Saturday, April 18, 2015

Thor: The Dark World

Thor - The Dark World poster.jpg

Loki is locked up and Thor with is warrior friends are forging a peace across the nine realms following the rebuilding of the Bifrost after the previous debacle. But the calm is not allowed to build as Dark Elves, who are thought to be obliterated eons ago are re-awoken by an unwitting Earthling. You are then treated to some heavy CGI magic and loads of hammer wielding Thor action resulting in an enjoyable shallow action flick. 

Rating: * * +


Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Taxidermia

Taxidermia FilmPoster.jpeg

You follow three generations of Hungarian men during the course of this movie. A penis obsessed military orderly to a speed eating champion and culminating with a carcass stuffer. The story is supposedly a cross between horror and comedy that hides a sociopolitical retelling of Hungarian history. The history bit is very hard to glean and it is more akin to a morbid "turn away from the screen" in disgust rather than horror.

Rating: *

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Unlucky Plaza



Slowly and steadily, Nek Nek (a.k.a Ken Kwek) has obviously been fine tuning his movie writing / making abilities - delivering this super smooth production of a dog day afternoon in Singapore as a Filipino restaurant owner driven to his wits end, contemplates his end game with a bunch of atypical (or not) Singaporean characters. Realisation hits Onassis that they are all trapped, in this fine city, and that something eventually has to give. 

Fine performances from all quarters enhances everything and pushes Unlucky Plaza onto the forefront of Singaporean films. 

Rating: * * * 

Sunday, April 05, 2015

Boyhood

Boyhood film.jpg

A coming of age story of young Mason Jr whose mother flits from one messed up partner to another dragging the young boy and sister along. Take The Wonder Years, convert the Arnold family in to a dysfunctional one with a single mother, shoot it over ten years with the actors aging gradually and you will end up with this movie. However the Tv series had a certain depth and charm to it that is missing here. It feels that the use of time rather than make up and different actors to show aging is the only thing that this film has going for it.

Rating: * *

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Saturday, April 04, 2015

Killing Them Softly

Killing Them Softly poster.jpg

When a couple of buffoons hold up a high stakes underworld card game, it is predictable how it would end. The mob puts a highly paid hitman to set right the situation. And when you have cast that includes Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini, you except even this simple storyline to pack a punch. However you are left with an insipid journey that turges towards the inevitable end.

Rating: * +


Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Friday, April 03, 2015

The Thieves

Thethieves.jpg

An all ensemble cast forms the backbone of this heist film which was the top grossing South Korea film in 2012. The target of the theft is a diamond owned by a top Chinese mobster in Macao. Two teams from China and South Korea, with intertwined pasts and romances,  join forces to pull it off. It is very obvious that the film has been heavily influenced by the Ocean's Eleven series of movies but you still have to execute well to make it a watchable movie. Director Dong-hoon Choi has done exactly that as you spend couple of hours watching beautiful people acting cool and pulling off insane stunts. Neeraj Pandey can learn much from this film.

Rating: * * +

Poster Via Wikipedia.