Saturday, June 16, 2012

Adventures of Tintin (G) 7.5

The Adventures of Tintin (2011): ntrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor. (7.5)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish (screenplay); Hergé (comic book series)
Stars: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig

I had read, no, poured through the Tintin comics as a kid and I still own the entire set. It is a pleasure to see this movie that is so true to the comic drawings. The director and the animators have gone to great lengths to get it right. They must have used the comic books as the picture-boards for the movie. A lot of the time, when you watch a re-creation of something you remember as perfect from your childhood, you are disappointed; not in this case. This movie actually improves upon the original series. I Loved it.  Highly recommend this movie (and the comic book series). My Rating: 7.5

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Mars (R) 4.5

Mars (I) (2010): The discovery of life on Mars places a robotic expedition and a manned mission in a race to the Red Planet. On the way we discover that love - biological, spiritual, and even mechanical - can flourish in all kinds of ways. (5.2)

Director: Geoff Marslett
Writer: Geoff Marslett
Stars: Mark Duplass, Zoe Dean and Paul Gordon

One of the best worst movies I've seen. Its rotoscoped animation scenes are superb.  The story, the dialog, an all the others are pretty bad. This would be a wonderful candidate for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 if they ever resurrect that series again. Calling this movie sci-fi is an insult even to the the sci-fi B-movie genre. Is the story written by a 12-year-older? I suppose, it is good for a nice laugh at how much it sucks. My Rating: 4.5

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Big Fish (PG-13) 8.0

Big Fish (2003): A son tries to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories and myths he told about his life. (8.0)

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Daniel Wallace (novel), John August (screenplay)
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney and Billy Crudup

A different kind of a story about a man who tells tall tales.  This movie has everything; superb acting, a nice story, good cinematography, etc. etc.  'Nuff said.  My Rating: 8.0

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Stolen Life (R) 7.5

Stolen Life (2005) Sheng si jie 生死劫 : When Yan'ni starts college she believes she is embarking on a new life away from her family-and she is, but not the new beginning she anticipates. (6.8)

Director: Shaohong Li
Writer: Liao Yimei
Stars: Xun Zhou, Xiaoming Su and Jun Wu
Language: Mandarin (w/ English subtitles)

Filmed in documentary style, this movie depicts the underbelly of the modern-day Beijing. At times, it is so realistic, you have to remind yourself that this is a story. Then again, you get the sense that the story told here is not too far from the reality. The camera work, the directing, the use of (probably) the real-life surroundings in Beijing are great. The casting, specially that of Xun Zhou for the main character is superb in that she expresses the innocence and helplessness through her eyes and face. The final sequence is heart-breaking. My Rating: 7.5

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Between the Folds (G) 7.0

Between the Folds (2008): Depicts a cast of fine artists and eccentric scientists (from MIT and NASA) who have devoted their lives to the unlikely medium of modern origami. Through their determination to reinterpret the world in paper, they arouse a fascinating mix of sensibilities towards art, form, expressiveness, creativity and meaning. (7.7)

Director: Vanessa Gould
Writer: Vanessa Gould
Stars: Erik D. Demaine, Martin L. Demaine and Vincent Floderer

I thought that origami is just folds, straight edges and plane surfaces.  It is way more than that and this documentary shows that it is like sculpting with paper but with the origami rules (square paper, no cutting, no glue).  Some of the artists do use rectangular paper, but without that how do you make a long dragon with scales all folded with a single piece?  Wow, it is amazing what the artists can do with just flat paper.  And, there's science behind the whole thing.  My Rating: 7.0

Friday, June 8, 2012

One Fall (PG-13) 4.5

One Fall (2011): The story of a man who gains healing powers after he survives a 200-foot fall. (5.5)

Director: Marcus Dean Fuller
Writers: Marcus Dean Fuller (screenplay/story)
Stars: Marcus Dean Fuller, Zoe McLellan and Seamus Mulcahy

