HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Wishing you a fantastic 2007, full of health, laughter, love and -- what else? -- great movies! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve!

Weekly Review -- Romance, shoot-outs and claustrophobia... what's not to like?

The Lake House (2006) -- This romantic drama did not generate much buzz when it was first released last summer, but it should have. Besides demonstrating the undeniable chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, the film is a subtle love story that offers up a new twist on the genre. Dr. Kate Forster (Bullock) begins corresponding with Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), an architect and previous tenant of her lakeside house. Their attraction to each other grows, but there seems to be an insurmountable problem -- Alex lives in 2004 and Kate is in 2006. Through their letters, they exchange suggestions for a possible meeting in person, but can they ever really meet? The roles are a departure for both Bullock and Reeves, neither of whom has had opportunities to do many dramas during the course of their careers, and each actor rises to the challenge. Bullock successfully conveys Kate's longing and conflicts, while Reeves is sympathetic as a man haunted by his turbulent family history. I loved the little touches that added even more emotion to the story, like the moments with the books and the restaurant rendez-vous. The main problem I had was with the occasionally forced and disjointed screenplay. Establishing the timeline and flashbacks during the first half hour felt a little clumsy and disorienting, while some parts, such as the dialogue between Kate and Alex arranging to finally meet up, felt premeditated to elicit emotion from the audience. Still, the combination of the film's ethereal atmosphere, timeless appeal of Bullock and Reeves and unpredictable mystery of the plot is enough to make it recommended viewing for all the romantics out there, as well as viewers who would like to see something different from the usual array of cinematic love affairs.

7/10


Miami Vice (2006) -- When Michael Mann first created the TV series "Miami Vice" in 1984, its emphasis was more on gloss and action than on grit. Fast forward to 2006, when Crockett and Tubbs got moodier, the plotlines darker and the villains more ruthless. Forget the retro pastels and beauty shots of Miami, this film is all about the city's sleazy underbelly. After a botched operation compromises the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, detectives Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) go undercover as smugglers to expose the drug trafficking business of Arcángel de Jesús Montoya (Luis Tosar). Not everything goes according to plan, though, since Crockett falls for Montoya's business partner, the enigmatic Isabella (Gong Li), and Tubbs experiences firsthand the consequences of the original operation gone wrong. Farrell and Foxx make for a good duo, although I would have liked to see more of their interactions, which would have made their chemistry more dynamic. I had a problem with the frenetic direction, as well as the film going into music video territory every ten minutes or so; we do not need a pop song to indicate or accompany every new story development. I also thought that the talents of many good actors, like Naomie Harris and Justin Theroux, were wasted; in a way, the talents of the leads suffer the same fate, since the conversations between Crockett and Tubbs are mostly dry and devoid of any wit. At times, the realism of the dialogue and cinematography makes the movie feel like a documentary, which is not always a good thing. We do not necessarily need one-liners, but we do not want to be watching "Cops", either. The story should have had more of a developed, coherent narrative, rather than appearing to serve Mann's indulgence. The film is a good effort, but feels like a first draft; it could have used more editing and more focus on fewer characters.

6/10


The Descent (2005) -- Going into a film that was billed as scary as Alien and 28 Days Later, I had high expectations. Were they met? Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that I understood the film's representations of fear and claustrophobia and no, in the sense that many scares resembled what I had already seen in better movies. Six women, including grieving Sarah (Shauna Macdonald), adventure junkie Juno (Natalie Mendoza) and cautious-by-nature teacher Beth (Alex Reid), set off on a cave exploration trip. Unfortunately, the only exit they know gets cut off and the women are soon being stalked by strange, humanoid predators inhabiting the cave.


**SPOILERS AHEAD**


What annoyed me more than anything else in this film was the characters' stupidity. Going into a cave that no one has seemingly ever christened is not an intelligent move. Blindly following and trusting the "leader" of the "expedition" without doing your own research does not bring you any closer to Mensa, either. Apart from Sarah, who has been to Hell and back, and Beth, who is actually using her brain much of the time, the characters are either not very sympathetic or not well developed, which made it hard to care for any of them. Juno, in particular, is far from likeable. Her motivations for the trip are ambiguous at best; we never know if she cares for everyone's lives out of the goodness of her heart or simply out of guilt she feels toward Sarah. Putting everyone's lives in danger and lying to the rest of the group about a crucial moment made me dislike her immensely.

