Screening Log

Move Out

2006-08-10T17:33:00.000+07:00

This site has seen no longer updates, as per August 2006, since my blog has seen a new address. Jump to it through this link.

However, i tend to keep the articles that i have been written for the last three years, which i must say to myself, quite an accomplishment (*yeah, right*) here as some sort of an archive.

The Deer Hunter (1978)

2006-06-20T10:50:00.000+07:00

United States, 1978
Cast: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, Meryl Streep
Director: Michael Cimino
My Rating: **** / ****

If you knew me at all, you know that i'm going to love this film. A three-hour more film about characters development, about war, and its tragedy. Yeah, it's tragic drama, sometimes breathtaking but rewarding in the end which came with a full package of three-hour running time. Yeah, you know i love this kind of film.

Mike (DeNiro), Nick (Walken), and Steve (Savage) were three friends in which this film focused at. They and bunch of other friends lived in a small town where they worked on a steel-mill, spend their night on a local bar, and once in a while go out for Deer hunting. They were unique personality, and during the first half of the film, we're given much of their personality, even on some characters, enough to love him earnestly. My personal favorite was of course Mike, you (who have seen the films) probably scoffs of how i say that Mike was quite a resemblance of my character. The greater part of the hour of this film was spent on Steve's marriage prior of his (with Mike and Nick) departure to serve their country in the war of Vietnam. Now, this marriage scene was a very enjoyable scene to watch, all those costumes, all those tunes, and all those dancings, i loved the grand reception, and i found myself even dancing to the tunes. But it makes me also wonder, seeing how Steve who was unabashedly happy would leave all that behind and went to Vietnam where chances are that he won't be back to his family. All in all, the mood was perfect. The characters were developed nicely as we see how Nick and Mike were the best of friend promising each other not to leave another behind. However, the mood was gradually but surely turns into gray. And at least, i feel the heavy cloud hanging as the mood finally changes. To Vietnam.

Friends of mine who had seen this film all said in one agreement that the Russian roulette scene was fuckingly superb. They were right. The Russian roulette scene was a breath-taking scene and i found myself almost barely able to breath. That scene on the river and of course the final scene in Hanoi. They were violent, brutal, and most important of all, engaging.

The film was clock in at 183 minutes, but not even once i stiffled a yawn (even LOTR: Return of the King has made me yawn), not even once i detered my attention from screen even though that i was hungry at the time, or even though i had several real-life problems to deal with at the time. The length of film was proved necessary and almost enough to develop the characters to where the film was aiming at. It was a study on how war changes one's personality. How one treats love, and how one reacts to the unrequited love he has. And my god, i've seen Christopher Walken like in thousand different movies. But in "The Deer Hunter" he was so freakingly young. Still dancing, still singing, but so young. Eerie. Truth be told, nonetheless, i feel like this was his (Mr.Walken) best. And this film in overall, would be one of the film i liked best. Visually stunning, the film has a very much visible depressing feels which at the end, leaves me troubled. But of course, if you knew me at all, i loved depressing movies.

Superman Returns

2006-06-19T13:05:00.000+07:00

No, the movie hasn't released yet. It scheduled to release worldwide on 28th of June. That would be, oh, next week folks. But, on the other hand, i was really fed-up about all this marketing-hype of the Man. Well, okay, it's two weeks away for the promotional team to really pull the hype, but with all these posters, teaser trailers and all, if i wasn't a comic-geek-fan and had a decent access to all i mentioned above, i would really questioned about the quality of the film itself when it's REALLY out.

Anyway, this is my favourite poster, so far.

Random Thoughts

2006-06-19T12:17:00.000+07:00

I saw Ed Wood for the nth time last night. I've never did a proper review of the film, mind you for i've never seen the footage oustide the television box which of course, you knew, how much i hated watching films on TV (those commercial breaks, unnecessary cuts). Well, anyway, Ed Wood was a Tim Burton's film which depicted the live of one Edward D. Wood Jr. who many believed (i was excluded, for i've never seen his films) as The Worst Director of All Time. Now that was a grand title to be given to a person. And it didn't just merely said "A Bad Director", but "THE Worst Director" with capital "THE". Just waw.

It was one of the scene on the Ed Wood that actually prompt me to wrote about this random thoughts (what's so random about it anyway?). On one scene, Ed Wood was in bed with his lover, after a disastrous review he had received from his effort on theaterical play he directs. He says to his lover, "I was bad", and she says, in comforting voice all lover always seem to had, "You know, it's just one review". "Well, you know, Orson Wells wrote, stars, and direct 'Citizen Kane' when he was twenty-five and i'm already thirty", was his answers.

I was dumbfounded. Yeah, Citizen Kane a film that has been granted as the Greatest Film ever made by AFI (American Film Institute) was made by a guy whose age was 4 monhts away from my current-age. Immediately, my mind turned to Haute Tension. A 2003 horror film which i thought was one of the best and most original that the genre has seen for about.. oh, a decade? It was made by Alexandre Aja. And he was just twenty-three back then. And oh, its success has brought him to Hollywood where he was given a helmet to re-made The Hills Have Eyes, again, a decent re-make horror flicks if i ever see one.

All this success achieved in such a young age, always able to caught my attention and made me think. Damn! where was i? Where am i fit into this? i was practically going nowhere these last two years. I had so much wasted time. I was too concentrated on what other's think of me, and never thought of myself.. I was giving too much and never recieve any. Makes me really wanted to scream. Focus! Damn it! Focus!

Date Movie (2006)

2006-06-16T13:45:00.000+07:00

United States, 2006
Cast: I dont care
Director: I really dont care either
My Rating: 0 / **** (only because i can't give negative scores on my sheet)

First of all, my man, James Berardinelli didn't reviewed this film so i dont put the movie's poster on this review as well. But instead, i grab a picture from New York Times which i think really say what i think about this film, "disgusting".

Once in a while, especially when my life was harsh, and my mind was heavy, i needed a stupid film so i could, you know, contemplating about what had happened to me, but mean-while, at the same time some foreign sounds would snapped my twigs and brought me back from whatever i had in mind before it's blogging my mind into further state of depression. And also, usually, i ended up cursing about the film in question and for a moment could really forgotten what i had in mind. And that was a very acceptable diversion.

Anyway, "Date Movie" was supposed to be a spoof from a several comedy/romance genre films that we've witnessed over the years. But, however, i used to say that a spoof film was worked well when the audience knew what film it spoofed of. On "Date Movie", despite several popular films to be spoofed, Darth Vader for instance, Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers, Kill Bill stuffs, there are few (far too many) references that left the common audience dumbfounded. I was watching this film with a friend of mine, he was a year older than me. He said that the movie was full with useless scenes. While i was fully agreed with him, mine was entirely on different reasons with him. Take this fake orgasms scene. I was surprised when he said, "what's the point of this scene?". That scene was stupid, not funny, and overlong, but i was immediately known that it was taken from "When Harry Met Sally" only the role was reversed. For on "When Harry Met Sally", Meg Ryan (female) doing a fake orgasm, on this film, it was the male (i dont care who he is) that doing a fake orgasm without any apparent reasons, and even without any apparent correlation with the scenes before or after. Hence, stupid, not funny, and overlong. But, alas, i was managed to give a chuckle. Only because i remembered Meg Ryan, not because the scene was actually funny.

All in all, let me back to where i started. This film was fake, stupid, and disgusting. I must warn you, only, just only if you were on my state (with weary mind, and harsh day) you should really consider of watching this movie. Hell, even Scary Movie's 2nd installment was better executed. And if you knew me, though Scary Movie series were my guilty preasure, to think about Scary Movie 2 always succeed in giving me shivers, and spat. Damn these stupid teenagers movies... i dont know, if this film was meant for teenagers, how come that there were several scenes that spoofed from the films that was made when they were still in their diapers, or worse yet, when they were still in their mom's womb, or still hinted on their pop's sperm... *what the hell am i talking about?*, *nudging head on the walls*.

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

2006-05-30T15:50:00.000+07:00

United States, 2006
Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany
Director: Ron Howard
My Rating: ** / ****

I was one of those guys who happened to think that Da Vinci Code (the book) was highly over-praised. Not over-rated mind you, just over-praised. Everytime people say that "Whoa.. the book was superb!" i was immediately going into disgusted state and tried to shown how much i disliked the book. But again, not entirely disliked but simply because i dont think that the book was priviliged to recieve such praise. Truth be told, i wish to be distinguished from the common-folk by spotting the tiny holes in the book and turned it into a bigger hole yet.

Well, now let's talk about the movie. As a purist, i was usually read the book before i went to the movie which adapt the book in question. And so was the case with DVC (the film). I went to the cinema with full knowledge of how the story would evolve and the secret hidden under its sleeve. You may think that it would made my judgement to the film would be biased. But, again, i'm not the one who paid any mind for being spoiled.

The Da Vinci Code (the film) was meant to be a mystery / thriller. Easily judged by the way they executed the credit title, the way they bought the atmosphere, and the way they put those creepy sounds (which actually at some point really-really annoys me) all around. But as it turned out, too much expositions was spent between the thrills. Well, i know, it was inevitable for such things to happen. Mr. Howard was however, wanted to put as much essence from the book's story into 2:29 hours of movie time. And with many jargons and technical stuffs, it was actually pretty understandable to built the plot in such manner. However, i found that the plot was a little bit overlong. I dont know why. Maybe it was because none of the characters and their chemistry raised my interest beyond those 'controversy' that has been talked about since the book hit the world-wide shelves several years ago.

Even though led by superb actors / actress whose some of which are happen to be one of my favourite, they weren't given enough time to develop their characters from beyond the thin-paper the book gives. I sometimes winced when Sophie (Tatou) and Langdon (Hanks) doing their conversations. Mr Mc.Kellen however, gave a rather enjoyable performance. If i was about to mention my favourite scenes of the movie, i would certainly mentioned the scene where Teabing (McKellen) explains to Sophie about "The Last Supper" as one of those scenes.

But well, my take was, if you haven't read the book, you may enjoy this film (even though i could easily point out several people who hasn't read the book, but found the film was equally boring). If you have, by the way, you may also found the film (as i was) rather boring.

All in all, i would remember this film. Not because the film itself, but the situation that enabled me to watch this film (at theater, by the way, which something i haven't done in quite some-time).

News Flash

2006-05-22T17:45:00.000+07:00

I'm in Love. i'm in Love. i'm in Love.

Quick Report

2006-05-04T11:52:00.000+07:00

March 2006:

A History of Violence (2005) ***1/2 / ****
A pleasant departure from what many believed as a director who specialized in horror and disturbing pictures, David Cronenberg. A little bit dragging in the middle, the ending scene was moved. Best performance, in so far, from Viggo Mortensen. Clearly, one of the most under-appreciated film in 2005.

All About Eve (1950) ***1/2 / ****
It's a dog eat dog world... er.. i mean, girl eat girl world. In showbiz, one's innocence couldn't be held for what it is. As was Eve Harrington's innocence. From what looks like an innocence village girl who wanted to be a star to a wicked witch with many dirty schemes under her sleeve, Eve has it's all, and it's All About Eve. Also check Marlyn Monroe's quick performance. I never thought that she was THAT beautiful before.

The Seventh Seal (1957) *** / ****
A Knight came home to his castle from the Crusade. Only to come to a land where black plagues haunted every village and every living being. What make it worse, a grim reaper, a Death itself came confronted him in a game of chess, the very last game he was about to play. Packed full with subtlety and symbolism, this film was clearly not for everyone. Only recommended if you wanted to know what does Ingmar Bergman's take on religion, death, and god.

Mulholland Drive (2001) **** / ****
My first Lynch. I love it from start to finish. The haunted music, the surreality in Naomi Watts' expressions (and not to mention when she cried in the end of the film), the shocking twist, until the "what? why? and how?" questions that surely would surfaced after you finish the film and you see the end-credit rolls itself, you'd found yourself wanting more of this film, and thinking about it for days. Believe me, i do thinking about it, even after days.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) **1/2 / ****
Well..

Brokeback Mountain (2005) ** / ****
I dont understand about all the fusses about this film. It's about cowboys. It's about gay-thing. Sure, the cinematography and the soundtrack was beautiful. But, it doesn't give me what i want. The film was given too much attention on the unrequited and forbidden love between Heath Ledger's character and Jake Gyllenhaal's character. I found myself wanted to know more about Michelle William's character's take on the whole affair that befell on her husband. And when the film didn't give me what i want, i felt disappointed.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) * / ****
Bla... bla.. bla... zzzzzz... what? what? huh? the film has ended? oh, well... i've read the book, i dont like it. I didn't expect anything from the film, and i didn't get anything except a good nap with earphones tucked on my ears.

City Lights (1931) ***1/2 / ****
My first Charlie Chaplin's. The story was well known, because i've seen it rehearsed or represented in various ways in recent modern cinemas. A poor guy fell in love with a blind flower girl, by some mischief and luck, this poor guy found enough money to cure the flower girl's blindness with somethin more to start a store. But when he comeback (with no intention to reveal his true identity to the girl) as a homeless, even poorer guy, the girl doesn't recognized him (of course). That is until, she hold his hand. Ow.. what the heck... i cried at the end of the film.

April 2006:

12 Angry Men (1957) **** / ****
I've always loved a film that situated in a single time-frame or a single set. This film has both. Twelve jury are about to decide a fate of the convicted murder. In order to do so, the jury must have anonymous vote regarding the fate (guilty or not guilty). I got hooked right from the first when the vote was 11 guilty and 1 not guilty. Superb dialogues. Superb chemistry between these 12 guys (who mostly only known as jury #1, jury #2, jury #3, and so forth).

Just Like Heaven (2005) *1/2 / ****
Too... many... in... consistent... logic... help. Hey, but Ms. Whiterspoon is quite a looker.

Saw 2 (2005) **1/2 / ****
I'm enjoying it, a tad better than the first one in fact. I liked the executions idea and methods, and i liked how this Jigsaw character held all the cards even before he was asked to play the game of cards.

Paths of Glory (1957) **** / ****
Of all the Kubrick's filmography that i've seen, i enjoyed this film the most. It's about human's greatest lust of power that even cheapen the life of other human being. When an ambush going awry, a general in charge decides to pull random men from his command to get executed as an example. What intriguing was, we the audiences clearly knew that the attack, the ambush was impossible even if the attacking forces were doubled. So, what happened to the wicked general? what happened to the men who deemed 'guilty of cowardice' and about to be executed? It's for you to find out. It's quite provoking, and emotional film in itself.

Hostel (2006) * / ****
First half of the film filled with bunch of eastern European ladies naked. Second half of the film filled with tortures, executions, bloods, fleshes, and gores. Since i watch this film only interested with the second film, i was greatly disappointed. Moreover, i didn't get much from the gore. Disclaimer: Even though i said that the gore wasn't much, a friend of mine had refused to watch the rest of the film after several minutes into the torture scene.

Announcement

2006-04-19T17:02:00.000+07:00

I have received several emails complaining about the frequency in which this blog was updated. It was quite a shocker really, since i DONT gave my private email address freely (in order to keep those spams and junks away). So, i bid my thanks and my deepest apology to all of you who (i was still surprised really) had paid attention to this blog and to a puny, so-so, and uninformative reviews that i had written in the last couple of years.

Well, actually, i was about to shut this blog. By next month (May 20th is my word, but alas, never trust datelines given by a software developer. Especially when such deadlines weren't quite that important and advantageous :)), i hope i had an URL address ready, new layouts (that's for sure), new contents, and most important of all, i hope that i had several contributors to write as well, so you wouldn't have to bear to read my pretentious one-sided reviews anymore.

See you soon. Thank you and my apologies.

March 2006 Experience (part 1)

2006-03-20T15:42:00.000+07:00

This March, i had a precious chance to broaden my horizon by watching movies that either has become a classic, or came from once legendary directors. Pardon my language, but i had the very first intercourse with Alfred Hitchcock's, Ingmar Bergman's, and David Lynch's. All, in this early two weeks part of the month. This, gonna be a long post. Well, here's what you going to expect from this (series-of) post. By the way it was ordered by the time i've seen the film: North Country (2005), Rear Window (1954), Psycho (1960), A History of Violence (2005), All About Eve (1950), The Seventh Seal (1957), and Mulholland Drive (2001).

1. North Country (2005)
Cast: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, Sean Bean
Directed by: Niki Caro
My Rating: *** / ****

Another one of those 'inspired' by the true-event film (not to be confused with based on real-event), North Country portrayed the life of Josey Aimes, a female mine-worker who (again, in this film) the first female worker to ever sue the company where she worked regarding of the harsh-treatment she and her female co-worker received from her male co-workers.

When i read about the premise prior to the film, i had briefly placed myself on a neutral position. And i was very much believe that those won't change even after i've seen the film. Because, naturally the mine was a place where you do dirty stuffs, required more muscle, and within harsh environment where most would be attributed it to the male world. So, i think it's sufficient to say that the idea of a female mine-worker recieving harsh-treatment from her male co-worker was - in my opinion - appropriate on such environment. Further, if i was told to point a finger, I would blame the girl for her job-choice. As if there wasn't any job (with less harsh environment, that is) left out there.

Alas, Niki Caro, being a woman herself, spends a big portion of the movie to deal intimately with Josey's life. More than enough for us to fall in love to her, to sympathize with her conditions, and ultimately to stands in line behind her when she stood for her right. And that's why this film works. However, at the cost of jumbled narrative at the end. For it seems that the movie-makers had just realised that the running-time for this film had exceeded two hours mark and they hurriedly put the conclusions to fit in. But, i'd say again, that the film works. Much thanks to superb performance by Charlize Theron, she was so beautiful, by the way, and Frances McDormand whose previous performance in Fargo made her effort to put an accent at her speech in this film like a walk in the park.

2. Rear Window (1954)
Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
My Rating: **** / ****

My first Hitchcock's flick. Long story short, if a film made in all its humbleness, simple in execution, but, could provide thrilling entertainment, then that film was either really good, or has been made by superb film director, mastering in thriller. Well, "Rear Window" is both. The entire film was shot in and from one location only. Which is in our main cast's apartement looking through the apartement's Rear Window to the neighboring apartments where the event which was the main interest of this film took place. And, if that wasn't enough, all of the sound in this film is diegetic, which means that all the music, speech, and other sounds all come from within the world of the film.

L.B Jeffries was a photographer. He had been forced to stay at the apartment with one footin in a cast that temporarily put him out of any outdoor activities. So what does he do then? he eye-ing his neighbors through the window of his apartment. Sounds simple? it is. But believe me, it drags you. It sucked you in to Jeff's POV, up to a point where you share his curiousity, believes to his illusion, well, want to believe would be more appropriate, and subsequently turns his experience into ours. As the film progresses, several other characters interact with Jeff. They were either agreed with Jeff, or contradict him, or reminded him (and us) that eavesdropping (or the sort) was naturally moral-wise bad. And therefore, he (Jeff, as with us as well) was a bad person.

But who needs morality when you've got your curiosity? As they say, curiousity kills the cat. And this kitten here should be ashamed that he (guided with Jeff's binocular) chose to ignore the lady whose about to killed herself with a lethal dose of some sleeping-pills over the truth. Over his curious-ness. Alas, this kitten knew the fact, knew that he should be ashamed by doing that, way after the movie hits the gutter.

3. Psycho (1960)
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janeth Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
My Rating: *** / ****

I've got a little-problem with the title that even though i've wrote it several times already, i still can't manage to get to write it correctly in the first try. I've always wrote it Phsyco, Physco, or some other before i opened an internet window to see how does "Psycho" spelled correctly. Ah well.

Many considered this flick as Hitchcock's magnum opus. While i cant say whether i agree or not, considering that i've only seen two of many Hitchcock's filmography, i could savely say that i agree that this film was more than enough to give you thrills throughout its film-length. And if someone say that this film was the best thriller film ever made, i wouldn't dare to argue him about it.

When the film was released for the first time, Alfred Hitchcock warn the audiences that they should not share the mystery, the twist on its end to another who hadn't seen the film. Understandable. I mean, most of the people i've met would agree that if you knew Bruce Willis' character was dead for the entire film of "The Sixth Sense" before watching the movie itself, you wouldn't had that much fun comparing to those who hadn't known the truth behind the film. In fact, you wouldn't had fun at all.

On the other hand, i was one of those rare-type-movie-guy who doesn't care shit about spoilers. And so, yeah, before i had the chance to see this film, i've read the script, and know very well the truth behind the mystery. But that doesn't keep the surprise-factor alien from my universe. Not just once, i've shocked twice. I was pretty much sure, that you who have seen the films would agree that this film was shocking indeed, at least (especially) on the two points i fore-mentioned.

Other than that, the films was surrounded by not-too-shabby cast. But the ultimate cast was the one who played Norman Bates. That guy's grin on the end of the film, creeps me out. And while he looks like an O.K man, a kind-hearted man, you would agree that his seclusion and detachment from the outside world were very visible that if you really met him in the real world, you would distanced yourself as well.

Jarhead (2005)

2006-02-28T17:12:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Brian Geraghty, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper
Director: Sam Mendes
My Rating: *** / ****

I was one of those kids who in his youth was mesmerized with John Rambo. I mean, who wouldn't anyway? I think that it is safe to say that every kids of '80s would at least catch a glimpse on who is Rambo regardless if he has already seen the film or not. I was one of those who hasn't seen the film but had enough feed on Rambo. Enough that sometimes, i'm re-enacting his actions. A muscular guy with a huge machine gun, taking down a whole army of Vietnamese all by himself, fight for a righteous act, wicked looking combat knife, and of course, that red bandanna. But then again, when i really had the chance to see the film in question (part II, not part I) years later, i decided to dislike it, entirely.

