Oscarvations 2010 Edition

The dynamic duo experiment worked. A lot of people didn't like it, but I thought it was no better or worse than in years past. Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are generally great with comedy. The lowlight was the opening monologue. Including Neil Patrick Harris was fun. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing him host one of these years.

My faith in the world (at least the film industry) is restored. A lot of awesome and deserving movies got recognition this year. The Hurt Locker wins best picture. The best film won, and not the one that made the most money. Crazy Avatar nerds everywhere are now blogging/tweeting/buzzing with vitriol.

Katherine Bigelow wins best director for Hurt Locker. Bigelow is James Cameron's ex-wife. She is really hot for a 59 year old woman. Her win was probably the big wow moment of this year's show.

Sick Day Movies

Was down with the sickness last weekend. Ended up watching four movies. Some new some old.

A Night at the Roxbury ** (out of 4 stars)

Old SNL humor from a decade ago. It was kind of funny ten years ago, but it seems to have lost whatever charm it once had. On the up side, it made my girlfriend laugh, so it was worth renting.

Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen **

The story and the action was pretty much exactly what I expected. Nothing new and nothing exciting. The only aspect of TF2 I liked was the "robo martial arts". The Transformer hand to hand combat was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the "messy" designs of the Transformer robots made it difficult to watch. There were a ton of military equipment references in TF2, which might make it interesting for modern weapon buffs. Other than that, it was pretty ho hum.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra *

I didn't find any redeeming qualities in this movie. Perhaps the bits I did possibly enjoy are the nostalgia and nods to the old cartoon series. The action is over the top, but not creative or exciting. All the CGI looks obviously fake. The plot makes no sense, but that is to be expected. The characters are not memorable, and the constant flashbacks to tell the history of the characters is not done smoothly and became quite annoying. However, the absolute worst aspect of this action flick is the writing. The cringe inducing dialog is very cheesy and I don't think they did it on purpose. I will most definitely not watch the sequel to The Rise of Cobra.

The Game ****

This David Fincher gem from the late 90s starring Micheal Douglas is still good today. Douglas does a great job at portraying an asshole millionaire, then a whiny millionaire, then a helpless millionaire, then finally an ex-millionaire hellbent on revenge. He probably channeled some of his Falling Down rage for the last 15 minutes of the film. The story, soundtrack, and visuals are just the right amount of creepy. You'll see San Francisco in a light like never before. Just plain awesome storytelling.

The Death of Comedy

When was the last time you saw a quality comedy film come out from Hong Kong? The last funny film I saw from Hong Kong was Stephen Chow's Kung Fu. The Comedy is dead in Hong Kong.

Why you ask? There are little to no comedic actors left in the business. Film producers are not willing to take risks with new styles of comedy. Staying conservative, they stick with slapstick and mindless humor with actors who are actually singers by trade. The industry dictated this change, not the audience. I'll bet the Hong Kong audience is dying to see a serious, high quality comedy. Entertainment firms just aren't willing to take any risk. Instead, they come out with stuff that has worked in the past, shunning anything new or experimental.

Perhaps its the Hong Kong market that caused this situation. The market is too small, so in order for movies to make a profit, they have to be able to do well in China as well. Greedy firms may not see the value in producing a film only for Hong Kong, even if it does pay for itself. Touchy comedic material might be censored or unaccepted in China. Pirated DVDs are no help. Also, consumers (wrong as they are) will go for the pirated version, as they aren't willing to spend a lot of money on the current, rehashed, run of the mill comedies being produced today.

The vicious cycle continues, and thus brings forth the death of the comedy in Hong Kong cinema.

The 11th Hour

Censorship Strikes Again

China censorship strikes again! Targeting foreign films is no surprise, but this time China has censored one of its own. Though no one is willing to admit it, most of Chow Yun Fat's scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End have been deleted in its China theatrical release. Now, them silly China internet folk are complaining about how Chow's role is depicted in the movie. They disapprove of his hair, his clothes, his behavior, claiming that it is a skewed Hollywood view of Chinese people.

Well, this may hold some truth, but then I challenge Mainlanders to tell me what a westerner of the 1500s looked like. Ninety-nine percent of them will derive their answers from movies or the internet. You can't expect a Chinese person to know what Westerners looked like 500 years ago, and you can't expected Americans to what Chinese pirates looked like 500 years ago. Plus, if Americans see Chow's image hair and clothes, and see a "Chinese pirate", then the filmmakers have reached their goal. Its no one's fault, but why remove footage of your own actor from a foreign film? Let the people see and decide for themselves what's right and wrong.

I guess the only way to see the complete version of Pirates is to watch the pirated version.

Time to Retire, Mr. Ocean.

No not you, Mr. Soderberg. I'm sure you'll continue to make fine films. Just stop making sequels to your version of Ocean's Eleven.

When it comes to movies, I always try to "see good in bad". I saw Soderberg's Ocean's Twelve not long ago, and unfortunately, I didn't see much good. In this age of sequels, I can't blame Warner Bros. for wanting a sequel to 2001's hit. Its too bad they were walking straight in to a trap... set by themselves! Lets compare the two movies:

• Eleven: takes place in Vegas.
• Twelve: takes place in Europe.

