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+
click on the amazing posters for bigger definitions

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.
Here are 5 things I realised about the film:
1.) Daniel Craig IS Bond. A year ago, I might have raised an snickety eyebrow to Craig for having been chosen as the Brit spy and have thought that Clive Owen would have rocked the role. But now, I have thought otherwise. Craig was destined to be Bond (to prove, even Pierce Brosnan gave thumbs-up to him and praised his performance). Now, I couldn't think of any actor playing this role. And of all Bond actors I have seen (in my whole 90's-conscious life, that is), Craig looks the most convincing killer of all Bonds. I also like Eva Green as Vesper Lynd; when all Bond girls consider their coca-cola bodies as the sexiest part of the woman, here's the amazing Vesper Lynd, with sarcasm and philosophical tinge in her voice, rightfully levelling Bond's equally egotistical gravitas, considers her brain as the sexiest part of her body.
2.) I wasn't a James Bond fan (and even hated some of the films for being so over-the-top), until now. I am definitely looking forward to Craig's sophomore Bond.
3.) Craig's Casino Royale was very in-touch with reality, compared to other Bond films. OK, I might have offended loyal Bond fans, and I confess I haven't seen all Bond films like Dr. No, Octopussy, Diamonds are Forever, The Man With the Golden Gun, Goldeneye, License To Kill, and everything else and have only caught up with the Brosnan era of Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day. The latest Bond film I have seen was Die Another Day, which I felt was so over-the-top, especially Brosnan's ridiculous invisible car. Royale was much realistic and putting Bond back into basics as the newly-promoted 007 was a wise move, saving the almost moribund Bond franchise. Non-fans like me COULD become fans in the future.
4.) One of the writers on this film was Paul Haggis, the director and writer of last year's Oscar Best Picture, Crash. No wonder, there was so much depth in the story and dialogues. Who could ever forget seeing Bond speaking very upfront, like a human, vulnerable and defenseless when it comes to the heart, "You stripped off my armour. Whatever's left of me. Whatever there is left... I'm yours." That's just one of the brilliant line of Royale. Some might have not noticed the lines (as for other people who just dig the action scenes and praise the movie by the action sequences itself), but the dialogues are brilliantly written. Even the scenes are contructed carefully, and I've never seen a Bond film before that has a scene full of silent emotions and depth like the picture above depicting Vesper Lynd and Bond under the showers after the traumatic stairs encounter. That's how the writers and the directors made this, the most human Bond film of all. And who could really expect that the gripping game of poker in Casino Royale felt as exciting as Brosnan's car chase on ice? Of course, the classic line when Bond was asked whether he wants his Vodka Martini shaken or stirred, he answered with so much arrogance and impatience "Do I look like I give a damn?" makes us shake our disbeliefs. Royale has indeed a good story, plus believable and convincing action sequences, it delivers a straight royal flush.
5.) Lastly, Royale COULD BE one of 2006's best films; I couldn't really judge from now since it's still November obviously. If it's not in my top-10 lists, then Royale would have to be one of the most satisfying films of the year and Craig would have to be in the Best Breakthrough Performance category. Either way, the movie wasn't disappointing, that's the most important of it all. Imagine my Mum looking so pleased with the new Bond years after saying that no one could really beat Connery. Some might say that Craig could not really beat Connery, well of course, Connery's a legend I think - but what matters now is that Craig is the new Bond, and he made the role as his own.
For those who haven't seen Royale, you're in for a treat. Watch 2006's probably most entertaining film. It's everything you're looking for in a film, action, adventure, romance and a rollicking ride full of sense, story, emotions and depth, not just a neurotic passer-by of a film. I might have been over-selling this film, but just try to watch this film, you'll soon thank me for it. Just like me, I had doubts watching this film before, but I now, I have never regretted it.

Three words. It's - finally - here.

Click for the awesome but short teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Yes, it only spans 56 seconds, and it kept me craving for more. Choose your viewing preference. The bigger the screen, the slower it downloads, the longer you wait, the more anxious you become. (Note: If you have Quicktime, it's absolutely way much clearer and has higher-resolution than Windows Media.)

Windows Media: SMALL MEDIUM LARGE SUPER

Quicktime: SMALL MEDIUM LARGE SUPER


Anyway, here's a brilliant behind-the-scenes look of HBO into teh Phoenix set. Let it feast in front of your eyes, and behold the excitement. July 13, 2007 isn't really that far now. If you can't see the video (again!), it is of my honour if you would kindly click HERE to visit the main site. Thank you mucho.


Here's another trailer for The History Boys. I like this trailer the better, aside from showing all the awards it bagged and the rave reviews it sweeped, it shows a more nuanced way of telling us that this is indeed a fine film to look forward to.




If you can't see the trailer, check it out HERE. The History Boys will open in a limited release this November 21, 2006. I bet the Philippines would never bet a single buck to open it on theaters here, so I dunno when I could watch this. This proves, sometimes life sucks.

I just recently dug the new trailer of the upcoming witty adaptation of the Tony award-winning play, The History Boys, and seriously speaking here, I am so looking forward to see this film. Not to mention, the play which it was adapted from, won the most awards in the Tony's for the past 50 years, and the movie stars the original cast from the play, so it should be good.

