Review | Les Miserables (2012)

A one-note musical that could've been worst

Review | The Dark Knight Rises

This trilogy settles... with something hollow. And there are some spoilers in this review.

Rant - The Academy Awards / Oscars suck (and here's why)

Warning_ May Contain Strong Language)... and please I know what I am talking about.

Bride Wars - please make this a truce

F (0.1)

Have you ever wondered a chick flick with not the most impressive yet special name would literally be the worst chick flick you would ever witness in so many levels? Well this is it. Bride Wars.

The first film from 2009 that had cost Anne Hathaway any chance of a Best Actress Oscar for Rachel Getting Married, a movie about a wedding filled with raw emotion after being in a movie also about a wedding that's totally opposite to the former.

She joins Kate Hudson in this mind-numbing material who are best friends since childhood and they both dreamt of having a lavish wedding at the Plaza Hotel planned by prestigious wedding planner Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen. WHY?). Hathaway plays Bride No.1 whle Hudson is Bride No.2 who's this uptight career-minding version of No.1. They just both got their engagements, they go to Marion St. Claire to book their weddings where a clerical error occured hence both weddings are on the same date at the same time. Friends turn into foes as they both become bridezillas sabotaging and uptight as a reality show bridezilla.

There's a few thin elements in where these two ultra-listed actresses are almost on the verge of degrading themselves. They have no regrets for this movie. They both had fun, every young female would have fun with this movie, but I didn't because this is not only the worst chick flick out there I have ever seen, but also the worst movie I've ever seen.

From one scene to another we are given no justification to root for these characters because they don't have any character at all except for the fact that Hudson is career minded as mentioned earlier. It's just that both Hudson and Hathaway are playing themselves who are only in for the money in which they taint their careers by doing the most ridiculous and humiliating performances you'll ever see in the cinema.

What represented by this film is this consumerist idea of having the most perfect wedding (i.e. the bridal dress, the boutique, the catering) sent out to many young girls especially teenagers. An easy message right? That's for you to say because it brings out an anti-feminist tone with a simple moral at the end that "no matter how ridiculous your dreams are, they'll come true". Bride Wars brings in two stereotypes. One is obviously Bridezilla in where the bride treats people like shit since she is tight for the wedding. The other is where like almost every woman portrayed in every chick flick. They're hysterical, they look for love and things go horribly wrong for them and the worst thing is the audience takes this whole concept for granted

With a screenplay filled with witless jokes and excruciating dialogue, it's often remarkable a chick flick that would aim at women backfires for being so misogynistic. Bride Wars is an epitome of that theory despite the fact it raked in $111 million worldwide.

Bride Wars is a grim outlook for cinema today. This is top-notch cinema responsible for the decline of Western Civilisation. Girls, persist if you want to please, I want to torture myself.

Oh the places you go... wait... another moment of thinking 'which way?' 

My Reaction to the 83rd Academy Awards

OK. The Oscars are over. After that, you should get a life.

And I was divided. Really divided.

The King's Speech won four Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor (it almost got the Big Five - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Director). I congratulate them with their win. It is a perfect prediction for this years Oscars because as I said in the Best Picture blog, the Academy loves a feel-good movie even if my wishes wasn't fulfilled. SO anyway congratulations to them. Even if it meant that a Hollywood movie had not won that category for four years.

I was really happy that Inception had got the most Oscars with four for Visual Effects, Cinematography, Sound Editing and Mixing. Most of the technical awards. And The Social Network got three Oscars - Best Editing, Best Original Score for Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and Best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin. And even though it didn't win any important category, Inception and The Social Network will be remembered as two of the greatest movies made in this century.

And I was also pleased that Natalie Portman won the only Oscar for Black Swan. Black Swan is a dark movie and even it is so conflicted, Portman deserved it. Everybody's a winner (except for 127 Hours, that's a shame)

Insert rant:

But the entire show is so EXCRUCIATING. Anne Hathaway and James Franco may be the youngest hosts to ever host an Oscar show, but they are the worst Oscar hosts ever!! It makes David Letterman hosting feel like Billy Crystal, it makes Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin look like Cheech & Chong.

I have completely lost faith with Hathaway and I don't know if playing Catwoman in the next Batman movie was the right choice by Christopher Nolan. Seriously James Franco cross dress as Marilyn Monroe while Hathaway makes fun of Australians. That is such a dick move. It reminds me of two guys sitting next to each other at a bar. One's drunk and the other remains sober. Hathaway acts drunk while Franco seems like he came out from Alcoholic Anomynous. That is such a dick move.

