Reviews

Kafir (Satanic) was one of those Indonesian movies that definitely couldn't resurrect Indonesian Cinema. For the last couple of years, Indonesia is trying to make a good horror movie in a new style and that's why they were introducing new-comer directors and actors. But Kafir wasn't that type of movie. I couldn't believe why such producers create this cheap trash, while Indonesia itself is trying to lift up its cinema.

Starring the pretty well-known actress Meriam Belina and actor Sujiwo Tejo (Telegram), Kafir was a mystery movie that revolves around the style of horror movies in the 70-80s. Just think of Kafir as being one of Suzanna's movies. Yet, Suzanna might still be more watchable than Kafir. Despite its bad elements, Kafir has a pretty interesting storyline about a voodoo shaman who has done heaps of forbidden activity. He used different kind of satanic ways to increase his power and to strengthen himself. He swore that if he died, his body will not be accepted by the Earth. Sooner, he died and his oath got prevailed.

Beside the interesting storyline, the way the director tells the story is quite sluggish. With some confusing flashbacks and a storytelling that doesn't seems to tell a story with a conflict and resolution, in some way, the movie did managed well to keep the audience stay tuned. Some of the cheap special effects did quite make it, but it would've been better to use a better CGI effect. When you look at the whole thing, the movie seems to be pointless, even though it managed well in the box-office and 500 000 Indonesian moviegoers had seen it.

On the acting, Meriam Belina and Sujiwo Tejo did a great job. Sujiwo played well and convincing as a shaman while Meriam Belina did a fine job as the wife of a shaman.

The bad thing about the movie was the editing. This movie needs to be re-edited because it was horribly put together and definitely it would've been better to have a Dolby Digital Sound Mixing. The sound effects were good but unfortunately some of them were not in the right place and position.

Kafir was simply an ordinary mythical mystery movie. It certainly needs more improvement to do and with more budget, this movie could look much better. Overall, I still think that it's a bad movie because it doesn't delivers much to the audience. The movie was expected to premiere in Singapore, but I don't think it will do good!

Kafir (Satanic) was one of those Indonesian movies that definitely couldn't resurrect Indonesian Cinema. For the last couple of years, Indonesia is trying to make a good horror movie in a new style and that's why they were introducing new-comer directors and actors. But Kafir wasn't that type of movie.

Starring the well-known actress Meriam Belina and actor Sujiwo Tejo (Telegram), Kafir was a mystery movie that have the style like horror movies in the 70-80s. The story was pretty interesting about a voodoo shaman who had done heaps of forbidden activity. He used different kind of ways to increase his power and to strengthen himself. He swore that if he died, his body will not be accepted by the Earth. Sooner, he died and his oath got prevailed.

In some way, the movie did managed well to keep the audience stay tuned. Some of the cheap special effects did a great job because they were pretty natural and gave a good picture on what black magic look like. However, when you look the whole thing, the movie seems to be pointless. It did managed well in the box office and 500 000 movie-goers had seen it in Indonesia.

On the acting, Meriam Belina and Sujiwo Tejo did a great job. Sujiwo played well and convincing as a shaman while Meriam Belina did a fine job as the wife of a shaman.

The bad thing about the movie was the editing. This movie needs to be re-edited because it was horribly put together and definitely it would've been better to have a Dolby Digital Sound Mixing. The sound effects were good but unfortunately some of them were not in the right place and position.

Kafir was simply a fair mythical mystery movie. It certainly needs more improvement to do and with more budget, this movie could look much better. Those of you who are on Singapore can watch this on the 6th of March 2003.

Aku Ingin Menciummu Sekali Saja a.k.a I Just Want to Kiss You For Once was a good drama as Pasir Berbisik was. Starring Lulu Tobing and directed by Garin Nugroho, this movie had some positive and meaningful potential. Garin as one of the famous Indonesian director was quite different in some way in this movie. This movie was dedicated to commemorate the death of Theis (Irian's famous politician).