Now, aside from that, since that moment i had a solid concept inside my head about a war movie. That every war movie is different, yet every war movie is the same. Ow, wait, that sounds exactly like the voiceover at the end of this film, Jarhead, which i was about to write.

Over the years, as i grow older, and digested more movies than it's allowed, i learnt of an anti-war movie which is a film that instead of putting the weight on its deliverance upon patriotism-issues (which was a turn-off for me, since i was often at odds against the protagonist's patriotism. Take "Pearl Harbor", or "Black Hawk Down" for an instance), it often, if not always put the word war before a question mark. Such as, "why war?". Take "Full Metal Jacket", or "Appocalypse Now" as an example. Okay, you may disagree with my analogy. But that's how i viewed the anti-war film.

"Jarhead" was undoubtedly was those among the anti-war films. It told about the Gulf war, the first Gulf war, by the way, when Iraqi soldiers tried to "re-capture" Kuwait. But, of course, it didn't justified the war, or taking side. It viewed and told the war from a perspective of a "Jarhead" (which is a jargon that branded to the Marine Corps). A young soldier, Anthony Swofford (Gyllenhaal) who had undergone a harsh basic training only to be sent to the desert with almost nothing to do. Swofford and his fellow-mates must wait for a war that it turns out, never come to the tip of their rifles. And during those wait, their 'personal-war' begun.

Well, unlike most other anti-war film that i've seen, this film doesn't questioned the need of war, nor deal with the soldier's humane perspective in killing others. This film is simply dealt with the soldier who had been trained to kill, trained to love their rifle, trained to make their rifle into the part of their body, trained to believe that they were there to serve their country only to find that their training had been taking its toll more than they could give. "At least, let him kill the man", someone said. And that's how one could summarized Jarhead in short words. Their in-ability to kill, not their guilty-conciussness after the kill that led them questioned the war.

On the other side of coin, this film was like any other war film that i've seen because there were almost no variety to the characters. We see the same kind drill-instructor, we see the same kind mind-insane team-mate, we see the same kind of lead actor, and we see the very same kind leader (who also gave personal speech that was delivered by any other war films only with different style). But, if anything, though it's a little bit too long for me.. (at some point, i wondered if i should turn off the film and sleep instead), i enjoyed Jarhead with its absence of patriotism-issue that could make me slap myself on the temple. I enjoyed the handy camerawork and cinematography (though, what do you expect from desert environment? green mountains?). And, had to admit, even though i never liked Jake Gyllenhaal, i dig him in this film. And this film was among the top 10 of my best-of-2005 films list.

Well, not much of a review, but hope it helps.

Intermezzo

2006-02-27T09:31:00.000+07:00

It's been a month, i know. But, check out this blog.

http://www.cinematical.com

This blog had a LOT of gimmicks and tidbits about movies and current gossips.

New Job, Old Faces

2006-02-09T15:42:00.000+07:00

Title.

Transporter 2 (2005)

2006-02-04T00:47:00.000+07:00

France / United States, 2005
Cast: Jason Statham, Alessandro Gassman, Amber Valetta, Katie Nauta
Director: Louis Letterier
My Rating: **1/2 / ****

My friends had been commenting on my appearance lately. Well, i've been fucked up lately, that's for sure. I think it's because: 1. I haven't take a bath in like 48 hours, 2. I haven't had a decent sleep for like a week?, 3. I've got this guest who calling himself FATE who keep knocking in my door? (eh, forget this one). Aaaaanyway, one thing for sure is that my mood had been on a greyscale lately. No damn color visible. Everything was either gray or little darker. Gloomy, bleak, it's the color of death. And death, is suck.

But as any situation darker per se, there's absolutely nothing that couldn't be solved by watching some mindless-fuck movie just to let the brain-janitors to clean the aftermath of mind war that had been going on my brain. That's my prescription, by the way, it may not worked on everybody.

So, i prepared several movie that i deemed to be a light-watch, a movie i could enjoy without thinking as much, without even care about the characters or lines of dialog. Transporter 2 was (i think) would be one of the such.

I have told everybody who cared on this site, that Jason Statham is one of those actors that i could enjoy without caring much about his character. Seeing him for the very first time in Snatch, recognize him in Transporter, for me, almost every character that he played had somewhat emanates more than enough charisma to make-up what lacking in almost every aspect of the film he currently in. Remember Mean Machine? he plays as a wicked-mean goalie whose presence provides fear. A real fear. *Shudders*.

Of Transporter 2 case, the film was lacking almost anything. It lacks logic, it lacks characters, it lacks plot, it lacks whatever-you-name-it. Now that's a pretty bad shite. I wouldn't give it a 2.5 rating if i was in my best of shape. But again, i need movie that could made me giggle, not a movie that requires me to think and forced me to watch it again *pointing downward* and so, even though it was that quick to make me respond to the movie with something like, "Oh shite, that's soooo not possible", i could dig the movie. It means to be mindless-fuck-actions and it gave me actions. The movie-makers and director were aware enough that they didn't tried to make a logical action movie that they were concentrated on how to deliver the action. And you know what? they were pretty good at it, i give you that. And Frank, he was this kind of hero / anti-hero protagonist that had a cool fashion that even James Bond looks like a high-schooler. Hell, he even had an extra suit tucked on a waterproof plastic in his car's trunk just in case the suit he wore smeared from blood and/or explosions. If that's doesn't make you smile, i dont know what is. And he doesn't even crack a smile, even though that i was scared a bit when they revealed at the beginning of a movie that instead of a hot-girl (some may not like it, but yeah, i think Hsu Chi is hot. She was the babe in the first Transporter film anyway), Frank was protecting a little-child (i was afraid that it was going to be like Man on Fire stuff, which is though good, but not really the kind of movie that i'm looking for from a mindless action like Transporter). And yeah, Jason Statham delivers.

The action sequences were well taken, given my eye enough delicacy to chew upon, and - the one thing of importance, IMO, for this kind of movie - never stops. The intermission between actions were long enough to spill the bean a little bit on the plot, but never too long to bother itself on explaining the plot. Which is non-existant anyway. One thing to praise upon this film is, that the movie-makers behind this film knows what he's doing. He wants to entertain his viewers. He wants to make a good action-flicks which everybody could enjoy (well, not everybody anyway, since there's this trigger-happy machine-gun girl who wears lingerie everytime she's on screen. That's weird). Long story short, he knows how to made a good action movie. And that was just about what i could say about this film.

This film works best when you're watching it in a cold night, in a dim-lit room, on a wider-screen, with your feet slouching on a couch or somewhere, and with a warm tea or something else you fancy in your hand.

Junebug (2005)

2006-01-26T09:52:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivola, Benjamin McKenzie, Amy Adams, Celia Wetson, Scott Wilson
Director: Phil Morrison
My Rating: *** / ****

There were times, when I wrote my reviews, a moment where I don’t know how to begin, what to tell, and how to wrap the review. When such times occurs, I would usually give a simple sentence as a whole opinion and writing some bla-bla-bla, yada-yada-yada that based and centered on it thus made my review had a little sense of pretentousness and pointlessness.

It usually happens when I had no idea on what to wrote as the movie itself didn’t gave me anything to start off. There were no apparent crap to bashed upon, nor apparent beauty to praise upon. Everything is just seem so subtle that I had to dig further into my consciussness to find the hidden message the film had for me. If, at anytime, I failed to find the hidden message, then it’s because simply the movie sucks, and really really had nothing to offer.

Fortunately, that’s not the case with Junebug. I had watched it twice (yes, twice) in the last four days – editor note: he tried to be less than the late Pauline Kael who believes that the first movie impression is the foremost important thing in order to made a honest review – to catch the glimpse of meaning from this slow-paced character-packed family drama.

Like most film that entirely dependent on character developments, Junebug is a magnamous slow-paced that it would leave most of the audience simply impatient (oh yeah, I had my impatience) with it. Medeline (Davidtz) was an art dealer. One day, she met George (Nivola) and they fall in love and married soon after. Six months later, while in the vicinity for business purpose, the couple decided to drop on George’s parents’ place. Wonder, how many films already that came out based on this fact alone (in-law visits).

Here is the family that Medeline had to deal with: Peg (Watson), the mother, criticizes everyone, second-guesses every decision, and never wrong (of course, according to her). Eugene (Wilson), the father, always in silence, in solitude, and most of his time are spent in his basement wood-carving. Jhonny (McKenzie), George’s younger brother, newly married to his high-school sweets, Ashley (Adams) which is pregnant.

Jhonny was a desperate young man, he feels like everybody around him overwhelmed him, pitying him (maybe because he didn’t have a high-school diploma?), thus, he responded everything with his usual, withdrawing, not talking, and find something to busied himself with. Ashley was a sweet, chatty, cheerful, optimistic, and supportive. She’s the one we could fall in love with, but in my point of view, she’s the one who suffer the most in this film. Even I almost cried for her tragic moment on one scene (not telling) in both viewing, worse at the second viewing.

Okay, I could talk on and on and on about how each characters intertwined and developed. But at the very least, the above three pharagraphs could cover the surface.

Many of people on RT (rottentomatoes.com) named this movie as their one of best of 2005. Understandably. I would too, if I was a Northern-American. As some of the reviewers put it, this film is great because it’s true. Well, I guess, it’s true to those who had lived their life in Northern-American. For I, who had spent his entire life so far in Indonesia, found a considerable difficulty in connecting with the situation. Not with the characters, but situation. Nonetheless, I was fascinated with the characters and how they dealt with the problem.

The problems portrayed in this film, I think, were common in families. All the problems that could be attributed to one basic problem. Communication. Hell, I used to suffer from my relationship because of the shite communications thingy as well. But, unlike many of its Hollywood counterparts, these problems are not solved during the short visit, just in time for the film to end. We didn’t see Ashley takes comfort on George, or Medeleine breaks into Jhonny's solitude by sleeping with him, even though the chances are there. And, this is the best, even though we didn’t see Ashley and Jhonny as a perfect couple you can get, we didn’t see ‘divorce’ shadowed their relationship.

Amy Adams as Ashley won last year’s Sundance film-festival for her performance. And I couldn’t agree more with it. Ashley’s character was a joke-potential. We see love, we see cheerfulness, but we should see tragedy, and sadness as well, and if the actress behind it doesn’t had the talent to deliver such dicotomy, we would laugh and dismissed the character entirely. It’s a win-all or lose-all situation. And of course, on this case, Amy Adams wins it all. The rest of the actors also came great. At least, none of the important characters (Medelene and George’s family) fall short on the acting department. Thus, made this film into an enjoyable joy-ride of characters’ study.

All in all, family’s problems go on and on, and they aren’t solved, they’re dealt with. Now, that’s leave me with a problem, should I watch this movie again? Because I feel like I haven’t seen it enough. And giving it a mere 3 rating won’t do justice. Ah, well…

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

2006-01-22T19:05:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: David Straithairn, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Ray Wise, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, George Clooney
Director: George Clooney
My Rating: **** / ****
David Straithairn’s act really took my breath away. Particulary when he says his closing statement, “Good Night, and Good Luck”. The expression of his face, the way his eyes wanders like he doesn’t really wants to end and said something more, the tone of his voice, and the way George Clooney captured the scene. All of them captivating me, led me to a state of pure intense that – again – literally took my breath away.

“Good Night, and Good Luck” is one of the five best drama of 2005 according to Golden Globe awards. For me, it’s one of the five best film of 2005 that I’d already seen. Not without a reason. This film is a second film in a relatively short-interval that I watched and told about the live of newsies and delivered in a black/white picture. The difference was of course the quality of the picture – physically. “His Girl Friday” shot in 1940 where color in film was yet implemented and “Good Night, and Good Luck” was intended to shot in a grayscale tone.

In a sense – wait, not just in a sense, but it just IS – “Good Night, and Good Luck” is a docu-drama (part documentary, part drama, and oh, throws a little bit of thriller in it, because that’s the way I see it) about public war between Edward R. Murrow, a journalist from CBS with Senator McCarthy about the senator’s policy against those people who in his opinion solely (that is, without further physical or publicly released proof) un-American. Right. He’s an anti-Communist senator. And Murrow attacks his policy which is just appropriate through his show “See it Now” which he co-produced with Fred Friendly (Clooney). But if you think about it, you could easily put the situation into modern days where we’d change the “anti-Communist” to “anti-Terrorist”. But that of course, is beyond the scope of this review.

This movie is easily a thrill-ride. The reporters involved in “See it Now” show were literally put their heads on a chop-block when they’re started to attack Senator McCarthy policy. It could easily be observed from the office’s shot, from the meetings prior the show, from executive decisions, and ultimately, I held my breath when all the crew, right after Murrow said his closing statement, waiting for the phone to ring. Now, that’s what I call thriller. And the climax was rewarding.

But of course, the star of the show, the spotlight of it all, was David Straithairn who played Edward R. Murrow. I can’t quite remember it rightly, but the last time some actor put me in awe by his act is when I saw Daniel Day Lewis in “Gangs of New York” back in 2001. That’s leave me wondering how was Phillip Seymour Hoffman does act in Capote as he is the winner of the last Golden Globe Award for Best Leading Actor in Drama whereas David Straithairn was only become a nominee. But his performance alone, is enough to keep me entertained, keep me hooked up to the story line, sometimes keep my breath away (which actually a good thing, in this case), and leave me in awe after this thrill-ride approaches its end. The actors selection for this film is nowhere near good. Is wayyyy above good. Even though the only “star” on this film was George Clooney who comfortably put himself on the bench, the actors chosen in this film were chosen based not by their stardoms but by their roles and that’s what made this film easily one of the very best of 2005. And if you want to know what’s my opinion of good film and good acting, consequently on what base my reviews are upon, you ought to watch this movie, and tell me what you think. “Good Night, and Good Luck”.

Lord of War (2005)

2006-01-20T13:22:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan
Director: Andrew Niccol
My Rating: ***1/2 / ****

“That’s one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other eleven?”, Yuri Orlov (Cage) matter-of-factly saying right before one of the best opening sequence of the year in what I think is the most underrated movie of 2005. Why, even James Berardinelli hasn’t reviewed this film yet.

The rest of the film is told in flashback, with voiceover by Orlov, starting in 1980 and end to where he is now.

Yuri Orlov and his family came to US from Ukraine when he was a young boy. They runs and owns a restaurant. And Yuri, with his brother Vitaly (Leto) were part of the business. Until one day, a turn of event led Yuri to what later become the profession he’s best at. An arms dealer.

A sensitive issue, a bleak comedy, a grand visual, a great performance, oh, make it plural, great performances, a strong-witted script (came from Andrew Niccol who also wrote “The Truman Show”, “Gattaca”, among others), and an appropriate ending, made this movie a clean swift land on a top 6 / 7 of my shortlist on best of 2005. I even wondered myself, how come that there weren’t much attention given to this film. And why’s all the love to that gay-thingy “Brokeback Mountain” whilst none given to this movie? Okay, Brokeback may be better but not by this much of margins. Well, I guess everybody’s entitled to his / her own comment. And mine is, I enjoyed “Lord of War” a great deal.

To say that this film is a kind of a bleak comedy maybe a little bit off by some people’s standard. But it was a satiric comedy as we see Yuri made his way through the arms business ladder, dealing with cold-hearted dictators (or rebels) as a customer, rivaling with equally (if it isn’t more) cold-hearted business-rivals, but at the same time squeeze his way moral-wise by rationalizing his crimes, his denials that his business is actually killing-off people (“it’s not our wars”, he said), and his pretention to live a double-life in front of his family.

Yuri’s narration througout the movie was quickly became the center of this movie. It would of course needed a hand of a good scripter to deliver such narration in order to brought this movie to its highest point. Andrew Niccol was clearly up the par with the high expectation. Yuri’s narration was able to give a satyrical feel to otherwise blatant and pretentous political-war drama, Hollywood-style.

This film, as Yuri’s narration recapped his 20-years of gun-dealing career, dealt closely with various war-zones all-over the world (most often shown, was his dealing with his best customer, a dictator ruling Liberia, Andre Baptiste) and of course, by doing so, shown how cruel a thing the war is. We see a child executed military-style in Lebanon, a child not more than 12 wielding an AK-47, listed as a soldier, a real-soldier not just a mere citizen wielding a gun, a dead men lying on the street while a nazar bird digested on his remains, a mother stabbed and killed by several men, a shot through the head, with brain tissues and blood sprayed nicely (nice?) behind him. As far as Yuri’s morality issues concerned, he’s been on every scene I mentioned. But, he made an excuse to himself, justified his action by saying, “it’s not my war”. One particular scene even involved Yuri’s customer went only several hundred meters downhill from where the deal took place to made a massacre upon refugee camp consisting mainly of women and children in Sierra Leone right after his customer made purchase. And what does he say? “there was seven massacre more on Sierra Leone that week”. Will he be able to get out of the industry, as it started to creep on his family? Will he realize that his business is actually killing people, and like it not stained his hands with blood as well? Will he realize, as his counter-role, a rare-breed officer (since he couldn’t be bought) Valentine (Hawke) states that the longer he’s in custody, the more lives could be saved? I leave those questions’ answers to you.

Nicolas Cage as Yuri gave a superb performance up to a point where we can’t easily imagine someone else on his seat. But, the other supporting characters were less developed. Especially his nemesis. The one that supposed to be his arch-rival, his counter-role, the one that obsessed with him, to brought him down, to justice, an interpol officer Valentine. Tough he’s described by Yuri as his arch-nemesis, I’m barely able to see his obsessions.

One point of interest though, the movie ends with a statement that even though there are many private arms dealer like Yuri, the biggest arms dealers in the world were US, UK, Russia, France, and China which all five were permanent member of UN Security Council. Well, it wasn’t something entirely new. Everybody knows it already. But to made a statement in a commercial entertainment-product such as film? Well, that’s new.

Santa's Slay (2005)

2006-01-19T02:38:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: Bill Goldberg, Douglas Smith, Emille de Ravin, Robert Culp
Director: David Steiman
My Rating: 1/2 / ****

“Joy to the World”, a rather famous Christmas song was playing as we see the house in a midst of a light snow-rain. We then joined a family about having dinner. A formal dinner with Turkey, and a guest. By seeing this sequence, we expect something funny about this movie. Plus, one of the cast of the family was a familiar face – and squeak – Fran Drescher, better known by her role at “The Nanny”. So indeed, after a joke or two being thrown, light preambule to the dinner being opened, and a pre-dinner pray being said, suddenly, the chimney rattles and “bump” we see a familiar grandpa with red overalls and oversized belly, oh my, it’s Santa. He’s real after all… Not! Even before the shock had passed, our Santa rolls on the table and literally nails both of the family’s father’s palm to the table with a pair of dining knife, he then sets the family’s mother’s head into fire, kick the guest’s until he flew backward and crashed the cupboard as he goes, throws a star ornament of a christmas tree to the back of one of the daughter, smack the aunt’s head with a table’s foot with nail portruding out of it, and made one of the other daughter fell into a furniture resulting in the girl’s neck penetrated by the furniture. He even throws the family’s dog into rotating fan.

As this is one of those movies that I watched before actually made any information-gathering regarding of what kind of movie it is, who was the actor / actress of this movie, and ultimately, what it is all about. So, my jaw dropped on the floor due to the opening sequence. Alas, more because of my surprise and the hillarity of the irony than the horror-ness or gore-ness of that scene.

Right, I guess that’s all I can say about this movie. It’s an obvious meaningless and pointless B-grade slasher horror flick. And the first 7 minutes were unfortunately the only watchable part of this movie – Aw, it was even a powerful introduction. The rest? Ah, boring is the best to describe it. I mean, after that fast-rate butchery on the first 7 minutes of course I would expect that some more bodies would get butchered, slaughtered, tortured, or whatever. But do I get it? A big NO. Even boring was giving it too kind of a review.

Not enough sympathy to the devil albeit, it was probably the best casting of this movie (Bill Goldberg as Evil Santa). Not enough reason for the devil to hunt our heroes, not enough blood to call it a would-be cult-classic, not enough slaughtering to call it a slasher-flick, not enough dramas nor characters to keep us hooked to fill the blanks whenever Bill Goldberg aka Evil Santa is out from the screen, even not enough jokes and ironies to call it a satyrical horror/comedy and the ultra-cheesy conclusion which almost made me puke. The half star (actually it was a little less than a quarter, but half-a-star was the lowest grade I could give to a movie which actually had its moment) I give would solely granted because of the first 7 minutes and Hulk Hogan-ish Evil Santa portrayed by Bill Goldberg.

