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).

Big Epic Small Epic

This week I woke up the earliest of all time during my stay in Japan. I woke up before seven and got ready to catch a bus, catch a train, and catch another bus to get to the movie theater. Some sacrifice huh? The first film I watched today was Alfonso Cuaron's single shot-porn Gravity in 3D! This is the first time I watched a 3D film in Japan! The second is 47 Ronin, which makes this review quite special because this might be the very first few reviews of the film because it's released two weeks early in Japan (and it bombed in Japan).

Gravity
Gravity might be the most thrilling film this year, and possibly ever made. It is also might arguably be the most technically advanced film ever, beyond Avatar. Alfonso Cuaron has made a superb film that made you, almost literally, hold your breath. The film's decision to be super-realistic by using no sound in space is another point in awesome and an advantage too. The heroes in this film are Sandra Bullock who could carry the film almost all by herself, music composer Steven Price with his intense score, DoP Emmanuel Lubezki for his incredible shots from outer space, visual effects guys, and of course Alfonso Cuaron as the director. The 3D is also effective and might be the best 3D film I've ever watched. It's so great that the only thing I can comment is that if you haven't watched this, why haven't you? Gravity is intense, smart, thrilling, superb, and one of the best films of the year. Gravity: rated 5/4 TOO GOOD TO BE RATED.

47 Ronin
47 Ronin is a hyper ambitious film, with swollen budget and multiple delayed release dates. It stars Keanu Reeves and a flock of Japanese Hollywood graduates such as Hiroyuki Sanada (Sunshine, The Wolverine), Tadanobu Asano (Thor, Battleship) and Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim). It also stars famous J-TV actress Ko Shibaseki and boyband member Jin Akanishi. Its decision to cast Japanese actors is commendable and deserves a standing ovation. It's a brave decision yet still they still feel the need to add Keanu's unimportant character. The film shows great deal of Japanese culture and honors them too. The bushido code of the samurais scenes are just perfect. It also improved the legend at some parts but it is plagued with cheesy lines, not a surprise coming from the writer who wrote Fast and Furious series and the writer who wrote the super minimum dialogue for Drive. The CGI is surprisingly not bad and the direction for a first-timer is quite okay. However, the other decision to add witchcraft and fantasy elements is also questionable. The film wanted to be an adventure epic but didn't explore the story too well that it actually came out like Clash of the Titans. We didn't get to invest much on the character, and they could omit some parts in favor of more important things but didn't do so. I'm not a fan of Keanu Reeves in this film, but the Japanese actors are great, particularly Hiroyuki Sanada, Rinko Kikuchi, and Min Tanaka. You could skip this film, but if you didn't it's not a bad thing either. Especially if you like Japanese stuff. 47 Ronin: rated 2.5/4

About the title, it refers to both Gravity and 47 Ronin. Gravity managed to be a great epic with a very little setting and story yet 47 Ronin just managed to be a small epic while it aimed to be a big one.

Next two weeks: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Hellish Busy

I'm so sorry but this is going to be very short. I'm so busy out of nowhere and I have no time to write the blog and actually I had no inspiration to write the blog. So, almost two weeks ago I went and watch the new Paul Greengrass film starring Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips. That would be a short review and I'll add  late three reviews of some 2013 films.

Captain Phillips
It's Tom Hanks vs. Pirates, but not as glorious like Pirates of the Caribbean nor even it is that American-heroic. It's a tense thriller, seeing the sides of both parties. The story is about Captain Phillips who's a captain for a cargo ship that had to go through the Somali Basin, which is pirates' waters. The film did justice by showing the pirates' side as well, and it did more justice by casting Somali people. Barkhad Abdi is amazing, and so do the other Somali actors. Tom Hanks is even greater, by the final scene alone, he could get an Oscar nom. Greengrass' direction is indisputable as it has been his standard since The Bourne Supremacy. The film's so good and it's not even Greengrass' best three films. It kinda shows how the Americans are the evil ones, although there seemed to be no other option. It was a very realistic, intense film set only at the seas. The only downside is the film kinda drags too long in the middle and the final scene's music is a reminiscence of Hans Zimmer's Time for Inception. But all in all, a very good film. Captain Phillips: rated 3.5/4