More than so, this is what I've been expecting from these two actors who have never experienced any hosting duties. They honestly could not take this seriously together and the chemistry is entirely charmless. Seriously the jokes are unfunny, the lines are unplayful and this is the moment I've been waiting for... Hathaway changing her wardrobe for EIGHT FUCKING TIMES! Hathaway bringing in a choir from the movie Waiting For Superman is somewhat a hush compensation for us if we don't enjoy until the very end. Watching Hathaway and Franco hosting the 83rd Academy Awards is like watching The Last Airbender where it doesn't have an ending and until its 127 minute there's a twist (M Night Shyalaman joke put here) but there's still no ending. Now I'm wishing Kanye would come in and interrupt them. It's also like watching The Tourist again and again.

I honestly don't get why the Academy is so obsessed with kids my age. I mean did the whole Academy go into a midlife crisis? Did they want them to grab ratings? Did the Academy want to trick them into seeing the hottest girl and guy in Hollywood hosting the biggest event of their lives? They're trying to grab a younger audience and that plan had epicly failed. Unfortunately no one 16 years younger or older to 25 is interested in good movies. Because they don't know what the fuck is a good movie. They're still playing their Call Of Duty: Black Ops, still watching the same Adam Sandler movie or Twilight movie and they will never watch classic movies like 2001: A Space Oddysey or Goodfellas.

They could've chose a comedian instead. None of them are comedians and the Academy would've gave Stephen Colbert or even Conan o Brien the rights to host it.

But the best thing about the show is a montage of The Social Network, Twilight, Toy Story 3 and Harry Potter mashuped to deliver a hilarious autotune

So my verdict is this: Everyone's a winner, but they wasted their time to the most hollow show on Earth

Please welcome your hosts... James Franco and Anne Hathaway?

Finally I get to know who will host next year's Oscars. After so much predicting we finally get these two people: James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

First found out when I searched IMDB and news came in telling us that both actors are doing their duties hosting next year's Oscars.

Which had me asking:
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?!

These two actors have something in common. Hathaway and Franco hosted Saturday Night Live, both appeared in great comedies (Hathaway was in The Devil Wears Prada while Franco was in Pineapple Express) and had a head start on their character as type characters (she was a children's actor, Franco was somewhat a fanboy's actor in the Spiderman movies) and they're both attractive people on the outside and the inside

But these actors are the wrong people to be negotiated with. This is the worst decision the Academy had ever made since snubbing WALL-E at the Oscars two years ago. You could have known a more accurate detail of both actors instead of knowing who they are from the gossip magazines

• Firstly, Hathaway had never had a great movie since Rachel Getting Married. That movie is still part of my favourite movies of all time. The movie had resulted her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. But the latest film might have been a lambast. 'Love and Other Drugs' was released out of massive marketing particularly when there was details about her taking it off with Jake Gylenhaal. It was a flop debuting at sixth place with negative word-of-mouth. While Franco. Never seen his films before except the Spiderman films. But I'm not quite sure if he's a good actor and how did he deserved to be the most influential man of 2010 in many magazines (Askmen, GQ)? 

• Secondly, this is an excuse to get a boost in the ratings instead of the reason the Academy is putting behind. Choosing these actors as hosts is because the Academy believed they are 'icons of their generation'. Seriously you could have chosen Robert Downey Jr or Natalie Portman for the roles because they are great actors of their generation. Downey's in X, Portman's Y.  But because they (Franco, Hathaway) are well known to people my age, they (the Academy) choose them. It's also add to the fact that in theory, if you have an actor hosting and nominated at the Oscars at the same time, it would've a milestone. Given how Franco is a possible nominee for Best Actor for Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, it would have matched the theory.

• I think these two actors have absolutely no experience in hosting. Hosting the Oscars is a big job. It's not your average presentation night. They're not like Steve Martin, Billy Crystal who once ruled the Oscars and had us recognising movies like American Beauty, Gladiator, Lost In Translation and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. But if these actors are hosting well they wanted us to know about great movies we have watched this year like Inception, The Social Network or Toy Story 3. But I predict that Franco and Hathaway despite their comedic routine (if they have one) would force us to look at movies we never heard or watched like Winter's Bone or Animal Kingdom or any movie that are only known to people who avoids the mainstream. Even if they had hosted Saturday Night Live, their ability to host would be limited. These people would tell us jokes that couldn't grab a laugh or such. 

• There are more choices for Academy Award hosting. You could've chose Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart or maybe Paul Giamatti or Jack Black. They all have great comic timing and had gave a great impact in our lives. For Hathaway and Franco they're only funny ONLY for their respective genres. Franco more into stoner jokes, Hathaway can only go for rom-com.

