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Imaginaerum (2012)
Decently made, beautiful, dark and cryptic movie that will satisfy the hardcore fans of the Finnish band Nightwish
Imaginaerum is a movie made especially for you if you are either into Gothic-cum-symphonic rock or a hardcore fan of the Finnish band Nightwish. Either way, this musical fantasy directed by Stobe Harju is a complete adventure of fantasy that deals with heavy presence of artsy music, concepts, natures and themes. In Imaginaerum, a coma sends an elderly Thomas Whitman into his childhood's sinister fantasy world – a place so dark and so mystical that it was influenced by his tormented past of losing both his parents and his beloved wife. As he suffers from severe dementia, the disease has regressed him into childhood and he practically remembers nothing about his adult life. Slipping further into coma and nearing death, Thomas must fight his dementia by seeking clues and memories inside the fantasy world while his estranged daughter Gem struggles to recover the bond she once had with her father in the real world, before it is all too late.
This artsy Gothic-fantasy will definitely leave you breathless for sensible story and ultimately many will find it confusing. The movie starts out like something you would have watched from Tim Burton's classics or from the canvass of Salvador Dali. For starter, the first act touches on the boy's issues, which culminating into steady plot- building that allows the audience to start tying up and gaining a clearer picture by the time the movie enters a crucial third act. There are several amazing scenes which are equipped well with strong artistic works and emotional journey attached to it. The scene where Thomas discovers the death of his father and him pushing his daughter away is ingeniously made and filmed. But occasionally, the plot also runs into rabbit holes that stumbles the pacing. Casual moviegoers would be left to ponder about the need for the plot to be cryptic, something that you really need to think and to suck into the movie to really enjoy it. But as Thomas digs more into his pasts, the plot starts to make a whole lot more of senses as it progress thus beginning to ditch away those vague and hazy intentions.
The metaphorical world is built up beautifully thanks to some strong images and sceneries that make use of the limited budget to portray some great but otherwise dodgy effects. Along the great cinematography work, the music and score companion courtesy of the elements from Nightwish's vocal and soothing rock tunes are the greatest rewards for both the audiences and fans, which justify the moods of the story. However, the only thing that holds this movie a few notches backward is the effective character development. Some of the characters are under-served and restricted, while there are also abruptly contrived just for the purpose of they should be there. Even when the characterization is somewhat short in some angles, the problems does not affect the emotion nevertheless.
The Wolverine (2013)
There still can't get it right!
While it embarks a different path by distancing itself from the disastrous origin movie, this new Logan adventure is equally abysmal with its plot. While it is difficult to rank where this movie stands among the entire whole X-Men universe, one thing for sure is that it improves marginally over the 2009 movie but that is not entirely great news. The refreshing setup in the Land of Rising Sun is intriguing enough as it envisions an epic battle between Wolverine and Silver Samurai in the climax.
However, the plot is all too familiar, weak and pointless. The struggle of the titular character over his abilities is portrayed in the similar generic question of whether these are the gift or the curse – probably Hollywood will need new ideas after this. It is not like we have not seen it before because The Wolverine follows the exact same textbook in the chapter about story. The plot is also very predictable from end-to- end, occasionally illogical and unnecessary, while there are also plenty of side stories that are not closed properly. The writers somehow fail to give much satisfying or proper explanations to some of it. For instance, we will never truly comprehend the motivations of the main villain (which I find his excuses as lame) or how it is even possible that adamantium claws can be cut (mind you, this metal is as superior as vibranium, yet it cuts like nobody's business). The third act is a major hubris in providing a good climatic comic book action, for reasons I find it puzzling enough and this comes to show they still cannot get Wolverine right as a standalone movie package.
In addition to the flaws on the plot, the movie also lacks in key character development. Probably because it is a movie about Wolverine, but it does not necessary mean that most of the characters are stripped down to thin-wafer identity. Yes, this is still the Wolverine we loved and Hugh Jackman nails the character as he always does. Even if there are some developments on the Japanese characters, mostly are done with hollow rounds of emotion attached to it. Shingen Yashida whose role supposed to be big is nothing more than a douche-dad. Viper has zero development. Yukio becomes the unwanted sidekick while the biggest disappointment of all has to be Kenuichio Harada whose also supposedly big role is gutted down to a poster boy behind the relationship between Wolverine and Mariko. Speaking of which, the romantic relationship between Wolverine and Mariko Yashida is very weird and unnatural.
