Situs Review Film Indonesia. Sebenernya lumayan lama gw tau situs ini, cuman sering lupa ngecek. Sekarang mumpung inget, gw taruh aja di sini.
Situs ini bikin gw ngiri.. kenapa? 1. Reviewnya segar, dengan bahasa yg menarik dan ndak njlimet, jukstaposisinya juga sering kali bikin ketawa, tapi tanpa terkesan bodoh. Intinya sih, mereka nge-review film (Indonesia) apa adanya, dan sekaligus juga menghibur. 2. Mereka berani nonton setiap film Indonesia yg rilis, ndak peduli seberapa buruknya film tersebut dan seberapa mahalnya (baca: seberapa tidak sebandingnya duit yg dikeluarkan) untuk menonton film tersebut.
Well, tapi gw senang kok ada situs ini sehingga gw ga bakal salah pilih lagi dalam menonton film (Indonesia).. So far, pilihan mereka sejalan sama gw, i.e film Virgin yg justru gw bilang termasuk dari film Indonesia yg better (dan itu sedikit lho), juga dipuji di situs ini.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Le Grand Voyage (2004)
France, 2004
Cast: Nicolas Cazale, Mohamed Majd, Jacky Nercessian, Ghina Ognianova
Director: Ismaël Ferroukhi
My Rating: *** 1/2 / ****
A young French-Moroccan boy was unwillingly drove his father to a pligrimage to Mecca. A long trip, doesn't it?. Well, here's the thing, they hadn't been in a good relationship. A generation-gap as you might say. The father was a stubborn, a hard-headed old-man, but had his own wise-ness. The boy was a short-fused teenager, impatient, sees himself as the center of all thing, and everything was his father's fault. Plus, as the father himself put it, "Even if you know how to read and to write, you had a zero knowledge of life". Their voyage thus began in a non-communication term, as they both seem to talk in a different language, but as you can see for yourself, blood is always thicker than water as both father and son began to grow and learn to respect each other. It was a wonderful movie that kept me engaged for 100 minutes.
The premise is much alike to the more famous "Monsieur Ibrahim". But my take, this movie is way better than the previous movie. Even its rather slow pacing doesn't bother me a bit. From East-Europe to the Far-East, from the zero degree white snow blanket in Belgrade to the hot in the desert sand, we see these two people evolve, as the boy grew more mature, the father had also grew respect to the young. On their voyage, they met with various people, a strange woman that creeps the hell out of the son, a Turkish man that the boy likes but the father loathe, and of course they also met with fellow pilgrims. Anyway, if you think the son was Muslim, then you're wrong. Well, at least he doesn't pray while his father and the other pilgrims were praying in the middle of the desert, but instead wrote his girlfriend's name on the sand. Even when they got to Saudi Arabia, the son asked his father, "Why was it so important for you to go to Mecca?".
Here, Reda, the son, the obvious boy in orange, was sit among his father and the other pilgrims.
Apart of the relationship between father and son that grew ever interesting which was the best part of this movie, the movie also has greatness in breathtaking views, from the European village, to Mecca itself (which literally takes my breath away), and the score was a beautiful ringing to my ear even if it was emitting the sound of sadness, and longing. And dont even ask me about the ending. I wouldn't dare to talk to you about it, even though i really wanted to. All i can say is, that the ending was.... .... .....
In the end, even though the characters are great, they really are great, no flaw on the character whatsoever, i think the hero of this movie is Islam itself, at least in term of the director's goal of showing the peaceful majority rather than the radical minority the media has transformed into a worldwide terror. But if you aren't interested in the religion-related stuffs, it would be fair if i said that this movie was one of the best gap-generation movie that i ever saw. Oh, better yet, i think this movie is one of the best movie in 2004. Shame on me, i hadn't knew about it earlier. Watch it.
P.S: One of the memorable quotes from this movie...
Reda: Why didn't you fly to Mecca It's a lot simpler.
The Father: When the waters of the ocean rise to th heavens, they lose their bitterness to become pure again...
Reda: What?
The Father: The ocean waters evaporate as they rise to the clouds. And as they evaporate they become fresh. That's why it's better to go on your pilgrimage on foot than on horseback, better on horseback than by car, better by car than by boat, better by boat than by plane.
Cast: Nicolas Cazale, Mohamed Majd, Jacky Nercessian, Ghina Ognianova
Director: Ismaël Ferroukhi
My Rating: *** 1/2 / ****
A young French-Moroccan boy was unwillingly drove his father to a pligrimage to Mecca. A long trip, doesn't it?. Well, here's the thing, they hadn't been in a good relationship. A generation-gap as you might say. The father was a stubborn, a hard-headed old-man, but had his own wise-ness. The boy was a short-fused teenager, impatient, sees himself as the center of all thing, and everything was his father's fault. Plus, as the father himself put it, "Even if you know how to read and to write, you had a zero knowledge of life". Their voyage thus began in a non-communication term, as they both seem to talk in a different language, but as you can see for yourself, blood is always thicker than water as both father and son began to grow and learn to respect each other. It was a wonderful movie that kept me engaged for 100 minutes.
The premise is much alike to the more famous "Monsieur Ibrahim". But my take, this movie is way better than the previous movie. Even its rather slow pacing doesn't bother me a bit. From East-Europe to the Far-East, from the zero degree white snow blanket in Belgrade to the hot in the desert sand, we see these two people evolve, as the boy grew more mature, the father had also grew respect to the young. On their voyage, they met with various people, a strange woman that creeps the hell out of the son, a Turkish man that the boy likes but the father loathe, and of course they also met with fellow pilgrims. Anyway, if you think the son was Muslim, then you're wrong. Well, at least he doesn't pray while his father and the other pilgrims were praying in the middle of the desert, but instead wrote his girlfriend's name on the sand. Even when they got to Saudi Arabia, the son asked his father, "Why was it so important for you to go to Mecca?".
Here, Reda, the son, the obvious boy in orange, was sit among his father and the other pilgrims.
Apart of the relationship between father and son that grew ever interesting which was the best part of this movie, the movie also has greatness in breathtaking views, from the European village, to Mecca itself (which literally takes my breath away), and the score was a beautiful ringing to my ear even if it was emitting the sound of sadness, and longing. And dont even ask me about the ending. I wouldn't dare to talk to you about it, even though i really wanted to. All i can say is, that the ending was.... .... .....
In the end, even though the characters are great, they really are great, no flaw on the character whatsoever, i think the hero of this movie is Islam itself, at least in term of the director's goal of showing the peaceful majority rather than the radical minority the media has transformed into a worldwide terror. But if you aren't interested in the religion-related stuffs, it would be fair if i said that this movie was one of the best gap-generation movie that i ever saw. Oh, better yet, i think this movie is one of the best movie in 2004. Shame on me, i hadn't knew about it earlier. Watch it.
P.S: One of the memorable quotes from this movie...
Reda: Why didn't you fly to Mecca It's a lot simpler.
The Father: When the waters of the ocean rise to th heavens, they lose their bitterness to become pure again...
Reda: What?
The Father: The ocean waters evaporate as they rise to the clouds. And as they evaporate they become fresh. That's why it's better to go on your pilgrimage on foot than on horseback, better on horseback than by car, better by car than by boat, better by boat than by plane.
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
United States, 2005Cast: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Maria Bello, Drea DeMatteo
Director: Jean-François Richet
My Rating: *** / ****
Okay some words prior to the comment. This site haven't seen many updates these last couple of months. Well, my excuse is, i kept true to my words, if you see two new updates regarding of movie right here, then there were indeed only two movies that i saw during the time. I have tried to re-schedule my time-of-the-day. And believe me not, at least on a 7-day week, there were at least two days when i could get my schedule worked on me (i.e wake-up early in the morning, and went to bed rather early at night). Enough chit-chat, on to the movie.
I have seen the original 1976, John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, and surely some of the old-school fan to the original cult, low-budget thriller that brought forth John Carpenter's reputation to its height (it was two years before "Halloween", arguably the most notable, popular movie made by him) would deem me as a heretic by saying that i liked this version more than the original.
What do you need in order to make a good - if not passable - action / adventure movie? For one, testosterone. Not that i'm into those gender-stuff, who favors one gender more than the other (well, some of my friend said that i'm an anti-feminist, but that was another story), but arguably, an action / adventure is always considered to be full of testosterone, an adreline pumper that sometimes made your heart beats at least twice as fast, or doesn't beat at all. Now, this movie, is full of testosterone. At least, it hooked me up to stay on screen on the last sixty-minutes of this movie.
There are many differences between this movie and the original. Mostly it was for the better, thankfully. Furthermore, the only thing that connect this movie with the original was (aside of the title of course) the premise. That is, a bunch of characters trapped inside a building, to be specific, a closing-down police station, against a bunch of other characters surrounded the building with guns, with intention of breaking inside and kill a certain man, and everybody else for being there. The plot was executed rather differently with several twists thrown in, and the characters were a little bit better developed (even though understandably, in an action / adventure movie, characater-developments are often left unattended) given the thirty minutes preambule before the action rushes in.
The movie starts strong.. i was totally unprepared because i was rather expecting something similar from the previous 1976 original version. The scene, even before the opening title rolls, build this center character, an undercover cop turns into a drug-and-alcohol-dependant desk Sergeant late in the movie. I was mumbling to myself, uh-oh, so they decided to build a character this time, at the time i'm not buying, and apparently my instinct proved correct since further into the movie, this central character (played by Ethan Hawke) was always under-the-radar, and most of the time over-shadowed by other strong perfomances.
The scene-stealer of this movie was Laurence Fishburne, who just like Mr.Hugo Weaving suffers from being labeled with the character he played on The Matrix. Ah, yes, the ever cool Morpheus. More often than not, i see a glimpse of Morpheus in his movement on every frame on this movie. I hate it at first, but then rather fell in love with it. I mean how could you not fell in love with his coolness when he pops somebody's head, or in-the-most-interesting-scene when he throws a couple of molotov bombs toward his attacker.
And the villain, ewww an ever irritating bastard, had the movie went a little bit longer, i would tempted to throw something to the screen whenever he makes his appearance. Damn. The guy (John Leguizamo) was a constant irritant, though he would only say a two-or-so line of words, his presence is just simply irritating, and you know you'll hate him even before he steps into the frame. Kudos to the casting director.
The action itself, which of course a main-course for such movie, was good. So good that it doesn't dragged away by overblowing things, or by overloading the volume. It even could pull you in into a horror that felt by the characters trapped in the closed-down Precinct where men with weapons lurking out there, with every intention to break in and shot you in the head.
As for the rest, i was rather disappointed with the absence of the little-girl-with-ice-cream-shot-in-the-chest scene as in the original version. But i was shocked when one of the lovable character shot mercilessly from a close-range.. damn! really i hadn't see it coming, i thought (yes, i was being cheesy) that there'd be a hero, a knight in a shining armor, galloping to the rescue on his blinding white horse. But no, it simply goes bang, and off the character go. And you'd see a lot of deaths here, even the 'good' ones, and obviously most of the 'bad' ones. One thing disturbed me though, this guy who direct this movie, had an obvious love for head-shots. If i hadn't wrong in numbers, i'm counting 6 head-shots (4 with bullet, two with knive), and almost 6 of them ended with the same scene (a camera trailing away from the scene, showing a hole right in the forehead, or the damage of the assault, with the snow beneath it slowly turns red). Two is good, but 6 are just too many. Even for an R-rated movie. But, all in all, i'm enjoying this movie a lot, and probably one of the underlooked, underachieved, and underrated action film in the 2005 (hey, it was even better than the Fantastic Four).
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Valiant (2005)
United Kingdom, 2005Cast (or rather, voice-actors): Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais, Tim Curry, Jim Broadbent
Director: Gary Chapman
My Rating: * / ****
My comment on this movie could be (and would be) summarized up to a simple sentence: "Thank god, that it took only 72 minutes".
Valiant is about birds, well, maybe it was actually made for birds, if they could understand English, that is.. wait, British-accented English. Yeah, i really confused at times to see where this movie headed, or who does (what kind of audience, that is) this movie was aimed for. It's set on a World War II, a theme that would eliminate most of the interest from a young boys (and girls), and it's about a talking pigeons who actually took place in a WWII as an aerial messenger, complete with, i quote from the movie, "mother-nature has the audacity to create a little something called 'The Falcon'", which would be a turn-off to a much more adult audiences. So, that leaves a big question mark behind my mind. "Where do i put myself?". Hence, in the minutes that follows, i positioned myself as one of those flurry beaked animals that fly through the sky, which much popular as 'birds'. And by that, i came to the simple sentence that represented this whole CG adventure called "Valiant": "Thank god, that it took only 72 minutes".
Probably the only thing that stood out from this movie is the voice-actings. Man, they were superb.. and not that i'm a sucker for a british-accented speech thingy.. no! what? oh, you doubted me? ah, well, yeah, got to admit, that was also the factor, but trust me, it was really that great, even though one could argue that it WAS great since any other elements in this movie were either mediocre at times, or mostly horrible. The CG quality was what i'd say, if i was a CG expert, which i'm not, a large step-back from what CG we previously saw on Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. I really would like to compare the CG quality to Disney's Chicken Little but, i haven't had the chance to see it yet. Well, it's not as bad as it sounds, but it was still a large step-back. And the story? let's see... uninteresting, predictable, and nothing fresh. Understandable, though, i mean, did you really expect to give some 'deep' material, or unpredictable twist, to a bunch of birds?
My say, it's not even enough for a family material, maybe, if you had a three-year old sons or daughters, but older than that? i doubt that they'd enjoy it, and you'd had a great possibility to lose your children when the movie is over since you'd be fallen asleep during the movie, and your children would think that it was better to wander around, than to sit through on a cold movie theater. Ah, they'd know the ending anyway, right from the very first minute. Unless, if you (or your children) are a bird, which i'm sure you (or they) are not.
