this two weeks of january have been, i know it sounds like a deja vu, lots of fun. I mean, i've blogged about this in the previous entry, rite? but here i am at it again. basically this is gonna be a movie review entry, cos i've watched tons alrdy this yr. ahhahahahaha. i watched 4 movies this past 2 weeks:
- Elizabeth: The Golden Age
- AVP 2
- The Darjeeling Limited
- Michael Clayton
Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I cant help but compare this movie to Helen Mirren much-raved HBO mini-series in the way both actresses tackled the role. Cate is known to be great in every role she's in, and this is no exception. Many critics have said that she's the saving grace in this movie, as the director takes a different approach to how he tackled the first movie that garnered 7 Oscar nominations and made Cate known to the acting world. of course, Cate eventually lost to that Gywneth Paltrow from damn Shakespeare In Love, which many thought have been one of the biggest upsets in that category. But if i'm not wrong, it being the year of much political dispute, they needed a light-hearted best Actress winner.
back to Helen. Helen played two queens last yr to much critical acclaim. Her Elizabeth I was tormented with affairs of the heart, and of state politics. Cate, however, was depicted as a women dealing with ageing and how she is unable to trust anyone. Helen played the role with much gusto, at times feeble and weak but always in control. Cate went for the dramatic pauses and it was a thoughtful performance, with the nervous tapping of her fingers and those veins on her neck showing during points of anger. Cate's portral is strong, but what failed the movie, i thought, was the quality of writing. Helen was given so much quotable lines. The script was filled with Englishmen nuances and wit. Cate's movie had hints of it, but when it comes to quotability, and that common scene in which the Queen gives a speech to her army who's about to fight with the Spanish, Helen totally nailed it, while Cate looked like she was tryin hard to control her horse.
but Cate is cate is one of my fav actresses after Nicole. =) i love how the two movie shifts in perspective from a woman's coming-of-age to a woman trying to grapple with the realities of age. it makes it full-circle, and the title refers to both a personal and state's Golden Age.
AVP2. i was tricked into believing that AVP2 would be way better than AVP 1, given how the trailer deceptively made it look like a drama about a town, then a slasher flick, then whoala an alien flick. From the townsfolk-laden trailer i thought there's gonna be some huge drama and character development. instead, it's worse than the first (thou i always get cheap thrills from huge woofer sound effects and get scared). the first had some mythology goin on. this one felt truely like a bad B-grade insect/experiment-gone-wrong monster flick (despite the A+ trailer). you know, its bad when i say its a monster flick. it's like one of those late night movies bout locusts or rats or bugs that wana take over the human race. and an alien hybrid in the sewers?! like how typical B-grade is that?!!?!? why does EVERY CREATURE in a b-flick have to go to the sewers?! so in the end, it became something like the recent Rob Zombie Halloween remake or b-flick: face-hugging alien, face-hugging alien, kill kill dominate town, aplomb. end. and it was so dark i cant see the hybrid's features. BAD.
which is TRUELY disappointing. u're gonna think it's ridiculous, but the alien character was one of my most terrified monsters growing up. even till now, i still get a lil freaked out sometimes. i'd throw the garbage and imagine what i'd do if an alien pops by and enters my house faster than me. i'd think of places i can hide if the world gets taken over by aliens, and what food i'd bring with me. heck, i even had a nightmare once about them! growing up, IT and Freddy Kreuger (which i always thought was under my bed and wld send his "fingers" up my bed and kill me like Johnny Depp in the first movie) were my inner demons. Kudos to Ridley Scott and James Cameron for the first two movies for tormenting my childhood. but the AVP franchise sucks.
The Darjeeling Limited. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE. my friend fell asleep while watching thou. such a waste ppl dun appreciate oddball comedies. i love Wes Anderson. like how George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh are now inseparable in movie credits, Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray have appeared in Wes' last 2 films: The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic. The cinemathography was beautiful, with a huge amount of turqoise and yellow. The camera works were a lil Bollywood inspired, with that afar landscape shot that zooms in on individual actions. then there's Wes' typical screen shots which lingers.
the movie is about 3 brother's journey to India to look for their mum who became a nun. two of the brothers were fooled into believing it was a journey of self-discovery and bonding, which in the end, it ended up becoming just that. it's a road trip movie and Wes and Jason Schwartzman did went on such a trip to come up with story lines for the movie. its not the typical laugh-out-loud comedy with slapsticks. Wes' films are filled with oddball characters whose antics make them funny. the india worldview was breath-takin and makes you wana be there, thou of course it's only a fragmented representation of the country everyone imagined to be crowded and filthy. but of cos, India is not without its beauty, and i'm glad it's brought forward in this movie and its soundtrack.
Michael Clayton. many critics have deem this movie as the one that would get George Clooney nominated for Best Actor. i see how it works: put an actor in a serious lead role that is powerful and every frame has him in it, punch in some lines he would say in real life, some drama, and bam. everybody loves george. even myself i've come to realise, thou i initially denied the hype. but george has this everybody's-man quality that is so appealing. i still didnt get the sexy part thou. but in this film, the role was made for him. i could imagine him saying those lines in real life. thou dramatically, there's not much breakthrough (and i am not one of those who will lobby for his win), it's still a good performance. the movie gets draggy in the middle, but the front and ending was good. i love how it started off with the middle, the went back four days earlier to reclaim the events that led to it. the horse-epiphany was reminiscent of Helen Mirren's scene in The Queen, but i thought it was a great scene ( and u'd have to pay attention to understand that scene). wont recommend it for those who gets bored easily thou. and there's no laughs. so its some serious shit for George diehards.
whoaaaa. a long entry. i'll blog about my resolutions next time. ahhahahaha