The Wolverine is one of the few movies that make me go berserk because they simply destroyed the movie as much as possible and the hype it builds. The only thing I find it exceptionally good is some of the action sequences although they mostly are bloodless and comes way too short to satisfaction. Got to admit, the bullet train scene is engaging, and the same can be said when Yukio battles Shingen in a samurai- swashbuckling scene. Otherwise, they are not inventive enough yet arrive at the right moment when we want one.
In the end, The Wolverine is a sub-par and generic comic book movie that finds itself the burden to outdo its predecessor way to heavy. The faults in the plot are that it is incredibly cliché, pointless and illogical all combined to top with the absolute lack in character and emotional developments.
Turbo (2013)
Turbo is just another mediocre animation
Turbo is a semi-decent original non-sequel animation that draws from various inspirations. The main antagonist and the final showdown on the last lap reminiscent Talladega Nights. As silly as its premise may sound, it is still nevertheless refreshing to a certain extent. It is unfortunate that Turbo is also running on the same treadmill of weak writing, lack of heartfelt moments with its less than inspiring story. With the lack of effective chuckles, I realize that the story is not only cliché and formulaic, but also depressing at times. While the whole plot deals much on the commonly issue of achieving dreams, it spends most of the time debating and arguing the virtue and goal, a clash between the optimism with pessimism.
It is now clear that Turbo will not be able to bring anything refreshing on the table, what's more a clear and strong message that could touches the heart due to the lack of emotional investment. Saved probably for one particular scene when Chet approaches Theo on a crow to give advice – but that comes way too late in the running time. Even when Turbo decides to focus all of their attention on the cliché and less inspiring plot, Turbo is still a technical achievement on its own merit. This animation is visually stunning and beautifully lit, emerging better than some of the animations this year. Great musical scores and music pieces accompany the movie but it would not go much further since much of itself is already underwhelming. Turbo is partially saved by some interesting characters of varying backgrounds that transcends across ethnicity and ages.
In the end, first time director David Soren's Turbo is a mediocre animation that has some great concepts and talented voice castings to boost the varying and interesting characters but only to be underwhelmed by its own weak script, repetitive and cliché plot elements as well as lack of emotional invested to deliver a strong message in the end.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Guillermo del Toro's passion on kaiju works as the apocalypse is canceled
In the typical summer movie season where reboot, remake, sequel and adaptation are easily available and predominantly form the bulk of new releases; the arrival of the lesser form of those or original movie is always something eagerly been looking for. Although Pacific Rim does not entirely fit to be defined as original, but the lack of reference to any established property makes this a distinguished piece of summer blockbuster. But doubts are definite since this genre seldom produces a sell-out blockbuster and brilliant outcome to begin with, while excitements are also running high since Pacific Rim is presented by director Guillermo del Toro whose works mainly deal with smart horror and sci-fi. At the end of this review, we will see whether this movie is a worthy experience movie for every dime you spent or it merely falls into the same pit holes of over-hyped summer blockbuster.
To debate the originality of the concepts presented in Pacific Rim and to mix it among the handful of monster movies is pointless and unnecessary. The credits to be due here are that Pacific Rim is both homage to the classic kaiju films and also serves to revitalize the interest and outlook of this genre to the new generation. Del Toro's affection to monsters is not much a secret nowadays and it is perhaps for those affections that bring in the sole reason of why Pacific Rim will not be a disappointing movie. While most of the other similarly themed movies will opt to go for loud actions with empty shells, del Toro gives more emphasize on the characters building but he does not completely obliterates the need for those big sequences. The fights are loud-yet-beautifully grasped in a cross-path of conventional flow and modern touch of chaotic, erratic behavior. Constantly offered in a long duration of stereoscopic macro-shots, these physical scenes are handled well and more sharply-focused than, let's say the Michael Bay's Transfromers trilogy.
Unlike most of the summer offering that gives only the dumb-yet-fun popcorn flick, Pacific Rim takes audience into the fiery future of dangerous world and enhanced it with great surging interest on both sciences and humanity. The plot, scribed by Travis Beacham and del Toro, is carefully constructed to balance between the emotional journey that connects the pilots through the neural-handshake and the related arc stories that contribute and influence each other. The prologue is a very detailed account that requires deep analysis of how this tragedy affects the daily lives of more than 7 billion people around the world as it works the same way as how World War Z introduces their own problem to the mass. Fortunately, the well-made prologue does not go wasted as the progression of the story quickly ascends into a tale of not only about the mecha-kaiju fight, but also a fight against their demons. The slight wrinkles, though are the cliché and predictable plot all along.
