Arrivederci

Snap! In 5 days, it's gonna be Christmas; a The Interview-less Christmas day. Snap! In 11 days, it's gonna be 2015. 2014 was a sprint for me. I usually end up last on a marathon or any kind of run, but I ran through 2014 without my own realization. Early this year, I'm in Japan with my bro. Then 2 months in Indonesia. Then another 5 months in Japan then the last 4 months of the year in Italy. It has been crazy. And I am incredibly thankful. With this achievement, I'm not proud of myself. But I'm proud of my parents for getting me here at this point. I met many new people in Europe, interesting ones too. Though I expected to meet more Italians but Americans would do just fine.

Milan, Italy, Europe has been a dream; and I never want to wake up from it.

For this year-ending post, I'd like to review my top 10 most anticipated movies and see if my intuition is right about those films.

10. The Raid 2
It was ass-kickingly awesome and pulpy but for an Indonesian film, it ruins the essence of the nation a bit for me. The snow scene, although awesome, is still strange. But everything else is great. The chase scene around the city, bro, that is skill.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? No

9. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Mmm. Among the top 3 of the summer definitely. Might be the best film ever made about talking monkeys. Andy Serkis is definitely king of mo-cap
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? Yes

8. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
It was another money-based stupid decision. The book itself is pretty bad, and this movie doesn't do that much either. Jennifer Lawrence is great but the movie is doomed to underperform from the moment they decide to split it.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? No

7. Transcendence
It has its great ideas. But ultimately, it became only a star-studded misfire. I was hoping this to be Johnny Depp's comeback to reality. But no. I was really looking forward for this film to succeed.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? No

6. Gone Girl
Hell yes, this film is among my top three of the year so far. A perfect crime made into a perfect movie. The book is awesome, add that with Fincher, Oscar-nom-bound Rosamund Pike, and a better-than-ever Ben Affleck.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? Yes

5. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Sadly, like I have bashed in the previous post, this so-called 'defining chapter' is not good. In fact, this might be the biggest disappointment of the holiday season.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? No

4. Edge of Tomorrow
One of the most fun films in summer. This and Guardians of the Galaxy brought back the fun factor in summer films before it was uniformly Nolanized. Tom Cruise at his sci-fi best, Emily Blunt spiked up the badass factor.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? Yes

3. X-Men: Days of Future Past
An awesome standalone film, but I have my reservations since it wiped all of the original trilogy timeline and Wolverine timeline. I loved X-Men, X2 and softly fond of The Wolverine, that's why. But still, a kick-ass film
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? Yes

2. Godzilla
Sadly, the charm of this film only exist on the first viewing. The second viewing exposes you to the brutal truth of how flawed the film is in overall.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? No

1. Interstellar
Let me reveal to you my top 3 films of the year so far. 3. Nightcrawler. 2. Gone Girl and 1. Interstellar. Need I say more? This film is a mindblowing sci-fi, a celebration of imagination, a testament in adventure and exploration and an important declaration of love.
Is it worthy of top 10 films of the year? YES

Well, so five misfires and five spot-ons. Not bad. But mostly because I did not expect myself to grade my expectations.

Anyway, I'm off to travelling around Europe. See you next year!
Merry christmas and happy new year!
Buon natale e buon anno nuovo!

Battles, Battles

I should be ashamed. I liked the first two Hobbit movies. I didn't think An Unexpected Journey is a bloated mess like everyone else claimed. And The Desolation of Smaug was beyond expectations. So, is it childish and moronic of me to think that I would be satisfied by the overly-lit, CGI-overloaded last chapter of The Hobbit, titled There and Back Again The Battle of the Five Armies? Of course not. But the fact that it was based on a 300-page movie should make you think twice. The last chapters of Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games are all split into two. Harry Potter 7.1 is one of the series best, Harry Potter 7.2 isn't bad but it didn't justify the splitting since it left out many things. Twilight were awful and the penultimate Mockingjay doesn't hold up with the previous two. And now they want to split a book into three?

The movie quickly solved the whole Smaug-trashes-Lake-Town affair in 6 minutes maybe, which is a total bummer and then moved on to setting the stage for the sub-titular Battle of the Five Armies. Thorin Oakenshield has succumbed to greed, betraying his own promise to the people of Lake Town, waging war with the Elves led by Thranduil and the men led by Bard the Bowman. He received help from fellow dwarf clan of Ironfoot but the real enemy is the horde of Orcs led by Azog the Defiler as an attempt for Sauron to claim Erebor for its strategic location to reestablish his power.

To be honest, the moment they killed Smaug before the subtitle comes on screen ruined the movie. It is the perfect example of the perils of splitting a book. I didn't quite like the movie. It was hollow and even at 2.5 hours it felt endless. The previous five Middle-Earth movies although 3 hours each, doesn't feel that long. The CGI are sometimes awesome but the artificial look of everything bugs me. It's distracting. Oh and I believe that Dain Ironfoot is CGI. Please someone confirm it, I find it really distracting to see the unnatural movement and the blatant effort to minimize his visibility from us. There are some unintentional humor too during what should be an awesome sequence: keep an eye out on Legolas in his own Super Mario game. Thorin is degraded with having a dragon-sickness that came out of nowhere. It's shameful for a great established character like him. I feel that this film became too contained. It never felt as epic as The Lord of the Rings. The battles were too much, and I usually don't mind. Maybe the thing is the characters were never established in the previous two films so that we have no personal connection to them. Even Thorin's emergence to the battle is really short and he went on to ride some mountain goat. And the Eagles man, it's getting really old.