It tells about a group of unlikely and unruly yet bright and funny history students who wanted to get into the prestigious schools of Oxford or Cambridge for undergraduate courses, yet felt hopeless about their own "schmucky" standings. Hope it could be the next Dead Poets Society, or probably better since a handful of British films are quite treasures. The latest British film in which I dearly adore was The Girl in the Cafe, and the latest Bond flick, Casino Royale, was probably the toughest and most realistic Bond film since ages. The History Boys however garnered awesome raves from the critics, calling it already "ONE OF 2006'S BEST FILMS". Well, I'm hoping it would be a classic. Check out the trailer and the wallpapers.



Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Seriously... seriously, we couldn't really wait for Monday to come and a bit thankful for Warner Bros. for keeping us alive for now as they released 10 seconds of the newest Potter 5 trailer.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE 10 SECONDS TRAILER!!!

(Please make sure you have Quicktime player, or if you don't have any... well, today's not just your luck. Sorry, you're one of the unfortunate people who will have to wait for Monday.)

Also, the offical Harry Potter website had been revamped and now, Order of the Phoenix stuffs are all over it at the moment. Check it out.

WWW.HARRYPOTTERORDEROFTHEPHOENIX.COM

And the Teaser Poster... here it is again. :) Can't get enough of seeing Voldemort looking so creepy and Nosferatu-ish.



OK, so much for the Potterhype.

After guzzling a bottle of water and almost spitting a mouthful in front of my laptop screen - of course that didn't happen, that's just an exaggeration - I have stumbled into Warner Bros. latest Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix pics. Sadly, I could just let anyone of you ogle into the pictures, and no trailer yet, because they will attach it to Happy Feet and then launch it this coming Monday.

Here are the spoilers... and click for the pics for Higher Resolutions.


Harry screaming at... something

Harry and Cho Chang's first snog

Toady, bitchy Professor Dolores Umbridge

Proclamation on fire - obviously

Harry in Snape's office

Hermione looking anxious

Proclamations of Umbridge exploding

Dumbledore with Harry on the back in the Wizengamot Court

Sirius Black is back!

Voldie - er... He-Who-Must-Be-Named (quite blurry)


Well, that's it for now folks!

Heart's pumpin', blood's freezin'... is it cold or is the almost-1-second look into Order of the Phoenix felt bloody ominous? ABC just aired a commercial, and they had sliced the new teaser trailer into it. OK, it feels so short, but wait, the full teaser trailer will be released tomorrow for all the Potter fans to stare and ogle at.

Here's the fuss>>>




Or if you can't see it, visit the official MovieJerk blog. :)

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.

Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece would have to be one of the most haunting and most successful science fiction. He spanned so many epochs and thousands of years by gathering the most essential periods of man's evolution, and his entrance to the cosmic world. From the start of the film, I was greeted with a different feeling, a kind of weirdness that you couldn't explain because right at my very eyes was a film sparked with so much originality that you couldn't possibly find any other like it. With Kubrick, we have entered the early era of man in the form of apes, and this ancestral beginnings would help explain to us how man conquered intelligence by the simple consideration of curiosity. Here was a group of apes who hunt for food, and learned about brutality, violence and tool-making by the discovery of bones. There was a magnificent in this film where an ape holds a bone from an amimal skeleton in the sand, and structurally, Kubrick depicts the scene very figuratively, with the slow motion and the blue-sky backdrop, you can't help but find perfection here. The use of bones and the discovery of tool-making led these early man-apes to the foundation of violence, in which they used it as weapons against each other. In a few short minutes, they also discovered upon their waking a black monolith in the midst, which came from nowhere, leaving these apes wild with apprehension and constantly touching the surface of the monolith also leading them to the curiosity that man was doomed to be involved with.

In Kubrick's timeline, we are soon transported in the future where man has left Earth and conquers cosmic space, or it seems to foolish to speak about conquering, since man could never conquer space at all. Kubrick made us learn that here. We are then introduced to a man travelling in space, letting us gape with wonder of how closely prophetic this film could be when it was made decades ago but still predicting the happenings of the recent world. There are thousands of development, almost all are accurate, the video chatting, the space exploration and all that jazz. Without so much explanation, Kubrick transports us again into Discovery One, a space shuttled housing probably the most intelligent computer in the whole universe, the HAL 9000. So intelligent that it runs the ship on its own. For the first time in the movie, we feel like we are being told with a story, about this supercomputer that was so perfect that it makes no flaws, or if it makes flaws, it hides them in its own intelligence. He gives us a perspective that man makes his own doom, like inventing the computer, making us almost worthless. And when the character of Dave tells, "Open the doors, Hal." and the so-called Hal never open the doors, there is so much distinction in the film that we could foretell computers has a mind on its own. But then again, as Dave tries to battle against this computer with foreboding panic, man proves to be greater than any other species, with the Hal pleading for his life and singing the last of his mechanical breath. Dave then witnessed more of the odyssey into the greater space when he was involved in a scene where he was travelling with swirling colours and vast landscapes never encountered by man, and also witnessed his own aging and until facing the last black monolith and finally becoming a child again, sent back to Earth. This signals, this Star Child, that man would continually evolve and with a higher-ordered intelligence.

