#10. THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Yes, this film is frustrating, teeth-gnashing, with a longeur that extends to inhuman lengths of cinema-viewing, mostly resulting to erratic groaning, bum-numbing, and asking your seatmate when will the picture ever end running. Some reckon they've sat for over a week watching this. But behold! After the dark pit that we scuttle through, finding the light in the foyer of the cinemas, it would suddenly hit rock-bottom that THERE WILL BE BLOOD cannot be underestimated - for within its core is a disturbing, haunting, elegiac caricature of a metaphorical character that is Daniel Plainview, a ragged-silver-miner-turned-oil-mogul and gets blinded by wealth and greed. The ethos of the film takes a while to sink its teeth to your skin, but when it does, it stays and it reconciles with the portrait of the modern day America, a country burning in desire of power yet blinded with greed and corruption. It's a complex film that would raise eyebrows of the masses, but tug the reverence of the critics. It may enfeeble your bum, but oh boy, does Paul Thomas Anderson's superb direction transcends and Daniel Day-Lewis's performance flares like the burning oil tower itself.

#9. THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

In the summer crammed with so many three-quels, most of which are all leftist, convoluted, and unfortunate failures, there is one that remained true to its promise. You Shreks, Pirates and Spideys ought to learn from the man named Bourne. This supposed-to-be last of the franchise (but they're making a fourth one now) is astonisingly realistic, heart-poundingly fast-paced, and so expertly executed you wish all thrillers are directed by the deft hands of Paul Greengrass. Whilst it holds an intricate plot, it doesn't stray to confusion and delivers instead an all-out intelligent punch. The scenes unnerve the senses and they build up with so much pressure; one supreme testament in the Waterloo Station chase, taken with an intense spontaneity, and also the breathtaking Tangier rooftops. It finally concludes that the man being chased by his own employers is actually in pursuit of himself. Hitch your breaths.

#8. SWEENEY TODD

Just like the titular character himself, this film is misunderstood by many. Some see it as copious in length, tedious, difficult to watch, and embezzled with too much musical numbers. Those "some" never really seen the humanity deeply engraved at the heart of SWEENEY TODD. It's a deliciously dark, ghoulish, blood-lusty affair of a modernist Gothic. Not only does it offers gore, lavish, almost beautifully-shot flow of scarlet blood, nor it tells a tale of unfettered revenge - but it also serves as a cautionary tale of unchecked violence, redemption and blinded vengeance. Stark with stellar performances by the absolutely brilliant Johnny Depp, and the exquisitely understated Helena Bonham Carter, it's the auteur himself Tim Burton that really gives the film his most valuable impression. This tale could have never been better told, other than in the hands of the real Burton, making SWEENEY TODD one of the most Burtonesque film Burton could ever craft. Bloody hell. Literally.

#7. SUNSHINE

Without a doubt, 2007's most underseen, under-appreciated piece of cinema. Some have noticed it, some critics praised it, and some just buried it in stinkhole as another 'ambitious' sci-fi flick. Nonetheless, it is arguably one of the Brit-genius Danny Boyle's all-time greats. In his first foray into the genre of science-fiction, he definitely nails the genre, just as what he did to the zombie-genre of 28 DAYS LATER. While I'm not fanatical on sci-fi (even loathe it at times), SUNSHINE is a tremendous exception because it is visually a masterpiece, with the evident influence of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODDYSEY and Ridley Scott's ALIEN. The visceral beauty and spectacle of the former, and the primal fear and claustrophobia of the later, blended in an all-new concept involving our major star dying, with a crew of 8 in the journey to ignite it again. It also plays as a nerve-wracking thriller, all in emotional, psychological and even spiritual aspects. The film's ending is its only bum-note, but it's a riveting climax despite of that. SUNSHINE is just one hell of a spectacle to behold.

#6. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

2007's most divisive film, separating those who like it and those who don't. Like it or loathe it, there's no denying that ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is an ambitious piece of cinema that tries hard to revolutionise the convential way of visual storytelling. It certainly doesn't falls flat on face-first, as this film with good intentions comes with a fresh burst of cinematic colours, mirroring the times to which the tale represents, and at the very core of it, is an emblem of world's most needed element: love. It is infuriatingly inventive, frustratingly creative, and annoyingly true - all the irony present in the Revolution both in war, society, culture, art, and emotion. Telling a story out The Beatles songbook takes a flutter of rare inspiration, and pinning them down, making justice of the world's greatest band must have been an intimidating feat to achieve. Yet the result is a visual climax of a hundred orgasms, an artistic milestone. Julie Taymor has my bows, from the falling of strawberries in the warfields, to the voyeuristic splash of Warholian colours of the bus tour, the oddity of the circus, to the hippie clothings of the times, all set as backdrops to a tale of two lovers finding and discovering to what the world really needs.