The story is kind of more than one. The story is about the feeling of love that were hidden in the heart. It's about jealousy! It was also about the life of the Irian Jaya people. A woman arrived in Irian Jaya to visit a close friend/relatives who died and got buried in the hill of Irian Jaya. She stayed there and lived in a traditional unit for a couple of days. While staying, a boy got crushed into her but he felt difficult to intepret his feeling to her.

The movie had lots of interesting aspects and elements especially about culture and religion. It succeeded to give a picture on how life in Irian Jaya is going and also their traditional culture. It also picture the Christianity in Irian Jaya.

I was a bit disappointed with the needed-more ending. I gave this movie 6/10. Lulu Tobing did a great job and she did focus on her character. I would also like to see more of Garin Nugrogo's future project.

For the last two years, Indonesian Cinema had been awaken. At the end of the year 2002, Transinema Pictures brought us a nice romantic comedy but unoriginal "Andai Ia Tahu" starring Rachel Maryam and Marcellius Siahaan which was directed by Indra Yudhistira. "Andai Ia Tahu" seems to be the second romantic comedy in 2002 since the successful "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" a.k.a "What's Up With Love?".

The movie was about Love, Destiny, Soul mate, etc. A media writer named Renata met Rio who worked as a Tv Producer when their elevator got stucked accidentally on the 17th floor. They got to know more about each other and they have a very interesting conversation. Soon they realized that they fell in love. But when the encounter was over, they got separated and go their on ways. But that moment became one of their memories that were kept inside their hearts. They kept thinking about each other and that's why they tried as hard as they can to reunite and finally Miracle and Destiny gave them what they wanted.

The movie started in a simple but unique way. It was introduced in black and white with a flashback on the concept of "time". "Andai Ia Tahu" was the second movie for the director Indra Yudhistira. It seems that he did a better job than in his first direction on the 2001 adventure "Jakarta Project". In some way, the movie has great cinematography especially in the first part of the movie (Hollywood-style) but in some scenes, the cinematography got a bit messed up.

The unique Rachel Maryam and good-looking newcomer Marcellius Siahaan both did an exceptional performance. Also the supporting actress, Priscillia Camelia, did a very emotional acting. The movie had some poor minor actors except Harry Pantja who had starred in the horror movie "Jelangkung". The movie did handle a mix balance of character development but it required more deeper.

In the middle, the movie went a bit slow and got boring. But the movie got enlightened with the help of the interesting dialogue and the amusing humour. There were lots of good ideas on the humours and the scenes. The bad thing is the plot development. The movie had only a few conflicts and in some way, the resolution was too simple.

Most of the times, the audience got surrounded by romantic and slow musics. I must have to admit that the soundtracks were pretty good and the soundtrack crew did an excellent job. The soundtracks were slightly different with "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" because the movie is not only for teenager but also for people on their 30's.

In comparing "Andai Ia Tahu" and "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?", both movies had the same quality. They were a fair and nice romantic comedy but definitely unoriginal and with lack of many things. Some ideas in the scenes are pretty much the same as "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" but in a more mature way for example the ending when Rio and Renata hugged each other at the train station was slightly the same when Cinta and Rangga kissed at the airport.

One of the bad things about the movie was the editing. The editing was simply such a mess and some of the scenes weren't attached together nicely. However I thought the movie was quite unique and enjoyable. As an Indonesian movie, "Andai Ia Tahu" was just at my expectation. But off course the movie needs more things.

I rate this movie 6/10 (Indonesian Rating).

Pasir Berbisik or 'Whispering Sand' is one of Indonesia's traditional motivation. It is also the most Indonesian film to get critic from other countries and shown in lots of film festivals. This might not be the best Indonesian movie, but it show us the real lifestyle of Javanese people. Looking at the storyline, the movie had a pretty slow progression in the storyline. It's a bit boring at first though and just seems like a documentary-type of film. But in the middle, the story gets more interesting. The main character in the story is Daya (Indonesia's best actress, Diandra Paramitha Sastrowardoyo). She was the main power (even though her acting wasn't as great as in 'What's Up With Love?') in the character followed by Christine Hakim as her mother and Slamet Rahardjo as her father. Didi Peter doesn't really get shown much in the movie, but his acting wasn't that bad. Basically the story is about Daya who lived with her mother happily, until one night when her father came from long-time journey ruined her life. One special thing about the movie is the art. The best thing is the cinematography which shows the beauty panorama and landscape of Java. The props that were used such as the Javanese mask does also attract the audience. In some scenes, the movie does get a bit confusing. The dialogue in the movie was extremely poetic. Overall, the movie wasn't a bad one to watch. Maybe interesting for the foreigner. I gave it 6.5/10.