The saving grace for the film is Bilbo. Martin Freeman did a very nice job. His last farewell to the dwarves gets to me. Ian McKellen as always. Richard Armitage, given the character he played, did a very good job too or maybe because we've seen him kicking all kinds of ass with his deep voice in the previous two films. Then the Dol Guldur scene is also awesome. I mean who doesn't want to see Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee (his stuntman maybe), and Cate Blanchett fighting off evil? Among the newcomers, I find Lee Pace really good as Thranduil, his fight scenes are awesome too. Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), this fan fiction, is also great, with Aidan Turner's Kili they make a killer fantasy couple played by more than able actors. I hope to see the Extended Version of the film make it really good. I never have the need to see the extended versions of the other Middle Earth films because it's already great for me, but maybe Battle of the Five Armies need it. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: rated 2/4.

When I Passed On A Movie (and a Post)

I have been reminding myself that I have made some irrational, rash decisions to go to the movies. But tonight it's not that moment. Tonight (it's actually last week) it happened again. Tonight I passed on a movie. It's a really rare moment. So, I decided to write this down. CLICHE.
This definitely could be summed into 140 characters and end up on my twitter but who reads twitter anymore? The correct question actually would be who reads my blog?

I can only remember that it was last year when I passed on a movie. It was November 2013 and the film was Carrie starring Chloe Moretz and Judy Greer. It was a correct decision. Spot-on. The film turned out to be bad and completely forgettable when I saw it months later. But today, I passed on Interstellar. It is a big deal, because it is Interstellar. If you remember my post last year, about my now 8-year tradition, Interstellar has joined that club three weeks ago. Yeah, so this year that tradition of watching the same movie twice Godzilla and Interstellar. But what Interstellar is going to achieve is far bigger than that. It was going to enter the three-time club. The only movie I watched three times in the cinemas was Avatar but it was technically incorrect because I watched it all differently. The first time I saw Avatar was in 3D, then 2D and then about 9 months after that, the Special Edition. This is a very strange post to my blog actually. So I'm going to justify it by making a real post, a self-indulging post which had not seen the light of day since February 2014.

This post is one of them. A failed post. Let me walk through you to my other failed posts. This post is inspired by one of my favorite movie blogs: TheShiznit. If you have the time, go take a look at that blog.

Title: The Plagiarizing Spider-Man 2 
Premise: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is not the most original and inspired superhero movie. Of course. I was going to break it down almost scene by scene. Like how the first airplane crash scene was definitely a soft rip-off of The Dark Knight Rises. And yeah, I got that far.
Cause of Deletion: I guess The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was not big of a motivational push for me to finish the post. I have so many notes on this but I was too busy at the time, and by the time I was free, it was already irrelevant. Like how the movie might be so irrelevant in the next couple of years.
Consolation: Do check out the deleted scenes from that lackluster movie that runs more than 20 minutes. Some of the scenes definitely improved the movie like a lot.

Title: Mean Post
Premise: 2014 has a lot of disasters. And an unfortunately perfect movies that accompany those disasters. I had two in mind, but now I can only recall one. When the Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared early this year, Non-Stop was the film that eerily has the same setting. I was hoping someone would do an inappropriate joke about how Liam Neeson should be on that plane but hey, look at Jason Biggs.
Cause of Deletion: Moral issues, duh. Look at that obviously self-aware planned title.
Consolation: I guess I discovered what a mean human being I am.

Titled: Rated: Wrong
Premise: I have seen a lot of movies and mostly got really excited by them. So excited that I was biased in my ratings. I've rated movies too high before, that list includes Edge of Tomorrow, Divergent, The Raid 2 and Furious 6. The only movie that I would rate higher is The Great Gatsby.
Cause of Deletion: I was going to do the whole revision of the blog which means at least a year's worth of review being re-rated. Lost interest.
Consolation: Regret and learning process

Title: Films That Sound Like A Joke But Are Actually Happening

Premise: The title says it all. The list includes Terminator Genisys (for obvious reasons), Jurassic World, Dawn of Justice, Ant Man, Shazam, the Star Wars spinoffs, and--let me prepare you for this--Jungle Book Origins. If future franchises are to be included, it's going to be the King Arthur shared universe and Universal Monster shared universe.
Cause of Deletion: It was never written actually. I just got to compile this list.
Consolation: Having the biggest laugh at Genisys and Jungle Book Origins, like Khaleesi in the pic there

Title: High Times at This Blog
Premise: Another selfish post about this very blog listing which post has the most hits. And that title is supposed to be a reference to Fast Times at Ridgemont High. What an epic fail.
Cause of Deletion: Lost interest
Consolation: I get to know my top 10 posts

Title: When I Passed on A Movie
Premise: You have just read the opening paragraphs of this post above. It's so bad that I couldn't continue and ended up doing this post.
Cause of Deletion: I was going to list all the movies I passed on but there isn't much.
Consolation: Writing this post whilst listening to Zimmer's stellar Interstellar score.