My Newly Added Movies Collection

2006-01-18T03:14:00.000+07:00

In no particular order:

The Brother's Grimm
Four Brothers
The Cave
Underclassman
Hide and Seek
Crimen Ferpecto
Hustle & Flow
The Constant Gardener
A Sound of Thunder
Flightplan
Pretty Persuasive
Thumbsucker
The Man
Doom
Junebug
Lord of War
Down to the Bone (2004)
Death to the Supermodels
The Fog
Wedding Crashers
Good Night and Good Luck
The Chumscrubber
Two for the Money
Half Light (2006)
Looking for Fidel (2004)
Mozart and the Whale
Lonesome Jim
Tamara
Kronk's New Groove
Fourth World War
Moolaade
Lila Says (2004)
Stranger In My Bed
Um Tiro no Escuro
Bad News Bears
Peaches (2004)
Nine Lives
American Pie's Band Camp
Kings and Queens
Red Eye
Into the Blue
Must Love Dogs
Cry Wolf
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Great Raid
Santa's Slay ---> Now, this is a very very stupid but hillarious horror. Gore but humorous as well. Happy Holiday! Here comes Santa.. ha ha ha.. wicked sick.

Otherwise mentioned, all the movies were released in the year 2005

I know, some of the movies are bound to be junk, but, i could expect much from Junebug, Good Night, and Good Luck and several foreign films. The rest? ow well, some mindless fucking stupid movie once in a while won't hurt. I'd be writing short on Santa's Slay later on, man the movie is soooo stupid, that even it felt so good.

His Girl Friday (1940)

2006-01-16T13:29:00.001+07:00

United States, 1940
Cast: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russel, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart
Director: Howard Hawks
My Rating: ** 1/2 / ****

Turn on your time-machine, and let’s go back in time. To a world where a raging war that took live of millions was just a nightmare yet to come and not a bloody-ink on a book of history.

It’s 1940 where this film was one of the first, if not the first film that features character’s dialog overlapping each-other and not just taking turns as it used to be. With a script that could easily made a three-hour long film, this film delivers its kicks, its wits, and its non-stop comedy in a rapid-fire. One of the most important film in American history that even one could easily argue that someone cannot learn about American film history without including this film in its syllabus.

Based on a play about live as a newspaper reporter, the trio main-cast on this movie were involved in a some kind of a bizarre love triangle. Hildy was a known reporter for her brilliance, but has recently quit her job as she tries to become a less obsessive person and become more like a commoner. Her editor, Walter Burns – also her ex-husband – doesn’t want her to quit, of course (or for that matters, doesn’t want her to divorced him, either). So when on one day, she went to the “Morning Post” where she had her reputation built nicely around her to meet Walter, he doesn’t waste a time to lure her back into his office, and his home. But, it was only to find that she brought a news in which he doesn’t like nor he has been prepared for. She was getting married with someone else with less enthusiastic in life (read: led a boring life). And so, for the rest of the film we see him trying desperately to win her back. Both her heart, and her old-enthusiastics on Journalism, in a roller-coaster joy ride of hillarious comedy ever made by Hollywood delivered – as I had stated earlier – in a rapid dialog show-down. I had to focus rather hard to catch the dialog, often rewind to had a better understanding since I watched it without subtitles.

The movie wasn’t that great, I’ve seen better (well, of course since it’s an 1940 movie with black and white pictures, and monotonous sound), it manages to hook me right after Hildy and Walter walks out of Walter’s office to greet Bruce, soon-to-be Hildy’s husband. With dialogues that slapping one another, providing a sense of irony as well as sarcasm, the movie was able to keep the pace up until which I think is the best scene in a movie where Hildy, who has finally found and obey her true instinct, Journalism, doing as frantic as an addict could be to type the story she had covered, while Walter as an editor, instructs his employees to change the headlines of tomorrow’s editon, while Bruce was desperately trying to persuade Hildy to go with him. *SPOILER* This three-way monolog was created beautifully, that even if you had sympathy with Bruce, we knew right from the start of the News Room scene that Hildy cannot turns her back from her life-calling which is Journalism, you would simply be smiling. Especially when Hildy made a ‘stupid’ remarks before the end of that scene, “Where’s Bruce? I thought I heard him a while ago?”. This ‘stupid’ remarks made me laugh heartily, a thing that after so many movies had become a rarity.

Though I didn’t understand some of the dialogs delivered, further, the movie also incorporates several “in-jokes” which make things went even deeper into the haze. But, I’ve got more fun by merely seeing the gestures made by the characters, or most importantly the chemistry between Hildy and Walter. Now, that’s what I call chemistry. It was hillarious, romantic, and warm. I felt so envious to them, and that’s the proof of how effective this duo turns out to be. And if you were watching movies, it was appropriate that you at least enjoy the movie. Not necessarily understand, which I think is secondary (well, that’s why after a while, I re-watch a particular movie), but enjoyment is the first and the foremost important things when it comes to movies. And that’s what I had.

PS: This film has become a public property. You could easily downloaded it, copy it, even alter it without violating any copyrights out there. See Archive.org for more info.

Ryoko Hirosue

2006-01-11T12:36:00.000+07:00

Isn't she a babe? around the same age as i am, it was to no one's wonderment that i had a crush on her. Well, actually i had a certain favor to girls with small eyes. But usually, i never cared much of them (read: i never intentionally look for their info on the net).

On Hirosue, i first laid eyes on her not a week ago when i watch a movie on local televesion entitled "Wasabi" with French actor Jean Reno. My affection toward Jean Reno was similar to that with Jason Statham. I had a tendency to enjoy the movie they played even though that the movie turns out to be a crappy ones (such as this one (Wasabi) or The Transporter 2) so i stood my ground, only occassionally change the channel (there's nothing good on the other TVs anyway) and watch the movie until end.

Wasabi told about a French policeman who happened to had a lover in Japan whose for one reason or other lose any contact with her. Now imagine his surprise when he found out that his lover died and left him with a hefty-sum of money to his beneficiary and also a daughter. Hesitantly though, he flew to Japan to met his daughter, and maybe, just maybe claim his lover's heritage. Note: He should be excited to had that much of money. But his character demands that he shouldn't be to excited. Bah! Pretender!

Now, before the daughter made her appearance, i had almost lost interest to this movie. But when the daughter made her presence (known as Yumi), i fell in love. And the rest is history. I would love to see another movie that starred by Ms.Hirosue. What a lovely smile she had.

P.S: I had to go to Japan. I really do. As a student, perhaps? *thought wanders* ~~~~

Weekly Box Office Report

2006-01-10T22:18:00.000+07:00

How's the long weekend? I've got a superb one. Though, of course, i won't going into details here.

Well, here comes the last weekend Box-Office report for the past week.. aw, all right, i know that it has been several days past. But everybody wants a holiday.

In several weeks, the battle for the audiences are still between the big gorilla and his affection blonde, and the bunch of kids led by a lion who fought against the white witch. And of course, being a cute-ish family movie for a holiday-season, so far, Aslan and the kids were the victor of the battle.

But, the first week of a brand-new-year wasn't a PG movie, but an R-rated movie. Hostel - quoting its official plot - Two adventurous American college buddies, Paxton and Josh, backpack through Europe eager to make quintessentially hazy travel memories with new friend Oli, an Icelander they've met along the way. Paxton and Josh are eventually lured by a fellow traveler to what's described as a nirvana for American backpackers--a particular hostel in an out-of-the-way Slovakian town stocked with Eastern European women as desperate as they are gorgeous. The two friends arrive and soon easily pair off with exotic beauties Natalya and Svetlana. In fact, too easily. Initially distracted by the good time they're having, the two Americans quickly find themselves trapped in an increasingly sinister situation that they will discover is as wide and as deep as the darkest, sickest recess of human nature itself--if they survive.

I took the poster from the Chinese-version simply because i liked it more than the other poster out there. Brandished by "Produced by Quentin Tarantino", this cheap-budgeted horror flick was written directed by Eli Roth and distributed by Lions Gate Films who both has been established themself as an horror-specialized movie-men. They (who had watch it) said that it had similar shock to Saw (a Lions Gate Films as well), only better. In Saw case, i really didn't expect it to be that good, so i guess it was enough reason for me to wait for this movie. There's a one-minute clip available on the net that depicted what to expect in this movie. Though i really must warn you. If you didn't dig for the 'gore' scenes, never watch the clip, let alone the movie. This is a 'gore' movie that doesn't soften itself like Saw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake). The statistic says it all. Sixty-five percent of the weekend audiences (in the U.S) were under 25, and 60 percent were male.

Random trivia: The movie was written, produced, directed and released theatrically all in a twelve month period, which is three times faster than the average Hollywood film.

Another two new releases for this week, however, weren't that good. They didn't even made top-10. Adam Sandler produced movie (which of course, packed with his cronies), Grandma's Boy falls on #13. And Uwe Boll's latest disaster, Bloodrayne, as expected came on #19 with lousy 900+ theaters opening averaging for US$1,573.

My take, i never cared about Adam Sandler's works (unless if he's teamed ON SCREEN with Drew Barrymore), and i believed that somewhere on this site i had a statement, a fair-warning that everyone who doesn't liked to waste their money should Never seen anything from Uwe Boll if it was an adaption from video-game. Might as well flush the money down the toilet. And that statement shall holds true again. Some random guy even said that Bloodrayne was every film professor's nightmare and some other guy said that it was so UN-tertaining that made having cancer seem fun.

Quick links:

Boiler Room (2000)

2006-01-06T15:27:00.000+07:00

United States, 2000
Cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck, Jamie Kennedy, Scott Caan, Ron Rifkin, Nicky Katt, Nia Long, Taylor Nichols, Tom Everett Scott
Director: Ben Younger
My Rating: *** / ****

"Reco!"
For Seth Davis (Ribisi), a 19-years-old college-dropout, a job promising tons of cash would surely had its appeal. Seth had run an illegal casino in his house, and it makes profit but it has made the relationship between him and his father (Rifkin), an allegedly legal attache - which is bad already - worsened. And so, when Seth offered to become an on-job-training in a stock-consultant firm company, JT Marlin.

What he doesnt' know was that everybody who worked on JT Marlin were on a boiler-room. Usually, people who worked on such firm would work no less than 18 hours-a-day to boost their client's portfolios whilst in so called "Boiler Room", the employees work over the phone, promising an untold-riches, providing confidential "tips", and ultimately preying on the customer's greed and fear of missing one hell of a chance. In short, what they're doing is nothing more than just a scam.

Our hero, Seth, of course doesn't aware at first to the business-practical that the JT Marlin had done on a daily basis. All he ever knew was that whenever he found a potential stupid rich man who would blindly investing his money to something unknown and unheard of (they called him "pope"), he would scream out of his lunge "Reco!!!!!" and that's when every senior broker would run to his desk to made the final 'sell'.

Curiosity kills the Cat
A talented salesman to begin with, Seth was quickly raised the ladder. He made a good money, up to a point where he doesn't need to open his casino anymore (it loses money anyway), his relationship with his father was getting better, and to add more drama to it, a cupid had decided to come to his side. But that's when curiosity kills the cat.

At first, he's just simply curious as to how come the comission on JT Marlin was higher than those of the opposing firm. He only utters his curiosity to one fellow-worker who he trusts best Chris (Diesel), who happen to takes a liking to Seth. Well, he'd be more like a brother to Seth in the end. And then a series of unfortunate events follows. And the truth was emphasized by the fact that his father knows about JT Marlin and gave his son an ultimatum, "Dont talk to me again, ever!". And that's when the world crumbles beneath his feet.

Talk is Cheap
This movie involves two of my favourite things to happen on a movie. 1. It relies heavily on dialogue. I always love movie that relies heavily on talk, instead of explosions. And this movie owned a lot - since its frightening resemblance - to David Mamet, my second favourite screenwriter (only second to Charlie Kauffman). And that was all the reason it needs. 2. It's about scam. Nothing intrigues me more than to see people getting double-crossed, people getting scammed on the screen.

It also had an effective deliverance of the emotion that came to Seth. One particular shot was when Seth involved greatly on one customer he thought as a "pope" at first but it turns out to be just a regular poor-guy. We were brought to the poor-guy family, and how does the scam that had been done by Seth was literally took the family apart. So intense.

And on the end, the movie's conclusion was nothing sort of great.

Scene Stealer
I've got no problem whatsoever with the casts. Vin Diesel gave a more than decent performance here, as Seth's "big-brother". And Giovanni Ribisi thought that this movie was his first adult-performance, it delivers, even though it rather hard to accept Ribisi as JT Marlin's brightest star at the second-half of the movie. But, i've got to admit that the scene stealer on this movie was Ben Affleck. He took the role that Alec Baldwin's took in a David Mamet's Glengarry Glenn Ross. Ben was on screen for only two scenes. And he could really convince me on both scenes. And if i was on a Seth's shoe, i would definitely be moved on by his speech and took the opportunity to work on a scam JT Marlin blindfoldedly. Really, this is his best performance that i ever saw of him.

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T21:36:00.000+07:00

My New Year's resolutions:
Watch more movies, Read more books (yeah, like that's a news), Really start my own business (i had an investor ready, the only question left would be wether i could make him really convinced of the prospect in the business i had been proposed to him, or not. And that would be decided by the time i took him to do some market-survey later this week. If everything goes as planned, in a two months or so, three tops, my so-called-and-hopefully new business would be up and walking - not yet running), and maybe, settling down.

All in all, Happy New Year, may it brings only good things.

Situs Review Film Indonesia

2005-12-06T12:58:00.000+07:00

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.

Le Grand Voyage (2004)

2005-12-03T06:23:00.000+07:00

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.

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

2005-12-03T05:01:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: 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).

Valiant (2005)

2005-11-16T19:26:00.000+07:00

United Kingdom, 2005
Cast (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)

2005-11-16T04:24:00.000+07:00

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.

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

2005-09-30T18:30:00.000+07:00

Germany, 1922
Cast: 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.

TV Series

2005-09-27T08:13:00.000+07:00

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.

Honey (2003)

2005-09-20T03:50:00.000+07:00

United States, 2003
Cast: 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.

Catatan Akhir Sekolah (2005)

2005-09-09T19:35:00.000+07:00

Indonesia, 2005
Cast: 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 :)

Out of Season (2004)

2005-09-07T18:41:00.000+07:00

United States, 2004
Cast: 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

2005-09-07T18:36:00.000+07:00

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.

On Scheduling

2005-09-04T17:43:00.000+07:00

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.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Monday
This 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) - Wednesday
One 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) - Thursday
Nicole 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) - Friday
Ethan 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.

Red Eye (2005)

2005-08-30T19:38:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: 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)

2005-08-30T19:11:00.000+07:00

Japan, 2005
Cast: 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.

Jumbled Images

2005-08-17T07:09:00.000+07:00

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".

Killing Me Softly (2002)

2005-08-16T17:42:00.000+07:00

United Kingdom, 2002
Cast: 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."

Sin City (2005)

2005-08-12T16:58:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: 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'.

Tiba-tiba...

2005-08-04T17:14:00.000+07:00

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..

The Island (2005)

2005-08-01T09:11:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: 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.

Art Heist (2004); National Treasure (2004); Envy (2004)

2005-07-27T10:20:00.000+07:00

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.

Fantastic Four (2005)

2005-07-13T20:28:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: 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.

Ayumi Hamasaki

2005-07-12T16:25:00.000+07:00

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'.

A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)

2005-07-07T04:14:00.000+07:00

United States, 2004
Cast: 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.

Batman Begins (2005)

2005-06-26T16:42:00.000+07:00

United States, 2005
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes
Director: Christopher Nolan
My Rating: **** / ****

Superhero yang lain minggir dulu, Batman sudah datang! Tidak lagi sebagai Cape Crusader, pahlawan bertopeng hingar bingar, tapi sebagai imej aslinya Dark Night yang cuma beraksi kalau malam dan menurut gw, secara psikis paling dekat dengan penjahat sehingga sewaktu-waktu (paling tidak sudah dieksploit di komiknya) bisa dengan mudah menjadi seorang penjahat.

Bukan Prekuel!
Banyak yang beranggapan bahwa Batman Begins ikut2an trend dengan membuatnya sebagai sebuah prekuel dari serial film yang dimulai oleh Burton di thn 1989. Tapi, Warner Bros. ternyata memang mematikan franchise Batman yang telah sukses dihina oleh Joel Schumacher lewat Batman & Robin (duh! horrendeous! kostum Batman dan Robin-nya berputing!). Boleh dibilang franchise Batman yang sudah menghasilkan 4 film sebelumnya di-reboot dan dimulai dari awal sebagai Batman Begins.

And in my opinion, film ini gw sebut sebagai film superhero terbaik yang pernah dibuat. Spider-Man? X-Men? they're not good enough. Dan gw punya James Berardinelli, Roger Ebert yang mem-back-up opini gw. This was indeed the best superhero-narrative.

Where it all begins
Film Batman Begins berada di ekstrem yang jauh berbeda dengan film Batman sebelumnya (utamanya, dua film Batman karya Joel Schumacher, Batman Forever dan Batman & Robin). Di film2 Batman tersebut kita disuguhi banyak aksi-aksi hi-tech yang memang jadi spesialisasinya Batman dengan porsi CGI yang sangat besar. Namun di Batman Begins, Chris Nolan meminimkan penggunaan CGI sehingga semuanya terlihat sangat natural. Jangan harap melihat Batman berseliweran di kota Gotham selayaknya Spider-Man mengitari gedung-gedung kota New York. Acap kali Batman digambarkan oleh Chris Nolan cuma sebagai sekelebatan bayangan hitam saja. Dan itu memang esensi Batman. Stealth, musuh yang tak terlihat adalah musuh yang paling mengerikan. Ada alasannya dia memakai kostum hitam dan hanya beroperasi di malam hari. Jadi kalau kita tarik kembali ingatan kita ke dua film Batman sebelumnya, kehadiran Batman selalu disertai dengan kemeriahan yang mencoreng esensi Batman sebagai Dark Knight. Sementara di Batman Begins, kehadiran Batman nyaris seperti Jaelangkung. Datang tak diundang, pergi tak diantar. Bwet, bwet.

Sebagai awal dari sebuah franchise, Batman tidak langsung muncul sebagai Dark Knight. Kita melihatnya selama beberapa puluh menit awal sebagai Bruce Wayne yang menyaksikan ayah ibunya mati ditembak garong lokal pas masih berumur 8 tahun, dan kemudian kembali jadi Batman 20 tahun kemudian. Menit-menit awal menceritakan apa yang dilakukan Bruce selama rentang waktu tersebut. Kita melihat Bruce di penjara Cina 'berlatih' menghadapi tujuh orang napi, bertemu dengan Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), Ra's Al-Ghul (Ken Watanabe) tokoh2 misterius yang punya pengaruh sangat besar di dunia DC. Bahkan Ra's Al-Ghul, walau tidak diceritakan di filmnya, adalah seorang immortal yang originnya bisa dilacak sampai jaman Neanderthal. Dia yang menyebabkan Konstantin dan Roma runtuh, dia yang berada dibalik kedigdayaan Jenghis Khan. Pokoknya setiap kejadian penting dunia selalu ada Ra's Al-Ghul yang berada di belakangnya. Dan di sini, dia juga berada di belakang transformasi Bruce Wayne - Batman.

Selain itu, semua terminologi yang bakal muncul di film-film Batman berikutnya (remember, it's not a prekuel, it's a brand-new franchise), seperti penjara bagi penjahat-penjahat Gotham, Arkham Asylum, pembangunan Bat-Cave, siapa orang-orang yang ada dibelakang Batman, siapa yang membangun teknologi yang dipakai oleh Batman termasuk Bat-Mobile, Bat-arang, sabuk-nya yang terkenal itu, dan Pak Gordon, polisi yang nantinya juga berperan besar dalam salah satu episode terkelam Batman (kalau dijadikan film mungkin bakal ada di film ke-4). Pendeknya inti dari film ini adalah Begins. Dimana semua hal yang berkaitan dengan Batman dimulai dari awal.

Why this film was best
Christian Bale itu buat gw kaya Daniel Day-Lewis. Aktor yang bagus, tapi masih idealis. Dia pilih-pilih peran dan totalitas-nya bener-bener luar biasa. Ketika maen di The Machinist (bisa ditemukan juga di sini), dia menurunkan berat badan sampai hanya tinggal walking-stick. Tapi kemudian segera setelahnya, di film Batman, dia naik 85 pon seperti terlihat di gambar. Bahkan lawan maennya saja meragukan apakah ia tidak terlalu kurus untuk menjadi Batman ketika mereka pertama kali melihatnya. Tapi pada akhirnya, totalitas keprofresionalannya berbicara. Pemeran Batman sebelumnya, Keaton, Kilmer, Clown-ey (baca; Clooney), dibantu oleh kostum untuk terlihat lebih berotot. Tapi buat Bale, dia sudah terlihat seperti Batman dengan bertelanjang dada seperti di samping.

Selain itu, perannya sebagai Bruce Wayne juga arguably the best. Dalam kisah Batman, Bruce Wayne adalah alter-ego dari Batman. Not the other way around. Dia harus bertingkah seperti seorang spoiled-rich-bachelor-guy ketika dia menanggalkan kostum-nya. Clown-ey sebenernya juga cukup punya kualifikasi menjadi seorang Bruce Wayne. Masalahnya, Clown-ey tidak berakting sebagai Bruce Wayne. Tapi dia secara alamiah adalah Bruce Wayne, sehingga tidak seperti Bale, dia tidak perlu berpura-pura bersikap sebagai seorang multi-milyuner. Sedangkan Bale paham betul bahwa sejatinya Batman adalah Batman dan Bruce Wayne adalah topeng dari Batman.

