no exception. In fact, having just won the Best Actress Award at The Golden Globes, she's probably going to win another Oscar again. But like many other baby boomers, Streep should really contemplate stepping aside and making way for others to win awards. Otherwise, when would other brilliant, but younger, actors such as Michelle Williams stand any chance when they're competing with Streep? And do we have to sit through another look of shock and disbelief on her face again when the Awards presenters read out her name?

When I watched the film in Naples, Florida, the entire cinema audience applauded again, just like their reaction when watching The King's Speech  last year. Well, don't expect too much - I think North Americans, including Canadians, just can't help but adore anything British!

A Sexy Thriller

Mark Wahlberg's Contraband only scored an average of 2.5 star ratings among professional film critics. But as a Marky Mark fan, I was not disappointed. Once again, we can't probably question the plausibility of action movie plots - heroes always come out alive in spite of numerous gunshots and dangers.

This flick is a remake of the 2008 Icelandic movie Reykjavik-Rotterdam and is also directed by Icelandic artist Baltasar Kormakur. Without being a spoiler, all I'm going to say is that the entire movie is about smuggling - drugs, currency and even a Jackson Pollock painting. The rest of the story really doesn't matter and, of course, as always, you can't trust anybody in gangster movies.

I'm a huge fan of Wahlberg's, so needless to say, there's plenty of him larger than life in this one. But what I like about the movie is the sexually-charged music and cinematography. The film score written by Vancouverite Clinton Shorter (famous for his music in District 9) is simply outstanding. The soundtrack is just a grabber throughout the movie - particularly with Crawling King Smoke John Lee Hooker, the king of blues! Then there's the city of New Orleans and Panama City where all the crimes are taking place. You wouldn't even recognize that it's New Orleans if you don't read the reviews. And I just learned that parts of the port of New Orleans are disguised as Panama City as well. If you like ports, ships and containers, you will marvel at the beauty of the vessels and cargo in this movie.

The supporting cast is all good except for Kate Beckinsale - when was the last time we saw her in an intelligent role? So the good guy continues to be even better; and the bad and slimy ones are all creepy villains - Ben Foster as Sebastian; Giovanni Ribisi as Tim; Caleb Landry Jones as the useless brother-in-law; and JK Simmons as Captain Camp, the ultimate comic relief in the film. Even Mark Wahlberg's older brother Robert has a very minor, but impressive, role.

But I think it's time for Wahlberg to come out of his comfort zone - the constant productions of The Italian Job kind of movies are just not innovative. As his fans, we all understand that the Marky-Mark-turned-Hollywood success story needs to be told, but he's done that enough already. Let's move on! He can do much better!

Busy, Loud and Lousy Sherlock Holmes Sequel

Here's where I once again disagree with most of the professional film critics - Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows is a lousy sequel to the first one also directed by Guy Ritchie. Not that the first one was really better, but at least it's more entertaining with great cinematography of ancient London.

This sequel features a glorious cast of thousands, even among the supporting roles. Apart from Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law still in the leading roles as Holmes and Dr. John Watson respectively, we now have the famous Stephen Fry (best known for his portrayal of Oscar Wilde) as Holmes's brother; Jared Harris (best known for his role as Lane Pryce in Mad Men); and, of course, Swedish actor Noomi Rapace (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Swedish version). Rachel McAdams has a really small role as Irene Adler as a continuation of the first movie.

Similar to its predecessor, A Game of Shadows is entertaining all right. But none of the plot makes any sense and the whole movie is extremely busy, loud and complex. While the first Sherlock Holmes movie was, at times, funny, this one is even stretching it on the humour side. I never consider cross-dressing men funny and there are plenty of such unbearable scenes in this flick.

Nevertheless, there are a few improvements from the first movie. The makeup is remarkably a huge progress in this sequel except for the scenes when we have to witness the heavy use of cosmetics on Downey's face whenever he disguises himself as a ridiculously-looking woman. His fake British accent is also a much better attempt than his previous effort which I recall was hardly comprehensible.