This is a fantastic film. One that has to be contemplated, and not just seen. It's just like looking at a piece of artwork. For the first time you see it, it involves swirling colours and almost incomprehensible imagery, but when you try to step back and see it in its full view, you would get the message it conveys and the inner spectacle beneath its intricate trivial groundwork. Stanley Kubrick is indeed a fine filmmaker, and he believes in what he do. It is because if he never was patient and passionate about his craft, Odyssey would have feel so hurried. Yet, it wasn't. It was crafted with perfect precision and the scenes were constructed carefully, like the slow movements of the spacecrafts, and the slow rendition of the camera in the very bleak and dark outer space. Accompanying the visual adventure was the haunting music, especially the revival of the Blue Danube waltz, perfectly serenading the exploration of space.

2001: A Space Odyssey would have to be the oddest film I've seen in my entire life. It is more on the visual delight than dialogues, but who cares, almost all the scenes were hypnotic and the effect? A ground-breaking landmark.

Rating: A

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.

It has a sharp dialogue, funny at times, and also momentarily charming. It has clever scenes but were oversimplified by the oversimplistic plot. From the start of the film, we are transported back to our childhood memories where we all believe that there's a creepy haunted house in the next block and we all gather our kid-homies and set out for an adventures that turns pretty awful and at the same time, wickedly adventurous. It's the feeling that was awesome, but the absence of resonance and the sweeping feel makes it more the less engaging.

There's DJ, who thinks that the house in front of them was haunted and that Mr. Nebbercracker is a nutcase who hates children crossing his lawn, as if one step across it would cause him heartattacks. He had just been left to Zee, a gothic babysitter (since when did movie babysitters never looked weird or at least looked like punks? - and has a slacker boyfriend who equally looks like a schmuck?), who when hearing DJ's story about the house felt like ridiculous prank had just been pulled on her. And there's Chowder, a big fat shlub visits over DJ and both of them started noticing scary things, which it made the more relishing (and thankful) that they introduced a lesser dimwit and more intelligent character in the name of Jenny. The three of them convinces people, including police officers that the house was indeed alive and eating people in. The character that I found really funny was the black rookie policeman, who utterly appeared like the animated version of Chris Rock. And the rest of the characters felt all too mechanical just to make the story move. There was never depth.

I am a Stephen King fan and I couldn't help but notice his influence all over this one, and also Tim Burton. Monster House also felt like stripped from the pages of a Goosebumps edition, filled with adventures and the look-I'm-scared kind of fun.

Of course, there are things that the movie teaches little children that there's no point of being scared at all, I mean, dude, since when did we feel like Superman when we get ourselves in the dark when we were still around 7 or 8 years old? Monster House, on the brighter side, gives us entertainment near the end where the three has to battle against the very alive monster house just before the night of Halloween. But when we have seen it all, it just scatters around in our brain and will soon trail away leaving us nothing but a smile, and then frown.

Rating: C

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.
Amores Perros, when translated to English means "Love's a Bitch", tells three interconnected stories about humans who grapple for their lives, their affections, and their doomed existence - oh, and their love for dogs too, makes it more an animalistic ride, if you get the affinity to the movie's title. The first story tells us about "Octavio and Susanna" and as this was Inarritu's film, we are being greeted with a beginning that's supposed to be located somewhere at the ending of the film, just like his other films. It's his trademark, believe me. Anyway, about the first story, Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Octavio who cares much about his brother's dog than his own brother Ramiro, who secretly does an inside job and robbery to the grocery store he's working in. Yet, Octavio harbours a secret too: he's in love with his brother's wife, Susanna, and much more than that, he's obsessed with his brother's dog Cofi and it led him into an underworld where dogfights were held. When he earned so much money during the dogfights, since Cofi was a champion dog, he bribes Susanna to runaway with him, away from the abusive Ramiro. He then wakes up one day with Susanna gone, also Ramiro, with his own money gone too. Soon, due to desperation, he commits to a last dogfight which led Cofi at the brink of life, and due set in a car crash that would change the lives of two people including him.
Inarritu uses the car crash (no, this is not like 2005's Oscar Best Picture winner, Crash, but likely almost the same story device used with the connecting stories) as a tool to make his story evolve. The car crash affects two other people, the one a former model, who had her leg smashed due to the car crash, in which leads us to the next story "Daniel and Valeria", a more subdued and slightly ridiculous story of a man who left his own family to live with a model. He bought an apartment for her, and almost had given up all his life for this lady.And when their dog had gone into a hole in their floorboard, their lives became incessantly a turmoil and messy with lots of fights and argument.
Humour me.
The car crash also affected another life, which enters the last story of the film, "El Chivo and Maru", a tale about a dog-loving beggar but a hired assassin at the same time. He rescues Cofi, Octavio's dog, from the accident and healed him and sooner found out that as the dog was trained so much in the dogfighting, he had killed the other dogs. For the most inspiring part, he was hired to kill a man, which led us to a twist I had expected.
This film relies so much on the story that some might find it pretty boring. It requires so much attention and patience to walk with Inarritu with his journey and the story that he wanted to tell us. Although, it's a good film and it conveys a message about the dooms of men, about redemption, love, sacrifice and all other dark vestiges of humanity, it does not swoon over to the pinnacles of 21 Grams. It's a dark, interesting film, and it showcases Inarritu's passion in making not just movies, but films.