Ada Apa Dengan Cinta is the best Indonesian teen movie ever made. It has great casting especially the two main star; Dian Sastrowardoyo as Cinta and Nicholas Saputra as Rangga. They both are new actors and they really focus on their character. Titi Kamal, Adinia Wirasti, Sissy Priscillia and Ladya Cheryl are also star in the movie and they look gorgeous in the movie. The storyline of the movie was pretty good. It was a very simple love story between a girl teenager (Cinta) who uses to hang out with her friends and very clever. All the sudden when Cinta lost the poetry competition. The winner was a lonely boy Rangga. They both came from a different world but as the story progresses with lots of conflict and comedy,they find that they were in love each other. The movie was basically about being friends. And definitely about love and all the consequences. Director Rudi Suedjarwo was very good in directing the movie. He gave a little bit of action, drama, romance and comedy for the movie. It is basically a teen movie and most of Indo-teen loved this type of flick. Most of the setting was in high school and it was nice to look back at the Indonesian school. The soundtrack that were given in this movie were perfect for teen! I really recommend this movie to all of you especially when you have a stress and this movie is basically for us to enjoy and have fun! I think this movie had been promoted to Melbourne, Australia this year but only for limited time. The Video CD had also been released and they were mostly sold out. At the first week, 110,000 vcds had been sold out. Remember don't take this movie seriously, it's just for fun! I am looking forward to see all of the casting in this movie at another movie!

Scream is a rarity: a horror movie spoof that succeeds almost as well at provoking scares as laughs. That's because director Wes Craven in addition to having a genuine affection for the genre, understands how wildly improbable and easy to lampoon it is. And, with Scream, he skewers it at every corner, using self-referential humor and a flood of in-jokes (some subtle, some obvious).

In a way, this movie was inevitable. A lot of modern film criticism involves ``deconstruction'' of movie plots. ``Deconstruction'' is an academic word. It means saying what everybody knows about the movies in words nobody can understand. ``Scream'' is self-deconstructing; it's like one of those cans that heats its own soup.

But this movie is not just a horror film. The self-referential tone of the movie allows us to step back from the horror. Also, the presence of detectives and inquisitive characters focuses our attention away from fear and toward curiosity. We can stop the killing if we can only unmask the killer.

For those who know horror movies, the self-referential tone provides some funny moments when characters point out the "rules" of a horror movie, mention director Wes Craven, or comment on what would be happening "if this were a movie."

And, for those looking for a good scare, Scream is an excellent choice. The mask the killer uses (which appears to be derived from Munch's "The Scream") is really quite frightening. The killer is more human than in most horror films, and therefore more terrifying. He is not invisible, but he is only seen in a quick flash. His advantage is not supernatural power - victims can lash out against him and have some effect - his advantage is surprise and fear. The killer's humanity and thus his potential vulnerability makes him all the more frightening, and makes us all the more tense for his next victim.

MESSAGE - Horror films may breed copycat killings.

Conclusion: This is a modern type of heart-thrilling horror movies and it really does scare you who are not a real fans of horror movies. I rate this movie as a good movie and it is also a good way to thrill the audience. So it realy does had a very strong effects on the thrilling part. I rate it 3,5/5. But for the story of the movie I rate it as a fair story. Great score for a movie like this.

THERE'S good bad-taste comedy and there's comedy that really does leave you feeling like you've swallowed something rancid.

Generally, "Bubble Boy" - the premise is the hilarity of immunodeficiency - is the latter.

Fitfully funny at best, it's a sophomoric, facetious road comedy that draws liberally on Steve Martin's "The Jerk," among other, mostly better, movies.

