Andrew

I was anticipating the adaptation of Orson Scott Card's novel, Ender's Game because mainly it featured promising young actors vetted with Oscar-worthy actors. Yet the anticipation never built up to the usual blockbuster level. It seemed a very indie sci-fi film because of that. And early reviews didn't look that good and even my brother just said meh to this film. But yet, I'm a sci-fi freak. I even watched After Earth in cinemas this year and grinned happily and crazily at Tom Cruise's incredibly unoriginal sci-fi Oblivion. For the record, I didn't like After Earth but I loved Oblivion, but not loved it as much as Alfonso Cuaron's magnifico Gravity. The first trailer for Ender's Game pretty much sealed the deal for me. As for the book, I never got past a third of the book. Too busy.

The story is about Andrew Wiggin, awfully nicknamed Ender who went to Battle School in order to be prepped to be the next army commander against an alien race. He's believed to be the next big thing and eventually the leader and savior against the looming alien attack. He left his family on Earth only to be trained toughly in space. But there's more to Ender than meets the eye.

How's my back cover synopsis? Pretty good huh? Anyway, Ender's Game is one of the best adaptations ever to be made by Hollywood. Mainly because it's not your usual love-filled YA like Twilight, Mortal Instruments, or even The Hunger Games. It's a war between good and evil, mixed with psychological games and added with zero-G games and aliens. The actors are really good, especially Asa Butterfield in his first teenage starring role. The supporting cast like Hailee Steinfeld, Harrison Ford, Viola Davis and Ben Kingsley are undeniably good. Particularly Ben Kingsley with that Oz accent, loved it. The direction by Gavin Hood is solid and the music by Transformers composer Steve Jablonsky is the ultimate cherry on top. Listen to the track The Battle Room when Petra and Ender first trained together. It's amazing. It's like this film's Arrival to Earth for Transformers. The story building up to the climax is really well done, although some were omitted much. It wouldn't hurt to add more Battle School action, add more training scenes and add more to the ending. If we could've had another 20 minutes on Ender's progress, it'd be perfect. However, I must applaud the film's decision to show it in 2D, although the Battle Room scenes alone justify the use of 3D (although this one might be a financial decision rather than creative). For me, it's one of the nicest sci-fi experiences in cinemas. It's just so good. Or is it a proof that Hollywood doesn't make more sci-fi films? Ender's Game: rated 3.5/4

Thursday Morning with Chris Hemsworth

A sequel to last year's Thursday Morning with.. post. It's another year and another day for the Oscars nom. In keeping with the so-called Heroes theme, the Academy had Chris Hemsworth announcing this year's noms with the Academy prez. By the way, the only category that I watched all the films in it is Best Visual Effects. In a year full of notable contenders, there's bound to be quite a few upsets. Most of my picks were there, but the notable snubs and surprises are:
SNUBS:
- No love for Inside Llewyn Davis, I guess Philomena or as DiCaprio said, Philomania overlapped the Coen Bros pic. No love even for the songs too!
- No Tom Hanks, not even one. I guess Christian Bale robbed Hankses here.
- Her, thank God it scored Best Pic nom. But it failed to gain  noms for director Spike Jonze and master actor Joaquin Phoenix.
- Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda in Rush, in what might be one of the best performances of the year.
- Also, Rush in any technical categories.
- In what seemed to be the bravest role since Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Robert Redford for All is Lost.
- Blue is the Warmest Color has no nom for Best Foreign Language Film!
- Paul Greengrass got robbed by Alexander Payne!
- The king of 2013's awards bait, Saving Mr Banks didn't get Best Pic, Best Actress and the previously mentioned Best Actor noms.
- No ILM skill show off Pacific Rim!
- Man of Steel in ANY category.

SURPRISES:
- Any noms for August: Osage Country. The buzz for this film isn't that big, but it landed two major noms for awards' queen Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts
- Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street. 
- Philomena which actually becomes Philomania late in the game
- Two noms for Wong Kar-Wai's The Grandmaster! and one isn't Foreign Language Film.
- One film from Cambodia. When's your turn, Indonesia?!
- Biggest surprise of all, Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa is now an Academy Award-nominated film.

I'll post my predictions (and eventually, winners) next month, after I watched most of the nominated films. As of this post, for Best Pic, I've only watched three out of nine.