Rating: B+

Warner Bros. just recently released the newest Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix teaser poster! And just how ominous it really looks, wth Ralph Fiennes looking so schweet as Voldemort. By the way, the first teaser trailer would be released this Friday along with the film Happy Feet. Now I am so excited for the ultimate showdown between Dumbledore and Voldemort! The real battle begins this July 13, 2007.

Click for the higher-res poster.

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.

Brandon Teena wasn't presented as a lesbian. For other people's eyes, she might assemble herself as a red-blooded lesbian, but for other with intelligence, she's a woman who thinks himself as a man out of the desperation of loneliness and at the brink of frustrations. She dresses like a normal guy, gets boyish haircut, wraps cloth around her breats to make it look like man-chest and stuff a sock in front of her briefs to pull out an ordinary man's bulge. Yet the psyche of it all wasn't a question really of whether she's a lesbian or a girl or a guy; it's all about who she is and what she believes about, that's why we respect her and all the more respectable than people who try to hide within their selves and never coming out of who they really are. Brandon has more courage than most people nowadays with identity crisis, and it takes more spunk and guts to be open in the world full of malice and scrutiny.

Based on a true story, it tells about Brandon Teena (actually Teena Brandon) who escapes his hometown and to Falls City where he was welcomed more so than the place where he came from. People fell for his uncommon boyish charm, and he had dated a girl named Lana. Of course, Brandon was nice and this girl, who had never dated a guy before, also fell for his warm and gentle manner. Even though Brandon was really a girl, he/she knew how to treat a woman, making her more like a woman herself. And when there came a point when Bradon tells Lana that he's really a she, this point eventually tells us that Lana already knows yet at the time doesn't need to know - because what she really need to know was that she fell in love with a person that has a heart, no matter who that person was.

Brandon Teena's life, although short-lived, was a fully-lived life. As John and Tom, Lana's drunkard home buddies, discovered about Brandon's sexuality, they seized her in bathroom and stripped her naked, letting her prove about her own confusions. Yet she was a woman, and John and Tom had taken advantage of her own vulnerability and raped her, and while Brandon escaped and tells the authorities, she was killed to silence her.

Boys Don't Cry is both a social study, as well as a love story. It would appear as a sexuality study but the director Kimberly Pierce stunningly subsides sexuality inside a ingenius shell portrait of passion, love, frustrations and the courage and hope to stay true to ourselves. Somehow, it felt like Romeo & Juliet, where both Lana and Brandon were forced to stay hidden in a society of doubt. It also felt like an early Brokeback Mountain, also a tragic rendition of love and loss.

All hail to Hilary Swank for having the deepest sincerity and perseverance in portraying Brandon Teena, a mischevious yet endearing painting on this character. No wonder she grabbed that Oscar Best Actress statuette back in 1999. And also, Chloe Sevigny was such a surprise. The performances in this film was as riveting and powerful as it could be.

Rating: A

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.

Ever since the casting of Craig as the uber-spy "Double-O Seven", many eyebrows were raised like wings including me. For one thought, Craig would have been too brutish, too underweight, too blonde to become the 007 that at once, rather gaudily, I expected him to utter "My name's Blonde. James Blonde." But right after watching the flick, I came out surprised and ultimately pleased with the new Bond. Seems that the addage "expect the unexpected" was fit for the experience.

Casino Royale may be short out of the yowzah kind of action flick, explosions, wham-bam adventures and sky-rocketing, world-concerning doomsday spectacle you'd expect for a Bond film, it is so far the best Bond film I've ever seen (forgive me but I haven't seen so much Bond films and not so much of a fan about it), focusing more on grit, spunk and raw development of the spy's character on early missions instead of squandering around with some useless big-budgeted gadgets. And yes, Daniel Craig brings ultimate freshness to the role, giving the face of Bond a gritty look yet undeniably plausible in so many ways. Thanks to Royale for saving the franchise's almost vanishing trace of existence since Pierce Brosnan's escapades.

Casino Royale has its own fair share of the Bond scenarios, the mission, the gadgets, the cars, the women, the chases, and all those adventures that has got to with his license to kill. And since Royale had its gems towards the earlier days of Bond, and specifically adapted from Ian Fleming's first Bond novel and the first 1950 film, the writers had transformed the retro vision into the modern mission in which Bond had first got himself into after garnering his license to kill status in the MI6 agency. The film starts in black and white, a conceivable option to show us into the beginning, and cut through a full-range color into the world Bond was about to face. Yet he's not the perfect ultra-smooth we expected in a Bond, he commits mistakes and even impressed spymaster M (played with a despotic yet marvelous performance by Dame Judi Dench) as well as infuriate her for Bond's own arrogance and stubbornness. Then he was assigned to Montenegro to play poker against Le Chiffre, a banker for a secret global terrorist group, in the world renowned Casino Royale. There he would use his wits and definitive skills to stop Le Chiffre from winning with the help of the Treasury representative, Vesper Lynd. The two of them, as they try to hurtle against the lethal mission, would learn about treachery, loyalty and trust that they would soon find helpful in the adventures to come.

The action scenes here are very well-choreographed and cleverly-plotted especially the construction site and tower chase scene and all those terrific chases in the film.

