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Tropic Thunder (2008)
Tropic Power!
Tropic Thunder, a Ben Stiller directed effort, opens with what's supposedly a furious skirmish during the Vietnam War. When the carnage was later revealed to be part of a over budget movie production (the film's name happened to be 'Tropic Thunder' too) , the real story kicks off.
The comedy, 'a film within a film' as popularly described, is basically about a group of Hollywood thespians who had found real trouble in the infamous South East Asian region of the Golden Triangle after their director, out of desperation, decided to ditch them in the middle of a jungle crawling with gunmen and drug runners.
Encouraged by the dangerous advice of John 'Four Leaf' Taybacks (Nick Nolte), a Nam veteran whose memoir (yep, named 'Tropic Thunder' too) was what the movie production was based on, rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) rashly plunged his band of prima donna stars into hostile territory, hoping that he can quickly complete shooting in guerrilla style. No sooner, after he declared himself savior however, he met a messy end, leaving the cast on their own to figure out the script. As events will soon reveal, it is going be a highly charged experience beyond their reel moments.
The 'platoon' of Tropic Thunder is a interesting ensemble of Tinseltown stereotypes, considering that TT is a candid take on the ever dynamic world of movie making. There's Ben Stiller as Thugg Speedman, the' highest paid and highest grossing action star ever'..... whose record of box office flop tells otherwise. Robert Downey, Jr's Kirk Lazarus, the most talented of the group, is the multiple Oscar winning type. A method actor in practice, he had taken too seriously his role of a Afro American Sergeant that he had his skin cosmetically altered black and adopted a Jive accent. Jack Black is the dope junkie comedian, Jeff 'Fats' Portnoy, whose capability in inducing laughter seem to rely on the rampart usage of flatulence in his movies.
Apart from this colorful trio of characters, the supporting cast consists of Jay Baruchel as the by-the-book little known actor, Kevin Sandusky, Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino, a rapper who had crossed over to acting and Danny McBride as the trigger happy special effects wizard, Cody Underwood. Look out also for Tom Cruise in his most unusual role as an extremely obnoxious movie executive.
With these unique line up of screwball stereotypes and strange characters, Tropic Thunder is one of the freshest idea of a comedy in recent years. The film had thankfully, not degenerate into cheapening slap-sticks even while it pokes fun at celebrities and Hollywood, with the funnies mainly based on a diet of tabloid news and pop culture. Good, justified humor is something you can expect throughout the movie as the well executed direction and screenplay ensure every few minutes' worth of hilarity.
The strength of Tropic Thunder also lies in its most obvious references and inspirations patterned from a handful of Vietnam War flicks including Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and Apocalypse Now, the latter seemingly the key influence of the movie. These elements are quite useful in the mental exploration of its key characters, particularly Lazarus' apparent identity crisis and Speedman's descent toward his darker side. Overall, it's also a smart excuse for fire fights, explosions and exaggerated action sequences for maximum comedic impact.
Tropic Thunder, in conclusion, is an original, outrageous tribute and parody to the world from which it hailed and the films that made the idea of it possible. Comedies, in the last few years had either been over done spoofs or ridiculous digs on human relations but TT had proved otherwise that the same formulas need not always be the solution for comedy box office gains. At a time of lackluster performance from its genre, it may well stand as a testament that Hollywood do still have something to tickle the world with..... or to be tickled about.
Chi bi (2008)
Could Have Been A Higher Cliff For Quite A Decent Epic
After John Woo's poor running in Hollywood, particularly with PayCheck starring Ben Affleck, the seasoned Hong Kong director seemed to be humbled, returning back to film making for the Chinese cinema. With Hard Boiled and The Killer being some of his early directorial achievements, Red Cliff may well be the his next Asian hit.
The story is based primarily on the historical records of the Chronicles Of The Three Kingdom with the plot involving the famous Battle Of The Red Cliffs (208 AD) in Ancient China.
The epic's chief villain is the infamous Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) Prime Minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who after seizing much power through manipulation and force, went on to fight against the righteous warlord Liu Bei and his loyal subjects including sworn brothers Zhang Fei (Zang Jisheng) and Guan Yu (Ba Sen Zha Bu) and general Zhao Yun (Hu Jun).