Blast from the Past

This month is a really good month to be a movie geek. Big news from movies just keep coming. Big trailers for anticipated movies also is keep being released. I'm going to rank how their qualities are though. Because, really, do you actually want a Terminator film with a subtitle as bad as Genisys? But let me kick it off with one of the oldest, longest-running movie franchise of all time.

Bonus: Bond

The new James Bond film is titled Spectre. The newcomers include Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott and Dave Bautista. While the cast is super solid, it is uninspired don't you think? It's like the Les Mis of James Bond films. Christoph Waltz has been the absolute Euro-baddie since Basterds. Lea Seydoux was a super hot super spy in Ghost Protocol. Monica Bellucci has been Bond-girl material since the dawn of men. Dave Bautista has been the henchman since Guardians of the Galaxy. Andrew Scott is the only wildcard although his work on Sherlock is proven to be crazy good. And that title, Spectre. Since Daniel Craig became Bond, the title's evolution has been like this: Casino Royale--classic Fleming title, Quantum of Solace--trying to be Fleming-artsy but failed, Skyfall--finally made an iconic one-title word, Spectre--let's go back to being iconic one-title but failed. But still, it's a Bond film. I'm gonna watch it anyway. Lea Seydoux is literally a goddess and Christoph Waltz is just super entertaining.


#3 Jurassic World
I did a red-alert post on this. I wasn't impressed at all. I was trying to be nice and accept it but I saw The Force Awakens and even fucking Genisys, they could do a good trailer so why can't you?? I'm putting this on the last place mainly because the original was my favorite movie and was my childhood and this new trailer stomped shamelessly on that vivid memories. Fucking CGI, man. Hey, if you're not ready with the practical-effect shot of the gate, WHY FUCKING BOTHER MAKING A FUCKING TRAILER? I was okay-ish on Safety Not Guaranteed, now I kinda hate it.

Best shot

CGI, practical or clay: this would still be awesome. (but don't go on twitter and say, yeah, that's just for the trailer--because actually we freaked out at the negative responses we got on our CGI)

Worst shot

Hands-down, worst CGI in a major Hollywood tentpole trailer in memory

Best line
"You just went and made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea."
Because it's true

Worst line
"We have out first genetically modified hybrid"
Because of what Chris Pratt said


#2 Terminator Genisys
Truthfully, the trailer looks solid unlike JW. I like Jason Clarke, I like Emilia Clarke. Arnold's back. The visuals look awesome. But what the hell is going on with the story? I know time-travel shit is messed up but when your headphones' cables were strangled you don't make it even more strangled. Even if you do, you don't shit on the classics. That's the golden rule. Emilia Clarke is definitely not Linda Hamilton, but as evidenced in Game of Thrones she could be a badass. I wouldn't pick Jai Courtney to be Kyle Reese, I would pick fucking Sam Claflin because he looks like Michael Biehn (who, lemme tell you, hate Terminator sequels). I'm gonna timehop one of my tweets that says the new Terminator should get Sam Claflin. And please get Danny Glover to tell Arnold that he's too fucking old for this shit. And if Arnold is back, why isn't Robert Patrick? Why does Skynet make Asian Terminators? I'm Asian so that's not racist. Asians aren't scary you know. You know what's scary? Robert Patrick in T2: Judgment Day.

Best shot

Was torn between Emilia Clarke or this. Here's the Terminator finally realizing 'talk to the hand'

Worst shot

Since everything's changed, now Robert Patrick is Asian. RESET!

Best line
"Come with me if you want to live!" If that was original yeah.
"What you're doing right now, it's the end of the war" that's (not that) awesome

Worst line
 "We can stop judgment day from happening!" 
Uh, why do you want to stop Judgment Day from happening? It isn't The Last Stand and T2 wasn't directed by Brett Ratner.



#1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Now, dear people who are making money out of ruining our beloved memories: this is how you do a trailer. It's everything you wanted to see in a trailer. It's gorgeous. It's classic. That crossguard lightsaber? Awesome. Daisy Ridley? Awesome. John Boyega? Awesome. Falcon? Awesome. Theme song? Better than ever.

Best shot

 First Falcon shot of Episode VII. Runner up would be that badass lightsaber.

Best line
"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The darkness and the light."
YES

Worst shot and worst line
NOT APPLICABLE


Prossima settimana:
il review per Magic in the Moonlight
o
mio giornale viaggio (is this perfect italian)

Lights, Camera, BURN

The Hunger Games franchise has become a great success in Hollywood out of nowhere. The first movie opens to more than $150 million and Jennifer Lawrence wasn't even as big as now. So it's a no-brainer for Lionsgate to milk the money while they can resulting in a two-parter finale Mockingjay, based on a lackluster book (IMHO). Let's blame it all on the boy who lived. This chapter introduces new players most notably Julianne Moore and Natalie Dormer. What I loved about The Hunger Games is that they successfully established strong women characters without even trying that hard (Wonder Woman, specifically asked for a woman director--which I don't mind. But that seems like a stunt decision to top Marvel).