And speaking of chases, Craig looks very fit using his own stunts and used his wide range of capabilities in maximum use in this film. He looks smooth, suave, yet at the same time brutally raw, commanding, stubborn yet lethal in ways you could possibly imagine. In fact, Craig's performance in Royale is probably the strongest, the best, the most drilled undertaking since Sean Connery, and if compared to Brosnan, the latter would somehow appear to be girlish in the seemingly untamed hands of Craig. And the torture scene near the end would have to be the most harrowing scene of all Bond films, stripping Bond naked in a chair and being tortured and whipped.

However, about the women, they play a huge part on Bond films, and Eva Green playing as Vesper Lynd was simply magnificent. She's not your ordinary Bond girl, and she's everything that Bond girls are not. She's ultimately smart, cunning, professionaly dressed (she does not show off right away in bikinis) yet remaining very sexy, and does not have sex with Bond as a way of a greeting. She even handles scenes with Craig very well, just as Bond is indomitably cheeky, Lynd is sarcastic and sharp-tounged, perfectly collaborating with each other.

Casino Royale also plunges into Bond's very first love affair, and of course, it was a love story. We see Bond as strong yet very vulnerable when it comes to the heart, and immediately learns that trust is a difficult thing to deal to others, which would explain to us why he's a cold-hearted bastard in many Bond films. But here, as Vesper Lynd spits it "cold-hearted bastard", he was deeply and emotionally attached to Lynd that he finds it difficult to deal with his missions and put his place in a crossroad between choosing to become a spy and a man who would fulfill his own personal life. Yet everything is doomed, and Craig puts a different Bond that we usually see. Here is a Bond that has a heart.

He maybe a Bond that doesn't care whether his martinis are shaken or stirred, but surely, this new Bond film would leave you stirred, thrilled and gradually entertained all through out. If the writing would stay consistent, Daniel Craig would likely stay and become a brilliant Bond in the years to come.

Rating: A-

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?
Somehow, Bee Season was shot before Akeelah, therefore paving me no right to compare or whatsoever. Yes, the film stands on its own yet miserably hangs loosely by threads.
This family drama was way too familiar for our grasp. Here we encounter a troubled family, a father who drench himself into professional work in a college teaching Religion and Kaballah, a mother slightly detached by her own battles against kleptomania, a son who's questioning his own spiritual belief and a daughter who flees in her own world of instinct and delves into her skill for words and spelling, thus giving us the season for spelling bees. Eliza, the daughter, had just won a spelling bee contest, and when his father noticed the feat, his attention had considerably converged into the newly discovered prodigy. As Eliza climbs into a higher level of the contest, she notices her family's own detachment with each other. The girl had been introduced to Kabbalah by her own father, and when she confessed that she do not learn words in order to spell it but rather see them in her own closed eyes. Her father knew by that time that Eliza has a gift so uncommon that she might be able to "touch the ear of God".
The film, which stars all-conniving power from Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche, was confused in itself. It fails to explain some of its elements, mostly about religious stuff. What was good in this film was that it was able to give a vivid message about spiritual fullfilment and how people seek that kind of nirvana these days.
While sparking some acting power, it's the main lead that actually pulled some performance. Flora Cross, the girl who played Eliza, gave a sheer intensity, and combined with his brother, Aaron, played by Max Minghella, they had easily outshadowed Gere's and Binoche's performances.
But at the end of it all, one could inevitably cheer for Bee. Nope, not for Bee Season, but for Akeelah and the Bee, which was probably a better conceived film about spelling bees and the battles of life.

Rating: B-

I guess only some knew that I've created a novel on my own, and apparently working on it at the moment. And it's gruelling to actually sit down on it, type the whole bloody thing away, yet at the same time, consistently hoping I could just finish it sooner so that people could read it - and be done with it also (mind you, brain's overloading that even in sleep, brain's still thinking what would happen in the next chapter). Of course, it's every writer's dream, to have his work be read by people and be appreciated - as if I'm a writer LOL. So, here's a little excerpt from the book, which I call "FIVE FALLING FOOLS", specifically from CHAPTER 3 entitled HIGH SCHOOL MISFITS. For a brief synopsis, I wouldn't give anything at all. I think the title says it all really, and it's rather literal, haha. Forgive me, it's all rubbish and it's all the product of boredom, but still wishing that at the end of the day, it would not belong to the rubbish bin after all.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Piper placed her hands across the table and leaned towards William, her tone slightly plunging into lower decibels. “You only think William that we’re the only people left in this world doing things which are not supposed to be done. Take a good look around you.”
Utterly perplexed, he threw glances around the hall, figuring out what Piper was talking about, looking at people, doing different things: other were excitedly chatting, some were throwing balled papers at each other, others were hungrily eating their way up, some were slouching in their seats probably bored, sipping on their milkshakes. But most likely, almost all were blissfully rejoicing for the end of the exams.
“You don’t see them, do you?”
“See whom?” he asked Piper, bewildered. “What d’you mean?”
“Them, Will. People like us. People who hide. You could possibly think that these other students come out clean, just what you thought about me, but bet my bollocks, they’re not. How many can you tell are there in this hall secretly hiding their crumpled papers inside their pockets? How many of them had barely slept overnight in preparing a cheat list? How many had secretly smiled when they broke free from their exams without their teachers prancing after them like loonies? Just – just how many students are still pretending that they know everything?”
There was bitter contempt in Piper’s voice. It was a kind of voice that he never heard from her in all those four years of companionship. An air of loneliness and hatred quietly quivered in her voice, almost unmistakable.
“This school’s not you think as special as what other people reckon. It’s not as different from Brightstoke or St. Peter’s. The teachers always claim that this school’s for the elite. Well, they just haven’t learned from their students. It’s just like every other school, every other school with students who cheat and students who play dirty,” she sputtered without much hassle. “Even if you’ll look harder, you couldn’t see them because they hide, Will. They hide within their selves. They are not what they appear to be. They live in disguise, desperately wanting for the right moment to step out from their shells. They live in lies. We don’t know if there’s many of them, or just a few, but for all we know, there’s always a reason why they do such a thing. Just like us, we cheat because we want to stay breathing. It’s ironic, but through cheating, it’s the way that we could live.”