BOONUUUS! Reviews of Oscar-nominated films Her and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!
Her
A very beautiful film. It started out unlike your expectations on the film. You expected it to be kinda Wes Anderson-like hipster-ish, but not at all. Joaquin Phoenix is super great as Theodore who fell in love with his intelligent OS named Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. In the end, Her is a roller coaster ride; you might kinda feel awkward when Theodore and Samantha first had 'sex', then you hated Theodore for being a freak, then you understood and rooted for Theodore and felt happy for him, and then you feel his pain towards the end, but above all you found hope again like he did. Her looks like a futuristic film, but it's the film for our times. A very up-to-date film about our current condition. I loved everything about Her: rated 4/4.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
A continuation of the leave-you-hanging An Unexpected Journey. It's best if you see the film back-to-back, because you got to feel the characters more. We have more dwarf action in this film, but also have cooler action by Legolas and Peter Jackson-created she-elf Tauriel. The set pieces in the film are all amazing. It made you breathless and at the edge of your seat. And the titular dragon, omg, it's amazing, it's stupendous. The effects on the dragon alone guarantees an Oscar nom (although in overall, no), and the stellar voicework by Benedict Cumberbatch makes the dragon a joy to watch and experience. I loved the epic scene involving Smaug in Erebor. It was actually beyond epic. I also loved seeing Thorin and Bilbo because we got more into their characters but most of all, I loved Tauriel for her badassness and her strong profile too. It's definitely a slight improvement from the first film, although it still never reaches the heights set by the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also the effects in overall still looks fake compared to LOTR. Nevertheless, it still leaves you hanging for the third film. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: rated 3.5/4.

Do You Miss Me?

what life? I've been away (grins)

Just when you thought that Elementary is hitting all the right notes and after wondering to myself whether Elementary is a good adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story or not, something arrives and reminds me that above the sky, there is another sky (this is an Indonesian proverb, so go figure). Sherlock is finally back after two years! And this morning/yesterday (depends on where you are), it wrapped its too-short season of three ninety-minute episodes. The series of course sees the return of now-international celebrities Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in their respective roles as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. And here I am reviewing the episodes of series three. Mind you, they don't come as brilliant as The Scandal in Belgravia but offering their own different merits. According to me, this series' theme is mind palace. What is mind palace exactly?

guess who's mind palaces are these?

By the way, this post is spoiler-free!

The Empty Hearse
This episode offers the best first 3 minutes of television, thanks to Anderson's wild imagination. The return of Sherlock Holmes from the dead is celebrated with this hilarious episode, a different take from the more-serious previous episodes. There's a brilliant scene where Sherlock takes on his clients while Watson takes on his patients. It is clear from this episode that this season's direction is more to the emotional and psychological aspect rather than just action. And that paid off, with a perfect take on Watson's future wife, Mary along with a superbly adorable Amanda Abbington (who's even more likable that she is Martin Freeman's real life partner!). What's even best is that this episode doesn't even provide us with a definite method on how Sherlock faked his death. And this is the first time the term 'mind palace' is spoken. Perfect beginning to the series.

The Sign of Three
Initially, for like the first 45 minutes or so, I hated this episode. This episode might came off to audience as unimportant and unintelligent. But then again I must be underestimating the very high-level intelligence of the writers, because it came out as the best episode of series three. To make an episode out of  Sherlock's best man speech isn't easy and this apparently became something really really unexpected. The story is so clever. I have no higher praise than that. The fact that Irene Adler briefly cameoed is another high point in this episode. I loved seeing Sherlock more than just a consulting detective and just a geek, in this episode he was shown to have a really great human interaction. His way of defining himself as high-functioning sociopath is almost irrelevant. This episode is actually really really really funny as well! And for the first time ever, Sherlock welcomed us to his mind palace.

His Last Vow
This was a return to basic after the previous funny episodes. We finally got a full look at this series' big baddie, Christian Magnussen. Different from the rock-n-roll, Staying Alive-hating Jim Moriarty, Magnussen is real creepy. And in this episode we got a big surprise reveal..... that Sherlock Holmes is sleeping with a girl! No, not that. A big surprise..... about Mary, which I won't disclose, especially that the US still has to wait for another 3 weeks to end series 3. Once again, this episode is a character and relationship-driven one, but also giving the punch at the plot as Sherlock's past and character is starting to unravel. I loved how the series approached John as an adrenaline junkie and how Sherlock is becoming even more human and becoming a best friend for John. This episode shows how Magnussen, a man of similar intelligence as Sherlock, misused his exceptional mind palace for bad things.
And guess who's back at the end of the episode?