Neil Marshall's direction is excellent. He takes full advantage of the cave locations, just as he did with the Scottish highlands in Dog Soldiers, and is able to put us in the characters' shoes by forcing the characters to make hellish choices, that no one should ever have to make. The cast does impressive work, particularly Macdonald. Her Sarah is a toughened, resourceful survivor. The look in her eyes near the end of the film gave me the chills; her body language alone speaks volumes.

As far as the scares go, I thought that the most frightening aspects of The Descent were the idea of going into an unexplored cave in the first place, the crash at the beginning and the overall feeling of helplessness after having been trapped. I did not find the crawlers scary and the jump moments were few and far between. However, this film is a cinematic depiction of survival instinct and paranoia and, although I would not even put it in the same sentence as Alien, it works. Considering the ending, the title can be interpreted in more ways than one, creating yet another psychological layer. I thought that the film could have been a little longer and the story more developed, and wished we could have learned more about the characters' backgrounds. On a side note, I have to say how much I love the film's poster -- talk about Sappho meets The Cell!

The Descent is an effective horror feature that thrives on torturing its characters, but not for exploitation purposes; rather, by taking their humanity away, it makes us question the meaning of friendship under the most dire of circumstances.

7/10

Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, happy Hanukkah... whatever your festive pleasure is, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic 2007! Thank you for visiting my blog this year!

Weekly Review -- Sign o' the times

The China Syndrome (1979) -- One of the conspiracy-themed films that characterized 1970's American cinema, The China Syndrome is one of those that pack the most wallop. Mankind has always had a love/hate relationship with nuclear power -- attempting to harness it, while fearing and not necessarily respecting its destructive potential. This James Bridges film questions the consequences of a carefree attitude toward this kind of force, while enveloping the proceedings in a cover-up scenario. Reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) is preparing a report about the various types of energy used in California. While at a nuclear plant with her crew, they witness some sort of incident, based on the panicked reactions of the control room employees that they can only see and not hear. Once she tries to expose it, things seem to go nowhere fast. Not only does Kimberly have to contend with her colleagues' chauvinistic attitudes and skepticism of her abilities, but the investigation into the incident is unusually hurried and she encounters more and more resistance with the head honchos at the plant. At the same time, Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon), shift supervisor at the plant, begins to suspect a hidden agenda. Fonda gives a sharp, touching performance as a woman who finally gets a chance to prove herself to her peers, while going against the mammoth powers that be. Lemmon is sympathetic as a regular Joe who is used to playing by the rules, but who realizes that, sometimes, they only belong in a manual. An important aspect of the film is its look at the increasing popularity and significance of the media, who can literally make or break a socially relevant issue; the last scenes are just as intense as the entire story. The China Syndrome is a truly suspenseful drama that shows filmmaking at its best and whose concerns still hold up today.

9/10

(Lack of) Golden Globe nods

AND it is yet another year for the Globes. This year, I was more intrigued by the lack of nominations for certain films, than the number of nominations for others. There were also pleasant surprises all around the board.

First off, we have one of Sacha Baron Cohen's three alter egos, the PC challenged journalist from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. You either love 'im, hate' im, or completely misunderstand this sharply comical take on American life and pop culture. Neither the Foreign Press nor the Academy are known for handing out too many nods for straight-up comedies or even satires, but I am guessing that not even they could ignore Cohen's acute criticisms of everything from Pamela Anderson to gangsta rap. The film received two nominations, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical and Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical.

Another satire that found its way into the latter category is Thank You for Smoking, Jason Reitman's hilarious look at tobacco companies' spin doctors and the tangled webs they weave to deceive. Aaron Eckhart, who is in the same actor category as Cohen, is at once loathsome and irresistible as Nick Naylor, a Big Tobacco spokesman who struggles to justify his job and be a role model to his young son. Still, the film did not receive that much publicity, so it may be left out in the cold.

Two other nominations that pleased me were the two that went to Emily Blunt. She was nominated for The Devil Wears Prada, in which she was delightfully shallow as a fashion-obsessed personal assistant and for "Gideon's Daughter", in which she played a neglected daughter of a PR executive.

On the flip side, I was surprised that The Prestige did not receive any recognition from the Foreign Press. It offers some great performances, clever writing and is a dramatic thriller with some innovative twists, that can create endless debates once the film ends. I am not sure why it was overlooked; I am guessing that it is another film that did not receive enough publicity? The same goes for Inside Man, which boasted impressive writing and directing. I guess there are more good films than possible nominations.

