'127 Hours' rests solely on Franco

127 Hours
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco
Written by: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy (adapted from Aron Ralston's book Between a Rock and a Hard Place)

Pretty much like Tom Hanks' Cast Away, 127 Hours basically features only one actor. And luckily like Tom Hanks, James Franco is able to carry the weight of a one-man show and break free. But while Cast Away tells a universal story of perseverance and the willingness to live, Hours is more about the distance a man will go to survive - a tale so harrowing it would inspire Jigsaw's victims.

It is based on a true story about a free-spirited adventurer Aron Ralston who spent (you guessed it) 127 hours with his arm pitted on a canyon wall by a huge rock. Apart from Franco's terrific performance, the movie also benefits from Danny Boyle's trademark offbeat direction. We can sense from the first scene and the opening credits that this will be a different movie-going experience. His split-screen visual style further gives excitement to a movie mainly set in one location.

While he has shown his comedic and dramatic muscles in The Pineapple Express and Milk, Franco this time gives a performance that testifies his status as an actor whose talents are in need of reckoning. My favorite scene of this movie involves a slightly deranged Ralston, a couple of days into his entrapment, pretending to hold a talk show in front of his video camera about his misadventure; it is a scene both funny and heartbreaking that serves as the base pad for his self-exploration on relationships and life itself. And Franco's performance is spot-on.

I also enjoyed A.R. Rahman's score a lot. It is pretty sublime and can get both saddening and thrilling whenever the film needs it be. And that Oscar-nominated song, If I Rise, let's just say I almost had myself choked up when it was played because the timing and mood were so perfect it duly delivered the whole film's essence.

127 Hours hits the jackpot in showing us the strength of human spirit, if you can stomach its climax. For those of you who don't have clue about what happens in the end, let's just say some people did faint at the cinemas during the scene. For me, to be able to sit through till the end gave me a really unique reward - the epiphany that should we fall into a situation (perhaps remotely) as bad as Ralston's, perhaps we were indeed capable of pulling ourselves up.

My rating: 8/10

The Grid. A place of infinite possibility... Really?

Tron: Legacy
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen
Written by: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal

Well yeah, actually. The Grid is a place where we can turn rods into light cycles or small planes (depending on which game we’re playing in), ride those ‘cycles upside down, and perhaps create your own dream girl and take her out to the real world. But damn I wished the filmmakers could have just stuck to that bold statement from the trailers.

Seriously, Tron started out really well. This new digital world has a unique design, walls and floors move sentiently, and the movie doesn’t take long to put its protagonist into the ‘Games’. Games in The Grid exist simply because the whole ‘Tron’ thing is supposed to be an arcade game and also to justify the movie being an action flick. The disc wars and the light cycle matches are utterly cool, but the movie just stops there. The second act is tragically bogged down by Kevin Flynn’s (the great Jeff Bridges) trying to explain to his son Sam (Hedlund) and the audience what has happened in The Grid. Here’s the trouble: a.) the story doesn’t make a lick of sense (ISO, what?), and b.) it is not of our interest at all.

Like I said the action scenes are very exciting, the sets and costumes are fascinating. The CGI is just top-notch and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tron gets a nom for Best Vfx Oscar. My main problem with the visuals is that the 3D effects don’t do much good to me. I had to convince my friends to see it in 3D because I knew it was shot in 3D. While the 3D wasn’t headache-inducing like that of Clash of the Titans’, it just didn’t reach that Avatar-level. The extra-dimensional effects don’t really inject extra excitement.

Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges gets to play 2 characters in this flick. As Clu, he got a digital facelift and apart from that, I found his acting delightful for that part. Clu is definitely more expressive than most inhabitants of the digital world, but up to a certain degree where Bridges creates a deliberate Uncanny Valley with a restrained yet captivating performance. Michael Sheen appears in a maniacal cameo as a mercurial human-program and he really adds some colors to an otherwise boring narrative. And Olivia Wilde doesn’t look bad either in that tight suit.

The biggest strength of Tron: Legacy actually lies in the DJ duo tuning up there in that End of Line Club. The movie soundtrack, composed by the duo Daft Punk, is easily the coolest soundtrack I’ve ever heard, and it’s perhaps the best soundtrack of the year. It’s a manic yet genius blend of orchestral and electronic music.

