So, walking into this movie, I was thinking how the bloody devil are they going to get an 800 + page book into a 2 hour and 18 minute movie? I dreaded that Hollywood would once again doom another great book. I kept asking myself, which parts would I cut if I were calling the shots. I had no idea, which is why I am not a director. I guess David Yates did a good job, even if he axed the first third of the J.K. Rowling’s masterpiece. I guess I am exaggerating a tad, though that is what if…
Browsing: Film Reviews
When Light Yagami (prominent son of a police inspector and a brilliant law student in his own right) discovers the other world book called, “Death Note”, he feels it’s his destiny to envelop the world with his own brand of justice. With a great feeling of purpose, he envisions a world which is devoid of malintent and a place where the weak will not fear.Too many criminals Light (played by Tatsuya Fujiwara) believes do not obtain their “just desserts”, or worse yet, do not even get punished at all. Light who gives himself the pseudonym- “Kira”, embarks upon his crusade…
With half the film backdrop set in a courtroom with intense drama, Director Miwa Nishikawa’s, “Sway”, takes the viewer into the life of lead character Takeru (played by Jo Odagiri). Takeru is a trendy Tokyo photographer with a penchant for red leather pants and a pervading coolness. Travelling which is the first theme at the beginning of the film, Takeru receives a disturbing message that his mother has passed away. Readying his items, he takes to the road in his equally stylish retro car for the funeral services.Upon settling again in his old town of his youth, Takeru and his…
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Brave-Hearted Will Take the Bride) is the biggest and longest running feature film in the history of Hindu cinema. Originally released in 1995, the blockbuster reached its 600 week (12 year) run in April of this year, securing its place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Yash Raj Films, the entertainment powerhouse with a freshly inked animation deal with Disney, released a massive 2-Disc DVD set of the super-hit which catapulted the careers of young stars Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan. Complete with behind the scenes footage, interviews, deleted scenes and award show highlights…
An interesting look at the world of vampires, Netherbeast Incorporated deals with vampires who work at a telephone company. Yes, I said telephone company. In fact, they have worked for centuries at Berm-Tech Industries in Arizona. Maintained with good health by an ancient artifact called, the nether stone, these netherfolk (that’s the politically correct terminology by the way), have all the means to thrive. With no need to venture out of the building they call home, they work like normal human beings for the good of the corporation. Just like the rest of us. Or, so it seemed.The head honcho…
Res-o-lu-tion. It rhymes with Rev-o-lu-tion. Rhymes with, but not jives with. And that’s just it. As poet-activist Audre Lorde once put it, “You can’t dismantle the Master’s house with the Master’s tools.”Paolo Freire knew this. At a cocktail reception for him at UCLA after he addressed over a thousand students, he stood with his head tilted back to munch off the bottom of a cluster of grapes and remarked to me, “You can’t tell someone who owns three cars that he doesn’t need one.” The wiry, pint-sized Brazilian revolutionary of pedagogy whose books were theories-turned-field manuals for professors and farm…
Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, “Surf’s Up” is the new Columbia Pictures Animated CGI Mockumentary about penguins and the ultimate surfing championship dedicated to legend “Big Z”, a surfing guru who is lionized by young Shiverpool resident, Cody Maverick.Cody, has big dreams which seek to catapult himself out of the mundaneness of Shiverpool. Fatherless (apparently is not uncommon for most penguins to be on the lunch menu for killer whales), Cody takes wisdom for his path in life from Big Z who graced the shores one day and bestowed upon him, a “one of a kind” Big Z…
La Vie En Rose is a biopic of the late, great French singer Edith Piaf. Set in both France and America, the film begins with Edith collapsing on stage as she is performing in New York City. From there the film flashes back and forth on Piaf’s tumultuous life, from her unorthodox upbringing to her rise and ultimately her downfall and untimely death. Oliver Dahan’s La Vie En Rose is not the best film ever made of its genre yet, Dahan does do a worthy attempt at putting the life of Edith Piaf on the big screen. Like many biopic…
I can’t believe we had to wait almost a year and a half to watch this movie in the United States. The original release date was the first of January, 2006 (Belarus). It finally came out on the first of June, 2007 in the states (and only in two theaters in Los Angeles). It is very evident that the US movie market is not willing to share the “silver screen” with foreign countries when it comes to Action/Fantasy/Horror/Thriller/Sci-Fi movies. It is almost as if the US market is censoring foreign culture. It makes me mad. I guess it might have…
<i>Paris, Je T’aime (Paris, I Love You)</i> is a memorable film, unique and fast paced. A collaboration of 20 world-renowned directors; the film consists of 18 short films all which embody the idea of love. There is an apparent visual and plot contrast within every short film, the genres range from whimsical, comical, tragic and dramatic. Although most of the cinematic vignettes are interesting and captivating there are also those that are somewhat ordinary and ineffective. The most successful pieces are those that remain untainted by the romanticized ideas of Paris; in other words sometimes less is more. There is…