Mockingjay - Part 1 continues the story right after Catching Fire, after Katniss "single-arrowedly" destroyed the Games forever. She and Finnick (in a criminally reduced role), was saved but Peeta and Johanna Mason was captured by the Capitol led by President Snow. Katniss now is projected to be the symbol of rebellion for District 13, led by President Alma Coin. Like usual, she's helped by Haymitch (also criminally reduced role), Effie (surprisingly expanded role), Plutarch (one of the last Phillip Seymour Hoffman's roles) and add the camera crew led by Cressida (Margaery Tyrell gone badass).

Mockingjay basically has no story. It's--at tops--a first and second act of something bigger. It's like when you go to a Romeo and Juliet play, and you don't see them die. Parting the film into two gives a false suspense as well. Rather than caring for the story, you're concerned where they're going to leave you on the cliff (wordplay--cliffhanger, got it? *smirks), same disease that plagues The Desolation of Smaug but at least that Hobbit-level stellar film has an amazing climactic scene with the titular subjects. But to console you, Mockingjay is a highly crafted Hollywood blockbuster that is deep on smart political issues. Like the film before, the film drags when they start talking in the love scenes. "you only kiss me when I'm in pain" bursts into a hysteria of laughter

The performance of the actors, especially--ESPECIALLY Jennifer Lawrence is amazing. If there's a category for Best Blockbuster Performance at the Oscars, you could bet all your savings and pension that Jennifer Lawrence would win. She showed determination and vulnerability that is so hard to project. Another terrifyingly great performance is Donald Sutherland and Julianne Moore. There's this one scene where two Oscar winners and a four-time nominee were discussing something at a meeting table. Add a host and you get your Oscars Roundtable video from The Hollywood Reporter. Story-wise, Mockingjay is flawed from the source material. The book was definitely not in the leagues with the other two. It has too many ideas, too many things, too many characters. I was hoping that the movie would fix those and in a small way, they did. And bro, that last fifteen minutes was so great that you hoped you're sitting at a 3.5-hour film that ties up everything. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1: rated 3.5/4

Next post:
SURPRISE!
I don't actually know but BRO,
HAVE YOU SEEN THE FORCE AWAKENS TRAILER?
BECAUSE THAT'S LITERALLY THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF RIGHT NOW

Lottery Ticket

Last week, I saw Interstellar again for the second time. And I still want to see it for the third time. Apart from that, I struggled in choosing between Nightcrawler and The Judge. Nightcrawler has Jake Gyllenhaal in full-on McConaissance mode and I've been hearing nothing but good things about The Judge. But I kinda want myself to be exposed to Gyllenhaal's madness than Downey's usual swagger. So, there I was 8.30 pm in a cinema (a good one too) watching Nightcrawler. I actually have very little idea about the film since I only watched the brilliantly creepy teaser trailer. I was definitely in for a treat.

The story revolves around Lou Bloom, a smooth-talking, unnoticed criminal of the night, stealing fences and then selling them to some builders. One time, he stumbled upon a freelance camera crew, shooting breaking news for the morning news. He gained interest in that and started his own amateur crew of two in his old car. He began to build a partnership with one of the TV channel and legalizing every deed he did.

One thing for sure, Jake Gyllenhaal is AWESOME. He really immersed himself with Lou Bloom. I'd choose this over his work in Prisoners last year. His speech, his movements is just creepily perfect. I'd be glad to see him recognized in the awards season but the competition, man. It's tough. His crazy performance brings out the greatness in his co-stars as well like Rene Russo and a brief Bill Paxton. But the one that could really be in the scene with him on the same level is Riz Ahmed, his 30-bucks-a-night employee. His last work, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is on my watchlist now. The film is unsettling. It gets to the point where you couldn't root for the lead actor. But it means that the film really involves you. It is a thrilling, dark drama about ambition and moral. It is also a critique to the media who will do anything for the sake of ratings, not the integrity of the news or the moral issue at hand. The film is sometimes hard to watch but it's just so damn good to see. Nightcrawler: rated 4/4

It seems like all the movie I watch lately are rated 4/4. Is it that's so easy to please?

Next up:
Mockingjay Part  1

The Park is WIDE OPEN

This is me, after watching the trailer and waiting for next year

I have my Nightcrawler review in the works. But this is a pressing matter. So, you know that the trailer for Jurassic World dropped out of nowhere an hour ago. I was still processing everything I saw within those 2.40 mins (times 5--Yes I watched it five times more, I'd watch more but wifi's being a huge bitch here). Verdict? As a boy who was deeply affected by Jurassic Park; as a boy whose dream job was an archaeologist because of that hit film; as a boy who memorized every dinosaur there is; as a boy who dragged his parents to museums to see dinosaur skeletons; as a boy whose daily job was drawing dinosaurs in epic battles (VELOCIRAPTOR VS. SPINOSAURUS!): It's pretty disappointing. Take a look at it and gimme your opinions.