• More weirdly, I'm quite sure that it would be that moment where Hathaway would show off her dress on stage. Maybe from Versace, or Tom Hardy. Best dressed at every show. Great fashion sense, but what has it got to do with the main points of the Oscars (which is movies?)

When I watched the Oscars almost nine months ago, it was a pity to see that Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin had done the worst job into becoming the worst duos with no timing. We wanted to see the moment where Hugh Jackman last year had entertained us with an opening monologue turned to a funny musical (featuring Hathaway, although it was unintended).

But I wouldn't care about the hosts. I would care about the quality of the Oscars. For 3 years, a Hollywood studio had never had a movie winning Best Picture. The last movie to win Best Picture and it was produced by Hollywood was Martin Scorsese's The Departed. But because of the recent decisions by the Academy (like nominating ten movies for Best Picture, choosing actors since they are known in their generation), these days, the Oscars has lost its mainstream look and can only focus on arthouse and indie movies (Precious, An Education, No Country for Old Men to list a few). Now the appeal feels so boring as we are watching a two hour speech fest.

For a quick outlook on which movies I think shoud be nominated for Best Picture here are a few posters. But these movies can be overlooked.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Zodiac/American Beauty reviews

Zodiac


8.5

In Australia, we have some of the most horrific crimes we ever heard about. Some examples include the Melbourne gangland war from 1995 to 2004, the assassination of John Newman in 1994 and the backpacker murders by serial killer Ivan Milat.

But in America it is less slightly horrific than here. The most horrific crimes I've heard about were Charles Manson and his killings near Hollywood and the assassinations of famous figures like John F Kennedy and John Lennon. But the most horrific crime I have heard of was the Zodiac Killer.

Zodiac is based on the most unsolved case in America of several murders by a serial killer calling himself the Zodiac. When a couple get killed by him in the late 60s, then another afterwards, the Zodiac sent letters to the San Fransisco Chronicle telling them who he'll kill next. It's either in two ways: one is by using several codes encrypted by everyday symbols, the other is in his handwriting.

Here you got three people covering the story - the Chronicle's writer Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), political cartoonist and single father Robert Graysmith (Jake Gynlenhal) and San Francisco detective David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). In this movie, it follows the case of the Zodiac killer and each of the three characters investigating it and not to have come close to solving the mystery that has been almost more than 30 years old.

Zodiac is a film noir directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, S7ven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and it is immensely dark. To tell that it's a film noir, Fincher gather all of the elements of that certain genre including minimal lighting, the cynical attitudes of characters and the recurring motifs such as the gunpoint symbol. Fincher directs this so boldly, many fans of him including me would be impressed.

The plot is instantly clever given how the Zodiac killer gives clues like letters with ambiguous symbols and handwriting characters find it hard to solve. And it goes around putting around twists nailed.

And yes, Fincher has a gift of putting dialogue that's almost idealistic. In one scene, you might hear people talking on a radio and commenting about the media publishing articles that boasts crime and promoting it.

The plot divides itself into three parts. One is the killer's instincts on how he would do such murder, the second was based on David Toschi investigating and then Robert Graysmith getting huge interest on the case, he wants to write a book about it. However it would take two and a half hours to figure out the case and the dialogue can be indigestible to comprehend.

Performances are tops. The three actors Gyllenhal, Ruffalo and Downey Jr. all deliver huge charisma. I'm not quite sure what was Downey's purpose, but as a hard cynic crime reporter, he is fine.

This was 2007's most underrated movie and sure it may not have been Fincher's masterpiece since Fight Club, it is an instant thriller. Zodiac might have been better if it has a different target audience.

PS - I'm looking forward to seeing Fincher's latest movie The Social Network.

American Beauty


10.0

Well, I just discovered my favourite movie that everyone loved. My all time favourite movie was a little movie starring Anne Hathaway called Rachel Getting Married. This time it's American Beauty

It seems fair that 1999 is a great year for movies to end off the 20th Century. We seen The Matrix being released and we actually enjoyed it as well as other great movies like The Green Mile, Being John Malcovich and the sequel to Toy Story. Let's hope 2010 was better than 1999.