Jimmy (Jake Gyllenhaal from "October Sky") has lived his whole life in a plastic bubble, and his hyperprotective mother (Swoosie Kurtz) has done her best to insulate him from everything she dislikes about modern life.

As a result, at 17, Jimmy is completely ignorant about sex, money and popular culture - though he does have an electric guitar.

Then he gets a visit from Chloe (Marley Shelton), the hot blond girl next door.

The two of them bond, despite Jimmy's mother.

But he realizes he's in love with her only after Chloe tells him she's going to marry her idiotic but healthy boyfriend, Mark (Dave Sheridan), at Niagara Falls.

Jimmy assembles a mobile bubble suit that will allow him to leave the house for the first time and go cross country to stop Chloe's wedding.

On the way to New York, he encounters a creepy cult, a fierce-looking but friendly biker (Danny Trejo) and some circus freaks "owned" by a nasty dwarf (Verne Troyer from "Austin Powers 2").

There's a hackneyed feel in the venomous way the film (directed by first-timer Blair Hayes, from a script by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio) depicts religious belief.

While this critic generally likes it when comedies trample on p.c. pieties, "Bubble Boy" crosses way over the line with a dumb joke making ignorant fun of Hinduism and its notion of sacred cows.

Don't live in regret.

Proximity is the low-budget sister of The Fugitive, involving a man on the run from the law to see that justice is served, an endless marathon through back streets to avoid being seen, bad guys who always aim the gun at the good guy's feet - these are just a few of the sorry clichés Proximity uses to construct a story. The dialogue is a bad combination of three-line sentences and meaningless diatribes. We've seen and heard all this before, except this time an unknown director puts a moderately pleasing thumbprint on it.

Proximity challenges our notions of justice. William Conroy (Rob Lowe) certainly is OK. The former lawyer threw back a few too many drinks, grabbed the car keys, and his beautiful mistress was dead before the sun rose. Conroy walked away from the crash, but was sent to jail for six months, convicted of vehicular manslaughter. For whatever reason, he's in jail with the worst of them: murderers, drug dealers, career thugs. Conroy is no threat to commit another crime because he's the hero of a relatively well-constructed film that suffers from a nowhere script.

As far as questioning justice, Proximity shows that not all the bad guys are really that bad, while the ones who are supposed to be good can sometimes have an ugly side to them. This is true of the movie as well, as this bunch of clichés should have been bad. Those involved probably knew it too. Stil l, a relatively unknown director has at least deflected some of the flaws with commendable camera constraint and a good dose of always-dependable eye candy.

As the conclusion that this movie is a fair movie. As you know this out-of-Hollywood movie is an action, but an Ok action. I mean the action is actually a bit low. So more cool action might improve the score of this movie. So only if you're bored you might get lighted with this action.

30 Second Bottom Line: A struggling writer falls in love with a nightclub singer/dancer/courtesan and becomes thwarted in developing the relationship by the desires of a powerful and wealthy man holding the title of Duke, and ultimately by her illness.

Moulin Rouge is not simply a film, but rather a fantastical affair filled with music, drama, action, and most importantly, love. Moulin Rouge allows you to take a trip to the 19th century Paris hot spot for the price of a movie ticket. It's a musical play set with the stage background reminiscent of The Grinch. for adults. That is to say we see real people against a fairy tale backdrop, performing nearly impossible stunts to the tune of contemporary pop music. Although the story takes place in the arty section of Paris known is Mormantre, it was filmed entirely down under in Australia. The costumes are wonderful, just as they were when we saw Jim Broadbent in Topsy Turvy. In that film, the setting, costumes and music were 19th century. Here, the setting is 19th century, yet the music spans the last 30 years; with songs you will recognize such as Like a Virgin, Rhythm of the Night, Material Girl and Lady Marmalade. It may sound crazy, but director Luhrmann brings it all together just as he did with Strictly Ballroom.