In desperation, Liu Bei enlisted the help of the brilliant strategist, Zhuge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to persuade Sun Quan (Chang Chen), Emperor of Eastern Wu, into an alliance before Cao Cao's army could completely eliminate his forces. The ensuring event led to the important battle in the Three Kingdom's records.
The stellar cast for Red Cliff also included Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Sun Quan's loyal strategist, Zhou Yu, one of the lead characters in the movie.
Supporting roles are played by Zhao Wei as the warrior princess and sister of Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang. Taiwanese sex symbol, Lin Chi-ling starred as Zhou Yu's wife, Xiao Qiao who's historically famous for her extraordinary beauty that attracts even the lusty attention of Cao Cao. Overall, the roster of mostly Chinese stars (for the exception of Japanese celebrity Nakamura Shido as Gan Xing, general of Zhou Yu) succeeds in bringing Three Kingdom's character's to life.
Of course, what's an ancient epic without the necessary sword-and-bow battle scenes? Red Cliff's moments of bloodshed involving spear bearing soldiers and armour clad warriors is the main entertainment, obvious reminiscent of fierce combat seen in contemporary Hollywood films of past years including The Lord Of The Rings, Kingdom Of Heaven and even 300 (the Three Kingdom plot's also about a numerically inferior force against a bigger army).
However, the cinematography, decently done though, could have improved further..... much, much further. Shortcomings in this department have hindered Red Cliff from achieving an overall result of an excellent historical epic.
Lack of tension can be felt in story's development of the road to all-out war, lacking even in one key scene when Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu attempt to predict Cao Cao's strategy just as the latter was doing it at the same time or in another when Sun Quan was hunting a cunning tiger. Parts of the tiger hunt scene has suspicious signs of footages being borrowed from a wildlife TV program and the progress of other scenes are hampered by unnecessary transitional wipes which bear faint reminders of George Lucas' Star Wars. Maybe that's what Woo's getting on but it's just not working well.
Cinematography for Red Cliff's violent melee is also not working to the best of expectations.
There's a sufficient handful of moments when lone, highly skilled warriors engaged against a bigger number of weaker grunts but other than the usual blade clashes and the liberal spillage of blood, there's not much of an excitement in all these. The actions feel old, drained of fresh ideas and if you are to believe it, the movie's saving grace probably lies in the solid casting and the fact that Red Cliff's a faithful adaptation of popular Chinese history.
Still, because, the current Asian screening of Red Cliff is only part one of a supposedly four hour long movie, it might depend on the later half (reported to be released in January 2009) to complete Red Cliff as the epic it's meant to be.
Hancock (2008)
Near Cocked Up
Will Smith's latest blockbuster sees him as the title character, John Hancock, an alcoholic superhero who has become public enemy of the residents of LA for causing more collateral damage in the city than the criminals he's 'helping' to apprehend. After a dramatic rescue in which he saved the life of public relations spokesperson, Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) but not without attracting further anger over the way he handled the situation, the grateful Embrey began his best efforts to savage Hancock's reputation and make him a more likable figure to the already outraged public.
The movie opens with a typical gun battle / car chase scene in which Hancock managed to capture the gunmen but ended up impaling their vehicle through a needle-like structure of a building, thus receiving even more furore. All these led to Hancock's imprisonment, only possible after Embrey convinced him that a jail term will confine him from the city, causing crime rates to shoot up without his presence, in turn leaving the authorities and people with no choice but to call him back. When Embrey's plan works after Hancock's well praised efforts in rescuing hostages during a bank heist, Hancock immediately became popular overnight. He was also a regular guest at Embrey's household that he began to attract the attention of his wife, Mary (Chalize Theron).
The story of Hancock plays on the regular theme of redemption and purpose. There's nothing fresh in direction and plot, just your usual dose of action and superhero dilemma. Smith, however, has proved that he's not just a charismatic celebrity who brings in massive earnings at the box office but also a seasoned and skillful thespian who had demonstrate his qualities in movies like Ali and The Pursuit Of Happiness. This is without exception for Hancock, a character he managed to play with much heart and successfully portrayed the weary and troubled personality of the rejected superhero. Bateman and Theron did considerably fine in their supporting roles and for a while as the movie progresses, there seem to be promising signs of a good action film in the coming.
