Click for the poster to view sweet higher definitions.It's like this: let's make a movie, throw in two amazing actors and one sultry actress, and then let's blend in some mystery, magic, intrigue and a Victorian-era wizard feud business. So have the makers succeeded after deliberating so much in this film? Just like the director himself, Christopher Nolan, who helmed and rebooted Batman Begins quite considerably, certainty was what he lacks the most.
Let's begin with the story: the film follows two magicians, namely, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), who both started as apprentices and even bestfriends, and then became rivals, stealing each other's secrets and finally doing their own tricks that will prove who is the best wizard in the 19th century England. Yet behind the magic and silly trickery-follies, there lies a story of obsession, betrayal and dark treachery amongst the audience and also amongst themselves, the main characters. We are being led to believe that both Angier and Borden have their dreams of their own and they share a nifty knowledge about magic, from the very environment they grew up - people being entertained by only a sleight of hand and pulling bunnies from a hat. By this, both of them, wanted to become famous and they became obsessed by the notion of it that the more they do more dangerous and more convincing magic tricks, the more the audience would love them.
Angier has a wife and he had lost her due to a failed stunt in a glass aquarium; Borden has also a wife, yet could somehow realise that he loves his own work more than his own wife - now, the two of them, they try to battle secretly with each other, stealing diaries, decrypting secrets of their tricks and yet trying to mislead each other, destroying each other's show and prestige.
The film is undeniably dark, and what I like most in this film was that apart from delving into the cinematic waves of magic and the secrets behind them, Chris Nolan was able to surface out a wicked story of obsession. That was where the film was really successful on, but sometimes a lot of complexity may befuddle audience. The story was somewhat confusing if you wouldn't really follow quite carefully. I think this is where Nolan is good at: he misleads his audiences. If you would swallow by heart the first sentence of the film "Are you watching closely?", there's definitely a big chance that you would enjoy this film, and try to understand as well why are they doing such things to each other.
Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, two of my most favourite actors (as well as I believe that they're the best of their generation today), delivers convincing performances as the feudal magicians, and Scarlett Johansson, although a bit under used, gives her character a cunning twist. But even now, her English accent still haunts me because it's very flawed.
I have tried to asked at the end of the film, was there really depth in the movie? Was it just about two people trying to contest with each other, trying to dethrone each other's pride and dignity? Why were they so obsessed about it?
Without further ado, my questions were answered by the film's major question itself, "Are you watching closely?"
Yes, I did, because if you wouldn't watch closely, you will just become a part of the audience whom Angier and Borden had just tricked and deceived, yet never understand the whole reason behind it all. Watch this with a mature mind.
Rating: B+
Let's begin with the story: the film follows two magicians, namely, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), who both started as apprentices and even bestfriends, and then became rivals, stealing each other's secrets and finally doing their own tricks that will prove who is the best wizard in the 19th century England. Yet behind the magic and silly trickery-follies, there lies a story of obsession, betrayal and dark treachery amongst the audience and also amongst themselves, the main characters. We are being led to believe that both Angier and Borden have their dreams of their own and they share a nifty knowledge about magic, from the very environment they grew up - people being entertained by only a sleight of hand and pulling bunnies from a hat. By this, both of them, wanted to become famous and they became obsessed by the notion of it that the more they do more dangerous and more convincing magic tricks, the more the audience would love them.
Angier has a wife and he had lost her due to a failed stunt in a glass aquarium; Borden has also a wife, yet could somehow realise that he loves his own work more than his own wife - now, the two of them, they try to battle secretly with each other, stealing diaries, decrypting secrets of their tricks and yet trying to mislead each other, destroying each other's show and prestige.
The film is undeniably dark, and what I like most in this film was that apart from delving into the cinematic waves of magic and the secrets behind them, Chris Nolan was able to surface out a wicked story of obsession. That was where the film was really successful on, but sometimes a lot of complexity may befuddle audience. The story was somewhat confusing if you wouldn't really follow quite carefully. I think this is where Nolan is good at: he misleads his audiences. If you would swallow by heart the first sentence of the film "Are you watching closely?", there's definitely a big chance that you would enjoy this film, and try to understand as well why are they doing such things to each other.
Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, two of my most favourite actors (as well as I believe that they're the best of their generation today), delivers convincing performances as the feudal magicians, and Scarlett Johansson, although a bit under used, gives her character a cunning twist. But even now, her English accent still haunts me because it's very flawed.