This movie has a very weak story. It is made even worse by lousy acting.  When the acting gets in the way of the storytelling, the emotions of the scenes leak out. The character of the annoying kid is supposed to bring humor, I guess, but it is just annoying. The conversations between any two characters are stiff and artificial. And, the story doesn't say much about the supposed super-power or how it works. In the end, in my opinion, this movie has very little going for it. My Rating: 4.5

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Cracking the Code of Life 6.0

Nova: Cracking the Code of Life (2001): The effort to decipher the 3-billion-letter human genome is one of the biggest stories in the history of science. (4.7)

Director: Elizabeth Arledge
Writer: Elizabeth Arledge
Stars: Robert Krulwich

This documentary is a look at the race between the publicly funded Human Genome Project and the private company Celera (here in Rockville, MD) to map the human genome sequence. It brings up the various issues such as patent implications of gene sequences, benefits and problems the gene cataloging might have in the future, etc. The technical aspects are not shown in very much detail, but this is presented in layman's terms so anyone can understand what it is that they are talking about and why it is important to study them. The whole episode is available at the Nova web site cracking the code.  My Rating: 6.0

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Island (PG) 6.5

The Island (2006) Ostrov (Russian: Остров): Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future. (7.7)

Director: Pavel Lungin
Writer: Dmitri Sobolev
Stars: Pyotr Mamonov, Viktor Sukhorukov and Dmitriy Dyuzhev
Language: Russian (w/ English subtitles)

This movie has that Russian-ness in trying to explore the inner demons in people's minds in isolated situations. According to the Wikipedia article about this movie, it also has a spiritual message. So, when I thought some scenes were hilarious, that was not the intent of the director, I suppose. Heh! Yes, it is full of Orthodox religious prayers and mutterings and that's probably why I really couldn't get into the mindset of the lead character. The acting by the lead was good. (Apparently, he converted to Orthodoxy and pretty much played himself; that's sad.) The scenery was beautiful. But for me, this movie didn't pull any heart-strings nor made me think too hard. My Rating: 6.5

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Flight from Death (PG) 7.5

Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality: Flight from Death is the first film to investigate the psychological The effects of death anxiety are embedded within everything we do across Flight from Death is the culmination of many years of research. (7.4)

Director: Patrick Shen
Writers: Greg Bennick, Patrick Shen
Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Sam Keen and Ron Leifer

From the second part of the title of this Documentary movie, I thought that this is going to be a look at the medical and scientific effort of people trying to achieve immortality. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is actually a look at the cultural aspects of (im)mortality and dying. The documentary is loosely based on the ideas of Ernest Becker and his book The Denial of Death. The gist of it is that when we are reminded of death, we try to extend ourselves, or be immortal, through what it familiar to us; that is to live an extension of ourselves through the culture that we belong to and our believe/faith system(s). We try to do this by denying those that are different to our own belief systems. So, yeah, this is a very interesting and fascinating look at death, how we deal with it culturally, and religiously. We are the only animals who can contemplate our own mortality and think about what to leave behind; yet, we are not all that civilized when it comes to dealing with this idea of dying. I think about death on a daily basis. I don't know why people think it is scary. But, apparently, because the death frighten us, we do all kinds of stupid things. This documentary is a must see for anyone who is going to die. My Rating: 7.5

Friday, June 1, 2012

The Personals (PG-13) 8.0

The Personals (1998) (Zheng hun qi shi 徵婚啟事): Can one really find love through the personals? A strong-willed doctor, Wu (Rene Liu), is about to find out after placing an ad. (7.2)

Director: Kuo-fu Chen
Writers: Kuo-fu Chen, Shih-chieh Chen
Stars: Rene Liu, Wu Bai and Chao-jung Chen
Language: Mandarin (w/ English subtitles)

This Taiwanese movie is quite funny, bittersweet and poignant. At the beginning, it is a humorous look at the desperation of not being able to find a mate, but gradually it becomes a look inwards and a reflection of self. The turning point is so subtle, that it is wonderful how it turns from being a silly preposition to a thought-provoking drama. An unexpected end, yet quite fitting. A very simple story told at the right pace and the perfect sequence. A great performance by Rene Liu as the lead character.  I highly recommend this movie.  My Rating: 8.0