For the first Spiderman film, I did not become so much of a fan. But when I saw Spiderman 2, I was awestruck that it became one my favourite films of all time and I believe the sequel was one of the very best superhero films ever made. It was just very successful in humanizing Spiderman, and it's a superhero film with a heart and brain. So now, IFILM had just debuted the newest Spiderman 3 trailer and well, what can I say, wow. I am so looking forward for this film. Check it out in the trailer box below and be stunned. "The greatest battle lies within." Indeed, true, true.


After the Golden Age of Hollywood had taken its last bow, after the age where the likes of epic movie-making and classic-targeted masterpiece, there came a film that was so refreshing and delightfully thought of that it became the only romantic comedy film in history to have won an Oscar Best Picture. It was Annie Hall.
It is a funny film, indeed, and probably Woody Allen's heartfelt masterpiece. When you thought that you had become bored with some lines, by the time that you wanted to stand up from your seat, you'd be glued back again by a persistent one-liner. This is what Annie Hall's about, a film that filled with one-liners, yet ultimately raw, endearing, unflaggingly honest, quotable and at the same time remarkable. It's a wondefully written film, and Woody Allen had penned something that's not for the rubbish bin, but for the Oscar podium. What makes this film strong apart from its dialogues was it characters; both Annie Hall (played by Diane Keaton in her subtle performance) and Alvy Singer (performed by Woody Allen himself) are the major characters of the film and they were carefully constructed, bringing out their flaws, their ideas and their spirits to the life of the film. It's pitch-perfect for everyone who's in the struggle for relationships, and even though how wordy and dialogue-ridden this film could get, one-liners had never felt so awesome to listen to. In his verbal game, Alvy Singer was so in love by the girl she met in a tennis court named Annie Hall and for over a period of time, as they both shared ideas of apparently almost all kind of things, and having been argued and talked a lot, they discovered an unlikely connection between them, yet also a stiking difference of their beliefs. It is a story of both finding love and battling the loss. Maybe it isn't a film for everybody, especially those who get easily bored with "talks", but I could tell for sure that this is a film of ideas and Allen had constructed it in a very realistic point of view, in the eyes of a jokester who wanted life to be a journey of love and lessons.
This is a great film, one of the gems that we considered striking and lustrous. Annie Hall was indeed a story of a man's tragedy over a girl, yet Woody Allen had made it look like a priceless triumph of screenwriting.

Rating: A-

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.
Amelie is the portrait of a person in which we humans mostly lack, selflessness. It is a story of a girl who grew up believing that she's a bad luck magnet, having to deal with the death of her Mum after an unfortunate suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral and to grow up with his hopeless father, who spends almost all his life building a little shrine in their own backyard. She was a kid that felt out-of-place, yet she never complained, not once. Instead, she finds her own happiness in her own tiny world of innocence she braves; she's happy about little things in life, like throwing stones at the river, dipping her fingers in a sack of wheat grains and standing at her rooftop, looking all over Paris and guessing how many people are orgasming at that certain point of time. Oh yes, Amelie is what we call - no, not weird - but eccentric in a good way.
It was on an evening when she felt her life has changed forever when she suddenly heard the news that Princess Diana died in a car crash, making the cologne ball in her hand slip into the floor and led her into something that was hidden in her bathroom floor. She discovered a diminutive box, which was stowed away for ages, dusty and shabby, containing treasures that one could have during childhood years. She discovers by that time that she's a spirit destined to find immaculate happiness in the happiness of others. And Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director, perfectly guides us into a visually stunning journey to Amelie's charitable and benevolent adventure towards helping the people around her. But in the pinnacle of her works, she also realises that she has done so many things that she had left herself alone. Until she finds a picture book that would lead her to the man in her life.
Amelie never leaves us uncaptivated. Its charm, its wit, its good-natured selfless indulgence is all magic, yet the realism of it strikes us heavily. It would make us humans feel pity about ourselves because we tried to live life sometimes in a selfish way, and Amelie is a kind of film that has the magic to change that behaviour in us. It is a romantic comedy, yet at the same time, a very wholesome and intelligent undertaking about life in the eyes of a very innocent and kind-hearted woman. Its making is very passionate and every scene captured in the lenses is worth the style and effort. This film strives to be very original also and Jeunet proves to be a master of his own crafts, after having watched the magnificent A Very Long Engagement, which also stars Audrey Tautou. By the way, Tautou is splendid in this film. After you leave your seat after the credits roll, you can't help but get wonderstruck by her ingenius performance as Amelie.