#5. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

It can almost be considered a sin not to watch NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, for its a stunning, sheer apotheosis of fundamental, unadulterated filmmaking. The Coen brothers, here, are the quintessential Hollywood directors that base the entertainment on the audience's primal fear, the very crux of evil in the form of a heartless, merciless human. They capture their scenes is such careful precision as though every movement is calculated, measured and tuned to pitch-perfection, with characters absolved in their own humanities, defining the conflict of our destinies. This tale of the hunter, the hunted and the doomed reflects so much on the land of America, again, that it becomes a medidative portrait of what happened to the values that the old men has left the nation. The suspense becomes the thriller, the thriller becomes the drama, the drama becomes the life of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Javier Bardem rivets as Anton Chigurh, the cinematic villain to surely challenge Anthony Hopkin's Hannibal Lecter for a long period of time. But the film's transition to the unnerving chase movie to the quiet contemplation of humanity does this film excels the most.

#4. RATATOUILLE

And when everyone thought the Golden Age of Pixar has long been over, it comes out with another dish - with a delight. Who'd expected that a gross-worthy, eww-infested tale of a rat in a restaurant kitchen suddenly becomes a parable to those who dare to dream? With Pixar's technical brilliance, and Brad Bird's assured direction, RATATOUILLE is the perfect mix of entertainment, inspiration and slapstick fun - all served with a warm heart at its core. It may not be the most original tale in its department, a species of surprising origins, appearing so different to even his own species, being bullied, criticised, disparaged - it's nothing new. But RATATOUILLE makes sure it has its own distinct flavour, a masterclass panache of classic storytelling, almost as good as FINDING NEMO, and brimmed with such sophistication and cleverness. As common in most Pixar films, it's the message that really remains, "Anyone can cook but only the fearless can become great." Of course, metaphorically, it does make sense - with depth.

#3. ONCE

If you have seen JUNO and judged it as the "indie film of the year", then there's no point in betting my bollocks because apparently you haven't seen this indie extraordinaire with a bulging heart to boast, ONCE. Such a film that compelled Steven Spielberg to name it as filled with "enough inspiration and heart to keep my movie-viewing for a year", it's unquestionable why even the most unexpected man like Spielberg himself has his heart tugged by the strings of this film. This film's nothing to boast at visually, captured in unpretentious shaky camerawork, looking as though it hasn't got any budget at all, featuring two unknown leads, it's the most tantamounting archetype of all indies - but when the two leads open their mouths and sing their songs, expect it to shoot straight to your heart. This film has stolen my heart, and in its paradoxical nature, it appears with simplicity but burns with complexity deep within. Probably one of the most uniquely-made musicals, and anyone expecting straightforward melodrama will not find themselves consummated because the real dialogues are in the songs that they sing. A warm-hearted approach to the low-key cinema, but never fares as low-bro. In fact, this indie soars and gives a slice of life in its tale. What a beautiful film.

#2. THE LIVES OF OTHERS

This was last year's Best Foreign Film at Oscars, that film which sidestepped the fantastic PAN'S LABYRINTH. But technically, this is a 2007 film. After seeing it, it tells its truth with such ferocious power that it is indeed more deserving than Guillermo Del Toro's fantasy. It's the realism that holds THE LIVES OF OTHERS to the ground, and then springs into the consciousness of our own existence what it really means to be human. It is a brilliantly complex drama and at the same time a terrific thriller, nailed to the very end with a remarkable, power-punch of an ending that will have you breaking in tears. The late Ulrich Muhe delivers one of the year's finest performances as the tightly-collared, emotionally suppressed Stasi Captain Weisler, a character that was personally affected by the lives which he spies on, learning about the sacredness of privacy and the sacrifice of artistic souls and voices in the era that opresses them. It's emotionally devastating as it's intriguingly good. Don't underestimate the power of foreign film indeed, as this German film leaves a great memory, and will stick to your soul just what like the character of Oskar Schindler has left us with: the figure of goodness despite in the darkest of evils.

