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Reviews
Casino Royale (2006)
Ugh! Just a dumb, boring and bad movie
Sorry, this is a dumb movie with unbelievable action sequences like Jason Statham's Transporter movies. At least with the Transporter series, people know it's supposed to be over-the-top but come on, this is James Bond.
The movie has a lot of explosions that seem to be there for no reason than to convince everyone the movie has a big budget.
I was disappointed with Daniel Craig's weak portrayal of Bond. For example when he was chasing an African arms dealer, the arms dealer jumped and landed better, thus making me think the arms dealer should have been Bond instead.
The movie is dumb because when the arms dealer had a chance to kill Bond by stepping on his hand when Bond was desperately hanging on to a crane hundreds of feet above the ground, the arms dealer passed up the chance for some dumb reason. Wait, I know why, it's so Bond can recover and continue to chase him. Duh!
Craig does not convince as Bond. When shirtless, he looks like a gorilla rather than a suave secret agent. He is ugly (sorry) but he can act a little (but not enough to convince he is Bond). He looks most of the time like a p*ssed-off Vladimir Putin.
The girl Eva Green has a nice complexion but isn't drop dead gorgeous I'm afraid. On a scale of 1 to 10, Daniela Bianchi being 10, I'd give Green a 3.
Poker so tediously slow it is like old maids playing Old Maid.
A meandering plot that bores ultimately and is way too l-o-n-g.
Oh by the way, no Q (therefore no clever Q gadgets) and no Moneypenny.
Not featuring Miss Moneypenny I think was a particularly bad mistake because Moneypenny has always been there to guide James Bond. For example in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' Moneypenny went as far as to save Bond's job by changing Bond's resignation letter to one requesting two weeks' leave, and in 'Live And Let Die' she saved Bond embarrassment by keeping M from discovering the beautiful Italian secret agent hiding in Bond's closet. Since Bond is in Casino starting out as a secret agent, it is only logical that Miss Moneypenny should be around to help in some way.
Worst of the Bond movies therefore because it is so un-Bondlike and dumb. See 'From Russia With Love', 'Goldfinger', 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', 'Diamonds Are Forever', 'Live And Let Die', 'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'The Living Daylights' and 'Goldeneye' for classic Bond.
Clunky and self-important - which the Bond franchise never was - Casino is in stark contrast to the humorous 'Live And Let Die' where the acting of Yaphet Kotto alone is worth the price of admission.
Or if you just want to see an action movie, there's XXX, The Transporter and Rambo. They are way better, and smarter.
Jungle 2 Jungle (1997)
Wildly funny!
This is one great movie! Immediately after registering my vote of 8 on imdb.com, I almost regretted it and wished I had put down 9. Well, 8.5 it is.
I saw this movie in the cinema back in '97 and again on tv a few days ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time and four years down the road, it's as enjoyable as ever.
The acting is very good, especially from the leads, Tim Allen and his best friend in the movie, Martin Short. Sam Huntington, the jungle boy, is perfectly cast and an actor to look out for. Leelee Sobieski as Sam's teenage love interest is oh so sweet. I certainly cared for the characters a whole lot, and that is a sign of a good movie (well, to me it is).
Tim and Martin are both very funny. As a comedian, Tim is way up there with guys like Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Eddie Murphy and Don Knotts. I love it when he tries out the blowpipe. And I love the way Martin says, "What's matika?" (For all you ignoramuses out there, a "matika" is a big hairy spider.)
I also liked the supporting cast e.g. Lolita Davidovich and Valerie Mahaffey who played Tim's girlfriend and Martin's wife respectively.
I just saw Scary Movie 2, The Animal, and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. J2J is way better than these clunkers (ok, Jay And Silent Bob wasn't so bad). I'd put it on a par with Jack (starring Robin Williams).
Lastly, the gags are really funny. Quite often you can see them coming, but they are funny nonetheless.
Good, clean family entertainment. Highly recommended. 8.5/10.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Not So Spectacular! Not So Spectacular!
This is one of those infuriating movies - like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - that are very good where they're good, and very bad where they're bad. It could have been a masterpiece (and hence, Oscar material) but alas!
I'll tell you where Moulin Rouge hit the bull's eye, and where it missed the barn by a mile. First, the hits:
1. The film began well. Much of the first half of the film is corny, but so what? Corniness by itself doesn't make a movie bad, and in this case, it worked, thanks in large part to Baz Luhrmann's directing.
2. By far my favourite part of the movie is the scene in Satine's bedroom (called The Elephant) where she mistakes Christian the penniless writer (Ewan) for the wealthy Duke (Richard Roxburgh). Nicole Kidman as Satine EXCELS here, especially in her orgasmic throes (you'll know what I mean when you see it).
3. The supporting cast was by and large very good, especially the Bohemian revolutionaries a.k.a. Ewan's fellow-actors in the play, Spectacular! Spectacular!