Trust me, Universal (and apparently Legendary) could get me in theatres just with their 15-second tease with a haunting piano arrangement of John Williams' JP theme. But this full length trailer, released eight months prior the release date, clearly killed/handicapped the goodwill I had for this film. Don't get me wrong, I will still be there on (Japanese) opening day (FUCKING AUGUST 8). But like the future, we know it's gonna end sometime but we soldier on. So do Jurassic World, it might be bad but in Spielberg we trust. I'll break down TWO things that bugged me. Only TWO, but might be the biggest issues of all.

CGI Over-Reliance

The original Jurassic Park was 21 years ago. But the computer graphics still hold up until now. It looks like something they did yesterday. But 21 years later, why are we stuck with worse CGI quality? That picture above is definitely a homage to the stunning original scene where Dr. Grant was running with Lex and Tim and then there were horde of similar kind and then a T-Rex! The scene definitely pay homage to that, but the computer graphics seemed to pay homage to Terra Nova, which is the last Spielberg-produced property to pay homage to. And don't get me started on that Seaworld attraction. Okay, you ask for it. (Okay you didn't but I'm happy to oblige)

Every thing in this scene seemed off. The dinosaur's movement is off. The stadium structure is off. Even that wet shark seemed off. Let's just hope that this isn't the finished product. But even if it isn't why bother showing this imperfect scene to us? GUYS DON'T MESS WITH MY FEELINGS. I'm very vulnerable right now. You know what I miss? Practical effects. The Hobbit trilogy made me miss practical effects the most. Those films, although awesome, look artificial as fuck.

A genetically-modified what now?

I thought they ditched this plot. This may be a break-thru or a creative brilliance if I'm not a dinosaur fan back when I was still a boy. But I'm gonna put this on the WTF shelf along with Papa Terminator, replacing Luthor Zuckerberg which has dissolved. AND HYBRID OF WHAT AND WHAT EXACTLY. DON'T YOU DARE BRING UP THAT DINO-HUMAN HYBRID. Okay Marcel, inhale-exhale. Inhale-exhale. You're becoming that nerd who rages on everything that's wrong in the world that you don't want to be. Inhale-Exhale.

But despite these life-halting discoveries, we have some things to rejoice as well.
- It stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas-Howard, two magnificent actors
- Michael Giacchino is taking composer duty from John Williams. His reworked theme is easily the best thing from the trailer
- IT'S A SEQUEL TO JURASSIC PARK
- It couldn't be as strange as JPIII right? That telephone ringing from a Spinosaur stomach and shit. (But that Pterodactyl bridge sequence is ah-may-ZING)

The future doesn't seem that bleak then. At least not Genisys-level bleak. That film has the actors saving the show if it fails.

EDIT one hour after posting and thoroughly digesting the trailer:
WE HAVE A LOT TO BE EXCITED ABOUT THIS
The last minute of the trailer is pretty solid. If you chose to accept the ridiculousness of the first minute, then you're in for a treat.

But, I guess the only things we can do right now are
HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS
RE-WATCH THE TRILOGY

Upcoming posts:
Nightcrawler review
Mockingjay Part 1 review.

Six Less Stellar Moments in Interstellar

I've breathe it in. I've taken the time. I've stalled. I've been in cryo-sleep. I've been thinking about Christopher Nolan's visually flawless, story-wise flawed Interstellar. As a whole, the film's amazing. The lesser parts of the film is eclipsed by the far better part of the film. But during the film there's a moment here and there where you can't help but raise your eyebrows and cringe--or even giggle at the sheer stupidity. The lesser parts are actually the parts that the critics have no issue on. #lol

Oh btw, should I even need to write this warning?

S P O I L E R  A L E R T ! !

LEAVE NOW

STILL HERE?

OKAY.

6. Wes Bentley's death

A very poor death scene. A scientist decides to stare at the mountain-high wall of wave instead of running for his life. His death could be handled better, but this is what we get. At least the white guy dies first here.

How to improve it:
He gets swept by the waves while helping Brand or TARS get on the ship. An honorable death for a character who only spoke one memorable line.

5. Morse-coded watch

I don't know how a watch touched by a person from another dimension works but I'm pretty sure it's not that easy. Maybe it's just me nitpicking, but Jessica Chastain's Murph, did she just commit plagiarism? Someone took Rust Cohle's method to success.

How to improve it:
I have no idea. This part of the story is higher than my intelligence's clearance. But the stupidity in me expected Matthew McConaughey to break the bookshelf and be reunited with the old Murph. That's how stupid my expectations were.

4. Mann docking

This is the part where the film is most hilarious. Someone turned the humor level to 100% here. It's a hyper mundane action accompanied by stellar Zimmer music. It's almost like an Edgar Wright comedy scene.

How to improve it:
Cut those scenes where the lock doesn't want to lock. Make the whole affair shorter.

3. Bookshelf blackhole/wormhole

Hands down the longest cringe I did during the movie. It's so weird to have an all-out space scenes turned into the smallest place.

How to improve it:
I don't think it matters because the pay off is worth the weirdness. But still, the first time you see it, you can't help but mutter 'what the fuck' or stop paying attention to your empty popcorn bag.

2. Matt Damon

I don't mind Matt Damon. But his reveal is such an eye candy and it kinda distracts the whole story. Years from now we'll speak of this movie like this,
"Hey you've seen that great sci-fi film Interstellar?"
"Yeah, the one where Matt Damon popped out of nowhere in the middle of the film?"
Instead of,
"Hey you've seen that great sci-fi film Interstellar?"
"Yeah, that's the one with the amazing wormhole scenes right?"