Before Sunrise (1995) / Before Sunset (2004)
Jarang sekali saya menonton sebuah judul film lebih dari satu kali. Yah, walaupun saya bukan fans Pauline Kael, kritikus yang percaya bahwa sebuah kesan pertama terhadap film adalah yang paling penting -- opini saya sih, seorang kritikus profesional mestinya menonton sebuah film paling tidak dua kali dulu sebelum dibayar untuk menulis apresiasinya di media --, secara pragmatis boleh dibilang saya tidak punya waktu untuk memutar kembali sebuah film yang pernah saya tonton dikarenakan kesibukan saya (not) atau terutama karena banyaknya film di koleksi saya yg belum saya tonton (bukan cuman puluhan, tapi ratusan judul film dari koleksi saya belum saya tonton). Tapi, sekali waktu saya akan kembali menikmati sebuah film yang saya tahu pasti ceritanya, dan ingin sekali mengulang pengalaman tersebut. Dan kedua film ini (yang saya lebih suka lihat sebagai satu kesatuan) adalah salah dua dari film-film yang mendapat kehormatan tersebut (as if!).
Jesse dan Celine. Sepanjang pengetahuan saya, oh tidak, menurut saya, dua karakter ini adalah jelas-jelas karakter film bergenre drama-romantis paling hebat yang pernah diceritakan. Mereka berdua bertemu untuk kali pertama di sebuah kereta menuju ke Paris, ngobrol biasa -- which actually held place in Vienna --, dan jatuh cinta (Before Sunrise) dan kembali bertemu sembilan tahun kemudian di jalanan kota Paris, dan mencari tahu apakah mereka telah jatuh cinta kembali atau tidak (Before Sunset). Kedua film ini bisa dinikmati sendiri-sendiri karena -- lagi-lagi -- menurut saya, kedua film ini menawarkan pengalaman yang berbeda. Di Before Sunrise, kita mengikuti chemistry dari dua orang yang baru pertama kali bertemu, mengamati dari dekat bagaimana lantas Jesse atau Celine jatuh cinta satu sama lain. Dan di Before Sunset, it's all about second-chance. Di banyak sisi, saya lebih menyukai Before Sunset, yang menurut hemat saya, lebih dewasa, atau lebih tepatnya, lebih bisa nyambung dengan saya.
Terdengar klise? Mungkin. Tapi percaya deh sama saya. Apakah film ini akan seklise kedengarannya kalau sampai saya tonton dua kali? Entah di mana kekuatan dari (dua) film ini (i'd go for the script, the cast, the set, the scores, the ending. And the beginning. And the middle), yang jelas saya sangat menikmati setiap detik dari (dua) film ini. Well, sebagai perbandingan, di genre yang relatif sama, drama-romantis, saya juga sangat menyukai "When Harry Met Sally" yang secara pragmatis bisa dipukul sama-rata dari segi ide dengan keseluruhan ide dari dua film ini. Meskipun tentu saja, minus eksplisit humor karena memang "When Harry Met Sally" lebih condong ke komedi. Sedangkan dua film ini lebih berkonsentrasi pada obrolan Jesse dan Celine yang kadang2 tidak jelas relevansinya -- obrolan yang kalau kadang tidak membuat anda minimal tersenyum, saya akan menuduh anda tidak punya selera humor sama sekali -- untuk membangun koneksi di antara mereka.
All in all, sedikit sekali film dengan genre romantis yang masuk ke daftar "my favourite film", these two are among the tops of that list.. that's for sure.
NB: Uh, saya baru ingat, saya selalu menyukai long-shots, dan dua film ini relatif terkenal karena long-shots nya (ya, jamak).
NB2: Dan dialog terakhir di "Before Sunset" really really blows me out.
Jesse dan Celine. Sepanjang pengetahuan saya, oh tidak, menurut saya, dua karakter ini adalah jelas-jelas karakter film bergenre drama-romantis paling hebat yang pernah diceritakan. Mereka berdua bertemu untuk kali pertama di sebuah kereta menuju ke Paris, ngobrol biasa -- which actually held place in Vienna --, dan jatuh cinta (Before Sunrise) dan kembali bertemu sembilan tahun kemudian di jalanan kota Paris, dan mencari tahu apakah mereka telah jatuh cinta kembali atau tidak (Before Sunset). Kedua film ini bisa dinikmati sendiri-sendiri karena -- lagi-lagi -- menurut saya, kedua film ini menawarkan pengalaman yang berbeda. Di Before Sunrise, kita mengikuti chemistry dari dua orang yang baru pertama kali bertemu, mengamati dari dekat bagaimana lantas Jesse atau Celine jatuh cinta satu sama lain. Dan di Before Sunset, it's all about second-chance. Di banyak sisi, saya lebih menyukai Before Sunset, yang menurut hemat saya, lebih dewasa, atau lebih tepatnya, lebih bisa nyambung dengan saya.
Terdengar klise? Mungkin. Tapi percaya deh sama saya. Apakah film ini akan seklise kedengarannya kalau sampai saya tonton dua kali? Entah di mana kekuatan dari (dua) film ini (i'd go for the script, the cast, the set, the scores, the ending. And the beginning. And the middle), yang jelas saya sangat menikmati setiap detik dari (dua) film ini. Well, sebagai perbandingan, di genre yang relatif sama, drama-romantis, saya juga sangat menyukai "When Harry Met Sally" yang secara pragmatis bisa dipukul sama-rata dari segi ide dengan keseluruhan ide dari dua film ini. Meskipun tentu saja, minus eksplisit humor karena memang "When Harry Met Sally" lebih condong ke komedi. Sedangkan dua film ini lebih berkonsentrasi pada obrolan Jesse dan Celine yang kadang2 tidak jelas relevansinya -- obrolan yang kalau kadang tidak membuat anda minimal tersenyum, saya akan menuduh anda tidak punya selera humor sama sekali -- untuk membangun koneksi di antara mereka.
All in all, sedikit sekali film dengan genre romantis yang masuk ke daftar "my favourite film", these two are among the tops of that list.. that's for sure.
NB: Uh, saya baru ingat, saya selalu menyukai long-shots, dan dua film ini relatif terkenal karena long-shots nya (ya, jamak).
NB2: Dan dialog terakhir di "Before Sunset" really really blows me out.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
Germany, 1922Cast: Max Shreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Shcroder, Alexander Granach
Director: F.W Murnau
My Rating: Unrated.
It's time for "Movie History 101". I've got two questions ready. One, what was the very first movie about vampire ever made? thus, established popular beliefs that vampire dies in sunlight and two, who was considered by many movie-buffs as one of the most disturbing villain ever present in the cinema?. This movie, shot between August - October 1921, had the correct answers to the questions.
Nosferatu was loosely based on the popular novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. Alas, there were some disputes with the legality issues that all known prints and negatives of this movie were destroyed as the result from the lawsuit filed by Bram Stoker's widow. But, you can't stop the power of the mass. Ever since i decided to stroll my way through the road of cinema, i've heard about this movie. Apparently everybody who loves horror would include this film among their bests. More often, it wasn't the movie who had the praise but Max Shreck whom impersonations of the Count Dracula himself has yet been surpassed by later actors whom we all knew well. Thus, the answer to the questions i mentioned earlier. And just yesterday, by a mere chance, i've got the copy of this movie and watch it immediately. And by far, this is the oldest movie i ever saw. Hey, it's even older than my grandpa.
Okay, i'm not giving any rating to this movie. To praise it above average, to give the title of "masterpiece", would violate my conscience and my sense of taste. Yet, this movie in some way deserves the praise and the title of "masterpiece". And so, i decided for the first time to let the movie goes unrated.
I'm not sure when does the cinema invented the colors and voice. As far as i know, Casablanca (1942) was still black-and-white (though decent) but had voice. This movie however, hasn't yet incorporated voice. And so the story reveals itself through title-cards that appears between the scene or to denotes dialogue between characters which obviously, rarely occured. The music then does all the talking. I loved the music, it's weird, haunting, and chilling.. had it had better quality, i'm surely going to had nightmares. But, even with the poor quality, the music was delivered effectively. It hooked me up.
Aside from the music and one other thing (which i'm going to reveal later), i've got little love to this movie (thus violating my agreement to the "masterpiece" stuff). While the music, as i said before, had a sense of weirdness and haunting and chilling, the movie hardly frightening if you look at it. The acting was comical with exaggerated gestures, and though this movie contains great shots (such as Bremen's corridors), i'm barely able to keep my eyes open at times.
But of course, Nosferatu, as all movie-buffs should've known, was famous because this wicked man, Max Shreck who played the Count Orlock, the night-stalker, the blood-sucker, the phantom, the .. (ah, quit it).
This mother-fucker only seen on screen for a bit less than nine minutes in total throughout the whole film which is 80-something minutes. But, oh, who could forget those never blinking eyes (seriously, he, or at least his character, never blinked), those crooked back, those long fingers, and oh, here comes the best part, the way he rises from his coffin.. gosh, i can't believe myself when i read the trivia at IMDb about this movie and found out that his character was only seen on screen for a bit less than nine minutes! It seem was far more longer, it seem that the whole time, i've been haunted by those eyes, those crooked back, and those long fingers.. and that's the proof of how effective an horror this movie turns out to be. I can now say, and positively agree that never again Count Dracula, or Blood-Hungry Vampire portrayed in screen more menacing than what Max Schreck had done. Mark my word, never!
That been said, i, again, contradicted myself by saying that this movie deserves the classic-title, the masterpiece, and quite possibly, the best horror movie of all time. Well, i've already put Mr.Schreck as the #1 wickedest villain of all time. Ultimately, this movie was made important because of the history it bears. I would never again saw the horror movie without remembering Max Schreck or comparing it to Nosferatu. And it would be one of the most precious gem in my collection which someday i would introduce to my children. Maybe, in a short-course "Movie History 101".
Thank God that Florence Stoker did not manage to completely wipe this film of the face of existence.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
TV Series
Unlike here, in U.S, almost every (popular) TV Series had the concept of season, where each season usually consists of 20-something episodes. Furthermore, these (popular) TV Series had certain time when they'd put into recess (meaning, not aired) while the crew (writer, casting directors, and all behind-the-scenes men at work) were preparing the episodes for the next season. This recess time was usually came at summer-holiday. Hence, the movie that released on summer were mostly movies that expected (or expecting) to earn big bucks from the audience.
The new season for TV Series were then kicked-off again around September. And now is September.. and i, for once, had access to those premiered TV Series.
Over the weekend i had watched these TV Series:
Survivor 11: Guatemala
One hell of reality show, my top most reality show, where 18 strangers thrown out from their usual habitat to the wilderness to live among the wilds, to sustain and endure the challenge given by mother nature and most interesting of all, by threat from their team-mate(s). By far, the first two episodes really satisfied me. Not only the challenges were, by far, most creative, but the competitors were (almost) even. Of the 4 challenges that been done, the teams were always neck-in-neck, thus, provides the necessary thrill and suspense infamous for the serie.
The Apprentice 4
You know, every time i watched the damn show, i had a certain envious feeling growing inside me to learn about the profile of the candidates. In this season, there's one person who had 5 (FIVE) academic degree, including MSc, MBA, and PhD from the MIT, and MSc from Oxford University, founded (and of course, CEO of) his own multi-millionaire consulting firm. And oh yeah, he's only 34. But, as usual, over the episodes (though it has only been one episode so far), we could see that somethings are just beyond the magnificent CV and almost everytime it could made me gave a sigh of relief to be grateful of becoming who i am just now.
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Unsatisfied with the growing success of Donald Trump's Apprentice, NBC had made another The Apprentice with Ms.Martha Stewart - the first self-made billionare woman in the U.S so they say - as the one giving the final word which instead Donald Trump's trade-mark, ultimate, immortal words "You're fired", she would say "You're just not fit in" in the end. Well, the candidates, in my opinion were a wee-bit less extraordinary than the Donald Trump's Apprentice candidates, you could say that it's a little bit down to Earth. But, the candidates here was more beautiful than Donald Trump's Apprentice (of course, i am talking about the female candidates). Well, there were at least two candidates (female) who attracted my eyes while none from the original Apprentice.
Lost season 2
No comment on this one, but i had a little bit of fright t hat Lost would be growing obscure, over the-top, just like Alias did. Well, they had the same basic idea. Both Alias and Lost were grown on one single plot. And the producers, seeing how much money it made, would be more than glad to lengthen the series, and hence, extending the plot until it defies the logic boundary as Alias does.
CSI season 6
Also no comment on this one, this is just one of the few superb series growing-on right now.
Numbers season 2
I didn't like the first season, but i watched the first episode of the season to see if it would ended otherwise. Well, it didn't.
Joey season 2
I missed Friends.. A LOT! Joey just didn't seem right.
The Simpsons season 17
Waw, 17th season, now, that was something.
Well, that's all i had for this weekend. There are several more series though. Like Gilmore Girls season 6. But i hadn't watched Gilmore Girls since the 3rd season, so i didn't watch it.
The new season for TV Series were then kicked-off again around September. And now is September.. and i, for once, had access to those premiered TV Series.
Over the weekend i had watched these TV Series:
Survivor 11: Guatemala
One hell of reality show, my top most reality show, where 18 strangers thrown out from their usual habitat to the wilderness to live among the wilds, to sustain and endure the challenge given by mother nature and most interesting of all, by threat from their team-mate(s). By far, the first two episodes really satisfied me. Not only the challenges were, by far, most creative, but the competitors were (almost) even. Of the 4 challenges that been done, the teams were always neck-in-neck, thus, provides the necessary thrill and suspense infamous for the serie.
The Apprentice 4
You know, every time i watched the damn show, i had a certain envious feeling growing inside me to learn about the profile of the candidates. In this season, there's one person who had 5 (FIVE) academic degree, including MSc, MBA, and PhD from the MIT, and MSc from Oxford University, founded (and of course, CEO of) his own multi-millionaire consulting firm. And oh yeah, he's only 34. But, as usual, over the episodes (though it has only been one episode so far), we could see that somethings are just beyond the magnificent CV and almost everytime it could made me gave a sigh of relief to be grateful of becoming who i am just now.