For a "fun", caper movie, how can you top Vegas in terms of location? Different European venues just can't compare with the original Sin City.

• Eleven: introduces a slew of funny, interesting, and/or charismatic characters.
• Twelve: introduces maybe one or two new characters who aren't that interesting.

Again, its hard to win here. The novelty is gone, and it is difficult to focus on the same old characters again. One reason why you lose interest, is that there are too many people to keep track of. Unlike Eleven, they were all bright and shiny new, so the viewer's short attention span was able to stay happy.

• Eleven: focused plot and storyline.
• Twelve: storyline is confusing and boring.

You really have to watch it to understand what I'm saying here. The focus in Eleven was rob Benedict's casinos, with the subplot of Danny Ocean winning his wife back: pretty clear cut. Twelve has the gang trying to get enough money to pay back Benedict, end up doing odd jobs that don't pay up, and as it turns out there's a rival master thief behind it all toying with them just for fun. Even the big payoff twist in the end was very ho-hum. Well, it is possible that by then I no longer cared enough to pay attention.

Unfortunately, Ocean's Twelve was nearly a complete waste of time. I hear that they are indeed making another sequel, Ocean's Thirteen. This one is supposed to be back in Vegas. Maybe they'll get it right this time.

Chill out, modern day Persians

Iran is mad at the film, 300, because it depicts the Persians as an evil people. It puts Persians in a bad light. I hate to break it to them, but most Westerners are probably too dumb to relate Persia to modern day Iran.

As an ignorant outsider, I wish Middle Eastern folk would ignore the movies and comic strips, and focus on real issues. Call me insensitive, but I think they're overreacting over nothing.

Kyle Francis sums it up pretty well here. 300 is so blatantly exaggerated and unrealistic, I don't know how anyone could somehow compare it to reality. So instead of criticizing the things that are obviously not real, perhaps they should put efforts in movements that actually mean something.

The Most Important Win

Oscars 2007 came and went. To be honest, it was quite a bore. Ellen Degeneres has always been a fine comedian, no qualms about that. However, everything in between just wasn't all that entertaining. Most of the acceptance speeches were ho-hum. Not saying that giving an acceptance speech in front of the whole world is easy, but I spent the whole time nervous that the winners would do something embarrassing. One of the worst things is being unable to finish your speech, and having the Oscar music chase you off stage. Even worse than that is demanding that you be able to finish while that Oscar music is playing. Its like begging for your life as the guillotine drops... embarrassing. If it were me, I would have prepared an original, interesting, or meaningful speech. At least do what Michael Moore did: make a friggin statement. Having said that, I guess my favorite acceptance speech was by Forest Whitaker. See it here.

Just kidding... its actually here.

Personally, I was especially looking forward to the best documentary category. I was truly hoping that An Inconvenient Truth would win. The last time I wished so hard for a movie to win was when Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away was nominated for best animated film. AIT won. Not only was the win well deserved, it was extremely important. More people need to see this film. Hopefully, with the Oscar win, AIT will gain even more popularity, and its message will spread. The environment that we have nearly destroyed needs saving. Lets at least play a small role in repairing our mistakes.

Oh, and congrats to Marty, too.

Best and Worst movie of the (my) week

Tasty beverage of the week: The Departed

Saw this on the plane, but thanks to Cathay (can't believe I said that), all the profanity and all the violence were intact. I enjoyed The Departed a great deal. I think one of the reasons why I liked it was due in large to Infernal Affairs. Million dollar question: was it better than IA? Lets see...

I must say that I enjoyed both films just as much seeing them for the first time. I remember walking out of the theater excited after seeing Infernal Affairs. It felt so complete, so well done. It stood out by a mile when compared to Hong Kong films at the time. The acting, the style, and the story were all brilliant. Because it was such an achievement in comparison to it's peers, some of the holes in the story and action could be forgotten.

First of all, I felt that The Departed filled in some of those holes that Hong Kong film making left in IA. Here are a few examples:

• Combining the "girlfriend" and "psychiatrist" roles. An excellent move. In IA, these two roles were nothing more than plot movers.
  
• Taking out all the cheese: the silly music they played when the undercover chief fell off the building in IA, silly techno/computer/unreasonable scenes, etc.
• The big big "security camera in elevator during showdown scene" question mark.
  
• Closure all in one film, so there will be no The Departed 2 or 3. A big mistake on the part of IA.
  

The Departed also had all the nitty-gritty-ness that IA didn't have. Departed is a violent film. Lots of punching and kicking and beating. Perhaps its the setting of blue-collar/Boston/mafia that requires the need for violent realism. I loved how all the cops swore at one another, shooting the finger at will, and making crude jokes. It truly felt like the Irish-catholic, chauvinistic culture of Beantown.

My two favorite characters were those played by Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg. Funny, mean, and egotistical. Perhaps they were acting themselves, but it just fit the situation perfectly. Their roles also balanced out a lot of the tension the movie had in place. I can only describe them as chauvinistic, funny, assholes. Brilliant. Some said that Jack Nicholson's character was too over the top. I don't agree. If he wasn't sort of over the edge, nobody would be scared of him, and he probably wouldn't have lasted in that scenario. Smart and edgy fits his character well.