The concept of neural bond, according to del Toro, is the single most important signature of the movie, a point of which I fully agree and largely portrayed. Neural bond offers a glimpse of the relationship and shared-cognitive state that offers more than just a scientific answer. Becket's struggle to overcome the pain of losing his own brother is as remarkable as the memory of Mori's when she was just little girl, lost in streets of Tokyo and experiencing the terrors. It is surprising indeed as the marketing trailers did not highlight this point but the manifest in the end product clearly shows how the character study and development actually form the basis of the story. Hunnam's Becket, Kikuchi's Mori and Elba's Pentecost, in my opinion are the emotional anchors and effectively making these characters something to care for in the end of the day. To be expecting cardboard development or acting on the characters are entirely wrong because one who is familiar with del Toro's works will know that he gives each of his character a throughout and equal package. Then try having this little girl whom I am sure will have a bright future. Her name is Mana Ashida and she plays the young Mori with decorative expression, a moment that really jerks the inner- self to emotion flow.
Along with some cool effects and inspirational designs, the music scores by Ramin Djawadi whose works are prominent in Iron Man, Game of Thrones and Person of Interest is truly phenomenal. My vote goes to Djawadi for the best soundtrack of the year. The effects are amazing, although over- ambitiously crafted but it enhances the whole movie into a larger scale. The challenge for Pacific Rim is to outdo the artistry perfection that rarely presented in the modern and contemporary summer flick, what's more in kaiju movie as such.
In the end, Pacific Rim is an excellent, well-made and beautiful sci-fi action flick that pays homage to the genre with its solid plot that transcends above the norm themes and philosophy with ample development of the characters that we will eventually care for. Guillermo del Toro marries the traditional and modern filmmaking with effective the emotion-driven story, outstandingly focused special effects and epic soundtrack.
Dead Man Down (2013)
Satisfactory neo-noir drama from all angle
From someone who did enjoy Fringe, a science-fiction theme television series with a cult hit and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an international crime thriller adaptation of one of the best-selling novels; Dead Man Down is an intriguing movie that shares both connections. Fringe's writer J.H. Wyman scripts this movie while director Niels Arden Oplev goes back behind the camera following the wild success of Dragon Tattoo. While the result of the combination is vague, it is surprisingly also a strong movie that reminiscent good old 60's or 70's crime drama. The movie carries the neo-noir work with satisfaction.
The criminal kingpin Alphonse Hoyt (Terrence Howard) has been receiving numerous deadly threats from an anonymous source for almost three months now. During the shoot-out with a rival Jamaican gang whom he believes responsible, Victor (Colin Farrell) saves his life and gains Alphonse's trust. But when the continuing threats on Alphonse become even bigger and more intense, Darcy (Dominic Cooper), a man within Alphonse's crew and Victor's best friend, is determined to investigate the real source of the threats. By following several leads, Darcy discovers that the threat may have something to do with a Hungarian named Laszlo Kerick whom Alphonse's crew has killed almost two years ago. In the same time, Victor's path comes across with a mysterious woman, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) who lives in the apartment across from his with her mother.
While the movie suffers from sloppy pace, the plot build-up is efficiently stroked and created to culminate with a bigger and satisfying reward. The revenge drama started out slow and burdening thick in essence but nevertheless, is explored well on many angles. The thriller justifies the early plot twist with powerful characterization, raw but immersive emotion and romance. Even when the plot seems a little absurd at times, Wyman manages to carefully insert precious details and clues, as well as ample gritty and dark tones at the right place. While the plot could have done a better job than merely just piloting the story through to the end, the real strength comes in the form of characterization. Wyman and Oplev shape the two leads with perfection – Victor and Beatrice are introduced with sufficient emotional-driven motivations and goals from the past. The scene involving the two staring each other at the balcony of their apartment evokes a sense of romance that marries into this revenge drama with subtlety.
In the end, Dead Man Down delivers a compelling revenge and crime drama; which is effectively dipped with recognizable neo-noir flavour and good character study, but its sloppy pace and burdening plot derivation could be a huddle for some.
