Thursday, January 11, 2007

A Season of Crap

OK. I have also watched Déjà vu, The Holiday, The Prestige (boy, they’re getting more creative aren’t they?), and unfortunately Eragon too. Nooo…Yes, I did. And I lived through it.


Déjà Vu was better than I thought/expected. Honestly, the only film that I had any speckle of expectation was The Prestige and I will talk about that later. Focus. Denzel Washington has always been good to watch on screen. He has this laid back and very natural way of delivering his lines – like some other great actors do as well. It’s like ballet, the more effortless it is the more mastery it takes and more brilliance you bring to you performance and your audience.

Unfortunately, tsk tsk…the plot was transparent. A plastic bag plot is useless with brilliant actors. Oh yes, Val Kilmer is still great eventhough he was probably only there for a couple of mins. But who can forget his dazzling performance as Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?

Don’t watch if you like excitement and intrigue. Watch if you like time traveling in your panties. Oops, that was a spoiler.


The Holiday. Right. First of all, I need to explain that I’m not really a sucker for romantic comedy. Unless it’s a truly deeply romantic kind and has good wholesome humor in it like Love Actually and The Sweetest Thing. Though The Holiday does carry a little bit of elements from those two mentioned films (hint: Cameron Diaz + Brits), it still didn’t impress me much.

It was one of those predictable film though the ending was rather unresolved. It seems that there just isn’t any answer for those long distance relationship hopefuls. My advice: doesn’t work, unless both of you are lying to yourselves and each other. Anyway, back to Holiday. I must give it some credits though since I did have that whoo-fuzzy feeling in my impressionable tummy.

Camern Diaz is undeniably a, in my case, Lovable character. You can’t help but love her in her intentionally ditzy roles with her beautiful blonde hair (made me consider cutting my hair short) and blessed figures – which reminds me – was wonderfully draped in exquisite clothing throughout the film! Yes, she plays a rich woman who owns her self-established trailer production company, and is supposed to be so consumed by her passion that she thinks, or rather, reflects in trailer motions – complete with The Voice. That gets a cool point.

But yes, the point was, her character was able to afford those beautiful clothes. The jacket she wore when she arrived in England, the top and skirt she wore when she visited Jude Law’s character aka love object.

Jude Law was – Jude Law. I’m glad to say that I discovered this gorgeous gem when I was only 14. Had a little poster of him in my sister’s closet labeled as “the next prince” or something like that. His accent is just incredibly – meltitious. He could talk all night if he wants and be as good as sex. Maybe not as good as with him.


OK, I would love to divulge and dish out more points for this relatively good effort film, but I must limit myself to max. three paragraphs of blabs for each of these films that I have watched. So, the verdict is – it’s too late to watch The Holiday anyway. I mean, it’s call that for a reason right? Saving it up for next Holiday season might be a bit silly, and there might be a Holiday 2: Burn the Turkey or something similar coming out.



Now this is easy: DO NOT WATCH ERAGON. DO NOT EVEN FANTASIZE ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF WATCHING IT.



Ahh…The Prestige.


Despite carrying a plastic bag plot, Hugh Jackman was amazing (and incredibly handsome); Christian Bale was delectably evil and fragile at the same time; Scarlett Johansson IS overused. I share your concern but have to affirm the suspicion that she DOES act the same in all her movies. Blame it on the producers for picking her for similar roles, or blame her agent, but also blame her for not being able to improvise. This ugly truth just had to be played out evident in this season of lets-overused-Scarlett. It’s just a natural human behavior – to keep using nice new things over and over again until you get tired of it.

Same reason why women shop too. Though the expiry date for their fancy runs out faster.

Otherwise, a really noteworthy say goes to the everlasting and forever ingenious David Bowie. No one, and I repeat, no one will ever play that unique role as exceptional as he did. Sure, George Clooney might have been able to convey the same sort of unwaivering confidence, but he definitely can’t exude the same kind of out-of-the-world charm or whatever it is that David does.

And of course, he has to be this wizardy scientist in the film. Is it worth your DVD rack? Not really. Unless you’re into collection. Of who? I’m not sure…David Bowie?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Dejavu, probably coz I went in with no expectations and kinda love the intellectually stimulating plot at the end of it la~

Same sentiments shared on Eragon, a real lousy movie! But they said the book was supposingly pretty good - has yet to catch up on that though..

Caught The Prestige, again went in with no expectations and was blown away with it - also coz of the intelligent twist at the end of it - well, I am an easily satisfied person!

After your movie reviews, I think I shall try to lay my hands on The Holiday and Bobby (don't think I saw any promo here)...

Thanks so much for the reviews! Pretty much save me from deciding what to watch next! *grin*

meow said...

you're welcome.

you're also more than welcome to read the actual book of Eragon written by the writer when he was still a teenager(he's now 24 i think). Many have likened it to LOTR as well. these i mention as i personally would not waste my time on a book that was written by a teenager, that sounds like LOTR, and made into a real crap movie.

honestly, i felt that the movie was oozing too much elements of a writer that has alot of vent up emotions. he's just like eragon. he's actually a a farm boy but wants to believe that he's more than that. maybe he's had some serious peer pressure or some social inadequacy due to his home-schooling life. i dunno.

but then again, i'm only speaking on assumptions and perceiving through my narrow lenses :-)