On the actors, Jude Law is always delightful to watch even though the role of Dr. Watson doesn't capitalize on his talents. The same applies to Noomi Rapace whose role as a gypsy can be given to any other actor. And, frankly speaking, after watching both the Hollywood and Swedish versions of The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, I embarrassingly mistook Noomi Rapace for Rooney Mara when I saw this movie. Unlike other women, I've never been a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. - I think similar to Leonardo DiCaprio, he overacts in every single role. Stephen Fry's challenge is that he will always be Oscar Wilde to me. I also confused Kelly Reilly who plays Mrs. Watson with Jessica Chastain. So that leaves only Jared Harris who is probably the best in this movie as the ultimate villain. I always find him creepy as Lane Pryce in Mad Men, but without his glasses in this flick, he further communicates his villany with his eyes. I wasn't even aware of his lineage - he is Richard Harris's son!

Towards the end, I can only concur with The Chicago Tribune film critic's one-star rating for this movie.

A Strong Character Study

Young Adult was a pleasant surprise after reading all the negative reviews from Canadian film critics. I saw it at the movie theatre anyway because I always like Charlize Theron as an actor and as an independent woman.

Director Jason Reitman has a strong track record of making great movies - Juno, Up in the Air and Thank You for Smoking - and Young Adult is a bit low-key, but still amazing. This is the first time that Reitman collaborates with fellow Canadian, screenwriter Diablo Cody since Juno which won the latter an Oscar in 2007. I don't think this movie will win any Oscars for the talented pair, particularly for Cody, but it's still a good movie because it's so non-traditional.

The movie is really about a character study of the protagonist Mavis (played by Theron) who is very unhappy from beginning to end. Ever since high school, she has been searching for the unattainable, and, as a result, she is mean to everybody and suffers from a chronic depression. Most heroines, no matter how mean they were at the beginning of the movie, become much better at the end. But not this one, and the ending is as depressing as the beginning. Reitman makes the audience follow Mavis inside her mind - her goal to leave small town Mercury for a city life in Minneapolis; her failed marriage; her unhealthy relationship with her parents; the lack of girlfriends or any friends in her life; her alcoholism, mental imbalance and self denial. Theron is one of the best contemporary actors we have and once again, she's proven herself to be capable of going anywhere on the big screen in spite of her super glamorous looks.

The only sort of 'friend' of Mavis in the movie is Matt, the 'hate crime' guy in the movie (played by Patton Oswalt). He is the only companion who lectures Mavis about what's right and wrong, and is the voice of reason in the entire movie. But the irony is that Matt is also grossly misunderstood - he's severely beaten up when he was at high school because his school mates thought he's gay but he really isn't. Only Mavis understands him and even speaks up in his defence for more than once. The two unhappy souls console each other throughout the movie during difficult times and try to outdrink each other. It's tragic to see Mavis eventually sleeping with Matt after unsuccessfully trying to seduce her highschool sweetheart Buddy (played by Patrick Wilson). Is that out of sympathy or just because she's frustrated and drunk?

The key takeaway from this movie is that happiness is really derived from very simple things in life - it's a state of mind and the importance of mental health is, as always, underrecognized.

An Intelligent Spy Movie

Having read so many great reviews on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I went and saw it today prior to the new year. The remake of the BBC TV series, based on John Le Carré's 1974 novel, reminds me of Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd - an extremely intelligent spy movie shot with a lot of smoke, dark alleys and old houses. There's no dazzling hi-tech cinematography a la Mission Impossible or the James Bond franchises.

Swedish director Tomas Alfredson is not particularly well known in North America, but nowadays, anybody and anything Swedish is kind of hot. And he did an excellent job in directing a group of stellar British actors - Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch.