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Unsatisfied with the growing success of Donald Trump's Apprentice, NBC had made another The Apprentice with Ms.Martha Stewart - the first self-made billionare woman in the U.S so they say - as the one giving the final word which instead Donald Trump's trade-mark, ultimate, immortal words "You're fired", she would say "You're just not fit in" in the end. Well, the candidates, in my opinion were a wee-bit less extraordinary than the Donald Trump's Apprentice candidates, you could say that it's a little bit down to Earth. But, the candidates here was more beautiful than Donald Trump's Apprentice (of course, i am talking about the female candidates). Well, there were at least two candidates (female) who attracted my eyes while none from the original Apprentice.
Lost season 2
No comment on this one, but i had a little bit of fright t hat Lost would be growing obscure, over the-top, just like Alias did. Well, they had the same basic idea. Both Alias and Lost were grown on one single plot. And the producers, seeing how much money it made, would be more than glad to lengthen the series, and hence, extending the plot until it defies the logic boundary as Alias does.
CSI season 6
Also no comment on this one, this is just one of the few superb series growing-on right now.
Numbers season 2
I didn't like the first season, but i watched the first episode of the season to see if it would ended otherwise. Well, it didn't.
Joey season 2
I missed Friends.. A LOT! Joey just didn't seem right.
The Simpsons season 17
Waw, 17th season, now, that was something.
Well, that's all i had for this weekend. There are several more series though. Like Gilmore Girls season 6. But i hadn't watched Gilmore Girls since the 3rd season, so i didn't watch it.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Honey (2003)
United States, 2003Cast: Jessica Alba, Mekhi Phifer, 'Lil Romeo, David Moscow, Joy Bryant
Director: Bille Woodruff
My Rating: *1/2 / ****
Some of you may already know, but i am a sucker for musical movie (but, only if i could understand the language they're singing which of course excluding all of Bollywood's product). I mean, i just love to hear the words rhymed, the tunes, even the dancing. I could clearly remember my first experience of watching musical movie when i was just a kid (12 years old, 6th grade elementary school), a 1948 movie, 'Oliver Twist' which has been remade and scheduled to release sometimes around fall this year. And by given that fact, when me and my friends watching 'Robots' (2005) the other day, i'm the only who had laughed (mostly because of the nostalgic feeling, since the movie was very sad and uplifting) when the robots performing the dance which clearly a homage to the 'Oliver Twist'.
Hence, over the years, as my experience in watching movies had significantly increased, my love towards musical movie never deceased. 'Chicago', '8 Mile', 'Molin Rouge', those are the movie i never get bored in watching them over and over again. Hell, even i could dig 'Biarkan Bintang Menari' and though for a very short time (hadn't it because the cheesy and way too lengthy plot, maybe short time instead of very short), i had had a chance to enjoy it.
Now, thrown in some hip-hops, and Jessica Alba (my current favourite young actress in term of gregoriousness), you've got yourself a masterpiece. Really? naw, just kidding. The theme that was bought up in 'Honey' wasn't new at all in movies. It's not the first time you had seen it, nor it's not the fiftieth time you had seen it as well. All i'm saying is, that even though you'd never seen any movie in your life prior to this one, unless some physcological disorder happened to your consciusness, you'd had no problem at all in guessing where the plot's ended up.
Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) was a star in her neighbourhood. She teaches dance (hip-hop dances) in the center community neighbourhood where kids are tuned to hip-hops and / or drugs (either user or dealer) in compensation for the lack of love in the family. One night, after her shift as a bartender in a local club (where later she would be scouted by some talent agent who directs video for hip-hop artists) ended, she and her bestfriend, Gina (Joy Bryant) stumbled to a bunch of kids doing free style dance (hip-hop of course) on the street. The kids caught her eye, obviously. Moreover when later, she'd found out that the kid in question, Benny (Lil' Romeo) had no place at home and had to lookout for his gangster buddy for a figure. And that's what bad, wasn't it? And of course, our heroine wouldn't want the little Benny turns out to be a gangster and befriended with the police and also a regular visitor of the penetineary.
The rest of the plot was easy to guess. Just add some city council commenting that the center was no longer safe for the indoor activity, a producer whose original intentions were getting into Honey's pants, an abandoned church which had a floor, a charming, perfect-gentleman boyfriend, the movie will of course ended up to where all of the movie that had a similar theme ended. A show. Where almost every cast shown-up for a final performance, happy faces and smiling all around.
It hardly offers anything new. The movie was slow, even though that it runs for a little more of 90 minutes, i kept checking my watch (as if i have any, well, metaphorically speaking) to see how long have i been struggling to stay at my seat. But the visual was great though, Ms.Alba had her very first major role in this movie and not just major, but MAJOR as every other minute, if we didn't see her smile or dreamy eyes, we'd see her belly button which is exposed quite often. But, aside from that, both Ms.Alba and her role's eventual boyfriend, played by Mr.Phifer were likeable enough that the cliche role could be forgiven. And, oh, i had two distinct feeling towards kid actor, love 'em or despised 'em. There're no middle layers among the two. It's either love or hate. And that depends on how annoying his / her characters on screen. Well here, all the kids were annoying. And that's another reason why i didn't fancy this movie even with Jessica Alba in the front seat and the musical stuff.
P.S: i really had no time of watching movie nowadays, i've been sleeping at campus everyday now. I had watch this movie almost a week ago, and just managed to write the review for it this morning.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Catatan Akhir Sekolah (2005)
Indonesia, 2005Cast: Ramon, Vino Bastian, Marcel Chandrawinata, Joanna Alexandra
Director: Hanung Bramantyo
My Rating: **1/2 / ****
Sejarah perfilman Indonesia dengan jelas memiliki segmen-segmen yang benar-benar bisa dibagi dengan jelas berdasarkan waktu. Ini tentunya karena ada satu periode waktu di mana film Indonesia boleh dibilang vakum. Adalah sebuah film remaja berjudul 'Ada Apa Dengan Cinta' yang kemunculannya hampir semua orang setuju menjadi tonggak sejarah kebangkitan (atau kelahiran) kembali film Indonesia. Film ini begitu fenomenal, dipuji di mana-mana, aktor-aktris-nya lantas meroket, dan baik dari segi finansial yang dekat dengan penonton atau dari segi penghargaan yang lebih dekat ke para kritik, film ini meraih sukses yang kentara. Bahkan Citra, Oscar-nya Indonesia yang setelah sekian lama absen kembali diadakan juga lebih kurang karena kesuksesan film ini. I, on the other hand, kept silent about it 'cos i think the movie was way over-rated, meskipun sebenernya bisa dikatakan hal tersebut bisa diatributkan kepada ketidak-sukaan gw terhadap film-film remaja. Dan bahkan sampai sekarang pun, gw masih skeptis terhadap film Indonesia sehingga gw hanya menonton film Indonesia hanya ketika kesempatannya datang dengan sendirinya (mostly by means of television). Ke-skeptis-an yang lantas gw langgar dengan film 'Catatan Akhir Sekolah'.
Gw tertarik sama film ini karena kebetulan gw 'kenal' sama orang-orang di balik film ini (sutradara sama screen-writer). In a sense, bahwa gw bisa acknowledge tulisan2 mereka dan dari situ gw bisa menyimpulkan bahwa seandainya mereka bukan orang yang jenius, paling tidak mereka mencintai film. Relatifnya, jika mereka membuat film, gw berani bertaruh bahwa film2 mereka bakal lebih bagus dari pada film2 yang diangkat dari sinetorn besutan penjajah-penjajah budaya dari India yang justru, thanks to the promotion, bisa lebih booming di box-office Indonesia daripada film2 kaya CAS. Memang pada akhirnya film ini tidak lebih baik perolehan laba rupiahnya dibanding film2 tersebut. Namun, ijinkanlah gw yang belum menonton Gie, film2nya Garin Nugroho, ataupun film terbaik versi MTV, Janji Joni mengatakan bahwa film ini adalah film terbaik di era kebangkitan (kelahiran) kembali film2 Indonesia. Paling nggak, gw tidak langsung antipati terhadap filmnya (yang kebetulan genre-nya remaja) sehingga gw rela-rela aja beli VCD original-nya (bandingkan dengan film2 genre remaja lainnya, yang seandainya gw dibayar, gw bakal mikir tiga kali dulu untuk menontonnya).
Berikut, gw sisipkan quote dari mas screen-writer-nya:
Sekedar insight aja, CAS gue bikin karena sepanjang sejarah hidup gue mulai dari SD sampe kuliah bahkan sampe sekarang gue adalah saksi hidup menguapnya bakat-bakat anak Indonesia karena: ngomong doang.
Ribet sendiri dengan berbagai macam pembenaran, tapi nggak bikin apa-apa. Niatnya lewat CAS gue mau cerita dan ngajak, bikin aja dulu pake hati, lo mungkin nggak bakal tau apa yang udah lo bikin bisa berguna minimal buat pencapaian diri lo atau kalo beruntung bisa ada gunanya buat lingkungan lo.
Di samping gue muak banget ngeliat penggambaran masa-masa SMA di televisi. Padahal SMA buat gue adalah pesta eksistensi.
Kalau ada orang yang bisa menyimpulkan keseluruhan dari film ini, gw rasa tidak ada yang lebih baik dari si empunya cerita yang diekspresikan lewat perkataan beliau di atas. Film ini bercerita tentang tiga orang 'cupu', penghuni kasta terendah di SMU mereka, yang nyaris selalu dikucilkan dari sekitarnya (pembenaran mereka adalah bahwa otak mereka lebih superior sehingga komunitas tempat mereka berada tidak bisa comprehend terhadap mereka). Ketiga cowok 'cupu' ini menjalin persahabatan pas di-ospek dan langsung mendapat predikat tersebut ketika ketiga cowok ini yang kebetulan absen-nya urut (Agni, Alde, Arian) diisengin sama senior, dan melawan. Agni (Ramon), pendiri ekskul film yang di-ban tidak boleh meminjam kamera sekolah karena tidak mampu untuk membuat sebuah film yang 'bener'. Arian (Vino Bastian), karakternya gw banget :). Penulis gagal yang di-ban juga dari mading tapi masih suka nyolong-nyolong masukin tulisannya di mading karena dia kebetulan jadi pemegang kunci dari mading tsb (kok bisa? ga tahu). Arian ini juga yang paling kotor bicaranya, jadi siap-siap aja sering sekali mendengar 'tai' atau 'anjing' diucapkan sama dia. Alde (Marcel), sebenernya bisa dengan mudah menjadi populer sebab dia sepertinya sudah jadi idola cewek-cewek di sekolah tersebut yang somehow malah membuat dia risih. Dia tidak memilih untuk menjadi populer karena dia merasa paling nyaman berada di antara kedua sahabatnya dan tidak di luarnya. Karakter Alde ini yang paling 'bener', paling 'talk the talk, walk the walk' yang lantas menjadi penyeimbang dari keinginan dan proscastinatisme dari dua orang temennya.
Ketiga orang cowok ini, di suatu titik merasa jenuh menjadi tidak terkenal. Bertiga mereka lantas ingin membuat sesuatu yang membuat mereka lebih dikenang. Dari situ lahirlah ide untuk membuat film dokumenter tentang sekolah mereka. Well tentu saja, tidak lancar pada awalnya tapi, semua yang baik akan berakhir dengan baik pula seperti pakem semua film yang segenre sama film ini.
If anything, film ini bagus karena sanggup membawa gw ke masa-masa itu di mana hidup gw cuma ada tiga, 'PS, band, sama bola'. Gw bisa bilang bahwa apa yang digambarkan di CAS sebagai kehidupan sekolah (jauh) lebih mendekati kenyataan (meskipun masih lebih dari yang dulu gw inget. But, well, i had lived it in a small city anyway) daripada yang lain-lain. Yang paling hebat adalah ketika film dibuka dengan very long-shot (i'm always a sucker for a long-shot) yang berkeliling lingkungan sekolah menangkap keseharian di SMU as we know it. Cuman sayangnya, filmnya cenderung downhill sejak adegan pembuka yang mantap itu, dan sedikit terlalu lama buat gw. Tapi, apapun, gw masih menganggap untuk standar film Indonesia, film ini buat gw yang paling bagus yang pernah gw tonton. Soalnya itu tadi, if anything, film ini sanggup membawa gw untuk kembali merindukan masa-masa itu. Ambil contoh dari sisi cinta saja (yang tentu saja porsinya paling besar untuk film remaja), di CAS ada bermacam-macam cinta. Cinta yang dipendem selama tiga tahun, cinta yang begitu ngeliat orangnya langsung sembunyi, cinta yang begitu posesif serasa dunia milik berdua, dan seterusnya. Semua cinta yang sebagian besar dari kita (paling tidak gw deh) kenal di SMU. Gw yakin, dari film ini pasti ada adegan yang mengingatkan penonton akan kejadian di masa itu. Buat gw sendiri, gw ketawa gak berhenti-henti di satu adegan sampai memaksa gw untuk pause karena gw inget, adegan itu pernah menimpa gw dulu walaupun less on konyol, more on shame.
All said, gw ga nyesel beli film ini, dan layak ditunggu kolaborasi dua orang ini (sutradara / screen-writer) di proyek berikutnya, adaptasi novel Adithya Mulya (namanya bener ga ya?), 'Jomblo' yang sudah mulai syuting dan jadwal rilis Februari 2006.
PS: Joanna Alexandra lucu banget, gemes gw ngeliatnya :)
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Out of Season (2004)
United States, 2004Cast: Dennis Hopper, Gina Gershon, Jordan Frieda, Dominique Swain
Director: Jevon O'Neill
My Rating: *1/2 / ****
This is a proof that to made a good movie, one need not only good script, but also good director to deliver the script. How unfortunate that such an above-average script as this one, with so-so casts, went awry and ever downhill because of its director's incapability.
The plot is rather complex, with several characters intertwining, but it's not that hard to guess where the plot meets. In fact, after i guessed where the plot would eventually meet, the movie seems like it went slower than the snail. Even with the running time of only 1 hr 40 minutes, it seems that the movie had taken a longer time than any. Well, maybe a question aroused, whether i, given the plot able to pull something stronger out of it? i say, in my head, yes. But as things are, it's always easier said than done.