Joseph Kosinski’s debut film as a director is pretty cool visually, although far from being as revolutionary as the original Tron, and brags a hell of a soundtrack. So do give your brain and eyes a rest when Bridges (with all due respect) starts talking too much.

My rating: 6/10

You've gotta 'Like' this Facebook movie

The Social Network
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer
Written by: Aaron Sorkin (adapted from Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires)

Can a movie about the founding of Facebook, a movie that is filled with lawsuits, depositions, and computer geniuses wiring-in, be somehow interesting? Thanks to Aaron Sorkin’s terrific script, The Social Network is not just interesting; it is compelling, at times funny, and full of superb dialogues. Ever since Juno came about, I’ve never seen a better-scripted movie like The Social Network.

I’m going to use so many superlatives in reviewing one of the best movies of the year simply because the film is just wonderful in many ways. For instance, I’d bet my money on Aaron Sorkin to win the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. His lightning-speed script effortlessly touches on many contemporary themes like internet addiction, greed, and our perpetual need to be connected, all the while being intermittently witty and constantly smart. From the very first scene, a scene that instantly shows us Zuckerberg’s personality and motives in this movie, you know that you’re into something great.

The performances in this film are nothing short of fascinating. Justin Timberlake shows off his charms and seductive voice to portray the disarmingly cool Sean Parker, future-Spiderman Andrew Garfield portrays the underappreciated Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg himself gives a mesmerizing performance. Eisenberg perfectly maintains that stiff and expressionless face of a geeky dork, but with a pair of restless eyes signaling how his sharp mind jumps quickly from one thought to another. He definitely deserves an Oscar Best Actor nom. For the rest the cast, we get to see some computer-generated magic in the Winklevoss twins who are played by two actors (one of them a body double) but acted by one. This actor who plays 2 characters, Armie Hammer, is in for a star-making turn by showing both a passionate performance and an action-hero physique.

The Social Network also boasts one of the best soundtracks of the year, composed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nail and Atticus Ross. The ambient soundtrack perfectly captures the essence and pace of the film, and unlike many other soundtracks, you can enjoy it as much without watching the accompanying scenes as you would while you’re watching the film.

So much credit has to be given to one of the coolest filmmakers working today, David Fincher. I’ve always been a great fan of his movies, most notably Seven and Fight Club, and I think he has reached a new height with The Social Network. It is a timely, brilliant, and thoroughly engaging piece of masterpiece.

My Rating: 9/10

Ben Affleck conquers with The Town

The Town
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, John Hamm, Rebecca Hall
Written by: Ben Affleck, Peter Craig, Aaron Stockard (adapted from Chuck Hogan's Prince of Thieves)

Ben Affleck came back to the Boston-set-crime subgenre after Gone Baby Gone with The Town. While I can’t say that it is a better movie to ‘Gone’, The Town better showcases Affleck’s capability as a director. Adapted from Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves, the movie tells quiet a conventional story about a career criminal (bank robber to be exact) who falls in love and decides to do that one last job and get a peaceful life. It is Affleck’s deft direction that makes the movie a joy to behold. The Town is more action-oriented than past similar movies like The Departed and Gone and the director shows his ability in directing fast-paced, intense shootouts and car chases sequences.

The Town’s screenplay gives extra care towards dialogues and character interactions and development. It never rushes itself just to arrive at another action scene. In fact, no one should ever go to see the film and expect a mindless action flick. That is why the movie is so wonderfully cast to fill up its rich characters, and what performances do the actors give. Ben Affleck himself gives a powerful performance as a man in a moral crossroads. Gone are the memories of his derided performances in blockbusters like Daredevil and Armageddon. Two senior actors Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite show off their acting virtuosos even within short screen times. Recent Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner gives the best performance of the film in a mercurial and trigger-happy role. Whenever Jem, his character, is onscreen, we can feel the lingering and menacing feeling in the air. The actresses, Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively, impress as well in adding real pathos.