Man of Steel (2013)
There is nothing "Nolan" about this movie
Man of Steel marks a very critical moment for the future of comic book adaptation. It is essentially a Superman franchise's reboot that may possibly pave way for a finally materialized DC's version of superheroes assembling flick - a much waited Justice League movie in the future. DC Comics put two odd names together – one is Zack Snyder, a director whose career fluctuates from the height of 300 to the low of Sucker Punch, while on the scribble side is Christopher Nolan, whom is gaining acclaimed traction as a creative storyteller and filmmaker behind the hit titles like Inception and the recently concluded Batman trilogy. When the two great minds come together on a path such as this, the stake for an ultimately satisfying re-imagination of the popular iconic superhero is at all time high. Unfortunately, the answer that I hope for does not materialize as the pair fails to come out with better game plan.
The opening prologue is mostly a rich but bloated introductory story that sets in Krypton, only to be savoured by some channeling emotions. The deterrent on the early part of excitement happens when Zack decided to share his newly-found obsession with lens-flare and shaky camera works; which are very annoying at times. The flashbacks that pursue after the long prologue are thrown in a mixing bag that jumble around the life events of Clark across three different period of time, which could be critically tedious to follow. But even as the flashbacks are intertwined in a non-order fashion, this is the strongest asset for the movie that is workable due to the raw emotional continuity and solid performances from Kevin Costner, Diane Lane and Russell Crowe. The particular scenes when the young Clark Kent first learn about his superhuman ability and even try to save his classmates, proved to be an effective origin story to be told. Hence, in Man of Steel, the exploration of Clark Kent's childhood is well executed and best comparable with the exploration of the earlier days of Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins.
Eventually, these lead up to the modern-day story as Clark finally learns about the need for him to uphold a responsibility and the fate he is given, to guide and to protect the mankind. Of course, General Zod is already scheming to take over our world. But what we have seen in the prologue and flashbacks are not transpired well in this part of the movie, as if this movie is written from two different points of view. As it goes along, the plot is evidently becomes weaker, incoherent and unoriginal with the story thereafter been virtually non-existent. All the decent setups we have enjoyed so far in the flashbacks are pretty much restricted and wrapped with underwhelming experience. The biggest disappointment is when all the textbook remarks that Jonathan Kent and Jor-El have ever taught to the young Kal-El/Clark Kent, are poorly resonate in his ultimate adventure as Superman.
While Henry Cavill does his job well by donning the role much better as compared with Brandon Routh's poor attempt in Superman Returns, his performance is still stiff. Amy Adams' role as the plucky reporter, Lois Lane is enjoyable and rewarding, but still lacks some interesting on- screen chemistry with Clark. Michael Shannon's General Zod is also wonderfully displayed with effective display of rage and insanity, but still underdeveloped. The decision to field mostly recognizable talents like Richard Schiff, Lawrence Fishburne and Christopher Meloni for the supporting roles is also wasted, as their characters are pretty much a cardboard. Hence, if you are interested or expecting some characters study, you will be likely to be disappointed.
The wild obsessions of Zack Snyder in handling the action sequence proved to be annoying-yet-interesting. The special effects are handled well and made to the full use by highlighting the nature and the powers possessed by Superman. But alas, the shaky camera works and Abrams'- wannabe styles (lens flare and zoom-in-pan-in) which are all been used excessively to the point of overblown is clearly an understatement. The gigantic fight between Kal-El with Zod or even with the fem-me fa-tale Faora (Antje Traue) mimics the Neo vs Smith in The Matrix Revolution in a giant landscape, each punching and kicking like nobody business across the entire city. What makes this fighting scene less enjoyable than let's say, The Avengers, is that the scene in Man of Steel requires large scale of punching someone across the city, instead of staying local.
On the paper, Man of Steel possesses big opportunity on all areas. The expertise of Christopher Nolan in producing and contributing idea for the plot, having a visionary filmmaker like Zack Snyder on the helm and David S. Goyer on the scripting department go ultimately wasted. The attempt to emulate the success of Batman Begins in rebooting the franchise is pretty much misfired and not satisfactory as there is nothing "Nolan" about this movie. Man of Steel ends up been a sham for a hyped comic book movie (CBM) which is troubled by overblown CGI, out-of- control action sequences, moderate character-building, poor character study, useless supporting casts and a very weak story line despite having an excellent flashback to explore the origin story, endeavoring but amazing emotion and memorable performances. Nevertheless, it is still a good movie to watch.
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Not an Ode of Joy you wish it is
John McClane is back for another round of 'hard to die' movie - for the fifth time and now he goes international in Moscow, Russia. Sure, the last one was pretty much swayed from the original cowboy Yippee Kay-Yay movies, but changing the scenario to suit the modern technology seems fit. DC's round of non-stop counter cyber-terrorism looks fun. But is this trip of our favorite hot-headed foul-mouthed tough New York detective to Russia does the same job of delivering loud kick-ass action with a ride of fun as usual, or does it succumb to a tiring piece of repetitive actions?