Alas, i'm not in the mood to write more about it, so i shall leave at it.
Dog Day Afternoon
I know, i've been promised that i'd give a full review on this movie which i scheduled to see on Monday. But, as it turns out, even though i spared my time to watch it, i've never finished it. Because, at exactly 1 hr 40 minutes, 59 seconds, on transition between Chapter 24 and Chapter 25, my DVD went away. I've tried everything, but i still couldn't pass the time-obstacle. And with exactly 23 minutes to go, i've got no idea whatsoever on what happened next to the characters. Probably i never will. I was furious, that's obvious, but what can i say, can't expect much from pirated DVDs, wasn't it?
By the way, i went to Disctarra today, and bought (yes, an original version) 'Catatan Akhir Sekolah', an Indonesian movie.
By the way, i went to Disctarra today, and bought (yes, an original version) 'Catatan Akhir Sekolah', an Indonesian movie.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
On Scheduling
As my quest on becoming the professional movie-appreciator (wannabe) progresses, the process i undergo also involving a study on the men (or women) behind the movies (namely, mainly, directors), his / her characteristic, his / her style, and his / her thoughts on movies. Well, to call it study would be overrated though, as i merely read the article about him / her whenever they avail themselves. Just like sometime last week, when i read an interview with the Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman.
Ingmar Bergman was a director, whose name probably (subjectivity holds) could be put on the same stratum with directors whose works were known, bred by time, and thus, had made themselves a legend. Among of them were names like Akira Kurosawa (deceased), Alfred Hitchcock (deceased), and Stanley Kubrick (deceased). Not a coincidence, that most of the directors listed on the stratum were retired, or well, deceased. As, by nature, you'd never missed something till its really gone. And once the director had put his mind off the shelf and call it a day, people who had loved the movies he / she had made would unconsciously and unanimously grant his / her the title 'legend'. But that of course depend on the movies he / she had made during his / her golden days. It would be hillarious, for example, to imagine that there were actually movie-goers who would grant Uwe Boll - the worst director ever lived, so bad that it would be better for the sake of humanity to banish him out to the corner of Galaxy, wherever that is - a legend, even when he finally realized what he had done wrong and thrown in some decent movies on his CV.
Ingmar Bergman, well, i wouldn't boast myself by saying that i had love his works. Ummm... no. His only movies that i ever had a chance to screened was 'Fanny and Alexander'. And imagine this, 5 hours! you read it right. 5 hours, of a depth study on humanity, phsyicology (i believe i spelled it wrongly, my bad) as it observed from the angle of relationship between two human-being, and their position in society, et cetera, et cetera. It was a mind-numbing experience. If i was a physcology (again, spelled wrongly, perhaps) teacher, i would gave an assignment or a final-test to my students to write an essay about the film. But, i was a computer-science student, and human physcology (again, well, you know the drill) was among the subjects that earned a little from my pool of curiosity. But anyway, he has been faithful to his subject, his style and shots were also reflected his mind's subtlety, that even if i hadn't enjoyed his movie, i wouldn't argue if somebody had said that Ingmar Bergman was the best director that ever lived.
Why, out of sudden, i talked about Ingmar anyway? As i had stated earlier, i just read his interview not a week ago. And from it, i had learned that Ingmar had a strict way of enjoying movie. Every Sunday, he would decides 5 movies that he's about to watch on the following week. One movie every working-days, always at 3 on the afternoon. And he would sent out his schedules to relatives and friends, by means of invitation. Taking by his steps, i had recently built a simple software which listed all of my collections (all the titles, its availabilities, and so forth), and also able to generate 5 random titles which i scheduled to see in the following week. I would then posted my schedule here, every Saturday or Sunday, what would i expected from them, and in the following week, i would posted my review on the movie i screened the day before (that would means, i would post my review of Monday's movie on Tuesday afternoon, and so forth). But of course, if i had a really pleasant mood, i would go to cinemas, and that, of course, went un-planned.
And now, without further ado here's the 5 movies that would be on the Screening Log list of this week. It is a shame though, since unlike Bergman, i had no home-theater stuffs (yet) which enabled me to invite you guys. But, all come in a good time.
Ingmar Bergman was a director, whose name probably (subjectivity holds) could be put on the same stratum with directors whose works were known, bred by time, and thus, had made themselves a legend. Among of them were names like Akira Kurosawa (deceased), Alfred Hitchcock (deceased), and Stanley Kubrick (deceased). Not a coincidence, that most of the directors listed on the stratum were retired, or well, deceased. As, by nature, you'd never missed something till its really gone. And once the director had put his mind off the shelf and call it a day, people who had loved the movies he / she had made would unconsciously and unanimously grant his / her the title 'legend'. But that of course depend on the movies he / she had made during his / her golden days. It would be hillarious, for example, to imagine that there were actually movie-goers who would grant Uwe Boll - the worst director ever lived, so bad that it would be better for the sake of humanity to banish him out to the corner of Galaxy, wherever that is - a legend, even when he finally realized what he had done wrong and thrown in some decent movies on his CV.
Ingmar Bergman, well, i wouldn't boast myself by saying that i had love his works. Ummm... no. His only movies that i ever had a chance to screened was 'Fanny and Alexander'. And imagine this, 5 hours! you read it right. 5 hours, of a depth study on humanity, phsyicology (i believe i spelled it wrongly, my bad) as it observed from the angle of relationship between two human-being, and their position in society, et cetera, et cetera. It was a mind-numbing experience. If i was a physcology (again, spelled wrongly, perhaps) teacher, i would gave an assignment or a final-test to my students to write an essay about the film. But, i was a computer-science student, and human physcology (again, well, you know the drill) was among the subjects that earned a little from my pool of curiosity. But anyway, he has been faithful to his subject, his style and shots were also reflected his mind's subtlety, that even if i hadn't enjoyed his movie, i wouldn't argue if somebody had said that Ingmar Bergman was the best director that ever lived.
Why, out of sudden, i talked about Ingmar anyway? As i had stated earlier, i just read his interview not a week ago. And from it, i had learned that Ingmar had a strict way of enjoying movie. Every Sunday, he would decides 5 movies that he's about to watch on the following week. One movie every working-days, always at 3 on the afternoon. And he would sent out his schedules to relatives and friends, by means of invitation. Taking by his steps, i had recently built a simple software which listed all of my collections (all the titles, its availabilities, and so forth), and also able to generate 5 random titles which i scheduled to see in the following week. I would then posted my schedule here, every Saturday or Sunday, what would i expected from them, and in the following week, i would posted my review on the movie i screened the day before (that would means, i would post my review of Monday's movie on Tuesday afternoon, and so forth). But of course, if i had a really pleasant mood, i would go to cinemas, and that, of course, went un-planned.
And now, without further ado here's the 5 movies that would be on the Screening Log list of this week. It is a shame though, since unlike Bergman, i had no home-theater stuffs (yet) which enabled me to invite you guys. But, all come in a good time.
 Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - MondayThis movie won an Oscar for the Best Original Screenplay, with Al Pacino (whose always been my favourite) plays as a ferocious and fed-up bank robbers, i should expect the better of this movie. Too bad, that i'm pretty sure that i would again see Mr.Pacino scream his lungs out as most of his other movies (i really wanted to see a movie where Mr.Pacino didn't scream). |
| Out of Season (2004) - Tuesday Mental note, i really should reconsider my picking method whenever i bought a movie. Not like this, obviously, where i blindly put everything i haven't seen on my basket. Out of Season is one of those direct-to-video kind of movie, a B-class of movie, that i think watching it would be a waste of my time.. ah, well... |
 Hotel Rwanda (2004) - WednesdayOne of the movie that receives a buzz on the Oscar night, everybody i know who had watched this movie, says that it was good, even better than the winner of the award night, Million Dollar Baby. With Don Cheadle, and Djimon Honsou on the roles, i should expect no less than they are. |
 Birth (2004) - ThursdayNicole Kidman certainly - it seems - had made more movies than any other actresses, while that was not a very bad thing for her fans (such as i), it also arouses a question on term of her movies' quality. Some of them were extraordinary, though, but more of them were mediocre or even worse than it. Birth is something that i would expect to be on the mediocre ones. |
 Miller's Crossing (1990) - FridayEthan and Joel Coen was two brothers whose works has been something considered by many as a cult (meaning, that their works weren't that popular but to those who loved it, they loving it to death, even as far as founding a religion based on their works.. sick!). The way i see it, Coen Brothers were able to made a movie that so unique, you'd most likely to remember it for its originality, its sickness, its sickness (yes, twice), and its satiric stuff. With Steve Buscemi as their favourite supporting actors (Mr.Buscemi has been casted for five Coen Brothers' movies, and killed in three), i think that this movie would be the best among others that i scheduled to see this week. |
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Red Eye (2005)
United States, 2005Cast: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
Director: Wes Craven
My Rating: *** / ****
Wes Craven was one of that director who has always - obvious or subtle - stay in the genre he chooses, which is inducing or involving the act of thrilling, or simply known as 'thriller'. By the fact, one could always expect tensions if (s)he went to the teather knowing that (s)he would watch a film that directed by Wes Craven. Red Eye was no exception. With the classic main ingredient to make a thriller, which is damsel-in-distress, Red Eye was quite enjoyable as a thriller. Even i think, it was probably among the best thriller ever came out of Hollywood's kitchen without involving the act of re-making the other's idea over the years. Well, subjectivity holds. But for now, that's what i believe.
The title Red Eye here means literally. Rachel McAdams plays as Lisa Reinert our heroine, our damsel-in-distress who happens to had to take a last flight back to Miami from the relative's funeral she had to attend, due to the bad weather (thus, red eye flight). What she doesn't know, what we, as audience, expected from the beginning that there was this certain fellow with the most unlikely name, Jonathan Rippkin (Cillian Murphy) who had every intention to gives her horror. Hence, to turns her peaceful life into havoc, best known as damsel-in-distress situation. For what or why does Jonathan chooses to threaten her life, i would leave the issue open for you to enjoy yourselves.
Red Eye was clearly divided into three parts. The first part, was obvious, a preambule where the introductions made and the curtains open. I found that the movie tend to drag itself up to a point that i almost convinced that i'm watching one of those romantic-comedy movie. Here, Lisa first met up with Jonathan and unknowingly offered herself into his charming trap. Even i, as a man, could see the inevitable relationships between the two. Now, this is a testimony to how good the casts (Ms. McAdams and Mr. Murphy) had been. And this is really the ultimate strength of this movie.
The second part, the longest, and of course, the best part, was begin when the plane that took off our heroine and our villain shook of due to the turbulence caused by the weather. As a continuation of the first part, the second part obviously reveals the core of the apple which skin has been peeled off. What i liked most about this part was that it really a show-offs from our two main casts since the terror were not attributed to a gun, or any other weapon, but by words. And even though that Mr.Murphy was rather far off from the definition of Mr. International of Mystery, he was everything you'd get from a chilling personality with cold eyes that indicates he was up to no good. The last part, was begin the moment our plane hit the runway lane home. Here, the conclusion began to wrap up itself and ended in a physical showdown between our two casts, those standard-ized end to a thriller-flick as teached on Thriller 101 in - i dont know - perhaps every University with Film-Making as one of its major. Lisa with her agility, and enough wise to made a crucial decision, and Jonathan with strength but unfortunately (or fortunately, depend on which side you took) blinded by his rage.
The movie, or the thriller, works well because of the two main casts. In fact, i was very disappointed with the other casts whose fortunately doesn't had that much spotlight as of our two main casts. Rachel McAdams, well, mark my words, she's going to be a great actress, time permits. She was a nasty girl, impersonates Rob Schneider's soul in Hot Chick (i was captivated by her dimples at the time), she was the meanest baddass girl in the entire school in Mean Girls, she was a beauty in a serious romance drama, the Notebook, she was a girl who made Owen Wilson's went crazy in a comedy romance, Wedding Crashers, and now this, a damsel-in-distress in a Wes Craven's flick. Her short CV has already expand her horizon of capabilities since, in those movies, she always shines even sometimes, out-shone the main cast (Lindsay Lohan, for example, gosh.. how i hated this girl), and none of her role at those movies were similar to one another. Cillian Murphy, however, even those that he's a perfect cast for the maniacal role of Jonathan Rippkin, his role has been (almost) typical. Well, much like Crispin Glover, who apparently would never had a role that differs than ones he has been doing. It can't be helped though, since his facial expression was unique and perfectly fit for one of those role as someone who emits terror, or suffers from it.
Azumi 2: Death or Love (2005)
Japan, 2005Cast: Aya Ueto, Yuma Ishigaki, Chiaki Kuriyama
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
My Rating: *1/2 / ****
Unintended success achieved by certain movie, almost usually led to a sequel. Why, of course, why bother to waste time and effort to think of a fresh idea, while we could expand the idea from before, with certain reasonable logic to expect that at least the fan of the preivous idea would return to see a sequel, no matter how crappy it does in the end.
Azumi, though i dont know wether the success it achieved was unintended or the actual idea of a sequel has been established prior to the release, was one of those movie with shallow-sequel - well, most of the sequels nowadays are usually shallow - that follows.
Taking the spot where the original movie ended, Azumi, a female - of course, she had to be a cute one, or nobody would waste the time to see it - assassin, with the only companions alive that she had, continued her mission to assassinate certain lord in order to brought an overlong civil-war to an end.
Now, i could summed up the movie with a simple analogy that watching this movie feels like playing an adventure slasher-action video-game but without a joystick. Hence, the unlimited control to the player movement and the outcome would be reduced to zero. On the first Azumi, we were given a joyous adventures of Azumi and - if i remember correctly - her four companions throughout the feudal Japanese era which suffered because of a civil war. However, in Azumi: Death or Love, the spotlight was ever set on Azumi herself and no others. So throughout the movie, there were too many shots of Azumi - too many that it goes ever downward to BOW-RING -, while the story progresses as those of video-games previously mentioned. Azumi made her journey, from stage to stage, to fight a silly enemies whose ever goes stronger - or dumber, i dont know which - as the plot very-very-linearly advances, and ultimatelty, in the end, our heroine fought with the big boss himself. Well, actually the plot was very similar to many other actions involving samurai swords. Even Kill Bill which your reviewer here love the most, had the same plot. Put a heroine on a mission, put a vicious villain on her path, before finally she clashes with the big boss. So, what's wrong with Azumi: Death or Love?