There is a scene, the best scene of the movie, between Affleck's, Hall's and Renner's characters in an outdoor café that shows that thrills can be built up as well in a conversation scene as that in a gun battle. It also shows that although the film boasts somewhat spectacular action set-pieces, they simply serve to spice up rather than sacrifice the narrative.

The Town is a well-cast crime drama with a predictable but riveting story. Ben Affleck could be the next Clint Eastwood after all and he could perhaps one day direct a better Matt Damon vehicle.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Reviewing a Classic: Seven Samurai (七人の侍)

Year: 1954
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura
Written by: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni

This is a movie so great many of its plot elements have been recycled countless of times. Seven Samurai has spawned a lot of great movies of their own rights: Magnificent Seven and A Bug's Life to mention a couple. There's a slight problem with viewing a classic that has aged as well as Seven Samurai today - it feels formulaic. So many things can be predicted such as the romance between a young samurai and a village girl, many splastick incidents, the climactic battle and the ultimate sacrifice that comes after that.

Fortunately Seven Samurai is so fine a movie that even those slight problems don't deal too much blow on my enjoyment of the movie. Of all the plot borrowed by modern filmmakers, there's one essential element prominent in this film that is frequently missing in their movies: character development, which is actually helped by the film's lengthy running time. All the Seven, especially Mifune's Kikuchiyo and Shimura's Kambei, are fleshed out as breathing human beings with their own personalitites and motivations. As a result, we root and care for them in every skirmish they're in.

Seven Samurai is undisputably one of the best films ever made. The battle scenes are superbly directed and coreographed and we understand what each character's role is and what he is doing or planning to do. The acting is superb. After playing a lowly woodcutter in Rashomon (羅生門), Takashi Shimura skillfully brought some of his innate gravitas into his character: the wise and noble leader of the Seven, Kambei while Mifune had to bring his maniacal self to play the mercurial Kikuchiyo. This Kurosawian epic about an underappreciated valor is one of the earliest examples of artistic and blockbuster filmmaking seamlessly blended together.

Reviewing 'Eclipse' is a self-alienating deed

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Directed by: David Slade
Starring: Kirsten Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dakota Fanning
Written by: Melissa Rosenberg (adapted from Stephanie Meyer's novel)

I have to alienate virtually all tween girls when writing a review for this movie. But when you're alienating that many people, you are actually alienating yourself, ain't it?

Anyway, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is a corny, poorly-acted exercise of a movie from which entertainment can only be derived from unintentional moments of comedy. Summit Entertainment knew it had a blockbuster in the making, and yet the studio was simply stingy, producing it with a measly $60-ish million production budget. The end result is a flick with bad CGI and bad direction which had succesfully drawn out some aforementioned chuckles from me and my friends. Consider a scene in which the Cullen Clan is chasing the villain through the woods, leaping from trees to trees. It was supposed to be a scene that could provide some cool moments, but in the end, bad CGI and action coreography got me laughing contemplatingly to the farce.

Enough with the technical issues. Aesthetically, the movie can only boast mundane dialogues and wooden expressions. Mundane dialogues... But then again they're just teenagers, so what do you expect? Right. But how about the romance? Even from the first movie I can't still figure out why Bella and Edward are so madly in love with each other; They have a generation gap between them, they don't seem to share the same sense of humor, and they are never engaged in either a lively or an interesting conversation. Everything seems forced and I'm inclined to favor Team Jacob. But ooh, Jacob. Taylor Lautner had spent months in the gym only to appear in unnecessary bare-chested scenes (obviously trying to draw out some 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the targeted tween crowd).

Finally, and inevitably (and also thankfully), comes the final showdown which is the most entertaining bit of the movie. It is an absolute far-cry from other battle scenes derived from fantasy novels, but at least the giant wolves were decently rendered and the whole thing simply didn't disappoint: the way the vampires turned into some kinds of potteries when they're killed was simply amusing to see.

I'm really sorry if I offend any of you girls with this review, but I'm just trying to represent all the guys in the world who had to sit through this. Cheers.

My Rating: 4/10

10 Most Iconic Characters of the 2000s

This is the first list on my blog! I've listed up 10 movie characters that first appeared on the silver screen this decade (starting from year 2000 to 2009). So don't expect to find Darth Vader here because even though he appeared in Episode III (2005), he first appeared in the original Star Wars film (1977). I've picked these characters based on their indelibility on our memories, the performances of the actors and actresses that play them, and their own screen personalities. So here are my 10 most iconic characters of the 2000s.