Aktor-aktor (gw tidak menyebut aktris) yang mendukung Batman juga tidak ada yang mengecewakan. Michael Caine, one of the best actor out there, meskipun sedikit terlalu gemuk untuk Alfred, tetep keren. Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), who would've doubt on him?. Liam Neeson (Ducard) yang untuk kesekian kalinya menjadi seorang mentor. Gary Oldman (Gordon) yang menyeberang menjadi sosok protagonis yang penampilannya membuat kita berpikir apa benar ia se'bersih' itu? (tunggu saja di film ke-4, *wink), dan tentu saja si Cillian Murphy penjahat kita, yang mmmhhhh.. cocok sekali menjadi seorang Scarecrow. Satu-satunya miss buat gw adalah Katie Holmes. Kehadirannya serasa tidak diperlukan. Entah dia itu sebagai "love interest"-nya Bruce Wayne / Batman yang meski demikian cuma evident di sepuluh menit terakhir (which is a relieve, since we only see the Hollywoodian kiss right on the end of the movie where everything has cooled down) tidak berhasil. Tidak ada chemistry cinta antara Bale dan Holmes sehingga tidak berhasil (sekali lagi untungnya cuma di sepuluh menit terakhir). Atau mungkin sebagai motivator dari Batman, yang juga sebenernya kurang, soalnya Batman gw lihat tidak butuh motivator. Di film ini, Gotham sudah jadi alasan dan motivasi yang sangat baik baginya. Apapun alasannya, Katie Holmes tidak diperlukan di film ini (i never never liked her anyway).

Untuk sutradaranya dan screenwriternya, tidak ada masalah. Chris Nolan lebih ngerti soal aksi daripada Tim Burton tapi lebih nggak neko-neko daripada Joel Schumacher. Dengan sudut kamera unik, editing yang baik, dan spesial efek yang alamiah (less on CGI, more on models and working gadget) membuat kita tidak lagi seperti melihat film kartun selayaknya film2 Batman-nya Joel Schumacher. Sebagai contoh adegan kejar2an dengan Bat-Mobile. Di film2 Batman sebelumnya, Bat-Mobile sangat superior sehingga ia bisa melakukan hal-hal yang muskil dan melawan gravitasi (berjalan secara vertikal ke atas?) sehingga berkesan seperti maen2 doang. Di sini, Bat-Mobile lebih terkesan nyata, sebuah tank dengan mobilitas sebuah sedan.

Epilog:
What a nice experience to finally back again on the screen. Di akhir film, gw berteriak puas, apalagi ketika Gordon mengatakan kepada Batman ada seorang penjahat yang meninggalkan identitas dirinya di crime-scene yang menunjukkan siapa musuh Batman berikutnya (musuh terbesar dan terberat Batman, yet).

Harapan gw sih, mudah2an screenwriter-nya (Goyer) dan tentu saja Christian Bale, Michael Caine akan kembali lagi untuk membintangi instalasi berikutnya. And i just wish, that they get rid of Katie Holmes, menikah saja sam Tom Cruise dan jadi ibu rumah tangga baik-baik. Speaking of which, Rabu ini film Tom Cruise yang paling baru, film yang disebut-sebut sebagai film Spielberg yang menggunakan CGI paling banyak. "War of the Worlds". Kaya gimana? tunggu full-report-nya Kamis ini atau Jum'at paling lambat.

P.S: Kalo diinget lagi di Batman & Robin, jika kostum Batman dan Robin punya puting, kenapa kostum Batgirl tidak ada putingnya?... hmmm...

Memorable Scenes (1)

2005-06-22T15:22:00.000+07:00

Di setiap film tentu ada yang namanya adegan yang paling berkesa. Berkesan di sini bisa macem-macem, tergantung dari kondisi (mood) pada saat menerima stimuli adegan yang dimaksud dan lantas persepsi dari adegan itu sendiri. Mulai dari sini gw akan meng-capture adegan-adegan yang membuat gw terkesan dan tentu saja disertai alasannya.

Okeh satu dulu:

Adegan di atas yang membuat gw akhirnya suka sama Natalie Portman. Di film itu, Leon (1994) Natalie yang baru berumur 12 thn berperan sebagai Mathilda yang kemudian membuat akuintasi dengan seorang pembunuh bayaran. Adegan di atas terjadi kira-kira di menit ke-30 dan merupakan adegan di mana akhirnya Mathilda pertama kali masuk ke dalam lingkarannya si pembunuh.

Mathilda yang saat itu baru pulang berbelanja mendapati apartemen tempat keluarga-nya tinggal sudah carut-marut dan terlihat di sebelah kiri seorang laki-laki bersenjata berjaga. Laki2 itu adalah polisi, dan ruang yang dijaga oleh laki2 tersebut adalah apartemen Mathilda. Mathilda hanya bisa menangis sesenggukan ketika melirik ayahnya yang sudah terkapar di lantai apartemen tersebut dan alih-alih berbelok masuk ke apartemennya, ia berjalan terus ke apartemen si pembunuh. Gw suka banget sama adegan ini, soalnya walaupun si Mathilda ini tidak lagi punya cinta sama keluarganya (dia dipukuli, terlihat dari mukanya yang lebam) tetap saja bagi seorang gadis muda, kehilangan keluarganya akan memberikan dampak yang tidak menyenangnkan. Beautiful.

Ran (1985)

2005-06-19T17:01:00.000+07:00

Japan, 1985
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Mieko Harada
Director: Akira Kurosawa
My Rating: ***** / **** (that's true, 5 out of 4 stars!)

Ini adalah salah satu film yang membuat gw mencintai film. Segala aspek di film ini dieksekusi dengan penuh emosi. Gw sampai lupa waktu, lupa kalau waktu nonton gw sebenenernya sangat kecapean dan sudah terjaga selama hampir 20 jam. Serasa hanya ada gw dan film ini.

King Lear
Sebelumnya, film favorit gw dari bapak Kurosawa ini Ikiru dan Throne of Blood. Dan film ini, precedes the two. Selain karena filmnya berwarna (elemen yang ga penting sebenernya, tapi seperti di Dreams, kehadiran warna membuat film Kurosawa jadi agak berbeda), filmnya juga merupakan fusi sempurna dari Ikiru dan Throne of Blood.

Ikiru menceritakan seorang tua yang pengen melakukan sesuatu sebelum ia meninggal. Sementara Throne of Blood yang diadaptasi dari Shakespeare's Macbeth menceritakan kerserakahan manusia terhadap kekuasaan. Ran contains all the aspect.

Ran juga diadaptasi dari salah satu tragedi Shakespeare "King Lear". Hence, it was a tragic movie, with a tragic ends.

Seorang raja (Hidetora Ichimonji) yang merasa sudah tua, lengser dari kedudukannya sebagai the Great Lord. Dia membagi kekuasaannya kepada tiga orang anaknya (Taro, Jiro, Saburo) namun dengan syarat ia tetap retain his title as the Great Lord. Sedangkan kepemimpinan sehari-hari diserahkan pada anak tertuanya Taro. Mirip sama kedudukan Raja dan Perdana Menteri di jaman sekarang ini. Hidetora sendiri adalah seorang tokoh yang sangat berpengalaman, vicious in wars, pemimpin yang dihormati dan disegani. Namun jika sudah berhadapan dengan anak-anaknya, ia tidak lagi bisa melihat udang di balik batu. Instingnya dibutakan oleh cintanya kepada anak-anaknya sehingga ia yakin mereka tidak ada yang berbuat macam-macam. Hence, ketika kerajaannya sudah dibagi-bagi, dan sedikit ritual tentang love, putra bungsunya Saburo angkat bicara. Saburo tidak menyukai keputusan ayahnya yang terburu-buru menyerahkan kekuasaannya begitu saja. Pendapat Saburo ini didukung oleh salah satu jenderalnya Tango yang mengakibatkan keduanya (Saburo dan Tango) dibuang dari kerajaan Hidetora. Kesalahan yang fatal.

Seperti di Macbeth dan Throne of Blood, ada satu tokoh wanita yang sesuai dengan pendapat kuno "di balik kesuksesan dan kehancuran seorang pria, selalu terdapat seorang wanita", Lady Kaede. Dia memiliki dendam pada Hidetora dan ... seterusnya. Jalan ceritanya bisa ditebak sebenernya. Tapi inti dari film ini menurut gw tidak terletak pada jalan ceritanya, melainkan pada penokohan si Hidetora sendiri. Bagaimana ia kemudian melihat anak-anaknya memalingkan muka darinya, mengkhianati kepercayaannya, dan kemudian memerangi dirinya. Kehancurannya secara emosi lebih mengerikan daripada kehancurannya secara fisik. Dalam satu adegan yang sangat indah, captivating, entrapping, Hidetora berjalan terseok-seok melintasi barisan tentara. Dan sepertinya setiap langkah yang ia jalani, setiap kepingan dari kewarasannya terjatuh. Ngeri sekali. Gw hampir nangis ngeliatnya. Tidak ada yang bisa mengeksekusi adegan itu seindah Kurosawa. Why? baca sub-bab berikutnya.

Kurosawa: I Could Not Possible Directed Ran at an Earlier Age
Pada saat film ini dibuat, Kurosawa berumur 75 tahun. Sebelum Ran selesai, dia juga menghadapi berbagai masalah yang membuatnya berada di jalur yang sama dengan Hidetora... kehancuran emosi. Dia mencoba bunuh diri, nyaris buta, bangkrut, dan ada masalah juga dengan keluarganya. (Bisa dibaca selengkapnya di situs tentang Kurosawa. Where? Googling. It's easier than to remember the exact URL address). Pada intinya, kalau ada yang tahu apa yang dirasakan pak tua Hidetora yang tiba-tiba jatuh dari ketinggian, mungkin pak tua Kurosawa, sehingga pada akhirnya setiap adegan yang melibatkan Hidetora bisa benar-benar tragis (terutama adegan Hidetora yang menggali kuburnya sendiri di akhir film, atau adegan terakhir. Sakit). So i guess, thank you Kurosawa for make this tragic stroy into a really-really beautiful tragic cinema experience.

Epilog
Adegan favorit gw? buanyak banget. Tapi mungkin yang paling berkesan, yang sepertinya sanggup menghipnotis gw sehingga gw bisa bener-bener lupa waktu, adalah adegan "siege at the third castle". Adegan perangnya bener-bener menghanyutkan. Hanya ditemani suara musik yang melankolis-tragis, tanpa ada suara pedang beradu, panah berdesing, teriakan, atau slow-mo, setiap detik yang berlalu bener-bener merupakan one helluva cinema experience.... seandainya gw nontonnya di bioskop, gw yakin semua penonton (yang mencintai film tentunya) bakal terdiam, dan gw pasti udah berurai air-mata. Tidak pernah gw melihat adegan perang di sebuah film yang dieksekusi seindah itu. Perhatikan kata-kata gw: Tidak pernah. LOTR? Kingdom of Heaven? ah.. they're just the feast for eyes and ears.. not much left for the conscience.

Raging Bull (1980)

2005-06-18T14:27:00.000+07:00

United States, 1980
Cast: Robert deNiro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
Director: Martin Scorcese
My Rating: **** / ****

Dari Wikipedia
Film noir is a stylistic approach to genre films forged in depression-era detective and gangster movies and hard-boiled detective stories which were a staple of pulp fiction. Film noir is based in large part on naturalism, a movement in literature based on realism. Film noir is French for "black film", and is pronounced accordingly ("fīlm nwahr"): the transliterated plural is films noir.

Raging Bull, menarik garis yang sama dengan tiga karya Scorcese sebelumnya, Who's That Knocking on My Door?, Mean Street, dan Taxi Driver. Pendeknya, film ini tidak indah, tidak ada suka di film ini, jadi siap-siap aja selama dua jam film ini tidak ada kata lagi yang lebih tepat untuk menggambarkan film ini selain "DEPRESI". Berat banget dah.

Jake LaMotta
Seperti yang gw singgung sebelumnya, ada paling nggak tiga film Scorcese sebelum Raging Bull yang mengusung tema noir yang sama dengan film ini. Jadi apa yang mau gw tulis di sini holds true with the previous three. Raging Bull merupakan film biopic dari seorang Jake LaMotta, petinju kelas menengah yang supposedly cukup terkenal (even though i never heard of his name, well, not that i into boxing, horrible sport, i must say) sampai lima kali melawan Sugar Ray Robinson (kalo ga pernah denger, kebangetah dah).

Sedikit mengingatkan pada Rocky eh? tentu tidak. Rocky adalah film drama yang uplifting, dengan happy ending, di akhir ceritanya. Yang nonton Rocky pasti senang di akhir ceritanya, dan sekali waktu bakal menyenandungkan lagu "Eyes of the Tiger". Tapi habis nonton Raging Bull? disarankan habis itu tidur, maen game, baca buku lucu, atau jalan-jalan. Film ini mulai dari soundtracknya, sinematografinya (shots entirely in black-and-white), alur ceritanya, tokoh-tokohnya, depresif banget. Boleh dibilang, film ini ada di kutub yang berlawanan dari Rocky.

Jake LaMotta adalah petinju kelas menengah yang supposedly jago berantem. Dia tahu kemampuannya, dan membuktikan kemampuannya. But something, something in his personality nail him in one place, stuck. Sampai ketika dia tidak memiliki lawan di ring profesional (semua orang takut padanya) namun dia tidak punya kesempatan untuk menjajal juara dunia. Simply because everybody (kecuali adiknya, Joe Pesci) didn't like him.

Gw tidak bisa menaruh kata yang tepat untuk personality dari seorang Jake ini. Mungkin gw akan ngembat istilah Freudisme "madonna-whore complex". Apa itu? Googling ;). Si Jake ini so drawn to himself, tapi yang ditekankan di film ini adalah bagaimana dia memandang seorang wanita yaitu -- mengacu pada madonna-whore complex -- sebagai virgin atau sebagai whore. Ada satu wanita yang ia inginkan (diperankan dengan bagus oleh Cathy Moriarty), hanya karena ia ingin memuaskan keinginan or fantasi seksual-nya saja (dont worry there is no too-vulgar scenes here), dan ketika ia sudah mendapatkannya, ia berubah menjadi sangat posesif dengan wanita itu, sampai-sampai ia jadi percaya, kalau cewenya ini, kalau sempat akan berselingkuh dengan setiap pria yang ditemuinya (termasuk adiknya sendiri). Robert DeNiro benar-benar luar biasa, kita tahu dia bermasalah tanpa ia harus memberitahukannya secara literal. Wajar kalau dia lantas mendapat Oscar pertamanya untuk aktor utama terbaik.

Ketidakmampuannya, lebih tepat, keposesifannya terhadap sang istri (yang sebetulnya mencintai Jake sepenuh hati) -- mirip dengan ketidak mampuan Travis Bickle dalam memperlakukan wanita di Taxi Driver, juga diperankan oleh Robert DeNiro -- diterjemahkan oleh Jake di atas ring. Dalam satu adegan yang brutal, digambarkan Jake menghancurkan wajah seorang petinju muda hanya karena si istri berkomentar secara kasual bahwa si petinju muda sebagai 'pretty boy' ketika Jake dan adiknya membahas kemungkinan bertarung dengan si petinju tersebut. Begitu seterusnya, sampai kemudian lingkaran setannya komplit. Jake selalu dalam keadaan cemburu, dan selalu ia melampiaskannya di atas ring, hingga suatu ketika, ketika ia tidak mampu lagi melampiaskan kecemburuannya, ia perlahan-lahan menghancurkan karirnya, keluarganya, dan tentu saja dirinya sendiri.

Depresi
Entah kenapa Martin Scorcese dirampok di tahun 1980 ketika Oscar memberikan penghargaan film terbaik dan sutradara terbaik kepada orang lain selain dirinya. Well, Martin Scorcese memang sudah terkenal sebagai salah satu sutradara terbaik yang belum pernah menang Oscar. Terakhir tentu saja tahun lalu, ketika semua orang menjagokannya untuk menang Oscar lewat The Aviator, bahkan ketika ia sudah menang di acara Golden Globe, Clint Eastwood datang. Tidak beruntung memang, tapi di tahun 1980, gw rasa sedikit yang bisa mencapai apa yang telah dicapai film ini dan Martin sendiri tentunya, gayanya mengeksekusi sinema, menerjemahkan depresifitas Jake LaMotta sehingga kita tidak hanya menjadi penonton tapi (tergantung penontonnya juga sih) juga lantas tertarik ke alam kelamnya Jake LaMotta. I dont know, it was just not fair. In short word, i really-really love this movie. Soundtracknya juga ndukung banget, ketika opening title berjalan, kita sudah tahu apa yang bakal disuguhkan film ini, dari situ, entah kita menerima atau tidak, Jake LaMotta bakal terus menyajikan depresi di layar, sampai akhir. Adegan terakhirnya juga mantap, khas Martin banget. This was a man, once was a great fighter, trying to relive his past, silently but compassionately clinging to one and only good memory he had of the past, desperately though knowing that it was a futility in a whole to redeem his past mistakes, chasing his own shadow, and tried to move on with whatever he had left. Dan semuanya ditunjukkan bukan diceritakan, jadi persepsi orang beda-beda, beautiful, simply beautiful.

Adegan favorit gw: Waktu pertandingan ke-5 dengan Sugar Ray Robinson, entah kenapa Jake LaMotta di ronde terakhir hanya berdiri di sisi ring menerima pukulan bertubi-tubi dari Robinson, darah muncrat ke mana-mana, istrinya menutup muka, penonton bersorak riuh-rendah, musiknya mendayu, slow-motion yang menyedihkan, adegan yang menyayat hati, sedih banget ngeliatnya. Tapi, kemudian ketika ia diputuskan kalah TKO, Jake LaMotta dengan 'pride' yang aneh mendatangi Sugar Ray, "I'm still standing Ray, You CANT get me down Ray, see that? I'm still standing Ray", gila! adegan yang menunjukkan carut-marutnya harga diri seorang Jake. Luar biasa!. Bukan adegan yang uplifting apalagi membahagiakan, tapi kena banget buat gw. Mantap!.

In the Mood for Love

2005-06-18T14:04:00.000+07:00

Judul artikel ini diambil tentu saja dari sebuah film. It was a beautiful film, starring Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and directed by Wong Kar Wai, dan lebih susah dicerna daripada "2046". Ada yang bilang, dan mungkin benar, bahwa film ini prekuel dari "2046" meskipun keduanya bisa dinikmati terpisah sebagai satu entiti sendiri.

Okay, i've been hooked up with works lately, trying something new, alas, i dont have much time for movies.. tapi gw justru menghabiskan Alias season-2, dan season-3. Dan terus terang, seiring dengan bertambahnya episode yang gw tonton, semakin berkurang pula afeksi gw terhadap serial ini dan akhirnya sampai di sebuah titik di mana gw merasa bahwa Alias itu sampah! Gw menghabiskan film ini hanya sebagai kewajiban aja. Satu kesimpulan gw: kalo bener CIA itu seperti yang digambarkan seperti di Alias, berarti mereka2 itu adalah orang-orang bodoh yang mungkin hanya lulus SD untuk menangani lembaga intelijen sepenting CIA. I know it just a movie, but heck! ada yang namanya batasan logika yang mesti dijaga agar hiburan itu bisa dinikmati dengan cerdas. Dan Alias? tidak punya batasan itu.

Now, i'm trying to assemble my mood by watching movie again. Lewat film-film ringan yang rame kaya Seoul Raiders, Be Cool sampai kemudian gradually memberi stimuli lewat film-film berat macam Ran, Raging Bull dan semacamnya. Hence the title, In The Mood for Love of Movies!.

So henceforth, gw akan mencoba mengupdate halaman ini sesering mungkin.

PS: Gw masih ragu apakah malam ini bakal pergi midnight "Batman Begins" atau tidak. Pengen banget sih, tapi tidak ada yang bisa diajak.

A Finally Released Note

2005-06-08T13:57:00.000+07:00

Alas, the gravity had finally taken the best of me. Last week, when i took an evening stroll with my motor at a mere 40 miles an hour, somehow, the road beneath my wheels become slippery and so without any further ado, i (with my motor) swirled right and give up to the power of nature. I fell. Not particularly a hard fall, but pretty shocking indeed. The incident was left me with only a scrap on my right elbow which i used to guard my fall. But, the motor had fall on my right ankle and prohibited me from any activities that involves walking for two days. I had been afraid that somehow i broke it, but thankfully it had no broken or even shattered things beneath it. But alas, even though i'm able to walk almost like the way i walk before, i would still declined if somebody had asked me for a race. Yeah, i cannot (yet) run.

When i say the fall wasn't a hard fall at all, it actually could be fatal hadn't i used the protective gear. At the time, i wore a jacket, a jeans, shoes, gloves, full-helmet which practically left no skin exposed. Therefore i managed to left with only a scrap on my right elbow and no other external wound (the right ankle hadn't been an external wound), hadn't i used the gloves for instance, i would surely scrapped my palm as well. But the ultimate protection was my helmet. When i had bought the helmet, actually i would opt for a more standard helm, with no chin protection. But, since the store that sell the helmet doesn't have that kind of helmet, i bought a full-helmet which costy and un-practical to me (since i wore glasses, it was always a nuseance process to wore and un-wore the helmet), which proved useful.