Everything in Azumi: Death or Love was wrong to my eyes. The scenes were alternating between actions and crappy soap-opera dramas. So, after a not-too-shabby-but-far-away-from-good sword-clinging actions, the movie dragging itself to a lowly conversations between the casts which usually talked about nothing of importance but takes more time than to prepared a boiled noodle. Then, there were not enough reason to do this or to believe that on this movie, which in turns, also contributed very well to dragginess of the movie. For example, when the only Azumi's companion left from the first sequel told her to go and abandon the mission, with speech about how he didn't gave a damn on the mission they supposed to be done, bla, bla, bla. If i was in Azumi's position, knowing my companion by heart - as suggested on the movie, both of them -, i would believe that he would had the determination which impossible to deny. Not after what he's been through. But yet, Azumi believed him just like that. That was plain stupidity of her. And yet, in the end, she doesn't want to be blamed for the aftermath of it. A selfish heroine in a supposedly light-weight action movie? that won't do. But otherwise, hadn't it runs too long, the movie was enjoyable. If only they cut at least thirty-minutes of it. One hour and fifty-one minutes for such a simple movie was much-much too long. And quoting Ebert, "No good movie is too short nor too long".
In the end, i think, Azumi: Death or Love would only be satisfiable to those who had a passion to Aya Ueto, the actress who played Azumi. Also appears on this movie was Chiaki Kuriyama who were, unfortunately, far less formidable than her previous role of Go-Go Yubari on Kill Bill: Volume I.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Jumbled Images
Just wanted to do a bit of nostalgia with Quentin Tarantino's first film which i loved. "Reservoir Dogs".
Also, probably, in my list, the best film in the 90's. "The Shawshank Redemption".
Also, probably, in my list, the best film in the 90's. "The Shawshank Redemption".
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Killing Me Softly (2002)
United Kingdom, 2002Cast: Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Thomsen, Amy Robbins
Director: Kaige Chen
My Rating: *1/2 / ****
Some actress has physical attractiveness that earned her the word 'sexy' - sometimes with adjective 'red-hot' as its prefix - given by the audience as a part of image she had been built. And that, in turns, made some - if not many - men, would have a certain desire to watch her movies however bad the movie turns out to be, for a mere guilty-pleasure achieved by devouring her presence on screen. For me, that certain actress was known by the name Heather Graham.
Here's a simple fact about Ms.Graham, some of which had a great responsibility in leading me into the member of a cult devoted to praise her as a Goddess on screen. She's blond, white, rather misplaced eyes but somehow that part of her captivating me the most, twice and a half on her role - with the half being her role in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Sagged Me - she played as a hooker (with of course, involving as less fabrics as it is possible to be weaved into clothes which she wore on screen), and at the very least, even if not necessarily a good actress, she was among the decent ones.
In Ms.Graham's cult, like any other cults, there are some certain items which made sacred. Its mere rumor of presence would kindled the desire to 'learn' about and finally, to own. And in Ms.Graham's cult, 'Killing Me Softly' was one of the certain-sacred-item with the highest sacred-level. And after three years of longing, i finally got my hand to it. FYI, this movie was only aired on theatres in Europe, it didn't even made to the U.S' theatres, for a reason i didn't know. But with the seducing movie-poster and a rating of NC-17, you'd know what to expect from this movie.
To say that i didn't enjoy Ms.Graham presence on screen would be a big lie, as i, with lust, practically bore my eyes on screen every single frame that features Ms.Graham. Ah, to talk about desire. But, of course, the issue on it was not very relevant with the purpose of this site, especially with this article, hell, rent a porn instead. And even though that i very much loved Ms.Graham's character, doesn't necessarily that i'd love the whole movie on its entirety.
Everybody - except, maybe, a person with marchosist-sadistic disorder - won't like torture, either it's physical or mental. Neither am i. And ironically, 'Killing Me Softly', literally 'Killing Me Softly', that at some point, i'd yell.. "Hell! Kill Me Hard instead". Ms.Graham was Alice, an American in London working as a classy, executive web designer (hmm. i'd never know that there ARE web-designer who had his/her own room, thrice the size of a cubicle with a window that overlooked the street, and a private door, as well as private telephone / fax line, well, that's another issue). She lived with Alex, a normal everyday's Joe, a typical of Londoners, who had a daily-routine involving of subway, white-collar shirt, and of course, beers and a football match every weekend. They had a relationship with a sense of safety and commitment - though not bounded yet by marriage, but of course, from the very first minute we knew that the relationship would be marred. Otherwise there would be no show for the how, won't it? (don't mind the last word, just trying to para-phrasing).
The culprit was Adam (Mr.Fiennes). One day, on her way to work, Alice met eyes with him on the street, and there it goes, as simple as walking, the morality of human came to naught when like animals, the two strangers become one, even before Alice know the man's name. It was pretty intense, funny, and easily deserves an NC-17 rating. Fast forward a bit, both of them become lovers, and many characters then thrown in, like Joanna who instantly out of nowhere appeared as Alex-Alice's bestfriend who lectured Alice about 'You leave him only for a good sex?', and also Adam's sister Deborah (Natascha McElhone), the community in which Adam belongs, Adam's editor, and Adam's ex-girlfriend(s). Well, it seems now Alice had her wonderland. Was it? Well, of course not.
The movie, after the series of sexy-scene, turned abruptly into a thriller. I wasn't really prepared for it. But sadly, the surprises weren't surprising at all. It wasn't hard at all to know the truth behind the thriller. I even used the word 'know' to indicate the absence of guessing since there wasn't any guessing involved. You just know the fact. Any good thriller usually involving a guessing from the audience. Because if guessing was needed, you'd get a reward in the end wether if you guessed right or wrong. But, 'Killing Me Softly' which suffers from the absence of guessing would in turn gave no reward in the end. Alas, the only consolation from this so-called thriller that it only matters to us, the member of the cult, that Ms.Graham had her role on this. And that's just about it.
Joseph Fiennes however, was a decent actor. He was giving a palpable role in the Shakespeare in Love. And even though his role on this flick was not as good as his role on the Shakespeare, he gave a decent performance as a possessive man whose act almost always puzzling and sometimes emanate fear - or it had been intended - to the audience and to his associate on screen, Ms.Graham. But as good as it may be, however i wanted to circling myself at length to praise her and his role, in the end, everything goes full circle as it was always back to the simple fact that, "If a thriller need not guessing, that thriller can't be good."
Friday, August 12, 2005
Sin City (2005)
United States, 2005Cast: Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jamie King, Brittany Murphy, Benicio Del Toro, Nick Stahl, Elijah Wood, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino ("special guest director")
My Rating: **** / ****
Finally, after several months waiting in vain for this movie to get aired on local theatres, i get ahold of viewing this nasty, probably the most violent movie that i ever witnessed in the last couple-of-years. Not in the theater though, since - understandably - the censorship won't allowed for this kind movie to get aired. Well, all for the good reasons. For i think, it was a Sin to cut this movie from the Mr.Rodriguez' original "shot and cut".
I've anticipated this movie from the beginning of the year. The star-packed casts, some of which my personal favourites (Mr.Willis, Mr.Owen, Mr.Del Toro), an eccentric director, the story it based upon, and never the least, the sort of publications which this movie had received (for example, Mr.Rodriguez resigned himself from DGA to settle over dispute with DGA - Director Guild Association - about Mr.Miller's credit as co-director). All the more reason to wait for this movie which widely-known even before it was officially released was that it going to be shot in black-and-white.
The movie was shot in black-and-white alright. But not entirely so, since there are some solid colors sprayed here-and-there, the red dress of a whore, the blood, Becky's blue eyes, Goldie's golden hair, Junior's yellow skin, and so forth. But even though the gray, black-and-white colors were dominant, the feels of watching it won't be the same as watching the movies which colors were not yet invented to invade silver screen thanks to the kinetic cinema-works and - i dont know how to exactly pin-point the fact - a modern feeling that flows from it.
Sin City was based upon a graphic-novel - a most likely used term to name a single-story comic book, in order to increase its degree of importance - by Frank Miller with the same title. To be more precise, it based upon three of the series. "Sin City", "Big Fat Kill", and "The Yellow Bastard" with an addition of excerpt from "The Customer Always Right" with Mr.Hartnett as The Man that took forty seconds of the opening and the ending sequence. But the main story was based upon the first three titles i mentioned.
My favourite story of the three was the one that based upon "Sin City" which told a mis-shapen, bulky, and ugly 'monster' named Marv (Mr.Rourke). Mr.Marv had known more than enough hate and dis-respect during his life - also amplified by the comment made by Dwight (Mr.Owen) - that when Goldie (Ms.King), a red-hot porstitute (in Sin City, there are very limited options of job for young girls) came to him with (almost) genuine kindness and respect, Marv felt like he has been touched by an angel. Until when he wakes up, to found her body laid death beside him. Knowing that somebody had framed him, he pursues anybody who had responsible for it. To get even, and perhaps to make a profit out of it. His pursues end to Kevin (Mr.Wood), a maniacal cannibal, an effective killing-machine, swift and silently deadly, and also had a mis-directed faith toward certain religion. The show-down between the two was i think the best during the film. With result in utterly horrifying moment in which Marv told us in narrative voice-over, "He never screams". I guarantee that you'd never seen Frodo Baggins represented in Mr.Wood's character not even on a fraction of seconds during this movie. And that was a testimony on how good Mr.Rodriguez did to this movie.
The second story was about a guy, Dwight, he had something in his past, something wrong that urges him to change his appearance with plastic-surgery (rumor had it that the story of what been wrong that urges him to undergo a plastic-surgery will be told in "Sin City 2" which scheduled to begin filming on January 2006). He tried to settled down by dating a quite-'normal' bartender, ... (Ms.Murphy) but only to cross-path with abusive, violent, and killing-tendency (or so he had thought of him) ex-boyfriend, Jackie Boy (Mr.Del Toro). To make long story short, Dwight ended-up chasing Jackie Boy as far as to the district where police nor mob dared to enter, Old City. The police, and the mob had a mutual agreement with the local prostitutes, led by Dwight's girl-friend, Gail (Mrs.Dawson) who ran things on Old City. But soon, the tides of event bring the local prostitutes' reign of Old City, and Gail's life, to an end. Now, Dwight had to save Gail (for his own reasons) by merely made a "Bif Fat Kill".
The third story, which involves one character to become a center of all the mishaps on this two-hours-ten-minutes flick, Nancy (Ms.Alba), had a time-span of eight years. It began as the movie began and ended as the movie ended. Even though not necessarily in chronological term. Hartigan (Mr.Willis) was probably the last really good-cop in the City. On the eve of his very last day as a cop, he badly injured Junior (Mr.Stahl), a phedophile, who happens to be the son of the senator that had its power clawed deep in the city, in order to save an 11-years old girl, Nancy. Hartigan was eventually framed for the crime done by Junior and served in jail unless he signed a confession about his 'crime'. Only one thing kept him sane (and away from signing the confession), a letter sent by Nancy (under the agreed pen-name 'Dorothy') every Thursday for eight years. In the other hand, Junior who wants Nancy in order to get even with Hartigan and as a payback for what he had done to him, desperately wanted to 'pleased' her. And so, after he suspected that Dorothy was perhaps this Nancy, he kept her letters, and left Hartigan wondering on her safety and all. Until one day, two months after the letters from Nancy 'stopped', Hartigan signed for the confession and released. Naturally, the first thing he did, was to look for Nancy. But when he had found her, he knows (for a little bit too late) that a trap has been set, and he had entered it. For Junior has intended to let him free in order to led him to Nancy.
On the first several minutes, i felt rather disturbed with the way Mr.Rodriguez literally translates every box of the comic to screen. All with stylish characters, long-coat that flapping like bat-wings every time the characters ran, constant gloom of midnight, and often rain, voice-overs, and of-course the black and white of the pictures. But, when Mr.Rodriguez had constantly fed the picture in the same manners, all the disturbance feeling was rather gone, to be replaced by absorbance and vividly horrid images of Sin City. I found myself totally sucked in its atmosphere. It was just like reading a comic book. Thus, it made Sin City the best adaptation of comic book so far as i can recall.
And i just simply love the way the movie doesn't get half-heartedly to display such brutality, all kind of dismemberments, breasts, and probably every thing that deserves R rating from MPAA ever imagined (no sex-scene in this movie though). The fact that the gore displayed in a two-tone color didn't soften the effect of it, on some scene it did so well, that in spite of soften, it emphasizes the horror, that i could still remember the horror left by it (for instance, Kevin's (Mr.Wood) last moment). That was freaky. Really freaky.
Even with the tight-packed star cast, this movie doesn't suffer from the "star-spotlight-cast" which desperately tried to shove up one character due to his / her star-ness. It was all thanks to Mr.Miller. As this movie was shot directly based on the comic that he had wrote, no stars, or characters had an attention more than he / she should have. And it sums up to a very enjoyable experience in cinema.. if you able to withstand the violence, that is.
My personal favourite characters are Kevin (Mr.Wood) and Miho (Ms.Aoki). Both characters never speaks, and both characters were actively involved in the ugliest disrememberment events depicted on the film. Like, when Dwight says to Miho that the bodies won't fit in his trunk so she had to do the knife-work ("Yesshhh", said Gail with disgust), or of course, when Kevin stares Marv in the eye with his wicked smile during the very last seconds of his life. Damn.. that scene haunted me. Even now. It gave chills to my spine.. brrr...
This movie currently on top of my shorlist of 'Best Movie of 2005', surpasses the recently #1, 'Batman Begins'.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Tiba-tiba...