Usually clichés make me groan, but in this case, they fit in perfectly. The phrases from popular songs are used in the dialogue as the characters are speaking to one another and it sounds like a funny type of Shakespeare where you really know what they are talking about. It's also hilarious to listen to because it's like talking to someone with bits and pieces of songs that you've heard a thousand times.

Over the top, energetic and extravagant musical numbers, as well as tender solos make Moulin Rouge soar. When Lady Marmalade was being done, I'm sure that although Patti Labelle was not on the screen, she would be proud of what they did with her song. It's somewhat like Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis singing Cruisin in the film Duets. They sounded great and would give the man himself, Smokey Robinson, a run for his money on its performance. Who would have thought that Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor can sing well enough to make you want to buy the CD?! Elton John says, regarding Ewan's performance of Your Song, "This guy sings this song better than I sing it." Word is that Ewan is working on getting a recording contract. I think it will happen.he's that good!

Moulin Rouge is a spectacle that keeps you breathless because it moves so fast. You see so much, you hear so much and you think so much about the story and its eccentric characters that you can't help but enjoy so much. There are at least three or four times I had to restrain myself from applauding after a musical number. This is one film that deserves a standing ovation.

Message: Life is nothing without true love.

As the conclusion this movie is really the best musical movie of Year 2001 and you would feel sorry yourself if you do actually miss this elegant and vivid masterpiece from Baz Luhrmann!!!

Daniel is an aging pizza boy with only one thing on his mind - speed. For the past six years, he's waited for one day, and its finally here.the day he gets his taxi license. With his ride already souped up, Daniel is out on the streets in no time breaking speed limits. One passenger turns out to be Emilien, a bumbling police inspector who busts him. However, instead of sending him to jail, he makes a deal with Daniel - if Daniel helps him catch a gang of bank robbers, then Daniel's record will be wiped clean. Now the two must team up to stop the Mercedes Gang before they get away...again.

Taxi is one part racing, one part buddy cop flick. The formula works well here, though there's less racing than I would have liked. The movie is entertaining throughout, though the storyline remains a bit on the thin side.

Conclusion: It is an OK French comedy/action. Fun to watch but might be rated fairly. I mean this movie is not very bad and not very good. This movie is on the middle side.

30 Second Bottom Line: The infamous Jack the Ripper serial killer mystery unfolds in Victorian England as a stylistic who dun it.

From Hell is an exciting murder mystery with a number of hints about who dun it to keep things interesting every step of the way. Depp gives his expected, outstanding and other worldly performance. Ian Holm, Katrin Cartlidge, Robbie Coltrane and Ian Richardson and some of the unnamed prostitutes give the film an edge that takes us back a century in time. Heather Graham is OK and I'm pleased to see her doing something beyond Say it Isn't So and more along the lines of Sidewalks of New York. She is, however, a little too pretty, sophisticated, charming and clean for a street ho. Katrin Cartlidge would have been a better Mary. It's a little bit of a stretch to envision the Inspector and the whore Mary falling in love, but stranger things have happened.

It's always gratifying to see actors, writers and directors grow; and certainly the Hughes Brothers are doing that. They have not made a lot of films but each one is very good. The two could be a Stanley Kubrick in the making, as he only made 13 films during a long, respected and controversial career. Since 1993, they've made Menace II Society, Dead Presidents and American Pimp. From Hell is more sophisticated while still retaining a dark tone that is not depressing. Peter Deming as cinematographer has outdone himself with From Hell and Mulholland Drive. It's clearly Oscar caliber work.

Although From Hell is based on a comprehensive novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, with the focus on a real killer in 1888, the film is not trying to be a JFK and convince us how it really happened. That said, when you realize who the killer is you are faced with an interesting hypothesis.

Jack the Ripper may have been crazy, but he was acting out of logic (his own to be sure) and for a reason other than wanting to kill a few prostitutes. The fog in London finally is lifted on the murder mystery and on the Hughes Brothers being great directors.

Message on the movie: We can't always have what we want from life. Evil exists. Victorian England was a very unpleasant place and era.

So the conclusion is that this movie is a fair movie althouht actually it hadn't got a very clear ending, it is fantastic thriller to watch and remember don't miss this one.