Russia plunges into crisis when a trial of the former billionaire Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch) becomes a subject of political scrutiny and national threat. Matter complicates when Jack (Jai Courtney), the estranged son of John McClane (Bruce Willis) is implicated in a murder of one of Chagarin's (Sergei Kolesnikov) associates. The whole trial is a setup by Chagarin to cover-up his illegal WMD manufacturing. As John arrives in Moscow to see his son, his untimely visit turns into a chaotic one, joining force with his son to protect Komorov from possible political assassination staged by Chagarin.
It is unfortunate because A Good Day to Die Hard is not exactly the Ode of Joy you will expect. I do love the past movies - all four in the franchise. Even the fourth one is enjoyable and possesses enough punching and ass-kicking moments. It is evident that the last installment paves for some sensible direction but this is not really the case. The plot is convoluted, heavily relied on twists and not thrill to pace the motion. Surely it does retain the old funky one-liners, fun actions and ridiculously insane set-up, but it fails to deliver an ultimately high satisfaction. Casual movie-goers will likely to find this movie fun but those familiar with the franchise will immediately notice more problems within it.
As much as the scope of the story goes wider into a foreign territory, the scale of action and story goes the other way round, unfortunately. Skip Wood (The A-Team) gives McClane & Son a smaller adventure to tackle with, something that also lacks a proper punch and real excitement. Things also get toned down pretty much with the writer resorts to use plot with high preference for recycling cliché materials and elements from the Cold War, resulting a totally predictable showdown of the third act. With the exception of the first act which has intriguing fast-pace car chase in the streets of Moscow, the other action set pieces are rather grounded, less ambitious and lack of punches. In fact, some of the shaky camera works well at some specific time but also been distracting when it is unwisely over-used.
All in all, A Good Day to Die Hard is a passable action flick that will unlikely to win over those who are familiar with the franchise; but even with the recycled plot and raw set pieces, it still save us with little fun to savor.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Not bad for this round of witch hunt!
When Hansel and Gretel were young, they have seen a lot. Abandoned by their parents, nearly died from the past encounter with the evil witch and surviving the terrors are just part of their growing up process. Many years later, the sibling (Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton) who has earned plenty of remarks for their witch bounty-hunting, is back in the German town of Augsburg. The mayor of the town recruits them to investigate recent high witch activities in the area. Their investigation leads them to uncover the evil witch Muriel's (Famke Janssen) plan of sacrificing the local children for the "Blood Moon" ritual. Racing against in time, the sibling must save the children or the evil wizard will gain a step closer to immortality.
Directed by Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow), this twisted folklore is basically a letdown. With the help of the movie trailer, we have already seen how cheesy this movie is going to be. And the trailer is dead spot-on in regards to this issue. I am not sure if this movie is an attempt to incarnate previous failed legendary fairytale (read Red Riding Hood, Hoodwinked II, Van Helsing and The Wolfman) or this is something to laugh about in the next few weeks. But on the surface, this movie looks like a fast-paced ridiculous action flick that should do well by keeping its pace timely-well and minimizing the bumpy parts. Of course, I love this sort of "enthusiastic" action at times. In fact, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters delivers a pure goofy yet throughout entertaining popcorn flick.
While the action sequences involving punching, kicking and shooting arrow are genuinely intimidating, the movie possesses a lot of trouble of trying to avoid the aforementioned bumpy parts. The plot, written by The Harpers and Wirkola, is not doing a serviceable job of setting things into a good clock-motion. It does not justify the need to provide these characters with essential and believable background to build the character later, leaving a paper-thin characterization to follow. Another flaw in this movie is the plot inconsistencies which also lead to some plot holes. For an example, I was particularly baffled by the fact that the evil witch sort of announcing that her name is not worthy to be mentioned by everyone, yet I lost track of when the other characters happily called her name out – how ironic.
Even with the hollow writing to feel in, Wirkola has proved himself a capable man to stop this movie from going spiral downward even further. Also noted is the positive side of the movie where he does some commendable job of delivering enough blood and splatter, dark sense of comedic relief and fashionable action.
Dark, twisted and contemporary take of the popular Grimm's folklore, "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" is essentially a not bad fast-paced popcorn flick filled with inconsistencies, poor characterization, hollow writing but not without some decent fight scenes, splatter fiesta and mediocre entertaining bounty hunting.