I have tried to asked at the end of the film, was there really depth in the movie? Was it just about two people trying to contest with each other, trying to dethrone each other's pride and dignity? Why were they so obsessed about it?
Without further ado, my questions were answered by the film's major question itself, "Are you watching closely?"
Yes, I did, because if you wouldn't watch closely, you will just become a part of the audience whom Angier and Borden had just tricked and deceived, yet never understand the whole reason behind it all. Watch this with a mature mind.
Rating: B+
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I watched Casino Royale again, along with my Mum and sister, and for the second time around, with so much calculation and deliberation, it gets even better. Aside from the fact that my Mum's such a die-hard fan of Bond films since ages ago (and that she once quoted that "there would be no better Bond than Sean Connery"), and also aside from the fact that my sister wanted to celebrate her birthday by watching the 21st Bond film on the 21st of November, I free-spiritedly went along them and enjoyed the Bond-ride as well. In the second viewing, it felt different, though equally stunning, because my brain went into the details of the film, avidly following the plot more intricately this time, trying to really understand the whole story of it and its resonance.
For a 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey transcends in many levels. One is being a though-provoking science-fiction film. Another is being a visual art. And equally, a mythic contemplation. 
I thought an animated film produced by the notable Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis would turn out to be so swell or perhaps the next Finding Nemo or Toy Story - but I was wrong. Monster House, although has the entertainment it needs, lacks the spectacle of an unforgettable animated bravura. It feels like a dream, no, not a nightmare, that when you wake up, you couldn't perfectly recall every bits and pieces in your mind. 
With this deft-handed and clever-minded auteur, who could say bollocks to Alenjandro Gonzales Inarritu when he demands your attention with such electricity of his debut filmmaking? Of course, after having watched his wrenchingly brilliant sophomore, 21 Grams, an arguably better film than his debut toil, you couldn't resist anything from Inarritu and what he has to offer.
There was a scene in this film that could strike humanity the most: in the bathroom scene where Brandon Teena was stripped naked, forced to prove what she really was. This scene alone made a distinct impression on us that questions about ourselves shouldn't be what we are but instead, who we are, thus, making Boys Don't Cry a very good film. A film with a resonance to the world. 
There's a new man in town: he's smooth, slick, sly and armed with unbendable Brit intelligence and charm. His name is not James Bond. He is Daniel Craig, and well, he does not disappoint. 
What is deja vu? It is the feeling towards a certain time, event, place or a thing in which one would apprehend to have happened before or to have existed. It's an unlikely matter, but upon watching Bee Season, deja vu was all over the place. We could ask ourselves: Akeelah and the Bee anyone?
Amidst the mundanity of modern day motion pictures, having to deal with lots and lots of remakes and the zealots of box-office goldmine, only a very few could rise to platform and can be called a film indeed. Amelie is one of those films. In fact, Hollywood's not written all over it - this is a French film. And amidst the world where everybody almost hates the French, one could not avoid admiring this French lass, Amelie, with a heart of gold.
The line "There is a certainty that comes but once in a lifetime" is probably one of the best romantic lines both in old and recent memory, and it came from this film, The Bridges of Madison County - one of the most endearing, heartfelt, and moving romantic films ever made.
I am no fan of Star Wars, I must admit. That says it all, I think, and if I would put a period right after this sentence then there would be no use for such reason on why I am not liking this film.
Thirteen years ago, a classic film was born. The Secret Garden, for me, would remain to be one of the greatest children classics of all time. I have seen this film when I was still 10 years old and for 8 years it haunted me (because I can't seem to remember the title of it, bloody me!). Thank God, I just recently rediscovered this film, and recalled right away that this was one of the those films whom as a kid loved it, and had once sworn that I would surely include it to my all-time favorite list. I was still a kid back then, but even now, as I grew up, watching the film brings back memories and has the magical power to bring us all back into our childhood days, where innocence was indeed a weapon of the harsher truth outside our very own world that we dwell in.
Amadeus is a remarkable film. Although it's not the all too epic one would expect for an Oscar Best Picture way back 1984, and although it doesn't have the elements that a sure-fire box office hit has, it is nonetheless a very original movie and surely earns my humble respect. In fact, this is probably the most respected musical biopic Hollywood has ever crafted.