10. Kirk Lazarus

"I know what dude I am. I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" - Kirk Lazarus

First appearance: Tropic Thunder (2008)
Played by: Robert Downey Jr.

The aforementioned quote concisely sums up Kirk Lazarus, a five-time Academy Award winning method actor who doesn't break character till he's done with the DVD commentary. In Tropic Thunder he mostly appears as a black soldier striving to speak jive (only to be constantly mocked by the genetically black fellow actor Alpa Chino). He easily surpasses Les Grossman, the foul-mouthed producer played by fat-suit wearing Tom Cruise, as the most memorable character in the brilliant action-comedy spoof with an oblivious seriousness amidst all the surrounding madness. Playing an actor who's disguised as another character, RDJ immerses himself deeply, convincing us that something must have knocked him out of the blue, rendering him someone else.

Recognition: an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor (a rare acting honor for a comedy these days).


9. Juno MacGuff

"Nah... I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?" - Juno MacGuff

First appearance: Juno (2007)
Played by: Ellen Page

I've gotta tell you first that Juno is the only female character on this list. It's not that I'm a sexist, it's simply because we all know that for every 10 Indiana Joneses or 10 James Bonds, we only get 1 Ellen Ripley. Juno MacGuff, armed with witty lines supplied by screenwriter Diablo Cody, has blossomed into a new teenage heroine. She's in the process of growing up, but that process is about to get awry when she discovers that she's pregnant. The great thing about her is how we get to care for her immediately after the very first scene in an intelligent and self-assured way.

Recognition: an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Page and the so-called Juno Effect. And ooh, $231m in worldwide gross against a production budget of $7m.


8. Maximus Decimus Meridius

"At my signal, unleash hell." - Maximus Decimus Meridius

First appearance: Gladiator (2000)
Played by: Russell Crowe

Maximus Meridius is a classic Shakespearean tragic hero on the silver screen whose sole purpose is to avenge the death of his family. Russell Crowe is the perfect actor to play a shattered Roman general with a deep-seated anguish beneath his tough exterior. As a hero in a sword-and-sandal epic, Maximus is a brilliant tactician and a cool-headed hand-to-hand combatant - his Gladiatorial fight scenes are some of the most entertaining action scenes you can find in any epic masterpiece.

Recognition: Russell Crowe's sole Oscar statuette for Best Actor, and his status as an A-lister.


7. Hans Landa

"Now if one were to determine what attribute the German people share with a beast, it would be the cunning and the predatory instinct of a hawk." - Hans Landa

First appearance: Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Played by: Christoph Waltz

Playing as Hans Landa, Christoph Waltz (after Javier Bardem and Heath Ledger) further epitomizes that if you wanna win an Oscar for acting in a supporting role, play a menacing villain. In Waltz's case, that menacing aura can even be maintained while the actor juggles 4 different languages. Blatantly nicknamed "The Jew Hunter", Hans Landa is a cunning, evil, yet charismatic SS Colonel with a bit of a superiority complex (he calls all his subordinates by the name 'Herrmann'). Quentin Tarantino said that without Christoph Waltz, there would have been no Inglourious Basterds. It was thanks to Waltz's subtle performance and Tarantino's trademark script that have rendered Basterds to be such a unique cinematic experience.

Recognition: International limelight and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar statuette for Waltz.


6. Puss in Boots

"Fear me, if you dare." - Puss in Boots

First appearance: Shrek 2 (2004)
Played by: Antonio Banderas (Voice)

Cute by nature, Puss in Boots is much more than that. Despite his diminutive stature, he is an able swordscat who literally dances with his opponents who can never match his sheer speed and prowess while flirting with the audience in every scene in the Shrek series he's in. The audience seems to fall for him, calling him the most endearing character to all Shrek fans.

Recognition: His own spin-off movie in development, and (perhaps) the huge boost in box office intake enjoyed by Shrek 2 over the first Shrek.