Gw pengen kuliah lagi. Dua hari terakhir ini gw duduk kembali di kelas, mendengarkan teman-teman gw sidang SP dan TA. Very enlightning, gw banyak belajar hal baru dari situ. Passion gw untuk kembali belajar, riset, dan seterusnya kembali menyala-nyala. Udah. Cukup sudah gw berkubang di comberan fiksi ini, dan saatnya untuk kembali ke sekolah..
Monday, August 01, 2005
The Island (2005)
United States, 2005Cast: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean, Djimon Honsou, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Michael Bay
My Rating: **1/2 / ****
Gw berangkat nonton film ini dengan informasi mengenai Ewan, Scarlett, Michael Bay, dan sedikit premise dari inti film-nya. So, imagine my surprise when i see names of the casts flashes before the movie really begins. Coba lihat, ada Steve Buscemi, yang selain Bennicio Del Toro adalah aktor spesialis aktor pendukung favorit gw, ada Sean Bean yang baru kemaren gw tulis bahwa dia adalah salah satu tokoh antagonis yang gw sukai, Djimon Honsou, aktor yang kemunculannya di beberapa seri Alias selalu membuat gw bahagia, dan Michael Clarke Duncan, aktor raksasa dengan seringai khas yang juga gw sukai. Man, all that with Ewan, and Scarlett, i gotta love the movie. Tapi apa lacur, karena filmnya diarahkan sama sutradara destruksi masal, Michael Bay, gw tidak berharap banyak sama film ini, selain jadi selingan untuk membuang ekses dua jam dari waktu gw.
Film ini dengan jelas terbagi menjadi dua bagian yang menurut gw, satu sama lain kontradiktif. Bila suka sama bagian yang satu, most likely tidak (atau less) menyukai bagian yang lain. Dalam kasus gw, gw suka bagian pertama, yaitu dari ketika awal film sampai ketika Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) dan Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) naik kereta menuju ke L.A.
I'm a sucker for a science-fiction. Tapi itu bukan berarti gw menyukai secara membabi-buta semua hal sci-fi. Gw malah akan sangat kesal apabila ada karya sci-fi yang terlalu menggurui, atau menganggap dirinya begitu penting sehingga merasa para penonton tidak akan paham sepenuhnya apabila tidak disuapi dengan ide dari sci-fi yang disajikannya. Mangkanya gw sebenarnya tidak berharap terlalu banyak terhadap sci-fi yang diangkat oleh bagian pertama dari film ini mengingat bahwa it's a summer movie, and Michael Bay who directed it. Tapi ternyata, walaupun tidak sepenuhnya memuaskan, bagian pertama (which is the sci-fi part of this movie) bisa piqued my curiosity.
Lincoln Six-Echo dan Jordan Two-Delta adalah dua orang dari sebuah komunitas tertutup yang dibangun in a near future where supposedly seluruh Bumi sudah terpopulasi oleh sebuah wabah. Komunitas ini yang menjaga para survivor ini dalam kehidupan yang teratur, higienis, dan serba rapih. Di komunitas ini, ada sebuah permainan lotere yang pemenangnya mendapat kesempatan untuk pergi ke "The Island" satu-satunya pulau di muka Bumi ini yang belum terkontaminasi wabah tersebut, dan mendapat titel sebagai surga terakhir di Bumi. Well, paling tidak itu yang dua tokoh kita dan ribuan manusia lainnya di komunitas tersebut diijinkan untuk tahu oleh pengelola komunitas ini, Merrick (Sean Bean). Sampai pada suatu ketika, bahaya yang paling ditakuti oleh semua komunitas tertutup lahir dan tumbuh dari seorang Lincoln Six-Echo, curiosity.
Sampai di sini, gw tertarik sekali sama isu-isu moral yang kemudian punya potensi untuk muncul dari sini. Dan gw senang karena Michael Bay tidak memvisualisasikan isu-isu ini secara verbal sehingga emosinya bisa lebih keluar dari layar. Yah, tapi itulah, ketika akhirnya Lincoln Six-Echo dan Jordan Two-Delta mengetahui kenyataan di balik komunitas tertutup tersebut, dan karena mereka menanggapinya less frantic dari yang sebelumnya gw harapkan, gw bersiap-siap untuk bosan karena sudah jelas bagian pertama yang menarik itu berakhir dan mari-kita-mulai-pemusnahan-masal-khas-film-aksi-Hollywood bagian kedua dimulai.
Action-nya sendiri a o-kay, formula yang sama diulang-ulang, persis seperti yang pernah dibilang smaa salah satu kritikus yang gw lupa namanya, sori pak, tapi intinya sih dia bilang semua filmmaker itu hanya buat satu film dan lantas diulang-ulang. Jadi tentu saja kita sudah bisa menebak seperti apa aksi yang dibawa sama Michael Bay di sini. Ada car-chase, ada helikopter, bergantungan di sisi gedung pencakar langit, api, batu-batu, peluru, dan seterusnya. Gw sendiri malah bertanya-tanya, aftermath dari disaster yang disebabkan oleh sepasukan tentara elit yang memburu Lincoln dan Jordan tentu menewaskan banyak orang, tapi Lincoln atau Jordan kelihatannya tidak punya simpati secuil pun sama mereka, padahal, di bagian pertama, dan sedikit menjelang akhir film, secara tersirat Lincoln punya pendapat mulia bahwa semua makhluk hidup mesti dihargai, tapi, kenyataannya? i dont know, but i felt it was so very wrong, and very contradictive.
Penyelesaian filmnya sendiri terlalu disederhanakan, series of fortunate events you may say, gw bener-bener gedeg kenapa Lincoln bisa punya rencana yang senekat itu dan benar-benar hanya bertumpu pada luck doang, dan kenapa karakter Djimon Honsou yang supposedly bekas tentara elit pasukan khusus Perancis bisa setolol dan seceroboh itu? tidak masuk akal.. secara keseluruhan, endingnya mungkin akan memuaskan bagian kedua dari film ini, tapi bagi gw yang lebih menyukai bagian pertama, gw sama sekali tidak puas, selain karena terlalu sederhana, sudah gw singgung di paragraf sebelumnya, endingnya bagi gw sangat kontradiktif dengan premis-premis yang disiratkan oleh script di bagian pertamanya. Tapi tentu saja, karena ini film blockbuster, summer, arahannya Michael Bay, penonton pasti akan datang ke bioskop untuk mencari hiburan ringan yang membuat semua tokoh utama senang, bukan film-film thoughtful yang bikin pusing macam THX 1138 atau malah 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Untuk cast-nya sendiri sih gw ga ada masalah. Seperti gw bilang, gw suka nyaris semua aktor-nya. Scarlett was my currently no.1 favourite young actress berkat peran-perannya di film sebelumnya yang sangat berkarakter. Cuman sayangnya, gw agak menurunkan penilaian gw karena di film ini dia ikut2an mainstream dengan beradegan mesra sama Ewan. Ewan? well, he's okay. Steve Buscemi, duh, gw udah suka banget sama aktor ini ketika melihatnya di Fargo. Sean Bean, dia memang paling cocok untuk memerankan peran2 semacam ini. Bisa-bisa akan jadi stereotip nanti, dan malah akan mematikan karirnya karena semua orang terlanjur percaya bahwa dia memang hanya bisa berakting untuk tipe peran semacam itu. Djimon Honsou, no comment, he's as cool as devil, dan Michael Clarke-Duncan, yang walaupun cuman tampil di dua adegan, mampu mengantarkan adegan paling kuat, dan paling memilukan di sepanjang film ini.
In short, walaupun gw terlalu sering mengerutkan kening di sepanjang bagian kedua (karena merasa ada yang salah dengan logika gw), gw cukup terhibur ketika nonton film ini. Walaupun akhirnya ketika gw keluar dari bioskop, gw baru merasa menyesal kenapa dengan deretan aktor-aktor yang kuat seperti ini, filmnya bisa terasa sangat hambar, dan tidak berkesan.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Art Heist (2004); National Treasure (2004); Envy (2004)
I'm doing short-reviews. Kalau sebelumnya ketika gw menulis review, gw biarkan ide untuk mengendap dan membentuk dirinya untuk beberapa lama dan cross-check (ngambil inspirasi) dari kritikus favorit, dalam short-review (seperti ini), review ditulis segera setelah gw selesai nonton, sehingga ide-nya fresh dan 100% murni berasal dari reviewer anda ini.
Art Heist, 2004
Cast: Ellen Pompeo, William Baldwin, Abel Folk, Ed Lauter
Director: Bryan Goerers
My Rating: 1/2 / ****
Art Heist. Film ini membuat gw menangis. Bukan, bukan karena film ini mengaduk-aduk emosi sampai membuat diriku yang sensitif ini menitikkan air mata saking terserapnya pesan film dengan baik, tapi karena film-nya sungguh-sungguh buruk. Mrs.Pompeo, the leading actress, yang sepintas lalu mirip sama Renee Zellwegger, was so pathetic, gw hampir2 tidak bisa melihat layar ketika dia tersenyum atau berbicara, blblblbl, i've never seen a worse performance by leading actress before. Sungguh. Keseluruhan ceritanya sendiri standar habis, pencurian karya seni, penyelidikan polisi oleh seorang polisi yang tipikal sekali, act based on pure instinct, pengkhianatan yang hanya akan mengejutkan penonton yang BELUM PERNAH nonton film atau serial televisi sebelumnya, dan oh oh, kita juga punya penjahat tipikal yang di akhir film dengan bodohnya menjelaskan panjang lebar motif-nya sebelum sang jagoan kita yang hampir mati menembaknya di dada. Familiar? i bet it does. Satu-satunya hal yang menarik dari film ini adalah... apa ya? tidak ada. Jangan ulangi kesalahan gw. (Gw meminjam komentar ini dari salah seorang kritikus yang gw ga inget namanya) "Kecuali kalau kamu adalah salah satu anggota dari sekte sesat pemuja Baldwin bersaudara, jangan tonton film ini". Gw jarang2 denger komentar sekasar itu dari kritikus. Now, that was the bright side of this horrible experience. One, i've never seen worse performance by leading actress before, kudos to Mrs.Pompeo, and two, i've never heard of that kind of comment which made me laugh when i read it.
National Treasure, 2004
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bratha, Sean Bean
Director: Jon Turtletaub
My Rating: ** / ****
National Treasure. "Let's get out of here, before someone sees the smoke". Kalimat ini diucapkan Sean Bean (the ultimate choice for antagonist role, if you'd ask me, and that's one credit to this film's casting director), ketika Ben (Nicolas Cage) dan Riley (Justin Bratha), dua orang "Treasure Protector" terperangkap di dalam bangkai kapal ... dan menghadapi ber-barel-barel bubuk mesiu siap ledak yang sudah menyala. Kapal ini sendiri ditemukan Ben dan tim-nya ... di kutub utara. Now, i've never been to Arctic, and probably never will, tapi gw yakin, kalo gw jadi Sean Bean gw tidak akan memasalahkan asap hasil ledakan. Kalo misalnya meledaknya 200 meter dari pelabuhan New York gw masih bisa khawatir, tapi come on, siapa yang ia khawatirkan akan melihat asap dari ledakan tersebut di Arctic? Sinterklas? pffttt...
Other than that, the film was passable, pace-nya yang cepet menutupi sebagian besar kekurangannya. Tapi sebenernya kurang cepet buat merampok atensi gw. Halfway through, i'm bored to the death. Nicolas Cage, huh, sok pinter banget, malah buat gw Nic Cage seperti ngigau tanpa ngerti apa yang barusan ia omongin. Dan aksi2-nya kontradiktif sekali, dia bisa (terdengar) pintar tapi at times, he could be as dumb as a donkey's ass. And that kiss? ewwww, sempet-sempetnya, but i think it was a necessity if the movie-maker intended to (which obviously does) make this as a date-movie, tapi tentu saja, dalam tiga / empat tahun terakhir, gw tidak pergi ke bioskop atau duduk di depan monitor untuk berkencan, so i give the scene (the kiss-scene) with thumbs-down, and yes it's plural. Keseluruhan filmnya seperti menonton versi layar-lebarnya Da Vinci Code (yang akan dapat kehormatan itu sebentar lagi), dengan fakta-fakta yang menyembunyikan kenyataan Founding Fathers, dicampur dengan sedikit narasi a la CSI ketika si Ben mengajukan teorinya dan lantas membawa kita untuk melihat apa yang ia lihat, but as i was saying before, the film was passable. But by the way, Diane Kruger was soooo cute... *drollll*
Envy, 2004
Cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz
Director: Barry Levinson
My Rating: * / ****
Envy. Ben Stiller + Jack Black = Totally Wicked Fun. Well, or so i thought. Tapi tampaknya persamaan tersebut perlu gw koreksi setelah gw nonton Envy. Betul, ceritanya cukup menarik, dan ke-satir-an komedi-nya kental banget, terasa sekali seperti kopi tanpa gula, but, that's it. Gw tidak bisa menikmati performa Jack Black di sini seperti di film-film sebelumnya, juga Ben Stiller, yang tidak seperti biasanya, tidak membodohi diri sendiri atau dibodohi rekan mainnya. Well, masih sih, tapi tidak sekeras di "Meet the Fockers" misalnya. Padahal buat gw sih, ketika gw melihat film yang dibintangi oleh Ben Stiller, gw berharap ia bakal dibodohi rekannya atau membodohi diri sendiri. Memang, di film ini karakter Ben Stiller jelas-jelas membodohi diri sendiri dan lantas tidak bisa lari dari kenyataan tersebut ketika hasil dari kebodohannya adalah "envy" terhadap si tetangga dan teman baiknya yang mendadak menjadi kaya luar biasa. Film ini pengennya satir, komedi yang berbalut tragedi. Ada beberapa adegan yang cukup berhasil, seperti ketika keluarga Stiller pergi berlibur ke 'danau', atau jamuan makan malam oleh keluarga Black dengan Flan-nya dan orkestra piano yang dimainkan anaknya, tapi sayangnya, ke-satir-an tersebut tiba-tiba mengikis dirinya sendiri. Puncaknya ketika Ben Stiller meminta maaf pada Jack Black dengan seri monolog yang menjelaskan jalan cerita dari film ini, literally. It was a failed attempt to humor, which in turn becomes tediously boring and sickening. Ben Stiller / Jack Black juga sepertinya main terlalu kalem di film ini, padahal seperti sebelumnya gw harapkan, mereka paling tidak menampilkan energi mereka seperti di film-film sebelumnya. Thus, the one rating resulted from their failed attempt to meet my expectation. Gw jadi ingat, sebuah film satir yang luar biasa kejam, Fargo (1980) yang dibuat oleh Coen Brothers. Film ini bisa membuat gw ketawa SAMBIL meringis saking kejamnya adegan yang ditampilkan di akhir film. Really.