Series 3 is yet another amazing series of Sherlock. Cumberbatch and Freeman gave their all. Particularly Cumberbatch in the last episode. The writing is top-notch. The music is eargasmic. Would it kill people if we have at least five episodes per series? And don't make Sherlock a once in two year event! Don't you dare and torture us fans like that again!

I See You

Hey there! This is my own tradition and I have done this since 2009 (I didn't even realized it has been 5 years). It started as notes on Facebook until 2012, then I decided to move the list to this blog (therefore aiming for a smaller audience). 2014 is starting and of course, 2014 is nothing compared to the upcoming mega monster movie year of 2015. But still, let's take a look at what the chef prepared for appetizer. And I, as the restaurant manager, have filtered the choices so that the only movies that we see would only spell quality. That was a confusing sentence. As always, this doesn't include 2013 award season films and perhaps doesn't include 2014 award season films too (because unlike tentpoles, they don't have a definite release date from now). Plus, bold titles mean must watches and unmarked means negotiable.

JANUARY
- Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit with Chris Pine and director Kenneth Branagh

FEBRUARY
- The Lego Movie with Chris Pratt, Morgan Freeman, and directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller
- The Monuments Men with Matt Damon and actor director George Clooney
- RoboCop with Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman and director Jose Padilha
- Killers with Oka Antara, Luna Maya and directors The Mo Brothers
- Winter's Tale with Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe and director Akiva Goldsman
- Pompeii with Kit Harrington, Emily Browning and director Paul WS Anderson
- Non-Stop with Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and director Jaume Collet-Serra

MARCH
- 300: Rise of an Empire with Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro and director Noam Murro
- The Grand Budapest Hotel with Ralph Fiennes and director Wes Anderson
- Need for Speed with Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper and director Scott Waugh
- Divergent with Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet and director Neil Burger
- Muppets Most Wanted with Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and director James Bobin
- Noah with Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and director Darren Aronofsky
- The Raid: Berandal with Iko Uwais and director Gareth Evans

APRIL
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier with Chris Evans and directors Anthony and Joe Russo
- Sabotage with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington and director David Ayer
- Transcendence with Johnny Depp and director Wally Pfister

MAY
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and director Marc Webb
- Chef with Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau
- Neighbors with Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and director Nicholas Stolllr
- Godzilla with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston and director Gareth Edwards
- X-Men: Days of Future Past with Hugh Jackman and director Bryan Singer
- Maleficent with Angelina Jolie and director Robert Stromberg
- A Million Ways to Die in the West with actor director Seth MacFarlane

JUNE
- Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and director Doug Liman
- The Fault in Our Stars with Shailene Woodley, Willem Dafoe and director Josh Boone
- 22 Jump Street with Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 with Jay Baruchel and director Dean DeBlois
- Jersey Boys with director Clint Eastwood
- Transformers: Age of Extinction with Mark Wahlberg and director Michael Bay

JULY
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with Jason Clarke and director Matt Reeves
- Jupiter Ascending with Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis and directors The Wachowskis
- Hercules: The Thracian Wars with Dwayne Johnson and director Brett Ratner
- Step Up All In with Ryan Guzman and director Trish Sie

AUGUST
- Guardians of the Galaxy with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and director James Gunn
- Lucy with Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman and director Luc Besson
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Megan Fox and director Jonathan Liebesman
- The Expendables 3 with Sylvester Stallone and director Patrick Hughes
- The Giver with Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep and director Philip Noyce
- Sin City: A Dame to Kill For with Bruce Willis and director Robert Rodriguez
- Jane Got a Gun with Natalie Portman and director Gavin O' Connor

SEPTEMBER
- This is Where I Leave You with Jason Bateman and director Shawn Levy
- The Equalizer with Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua

OCTOBER
- Gone Girl with Ben Affleck and director David Fincher
- The Interview with the team of This is the End
- The Judge with Robert Downey Jr. and director David Dobkin
- Paranormal Activity 5 with some crew

NOVEMBER
- Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey and director Christopher Nolan
- Dumb and Dumber To with Jeff Daniels, Jim Carrey and directors Farelly Bros.
- Fury with Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf and director David Ayer
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 with JLaw and director FLaw
- Horrible Bosses 2 with Kevin Spacey, Jason Sudeikis and director Seen Anders