During the fall, i could felt that i fall hard on my chin. And like i had said before, hadn't for the helmet, i would give a powerful blow to my bare-chin and i dont know, struck me unconscius (that was sure to happen), clapping my jaw so hard, that i accidentally bit my own tongue, convulsed in it, and died, either because the convulsion or haemorrheage, well the probabilities were limitless and all of them were surely worse than just a scrap on right elbow and unable to walk for two days.

Unlike its owner, the motor suffers nothing, except for some scars inevitable due to the collision with the asphalt.

I could ride a bike again now, but somehow, unconsciussly, i've never passed speed of 50 miles an hour. And my ankle still hurts when doing sujud or duduk-di-antara-dua-sujud or tasyahud.

"Untitled" or The Shining vs The Shining or How I Percieved American Culture

2005-06-08T13:35:00.000+07:00

"The Shining" (1980) adalah film yang gw kasih penghargaan bergengsi sebagai "satu-satunya film horor Hollywood yang benar-benar menakutkan". Perhatikan gw menggunakan kata satu-satunya berarti sampai sekarang tidak ada film yang mendekati ke-horor-an film tersebut. Penghargaan gw kepada Stanley Kubrick.

Film "The Shining" sendiri, seperti laiknya film Kubrick lainnya, diadaptasi dari karya literatur. Dan karya siapa lagi yang diadaptasi selain karya penulis cerita horor paling populer (gw tidak memakai kata 'terbaik') di Amrik, Stephen King. Dan waktu itu, gw secara mudah berpikir bahwa Kubrick bisa dengan baik menterjemahkan horor-isme King ke layar, karena memang materi yang cukup bagus dan kapabilitas Kubrick sebagai sutradara (jarang lho, tulisan Stephen King bisa diadaptasi dengan baik). Tapi ternyata, ketika gw menulis review tentang "The Shining" (sambil mengumpulkan materi), gw baru tahu kalau S.King sendiri tidak menyukai film ini dan kemudian membuat satu judul miniseri yang diberi embel-embel "Stephen King's The Shining" untuk membedakannya dengan film-nya Kubrick. Saat itu gw penasaran, emang seperti apa sih karya aslinya? gw tidak tertarik untuk mencari miniserinya karena review yang jelek dari http://www.houseofhorrors.com/, website yang lumayan ngerti soal film horor.

Akhirnya baru bulan lalu gw berkesemapatan untuk membeli bukunya (along with "Carrie" and "Salem's Lot") dan membacanya (i'm on a mission: melengkapi koleksi Stephen King).

Perbedaan-perbedaan yang gw temui di buku dan film, as apparent as many of adapted movies, ternyata memang lumayan jauh. Tapi di luar kebiasaan, gw tidak merasa perbedaan2 itu menjadikan satu pihak kalah dan pihak yang lain lebih bagus, beda ketika gw mencaci film "Dreamcatcher" yang tidak bisa gw lepas dari entitas bukunya. Di kasus "The Shining", gw menganggap buku dan film sebagai entitas yang beda, lepas satu sama lain. Bahkan, "The Shining" adalah kasus pertama di mana ketika gw membaca bukunya setelah menonton filmnya, gw tidak mencampuradukkan karakter dari film ke dalam buku. Sederhananya, kalau di film, kita bisa lihat Jack Nicholson grinning malicously lewat Jack Torrance, atau Shely Duvall yang ... mmm, 'timid' sebagai Wendy, tapi ketika baca bukunya, imej Jack Nicholson benar-benar ilang, dan gw tidak bisa mengasosiasikan Jack Torrance dengan Jack Nicholson walaupun gw mencoba. Sebagai perbandingan, ketika gw baca The Lord of the Rings, ketika nama Gandalf disebut di buku, gw bisa dengan mudah menempel Ian McKellen di imajinasi gw. Dan itu yang membuat gw menyukai Kubrick lebih lagi, dan terutama membuat gw makin antusias membaca buku2nya Stephen King.

Sampai saat ini, gw berturut-turut baca bukunya Stephen King, mulai dari "The Stand", kisah epik yang coba gw sadur dan gw paksa sebagai inspirasi gw, dan untungnya, untungnya gagal, "Carrie", kisah gadis telekinesis yang membalas dendam (di latar belakang gw mendengar sorak-sorai pembaca yang menginginkan Carrie White untuk membalas dendam! Bunuh! Bunuh!) dan kemudian diadaptasi jadi film yang terkenal karena figur Carrie White di prom-night dengan tubuh berlumuran darah dari ujung rambut sampai ujung kaki, "'Salem's Lot", impersonasi Stephen King terhadap cerita Dracula (Bram Stoker) yang alih-alih bertempat di Transylvania, bertempat di 'Salem's Lot (kota kecil di Amrik), "Rage", kisah menarik tentang seorang anak remaja yang suatu hari, tiba-tiba memutuskan menembak mati dua gurunya dan menyandera empat puluh teman sekelasnya (recommended), "The Shining", dan sekarang "Pet Sematary". Sebelumnya gw udah membaca beberapa buku Stephen King, yang tentu saja kesemuanya bergenre horor. Tapi, yang sebenarnya menarik adalah karena unsur populer-nya. Dengan banyak-banyak membaca buku populer macam gini, gw (dengan berat hati) bisa menyatakan bahwa selain Indonesia, negara lain yang gw paham betul geografis-nya adalah Amerika. Gw sekarang tau letak kota-kota di Amerika, bukan cuma kota-kota besar macam New York, San Fransisco, Washington, atau Miami yang semua orang juga tau, tapi kota-kota level 2 (kota yang ga bisa dibilang kecil tapi masih kalah di departemen keterkenalan seperti kota-kota yg gw sebut sebelumnya) yang sering dijadikan set dari novel-novel populer macam gini. Kaya Maine, Boston, Portland, Seattle, Utah, Colorado, dan seterusnya.

Akhir-akhir ini gw kemudian berpikir, tidak ada negara lain yang geografisnya begitu nyata selain Indonesia dan Amerika. Indonesia? wajar, negara tempat gw lahir dan besar, dan ketika masih sekolah juga sering dicekoki dengan ilmu-ilmu bumi yang menunjukkan nama-nama daerah, tambang, budaya, dan seterusnya dalam sebuah mata pelajaran yang bernama "Geografi". Tapi Amerika? tidak pernah gw kesana, tidak pernah pula gw berkorespondensi dengan orang sana. Hal-hal yg gw tau tentang Amerika datang dari buku, film, dan internet. Dan tampaknya itu cukup. Gw sering menganggap remeh orang-orang yang berusaha mengikuti budaya barat (baca: U.S. of A.) sekena perutnya dan kemudian diekspos melalui acara-acara tv tengah malam berating "D" dan memiliki judul yang terkesan konotatif. Tapi kenyataannya dalam banyak hal, gw juga secara tidak sadar terjajah juga. Paling nggak dari media-media yang gw cerna, gw bisa seperti yg gw sebut tadi, pengetahuan geografi Amerika gw cukup intens, termasuk lokasi-lokasi penting macam Pentagon, Capitol Hill, Sungai Potomac, dan seterusnya yang sering dipakai di Tom Clancy. Apakah gw bisa disebut pengikut budaya barat? nggak tau juga. Yah paling ndak, yg gw baca kebanyakan cerita horor, dramatis, dan ambisius yang agak-agak sulit untuk diwujudkan di dunia nyata, bukan cerita-cerita provokatif yg membuat gw lantas memandang semua hal jadi berbeda dan sekenanya. But who knows what i do next? sekarang paling nggak gw lagi demen horor.

Well, that said, Sekarang gw lagi riset kecil mengenai serial-killer, cuman kok yang ceritanya ekstensif itu yang dari luar negeri (again, U.S. of A.) ya? tidak adakah serial-killer yang punya kadar psikopatisme cukup di negeri ini? padahal kalo kita liat sinetron2 (menurut gw, cara paling mudah menilai budaya suatu negara adalah dari tayangan-tayangan hiburan dari negara ybs, which sadly, put Indonesia's culture down the gutter), banyak banget kandidat-kandidat buat psikopat. Serial-killer, a man smart enough, a man cruel enough, dan cukup punya prinsip untuk menjustifikasi tindakannya.

On Campaign: No TV from 6 pm to 12.30 am. That is, if you still concerned about your family's (especially the young ones) mentality. Get your kids to watch a film, belajar ngaji, atau dongengin.

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

2005-05-26T10:15:00.000+07:00

No, i ain't talking about either of Lemony Snickett's version of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". But instead, i was talking about some unfortunate events that had happened to me on last Friday - Monday. In a real life, not in a some scripted world dispersed by talents upon the screen.

I'm not a supertitious man, and never been. But somehow i wondered myself did i woke up on the wrong side of the bed that Friday morning? Well, actually it was soothing to had someone (or in this case, something) to put your fingers at, to take the blame of whatever misfortune that follows. But again, i'm not a supertitious man, and never been.

I'm not sure when, but after a light breakfast that Friday morning, i felt something funny in my stomach. The mere feeling was slowly but surely climbed itself into a real terror on the afternoon, when i had to go to bathroom once in every ten minutes and literally - pardon my language - shitting liquid. And that was just beginning.

As some of you may have known, i was always a sloppy person. I had an above average tendency to give whatever things in my hand to the power of gravity. I had an experience to drop things - accidentally, which usually followed by a total inconsideration that i had things on the ground instead of held in hands - such as Hand-Phone, Wallet, Money, Computer Hard-Drive, Helmet, Keys, Water, Coffee, Mug, A Bowl of rice, and so forth. On some cases, i also tend to forget that i had dropped that thing, and that what had happened on Monday.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On those four days, while struggling to stay away from the bathroom as long as possible - which was futile - i dropped a lot of things. I spilled a whole cup of coffee on the keyboard (both at home and campus), spilled a whole glass of water to the manuscript i've been working on, and as long as i remembered, i've always spilled some water whenever i poured drinking-water from the dispenser. Never before i had so many series of spilling on so short of time-span. Luckily, i didn't spilled myself while riding my motor.

Monday. I had planned to went to the mall, to do some grocery-shopping. So that afternoon, i got to the mall, parked my motor at the very usual spot (i've already had a usual spot at the plaza and Gramedia, as well) and do some shopping. Well, i didn't just shop. After about half-hour browsing the aisles and bought things which roughly 60% of them were un-necessaries, i sat on one of the fast-food restaurant to grab something to eat (again, i sat on the very usual spot). Half-way through i felt my pockets and after rustling with the content for a while, i found myself bemused when i only found one set of key-chain instead of two. So, which one is missing? it was the key to my motor, parked only one story below.

"There goes my bike", i say to myself at the time. With an hour passed since i parked my motor in the basement, i almost sure that the key had dropped in the vicinity of where my motor was parked and therefore, when i got to the basement, i would find a vacant on the usual spot (where i've always parked my motor whenever i went to the mall, remember?). So with an exact same pace, i finished my meal, and went to the basement.

I wouldn't lie about my feeling, even though i felt so calm and almost sure that the bike won't be there, but when i found that the bike was still there i felt a giant boulder weighed at least a ton sliding away from my shoulder. But almost that instant, the revelation that either the founder of the key didn't know which bike it belongs to or he simply waited for a chance to took it away, both of which resulted in keeping my bike to where it was (the usual spot), had made my heart pumps twice maybe thrice faster. I had a spare key for the bike of course, but obviously i had left it at home. So, as fast as i could i had to get home, took the key and back here before the founder of the key either had found the bike it belongs to or had decided to took his chance.

Analogous to "Janji Joni" or more relevant, "Run Lola Run", to my point of view, on that afternoon, everybody seemed to had a non-disclosure conspiracy to slow me down, i found myself cursing steadily in my head, tapping my feet like i had a whole pint of caffeine, mumbling indistinctively, glaring a rage look to the drivers, the passengers, yelling to the 'ojek' driver to drive faster, and so forth. The voyage back to mall was even worse, you know the traffic in Depok at the evening hour? it was unbearable! even humming a tune from Dream Theater won't help my nervousness, and my ever steady cursing. But at last, after literally shoving many slow-walkers that climbed the crossing-bridge, and at least once, by accident, i let the word "Osoi" (Japanese for "Slow" which i've always used to yell - in mind - at those slow-walkers that often blocked the road) audible, i came to the mall. And it was a great relief to see the usual spot hadn't been occupied by another bike.

After knowing and settling to fact that my key had positively gone after i made a thorough search on the area, and assuming the worse that whoever found the key had marked my bike so when someday he found it, he would surely going to 'steal' it, i went to the plaza straight away to bought an extra padlock - not just one, but two! well, talking about paranoia - and also on impulse, after that shocking experience, i felt that i had all the rights to pleased myself. So i went for Pizza - take away order - while pretend i didn't heard the screaming from somewhere in my back pocket. On second thought, i didn't pretend didn't heard the screaming, i simply didn't heard it screams.

I went to the Pizza booth first, i was shocked when the cashier mentions the price. What the __ ? it was so expensive! i didn't tought that it would be so expensive, but i paid for it anyway. Now, folks, i had to admit that at the time i've been a victim to maybe the most vicious monster that laid dormant on every human-being, 'greed'. It was terrible. So, the Pizza settled, that leaves the padlock. Or padlocks, since i bought two.

In a matter of minutes i found what i'm looking for. I grabbed for two and without even taking a peek to the price tag, i went to the cashier. At the time, i felt that my luck has tilted its way back to normal when i see two cashier-aisles lined with people with their shoppings. But these two doesn't interest me, there's one aisle that apparently just about to open. Obviously, i went there, and found myself first in line.

People dont realize when they had made mistake until they suffer the consequences. I had made a grave mistake when i didn't even bother myself to peek into the price tag of the padlocks, and how i'm suffer! The money in my wallet doesn't cover the padlocks, but i know that the money on my bank-account would be more than enough. So i paid with my card, or at least tried to. It turns out that even my card won't let me end the day peacefully. The card-reader on the cashier didn't want to read my card! And after the third swipe, i said to the sympathetic lady-cashier (whose probably the first fortune i had during the day) to postpone my purchase until i came back from the ATM.

The misfortune continues! I was more surprised than angered when i found that every single ATM Machine (every single ATM Machine that could read my card, and there are at least three different machines on the basement that could do it) are down for one or another reason. What a tragedy. So i went upstair to the ATM Machine near the Pizza booth, thankfully it worked. But before i got the cash out of the ATM, i found myself on a moral battle between me and the evil-me. There was this lady in front of me when i got to the ATM. She was i guess in some kind of undecisive condition, her mind was obviously somewhere else, she had finished her transaction in a flash, and still looking dubious to herself she walked away. I was frowned to the question on the screen "Do you wish to have another transaction?" and soon realized that the lady's card was still inside. The evil-me had immediately took place in my consciussness, he urges me, insisting me to press the "Yes" button encouraging me to nag one-two millions (if there any) from the lady's card and bought that Nintendo Dual-Screen (which costs 1,3 mills rupiah) i had really wanted. But, fortunately, i guess, the real-me (don't laugh) won't give up easily, he fought fiercely, and resulted in maybe the second fortune i had that day, as i ran to the lady and handed her card back.

Okay, got my Pizza, got the padlocks (did i tell you that they were soo expensive?), i could went home joyfully. Am i? or am i not? They say, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. When i did my grocery-shopping, i also bought a voucher to my hand-phone, and when i had a meal after the shopping, i rubbed the black marker of the voucher, dialed the 888 number and inputted 14 digits of code appeared on the voucher. Well, that, folks, is what happened if my battery doesn't went dead. When i punched the 888 number, my battery went dead, and it was too troublesome for me to input the 14 digits to the dark screen. So, i had turned off my hand-phone, and tucked the voucher card somewhere.. which still remains a mystery to me since when i got home, one question had been remained unanswered. "Where the hell was that voucher?".

2046 (2004)

2005-05-26T08:19:00.000+07:00

Hong Kong, 2004
Cast: Tony Leung, Zhang ZiYi, Gong Li, Faye Wong, Takuya Kimura
Director: Wong Kar-Wai
My Rating: **** / ****

Ini film yang memberi penghargaan buat mereka yang sabar, gw tidak kuat menahan godaan untuk berbaring sepanjang satu jam (mungkin lebih) pertama film ini, sampai akhirnya gw pending untuk tidur sebentar. Setelah bangun, makan, dan nulis bentar, gw lanjutin nonton separuh akhir annnnddd... what a joy-ride! *whisper* I had a good cry in the end, as well.

People go to 2046 to recover their lost memories
2046 dimulai dengan dua adegan yang sama sekali tak masuk akal, tak bisa dikorelasikan satu sama lain, apalagi terhadap keseluruhan cerita. Dikisahkan Takuya Kimura *gw ga inget nama tokoh-tokohnya so instead i'm goin' with their real names instead* di sebuah dunia yang terlihat nun jauh di depan masa ini, sedang menaiki kereta yang meninggalkan sebuah tempat bernama '2046'. Ditemani voice-over yang mengatakan bahwa orang-orang pergi ke 2046 untuk mencari ingatan mereka yang hilang dan hidup di sana, dikisahkan pula (oleh voice-over juga) bahwa tokoh-nya Takuya Kimura adalah orang pertama yang pergi meninggalkan 2046. Untuk alasan yang mungkin hanya Kimura sendiri yang tahu (untuk sekarang).

Di kisah kedua, kita melihat Tony Leung yang terlibat hubungan emosional dengan seorang wanita (Gong Li), ditemani dengan narasi Tony Leung yang terlalu filosofis buat gw untuk mengingatnya, dan sama sekali tidak ada tanda-tanda yang menunjukkan bahwa siapa sebenernya si Gong Li ini dan bagaimana hubungan mereka berdua sebenernya. Cuman ada gambar-gambar dramatis yang terbukti berguna untuk diingat karena akan muncul kembali nanti di akhir film sebagai bagian dari klimaks.

Selanjutnya, film ini berfokus kepada karakter Tony Leung. Dimulai ketika ia datang ke Hong Kong (apparently he came from S'Pore, a fact which may proof itself significantly important) dan menyewa sebuah apartemen. Dia secara spesifik meminta kamar '2046' untuk alasan yang hanya Tony Leung yang tahu (untuk sementara). Namun karena kamar '2046' sedang direnovasi, Tony Leung mendapat kamar '2047' yang kemudian menjadi kamarnya di sepanjang film.

Tony Leung di sini berperan sebagai seorang penulis yang setiap akhir bulan selalu berpesta pora. Kehidupannya ini juga kemudian membuatnya populer di kalangan wanita penghibur, termasuk karakter Zhang ZiYi yang kemudian menempati kamar '2046'.

Selain itu ada juga karakter Faye Wong sebagai putri dari induk semang Tony Leung yang tidak rela putrinya berkencan dengan pemuda Jepang (Takuya Kimura). Karakter Faye Wong ini yang kemudian membantu Tony Leung menulis cerita fiksi-ilmiah 2046 yang sebenernya merupakan penggambaran dari hidup Tony Leung sendiri.

So? What With That 4 Star-Rating?
Seperti sudah gw sebutkan sebelumnya, gw berjuang untuk tetap terjaga di satu jam pertama film ini sampai akhirnya gw menyerah. Namun ketika gw melihat separuh film kedua, gw really-really hooked up with it, sampai-sampai gw ga percaya kalau film telah berakhir. Di separuh film terakhir, kita bisa melihat semua hal yang memenuhi pikiran selama satu jam pertama pelan-pelan dirangkai oleh Wong Kar Wai melalui perjalanan Takuya Kimura (sebagai tokoh rekaan Tony Leung, bukan sebagai kekasih Faye Wong di dunia nyata) meninggalkan 2046, dan bagaimana Tony Leung mengasosiasikan tokohnya tadi dengan dirinya di dunia nyata.

Dari situ kita juga tahu secara pelan-pelan kerapuhan Tony Leung, and have i told you that i cried in the end? i believe i do. Well, semua karena somehow ketika di akhir film kita kembali ke adegan Tony Leung - Gong Li gw bisa konek sama karakter Tony Leung dan didukung oleh ekspresi Tony Leung sendiri dan tone dari Wong Kar Wai membuat gw bisa memahami pergulatan batin yang dialami si tokoh utama. Jarang-jarang reviewer anda ini bisa bener-bener konek dengan karakter di layar. Didukung oleh karakter-karakter unik yang dimainkan dengan apik lainnya, bahkan Zhang ZiYi yang selama ini hanya gw nikmati karena fisiknya, bisa gw rasakan perasaan depresifnya. Therefore, gw ga ragu-ragu untuk memberi nilai sempurna untuk film ini.

...? *Can't Think of a Title*
Gw tahu 2046 dari forum maya, gw juga tahu Wong Kar Wai dari situ. Secara keseluruhan, mereka yang sudah menonton karya-karya Wong Kar Wai lainnya akan menganggap 2046 sebagai karyanya yang paling lemah, meskipun tetap unik dan menyentuh, dan juga paling mudah dicerna (ow!). Gw sendiri belum lihat karya-karya Wong Kar Wai lainnya. Also, 2046 juga ternyata dimaksudkan menjadi sekuel dari "In the Mood for Love". Apparently, apartemen tempat Tony Leung tinggal juga menjadi setting dari "In the Mood for Love". Tapi, tidak ada masalah (seperti yang dibilang temen2 yang lain juga) untuk menikmati 2046 tanpa terlebih dulu menikmati "In the
Mood for Love".