In comparison, Infernal Affairs though good, looks cheap compared to The Departed. They tried to look cool in the prequel and sequel, but over did it in my opinion. In the sequel: long black coats in July?! Give me a break.

After watching both films, I really feel that The Departed is much more refined and entertaining than Infernal Affairs. IA is good in its own way, but it needs a little more finesse to be at Departed's level.

Rotten turd of the week: Wo Hu 臥虎

Hmm... I don't know where to start. Crappiest Hong Kong movie I've seen this year. There's a whole slew of "famous" characters in this flick. Some are even great actors. Miu Kiu Wai was a high up police chief of some sort, in charge of undercover cops. He played this role horribly. His level of acting is only suitable for a B-level television series. Eric Tsang Chi Wai plays a smart gangster with no bite. Most of his chacter spends time being a romantic rather than a gangster. Pretty boring subplot to the film. Jordan Chan Siu Chun doesn't seem to take acting seriously anymore. Francis Ng Chun Yu is a good actor, but his role was poorly written. ... and so on...

The entire plot and storyline is a mishmash of poorly written character roles that don't meld at all. There were some twists in the end, but the film is such a mess, that you don't even realise they're twists anymore. It is my habit to watch movies till the end (and not quit halfway through), but I was seriously considering calling it quits on this low-budget piece o' crap.

Honorable mention: Udon うどん

Not near the level of Tampopo, but still a good Japanese movie about food. This time the main subject is... heh... udon. The movie is sometimes serious, mostly funny, and very appetizing. Japanese udon is such a simple food, yet it can take on many different forms and styles. This film takes place in a small town in Japan, which is considered the "Udon Mecca". The story begins with a failed comedian starts to work for a local magazine, that popularizes the town through udon. Eventually, people come to make "udon pilgrimages", but the results are mixed and there are other stories involved.

Udon is a good movie, and certainly worth watching if you're interested in food or Japanese culture in general.

My Favorite Jack

Jack as in the fictional Tom Clancy character, Jack Ryan. Though I have enjoyed my fair share of Clancy novels, I am referring to the three Jacks in the four Clancy films.

Patriot Games/
Clear and Present Danger
Clearly the most accomplished actor of the three, and likely to be the favorite Jack amongst the general public, Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan. I'll admit that I liked both of these movies. Action, politics, mystery, suspense, etc. Clear and Present Danger even had a cool Black Ops team sent to Colombia to disrupt activities of drug cartels, with Willem Dafoe as the commander, John Clark. Admiral Greer played in both films by James Earl Jones.

Certainly an above average effort by Ford. However, I didn't like him as Jack. He was a older, seemingly wiser, yet so naive. Like all of Ford's other acting roles, he was the goofy, handsome guy, who always did the right thing. Not much fun to watch, really.

The Sum of All Fears
Good Will Hunting and perhaps Chasing Amy were the only two watchable films this guy was in. Yep, Ben Affleck played a somewhat Twilight Zone-ish, parallel universe type Jack Ryan. The film sort of depicts Ryan as a rookie analyst for the CIA. He meets Greer for the first time, this time played by Morgan Freeman. John Clark appears again, this time played by the awesome Liev Schreiber.

He basically plays this loud, reckless, unthoughtful Jack. Fears is not a good film, and it is completely unwatchable because of Affleck. Bad acting, ho-hum action and storyline. I find everything Affleck pretty unwatchable these days, and I'm not on any sort of bandwagon. I just don't like his acting.

The Hunt for Red October
Brilliant! Just brilliant film with a top caliber actor in Sean Connery as Captain Ramius. Alec Baldwin plays my favorite Jack. This was the first Tom Clancy film I saw, and I can rewatch it any day of the week. The submarine tactics and operation is very well done. This is the kind of movie that you pick up something new everytime you watch it. I probably first saw October when I was 10 years old, and I'm not even sure why I liked it back then. Thinking back, I barely understood it. It was a pretty complicated movie in terms of politics and defection, and Cold War stuff in general.

The reason why I liked Jack this time, was that he fit the role pretty perfect. Again, a bit naive, but Baldwin at the time appeared young and earnest enough to pull it off without looking stupid. There wasn't all that yelling and screaming like in Fears. Instead it was a lot of reasoning and scenes of tense decision making. Jack (Baldwin) really looked like he wanted his target to understand and be convinced; Affleck in Fears just looked like he was shouting all the time. Ford looked clueless throughout most of his Clancy films, more like a happy go lucky guy fighting terrorists and drug cartels.

At the time when October first came out, I thought Alec Baldwin would be huge... then I heard about his brothers. Alec is pretty huge these days. He plays his roles to near perfection. He can do comedy as well as drama. Also check out The Cooler, Outside Providence, and his performance in Along Came Polly. Alec Baldwin is classic.

CIA guy says: "Stay away from acting, Ben".

An Inconvenient Truth

"In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to." --Roger Ebert