By the way, to-day (July 27th) marked the 2 years anniversary of ScreeningLog, with currently 103 reviews has been written and published.
Art Heist, 2004
Cast: Ellen Pompeo, William Baldwin, Abel Folk, Ed Lauter
Director: Bryan Goerers
My Rating: 1/2 / ****
Art Heist. Film ini membuat gw menangis. Bukan, bukan karena film ini mengaduk-aduk emosi sampai membuat diriku yang sensitif ini menitikkan air mata saking terserapnya pesan film dengan baik, tapi karena film-nya sungguh-sungguh buruk. Mrs.Pompeo, the leading actress, yang sepintas lalu mirip sama Renee Zellwegger, was so pathetic, gw hampir2 tidak bisa melihat layar ketika dia tersenyum atau berbicara, blblblbl, i've never seen a worse performance by leading actress before. Sungguh. Keseluruhan ceritanya sendiri standar habis, pencurian karya seni, penyelidikan polisi oleh seorang polisi yang tipikal sekali, act based on pure instinct, pengkhianatan yang hanya akan mengejutkan penonton yang BELUM PERNAH nonton film atau serial televisi sebelumnya, dan oh oh, kita juga punya penjahat tipikal yang di akhir film dengan bodohnya menjelaskan panjang lebar motif-nya sebelum sang jagoan kita yang hampir mati menembaknya di dada. Familiar? i bet it does. Satu-satunya hal yang menarik dari film ini adalah... apa ya? tidak ada. Jangan ulangi kesalahan gw. (Gw meminjam komentar ini dari salah seorang kritikus yang gw ga inget namanya) "Kecuali kalau kamu adalah salah satu anggota dari sekte sesat pemuja Baldwin bersaudara, jangan tonton film ini". Gw jarang2 denger komentar sekasar itu dari kritikus. Now, that was the bright side of this horrible experience. One, i've never seen worse performance by leading actress before, kudos to Mrs.Pompeo, and two, i've never heard of that kind of comment which made me laugh when i read it.
National Treasure, 2004
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bratha, Sean Bean
Director: Jon Turtletaub
My Rating: ** / ****
National Treasure. "Let's get out of here, before someone sees the smoke". Kalimat ini diucapkan Sean Bean (the ultimate choice for antagonist role, if you'd ask me, and that's one credit to this film's casting director), ketika Ben (Nicolas Cage) dan Riley (Justin Bratha), dua orang "Treasure Protector" terperangkap di dalam bangkai kapal ... dan menghadapi ber-barel-barel bubuk mesiu siap ledak yang sudah menyala. Kapal ini sendiri ditemukan Ben dan tim-nya ... di kutub utara. Now, i've never been to Arctic, and probably never will, tapi gw yakin, kalo gw jadi Sean Bean gw tidak akan memasalahkan asap hasil ledakan. Kalo misalnya meledaknya 200 meter dari pelabuhan New York gw masih bisa khawatir, tapi come on, siapa yang ia khawatirkan akan melihat asap dari ledakan tersebut di Arctic? Sinterklas? pffttt...
Other than that, the film was passable, pace-nya yang cepet menutupi sebagian besar kekurangannya. Tapi sebenernya kurang cepet buat merampok atensi gw. Halfway through, i'm bored to the death. Nicolas Cage, huh, sok pinter banget, malah buat gw Nic Cage seperti ngigau tanpa ngerti apa yang barusan ia omongin. Dan aksi2-nya kontradiktif sekali, dia bisa (terdengar) pintar tapi at times, he could be as dumb as a donkey's ass. And that kiss? ewwww, sempet-sempetnya, but i think it was a necessity if the movie-maker intended to (which obviously does) make this as a date-movie, tapi tentu saja, dalam tiga / empat tahun terakhir, gw tidak pergi ke bioskop atau duduk di depan monitor untuk berkencan, so i give the scene (the kiss-scene) with thumbs-down, and yes it's plural. Keseluruhan filmnya seperti menonton versi layar-lebarnya Da Vinci Code (yang akan dapat kehormatan itu sebentar lagi), dengan fakta-fakta yang menyembunyikan kenyataan Founding Fathers, dicampur dengan sedikit narasi a la CSI ketika si Ben mengajukan teorinya dan lantas membawa kita untuk melihat apa yang ia lihat, but as i was saying before, the film was passable. But by the way, Diane Kruger was soooo cute... *drollll*
Envy, 2004
Cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Rachel Weisz
Director: Barry Levinson
My Rating: * / ****
Envy. Ben Stiller + Jack Black = Totally Wicked Fun. Well, or so i thought. Tapi tampaknya persamaan tersebut perlu gw koreksi setelah gw nonton Envy. Betul, ceritanya cukup menarik, dan ke-satir-an komedi-nya kental banget, terasa sekali seperti kopi tanpa gula, but, that's it. Gw tidak bisa menikmati performa Jack Black di sini seperti di film-film sebelumnya, juga Ben Stiller, yang tidak seperti biasanya, tidak membodohi diri sendiri atau dibodohi rekan mainnya. Well, masih sih, tapi tidak sekeras di "Meet the Fockers" misalnya. Padahal buat gw sih, ketika gw melihat film yang dibintangi oleh Ben Stiller, gw berharap ia bakal dibodohi rekannya atau membodohi diri sendiri. Memang, di film ini karakter Ben Stiller jelas-jelas membodohi diri sendiri dan lantas tidak bisa lari dari kenyataan tersebut ketika hasil dari kebodohannya adalah "envy" terhadap si tetangga dan teman baiknya yang mendadak menjadi kaya luar biasa. Film ini pengennya satir, komedi yang berbalut tragedi. Ada beberapa adegan yang cukup berhasil, seperti ketika keluarga Stiller pergi berlibur ke 'danau', atau jamuan makan malam oleh keluarga Black dengan Flan-nya dan orkestra piano yang dimainkan anaknya, tapi sayangnya, ke-satir-an tersebut tiba-tiba mengikis dirinya sendiri. Puncaknya ketika Ben Stiller meminta maaf pada Jack Black dengan seri monolog yang menjelaskan jalan cerita dari film ini, literally. It was a failed attempt to humor, which in turn becomes tediously boring and sickening. Ben Stiller / Jack Black juga sepertinya main terlalu kalem di film ini, padahal seperti sebelumnya gw harapkan, mereka paling tidak menampilkan energi mereka seperti di film-film sebelumnya. Thus, the one rating resulted from their failed attempt to meet my expectation. Gw jadi ingat, sebuah film satir yang luar biasa kejam, Fargo (1980) yang dibuat oleh Coen Brothers. Film ini bisa membuat gw ketawa SAMBIL meringis saking kejamnya adegan yang ditampilkan di akhir film. Really.
By the way, to-day (July 27th) marked the 2 years anniversary of ScreeningLog, with currently 103 reviews has been written and published.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Fantastic Four (2005)
United States, 2005Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon
Director: Tim Story
My Rating: ** / ****
I'm being more than kind to give this movie a two-rating. Sebagai keluarga superhero yang kehadirannya membuat lahirnya Marvel Comics, dengan konsekuensi masing-masing (flame-guy, invisible-girl, hurcelian-strength, rubbery-skretch) tentunya wajar kalau kita berharap ada aksi jedang-jedung yang catchy dan wah. Nada. Apa yang ada di film ini, spesial efek-nya maksud gw, standar sekali, bahkan terkesan murah dan biasa. Tapi paling nggak, film ini punya kualifikasi cukup untuk disebut sebagai film komedi, dan gw rasa, mungkin karena gw nontonnya pas lagi kecapekan, film ini tidak terlalu buruk untuk menghabiskan kelebihan dua jam dari waktu kita.
Superhero minus identity crisis
Whoa.. hold your torch, kid.. cowok di bawah adalah Chris Evans. Di film ini dia berperan sebagai Johnny Storm alias The Human Torch. Dari ke-empat superhero jagoan yang hadir di film ini, bersama kakaknya Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl, soon-to-be-brother-in-law Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards, dan sohibnya Ben Grimm, the Thing, mereka adalah sekelompok ilmuwan yang bersama tipikal villain superhero, Victor Von Doom, Dr. Doom, mengadakan penelitian di salah satu stasiun luar angkasa punya Victor, multi-milyuner narsis.
Tapi tentu saja, manusia ga ada apa-apanya dibandingin dengan alam. Dan seperti dieskpresikan oleh Ben Grimm sendiri, "It's a Freak of Nature", sebuah badai kosmik menerjang stasiun luar angkasa tersebut dan menyebabkan semua penghuninya memiliki alterasi DNA dengan simtom-simtom yang sudah gw sebutkan di atas, and so-forth, lahirlah Fantastic Four yang kemudian melawan Victor yang merasa nama Victor Von Doom tidak mewakili identitasnya dan kemudian memakai nama belakangnya saja, Dr.Doom.
Tipikalnya, setiap film superhero yang relatif sukses, selalu menyertakan isu krisis identitas pada setiap jagoannya. Spider-Man dengan masalah cintanya, Batman dengan trauma kematian ortunya, Hulk juga dengan masalah cinta, dst. Dengan isu tersebut, menurut gw, sebuah film punya semacam nyawa yang bisa membawanya lebih hidup. Tapi di sini, hanya ada satu orang yang bener-bener keliatan punya krisis identitas, dan satu orang ini yang kemudian menonjol sendirian di antara yang lain. Nanti akan gw bahas. I mean, come on, you went to the space, got ill, being treated, and suddenly you could stretch your arms, you're invisible, and you're 'hot', tapi alih-alih bersikap seperti orang yang habis jatuh dari lantai tiga-puluh and barely alive, mereka malah bersikap seperti orang yang baru saja didandani di salah satu acara 'make-over'... duh.. Spider-Man got more credits on that issue.
Annoyances
Keputusan untuk membuat "Fantastic Four" sebagai sebuah film "origin", film yang menceritakan awal dari sebuah keluarga superhero menurut gw adalah kesalahan. Memang, yg ga tau F4 jadi bisa lebih kenal sama mereka. Cuman, tidak seperti Batman yang "originnya" merupakan hasil konflik batin dan psikis, "origin" dari F4 ini bener-bener datar dan nyaris tidak ada gejolak yang membuatnya menarik untuk diikuti. Akhirnya, kita dibiarkan selama satu jam mendengarkan obrolan-obrolan klise dan plot yang dibangun terburu-buru dan sering-kali menjejakkan lubang-lubang logis di tengah jalan. Dan ketika F4 siap beraksi, waktu film yang tersisa cuma tinggal 10 menit. Sayang memang.
Dua orang mis-cast. Jessica Alba, dia sebenernya salah satu alasan yang cukup kuat buat gw supaya nonton film ini, tapi sayang, dia sama sekali tidak convincing sebagai seorang scientist cewe, dia seperti berdiri di sebuah pentas drama, dengan script di tangan, dan membaca-nya ketika gilirannya tiba. Kaku, mungkin kata yang tepat. Julian McMahon, as much as i liked him on Nip / Tuck, sebagai salah satu penjahat terkeren Marvel, Dr.Doom dia tidak seperti penjahat, cuma orang cemburu yang pake topeng.
Now, that leads to another thing. Salah satu plot-development yang membuat gw bosan setengah mati di sini adalah cinta segitiga dari Victor - Sue - Reed. I dont know, it was just seem to be inappropriate, and not executed quite well, yang kalo boleh gw mmengutip James Berardinelli, "Seperti dibuat oleh dan untuk cewe umur 12 tahun".
The Thing is.. The Thing
Michael Chiklis, sebagai Ben Grimm alias The Thing really steals the spot here. Dia seperti Wolverine-nya "Fantastic Four". Setiap kali dia muncul di layar, ada sepasukan cheer-leader di dalam batin gw yang berteriak "Horeee!!!". Nah seperti itulah, gw melihat The Thing atau Ben Grimm ini. Selain dia yang paling punya krisis identitas daripada yang lain, dia juga yang paling kelihatan tidak seperti sedang membaca skrip, melainkan melontarkannya dengan sepenuh hati. The best of few memorable scenes of this movie (if there any) was also came from him.Selain Ben Grimm, yang seperti oase di padang pasir, tone film ini yang agak humor, dengan chemistry antar karakter-nya, "Fantastic Four" meskipun tidak wah, dan tentu bukan tipikal film reviewer anda ini (i can't stand those modern rock-bands playing on the soundtrack), punya kualifikasi cukup untuk dibilang sebagai sebuah film keluarga yang menghibur dan cocok untuk melepas kepenatan setelah beraktifitas. But, i would recommend "The Incredibles" more, though.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Ayumi Hamasaki
Ngomongin musik gw ah...
Ada dua musisi yang gw kasih kehormatan dengan cara alih-alih membajak, membeli album mereka. Dream Theater dan Ayumi Hamasaki. Untuk beberapa orang ini menimbulkan pertanyaan. Bagaimana tidak, warna dan aliran mereka benar-benar seperti bumi dan langit. Jika Dream Theater itu digolongkan oleh sebagian orang yang ngerti musik (gw tidak termasuk) ke dalam progresif metal - dengan 'metal' berarti bisa diharapkan sesuatu yang keras dari warna musik mereka, maka Ayumi Hamasaki digolongkan oleh - sekali lagi - sebagian orang yang ngerti musik ke dalam R&B dengan sedikit tekno.