In American Beauty, Kevin Spacey (is awesome!) plays Lester Burham, a middle aged husband who is totally despised by his wife, Carolyn (Annette Nenning in her sublime performance) and his daughter Jane (Thora Birch). Burham suffers from a mid-life crisis often working at a cubicle of an advertising agency where he get shunned. To succumb his depression, he has sexual fantasies of Jane's best friend Angela (Mena Survari) in which both girls has absolutely nothing in common. Jane gets uncomfortable with this while Lester's marriage with Carolyn is about to collapse. When Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) and his father (Chris Cooper) move in as neighbours, attitudes towards Lester changes as he about to face death (which he just said at the beginning).

IF there was a film so risque and provocative that had crossed many boundaries of sex, American Beauty is it. This flawless movie that is blackly funny describes how the life of the American is not what it seems to be when you look at him in the face. It is part of his image so he cannot embarrass himself with other people when he's having troubles in his life around him.

The rest of the movie is beautifully directed by Sam Mendes. Mendes usually give out symbolism in this movie so we can understand the underlying themes of the movie. Almost every shot has like a motif that we can learn from. The first shot of American Beauty establishes a part of what the flawless American suburbia looks like. The dialogue and plot written by Alan Ball is incredible, clever, original and analytical as it is so engaging to the audience for a first time screenwriter doing his bit for film.

The characters are almost vivid as we look into a family whose lives are miserable because they couldn't fit in or just bored with their lives. Performances are the career best for both lead actors as well as the whole cast including Thora Birch who are ridden with angst over the people who surrounds them. Mena Survari kinda reminded me of a dream projection I had with of Scarlett Johansson, but her role is almost provocative as her character of a hypocritical schoolgirl lying about her sexuality so she can get the attention.

Lester Burnham is a prisoner of his own life. He hates his job, a falling out on his marriage and is almost manically depressed. His personality is almost tragic as he attempts to liberate his life, in which his wife wouldn't allow as he tries to be open with him, forever with unsurprisng twists. Spacey nailed that character so perfectly and Burnham sound honest and pessimistic about his existence. His wife Carolyn has a thing in common with Lester. She is also manically depressed and also hates her job as a real estate agent that leads to an affair with her competitor. And Annette Bening is really nuance in this role.

The music and art direction of this movie is almost sharp. The setting looks so quintessential, it makes the film's imagery believable at first but then comes to a point where it was the opposite because of the characters.

American Beauty focused on the attitudes and fears of each character. And you will learn something in this movie. But the main moral of this movie is that you can't count on anyone but to yourself.

This movie is inspiring, entertaining and is a movie that defines a generation.

What a genious!

Why Inception is ridiculed at my school and it will do the same to The Social Network

You know what. Honestly, my favourite movie of 2010 is Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo Dicaprio. But then I find out something ridiculous and totally unpredictable. Everybody at school (and I'm going to tell you what school am I but it's under WSHS) hated this movie. They either seen it and hated it or just didn't see it and hated it. All from the trailer.

I went over to the At The Movies website, went into an article for Inception wherr David and Margeret gave it 4.5 stars each. If you want to see the whole review, click here

But when you look down, surprisingly some of the comments were mixed. People say they enjoyed it, but there were some comments down to zero stars saying it's the worst movie ever made. "It's illogical and I hate that". Here's one example:

Name: nick

11 Aug 2010 6:25:46pm

Rating: 

Too much.

No subtlety.

Obvious, predictable and pretentious. Characters were cardboard cut-outs. Main plot device (getting Fischer to break up the company) was uninteresting and not worthy of the over importance placed on it by the film. Multiple dreams in dreams != complex stroyline.

When Cobb says "He'll go into Limbo, a world of pure subconscious" I couldn't help laughing, that was the line of too much for me 

although, the idea of the Totem is very clever.  

Seriously, these comments can be anyone who went into the movie and just wanted corrupt the website. But the truth is, these comments can be people from my school. Well, it can't be because nobody at my school actually watches the show where it was reviewed since it was aired on a public broadcasting network and...

Whatever. My school would ridicule me for watching Inception during the school holidays and not watching Grown Ups which they called it the funniest movie of the year. it woud have been said by breakfast shows. I wish they would have the proof to tell me that it was the dumbest movie made. But all I get is Leonardo Dicaprio is a bad actor. Look, whatever that is, these are just stupid reasons. 


For instance, the scene where Joseph Gordon Levitt floats on gravity. That looks cool since there is minimal CGI used and the fact is punching a guy within zero gravity is awesome. The gravity brings Inception into a really climatic stage. Somewhere, I tried hard to find many themes. But I can find two: dreams and manipulation. Manipulating the mind into finding or searching a memento by their dreams. That was Cillian Murphy's role in here. 