Point of Interest
Faye Wong. Kita mengenalnya sebagai penyanyi dari lagu yang cukup 'known' pas jaman kuliah. "Eyes On Me". Kualitas aktingnya cukup menarik, tapi above all yang sangat menarik adalah ekspresi wajahnya yang so inviting whenever they shot her from the side. Ketika mukanya di ambil gambarnya dari depan, entah kenapa dia kehilangan daya-tariknya (at least buat gw). Apparently, Wong Kar Wai juga sadar, sehingga seinget gw cuma sekali Faye Wong diambil mukanya dari depan.

Layer Cake (2004)

2005-05-23T15:35:00.000+07:00

United Kingdom, 2004
Cast: Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney, Kenneth Cranham
Director: Matthew Vaughn
My Rating: ***1/2 / ****

Salah satu film yang makin menjustifikasi kalo film-film non-Hollywood itu punya ide yang lebih 'fresh', therefore, lebih bisa dinikmati. Gw punya standar sendiri untuk menentukan apakah sebuah film layak mendapat rating minimal ***1/2 - ****. Salah satu parameter standar itu adalah apakah sepanjang film gw sempat melihat jam atau mencek berapa menit lagi sisa waktu dari sebuah film. Dan ketika menonton film Layer Cake ini, selama 105 menit durasi film tidak sekalipun gw meninggalkan pandangan dari layar. And that was a rarity, i tell you. *i had to stop using that phrase too often*.

+/- 30 Menit Pertama: Stereotip Film British?
Film dibuka dengan narasi tokoh kita, Daniel Craig, aktor yang juga menjadi kandidat pengganti Pierce Brosnan di serial James Bond, mengenai bisnis yang ia lakoni (kokain), aturan-aturan-nya dalam berbisnis (jangan berkhianat), dan hidup yang ia jalani (kriminal). Tokoh kita ini berada di tengah-tengah rantai peredaran kokain, dengan kata lain, ia masih bekerja pada orang tertentu, Jimmy (Kenneth Craham), tapi juga cukup jauh dari para 'end-user' so to speak.

Suatu hari, tokoh kita ini merasa cukup dan ingin pensiun. Dan tentu saja, seperti sudah diduga, tidak mudah. Jimmy memberi tokoh kita ini satu tugas, mencari putri salah seorang gembong narkoba yang lebih kuat dari pada Jimmy. Motivasinya? well, i think i'm gonna spoiled the fun if i spilled the motivation that led these film's casts (which was huge) to did what they did.

Just like its title suggests, tugasnya ternyata tidak semudah yang terlihat, seperti kue lapis (Layer Cake), alur film ini dibangun secara vertikal, melibatkan jutaan pil ekstasi, gangster Serbia, pembunuh bayaran nekat, penjahat amatir, dan seterusnya, dengan tokoh kita sebagai sentra semuanya. Sedikit mengingatkan gw terhadap film-film yang juga kebetulan dari Inggris, yang juga melibatkan unsur-unsur sedatif yang terdapat di dalam narkoba, dan juga melibatkan banyak alur yang bersinggungan. Perbedaannya, mungkin karena film ini diangkat dari buku, alur-alur yang bersinggungan bisa disampaikan dengan lebih smooth dan lebih cerdas.

Details! Details!
Film ini punya efek yang lebih efisien untuk dinikmati orang-orang yang not-so-attentive tapi juga tidak ignorant terhadap detil. Dalam perjalanannya, kita melihat banyak tokoh, banyak nama, dan masing-masing tokoh, masing-masing nama, bagaimanapun sedikitnya waktu di layar punya motivasi dan agenda sendiri. Gw sempet nyaris ketinggalan track ketika tokoh kunci yang muncul di awal film selama tak lebih dari dua detik kemudian tiba-tiba muncul di nyaris akhir film untuk menyampaikan aksi penting yang mengantarkan film pada klimaks-nya.

Tapi kelemahannya, dengan banyaknya tokoh, kecuali untuk beberapa tokoh tertentu, karakter-karakter yang dibangun jadi sedikit kurang berkesan dan nyaris terkesan seragam. Tapi (lagi), untuk beberapa tokoh yang mendapat perhatian utama, dibawakan dengan bagus oleh para aktornya sampai-sampai kau bisa merasa yakin kalau mereka adalah memang drug dealer di dunia nyata. Pengecualian untuk Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) yang secara total tampil tak lebih dari 10 menit tapi dia mengantarkan beberapa 'punch-line' yang ngena banget termasuk definisi dari 'Layer Cake' itu sendiri.

Sedikit kejutan di akhir film
So the movie ends, with a rather predictable outcome dan tokoh utama kita menyampaikan narasi penutup-nya. Yang bikin gw terhenyak adalah ketika di tengah-tengah narasi, gw baru nyadar kalau ada satu hal kecil yang gw tidak tahu film ini, dan gw lebih terhenyak lagi ketika si tokoh utama kita menanyakan pada kita (penonton) apakah kita (penonton) tahu hal kecil yang dimaksud. Hal kecil, remeh, yang ga signifikan sebenarnya, tapi ketika sampai luput dari penonton, itu berarti film ini disampaikan dengan skrip yang bagus dan cerita yang memikat sampai kita ga peduli sama hal kecil tersebut. At least, that was the way i see it.

P.S Point of Interest
Satu adegan yang memorable buat gw, ketika adegan kekerasan yang brutal disampaikan dengan lagu 'Ordinary World'-nya Duran-Duran. I found the scene was totally funny in a most satiric way possible, that i actually managed to gave a few chuckles even while the brutal action took place.

I loved this movie, and i plan to re-watch it just to make sure that they really didn't mention that 'small things' during this 105-minutes joy-ride. And by the time i watch this movie (that was at least 10 days ago), the film was also brought to U.S theatres and had a good reviews.

TV Series

2005-05-23T09:08:00.000+07:00

Didn't watch any movies at all after 'Layer Cake', an above average British movie about crime of which the review was still in the middle of writing, but instead i gobbled up a whole episodes from 2nd season of TV serie 'Monk', a defective-detective, super-genius-you-won't-believe-that-such-man-could-exist, an obsessive-compulsive with enough paranoias that if it was given away to the group of people - one paranoia for each - could make a medium-sized mental instituion into a havoc. And also the 1st season of 'X-Files', well, i assume everybody knows X-Files. Kinda cute and nostalgic to see such serie from the mid-90's, i mean, the soundtrack, the way they dress, the way they talked, by golly, it seems like already a million years ago when i feel so anxious to see if my parents would let me stay awake until 11 p.m, probably more, every Thursday night (school night) to watch the serie. But thankfully, only if i had done something very-very terrible (and it was a rarity, i tell you), they had always let me watch the serie. And i also watched the 2nd season of 'Alias'. Point of interest: It was very interesting to see how such strong of a woman, could break down.

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

2005-05-11T17:47:00.000+07:00

United States/United Kingdom/Spain 2005
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Ghassan Massoud
Director: Ridley Scott
My Rating: *** / ****

Agak sulit buat gw untuk menilai film ini lepas dari pemikiran prinsipil gw karena latar belakang sejarah yang diambil untuk kepentingan film ini, "perang salib", perang berkepanjangan untuk memperebutkan Jerusalem antara kaum Muslimin dan Nasrani yang bahkan masih berlanjut sampai sekarang. Review ini akan singkat.

Best Epic since The Lord of the Rings
Setelah trilogi The Lord of the Rings, tidak bisa dipungkiri kalo moviegoers pada akhirnya akan secara tidak sadar membandingkan sebuah film epik dengan trilogi tersebut. King Arthur, Troy, dan Alexander adalah film-film epik pasca The Lord of the Rings yang kalah telak, babak belur ketika dibandingkan karena secara kualitas mmemang mengecewakan banyak pihak. Untuk Kingdom of Heaven sendiri, meskipun masih cukup 'menderita' ketika dibandingkan dengan The Lord of the Rings, terutama ketika adegan peperangan (pengepungan kota Jerusalem), Kingdom of Heaven bisa kabur dengan pembandingan itu dan alih-alih kemudian dibandingkan dengan tiga film epik yang gw sebutkan sebelumnya. And it was no contest.

"A man who in France has not a house is in the holy land the master of a city,"
Tahunnya, 1184. Tokohnya, Balian (Orlando Bloom). Evennya, Perang Salib ke-3. Balian dikisahkan lay low di sebuah desa di Perancis sebagai seorang pandai besi ketika Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson) yang ternyata adalah ayah kandungnya mengajaknya pergi berperang. Tentu saja Balian pergi (kalau tidak tentu tidak akan ada yang bisa diceritakan, kan?) tapi setelah berkonfrontasi sejenak dengan sub-conscius-nya whatever that is. Balian juga pergi berperang dengan alasan sendiri, salah satu cara Ridley Scott untuk menyampaikan sejarah yang sensitif dan rawan kontroversi dengan aman. Well, the story goes rather staightforward from here. Yerusalem diperintah oleh seorang raja muda yang terkena lepra, Baldwin IV (Ed Norton). Raja Baldwin ini ternyata menginginkan supaya umat Islam dan Kristen bisa hidup berdampingan. Tentu saja para ekstrimis (di sini direpresentasikan oleh tokoh Knights Templar, Guy de Lusignant (Marton Csokas)) yang menginginkan semua orang Islam dibantai. Pemimpin tentara Arab di sini juga digambarkan sangat bijak, lebih bijak malah dari pada raja Baldwin. Dia adalah Saladin (Massoud) yang citranya kemudian dijaga baik-baik di sepanjang film oleh Scott.

History when it came to Hollywood
Sejarah buat gw adalah masa lalu, bisa diceritain sesuka hati. Lagipula siapa yang bisa memverifikasi-nya kecuali sang pencipta waktu sendiri? Karenanya, meskipun pada akhirnya banyak diskusi mengenai sejarah perang Salib yang diangkat oleh Ridley Scott dan betapa banyaknya dia memangkas sejarah, memendekkannya supaya bisa dijadikan film sepanjang dua jam, gw sih ga peduli. Sebagai film yang berdiri sendiri, gw enjoy sama dialog-dialog di film ini. Adegan perangnya sih tidak ada yang benar-benar baru, i've seen it somewhere else before, tapi cukup enak dilihat. Cukup senang juga melihat penampilan Orlando Bloom yang akhirnya bisa keluar dari citra 'boyish'-nya. Meskipun ketika dia dijajarkan dengan Liam Neeson dan Jeremy Irons masih suka keteteran, dia bisa mengambil peran utama dengan bagus karena memang kebetulan film ini berpusat di sekitar Balian. Yang paling mengecewakan tentu saja si Eva Green. Entah kenapa Hollywood selalu merasa perlu menyelipkan adegan ranjang di film-film yang ia produksi. Padahal jaman segitu lepas kamu Nasrani, apalagi Muslim, perzinahan bukan sesuatu yang bisa lolos dengan mudah, tidak seperti sekarang. Bahkan seandainya gw disuruh menyebut sisi lemah dari film ini, gw bisa dengan gampang menyebut "setiap adegan yang ada si Eva Green". Maaf, Eva, kecantikanmu tidak banyak membantu.

Bukan Untuk Mencari Siapa yang Salah
Film ini juga mendapat kredit lebih karena dia lebih menggali sisi humanity dari para pelaku perang, bukan berkutat di perseturuan tanpa akhir untuk mencari siapa yang salah selama perang salib berlangsung. Digambarkan betapa tokoh-tokoh macam Saladin dan tentu saja Balian sendiri tidak begitu tertarik dengan konsep "Kill everyone, left none alive!". Menjelang akhir, ditemani dengan aerial shot dari Scott yang cukup mantap menangkap aftermath dari perang, kengerian yang ditimbulkannya, the absence of glory untuk kedua belah pihak, Balian dan Saladin akhirnya bertemu untuk mencari jalan damai. And that's how the movie ends. But definitely not how the war ends. Di sini, pesannya cukup jelas bahwa perang tidak akan menghasilkan apa-apa kecuali kerja ekstra untuk para penggali kubur (itupun kalau mereka masih hidup).... ada satu tambahan lagi sebenernya, dari film ini, seandainya memang benar diadaptasi dari sejarah, membuat gw merasa menyesal, bahwa dulu gara-gara seorang-dua orang ekstrimis, langkah awal untuk menciptakan perdamaian Islam - Kristen di Yerusalem jadi tidak terlaksana. Tapi bagaimanapun juga, emang sudah ditulis bahwa tanah itu selamanya akan jadi sengketa.

Rebirth (from Yahoo! 360 latest entry)

2005-05-11T17:37:00.000+07:00

Screening Log shall be back in a Flash! yes, i shall see to it be materialized later this week. So this would be my last entry here on 360.

Actually, i had a whole lot of rather fortunate conditions when my computer died away. I had more time to deploy my mind to work harder even during the night when i usually slumped away watching movies or doing some unnecessary works on PC. During the period when my computer died away, i had read at least 3 long novels, i had improved my Japanese language so much that i'm quite confident in taking JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) level 2 this December. FYI, JLPT was divided into 4 levels with level 1 being a level below Native. I also picked up the pieces and starting to work (again) on my long abandoned novel. I wrote it longhands, which means that i wrote it on a scrap of paper with mere pencils, and small scripts. I loved my novel (that's one thing that matters, right?) that i dont even care if that wether it would get an attention from publishers or not, all i care is how does Ruthless Rembhoek, Inspector Mi'hen and his daughters, Lina the bartender, Mama Reni the p.i.m.p and whole casts of Red District would see the end of the holocaust. Hell, even now i can't wait to get home from office, had dinner, and sitting in front of the papers, to start writing. If and only if it get fortunate enough to ever get published, it would be a start of a series (that's why i shifted the background of my story, from Jakarta to a totally imaginative city i invented myself. It was easier that way), if it's not, then i would simply wait until i'm rich enough to start my own publishing company.

Anyway, i'm starting to send out applications. But i'm sending them only to the oil companies, regardless if they had a vacancy or not. After all, i loved to work in here, minimum supervisions, unlimited internet, a whole lot of vacant times, unlimited access to movies, mangas, and animes, and friends that never says 'no' when i asked them to play a computer game, or a card game, what else could you ask for more?. But with everybody (my parents, my future parent-in-law) urging me to had a life (i HAD a life!) i'm just sending those applications to satisfy them.

See you at Screening Log

"Screening Log Out!"

2005-04-13T16:08:00.000+07:00

All good things came to an end. After almost six years of ever faithful service, MUSANG was finally rest in peace. Hence, this website shall be left as it is, until i have a new computer, or maybe someplace else where i could watch movies.

So long.

The Machinist (2004)

2005-03-30T12:36:00.000+07:00

Spain, 2004
Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michael Ironside
Director: Brad Anderson
Film ini (agak) mirip sama: Fight Club, Insomnia, Memento
My Rating: *** 1/2 / ****

Satu lagi film yang under-rated, in a sense that it doesn't had much attention from the box-office theaters circulation, but it was one of the best, if not THE best itself, thriller of the year.

"I haven't slept in a year"
Trevor Reznik (Bale), seorang buruh pabrik biasa, hidupnya menyedihkan, dia purposedly menjauh dari lingkaran teman-teman pekerjanya meski teman-temannya sering mengajak dia untuk maen kartu dan semacamnya. Dia hanya memiliki dua teman, itupun kalau bisa disebut sebagai teman. Seorang pelayan di restoran bandara, Marie (Sanchez-Gijon) yang sering ia kunjungi tiap malam, dan seorang pelacur langganannya, Selvie (Leigh) yang gradually regards him more than just a mere customer.

Penampilan Reznik juga sangat menyedihkan, dia bagaikan tengkorak hidup, definisi paling tepat untuk kata "tulang berbalut kulit", dan suatu ketika ia mengaku kepada Selvie bahwa "I haven't slept in a year" yang disambut dengan tawa oleh Selvie untuk kemudian diikuti dengan diam tiba-tiba yang menunjukkan bahwa ia tahu Reznik berkata jujur.

Reznik menderita insomnia akut, terlihat jelas dari penampilan fisiknya yang sudah seperti seorang junkie yang tersesat di ladang ganja seluas benua Amerika. Tidak ada kata yang tepat untuk menggambarkan kondisi Reznik secara fisik. He's way beyond exhaustion.

Ke-tidak-mampuannya untuk tidur perlahan-lahan mempengaruhinya secara mental. He's began to see things, terrible things happened around him, dimulai ketika salah seorang teman pekerjanya kehilangan lengan-nya akibat kecelakaan yang lahir karena kecerobohannya. Dia mulai melihat sesosok manusia misterius, tulisan-tulisan di post-it yang ia tidak tahu menahu, kulkas yang berdarah-darah, dan seterusnya. Sebisa mungkin dia mencoba menggelar misteri yang melingkupinya, mempelajarinya, begitu juga dengan kita, penonton, yang nyaris paralel dengan Reznik dalam memahami apa yang sesungguhnya terjadi dengan dirinya.

Thriller Yang Tetap Menarik Meski Rahasianya Tertebak
Sebagai penggemar cerita-cerita Stephen King, rasanya tidak berlebihan jika gw bisa menebak kunci dari misteri yang melingkupi Reznik sebelum film-nya sendiri secara eksplisit memberitahukannya kepada penonton. Gw rasa kunci misterinya juga tidak terlalu susah untuk ditebak. Tapi walaupun begitu, walaupun sudah tertebak way before it comes to an end, actually it matters little. Karena apa yang menjadi daya tarik (paling nggak buat gw) adalah substansi dari misteri itu sendiri, yang mengalahkan sisi curiousness yang ditimbulkan olehnya. Jadi begitu curiosity gw terpuaskan, gw tidak lantas meninggalkan film untuk ke kamar mandi, atau beli mi goreng di warung Ani, tapi terus duduk sampai film berakhir karena substansi-nya belum terperas sepenuhnya.

Christian Bale is (not) Bruce Wayne
Mungkin kenyataan bahwa gw bisa relate dengan si Reznik ini yang membuat gw senang sama film ini. Hal ini tentu juga didongkrak oleh penampilan luar biasa Christian Bale (yang summer ini tampil macho dan berotot di Batman Begins) yang menguruskan tubuhnya sampai benar-benar kurus, sampai gw ga percaya bahwa ini adalah Christian Bale, kabarnya dia diet ketat (satu kaleng Tuna dan satu Apel sehari!) untuk total dalam film ini, dan hasilnya memang luar biasa. Ada temen gw yang terkaget-kaget tak percaya dan memprediksi bahwa Batman Begins akan jeblok ketika gw beritahu bahwa si Christian Bale ini yang akan jadi Bruce Wayne. Haw haw, gw ketawa, gw sebagai penggemar Batman, malah justru yakin bahwa hadirnya Nolan dan Bale akan membawa Batman terbang lebih tinggi daripada Spider-Man 2, bahkan Superman!. Alasannya? Bale baca komiknya. Konyol? mungkin, tapi gw belum terbukti salah sampai nanti ketika Batman Begins keluar dari Batcave dan muncul di bioskop. Dan baru kita bisa lihat siapa yang tertawa terakhir.

Satu lagi adalah bagaimana si sutradara mempermainkan warna di film ini (gw ga tahu metode-nya) sampai nyaris seperti monokrom. Bukan saja dia mengamplifikasi kondisi mental Reznik yang menyedihkan, tapi juga mampu membawa gw ke semestanya, ikut mengorbit mengitari claustropobhia dan insomnia milik Reznik.

And last but not the least, gw suka sama pembuat film ini yang tidak semena-mena mencurangi penonton seperti banyak film thriller lainnya dengan memasukkan twist yang tiba-tiba muncul dan tidak masuk akal. Semua twist, alur (tidak atau sedikit) rumit yang dibeberkan dari awal film terurai rapih tanpa ada benang tambahan yang entah dari mana asalnya. Semuanya benar-benar memuaskan, mungkin bisa dibayangkan kalau ternyata tiba-tiba si tokoh misterius yang menganggu kehidupan Reznik adalah seorang alien!, duh! ga banget!. Seperti puzzle, semua keping ada dan ditaruh di tempat yang benar, tidak ada keping yang tiba-tiba muncul sesaat sebelumnya puzzle-nya selesai.

Dan pada akhirnya, menemani rasa puas penonton, Trevor Reznik secara sederhana menutup film dengan kalimat redemption yang menyenangkan, "I just wanted to sleep". Sesederhana itu, dan kita pun tahu kalau si Reznik membutuhkannya dan berhak untuk mendapatkannya.

Forethought: Or Why Do I Hate Most Women Actresses
Sedikit maen gender, tidak untuk ditanggapi serius :). Gw heran, kenapa Charlize Theron (Monster) dan Nicole Kidman (The Hours) bisa meraih Oscar dengan degenerasi fisik yang ia tampilkan sementara Christian Bale di film ini yang lebih total, lebih sadis, dan lebih meyakinkan (degenarasi fisik-nya) daripada kedua aktris di atas sama sekali tidak dilirik Oscar. Bahkan gw bisa dengan pongahnya bilang apa yang Charlize Theron lakukan tidak ada seujung kuku dari pada apa yang dilakukan Christian Bale di film ini (satu kaleng tuna dan satu apel! Bayangkan itu!). Tidak adil. Sama halnya seperti Protege Corp yang menang mulu sama Versacorp di Apprentice season 1. Tidak adil.