This was not to be. The surprising plot twist in the middle of the story began to flung the plot into a literal storm of strange revelations, an even stranger account of Hancock's origin, the sudden and uncomfortable development between Hancock and Mary that's not getting the chemistry working and more emotional drama, splitting the later half of the film into a mood not quite like the earlier part that comprised of comedy and some light drama.
Granted, while the cast had done their best, director Peter Berg just leave us wondering. If you are in for watching Hancock because of the action, you probably won't be disappointed much though one particular scene is kinda overdone. But take in mind: this might be one of Smith's best performance, still it does not automatically qualify Hancock as one of his best films.
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
Making Love The Zohan Way
Note: At the personal risk that I have not catch lots of Adam Sandler flicks (the ones I had already gone through are 'Anger Management' and 'Click'), I believe my review on 'Zohan' will, no doubt, cater much to the interest of cinema goers who are in a similar situation as mine. Or else, you probably never bother to catch his flicks at all. Never mind. I hope to make this article my honest and unbiased view on the movie.
For the professional followers of Adam Sandler, I'm sorry if this review kinda stinks in your taste. Still, enjoy.....
Adam Sandler's latest comedic adventure sees him playing as an oversexed Israeli commando who possessed superhuman abilities to kick through walls and dodge bullets at point blank range. For pleasure, he loves to be in the nude whenever the moment calls for it and likes to demonstrate his amazing talent in hacky sack. All these indeed makes his character, Zohan Dvir, a stereotypical Middle Eastern Jew armed with over-the-top antics and mannerism in a comedy heavily loaded with slapstick humour and outrageous moments.
The story so goes that after a few years serving the military, Zohan (better known as 'The Zohan' by his enthusiastic pal, Uri), increasingly weary of a life with the Israeli Defence Force, faked his own death following a comical showdown with his arch nemesis, Phantom (John Turturro), a notorious Palestinian terrorist. When the ruse works, he made his great escape to New York where he took the corny alias 'Scrappy Coco' and embarked on an journey of a lifetime to realize his greatest aspiration: to be a world class hairstylist in the USA.
When his attempt to work in a high end saloon eventually failed, Zohan ended up in the employment of sexy Palestinian-American hairdresser, Dhalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui) whose shop is located in a Middle Eastern neighbourhood where Arabs and Israeli-descent Jews co-exists under a fragile state of peace. Thus began Zohan's hairstylist career as he gave raunchy hair care and ferocious sex to his mostly elderly female clients.
Zohan is your typical kind of comedy where the antagonist largely depends on the glossiest of humour to support the structure of the story.
While the usual slapsticks, courtesy of Sandler, is the sell, the film also make racial references to Middle-Easterners and Jews, mainly the problematic differences between the two races. Such scenes is an obvious reflection of the ongoing conflicts in their respective motherland but even as the message can get political at times (with occasional mentions and sequences involving terrorism and racial hate and even a series of scenes that seem to suggest that the blame's on the greedy white men of corporate US), it does not go too serious and addresses the issues in a rather cheap humour delivery.
One can say that the movie is actually a satirizing metaphor which attempts to carry a reconciling message about brotherly love that knows no boundaries. Needless conflicts can be laughed off as a matter of childish squanders.
Despite the real life inspirations, the story could do with a lot of improvement though it's not some thing you can expect much from a slapstick comedy. As for the jokes, it is a tolerable case of excessive sexual innuendos and stupidity. It can get quite bland as time passes but at least some of it can keep you entertained due to the wit or just the sheer senselessness of it all.
Not forgetting the titled character of the flick whom Sandler had successfully brought with so much cartoony life and energy. Zohan is one man who probably believes he is the ultimate sex machine (having a bloaty crotch underneath his tight pants) with shameless confidence to 'satisfy' women, old enough to be his mum. His gigolo antics is blatantly fearless as demonstrated in one hair washing scene where he caressed a client's heavily soaked hair with his tongue. Such moments can either put you off or just make you laugh the hell out of it. It sure challenge my imagination in some way.
