Short Film Reviews

A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
Featuring: Ben Stiller, Dick van Dyke, Carla Gugino
Brief Synopsis: When a security guard works his first night at the museum, rather unexpected things happen.

Comments: Ben Stiller films should always be taken with a pinch of salt (err not literally). Even more so if you've seen the trailer. The film is a once only affair because after you've seen all the jokes, there is no element of surprise any more. If you've nothing better to do, this film is averagely amusing (I heard my companion laugh out loud several times). There's a million cameos with some of them working well and others rather not (the tiny men - no no no). However a little bit of credit to the Malaysian audience - they did laugh at Ricky Gervais after a while.

Thing to learn from this film: All publicity is good publicity.
Rating: 4.5/10

CASINO ROYALE
Featuring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen
Brief Synopsis: Well James Bond has to stop some evil villain from taking over the world / getting enough money to take over the world (although the US have proved it's hard enough just to take over Iraq so why a madman thinks he can do better, I don't know).

Comments: There should never be too much expectancy with a James Bond film. After all it's a summer blockbuster type of film (even though this was released in the winter!) with spy tension, beautiful women (which they cut out of the Malaysian version so I have no idea about the role of the Italian woman), amazing gadgets in fast cars, chase scenes, fighting during chase scenes, a little bit of torture which he will somehow get out of (fantastically parodied in one of The Simpson episodes) and a happy ending. Well this is pretty much the film had but it was fun most of the time. However the ending was ridiculously drawn out in the effort to give us a twist but I felt it spoiled the film a little.

However most of the hype and talk revolved around the Daniel Craig being a blond Bond. I felt he did a decent enough job as cool, suave, heroic, vulnerable and humourous. I don't really understand why there is so much talk about it - he's going to Be Bond anyway so just sit down and enjoy the film! They can't bring back Connery, Dalton or Brosman so why bother discussing it. I can understand it if you want to talk about whether Bush/Blair makes a good president/prime minister but fictional characters?

Things to learn from this film: The doctor I went to see this with has no idea why he drank salt water when he got poisoned.
Rating: 6.5/10

THE DEPARTED
Featuring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg
Brief Synopsis: There's a cop in the Mafia and there's a Mafia member in the cop shop. Who will find who first?

Comments: It's based on Infernal Affairs and although I know you aren't supposed to compare them, I couldn't help it. Despite the fact that this is in my language (notwithstanding the few, ok very few, Chinese words I know), I prefer the Hong Kong version every time. Maybe I've been soft since I've been in Malaysia but this film seems incredibly graphic with its violence and language. The censors must have had fun with this film because the word "f*ck" and its derivatives are said 237 times throughout the film (thanks imdb.com) and this is detrimental to the film because when such a word (however distasteful it may be) is deleted so many times, the flow of the film is cut 237 times too. I also feel that the 'stolen microchips' plotline is a little bit, well, rubbish in all honesty. Could they not think of anything better? And I constantly found myself a bit bored at different times in the film too.

So you have a film that is choppy copied from a film which is already one of your favourites with severe violence on screen. Are there any saving graces? Well I suppose the characters were ok but the Matt Damon and DiCaprio (and I like them both as actors) almost seem too young for these roles - they look like boyish people when I feel they should be more hardened. The older ones seemed more realistic with Jack Nicholson pulling off an evil Mafia boss to great effect. So maybe, the way the film was directed wasn't to my liking - I never did see Scorsese's Gangs of New York - but I imagine with the stories about the level of violence, it might have similar levels to this. It just seems too gratuitous.

Maybe it's a bit unfair to grade a film that has been censored but you can only say what you see. My advice? Get yourself a copy of Infernal Affairs.

Things to learn from this film: The way to get the Mafia's respect is to beat the cr@p out of someone. Err but you better be careful who you choose!
Rating: 5/10

Brief Synopsis: Two rival magicans go head to head to find the ultimate magic trick which leads to fairly disasterous consequences.

Comments: Frankly the poster looks terrible. The synopsis doesn't sound remotely thrilling. But the film is certainly worth watching because the two lead characters are pretty enthralling. The director, Christian Nolan, does a magnificant job of building up the suspense and even though the timeline jumps back and forth, you are never confused about where you are in the film. Mr. Jackman and Mr. Bale's characters descend into revenge and madness in their attempts to outdo each other and without telling you the whole plot, it isn't done in a mad nor distasteful manner but in a serious manner with which you can sympathise. Michael Caine, as ever, does a very reliable job as an assistant and in a way links the characters together with his worldly wisdom.

It's difficult to write much about the film without giving much away but ignore the poster and watch it because it is worth your time. It's much better than your average Hollywood blockbuster where you can already make a standard guess at the plot and the ending - and usually end up right! You'll never guess the ending of this one...