Rating: A-

Give it up for Slither: an entertaining, gory throwback to the good 'ol horror B-movie days. Well, it wasn't as good as Neil Marshall's recent horrorfest The Descent, but what was great about Slither was that it did not linger over some serious stuff but rather painted slick blood on its sometimes-ridiculous kind of horror. In short, they didn't take the film too seriously and let us audience sit back and watch with joyous fun.
Oh yes, it involved such a ridiculous plot, even reminiscent of the horror classic The Blob, where an alien species landed the Earth in the form of a slug, and preternatural chaos ensued. Humans in a tiny little village were infected and it all suddenly felt like Mimic a la People Under The Stairs with the mix of Dawn of the Dead and The Tommyknockers. But I tell you, it was fun watching it, characters getting chased by tremendous slugs and creepy slimy looking people with slugs inside them.
Elizabeth Banks and Nathan Fillion stars as the wife and the police respectively, and both of them stuggled to solve such gory events, giving them the best opportunity to act like in a horror movie where they were so distressed and they suddenly become brave all over and fight all they could. The characters weren't too developed (well, what do you expect in a horror film?) and the plotline were somewhat skittish although you could really tell that it's suppose to be a horror film - but just glad that they paid homage to the old horror classics. It's rare nowadays that we could still see some horror films that would scare us, and make us laugh at the same time for its silliness, and would want us to throw some popcorns in our gaping mouths and spill some soda in it.

Rating: B

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.
Here was Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep), a housekeeper, a wife, a woman deprived of following her dreams and just went on with her life raising a family. Until she meets Robert Kincaid, a 50-year-old-something National Geographic photographer, who happened to visit Iowa to take shots of the bridges. Her life started to change as she takes off and claim the so-called four-day love affair, and turned into something that would reverberate for the rest of their lives.
Looking from a simplistic point of view, as we try to strip off all the melodrama and all the dramatisations of love and all that touchy-feely moments, one could define this film as a horrible epitome of adultery. Yes, Francesca was married, but she wasn't happy. We are not being pushed to believe that Francesca was adulterous, because she wasn't, but rather make us feel that she is alone, and in need of comfort like most humans do. Then again, as Robert and Francesca tried to cherish all their moments, all within the four days before Francesca's husband and 2 kids to return from the fair, they struggle whether it is best to make a choice - to be or not to be, that was the question. To do or not to do, that was the doubt. Yet it was all about choices, and what makes this film so poignant was that it didn't give us the predictable scheme where Francesca was runs away from her family, abandon her husband and live happily ever after with Robert - awwww, group hug! No. It isn't that, because if Francesca did the fairy tale ending, The Bridges of Madison County would lose its spirit, its own emotion, its own life.
Meryl Streep as Francesca Johnson was fantastic; she brought emotional edge to the character that most of her scenes were out of dialogue and the camera almost leans against her face, letting us see that lonely woman in the most very raw way. Also, she's famous for her million accents, and as a French immigrant, she was compellingly awesome using English with French accent. She and Clint Eastwood (also the director) as Robert Kincaid make magic, and their on-screen presence would really make us believe that even at their age, love is always possible.
One of the most moving scenes in the film was when Francesca and Robert shared their final dinner and they had a conversation where Francesca was doubting whether to stay or to go. The dialogues were absolutely captivating. Most of all, the scene in the car, where Francesca wanted to pull that handle that would open the car, into the rain and into Robert's cab - but she didn't because she has reasons that only her heart understands the most.
The Bridges of Madison County is a celebration on the ideology of soulmates, letting us remember that love could build bridges no matter who we are, where we are, and no matter what we could become - and that choices we make are the tools that would build such bridges.

Rating: A

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.
Alright, I was intrigued. Intrigued about how it made such a wham-bam action at the box-office, intrigued about how awesome were the special effects, intrigued why people are crazy about it, and intrigued about its own phenomenon. The again, I was intrigued so I watched it meself for like 7 years later, and now - all the intrigue was too damn intriguing that now I don't feel intrigued at all. Forgive me for bitchin around like this but Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is not as good as I expected.
Hands down, I could kneel in front of George Lucas for making such a great breakthrough for the sake of special effects, and John Williams for creating such a magnificent musical piece, as well as appreciate some characters like Qui Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). I was entertained for a bit, especially for the action sequences which were all eye-popping. But then, I was thinking after watching the film - was that all? Star Wars like a space opera? It's exceptional speaking of technicality but Star Wars felt all too mechanical that the dialogues were flat, lifeless and disastrously droning as of the characters were possessed by droids or something. I guess it's what Star Wars was all about, a cultural phenomenon, a pop trend-setter - but was it epic like the old Star Wars films as other critics could say? The Phantom Menace felt all too watered out into the children's territory that they try to forget the emotional and structural capabilities of the film. Dude, I mean my fave character would have to be Qui Gon Jinn, and when they killed him off, there wasn't a scene that would definitely pay homage to him, meaning they just blew off the whole emo-feel of the film - berserk!
I don't hate the film. I just didn't feel that it was made the right way. Although the special effects soar like a bird and the visual cinematography was astoundingly breathtaking - the story flaps like a falling leaf. Star Wars was all about eye candy after all. Don't worry, I will watch the second one, though.