I really hate how people think of this movie and it's not fair to be slack to a movie when they never seen it. And I get pretty angry when I am being tormented for watching a really smart movie. These kids made me miserable. Besides I'm not a teacher, I'm a student at this school and I suffer that.


Well I'm not going to judge kids watching this movie based on their intellect, but the fact is teenagers would never get this movie. They'll never understand movies when they're an adolescent. They never wanted to be challenged by filmmakers. All they want is action. Inception supplied that. Teenagers want hot girls in their movies. Well... Inception put in Marion Cottilard, but I'm not quite sure if she's actually that sexy. But yeah. They like Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen beause they had all of that despite the fact that it lacks a story, there's no logic and it has the worst directing ever by Michael Bay! But I have to admit, I actually enjoyed that movie.


Now I wonder what will happen when The Social Network will come out. I think I would experience the same thing when I watch The Social Network, because they've never heard abourt rumours that Hollywood is making a movie about Facebook. IF they seen the spots on TV, they will get it but they won't see it. But if I seen it, I said it was great, they'll torture me with "that's movie gay".


The Social Network is getting universal acclaim currently receiving a 97% rating. The reason for this was because of the charismatic performances, beautiful cinematography, dark direction by David Fincher and witty dialogue from Aaron Sorkin.

But I'm not quite sure whether my school would see this because I just don't think they would go to movies that are really good. Try to ask a teenager had they watched There Will Be Blood. Chances are 1 in 10. They are unlikely to see that movie because the movie's really small and relies on word to word marketing.


The Social Network looks like a very small movie. It deserves all of the critical attention and once its released, it will beat many other films that were quite dull like Let Me In (which I think was a bad idea to remake this movie when the original was pure genius). 


But this wasn't the only movie I'm worried about of what people think. Next week, I'm coming back to school and movies releaased that week are Resident Evil 4, The Town and Cyrus. I wouldn't be watching Cyrus becuase i thought it would have been predictable movie about a middle aged man meeting a single mother of a 23 year old son. 


I'm going to see The Town, directed and starring Ben Affleck by the time its released. It's a box office success and also a critically acclaimed movie. I should think Ben Affleck must retire acting and do directing. He's like the next Clint Eastwood. The trailer was absolutely gripping and it might possibly be one of the most underrated movies of 2010. So that's why I wanted to see this movie. And I also like crime dramas situated in Boston.


But apparently, I'm not quite sure if the school had known anything about this movie. As far as it goes, I'm a 100% sure that the majority of the school is watching Resident Evil. I wouldn't want to watch that movie because it looks like The Matrix with a zombie set.


So as far as it goes, people would want me to watch the dumbest movie ever like they tell me to listen to the dumbest music ever and not letting me listen to my own music because they think is gay.


Back to The Social Network, and it's ironic that the majority of school use Facebook and will tank this movie since again they've never heard of it or they wanted to hurt me for watching really good movies.


Honestly I like being different to the whole school, but when I talk about what i like, I feel totally hurt and I feel miserable because they're totally ignorant, intolerant hypocrites. These people at WSHS do not tolerate what I like and it seems that as far as this go, I would go ahead calling everything they like gay.


Look, I don't know what it is about my school hating the movies I like, but apparently it might be the fact that I like The Hurt Locker over Avatar. Nobody in my school actually seen The Hurt Locker, but at least they heard that it won this year's Best Picture Oscar. The whoe school had seen Avatar and called it the greatest movie of all time because they have seen it in 3D and enjoyed the movie made $500 million for its special effects.


I'm getting tired of my school making fun of me and picking on me for the stuff I like. I can't talk about Inception because they hated that movie. I can't talk about Scott Pilgrim since nobody heard about it and if I talk about it, they will tease me for it. And if I talk about THe Town or The Social Network, they'll say "sorry, but we hate your movies". 


So if I don't talk what I like, my life would be isolated and boring. And yet this school makes this boring.


I wished everybody cared about my movies because I wish people would tolerate what I like instead of saying they're gay without any reason. Because they ignore me when I said Justin Bieber is stupid to listen, and said bad things about my favourite bands Muse and Radiohead as well as Linkin Park. Or which actress I have a ccrush on. Nobody cares if I fallen in love with Scarlett Johansson or Anne Hathaway. But everybody cares about Megan Fox and she couldn't act a single cent. Now I'm almost on the verge of being virtually ignored by everybody. I didn't want to have attention, I didn't wish that people would see me as a smart person. But I wish people cared about my views.


But these are the movies I would like to see and I hope my mates at school would care and understand what are the things I like:

• The Town
• The Social Network
• Tron: Legacy
• The King's Speech
• Black Swan