How to improve it:
I'd imagine having someone moderately famous in it. Corey Stoll comes to mind. Or Nolan's regular Cillian Murphy but he's too ominous. Yeah, Corey Stoll's my only choice to replace Damon.

1. Damon turns into Pinbacker

Story-wise, this is the weakest moment for me. Or maybe it's my expectations that wanted too much. I've always imagined Interstellar as a full-on space exploration story, where the villain is the alien nature. Apparently not. To those who are unfamiliar, Pinbacker is the [spoiler alert] villain from Danny Boyle & Alex Garland's superb sci-fi Sunshine, played by the ultimate modern Brit bad guy Mark Strong. The space ruined his mind and he sets out to kill everybody else.

How to improve it:
There's a lot of scenarios where this could go. The fanboy rage is filling up the internet as I write and and as you read this very sentence.


Still, I love Interstellar. For me, the sentimental story is a plus point. Why couldn't we have a sentimental story in a full-blown sci-fi film? Heartless critics. I look forward to seeing the film for the second time. After that, for the third time. And so on.

Space Love

In case you're living under the rock, Interstellar is out in cinemas this weekend. Do I really need to introduce this film? It's directed by Christopher Nolan, who directed The Dark Knight trilogy (BAM!), Inception (BAM!), The Prestige (BAM!) and Memento (BAM!). What a filmography. It stars award winners Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine. It's Nolan doing sci-fi. Nolan in space. McConaughey in astronaut suit. If you're not sold yet, something's wrong with you.

The movie's set in the future when the Earth are polluted with dust and it creates lung disease and also kills the crops. Cooper (McConaughey) is a pilot whose mission is to search for a potential planet for the people of Earth to survive. He must leave behind his daughter for the mission where he goes to unexplored new places through a discovered wormhole.

First of all, The McConaissance isn't fading. He might have delivered the best performance in a science-fiction film ever. Second, this is a Christopher Nolan film. You get what you expect, or that expectation turned out to be defied. The other cast member are great too. Anne Hathaway is great. Jessica Chastain gave a short but meaningful performance. There are people here and there like Hunger Games' Wes Bentley, Cloud Atlas' David Gyasi, Affleck brother Casey Affleck and Spidey 3's Topher Grace, which are all great. Hans Zimmer's music is also a step-up from his noisy, generic percussion music. And it's annoying that the soundtrack album isn't available until November 18! The scenes are beautiful, it's so epic and grounded at the same time. The wormhole scene was amazing, and don't get me started on that unbelievable climax. I don't want to spoil things too. The thing is, you're in it for the surprise. Especially, if you haven't seen the spoilery last trailer.

Chris Nolan turned to Spielberg, Lucas and Kubrick (for a chunk of the film, even Alex Garland and Danny Boyle) for this film, making Interstellar not just a brilliant sci-fi with outstanding effects, but also with incredible, emotional story. Let me tell you, my emotion was drained. It was amazing. The story itself is mesmerizing, and you add that with the great story. While it has big ideas of science, religion and the existence of humanity, like Spielberg, behind all this film is the story of family. Even like Harry Potter films, behind all that magic is the story of the power of love. How the power of love is actually strong. How science and magic is unequal to the power of love. This is what Interstellar truly is at heart. Beyond the technical and scientific explanation of singularity, time-space continuum, is the story of love. Inception, although it was great, it felt emotionally distant but Interstellar isn't. It's actually about dad and daughter love. I would strongly campaign for this movie on every level. Level with me, we had the extremely pompous and incredibly preposterous Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as a Best Picture contender, why not the thousand light years better Interstellar? It's time The Academy recognize things properly. I'm not just saying this because I'm an alleged Nolan fanboy, but it's true. Nonetheless, you should see this at the biggest screen possible. If there's anything bigger than an IMAX screen, go for it. Interstellar: rated 5/4. GOING TO SEE THIS AGAIN UNTIL I RUN OUT OF MONEY! #spokenlikeatruefanboy

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I still have no idea. I'm on the Interstellar withdrawal program which will commence as soon as I watch Contact and some Nolan movies. I hope they screen Nightcrawler in English next week. hashtag fingers crossed.

[added Nov 7] Just seen Contact! It's so good and it shares the same idea with Interstellar. You could totally pass that as a prequel or a companion piece.

Summer Recap in Winter Transission

I just finished my last summer film which was just released last week in Italy, Guardians of the Galaxy. Now I am competent enough to make a summer recap post. To be honest, this summer the films are quite tame. We didn't have anything that's incredibly badass like last year's Pacific Rim. When the top-grossing movie of the summer is a film with a raccoon and a talking tree, clearly something's wrong with Hollywood's blockbusters (or its audience).

Top 3 Films
1. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
This sequel is grand and brave. Parts of the films were communicated in ape language. The story is engaging, emotional and amazing. Apes franchise could easily be so laughable but they kept on elevating the level of this film. Jason Clarke was a great successor to James Franco, but the star is motion capture master Andy Serkis who, with Weta, created the superb Caesar. Toby Kebbell's Koba is equally awesome as well. Matt Reeves also prove himself to be worthy to take care of this franchise after Rupert Wyatt.




2. Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians isn't necessarily a breakthrough film, but it's more like a perfect throwback to the age before gritty summer blockbuster films ala Christopher Nolan. Its fun atmosphere, expansion of Marvel Cinematic Universe and exceptionally well-cast actors definitely helped Guardians of the Galaxy to be immensely watchable. Don't forget the super funny script with amazingly quotable lines. Guardians work because its bravery to take C-list comic material and lifted into A-list. But I wouldn't be too confident to launch another quirky material like this (winking at Inhumans). Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, otherwise it's War of the Worlds.


3. TIE Edge of Tomorrow & How to Train Your Dragon 2
Edge of Tomorrow (or now titled Live.Die.Repeat) was one of the smartest action sci-fi films ever put on film. With Tom Cruise at his sci-fi best and Emily Blunt being unbelievably badass, it has everything you want in a summer film: action, humor, explosions, famous actors, director with a cred. While How to Train Your Dragon 2 is just beautiful. It's not simply a cash grab film because the first one was immensely popular, it's amazing. The animation has never been better. The voice work is great (Dude Cate Blanchett's in it!). The story greatly expands the world that's established in the first one. It's an amazing work although the film's not as good as the original.

Honorable mentions:
- A sequel to the prequel which actually is a sequel to the original trilogy, X-Men: Days of Future Past which Avenger-ized the X-Men franchise by combining original trilogy actors with prequel actors and eventually erasing the original trilogy timeline and Brett Ratner's contribution.
- The hyper-funny and meta 22 Jump Street. Being a good sequel which base is the relationship between Channing and Jonah while also making fun of themselves, literally.

Most Surprising Film
Lucy
Lucy is Bad Boys meets Transporter meets Limitless meets The Tree of Life. It is a super high concept sci-fi action film starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. It's about a human who's able to access the maximum cerebral capacity after being to a drug. Lucy is a very unconventional Hollywood film. It's surprising for me because it has a great premise and in the middle it sometimes became laughable and finally the ending mind-fucked you. It's fun to see Scarlett Johansson kick ass though.

Honorable mention:
The incredible improvement that is The Purge Anarchy, which is the film I was hoping for in the first one and also it has a great story for a B-movie premise while also setting up things for more Purging.

Worst Film
Transformers: Age of Extinction
I don't think this should be explained in a paragraph. This is coming from a person who enjoys the Shia LaBeouf-led Transformers trilogy. Age of Extinction is Hollywood being desperate. We have Dawn which successfully changed leading actors. We have Guardians that broke the innovation wall. We have an honest, crafted-from-the-heart sequel in HTTYD 2. This film is all the opposite of the films that were just mentioned. It is a lazy, bloated summer film. And what pains me that it still raked in more than 1 billion dollars. It was so bad.

Galaxy Society

That post title was a reference to the false Captain America film, Serpent Society. But the galaxy refers to of course, Guardians of the Galaxy. Finally I have watched that film, the biggest film of the summer, in cinema too! In English too! What a good day. If only I don't have midterm the next day. Yeah, the thing is I'm just super thankful to be able seeing this on the big screen. I went to some kind of mall just on the suburbs of Milan. It has an 18-studio cinema. Cray.

So Guardians of the Galaxy is this weird team of aliens. They are not superheros. They are just weird aliens. We have the Han Solo-esque leader in the form of Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), weaponized alien assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a brute alien bodybuilder who speaks Asgardian English Drax (Dave Bautista), a talking racoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a three-word-speaking walking tree Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). Together they formed this unlikely group to stop Ronan (Lee Pace) destroying the galaxy.

It's a really different Marvel film. Marvel has always incorporated  humor in their films. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it doesn't. My favorite Marvel humor scenes are the 'do you fondue?' from the pedestrian Captain America original and the 'Thor wants more' from the first Thor. And then the ones that don't work are all the jokes on Iron Man 3 and some of the kiddies stuff on The Avengers. But in GotG, it works beautifully and seamlessly. Even the dance off doesn't seem silly, it works just fine. Shane Black should fit right in in this galaxy. All the characters have time to shine as well. Drax, for example, could be instantly functional and forgettable but here he's one of the high point of the jokes for me. Oh, this film also has a girl fight between Nebula (awesome Karen Gillan) and Gamora. Any movie with a girl fight is a YES for me.

I love the songs from the Awesome Mix Vol 1, it gives more color to the film. Best decision ever to have it on film and I must applaud Marvel and Disney for being very brave to release this movie. I love Chris Pratt, he's awesome. Zoe Saldana has always been my favorite actress, she specializes in being alien and badass at the same time. I'm a bit disappointed actually by how Groot and Rocket are voiced by famous actors for the sake of publicity. It's a shame they don't get Bradley Cooper or Vin Diesel to do motion capture. I watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles days before this and I was awed by the mo-cap. Here it's just a shame to have those actors just did the voice work. But Groot and Rocket were amazing work by the VFX team. It's great for the MCU to introduce us to this infinity stones. Which now makes that newly announced Avengers two-parter subtitle more relevant. Infinity War. I just want to see more of this film before their eventual team-up later on. Guardians of the Galaxy: rated 4/4.