Kick-Ass 2
Kick Ass 2's story revolves after the events of the first film. Kick Ass and Hit-Girl are trying to fit in like usual, not as superheroes and Red Mist swore to avenge his father's death by being a supervillain named The Motherfucker. Inspired by Kick-Ass, some of the people in the city braved themselves and put on costumes like superheroes too. The film is not a bad film on its own, it's actually pretty good. But as a franchise to follow the far superior Kick-Ass, this film sucked. And it sucked almost in all aspects, starting from CGI to story. The story is unworthy and kinda disgraceful on treating the deaths of important supporting characters. Some loose ends are not tied up too. The brilliance of Jim Carrey is wasted, unfortunately. No wonder he didn't want to promote the film. I bet it's not only the violence that turned him off, but also his own screentime. Now let's talk about the good parts, Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz are great. The story line for Mindy/Hit-Girl is superb and it deserves a film of its own. This film belongs to 'Films That Are Not Bad Yet Its Existence Is Questionable' along with The Bourne Legacy and The Amazing Spider-Man. Kick-Ass 2: rated 2/4

The Family/Malavita
Malavita boasts great cast and a pretty good director, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones with Luc Besson. It has a killer premise of a mafia family in a witness protection program living in Europe. However in reality this actually looks like a parody of Robert De Niro films. At one point in this Martin Scorsese-produced film, Robert De Niro's character watches a Robert De Niro film which was directed by Martin Scorsese. The story isn't interesting at all and the use of violence as comedy might be fun at first but bitter when it was prolonged. The only violence I support is when Dianna Agron's character beat up guys for her women rights. It's completely forgettable although it's kinda fun at first. The Family or Malavita whatever you want to call this film: rated 2/4.

Insidious Chapter 2
After the so-so but technically great The Conjuring, I was thirsty for some real, jump-scare-moment-filled, scary horror films, then this film came. I loved Insidious' ending that I really loathed the idea of a sequel but apparently it's also good. As a horror film you'd want to watch at the cinemas or with your friends during slumber party, Insidious Chapter Two wins at every aspect than The Conjuring. The story satisfyingly answered some questions raised in the first film, expanding Patrick Wilson's character and ghost. However, the first Insidious is still better for it's prolonged horror atmospheric scene and the characters while Chapter Two resolves the story with more action, losing the stakes of a horror film and also loses the interesting characters introduced in the first film in favor of jump scare tactics, and sometimes unintentional, strange humor too. But this film succeeded in making the super-kind looking Patrick Wilson as a scary figure. Insidious Chapter Two: rated 3/4


LATER THIS WEEK: ALFONSO CUARON'S GRAVITY 3D REVIEWED!
I'd like to do 47 Ronin but apparently it's not even that well-received in Japan. Mind you, the film is already out for a week but it only collected $1.3m. And I'm not even that interested in the film so, yeah, SKIP.

Suffering

I had a double feature earlier today, celebrating my two done exams (actually two more to go). First is Denis Vileneuve-directed Prisoners and Kevin MacDonald's Brit-YA How I Live Now. Both films include lots of suffering and I am currently suffering because I have to study for final exams so I guess it's just fitting that the title for this post be Suffering.

Prisoners
This star-studded indie-feeling yet studio-funded film initially didn't catch my attention from the trailer. I dismissed it as generic, but of course there's more to that because look at the star power in this film. It turns out to be right, the film got a lot of awards buzz, and my brother was raving about this back in Indonesia. The story is about two families who lost their daughters and one father who's willing to cross the line to get her daughter back, and one detective who's assigned to this dismal case. The film's exciting and engaging story made you stressed out and emotional. The twists and turns are unexpected. The film's bleak color palette is gorgeous, and the quiet, atmospherical score is also fitting. However, the film's weakest point is Jake Gyllenhaal's Detective Loki's character who seemed to be incompetent on working the case. I bet you could work out the case before this Detective. However, Gyllenhaal was great in the role and it's a shame that this character didn't get the chance to be fleshed out. We already saw his weird eye-blinking, his Freemasons ring and strange tattoos on his fingers, but I guess that's up for our interpretation. Great performances by Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano and the near unrecognizable Melissa Leo. The film plays on the issue of religion and karma, mostly from the viewpoint of Jackman's Keller Dover. The film's overlong duration was necessary because in the end, we just want the film to continue. Prisoners: rated 4/4.