I can't remember how many times I've seen John Hurt performing as a spy in movies. Toby Jones is just omnipresent nowadays in all British movies. And Mark Strong, for once, is not acting a villain's role. This is a dream flick for spy-movie fans like me - very few women (in fact, only one young Russian and another older Brit) who all play supporting roles. M16 has always been an old boys' club, and still is in its present days.

Everything is so old-fashioned in this movie, and deliberately so. In spite of its Cold War era, it's still very relevant to contemporary espionage. Everything is a code name in this movie and you will spend the entire time trying to follow the names of the characters and wondering who the mole is. Of course, things are not what they seem and nothing is genuine in fiction as in reality.

Gary Oldman is constantly compared to Sir Alec Guinness who played George Smiley in the BBC TV series. From the way the reviews are going, the former probably will earn an Oscar nomination.  I might be having too great an expectation of the movie, so as a result, I just found it intriguing but not outstanding. This is a movie that takes a lot of thinking and close following, so my advice is only go see it when you're in top condition. It is enticing enough for me to buy the Le Carré novel after seeing the movie.

Polanski's Achilles Heel

I've been dying to see Roman Polanski's Carnage since I loved the Tony-Award-winning Broadway production of God Of Carnage in 2009. It's still a good movie, and an extremely strong satire. But I don't think the play was ever written for the big screen, and  it certainly doesn't warrant the talent of Roman Polanski to direct it. As per the Broadway production, the script is so strong that all you need are some really strong actors and any director can make the movie come alive.

The acting is every bit as strong as the stage production - you can't ask for better actors than the foursome: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz. Could Polanski just simply use the Broadway cast: Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini? Probably, but in spite of the huge popularity of the Broadway play, the latter cast might not have been a strong boxoffice draw.

French playwright Yasmina Reza, winner of numerous Moliere Awards in France and other international awards, is probably one of my most favourite playwrights together with Sir Tom Stoppard, Chekhov, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Shakespeare. I've seen Reza's Art on stage two times in addition to God of Carnage. Reza's satires are so potent, intense and ironic that they make you laugh so hard, and many times, at the human race itself.

The principle of the whole plot is based on the premiss that every human being has an inborn desire of aggression - it lurks below the basic civility and politeness in everyday life but will emerge as a monster when the right opportunity comes. The two pairs of class-conscious Brooklyn couples started off as a first-time, but friendly encounter trying to focus on the big picture. Bullying on a Brooklyn playground became a subject of confrontation - two unhappy marriages and relationships; the husbands belittling the wives; the bonding between men and the commiseration between the two women; the narcissism  and self absorption of all four characters; and the victimization of art by the Philistines. The movie/play is about hypocrisy and claustrophobia. The irony is what makes the movie extremely funny.

I love how all four actors interpret the characters, but Jodie Foster's depiction of her character Penelope (in spite of her aging complexion) deserves an Oscar nomination! From the stage production, Hope Davis is a much weaker character but you can't miss Penelope's impact from the movie. It's always challenging to convert a play into a movie, even though Reza assisted Polanski with the screenplay of the film. The shocking impact of the play is totally lost in the movie version because the theatre and its audience share the same space, whereas in a movie, the space is just not the same.

I can understand why Polanski chose to shoot a film version of the play - this movie is a study in claustrophobia, one of Polanski's expert subject matters from RoseMary's Baby to The Pianist to this one. He has also collaborated with Reza in the past when he asked her to translate Kafka's The Metamorphosis from German into French in 1988. This translation earned Reza a nomination for the Best Translation in the Moliere Awards and God of Carnage's London stage productioon won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and went on to win Best Play at the 2009 Tony Awards with an American cast.

But the power of the play has not been transferred to the screen version, even behind Polanski's camera. The whole movie was shot in Paris even though the story happens in Brooklyn. This is the first movie shot by Polanski when he first received news about the release of his long exile from the U.S.A. Maybe he's also secretly agreeing with the premiss of the play about his own Carnage instincts from his crime? Every director has his Achilles heel, and perhaps this movie allows us to have a glimpse of Polanski's.