Best lines from Guardians of the Galaxy:
- If I had a black light, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting
- They got my dick message!
- Dance off, bro. Me and you!
- I don't know if I believe anyone is 100% a dick


I still think one of the new Marvel films has to fail. Black Panther perhaps. That sounded so racist to me. Panther is black. Why do you have to have that obvious adjective before that obvious fact? I respect Chadwick Boseman though. And Marvel has that cool flair that DC don't have when they announce stuff.

Next up: a two-month late annual Summer Re-cap

Dark Night

Fox's new series Gotham is a prequel to the Batman stories that we all have been familiar with. Taking the center stage, Detective James Gordon (played by the wide-eyed Ben McKenzie) and his sidekick Detective Harvey Bullock (best-part-of-the-show Donald Logue). Like every beginning of a Batman-thing, it started with a lackluster, TV-edition of the infamous Wayne murders. It went a bit high at some point, but it's just another overhyped, no-good TV. Let me walk you through it (I'm going as I walkthrough the first five episodes)

Selina Kyle
A very annoying young character whose job is just to lurk around, climb stuff. Just because she's gonna be Catwoman in the future doesn't mean she has to act like a cat since this young! And her name is beautifully Selina Kyle, why does she want to call herself Cat? Enough with this wink-wink at her future alter ego already.

Wayne Murders

This was handled so badly. These rich people voluntarily walked into a dark alley at night after a show. Why? In Nolan-verse, they went out from the backdoor--plausible. Here, plain stupid. And God, take a look at that bad CGI blood. So bad. So TV.

Detective Harvey Bullock
Yes. First ever portrayal of Bullock on TV or film. Greatly performed by Donald Logue. Might be one of the few likable peeps here.

Bruce Wayne
Hmm. Not sure if I should like this little Bruce. I'd like him if he doesn't show up in every episode. At least David Mazouz is given more stuff to do than in Touch.

Detective James Gordon
Hey, you ain't Gary Oldman. You're a rookie. Stop making bullshit promises and bad speeches to this little guy. Sometime he's likable, but mostly I hate his dead-eye stare at things. Might be because the character is struggling so much to be likable that it turns out to be unlikable. For me, at least.

Alfred Pennyworth
I kinda like this rough Alfred. It's refreshing, it's new. One point for originality.

Edward Nygma
Fuck this shit. 12 minutes into the pilot and we have Edward Nygma working for GCPD. And he likes making riddles. wink wink *punch winking eyes.

Fish Mooney
So badly acted and doesn't work for me.

Oswald Cobblepot
I think, the movies ruined Gotham. We have great actors portraying these familiar people. Danny DeVito is a tough one to top. But one point for making the most out of Penguin here.

Scenery
I hate Gotham's fake-looking, over-saturated, CGI-enhanced backdrop. I get the look they're going for but it looks fake as hell. Please know your limits, or at least spend some cash on making little sets. Make a goddamn painting like its the 1930s would even work better. You want vintage look? There you go. You're welcome.

Pamela Isley Ivy
Seriously? Poison Ivy's real name is Pamela Isley, not Ivy. So, in this universe, when Bruce Wayne decided to be Batman, would he call himself Wayne-Man? In this universe, when Joker shows up, his real name would be Joker? You want me to punch your other winking eye, Fox? 

Education
Is Bruce Wayne receiving proper education? Maybe that's why he burns himself, doodles scary pictures and listen to disturbingly loud rock music. Problem solved. Or, is it to be Batman you have to burn yourself, doodle scary pictures and listen to disturbingly loud rock music? And on top of that, have no proper education? Wow, you guys successfully downgraded Batman to the lowest point possible.

look at that cop, he has a freakin gun

Villain-of-the-week
Third episode in and we hit the lowest storyline ever. The Balloonman. Gotham's first vigilante. The balloonman, what the fuck. Hey, Mario Pepper was easily shot to dead. Why can't these Gotham people just shoot the balloon instead of reporting the news? Also, what will make Batman special if these vigilantes are already showing up this early?

Lesbian Past
Just. Like. Every. Other. TV. Show.

Bad CGI
Gaze at this monstrosity you call TV CGI! Definitely not caused by some precursor drug to Bane's Venom. It's just bad CGI.

The real questions are should we continue overhyping this show? 

Should we continue watching this mediocrity?

Let's see in the next coming weeks.

Meanwhile, I watched The Flash pilot. It was okay at best. It's so much like Smallville, they will encountered these 'meta-humans' instead of those Kryptonite-exposed people. Not going to watch this cheap looking series.

Well, in Marvel camp, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is proving to be quite the juggernaut. They have better pacing and storyline than their debut season. They even don't name-drop The Avengers anymore. They're that confident now. Learn from that, Gotham.

I'm rooting so much for DC to find its own footing and succeed. I don't even want them to build a cinematic universe. Maybe that's Marvel's game, maybe it's not yours DC. They need to start making quality films or series from now on. Come Agent Carter, Gotham may fade.

Next post

I don't know what's next actually

Probably some little reviews from the summer films I just watched