#1. ATONEMENT

The finest film of 2007. Gorgeous eye-watering cinematography, check. Resplendent, beautifully told story, check. Majestic, impressionistic direction, check. Carefully precisioned performances, check. Surrealistic, triumphantly inventive musical score, check. Rest assured, ATONEMENT hit all the right marks, with intelligence, bravery and boldness. Inarguably one of the refined British films that has been born into cinematic history, it bridges cultures, miles and classes in this tale of tragic doomed romance, once a fine and superb piece of literature by Ian McEwan, now a modern classic film by the excellent Joe Wright. The unfolding of the three-act tale, the Britishness of idyllic manorial household of the Tallises, the expanse and the toll of the war climazing in the breathtakingly executed Dunkirk rescue beach scene (probably the film's jewel in its crown, the five-and-a-half minute of exemplary aptitude of extraodinary filmmaking), to the redemption and atoning of Briony herself - it's all superbly crafted. A masterstroke move for Wright, imprinting himself with the most exciting British filmmakers alive right now. Plus the classical performances of the key actors, Knightley, McAvoy, Ronan, Garai and Redgrave, what is not to like? Nonetheless, it's the film's haunting ethos of childish misunderstanding that results to a lie that has caused repercussions to the lives of these characters, most especially the two ill-fated lovers. It is one of those films that as soon as the credits roll and having witnessed the tale, your heart is clenched and it will stay with you for as long as it's in your memory. A film that reaches the dreamland status of perfection. Filmmaking at its finest.

Catch you all again soon, next year. Let 2008 roll.

The Moviejerk (c) J.S.Datinguinoo

Brace your selves! The Golden Globes have rolled their golden balls, the Oscars have bestowed their naked statues, the Empire have awarded their glass bricks - now's the time for The Moviejerk to turn the limelight and cause the commotion of the movie nation by giving, er, nothing.. And I don't have top hats to give away, let alone lightsabers, so don't hope on it.

The Moviejerk Awards, with this year's tagline "Unstoppable. Unbeatable. Unbelievable.", will prove that awards need no sparkling, shimmering, slendid trophies to be given, but real honour to those who truly deserve the mentions of the year that was. Don't believe it. After all, The Moviejerk is a nobody in the industry... so might as well... you know...


The melodrama! The horror! The suspense! It's all here this coming 21st of March 2008, Friday - watch out for THE MOVIEJERK'S TOP 10 FILMS OF 2007, and the follow-up main event - THE MOVIEJERK AWARDS 2007.

Oh, by the way, it's not broadcasted in telly, in case you're wondering. This is probably the only body in the film industry who's literally broke. Charity donations for the less fortunate are welcomed. :p

Cast: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott Thomas

Director: Justin Chadwick

Screenplay: Peter Morgan

Running time: 1 hr 55 mins

Genre: Historical Drama



CRITIQUE:


Spare us the history, all we know about Anne Boleyn is that apart from being the second of the six wives of King Henry VIII, she was the first of them to have her head hacked off. Now THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL aspires to fill in the gaps of Anne’s her-story, about her sly to-ing and fro-ing in the Tudor court, beguiling men and besotting anyone that laid eyes on her, especially the King. However, funnily enough, we arrive on our senses and realise that this is not only Anne’s story, but also her lesser-known sister, Mary Boleyn, to whom the title enigmatically refers to. Yet this is another venture into historical drama, and historians, just like ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE’s historical inaccuracies present to which Jonathan Ross claims to have a story “as though ripped off from Wikipedia”, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL is by no means historically precise. To anyone who has read the novel of basis by Philippa Gregory will have their eyebrows raised on stakes that the book’s elder sister, which is Mary, becomes the younger one in the film. To serve the film’s purpose? Perhaps yes, as Mary’s character is taken as the central heart of the tale. We may not know if all that has been presented on screen really happened, but as long we stay grounded on the fact that this is a yarn of fiction based on history, it comes out as an intriguing, bodice-ripping, steamy and entertaining look into the 16th century England. The modernist THE TUDORS might have offered this already to the television audience, but THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL is a different take into the tale of the Tudor court, revolving around the tale of the two sisters.


It is set in the middle of the 16th century, when the whole nation’s future lies in the birth of a male heir. King Henry VIII’s wife, the Spanish Catherine of Aragon, could not bear a son, thus crumbling the prospect of the monarchy. Hope, nonetheless, exist in the sumptuous figures of the Boleyn nobility. It turns out that the younger, humbler and tender-hearted Mary (Scarlett Johansson) appealed to the King (Eric Bana), overshadowing the original prospect that was Anne (Natalie Portman), the cunning, manipulative, ambitious elder sister. What results is a series of bitchslapping – ahem, no actual slapping ensues, but a subversive battle between two hot foxes, winning the admiration of the King. What is more, when Mary’s son was declared to be a bastard (no wedding ceremony between her and the King), it was then Anne’s time to step into the spotlight, fresh from the royal courts of France, more pruned, more quick-witted and highly intelligent, she becomes the driving force of the film, the manipulating machine that gears the whole history forwards – only then to realise later the human in desperation and plea in her, a soul crying for clemency.


