Saturday, August 21, 2004
COLLATERAL
Featuring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx
Brief Synopsis: An assassin gets a taxi driver to give him a ride.
Comments: So good that I watched it twice in the cinema in one week! A very typical Michael Mann film with fuzzy close ups, shaking camera movements combined with sweeping camera angles and overhead city shots which only helped to enhance the storyline and the characters played by the actors. Tom Cruise is excellent as the clinical assassin but Jamie Foxx outdoes him as he portrays the cab driver who lurches and adapts I-Ching style to each situation that is thrown at him. Possibly an Oscar for best supporting male? There does feel as if there might be a few plot flaws but it carries along in it’s gritty style that makes you concentrate on each scene as it occurs. One of my favourite films of the year.
Thing to learn from this film: Don’t lie to your mother. It will come back to bite you one day.
Rating: 9/10
Featuring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx
Brief Synopsis: An assassin gets a taxi driver to give him a ride.
Comments: So good that I watched it twice in the cinema in one week! A very typical Michael Mann film with fuzzy close ups, shaking camera movements combined with sweeping camera angles and overhead city shots which only helped to enhance the storyline and the characters played by the actors. Tom Cruise is excellent as the clinical assassin but Jamie Foxx outdoes him as he portrays the cab driver who lurches and adapts I-Ching style to each situation that is thrown at him. Possibly an Oscar for best supporting male? There does feel as if there might be a few plot flaws but it carries along in it’s gritty style that makes you concentrate on each scene as it occurs. One of my favourite films of the year.
Thing to learn from this film: Don’t lie to your mother. It will come back to bite you one day.
Rating: 9/10
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
I, ROBOT
Featuring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk
Brief Synopsis: A man appears to be killed by a robot which is not supposed to be possible due to the 3 laws programmed into them. Will Smith, as a police detective, tries to find out if it is true.
Comments: I unashamedly enjoyed this film despite its shortcomings. It ain’t going to win an Oscar but it was fun whilst I was there as the pace was always constantly pushing on to new things without leaving time to think about any possible loopholes. Will Smith cones across as a robot suspicious policeman well enough (although my wife might think to put him in a psychiatric clinic due to his paranoia) and probably enhancing his sex appeal with several I’m only wearing boxer shorts scenes. It was a throw away back to the detective films and it reminded me of Payback (starring Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman) in the way that the main protagonist was following the clues all over the place and Minority Report (Tom Cruise) in that they were both futuristic, featuring accused detectives and lot of robots. But I feel that this was probably better than both although I would prefer if you don’t tell Steven Spielburg!
Thing to learn from this film: Don't put robots in charge. Will people never learn the lessons from the Terminator series?
Rating: 7/10
Featuring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk
Brief Synopsis: A man appears to be killed by a robot which is not supposed to be possible due to the 3 laws programmed into them. Will Smith, as a police detective, tries to find out if it is true.
Comments: I unashamedly enjoyed this film despite its shortcomings. It ain’t going to win an Oscar but it was fun whilst I was there as the pace was always constantly pushing on to new things without leaving time to think about any possible loopholes. Will Smith cones across as a robot suspicious policeman well enough (although my wife might think to put him in a psychiatric clinic due to his paranoia) and probably enhancing his sex appeal with several I’m only wearing boxer shorts scenes. It was a throw away back to the detective films and it reminded me of Payback (starring Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman) in the way that the main protagonist was following the clues all over the place and Minority Report (Tom Cruise) in that they were both futuristic, featuring accused detectives and lot of robots. But I feel that this was probably better than both although I would prefer if you don’t tell Steven Spielburg!
Thing to learn from this film: Don't put robots in charge. Will people never learn the lessons from the Terminator series?
Rating: 7/10
Saturday, August 07, 2004
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
Featuring: Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi
Brief Synopsis: Essentially a love story, it traces the case of a girl caught mid assassination and her escape from the Imperial army.
Comments: First rule when watching Chinese films is to check if they have English subtitles. Settling with my wife on a couple’s chair for the first time (she was excited about seeing it), I knew I was in trouble after the first conversation, and spent the rest of the film like one of my English language students – trying to figure out what the heck is going on (and how good looking Zhang Ziyi really is). If it was in Cantonese I would stand a chance but as a mainland Chinese film, it was all in Manderin and well I would have better chances as a defender against Michael Owen!
Fortunately the plot moves along a comfortable pace but not understanding the conversations made it impossible to know what was really happening. However the fight scenes made up for the lack of plot understanding and were of a high standard, impressing me. All the main characters come across well enough but it seemed that the storyline wasn’t as tight as could be (after discussing the film with my better half who could at least read the subtitles).
Thing to learn from this film: Bamboo shoots thrown really hard are pretty damned dangerous.
Rating: 5/10
Featuring: Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi
Brief Synopsis: Essentially a love story, it traces the case of a girl caught mid assassination and her escape from the Imperial army.
Comments: First rule when watching Chinese films is to check if they have English subtitles. Settling with my wife on a couple’s chair for the first time (she was excited about seeing it), I knew I was in trouble after the first conversation, and spent the rest of the film like one of my English language students – trying to figure out what the heck is going on (and how good looking Zhang Ziyi really is). If it was in Cantonese I would stand a chance but as a mainland Chinese film, it was all in Manderin and well I would have better chances as a defender against Michael Owen!
Fortunately the plot moves along a comfortable pace but not understanding the conversations made it impossible to know what was really happening. However the fight scenes made up for the lack of plot understanding and were of a high standard, impressing me. All the main characters come across well enough but it seemed that the storyline wasn’t as tight as could be (after discussing the film with my better half who could at least read the subtitles).
Thing to learn from this film: Bamboo shoots thrown really hard are pretty damned dangerous.
Rating: 5/10