Rating: B-

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.
From a distant point of view, it would seem like a very simple film, but it extracts it vitality from simplicity and would makes us believe that if we could only look deeper, we would realise the healing powers of friendship, hope and love. It follows an orphan Mary Lennox, the main protagonist, who was raised in India but later lost his indifferent parents from the earthquake, and was sent back to his own Uncle Craven in a manor so big you can't stroll around in just a day, or perhaps a week. She then discovers a secret garden hidden away from view, as it holds troubled memories of the past, and also his own cousin, Colin Craven, who was reportedly sick and does not have the ability to walk. As they form an unsual friendship, along with a country boy named Dickon, they delved into the mysteries of the garden, dreamed and acted to bring back life to its earth - they soon discovered a thing that they all have in common and that is awakening to life.
It is a very beautiful film, a kind that would make you cry not because of its sadness, but because its joyous perfection and its magnificent beauty. It doesn't give us epic view of life, but rather present us with a simple depiction of life and how to restore it with simple things like friendship and love of nature. Innocence was deftly portrayed, and the characters of Mary Lennox, Dickon, and Colin Craven were like reflections of our own selves when we were still young.
The most audacious sequence in the film involved Colin Craven being blindfolded, having a game with Mary and Dickon in the secret garden, and was discovered by his father, apparently walking with his own feet. This scene alone gives us a lasting impression about how important hope is and what magic does it bring. And when Mary runs away and cried "Nobody wants me!", she felt the pang about the pains of life, when at the start of the film, she ultimately confessed that there is one thing she still didn't learn in life and that is to cry. The line "You brought life to us when nobody ever did" spoken by his Uncle Craven, put things in a magical way and restored the sense of belongingness and family.
I love this film, and families around the globe should watch it too. This is one of the best family films of all time. This is a very simple film, but it has the power to change the wrong things in us.

Rating: A+

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.
Speaking about originality, the credits go to the director, Milos Forman, and its screenplay by Petter Shaffer. Its direction is marvelous and helming a picture as this requires an abundant patience and intricate detrmination to carefully bring out the scenes, until they all roll into a recognizable pattern - a horrible yet almost beautiful story behind a man's madness into his own ambition and dreams. Also, its own writing and dialogues accompanies a fantastic study within a man's behaviour, particularly about his own obsession for a certain skill that in all the world he couldn't have.
What was awesome was that the film didn't shed the main limelight to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - but although he was the main reason for the existence of this film. Instead, the film centers on the character of Antonio Salieri, a venerated court composer serving the line of the French Royals, especially Emperor Joseph II. It all revolved around this man, the very man who dreamed to become great, who dreamed to be the greatest musical genius that ever lived - yet lacked that certain spin-of-the-destiny skill that was graced to the legendary Mozart. For the very time I have seen the film and watched the first sequence, one would really believe that the old man you would see speaking would be Mozart himself, but no, it was a terrific formula that the director to mislead you at the beginning.
So to study Atonio Salieri, he was the man who had envied Mozart's skills, who secretly hates everytime he would play in the public, who would want to do anything to stop this musical genius for ever. In this film, this kind of madness was wonderfully portrayed and F. Murray Abraham did an astounding job at that. He gives subtlety to Salieri, who dwells in his own obsession with great control and sometimes with a wicked eye and grace. One of the best scenes in the film was when Salieri was applauded by the Emperor for composing such a lovely piece for Mozart's arrival, but when the Emperor challenged Mozart to play Salieri's piece, he received it with a smile and said that he had already memorised the "sequence with a tune that goes over and over again".
Another thing that made this picture a delight was that they did not depict Mozart to be a perfect figure of the Renaissance, that musical man who captured perfection of the Marriage of Figarro, and the Requiem, but instead depict him as a loony, clownish jokester with such a sharp, girlish laugh. He's almost like a lampoon, and not the genius who lives by notes and chords all by his life. He does not take life seriously and his presence was made as though he was filled with innocence, such an ironic twist to Salieri's contemptuous character. All played brilliantly by Tom Hulce, who received a nomination for this heavenly mess he had made.
Watch Amadeus, it is a good film. No. A great film. It also serves as a psychological insight and study about man's intuitions and behaviour. It carefully and strategically bisects a man's obsession, its development and its own impending doom. Not only that, Amadeus is a carefully constructed film, noteworthy is its deepest sense. I just adore how the film was able to bring out the cunning evolution of the characters and the story's own prudent progression from ambition, to obsession until the man's own downfall.

Rating: A

There are 3 reason why we should watch this film: 1) judging by the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, which this film is based upon, Northern Lights (UK title) or The Golden Compass (US title), it is a magnificent children's literature and has a stunning story; 2) this is directed by Chris Weitz, the helmer of the film About A Boy - and 3) it has Nicole Kidman in it - apparently has all the reason in the world on why we should watch her films. So here it is, the very first official picture of His Dark Materials with the thespian herself, playing the beautifully evil Mrs Coulter. This is also stars the newcomer, Dakota Blue Richards as the story's main heroine, Lyra Belacqua of Oxford. Daniel Craig also stars as Lord Asriel. So excited... if this would be done right, then it would mark a new taste for the fantasy genre, I best hope.