Footnote
Tidak ada Column untuk edisi ini, agak males. Ternyata memang (jauh) lebih enak nulis pemikiran sendiri daripada ngumpulin berita untuk ditulis kembali.

Screening Log Column #11

2005-03-21T13:55:00.000+07:00

Weekend U.S Box Office (Mar 18 - Mar 20):
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - The Ring Two - US$ 36 mills - US$ 36 mills
2. - Robots - US$ 21.825 mills - US$ 66.867 mills
3. - The Pacifier - US$ 12.542 mills - US$ 72.283 mills
4. - Ice Princess - US$ 7.013 mills - US$ 7.013 mills
5. - Hitch - US$ 6.6 mills - US$ 155.945 mills
6. - Be Cool - US$ 5.8 mills - US$ 47.203 mills
7. - Hostage - US$ 5.797 mills - US$ 19.311 mills
8. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 4.08 mills - US$ 90.002 mills
9. - Diary of a Mad Black Woman - US$ 2.5 mills - US$ 47.765 mills
10. - Constantine - US$ 2.3 mills = US$ 70.357 mills

As pretty much expected, sekuel The Ring Two meraih posisi top di box-office chart minggu ini. Setelah cukup sukses dengan remake The Ring, gw rasa pilihan yang logis untuk kemudian mengadaptasi film berikutnya. Lagipula film sebelumnya, The Ring juga telah cukup sukses untuk meraih penonton, dan kemudian establishes a solid fan amongst the American audience. Di The Ring Two, Hideo Nakata, dibawa dari Jepang untuk menyutradarainya. Lagi, langkah ynag cukup logis untuk dilakukan para produsernya. Tapi, buat gw, gw mikirnya justru bakalan bernasib seperti The Grudge yang walaupun sukses menakuti penonton Amerika, tidak seberuntung itu buat gw dan orang-orang yang sudah menonton Ju-On, yang mau tidak mau, sadar tidak sadar, bakal membandingkannya dengan film aslinya. Dan gw lebih memilih untuk melihat a delicate girl, with heights no more than 170 cm, with black hair, and cladded beautifully in a eastern-made cloth called 'shy' than to see a tall, blonde girl, whose appearrance emphasizes anything but horror. Lagi, suka atau tidak suka, sadar atau tidak sadar, pembandingan antara dua film tersebut (original dan remake) tidak bisa dielakkan. Film baru berikutnya, Ice Princess. Komentar gw bisa disingkat menjadi dua set-kata. "Walt Disney", "General Audiences". Dari dua kata itu sudah cukup jelas kemana film ini akan mengarah. Dengan sedikit pengetahuan tentang premise plot-nya, tidak akan perlu untuk datang ke bioskop, atau membuang dua jam secara sia-sia untuk mengikuti jalan ceritanya.

Next week, lagi-lagi sekuel. Sandra Bullock kembali sebagai Miss Congeniality di Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, i'm not a fan for the first serie, so i won't be looking forward for this neither. Berikutnya, Ashton Kutcher kembali ke genre awal yang membesarkannya sejak That 70's show, komedi remaja, meskipun dia sudah bakalan menjadi ayah beberapa bulan lagi setelah 'pasangannya' Demi Moore hamil. Dia akan berurusan dengan Bernie Mac yang tidak setuju putrinya menikahi seorang kulit putih di Guess Who... i think it was a remake.

Well, that's a wrap to this edition. Gw tidak banyak menonton film akhir-akhir ini. Film-film yang gw tonton tiga minggu terakhir cuma beberapa, di antaranya Spanglish, dan Monsieur Ibrahim.

Before Sunset (2004)

2005-03-16T15:45:00.000+07:00

Cast: Ethan Hawke (Jesse), Julie Delpy (Celine)
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenplay: Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
IMDb top 250: #105
My Score: ***1/2 / ****

Best sequel in 2004
Tentu saja pernyataan gw di atas bisa disanggah. Faktanya jelas. Di tahun 2004, kita melihat Spider-Man 2, Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yang masing-masing sukses secara komersil dan kualitas. Before Sunset? siapa yang tahu film ini? siapa pula yang tahu kalau film ini adalah kelanjutan dari film Before Sunrise yang dirilis tahun 1994. Tapi justru dari situ gw melihat kekuatan film ini sehingga menurut gw pantas disebut sebagai sekuel terbaik di tahun 2004. Before Sunrise boleh dibilang tidak sukses secara komersil. Dan Before Sunset lantas menjadi sebuah sekuel yang boleh dibilang langka karena motivasinya tidak datang dari sebuah sukses komersil, stempel bertanda "$" berderet-deret pada laporan revenue, melainkan datang dari inspirasi kreatif dari para pemainnya. Dalam satu footage, Ethan Hawke dan Julie Delpy menyatakan bahwa semenjak Before Sunrise mereka sering berkirim email mengenai kelanjutan kisah Before Sunrise seperti "Apa yang terjadi berikutnya pada Jesse, atau Celine?" dan ketika Richard Linklater diberitahu akan hal ini, mereka kemudian sepakat untuk menulis kelanjutan kisah Before Sunsire, Before Sunset.

A Date with Jesse and Celine
Sembilan tahun yang lalu, Jesse bertemu Celine di Vienna, mereka memulai kisah sederhana yang romantis dan berjanji untuk bertemu kembali di Vienna. Begitulah inti cerita "Before Sunrise". Dan ketika film berakhir, kita tidak akan pernah tahu apakah mereka bisa bertemu kembali atau tidak. Pertanyaan ini yang kemudian diangkat di "Before Sunset".

Jesse sekarang menjadi seorang penulis. Dan buku terbarunya menceritakan kisahnya di "Before Sunrise". Perjalanan Jesse berkeliling Eropa untuk melakukan tur promosi buku membawanya ke Paris di mana ia bertemu kembali dengan Celine, dan untuk keduanya the feeling rushes back.

Simple, huh? What i liked best about the movie was that it unspools in a real-time. Jesse hanya punya waktu 60 menit sebelum pesawatnya berangkat meninggalkan Paris. Dan sepanjang durasi film kita akan mengikuti percakapan Jesse dan Celine ketika mereka masing-masing mencoba menangkap kembali apa yang dulu pernah mereka miliki. Linklater sungguh keren dalam mengungkapkan chemistry mereka berdua, dimulai secara kikuk dan diselingi long-pauses, penonton bisa dengan enak mengikuti Jesse dan Celine sampai mereka merasa nyaman dengan satu sama lain dan secara perlahan menyempitkan jarak di antara mereka berdua. Pembicaraan mereka pun (mungkin karena ditulis oleh mereka berdua sendiri) terasa sangat realitis. Berawal dari hal-hal remeh, sehari-hari, sampai kemudian mengitari topik-topik yang kita semua ingin tahu: Apakah mereka sudah punya komitmen lain? Apakah mereka masih menyimpan perasaan itu? Apakah mereka akan mengambil kesempatan ini? dan seterusnya. Genre dari film ini jelas merupakan film romantis. Tapi gw menangkapnya secara tragis karena buat gw sesungguhnya film ini bercerita tentang penyesalan. Bagaimanapun, demi mengikuti langkah Jesse dan Celine menyusuri jalanan kota Paris dan berbicara tentang apa-pun (the film features some of the longest trailing shot i've ever seen) yang mampir di pemikiran mereka, gw merasa seperti seorang Jesse yang sedang jalan bersama Celine, dan gw yakin penonton cewe pasti bisa merasa seperti seorang Celine yang sedang jalan bersama Jesse. Pokoknya, film ini bisa membuat kita merasa menjadi bagian dari mereka, more like an interactive experience, we're there, in the screen, WITH them, and that's what made this movie into a very best. Because of its personal involvement.

Characters, Ending
Ethan Hawke dan Julie Delpy luar biasa, mereka benar-benar menghayati peran mereka. Di salah satu footage bonus, salah seorang kru mengatakan bahwa Julie Delpy berpikir sebagai Celine dan begitu pula Ethan Hawke yang berpikir sebagai Jesse sepanjang film ini. Dan jelas karena motivasi mereka bukan money, or fame, their acts were naturally coming from the heart.

The ending, ending, ending, hmmm... gw cuman bisa bilang, pas credit title (yang menandakan film telah berakhir) muncul, gw berteriak -- i was later thinking, is this the way that men screams if they're having their orgasm? probably so -- puas. Gw bener-bener puas, dan gw tidak mau merusak kesenangan kalian menonton film ini.

Jika kalian senang menonton film drama romantis, dengan bumbu-bumbu komedi yang ringan (dont worry, no slapstick, silly faces, and all, the comedy here was pure comedy just like William Shakespeare's comedy), WAJIB hukumnya buat nonton film ini. Oh ya, kalau sempat tonton dulu "Before Sunrise", gw sempet lihat VCD aslinya dijual di Hero. Gw sendiri, sudah nonton dua kali. Suatu hal yang istimewa untuk sebuah film kalo dia udah gw tonton lebih dari satu kali. :)

Screening Log Column #10

2005-03-16T14:25:00.000+07:00

Weekend U.S Box Office (Mar 4 - 6, Mar 11 - 13): (Two weeks edition)
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Robots - US$ 36.04 mills - US$ 36.04 mills
2. - The Pacifier - US$ 18.1 mills - US$ 54.4 mills
3. - Be Cool - US$ 10.25 mills - US$ 38.3 mills
4. - Hostage - US$ 10.21 mills - US$ 10.21 mills
5. - Hitch - US$ 8.7 mills - US$ 149.8 mills
6. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 5.1 mills - US$ 84.04 mills
7. - Diary of a Mad Black Woman - US$ 4.8 mills - US$ 44.019 mills
8. - Constantine - US$ 3.8 mills - US$ 66.5 mills
9. - Man of the House - US$ 1.77 mills - US$ 16.5 mills
10. - Cursed - US$ 1.5 mills - US$ 17.7 mills

Minggu ini ada dua film baru, satu diantaranya bahkan juga secara bebarengan rilis di Indonesia. Robots dan Hostage. Robots adalah jelas-jelas film keluarga yang menyenangkan dalam format animasi yang pasti menghibur, Hostage adalah film thriller. Pretty much obvious which from the two would claim the top of the chart. Bahkan yang lebih menarik salah satu pengisi suaranya ada Robin Williams. Yang nonton pagelaran Oscar kemaren pasti paham kalau Pak Williams jago banget dalam mempermainkan suara. Well, none of the movies above was into my consciusness tough.

Dua minggu lalu, ada The Pacifier dan Be Cool. Dua-duanya bergenre komedi. The Paciefer lebih mendekati keluarga dengan featuring Vin Diesel sebagai seorang Navy SEAL yang harus menjaga keluarga dari seorang ilmuwan yang jadi target teroris. And by family here means, several toddlers, and kids under-age. Sementara Be Cool, kembali mempertemukan John Travolta dan Uma Thurman dalam genre yang nyaris sama dengan pertemuan mereka yang melegenda di Pulp Fiction, Crime/Gangster Comedy. Not to success, maybe because all the predictable flat plot, and added to a fact that Be Cool was supposedly to be a sequel.

Jika di tahun 2004, film pertama produksi 2004 yang berhasil menembus angka pendapatan 100 juta dolar adalah komedi romantis Adam Sandler dan Drew Barrymore, 50 First Dates, maka di tahun 2005 Hitch, (juga) komedi romantis yang dibintangi Will Smith dan Eva Mendes adalah film pertama produksi 2005 yang berhasil meraih pendapatan di atas 100 juta dolar. Hitch was also already released on local cinemas.

Next week, Ice Princess kisah tentang seorang atlit figure-skating yang diperankan oleh Michelle Trachtenberg. Juga, Naomi Watts kembali lewat The Ring Two an obvious sequel from the relatively sequel Japanese-horor adaptation of The Ring which also considered by many as a free-way ticket for Asian horrors to be released in U.S or recreated by the U.S filmmakers. Tapi yang menarik perhatian gw adalah film Melinda and Melinda yang tidak dirilis wide. Film ini adalah film paling barunya Woody Allen. Sebagai pembuat film, menurut gw, Woody Allen orangnya angin-anginan, tapi kalo lagi dapet, dia bisa membuat film drama yang penuh makna seperti Annie Hall, which in my list, still keep its position in top-10 of my top romantic-drama movie of all time.

Screening Log Column #9

2005-03-15T18:32:00.000+07:00

Special Edition: Or How I Tried to Redeem Myself By Writing an Excuse Instead of Writing a Full Article

Okay, here's the thing.. last five days.. i've been home. Got many things accomplished, even though that i had to bid a short goodbye -- which was very unpleasant -- to things i loved in Depok, my PlayStation2 unit, my DVD collections, and my ever faithful WorkStation, Musang.

However, there were three of the important things that i got accomplished during my relatively short trip home. And they were: 1). Renewing my mibun shomeisho (ID card, or KTP). 2). Renewing my unten menkyoujou (Driving License, or SIM) and 3). I bought a motor-cycle. Yes, i've bought a motor-cycle even though that it won't be available here until next month.

Actually there was also one very important thing that i got accomplished and previously has been on my top of the agenda. I can't tell you anything about it though, but i assured you, once it had come out of the mist, i will let every one of you to found out what it is.

Also, i've written two short stories while i am home. I'm still reshaping it though, and regretfully by doing so, it won't be short story anymore.

All in all, it was lovely and fun to be home amongst your family, wasn't it? i've had a great time even though that there are no PlayStation2, DVDs, and PCs there.

Anyway, i'm back at Jakarta at 8:30 a.m today, and the very first thing i did was playing Tekken 5 on my PlayStation2 until 3:00 p.m.

Screening Log Column #8 (part 2)

2005-03-02T10:13:00.000+07:00

Weekend U.S Box Office (Feb 25 - 27):
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Diary of a Mad Black Woman - US$ 21.9 mills - US$ 21.9 mills
2. - Hitch - US$ 20.4 mills - US$ 121.4 mills
3. - Constantine - US$ 12 mills - US$ 50.9 mills
4. - Cursed - US$ 9.6 mills - US$ 9.6 mills
5. - Man of the House - US$ 8.9 mills - US$ 8.9 mills
6. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 7.3 mills - US$ 64.8 mills
7. - Because of Winn-Dixie - US$ 6.8 mills - US$ 22.2 mills
8. - Are We There Yet? - US$ 4.1 mills - US$ 76.4 mills
9. - Son of the Mask - US$ 3.8 mills - US$ 14 mills
10. - The Aviator - US$ 3.7 mills - US$ 93.6 mills

Diary of a Mad Black Woman adalah film drama komedi yang berkisah tentang seorang wanita yang seakan-akan punya segalanya, latest fashion, newest cars, mansions, all the possessions, etc. sampai akhirnya suaminya memutuskan untuk menceraikannya dan menyisihkannya dari rumah mewahnya untuk diganti dengan wanita lain. Selanjutnya, sepertinya film ini berkonsentrasi kepada bagaimana si wanita ini pick-up her pieces. Film debut dari sutradara Darren Grant, not interested. Gw dulu suka sama Christina Ricci, aktingnya di Addams' Family was sooo cute and adorable, tapi makin ke sini kok makin tenggelam saja ya dia? sempat tampil lumayan bareng Charlize Theron di Monster, Ricci punya kecenderungan untuk bermain di film-film bergenre horor. Bukan pilihan yang salah sih menurut gw, dia punya track-record yang lumayan bagus dan pula didukung oleh raut muka yang cukup kelam. Film terbarunya, Cursed dibuka dengan lemah -- sepertinya semua film di Amerika minggu ini, lemah dengan hanya 20 juta dolar diperoleh oleh si pemuncak box-office --, hanya 9 juta dolar, juga bergenre horor. By the way, film horor ini plot utamanya melibatkan werewolf. Tidak pula mendapat review yang bagus. Film ketiga yang dirilis wide minggu ini, direview lebih parah, padahal bintang utama-nya Tommy Lee Jones. Tapi premise-nya, walaupun mengisyaratkan bahwa ini film akan menjadi semacam film seksi, tetap saja tidak begitu menjual. Di Man of the House, Tommy Lee Jones berperan sebagai seorang ranger yang ditugaskan untuk melindungi sekumpulan saksi kunci dari sebuah pembunuhan -- kelompok cheerleader dari University of Texas -- sampai pada akhirnya, karakter Tommy harus menyamar sebagai asisten pelatih cheerleader, dan tinggal serumah dengan kelompok cheerleader tersebut. Hmmmm, sexy girls? well, i wouldn't want to watch the movie anytime soon.

Later this week, Uma Thurman back on stage with John Travolta in Be Cool, Adrien Brody akan bermain sebagai veteran perang yang jatuh cinta dan melihat kematiannya sendiri ketika ia bepergian ke masa depan dalam The Jacket. Dengan Kiera Knightley, gw cukup tertarik sama film ini. Dan terakhir, Vin Diesel akan berperan sebagai NAVY Seal yang menjadi baby sitter untuk lima orang anak seorang ilmuwan pemerintah di The Pacifier.

From the Screening Log:

In addition with part 1 issues, this week Screening Log screened:
Film Inggris, Shaun of the Dead. Sudah jelas kelihatan dari judulnya bahwa film ini merupakan komedi satir dari film zombie klasik, Dawn of the Dead, yang remake-nya terbilang sukses (di mata gw). Ceritanya, Shaun adalah seorang pekerja yang lumayan menyedihkan... umur 29 tahun dan tinggal bersama sobat karibnya, Ed yang kerjanya tiap hari maen PS2, dan Pete. Liz, cewenya Shaun sudah bosan dengan kehidupan Shaun, dan ketika Shaun lupa akan janjinya untuk membawa Liz merayakan hubungan mereka, ia memutuskan hubungan mereka. Depresi, Shaun bertekat untuk memperbaiki hubungan mereka esok harinya, akan tetapi.. keesokan harinya, London sudah dipopulasi oleh zombie. Petualangan Shaun adalah petualangan yang sangat kocak, tapi juga bloody, jika mencari film horor yang segar, romantis, menyentuh, tapi juga sekaligus kocak, Shaun-lah jawabannya. Gw asik-asik aja tertawa ketika Shaun dan Ed memilih-milih piringan hitam yang akan dilempar sebagai senjata. Quote: "What about this? Batman soundtrack?", "Yeah, okay, throw it". Tapi juga ada scene yang mengharukan, scene yang cukup bikin perut mual juga ada, fans Dawn of the Dead juga gak akan kecewa. Bahkan George Remore, pembuat original Dawn of the Dead juga suka sama film ini.

Banyak orang yang bilang kalau Saw adalah horor terbaik bikinan Hollywood di thn. 2004. An damn, i'm sooo agreed. Filmnya dibuka ketika seorang pemuda bernama Adam mendapati dirinya terantai di sebuah ruangan bersama seorang dokter bedah yang juga sama-sama terantai. Di tengah ruangan, ada seorang laki-laki yang tengkurap dengan kepala berdarah-darah, sebuah pistol kosong di tangan kirinya, dan sebuah tape-recorder di tangan kanannya, Dokter Lawrence dihadapkan pada pilihan, dia mendapat sebuah peluru. Keluarganya diancam akan dibunuh apabila ia tidak membunuh Adam sebelum jam 6 sore. Si pembunuh juga menyiapkan permainan untuk Adam. Dan ketika Adam dan Dokter Lawrence mencoba menerka-nerka siapa dan apa di balik motif pembunuh, mereka punya 8 jam untuk mengambil keputusan. Keluhan gw terhadap film ini terutama ada 2. Satu, kameranya techno, jadi cara James Wan mengambil gambar seperti video-klip techno, putar 360 derajat, fast-frame-rate, dan sebagainya. Untungnya warna-warnaya mendukung atmofser film ini yang sangat-sangat misterius. Dua, aktingnya luar biasa buruk. Gw tidak convince sama sekali dengan karakter Adam. Apalagi dengan karakter Dokter Lawrence yang menurut gw terlalu muda untuk seorang family-man. Gw tidak bisa relate sama sekali dengan tokoh-tokoh di layar. Tapi sekali lagi, untungnya ceritanya cukup bagus dan menggelitik sehingga gw bisa sejenak meninggalkan relasi emosi gw terhadap film dan hanya mengandalkan relasi fisik saja (the make-up was good, though). Dan bener2 nggak nyangka kalau penjahatnya ternyata si itu.

Ketika gw bisa melihat sebuah film, gw tinggal 20 menit toilet-break, kembali dan masih bisa memahami intisari film itu, maka film itu adalah film yang boring, membosankan, tsumaranai, dan seterusnya. Aksinya lumayan sih, tapi itu saja yang bisa ditawarkan film ini. Gw lebih menikmati nonton Blade II daripada Blade: Trinity. Wesley Snipes juga tidak terlalu banyak omong di sini. Terlalu banyak plot-holes yang either menunjukkan ego penjahat yang terlalu tinggi atau simply karena kebodohan penjahatnya itu. Satu tokoh protagonis dimaksudkan untuk jadi pelawak.. but did you hear me laugh? not a bit. Untung saja gw masih demen sama Jessica Biel jadi lumayan terhibur. But overall, film ini adalah film yang bisa dengan mudah gw lupakan.

Screening Log Column #8 (part 1)

2005-02-28T13:32:00.000+07:00

Special Coverage:

77th Annual Academy Award winners (Screening Log's prediction in bracket):
Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby (Million Dollar Baby)
Best Director: Clint Eastwood (Clint Eastwood)
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx (Jamie Foxx)
Best Actress: Hillary Swank (Annette Bening)
Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman (Clive Owen)
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchet!!! (Cate Blanchet) -- finally, dear Cate!