5. Jason Bourne

"Look at us. Look at what they make you give." - Jason Bourne

First appearance: The Bourne Identity (2002)
Played by: Matt Damon

In Jason Bourne we now have an American super spy. While JB is more straight-faced than James Bond, he makes up for the lack of a figure like Q (and thus the nonexistence of gadgets and cool cars) with a slick ability to use any available items as weapons and shields during hand-to-hand combats. He also takes his audience to a globe-trotting, identity-searching thrill ride throughout the trilogy and, like a good tour guide, he speaks all the languages of all those countries he visits and is familiar with the localities - he gained all these during his tenure as a CIA Operative. The definite thing that makes us root for him is his desperate quest for redemption.

Recognition: Made Matt Damon an action star. More and more audience seemed to be wanting to see him in action too: each movie in the trilogy always outgrosses its predecessor.


4. Tony Stark

"Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job for peace." - Tony Stark

First appearance: Iron Man (2008)
Played by: Robert Downey Jr.

This is Downey Jr.'s second appearance on this list and it is the role that made his name blip on the Hollywood radar again. Superficially the flashy version of Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark is much more than that. He's essentially what every man dreams of becoming: intelligent (he's a genius, in fact), charming (and eccentric), quiet a looker, wackily humorous, and one of the richest men on the planet with a noble vocation to protect it, in style. Downey Jr. effortlessly improvised on the script to bring a cheerful take on this classic anti-hero.

Recognition: The box office stratosphere and a career revival for the once drug-addled actor.


3. Gollum

"So bright... so beautiful... ah, Precious." - Gollum

First appearance: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Played by: Andy Serkis (mo-cap performance and voice)

Gollum was arguably the most expressive CG character ever created in the history of filmmaking at that time. A heartbreaking figure in the legendary trilogy, Gollum (or Smeagol) spends most of his initial screen time fighting and eventually succumbing to a sinister id whose sole purpose is not to be parted with the Ring. He eventually plays a monumental role by *SPOILER ALERT (but I guess you already know)* inexplicably dropping the One Ring into the fires of Mt. Doom, ridding the Middle Earth from its ultimate badass. Surely, even the smallest (or twisted) person can change the course of the future.

Recognition: Perhaps without him a small film called Avatar wouldn't have existed - Gollum's creation kick-started a new wave of motion-capture technology. Oh and I'm sure he lingers on the minds of those millions who have read and/or seen the novels and movies.


2. Jack Sparrow

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do." - Jack Sparrow

First appearance: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Played by: Johnny Depp

Perhaps it was one of the greatest achievements in recent Hollywood blockbuster moviemaking to conceive Capt. Jack Sparrow as a permanent drunkard with expressive hand gestures, mangled speech and Keith Richards-like personality. It was Depp's Sparrow that lifted PotC from being a run-of-the-mill epic fantasy by providing regular comic relief, acting bravura, and some brains. Jack Sparrow has a witty, sharp mind that helps him escape from grave danger which befalls on him the whole time. Being a pirate has made him deceitful and disloyal, but we get some glimpses of his humanity in his closeted attraction to Elizabeth Swann.

Recognition: The role got Depp his first ever Academy Awards nom and blockbuster.


1. The Joker

"Well, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got 'em?" - The Joker

First appearance: The Dark Knight (2008)
Played by: Heath Ledger

The greatest character of the 00s is a villain and it shouldn't be very surprising for Heath Ledger's last memorable role to take home the prize. The supervillain's insatiable craving for social devastation has prompted him to mastermind a grand scheme to bring down Gotham City along with its White and Dark Knights with his ingenious 'social experiments'. Profoundly disillusioned by humanity and society, he has turned himself into a remorseless psycho who believes that he's just the extreme version of human nature. Ledger's Joker will always be remembered in the coming decades as one of the most terrifying screen bad guys of all time.

Recognition: Ledger became the second person to win a posthumous Academy Award for acting. The Dark Knight's enormous leap in box office grosses over Batman Begins must have been partly or significantly contributed by the presence of The Joker.


Honorable mentions (those who almost made the cut): Wall-E (Wall-E), Gandalf (LotR trilogy), The Bride (Kill Bill), Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men), Marv (Sin City)