How I Live Now
Saoirse Ronan stars yet again in a young adult novel adaptation after her failed outing in Stephenie Meyer's The Host just earlier this year. But this film is based on a Brit YA, and of course it's so different. The story is set in the near future where World War III was breaking out, and Daisy (Ronan) was sent from the US to England to seek refuge to her family, things started to move when a nuclear bomb was dropped in London. The film kept it small scale but it could make us care for the character on-screen. Apart from the film's love story sub-plot, the story works. However, the things the characters do on-screen are sometimes downright stupid. For example a young boy lost his will to live after the terrorist group killed his dog, what the fuck right? Or, how Daisy, after one sex, decides to stay in England, a place she loathed, when she already got a ticket back to the States. Those are the ridiculous parts, but the rest of the film were doing okay. It has strong sequences accompanied with killer soundtracks, great sceneries, intense electronic score, and apparently it's rated R! I didn't even realize it. Did I mention that this film also stars the brilliant Tom Holland, who plays the kid in The Impossible? The little kid who plays Piper is another gem in the film. Unlike other YA which needs a big name actor who could carry the film, this one doesn't at all. In conclusion, the film is waaay better than Twilight, Beautiful Creatures, The Host, or most young-adult adaptations. But still this film is out of The Hunger Games's league. How I Live Now: rated 3/4

No Temperature

The Counselor is one of the rare example of how I managed to watch a film earlier than my home country Indonesia. To be honest, this only the second one, the first one being Les Miserables earlier this year. The Counselor is Ridley Scott's follow-up to his excellent yet polarizing sci-fi Prometheus. Scripted by Cormac McCarthy of No Country for Old Men and starring an ensemble cast that can't be refused, The Counselor definitely has everything on the table. The cast includes Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt. And you'll be surprised by the film's 'cameo' extravaganza later in the film. This is an interesting trivia for the film: in Japan The Counselor is titled more vaguely 悪の法則 / Law of Evil. Strange because Japan tends to simplify movie titles (the latest I learned is that the Japanese title of Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is just Life!).

The story follows a counselor simply known as The Counselor as he made a seemingly great deal involving drugs from Mexico with his friends Reiner (Bardem) and Westrey (Pitt) to start a family with his lover Laura (Cruz). But there's a mole in the group with her own's scheme, Malkina (Diaz).

For me, that's the whole plot of the film. Since this film is extremely dialogue-driven and script-heavy, I may missed something due to heavy accent deliveries by Bardem or just I was still amazed by the greatness of the previous sentence. The film itself is too convoluted on the story for me it was quite confusing. It's almost like an appetizer to Cloud Atlas. There are bigger stakes than the life of the titular counselor but it was not conveyed clearly. The film was too long during the first half, but not until the story moved in the middle, the film started to get exciting. No doubt, I need to watch it again for clarity. But what McCarthy lacked on storytelling, he made it up in his excellent characters such as The Counselor himself, the bad-haired Reiner, or the possible-psychopath Malkina. The actors playing them are amazing. I mean this might be the first film I saw with a great Cameron Diaz performance in it. Fassbender is superb, Bardem is as always, Pitt also looked comfortable in the role although he's just Brad Pitt, it's a pity that Penelope Cruz's role isn't big enough.The second half of the film has a great number of cameos, from ASAC Schrader Dean Norris, John Leguizamo, Edgar Ramirez in a near-pointless scene, or hottie Natalie Dormer (sadly playing an American here). Cormac McCarthy's script is very great. It was full of killer one-liners or just thoughtful, undeniably great long speeches. However, McCarthy's script might be off-putting for some, Ridley Scott did a great job keeping the interest going on. The set-pieces in this film are also amazing, I counted two outstanding scenes, first of course, Cameron Diaz having sex with a Ferrari and second is Brad Pitt got Bolito-ed. The car sex scene was jaw-dropping and the Bolito was pulse-pounding accompanied with an eargasmic score by Daniel Pemberton. The Counselor is definitely the true definiton of 'that so cool' and 'wtf is happening!' combined.  Maybe the film was ahead of its time. The potential is there but not reaped entirely. Maybe it's going to be worshipped in the years to come. Maybe not. The Counselor: rated 3/4


I didn't review Carrie as promised, but I will review Captain Phillips in the next two weeks!