The roster of the other characters are also racial stereotypes , including Rob Schneider's part as a bitter taxi driver whose goat was snatched away by a unkind Zohan some years back in the Middle East. Emmanuelle's Dhalia with her 'Get serious and no goofing around' attitude is an expected cliché which sets her up to be won over by the highly flamboyant Zohan. Michael Buffer is Walbrigde, an evil magnate who wanted to pull down Dhalia's neighbourhood to make way for a future mega mall. There are also cameo appearances involving Kevin James ('Doug' from King Of Queens), Mariah Carey and tennis bad boy, John McEnroe.
Overall, Zohan is a movie that might not be appreciated by many, especially by those who have been following on Adam Sandler. It is subjective, on the part of deciding how good it actually gets especially when professional critics had lauded the comedy as rubbish while respected reviewer Roger Ebert had given it a '3 out of 4 stars' grading. This is a flick that at is best, will be remembered for its funny portrayal of Middle Eastern subjects or at worst, one of Sandler's flops in possible nomination for a Razzie.
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Enter The Panda
A long time ago, in Ancient China, there live up in a mountain top dojo, five formidable warriors under the strict guidance of their red panda master, Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman). Together as a mighty force to be reckoned with, these ferocious fighters battle evil and help to defend the innocent folks of a nearby village.
One day, Shifu's teacher, Oogway (voiced by Randall Duk Kim), an elderly tortoise, has a premonition that Shifu's former disciple, a snow leopard by the name of Tai Lung (voiced by Ian McShane) will escape from his fortress prison and return to terrorize the village and the dojo. With little time left, the moment has come for the prophesied Dragon Warrior to emerge and take hold of the Dragon Scroll and its mysterious secret.
During a ceremony to elect the destined hero after the five disciples of Shifu had demonstrated their Kung Fu abilities, an animal came falling from the heavens while making botched attempts to see the disciples in action. Eventually, Oogway pinpointed the giant panda as the One much to the shock of Shifu and his disciples.
Meet Po (voiced by Jack Black), reluctant hero and assistant at his father's noodle store, whose only interest seem to be eating and fantasizing about being a great Kung Fu warrior.
Kung Fu Panda is a fresh direction for DreamWorks Animation in cultural sense following the Shrek series and other animated features like Madagascar and Bee Movie. New challenges also arise for the animation team, most notably in the well choreographed fight scenes. Excellent attention had been given to the Chinese environment and as always with previous DreamWork's features, the movie's graphically top notched as the CGI feature opens with an explosive introduction that has a much more traditional animated look than the rest of the movie. Just pay attention to the swaying fur on Po.
The plot execution is good and so does the character development, especially for the leads like Po and Shifu. My only complaints up to these point is the under-used voice talent of Jackie Chan (voicing the highly agile disciple of Shifu, Monkey) who seem to given only pathetic one liners to sprout, thus unnecessarily making him the least talkative of the Five. Understanding how terrible his English pronunciation can be, he should at best be given the odd role of speaking Chinese like the Amazing Yen of Ocean's Eleven fame.
The rest of the character roster include the members of Shifu's Five, Tigeress (voiced by Angelica Jolie), leader and most deadly of the band, Crane (voiced by David Cross), an ace in aerial combat, Viper (voiced by Lucy Liu), a snake with lighting fast strikes and Mantis (voiced by Seth Rogen), a critter with very strong arms.
While the disciples are rather light hearted about Po's special appointment despite earlier uncertainties about his abilities, Tigress is still very much against his place in the dojo and convinced that the Five are able to defeat the evil Tai Lung without him. Shifu was very doubtful as well but the final wishes of Oogway leaves him with little choice. A montage of scenes began to reveal the reasons behind Shifu's reluctance to train Po as memories of a young Tai Lung being tutored by the pint sized master flashed across. Ultimately, betrayal and guilt drove him to attempt control over circumstances.