4. The set was lush and the costumes were opulent, something you would expect to see in a Tim Burton movie.
5. The pacing was excellent.
So far we've been talking about the first half of the movie, for most of the merits of the movie seem to be found there.
Now the misses.
1. From the point where Christian the writer meets Satine the courtesan on the roof-top of The Elephant, the movie inexplicably goes downhill. From that point on, the songs lose their punch and the plot just meanders along. In one word, you're liable to be bored stiff, as I was.
2. The movie is about Satine's desire to act in a play written by Christian called Spectacular! Spectacular! Yet when the play is finally staged near the end of the movie, we only catch snippets of it. I know the director didn't mean to make a musical, but having built up such incredible expectations among the movie-goers, we should at least have had the chance to watch a major portion of the play. I certainly would have edited out much of the draggy singing that cluttered the second half of the movie, and shown more of the play.
3. Similarly, we didn't see enough of the can can. Since the Moulin Rouge was famous for this, we should have been treated to a more or less complete can can dance. Instead we got little flashes here and there which were more annoying and headache-inducing than entertaining. Recall the flashes of flamenco dancing in the John Woo debacle, Mission Impossible 2, and you'll know what I mean.
4. The plot was moronically predictable. You could see the ending a mile away. Worse, it was boring.
Some specifics now.
Nicole Kidman acted very well, I must say, though I'm not a fan of hers. Ewan McGregor was quite good, especially at the end of the movie where Satine died in his arms - his wailing was the best I'd heard since Mel Gibson's in The Patriot. I liked Richard Roxburgh as the Duke. (By the way, Roxburgh is the actor in Mission Impossible 2 whose finger was cut off with the bad guy's cigar-cutter.) It was nice to see Roxburgh get a meatier role than what he had in MI:2 and that he could act as well in a tragicomedy as in an action movie. Jim Broadbent, as Harold Zidler, the owner of the Moulin Rouge, was outstanding. I hope he gets nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars.
And now the golden question: can the stars sing? Well, I thought Nicole had a pretty good singing voice. She sounded like Madonna, only better. Ewan sang a version of Elton John's My Song and sang it well. But that was the only song he sang well. The rest was just monotonous bellowing.
Sadly the movie didn't come up with much original music. There were plenty of spoofs e.g. Madonna's Like A Virgin, but surely an expensive movie such as Moulin Rouge deserves some good original music.
I read somewhere on IMDb.com that the Roxanne tango was the greatest thing in the movie. Well, my movie partner thought so too. But sorry, it just didn't grab me.
Certainly not on a par with The Sound Of Music, I'd give ML 6 out of 10.
You ling ren jian (2001)
Hauntingly Beautiful!
Visible Secret's directed and produced by one of the greatest living film-makers, Ann Hui. Ann's won numerous awards - best director, best film, etc. - and if you aren't acquainted with her, well, go see Visible Secret and you'll know why she's so good.
The leads are pretty good. Say what you like, Shu Qi - the sex-pot - is a good actress. I particularly liked her in the early karaoke scene.
But look out for the supporting actress Hui Ying Hong, the mother of a little boy called Hsiao Hsung in the movie. She's a famous Hong Kong actress with real kung fu skills. Here, she's not called on to display her fighting prowess, but, boy, can she act. In one scene, you can literally see the veins on her temple popping out, so intense yet natural is her facial expression; it reminds me of Lawrence Fishburne's very fine facial expressions as Morpheus in The Matrix, when he was interrogated by Agent Smith.
Visible Secret is an intelligent movie - you've got to concentrate on the plot or you won't understand the ending. Everything ties together at the end, and if you understand it THEN - I couldn't, and a friend had to explain to me certain aspects of the movie even after a second viewing - you'll agree the story's superb.
Though principally a horror movie, Visible Secret has some of the finest comedic moments I've ever seen on the silver screen. I caught it at preview, and the audience appreciated one funny moment so much a few persons actually applauded.
Visible Secret's a real scary movie. And the best thing is, it doesn't rely on sudden, loud sounds to frighten you, which the lousy horror flicks resort to.
Incidentally, the poster for the movie, which shows a row of seated people in an underground train, was banned by the MTR in Hong Kong as being too scary. I don't think the poster's too scary, but I do think it's very clever. The tagline "What's that sitting next to you?" is eye-catching.
Watch out for the movie's play with sounds. It's nearly as good as The Ring in its use of sound to create an eerie mood. Incidentally, I don't know of any director who uses sound as well as Ann. PAY ATTENTION TO HER USE OF SOUND.
One of the hallmarks of good movie direction is proper pacing. Director Ann excels at it.
The original score is excellent.
Many of the scenes are hauntingly beautiful.
I believe Visible Secret will go down in movie history like Gattaca - good but underrated. Don't be put off by anyone who's seen the movie and says it's lousy - they just don't get it.
Go see Visible Secret. You won't be disappointed. 10/10