The film stumbles here and there, most especially in its too fast-paced editing that it jerks you to another scene that barely leaves you ‘sinking your thoughts’ from the last one. From that alone, the picture becomes almost unsympathetic. The absurdist dialogue from the Oscar-bagging Peter Morgan, who won Best Screenplay for THE QUEEN, is a panicky surprise with some unevenness in his script. The line thrown to Anne “Will you accept the challenge?” feels anachronistic, as though immersed in some sort of a game to be played. He redeems himself, however, in some of the film’s best parts, one in Kristin Scott Thomas banter that “Women are traded like cattle for the amusement of men”, or Scarlett Johansson’s quietly moving “She’s my sister, therefore other half of me”, and Natalie Portman’s distressed cry of desperation “My life depends on it!”.


THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL’s ace, meanwhile, lies of its perfectly casted set of actors. Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson ignites cinematic fire alight. The performances of these two actresses, inarguably two of the finest in their generation, are worth the main ticket alone. Johansson gives a sincere, understated generosity to the character of Mary, and still equally delivers a sultry aura through parted lips and shy smiles. Natalie Portman, in the interim, is a convincing embodiment of Anne Boleyn’s slippery morality; an intelligent portrait of a woman fed with opportunity and drives an ambition to her limits, making her the Queen of England, yet dissolves into devastation as she could not produce a male heir. Portman’s gestures in the court sparkle with wit, her frolicking with the King a furtive hint of a political strategist, and her quavering figure at the end pulls of a stunning character arc that would surely make you think straight that Portman is just perfect. Eric Bana as King Henry VIII has got some historical details wrong about him (he’s supposed to be a redhead), but still gives gravitas and weight to the role. Jim Sturgess as the only Boleyn boy, the sisters’ only brother is underused, but provides the necessary standing of the character.


But to reduce the whole film into a campy romp of two women fighting it out of who gets to be in bed with the King is a political sarcasm. If you look closer, there is the essence of the destiny of women being shaped and controlled under patriarchal decisions, the crumbling of relationships of siblings due to ambition, greed and the corruptive effects of power – all set in the times to which they live – more than just the surface of tantalising cleavages, heaving of bosoms, throwing of sultry looks, and sexy whispers. Oh, and it’s gorgeously photographed too.


THE FINAL WORD:


This is soap opera circa 16th century, the good girl and the bad girl set in the battle of b%$£#@! Nevertheless, it may be a flawed piece of filmmaking and inaccuracy of storytelling, it’s also an entertaining yarn into the Tudor intrigue, rooted by exceptionally, heart-poundingly brilliant performances by Portman and Johansson.


VERDICT: B+

Cast: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack

Director: Tony Gilroy

Screenplay: Tony Gilroy

Running time: 2 hrs

Genre: Legal Thriller/Drama/


CRITIQUE:


Anyone expecting a chutzpah of high-quality legal thriller in MICHAEL CLAYTON may seem to be consummated, but for those looking for exemplary filmmaking might just find their selves in the pedestrian category – you know, just like crossing a literal pedestrian in the street along with many people, it pushes you to walk fleetingly fast otherwise you’d get run over by the seriously-looking filmic vehicle. So as the film, so fleetingly fast, so no-nonsense, I-don’t-give-a-damn-to-your-intelligence-quotient corporate thriller, and so seriously grounded that you’d start asking why in the butthole everyone’s frowning in this flick.


Of course, if you wouldn’t know the story, you wouldn’t have a clue. George Clooney, in the sharpest of suits as though he literally stepped out an Esquire mag, plays the titular lawyer-cum-fix-it bloke stumbles into a legal mess of case. U North, a chemical company has been sued for poisoning, in result to the death of numerous farmers intoxicated by company’s product, and the first-class lawyer defending the lawsuit Arthur Edens (an arguably excellent performance by Tom Wilkinson, whose voice serves as an eerie voiceover at the beginning) goes screwed up in the brain department. In short, he’s becoming insane and cannot defend the case anymore. On the other side of the battlefront is the company’s smart-aleck wonder, Karen Chowder (a terrific Tilda Swinton), whose evil intentions are surreptitiously and almost untraceably hidden under her sharp suit wardrobe and steely and composed smile.