Emotional moments in some scenes of Kung Fu Panda delivers but gets a little too sentimental at times. Still, they help us to understand the problems of the key characters and the way they had to dealt with their shortcomings. Positive credits also have to given to the voice acting of Dustin Hoffman and especially Jack Black who is able to articulate the dilemmas and goofiness of Po.
While it has a healthy dose of fast action and ridiculous martial art moves, Kung Fu Panda, like many animated features targeted at kids, also has its presentation of life lessons, the core one being that the belief in oneself despite personal disadvantages will bring out the best in the individual. Some viewers will probably much dismissed those as clichés but it will certainly make many feel good about facing life's challenges.
With a balanced plot, interesting characters and of course, good old Kung Fu, this well crafted animated feature is no doubt the feature to watch for this year. Competitors for the Annies should get intense with entries from Blue Sky Studio (Horton Hears A Who!) and the yet-to-be-released Wall-E by Pixar, vying for the 'Best.....' spots.
Meanwhile, you can expect the kids to be tickled by Po's clownish antics and the older folks entertained as well, by the main sell (Kung fu, of course) of the movie.
I Am Legend (2007)
I am..... a little far off from Legend
!!!Possible Spoiler ALERT !!!
Two movies had been made based on adaptation from the novel, 'I Am Legend'. While the earlier version 'Last Man On Earth' is more faithful to its source's content than the latter 'The Omega Man', it's seconded in terms of entertainment value. One may wonder if the people behind the latest, 2007 remake by the same title as the book ever learn anything from the two films, much especially LMOE.
To begin with, I don't expect Hollywood to follow the book a 90-100% cos anyway, you know the studios are so notorious for that and there's no reason to raise your hopes high about it. Understand that and you will learn to watch 'I Am Legend' as a movie INSPIRED, not (really) based on the original novel.
Back to 'Legend', the story's about Robert Neville(Will Smith), the sole surviving resident of a New York desolated by a global viral plague after a research for a cure against cancer went wrong 3 years ago. As a result, Neville, a former military scientist, battles each day, not just for a cure but also for survival against the murderous human horde of infected, sunlight-fearing victims.
The movie's opening scene, the depiction of Neville's lonely adventures and the in-between flashbacks illustrate clearly the origins of the disaster and the grim post-infection consequences our protagonist had to cope with daily. However, being a 100 minute film is a cause for worry and here's why. The vital plot devices and other important elements that had driven the novel and LMOE, are either weakly represented or just plainly absent. A cut down in screen time also means character development, together with the story, suffers and while Smith shines occasionally, the story feels a little rushed to the point that you will probably not feel much sympathy for Neville, maybe cos you are not allowed time to do so. Important stuffs that could have go along are sadly left out.
Despite the flaws, the first half is still quite interesting . It has its key moments of tensions and action scenes in the midst of the mundane quietness of Neville's experiences. Then the story took a very abrupt turn (actually, it's more like a nosedive) around after the part when Neville's companion dog died. He went for a sort of revenge against the infected, nearly got killed before he was rescued (in an odd and rather questionable manner) by the small framed Anna (Alice Braga), together with a young boy (Charlie Tahan) by the name of Ethan. Neville was driven to the safely of his little fortress and all of a sudden, we find him in family setting the next day, trying hard to accept and get along with his new found friends.
The latter part of the film faces the same hasty issue again. Dialouge and interaction between the characters could not get any more inspiring or intimate and before we can know and understand them deeper, the infected horde suddenly launch a massive attack against Neville's home base, successfully broke in and threatened the survivors' lives. The escalation quickly leads to the final climax which by then, lacks of emotional impact even in the form of a heroic sacrifice. The movie ends, concluding with a lame, inaccurate definition of whatever that makes Neville a legend and it certainly does no justice to the sacred meaning of the novel's title which is actually deeper and more intelligent than non readers may care.
Overall, Legend is not really the classic it's anticipated to be. This year's similar fare like '28 Weeks Later' could impressed more than Legend was able to. Especially if you are a reader and fan of the novel, it's probably good you stick with the book. Otherwise, Legend, at best, is anybody's average sci-fi horror.