The Golden Globe Awards will be held on January 15, 2007, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

The official Hollywood Foreign Press Association site - http://www.hfpa.org/

Weekly Review -- Bumpy takeoff

Flight of the Phoenix (2004) -- Disaster films usually depend on three elements for their success -- sympathetic characters, a couple of characters that the audience loves to hate and awe-inspiring effects. Dramas, on the other hand, depend on the depth of the characters and the stakes involved in their plight. It is only when all these aspects are secured that a film can attempt to thread the delicate path of a hybrid. Unfortunately, Flight of the Phoenix does not quite manage to get off the ground in terms of character relationships and story development. A plane carrying oil company workers and piloted by Captain Frank Towns (Dennis Quaid) crashes in the middle of a desert near the China-Mongolia border. The survivors immediately start making life-and-death calculations, trying to band together and gather up resources. With freak accidents happening due to extreme environmental conditions or simply due to the crew members' desperation, and with emotions running the gamut from utter dejection to unexpected triumph, the crew know that they cannot afford to sit and wait for rescue. With the help of engineer Elliott (Giovanni Ribisi), they decide to construct a new plane from the old one. Quaid is believable as the reluctant leader, while Ribisi's usual dazed geek persona serves him well in the role of Elliott, whose intentions we are never sure about. Some of the best characters are the supporting ones, like Ian (Hugh Laurie), a corporate type who is more of a survivalist than we may have thought, and Liddle (Scott Michael Campbell), whose one dialogue with Towns makes for one of the film's more touching moments. The screenplay, however, does not pay enough attention to character and story development. The characters are thrown together into the mix, without us knowing that much about them in the first place. Yes, we are rooting for them to find a way out of that desert but, at the same time, the lack of depth and background prevents us from putting ourselves in their shoes. I felt that intertwining and contrasting these individuals' histories with their present circumstances would have made the audience even more sympathetic with their struggles. The film also drags in places, spending too much time on 'are we getting out of here or not' diatribe, rather than actual deeds. On a positive side, the film offers some of the most beautiful aerial shots in recent memory; the crash sequence must have been incredible to see on the big screen. The film's plot and cast are appealing and the film is engaging enough; however, its human element should have been further explored, in order to to bring the proceedings to the next level of emotional impact.

6/10

Weekly Review -- Love Anti-Actually

The Break-Up (2006) -- It is difficult to categorize Peyton Reed's latest film. It is no comedy, due to the somber, strip-down way it treats the titular topic. It does not work as a drama, either, due to its comedic elements. The only way to describe the film is as an unromanticized, albeit optimistic, relationship study; as such, however, it fails to deliver, since it does not get to the depths that it is trying to reach. After the usual peachy start, Gary (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke's (Jennifer Aniston) relationship is on the rocks. Brooke decides to end it, but the two are unable to decide on the ownership of their apartment. Their little games of jealousy and spite soon make the pair wonder if they maybe care enough about each other to give the liaison another chance. The writing is mostly dull, although it does offer some good dialogues, namely the ones between Gary and Johnny O (Jon Favreau); still, you can never go wrong with Vaughn and Favreau in a film together. The screenplay exaggerates all the relationship bickering, which exhausts the viewer's patience after the first 30 minutes. Vaughn is good as Gary, who attempts to balance accepting his adult responsibilities with his love of video games. I thought Gary was more interesting and more conflicted than Brooke, although his adolescent shenanigans were very irritating. Contrary to Vaughn, who is always spontaneously appealing, Aniston does not manage to stand out in terms of charisma. I did not really care for Brooke -- while she struck me as ambiguous in her demands for Gary, she was also a dime-a-dozen character -- and Aniston does not bring any spice to the role. The film offers nice turns from Vincent D'Onofrio, who plays Gary's businessman brother Dennis, and Cole Hauser, who plays Lupus, Gary's sex maniac brother. The main problem with the film is its lack of sympathetic characters and lack of engaging situations. Another issue I had with it was the fact that it touches upon some interesting aspects of its themes, like 21st century dating and the effects of class on modern romance, but never sees them through. By the second half, I found myself not caring about what would happen to either Gary or Brooke and wondering when the whole mess would end. The Break-Up should have been a film that singles would love and that couples would cringe at; instead, it is a half-baked, bland dissection of a love affair gone wrong.

5/10