Looking for storytelling meat, present it is. But for panache, it is not. Anyone noticing the study on Clayton’s background subplot about his broken family, his child that he drives to school, his night gambling larking about, seemed to not have fully established visible threads of significance to the main driving plot. And that snobbish geezer at the beginning, who calls for Clayton to fix his shenanigan, after running over a random guy in the street, seemed to have been used as a plot device that would ensue to Clayton stopping over a barn and have a look at some amok horses. Oh, puhlease. Nevertheless, it’s got its own style, and the performance of Clooney is reliable, often disturbing in his character ethos, but just can’t quite escape the fact that he was playing a character who looked like, well, Clooney himself. It is, meanwhile, Tilda Swinton and her excellent gravitas that mostly steal the whole show away. It’s in her perfectionist self-possession at the beginning, to her unruffled looks, her whip-smart intelligence, and until her tremulous desperation at the end, falling to her knees that, quite ironically, made her rise and grab that Best Supporting Actress in the recently fêted Oscars.


THE FINAL WORD:


An overrated legal thriller in the vein of Grisham and a touch of Pollack himself, this Tony Gilroy debut effort is a satisfactory, and convoluted, romp into the messy corporate world of suing and defending. Thankfully enough, no court scenes for added heaviness, but certainly achieves the glimpse into the humans between the blackest of suits, making Tilda Swinton shines the better rather than Clooney’s titular character.


VERDICT: B

[As handed in to
Mr. Brendan Lennon
Reading Instructor
Kingston College
Book Review Assignment]



Probably the most essential skill a talented writer could ever possess is the ability to transform simple situations into extraordinarily pitch-perfect flow of narrative. Ian McEwan is an incontestable possessor of that talent. Already praised as one of the finest and most gifted British novelists alive, he does not rest on his laurels but rather keep on producing first-class novels and persists to be a writer of prolific proportions. One of his works, Atonement, arguably McEwan’s best work as many people reckon, is not only one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read in my life but is also stylised with such sheer storytelling panache that conjures images and details so lifelike. This alone is a reason why I have decided to peruse more of McEwan’s books, more particularly his latest effort, the already bestselling, widely-acclaimed On Chesil Beach, which is recently shortlisted for Man Booker Prize . Here, in his new novel, he again delves into the scope of a doomed, tragic romance just like Atonement, but while Atonement is an epic study on the corrosive power of lies and betrayal and how they affect the lives of the affected individuals, On Chesil Beach is a more subdued yet equally intelligent attempt to define the pure honesty of human conditions in a life-changing situation. However, thematically, the latter is more maturely-themed than the former.



The setting of the story is the year 1962 in the coast of Dorset, where a young newlywed couple, Edward and Florence, spend their honeymoon in a hotel near Chesil Beach. It is on this plot that McEwan draws an accurate portrayal of the awkwardness of a wedding night. These two central characters of the tale comes from different backgrounds, he a working-class university graduate, she a middle-class violinist with strict, principled upbringing, whose histories, fears, ambitions, and philosophy then collide with each other in the bursting matter of sexual intercourse, with differences barely discovered before. He seeks and wishes for consummation while she does not want to be touched and is ‘revolted’ from his merely ‘arriving too soon’. From the anxiety wrought during the dinner in the table, to the embarrassment and tension of the bedroom scene, and to the clash of egos in the titular beach as an aftermath of the wrecked honeymoon – it is all brilliantly invoked by McEwan’s word-perfect precision and clarity. It is, in fact, also embarrassing to read as it tackles certain subject matters which might appeal as taboo to some, but a 166-page novella about the agitation of a wedding night, becomes a deeper and haunting emotional tale. The careful study of characters delves deeper into the human psyche and grasps the cause of their conflicts by putting them against the backdrop of the times to which they live, between the conservative 1950s and the sexually liberal 1960s.



Then McEwan writes in passionate white-heat, compressing the whole stretch of the lives of the two characters after the ruinous wedding night into a tightly-written space of the last two chapters. Nevertheless, his prose remains graceful and in fact it is in the novel’s coda that he delivers the emotional blow of his story, as Edward and Florence lived the rest of their lives separate from each other, him living a hedonistic and sensually-charged life, her finding fulfilment in her violin quartet concerto, without both of them seeing each other, not once. McEwan, as proven, finds sensitivity in his simplest of lines, "That is how the entire course of a life can be changed - by doing nothing."



On Chesil Beach is a short yet a beautifully told tale. McEwan does not only offer a moving story but his trademark flair for writing also triumphs. This novel, told backwards and forwards through time, might be too detailed for his new readers, but it should not be an impediment to the sheer magnificence of his style, where every exquisite detail is squeezed out and every word builds up to a smooth flow of sophistication. It is of no wonder why this man is considered to be one of the finest geniuses working in the field of literature today, a true artiste, an engineer of the soul. And after all I have mentioned here, I could recapitulate everything what I have said to just five simple words: “I love On Chesil Beach”.



Rating: A