But itulah, seperti Dream Theater, gw tidak lantas menyukainya ketika pertama kali mendengar ia bernyanyi. Tapi seperti Dream Theater pula, sebagian bawah sadar gw menyuruh gw untuk stick-to-her. Masih ingat dulu, album pertama Dream Theater (selanjutnya DT) yang gw beli adalah 'A Change of Seasons' dengan satu lagu 26 menit yang berjudul sama. Lagu ini, struck me as odd, waktu itu gw tidak menggumamkan musik mereka, belum sanggup untuk mencerna lompatan-lompatan dari tiap segmen lagu tersebut. Tapi, entah kenapa sebulan setelahnya (setelah gw mendapat uang saku dari ortu yang cuma cukup untuk beli satu kaset setiap bulan) gw beli 'Falling Into Infinity' dan cinta gw terhadap DT mulai dibangun setapak demi setapak dari situ. Sama halnya dengan Ayumi Hamasaki (Ayu). Gw kenal Ayu bebarengan dengan gw kenal sama Utada Hikaru dengan one-time-hit-nya yang ballad sekali, 'First Love' dan juga dengan satu aliran yang sekarang populer dengan sebutan J-Pop. Waktu itu gw berpikir, 'aduh suara apa ini?', soalnya memang vokal Ayu itu rada aneh, sedikit melengking dan mungkin sebagian besar orang tidak menyebutnya merdu. Tapi, seperti DT gw juga ngumpulin lagu-lagu-nya Ayu.
Sekarang, lima tahun setelahnya, Ayu (dan juga DT) adalah artis-artis yang gw hormati dengan cara membeli album rilis resmi mereka. Dan Utada yang justru pertama kali gw kenal dan cinta, tidak. Tapi karena cukup susah untuk mencari CD Ayu di sini, gw baru punya dua album sementara MP3-nya gw punya lima, sementara album resminya dia (tidak menghitung remix, the best, single, atau live) ada tujuh.
Album terakhir yang gw beli adalah 'Rainbow' (2002). Album ini juga unik soalnya pas gw denger pertama kali gw merasa aneh, tidak ada yang spesial and time-and-again i would return to my favourite album of hers, 'A Song for XX' yang merupakan album pertamanya dia. Namun, (sama seperti DT) dengan naiknya frekuensitas album ini gw puter, makin naik pula favourite-ness gw sama dia. Dan sekarang, saat ini, album ini jadi favorit gw. Well, sebenernya album favorit gw selalu berubah-ubah. Di saat tertentu gw suka album ini, di saat yang lain gw suka album itu, dan seterusnya. Tapi, ada satu album yang paling sering gw denger di antara yang lain-lain, album pertama, 'A Song for XX'. Ayu menulis semua lagunya sendiri, dan lirik-liriknya secara tidak langsung merefleksikan jalan hidupnya. Lahir di Fukuoka, 2 Oktober '78, Ayumi ditinggalin bokapnya dan tinggal bersama ibu dan neneknya. Dia merintis karir dari bawah sebagai (per usual in Japan) model. Setahun kemudian, while karaoke-ing, dia ditemui sama seorang produser dan kemudian merilis singel 'Poker Face' yang ia tulis dan menceritakan tentang seorang gadis lemah yang menghadapi masa-masa sedih dan sendiri tapi selalu berusaha untuk tetap tersenyum. And that was practically her story. Secara keseluruhan album pertamanya sebenernya secara musikalitas masih kurang bila dibandingin sama album-album setelahnya. Tapi liriknya buat gw sangat powerful dan sering kali memotivasi gw menghadapi masa sulit. Honest. Pendeknya, album itu boleh dibilang album sedih-nya Ayumi tapi di balik kesedihan itu, Ayu mengingatkan untuk tetap strong, dan tabah. Hence the title, 'A Song for XX' yang sebenernya memiliki arti 'A Song for Ayumi' karena dia intinya mengingatkan dirinya sendiri supaya tidak berlarut-larut dalam kesedihan.
Makin kini, kualitas vokal Ayu meskipun masih suka terdengar aneh, mengalami improvement yang kentara. Tapi kekuatan dia sih sebenernya ada di liriknya. And that's why i adore her, as the only singer i cared as much as to bought his / her original albums.
O yeah, stop piracy, whenever you feel necessary ;p. Ah iya, gw lagi demeeennnn banget sama albumnya Kelly Clarkson yang 'Breakaway'.
Ada dua musisi yang gw kasih kehormatan dengan cara alih-alih membajak, membeli album mereka. Dream Theater dan Ayumi Hamasaki. Untuk beberapa orang ini menimbulkan pertanyaan. Bagaimana tidak, warna dan aliran mereka benar-benar seperti bumi dan langit. Jika Dream Theater itu digolongkan oleh sebagian orang yang ngerti musik (gw tidak termasuk) ke dalam progresif metal - dengan 'metal' berarti bisa diharapkan sesuatu yang keras dari warna musik mereka, maka Ayumi Hamasaki digolongkan oleh - sekali lagi - sebagian orang yang ngerti musik ke dalam R&B dengan sedikit tekno.
But itulah, seperti Dream Theater, gw tidak lantas menyukainya ketika pertama kali mendengar ia bernyanyi. Tapi seperti Dream Theater pula, sebagian bawah sadar gw menyuruh gw untuk stick-to-her. Masih ingat dulu, album pertama Dream Theater (selanjutnya DT) yang gw beli adalah 'A Change of Seasons' dengan satu lagu 26 menit yang berjudul sama. Lagu ini, struck me as odd, waktu itu gw tidak menggumamkan musik mereka, belum sanggup untuk mencerna lompatan-lompatan dari tiap segmen lagu tersebut. Tapi, entah kenapa sebulan setelahnya (setelah gw mendapat uang saku dari ortu yang cuma cukup untuk beli satu kaset setiap bulan) gw beli 'Falling Into Infinity' dan cinta gw terhadap DT mulai dibangun setapak demi setapak dari situ. Sama halnya dengan Ayumi Hamasaki (Ayu). Gw kenal Ayu bebarengan dengan gw kenal sama Utada Hikaru dengan one-time-hit-nya yang ballad sekali, 'First Love' dan juga dengan satu aliran yang sekarang populer dengan sebutan J-Pop. Waktu itu gw berpikir, 'aduh suara apa ini?', soalnya memang vokal Ayu itu rada aneh, sedikit melengking dan mungkin sebagian besar orang tidak menyebutnya merdu. Tapi, seperti DT gw juga ngumpulin lagu-lagu-nya Ayu.Sekarang, lima tahun setelahnya, Ayu (dan juga DT) adalah artis-artis yang gw hormati dengan cara membeli album rilis resmi mereka. Dan Utada yang justru pertama kali gw kenal dan cinta, tidak. Tapi karena cukup susah untuk mencari CD Ayu di sini, gw baru punya dua album sementara MP3-nya gw punya lima, sementara album resminya dia (tidak menghitung remix, the best, single, atau live) ada tujuh.
Album terakhir yang gw beli adalah 'Rainbow' (2002). Album ini juga unik soalnya pas gw denger pertama kali gw merasa aneh, tidak ada yang spesial and time-and-again i would return to my favourite album of hers, 'A Song for XX' yang merupakan album pertamanya dia. Namun, (sama seperti DT) dengan naiknya frekuensitas album ini gw puter, makin naik pula favourite-ness gw sama dia. Dan sekarang, saat ini, album ini jadi favorit gw. Well, sebenernya album favorit gw selalu berubah-ubah. Di saat tertentu gw suka album ini, di saat yang lain gw suka album itu, dan seterusnya. Tapi, ada satu album yang paling sering gw denger di antara yang lain-lain, album pertama, 'A Song for XX'. Ayu menulis semua lagunya sendiri, dan lirik-liriknya secara tidak langsung merefleksikan jalan hidupnya. Lahir di Fukuoka, 2 Oktober '78, Ayumi ditinggalin bokapnya dan tinggal bersama ibu dan neneknya. Dia merintis karir dari bawah sebagai (per usual in Japan) model. Setahun kemudian, while karaoke-ing, dia ditemui sama seorang produser dan kemudian merilis singel 'Poker Face' yang ia tulis dan menceritakan tentang seorang gadis lemah yang menghadapi masa-masa sedih dan sendiri tapi selalu berusaha untuk tetap tersenyum. And that was practically her story. Secara keseluruhan album pertamanya sebenernya secara musikalitas masih kurang bila dibandingin sama album-album setelahnya. Tapi liriknya buat gw sangat powerful dan sering kali memotivasi gw menghadapi masa sulit. Honest. Pendeknya, album itu boleh dibilang album sedih-nya Ayumi tapi di balik kesedihan itu, Ayu mengingatkan untuk tetap strong, dan tabah. Hence the title, 'A Song for XX' yang sebenernya memiliki arti 'A Song for Ayumi' karena dia intinya mengingatkan dirinya sendiri supaya tidak berlarut-larut dalam kesedihan.Makin kini, kualitas vokal Ayu meskipun masih suka terdengar aneh, mengalami improvement yang kentara. Tapi kekuatan dia sih sebenernya ada di liriknya. And that's why i adore her, as the only singer i cared as much as to bought his / her original albums.
O yeah, stop piracy, whenever you feel necessary ;p. Ah iya, gw lagi demeeennnn banget sama albumnya Kelly Clarkson yang 'Breakaway'.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
United States, 2004Cast: John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht
Director: Shainee Gabel
My Rating: *** / ****
Gw nonton film ini pada awalnya hanya karena film ini ada di tumpukan teratas dari ratusan film yang belum gw tonton (note that it begins with singular letter 'A', the very first letter of the Roman Alphabet) tanpa pengetahuan sedikitpun mengenai apa isinya, genrenya, ataupun pemain2nya. And it turns out to be a nice dellicate drama. Dan salah satu pemerannya, Scarlett Johansson, adalah satu dari sedikit aktris muda favorit gw.. dan sekali lagi dia belum mengecewakan gw, mulai dari Lost In Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring, film-apa-itu-tentang-sekelompok-anak-SMU-yang-mau-nyolong-bahan-ujian-SAT, dan In Good Company.
Delicate, close to boring drama
Beberapa menit awal, gw disuguhi sama adegan2 yang membosankan, kita lihat John Travolta (Bobby Long), dimakan umur, dan alkohol, arthritis mungkin, pokoknya semua simptom degenerasi orang-orang berumur, di sebuah lingkungan yang bergerak malas. Kita mengikuti gerak kakinya menyusuri kota menuju ke sebuah pemakaman seseorang yang sepertinya punya peran cukup penting di komunitas kecil kota tersebut.
Seseorang yang dimakamkan tersebut adalah ibu dari Pursy Will (Scarlett Johansson) yang sebenernya kurang bisa dijustifikasi sebagai hubungan ibu-anak pada umumnya. Tapi meskipun keterasingan itu begitu kental antara keduanya, tetap saja seorang anak harusnya juga merasa kehilangan begitu ibu kandungnya meninggal. Dan begitu pula yang dialami tokoh kita, Pursy ini, drop-out dari kelas 9, dia tinggal bersama pacarnya yang merasa tidak perlu memberitahukan ihwal kematian sang ibu pada Pursy sehingga, meski Pursy bergegas menuju kota tempat ibunya tinggal, dia sudah terlambat satu hari untuk menghadiri pemakamannya.
Ketika ia sampai di rumah mendiang ibunya, ia bertemu dengan dua pria, Bobby Long (John Travolta), obnoxious old-man who was surprisingly an English professor dan seorang asisten-nya yang sama-sama pemabuk dan juga mengalir dalam pace yang sama dengan sang profesor, malas, dan santai. Mereka (Bobby dan asistennya) berbohong kepada Pursy bahwa ibunya Pursy mewariskan rumahnya kepada mereka bertiga. Padahal sesungguhnya, kedua orang pria ini tidak berhak sama sekali terhadap rumah tersebut. Dan, ketika Pursy memutuskan untuk tinggal, batasan-batasan baru pun mesti diciptakan di antara mereka bertiga dan tentu saja, eventually dilanggar, dan memnciptakan sebuah hubungan yang mulanya kikuk, tidak nyaman, menjadi saling terbuka dan seterusnya. Ah, i could bet you some money, you'd have guessed the eventuality of the story right.
Scarlett!
Seperti film-tentang-anak-SMU ah, i remember it, it was The Perfect Score, film ini tidak akan mencapai rating tiga andai tidak ada Scarlett Johansson.. true true John Travolta adalah the leading cast dan setiap kali lampu sorot sering mengarah ke arahnya, tapi keseluruhan panggung justru dikomandoi oleh Scarlett Johansson. Di film-film sebelumnya, gw demen sama dia yang tidak terlalu banyak omong. Sepertinya dia cukup bisa mengekspresikan semua emosi yang dibutuhkan script lewat raut muka yang memang sudah unik. Tapi di sini, gw melihat sisi gelap bulan dari seorang Scarlett from an innocent young girl to a desperate adolescence girl. Bahkan segera setelah Pursy muncul di pintu rumah mendiang ibunya, ketertarikan gw lebih kepada bagaimana personaliti Pursy kemudian berubah dari perasaan terbuang, penyesalan ketika ia berkenalan dengan penduduk kota yang kemudian menceritakan sedikit tentang ibunya, dan terakhir sense-of-belonging ketika akhirnya ia tidak lagi living-in-the-moment, tapi punya tujuan, cita-cita dan terutama 'keluarga-besar'. Nice. Lovely. So that's it, klimaksnya harusnya berhenti di situ, tapi tentu saja masih ada beberapa menit lagi sisa film. Dan apa yang kita dapat? Sebuah twist yang sangat lemah yang buat gw justru merusak mood dari film yang sudah dibangun rapi (dan sendiri) oleh Pursy Will. Tapi balik lagi ke kalimat awal gw, persis seperti The Perfect Score, Scarlett Johansson berdiri sendirian di film ini dan ujung2nya membantu mengkatrol mood gw untuk film ini secara keseluruhan.
Oh ya, musik New Orleans yang ada di film ini, semuanya asik punya... mirip2 kaya Norah Jones tapi lebih... hmm... maskulin?. Ya, pokoknya gitu deh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)