Man-crushes

This post's title is going to be the one that would trigger questions in this blog. But I guess for my topic, you'll find it very normal. Ryan Gosling. Benedict Cumberbatch. Yeah. Every man wants to be cool like Gosling and strangely cool like Cumberbatch. This time I will review The Place Beyond the Pines and I will add a guest review of Star Trek Into Darkness.

The Place Beyond The Pines

From the trailers we could easily see this as a follow-up to Drive yet add it with more characters and story. But then you will find this very different. The film doesn't follow the usual story arc, but here we have three main characters, Ryan Gosling's Luke Glanton, Bradley Cooper's Avery Cross and Dane Dehaan's Jason. That's just the main characters, the cast includes Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta and Rose Byrne. The story starts with Luke Glanton, who doesn't know he has a baby. He starts using his excellent motorcycling skills to rob banks to provide for the family. And one day, he encounters police officer Avery Cross and the repercussion of this encounter change their lives forever.

The film is directed by Derek Cianfrance of Blue Valentine, which I find very hard to watch because it captured the story so much that it is very depressing, I never finished the film. But that was before Drive. After Drive or to be exact, after Crazy, Stupid, Love, I'd watch anything with Gosling in it. And this film doesn't disappoint. It is true that the first two story arcs are better than the last, but the last one with Dane Dehaan is also great although cannot equal the others. However I find this type of storytelling has its downsides, for example we never got into Eva Mendes' character or Rose Byrne's. But to include that, the film would have to be divided into three films. Cianfrance pretty much kept the pace of the film steady and it doesn't bore me at all to watch the whole 140 minutes. The three main leads are amazing. Gosling has proven himself since Blue Valentine. But Bradley Cooper here, he just keeps getting better. I could see him win an Oscar in the next five years. Also Dane Dehaan of Chronicle fame, he reminds me of young Leonardo DiCaprio in films like What's Eating Gilbert Grapes. Can't wait to see him in, despite will be loathed, The Amazing Spider-man 2. The Place Beyond the Pines: rated 3.5/4

Star Trek Into Darkness
This is my brother's report on his viewing of the latest J.J. Abrams' lens flare extravaganza, Star Trek Into Darkness. I would post my own review but I can only guarantee that I would do that by September 2013 (Blame the Japanese). I'm posting this to keep my blog relevant with the world. Sorry, but this would be really short. My brother said the film was great and Benedict Cumberbatch was uber-cool in his villain role. Hearing my brother said that relieved me because it means the film's really good. My brother is the guy who truly hated Iron Man 3 and hated The Hunger Games. And he didn't like Cumberbatch prior this because at home I used to talk much about how great Cumberbatch was in Sherlock. I guess Star Trek changed everything. And with my brother's quote it is certain that Benedict Cumberbatch stole the show from Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. JJ Abrams remain one of the steadiest directors in Hollywood with his once-again satisfying product. If you're not planning on watching Into Darkness go watch Graham Norton's fun interview with Cumberbatch and Pine. My review would be posted on late August, hopefully with Man of Steel.



NOTE: within 24 hours this post has surpassed my this year's most viewed post with 42 hits. My post titled Holmes for the Holiday has gotten only 34 hits since February. Based on the stats, most hits came from the US, it could be the Americans just got the Cumber-craze. Although in second place are the Brits, probably here for their usual Cumber-stalking. My most viewed post of all time also has Cumberbatch in the topic where I compared BBC's Sherlock with Guy Ritchie's. That post remains unbeatable with 224 hits. (updated May 12, 2013)


Getting once again irrelevant with the whole world, I will post my review of Tom Cruise's Oblivion after it hits Japanese cinema on May 31. Sorry.