DECEMBER
- Exodus with Christian Bale and director Ridley Scott
- The Hobbit: There and Back Again with Martin Freeman and Peter Jackson
- Annie with Quvenzhane Wallis and director Will Gluck
- Into the Woods with Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep and director Rob Marshall
- Night at the Museum 3 with Ben Stiller and director Shawn Levy
- Unbroken with Domnhall Gleeson and director Angelina Jolie

Well, this list could still expand with more films but for me, here's my top 10 anticipated films of 2014 with reasons why!
10. The Raid 2 - nation's pride
9. Dawn of the Apes - because I need to speak with Caesar
8. Mockingjay Part 1 - Jennifer.
7. Transcendence - Depp in real life-not that real tho.
6. Gone Girl - Fincher.
5. The Hobbit 3 - because it's the last? duh.
4. Edge of Tomorrow - Tom Cruise and sci-fi is never wrong
3. X-Men: DoFP - you gotta be crazy if you're not excited for this
2. Godzilla - look at the spectacular trailer yo
1. Interstellar - Nolan in space.

The Sign of Four

Happy New Year guys! So sorry for taking a quite long hiatus for I have been holidaying for last year's winter break. Nevertheless, I still caught up to some films (like I always do) and one of them is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Yes, I know-that's so November 2013-but it's a recent release here in Japan. I watched it on the first day and got a free mockingjay pin from the cinemas. Lucky huh? I also included other reviews of Ron Howard's Rush, the Carrie reboot and Richard Curtis' latest About Time.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The film is incredibly faithful to the book and it is a definite upgrade from the already satisfyingly great first film entry to the series. The film has I Am Legend and Constantine's Francis Lawrence at the helm and the amazing cast that includes Academy Awards winners and nominees. Jennifer Lawrence is at her all best in this film and had this film is not a blockbuster and more of a awards season fare, Lawrence would've had a shot at Best Actress. The supporting cast is superb like Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland. The newcomers Sam Claflin and Jena Malone fit perfectly to the film. The scenes in the games are gorgeous and the pre-Games story is nicely done. It is a very promising entry to look forward to this year's Mockingjay. However, it should be noted that unlike the first film's great soundtrack album, this film's soundtrack album is so bad. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: rated 4/4.

Rush
It's a rare Formula 1 drama, mainly because the Americans are alien to this high-risk sports. The film chronicles the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt in the 1976 Grand Prix where Lauda had an horrible accident. Ron Howard's direction is top-notch, Hans Zimmer's score is perfect and not too attention-grabbing, but the real star here is Daniel Bruhl. He played Niki Lauda amazingly and flawlessly. It is a gigantic question mark that Bruhl isn't a serious contender in the awards' season. This film could make you feel the pressure, tension and pride between Lauda and Hunt. I knew it would be great right from the trailer but this is beyond my expectations. Rush: rated 4/4

Carrie
Right from the first scene, it has already tried to differentiate itself from the superior Brian DePalma film. While it successfully inserted today's lifestyle with social media and cyberbullying stuff, Carrie still doesn't work mainly because Chloe Moretz's unfortunate casting. She's too good to be Carrie White. And the comparison between the original film is inevitable. Even the brilliant Julianne Moore-although here showed her best performance-still pales in comparison to Piper Laurie. The climactic prom scene is not as shocking as the original, it was too fast and too CGI-filled. The score for the film is cool and I loved Gabriella Wilde here (new crush!). And of course Chloe Moretz gave her all, but she's not Carrie. and what's up with the name Brian Cranstone among the prom king noms? Carrie is a unnecessary remake that shouldn't arrive here in the first place. Carrie: rated 2/4

About Time
ONE. OF. THE. BEST. FILMS. EVER. That was my reaction after finishing this film. It's currently up there with Gravity and The World's End for my top 2013 films (this is before the awards season, of course). And it's also up there with (500) Days of Summer for my all time favorites. This is a film that celebrates love and live, which could relate with everyone. Add that with a small dose of fantasy and you got your dream film. Add that again with casting Rachel McAdams and a handful of brilliant Brits and you got a perfect film. The film is pleasant, sad, and heart-pounding--just like life. Rachel McAdams is adorable as always and Domnhall Gleeson successfully carried his first leading man film. I love this film to death. It was such a pleasant film, albeit its strange rule-bending for time travel. About Time: rated 5/4.


The blog title refers to a Sherlock Holmes story, which relates to the recent BBC Sherlock episode and also the number four relates to 2014. Neat. Smooth. Strange. Anyway, next post would either be a late review of Ender's Game or a review of Sherlock's series three (whispers: I think it's the latter).