Some surprising result. The Aviator, yang banyak orang menjagokan buat menang Best Picture ternyata kalah sama Million Dollar Baby. Dan Martin Scorcese, untuk kesekian kalinya kembali diremehkan oleh Oscar. Tapi terutama, Screening Log lumayan terkejut dengan tampilnya Morgan Freeman sebagai pemenang Best Supporting Actor. Masalahnya, di Million Dollar Baby, Morgan Freeman tidak terlihat terlalu mencolok, paling tidak bila dibandingkan dengna penampilan Clive Owen di Closer. But anyway, i didn't feel any vibe at all for this year's Academy Award ceremony unlike last year, when Lord of the Rings swept 11 awards. Well, i hope the movie had a better vibe this year.

Screening Log top 10 of 2004:

Two months late, i know.. but i need to had those certain times to get a hold of winter movies, as well as Academy Award's result. So, without further ado, here comes top 10 of 2004 from Screening Log's perspectivity (beware, subjectivity may bold).

10. The Bourne Supremacy.
Satu dari sedikit sekuel yang lebih baik dari seri ke-satu-nya. Screening Log menganggap sepanjang tahun 2004, The Bourne Supremacy adalah film aksi terbaik. Sedikit dari film-film bergenre aksi lain yang mendekati ketegangannya. Pace-nya luar biasa cepat, tegang, dan meskipun banyak orang mengeluhkan pergerakan kamera-nya, gw sendiri tidak menganggap itu sebagai hal yang mengganggu. Magnificent final shot.

9. Ray.
Gw selalu menikmati film musik, dan film ini jelas ditulis dengan konjungsi pada diskografi-nya Ray Charles. Terlihat terutama ketika Ray memainkan lagu "Hit the road, Jack" ketika ia dan selingkuhannya sedang bertengkar hebat. Ada beberapa hal yang mengganggu sih, terutama peran istri-nya Ray, dan durasi film yang sedikit terlalu panjang. Pun ada juga beberapa hal yang menakjubkan seperti peran ibu-nya Ray, i was really really enjoys her act in whenever she appears on screen.

8. Finding Neverland.
Another biopic, sepertinya memang trend di 2004 film-film cenderung bergerak ke arah situ. Jhonny Depp seperti biasa, tampil penuh energi, dan Kate Winslet, mm mh.. Kate Winslet, in my subjectivity, she was the best Actress of 2004. Menurut gw, film ini bisa lebih nyata dinikmati kalau penonton punya sedikit pengetahuan mengenai "Peter Pan" dan "Neverland"-nya.

7. Closer.
Profanity! Profanity!. Sebuah film yang menerima rating "R" bukan karena adegan kekerasan atau sensualisme, tapi lebih karena dialog-dialog yang jujur tapi kasar. Kekuatan film ini terletak pada aktor-aktris-nya. Mereka yang membawa film ini jadi begitu kuat, meskipun tidak bisa dipungkiri bahwa atmosfir filmnya juga membawa mereka untuk menjadi lebih kuat. Sangat menarik melihat karakter Alice dan denial-nya yang ditampilkan di akhir film.

6. Before Sunset.
Superb! Kalau di Closer benar-benar hanya ada empat tokoh yang benar-benar berdialog, di Before Sunset hanya ada dua. Kalau di Closer, time-span-nya scretch sampai bertahun-tahun, di Before Sunset, time-span-nya hanya 1 jam 20 menit, persis sama dengan durasi filmnya sendiri. Featuring some of the best trailing shot i've ever seen, screenplaynya ditulis oleh sutradara dan dua aktor-aktrisnya jadi sepanjang film kita seperti melihat dua orang sedang berdiskusi mengenai apa saja sambil sesekali mengenang masa lalu mereka yang indah (film ini adalah sekuel dari "Before Sunrise"). Menurut gw, ini adalah film romantis terbaik tahun 2004. Dan endingnya, ahhhhh.. gw berteriak puas ketika credit-title muncul. Puas. Benar-benar puas.

5. Collateral.
Clash of Characters! Gw suka banget sama karakter-nya Tom Cruise. Meskipun endingnya kurang berkenan buat gw, tapi duel Tom dan Jamie benar-benar mampu menyihir gw. Quote: Tom, "In Rwanda, thousands are died before sunrise". Jamie, "I dont know no Rwandan". Tom, "And you dont know the man in the trunk either". Ck...ck...ck... tidak akan lama sebelum gw putar film ini kembali.

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Tidak sebaik Adaptation, tapi meski demikian, Charlie Kauffman tetap memperlihatkan kejeniusannya di film ini. Dan sekali lagi, Kate Winslet. mm..mh. Jim Carrey tidak tampil seperti biasanya, which is good, karena gw sudah mulai jenuh sama muka-karet-nya itu.

3. The Aviator.
Yet another biopic. Gw selalu senang nonton, atau baca tentang seseorang yang perfeksionis. Dan Howard Hughes was nowhere less than an ultra-perfectionist person. Bukan film yang emosional, atau inspirasional, bahkan ada kecenderungan film ini terlalu "dokumenter". Well, subjectivity holds. Dan Martin Scorcese, salah satu sutradara favorit gw, ciri khasnya mulai bisa gw rasakan. Sayang memang dia tidak bisa menang di Academy Award tapi apa mau dikata, Clint Eastwood di Million Dollar Baby buat gw juga lebih baik.

2. Kill Bill vol. 2.
QT. Period.

1. Million Dollar Baby.
Emosional. Gw nonton film ini bisa berdebar-debar. Dan ketika film ini pada akhirnya berkelok tajam 180 derajat ke arah yang berlawanan dengan jalur yang ditempuh Rocky, film ini mampu menangkap gw di kegelapan, dan kesuramannya. I always liked a dark and surreal scenes, and in this movie, all my desires was fulfilled to its full extend.

Screening Log Column #7

2005-02-22T11:10:00.000+07:00

Babblings:

I didn't see much movies last week, i was so drawn to Stephen King's 1400 pages epic "The Stand". Man! How i love the book already, even though that i've read only half of it and had a pretty good hunch of how the book will ends -- if you had read many Stephen King's, you would be able to see the pattern in which he ends the book. "The Stand" was supposedly become one of the most known work by Stephen King that it published twice, with the latter being 400 pages thicker. What i love the most about the book is that he didn't hesitate to wipe out the entire U.S. of A. population as in the first 300 pages or so there are many deaths and blood spilled all over country. The best scene, so far, was when the army wipe out the entire student that doing some protest at their campus. They didn't gave the warning shot for that matters, what they did was "shoot to kill" and how they had killed hundreds maybe thousands in that scene only. I was trembling wildly when i read the scene, as i could easily put myself among those student that flies around like bugs before the full-metal-jacket piercing bullets incapitated their bodies, and sent them to whatever fate wait them in the next world.

Weekend U.S Box Office (Feb 18 - 20):
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Hitch - US$ 36.5 mills - US$ 94.8 mills
2. - Constantine - US$ 34.6 mills - US$ 34.6 mills
3. - Because of Winn-Dixie - US$ 13.2 mills - US$ 13.2 mills
4. - Son of the Mask - US$ 10.1 mills - US$ 10.1 mills
5. - Are We There Yet? - US$ 8.1 mills - US$ 71.1 mills
6. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 7.7 mills - US$ 55.2 mills
7. - Boogeyman - US$ 6 mills - US$ 41.6 mills
8. - Pooh's Heffalump Movie - US$ 5.4 mills - US$ 12.6 mills
9. - The Aviator - US$ 5.04 mills - US$ 88.9 mills
10. - Sideways - US$ 4.9 mills - US$ 59.1 mills

Terbukti sudah, Will Smith punya daya tarik lebih dibanding si Neo - ups, Keanu Reeves. Film terbarunya Neo - ups, Keanu Reeves - Constantine tidak mampu menggeser Hitch meskipun marginnya relatif tipis. Ada beberapa hal yang menarik tentang Constantine. Pertama, film ini tampil duluan di Indonesia - pasti karena faktor Neo-nya. Kedua, hari Sabtu yang lalu, di jalan, gw menemukan banyak hal yang membuat gw semakin ndak suka sama Neo - ups, ah, kali ini tidak salah, kok. Di bus-way, ketika gw lewat di depan GM 21, sepasang mudi-mudi mengomentari film itu, "Ah! Kayak Matrix!".. ah, glad that anyone notice. Di Glodok, ada cewek yang memegang secarik kertas terus nanya ke setiap orang yang kelihatannya seperti penjual DVD bajakan. Gw sempat mengintip kertas itu dan ternyata, di atas kertas itu tertulis Constantine. Hal ini membuat gw berpikir, apa iya, si Neo ini - ups, Keanu Reeves - begitu terkenal di Indonesia sehingga filmnya mendapat kehormatan khusus untuk tampil duluan dari pada di negeri asalnya sono? Tak habis pikir, padahal menurut gw si Neo ini - ups, Keanu Reeves - boleh dibilang dalam kelas kualitas yang sama dengan Steven Seagal. Come to think of it, di 21 juga lagi diputer satu filmnya Steven Seagal.. ha.. ha.. ha.. Dua film baru berikutnya, tidak ada yang menarik gw selain bahwa Because of Winn-Dixie mendapat review yang lebih baik dari Constantine, dan Son of the Mask sekuel The Mask, memang sesuai yang diprediksikan bakal jelek. Gw sudah lihat trailernya Son of the Mask, and despite the cute CGI-ed dog that appears on the trailer, i have no interest at all to see this movie anytime soon.

Di luar kebiasaan, gw akan mosting upcoming, later this week movie release sampai pertengahan minggu ini.. gosh! i'm so tired.

From the Screening Log:

A day with Ms.Portman. Minggu ini Screening Log menonton film-film yang diperani oleh aktris favorit Screening Log, untuk saat ini: Natalie Portman.
Leon the Professional Film pertama Luc Besson yang di-shot di Amerika. Tentang seorang hit-man profesional, Leon (Jean Reno) yang by-chance terlibat dengan seorang tetangganya, gadis 12 tahun, Mathilda (Natalie Portman). I love the movie as much as when i had watched it for the first time years ago. Untuk Portman sendiri, this little girl had caught my eye back then and again that night as she act very convincingly of a little girl who came from the very dysfunctional family. Sentral dari film ini buat gw bukan aksi-nya yang sebenarnya sangat lumayan tapi akan hubungan Leon - Mathilda. Mathilda adalah seorang gadis kecil 12 tahun yang sudah mengalami terlalu banyak tragedi sepanjang hidupnya yang singkat itu. Dan ini membuatnya terlihat lebih kuat dari karakter Leon di film ini. Juga bagaimana akhirnya Mathilda, civilized the professional hit-man. Filmnya diambil di New York, tapi seandainya gw ga tahu fakta ini, gw bakal mengira kalau filmnya diambil di Eropa. Luc Besson somehow able to find Paris in Manhattan. This was the movie that in my short-list, bound to become a classic.

Garden State. Overrated. Terus terang gw bingung kenapa film ini mendapat kritik yang bagus, banyak yang suka, dan sempat-sempatnya membuat Sundance Film Festival 'bergerak'. Ceritanya tentang seorang 20-something loser, fully medicated, punya masalah komunikasi dengan keluarganya yang menyebabkan ia tidak pulang selama 9 tahun, sampai ketika ibunya meninggal. Dan ketika ia pulang ke rumah, dia menemukan dirinya kembali dan cintanya, Sam (Natalie Portman). Ah, i've seen the movie like that. Yes, i've seen it somewhere. Ini merupakan film feature pertama dari Zach Braff yang juga aktor utama, dan juga penulisnya. Cukup bisa dimengerti kenapa film ini hambar karena memang susah berdiri di atas tiga tempat sekaligus sementara kaki kita cuma ada dua. Buat gw yang menyelamatkan film ini cuma Natalie Portman yang tampil sangat menyenangkan di sini meskipun di beberapa scene gw juga merasa bosan dengan 'akting'-nya yang sungguh kentara. Karakter Zach Braff sendiri gagal menarik simpati gw. Bagi gw dia cuma seorang loser yang setiap waktu selalu mengeluh bahwa dirinya selalu depresi demi mendapat simpati dari orang-orang disekelilingnya. Bah. Mungkin kalau ia sedikit lebih berusaha untuk menjadi lebih baik, gw akan bersimpati. Tapi ini? tidak. Sama sekali tidak. Bahkan gw merasa tidak adil seandainya Sam pada akhirnya memberikan cintanya padanya. Stupid. Well, Mandy Moore once say that "Cupid is stupid". So i guess, the film was forgivable.

Closer. Premisenya menyebutkan bahwa inilah gambaran relationship yang modern. Jika memang demikian, man, what a terrifying modern world. Okay, passage berikut ini murni merupakan subyektifitas gw terhadap apa yang diusung oleh film ini. Gw merasa muak, sekaligus sedih ketika karakter Jude Law mengatakan pada karakter Clive Owen, "apa bedanya kita dengan binatang?". Ironis. Soalnya gw melihat setiap karakter di film yang minim ini (minim karena bintang-nya, yang ngomong lebih dari dua baris dialog hanya ada empat, Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman) tak lebih dari binatang di film ini. Seenak perutnya gonta-ganti pasangan, melakukan seks bebas, by golly, dont they know that Adam and Eve were condemned from Heaven by the very same sin that they had been doing so casually, even as casual as a rooster who puts its privy to every hen he found interesting. Jeez. Subjectivity ends here. Terlepas dari itu, Mike Nichols, sutradara yang memang film-filmnya ngurek-ngurek buruknya moral manusia, cukup berhasil di film ini. Lihat saja, film ini sekilas mengusung nama "cinta" tapi tidak ada esensi "cinta" di film ini yang ada hanya "power". Siapa yang kuat, dia yang menang. Oh wait, yes! you're an animal!. Siapa yang tahu kelemahan lawannya, dialah yang kemudian berkuasa atas orang itu. Sangat-sangat berhasil dalam mengangkat isu tersebut, dan mungkin walaupun karakter-karakternya terlalu sinis, terlalu menyindir, tapi boleh jadi itu mungkin bagian dari realita, bagian dari moral manusia yang mau diejek oleh Mike Nichols dan kru-nya. Pun aktor-aktris-nya juga tampil sangat luar biasa, Julia Roberts bukan tampil sebagai bintang (seperti di Ocean's Twelve misalnya) tapi lebih sebagai aktris, Natalie Portman dalam apa yang sering disebut sebagai film dewasa pertamanya, tampil jujur, Jude Law? biasa, i've found that this guy had played in way too many movies that he turns out flat. Tapi yang benar-benar overshadowed the other was Clive Owen. Sulit dipercaya kalau dia dulu maen di King Arthur. All in all, Closer adalah film dewasa bukan dari adegan tapi dari dialog-dialog jujur dan kasar yang ber-rating "R". It also has the most memorable ending shot in 2004. Dan mind you, ini sama sekali bukan film yang bisa dinikmati kalau nontonnya sama orang lain (dengan kata lain, nonton film ini musti sendiri). I found myself, thinking about this movie. Even now.

Irrelevant Mumblings

2005-02-22T10:32:00.000+07:00

Tidur: Disorientasi? Atau hanya Habit?

Tidur itu karunia. Tuhan telah memberi kita malam hari, dan asosiasi yang tepat dengan tidur untuk beristirahat, mengisi kembali batere, meregenerasi sel-sel yang mati, atau sekedar sejenak melupakan hal-hal buruk yang mungkin terjadi di siang harinya. Apapun alasannya, tidur adalah saat istimewa bagi seorang manusia. Bahkan, menurut gw, mati di saat tidur, meskipun mungkin bukan mati yang paling istimewa adalah mati yang paling damai. Quoting Elle Driver -- ndak terlalu mirip sih -- di Kill Bill vol. 1, "For a person with job like ours, to die in bed was a luxury".

Gw sendiri punya 'kebiasaan' -- i dont know what to call it, so i think i stick to the 'habit' instead -- tidur yang "susah tidur, gampang bangun" sehingga suara-suara yang tidak akrab di telinga gw -- contoh-contoh suara akrab buat gw, suara kipas angin, suara komputer, suara kulkas, dengkurannya api, suara sepeda motor di jalan, dan suara adzan --, walaupun desibelnya rendah pasti akan membuat gw terjaga. Dan seandainya itu terjadi, butuh beberapa jam lagi untuk bisa membuat gw tidur kembali meskipun sebelumnya gw baru tidur 10 menit. Kebiasaan (untuk mudahnya, gw menghilangkan single-quote-nya) ini boleh dibilang berkah tapi sekaligus kutukan. Berkah-nya sih gw bisa dengan sangat mudah bangun di malam hari. Terlepas dari kegiatan apa yang gw lakukan di malam hari, perhatikan bahwa gw memakai kata 'berkah' karena... ya... begitu deh. Kutukan-nya, tentunya kembali lagi ke konsep 'tidur sebagai karunia' yang gw sebut di kata pertama di atas. Jika tidur itu karunia, gw yang sering kali kurang tidur ini bisa dikatakan kekurangan 'karunia' tersebut.

Tunggu sebentar. Gw? kekurangan tidur? ha ha.. some of you will laugh out loud on this. Tapi tunggu sebentar, sebagian besar orang punya jam tidur yang fixed. Yang tetap, terjadwal dengan sempurna di jam biologis mereka. Beda dengan gw, meskipun gw tidak pernah pergi keliling dunia, gw sering kali berada dalam kondisi jet-lag. Jam biologis gw kacau balau. Gw bisa tidur selama 14 jam sehari (that's my current record, yes) kalau tidak ada gangguan sama sekali (sekali lagi, gw "susah tidur, gampang bangun") tapi sering kali gw cuma tidur selama 1 jam saja dalam durasi 24 jam. Hari ini misalnya, gw baru tidur 2 jam, and here i am, with my second cup of coffee for this morning only, writing this entry. Jadi, gw rasa cukup adil dan beralasan kalau gw bilang, gw ini kekurangan tidur. Tambahkanlah kata sehat di belakangnya menjadi "gw ini kekurangan tidur yang sehat" biar lebih terasa empasis-nya.

Ada dua hal yang paling gw tidak suka dalam kaitannya dengan tidur. Satu, ketika gw terbangun dari mimpi. Seperti yang gw alami pagi ini. Para ahli sudah menyimpulkan bahwa mimpi terjadi ketika kita sedang dalam kondisi tidur REM (Rapid Eye Movement). Pada saat REM, kondisi tubuh akan kontradiktif dengan definisi tidur nyenyak. Dalam semalam, manusia normal akan mengalami 4 - 6 REM dengan tidur yang benar-benar dikategorikan sebagai tidur nyenyak di antara masing-masing fase REM tadi. Nah, ketika gw terbangun dari mimpi, terhentak dengan paksa dari REM, gw selalu akan merasa segar seperti sudah tidur selama 6 - 8 jam. Padahal kenyataannya kalau gw lihat jam, gw pasti akan menggerutu, "shit.. baru jam sekian!". Pernah bahkan suatu hari, belum lama berselang, gw baru tidur 10 menit, terbangun dari mimpi dan kemudian terjaga selama 7 jam sebelum bisa tertidur kembali. And that's very much annoy me. Tapi gw tidak bisa melakukan apa-apa terhadapnya. Sekali waktu, tanpa bisa terprediksi, kejadian itu pasti datang lagi, seperti tamu yang tak diundang, un-wanted but always come in dire times.

Yang kedua, disorientasi gw yang kedua tentang tidur ini berkaitan dengan entri gw berikutnya.

Anger Management: Analyze This

Pernah benar-benar marah sampai nggak bisa ngomong apa-apa? Kalau iya, apa yang akan kaulakukan? Ini cerita gw ketika gw benar-benar merasa marah. Kejadiannya pun belum lama berselang.

Di entri sebelumnya gw sudah menyebutkan satu dari dua hal yang tidak gw suka kalau sedang tidur. Nah yang kedua, adalah tentu saja ketika gw terbangun dengan paksa gara-gara suara yang tidak bersahabat sama gw, suara-suara yang tidak gw inginkan. Ketika itu, gw baru tidur selama satu jam setelah malam sebelumnya gw terbangun dari REM setelah hanya 10 menit gw memejamkan mata. Ditambah lagi, malam sebelumnya gw baru pulang jam 12 malam. Nah ketika pagi itu tiba-tiba pintu kamar gw diketuk, gw merasa benar-benar terganggu dan ketika gw buka, kehadiran seorang teman gw yang sama sekali tidak gw inginkan datang. Di antara teman-teman gw yang lain, this guy is the least expected person to disturb me. Bisa dimaafkan sih, mengingat dia tentu tidak se-faham teman-teman gw yang lain. Tapi hari itu entah kenapa setiap apa yang ia lakukan terlihat salah di mata gw, setiap apa yang ia lakukan menggelitik rasa marah gw. Dan saat itu, rasa marah gw adalah makhluk yang paling sensitif sama geli. Akhirnya di tengah rasa marah gw, yang gw berusaha sebisa mungkin untuk gw penjara, gw memutuskan untuk pergi jalan-jalan. Mau tahu rute gw? Pokus, Depok - Pondok Indah - Blok M - Glodok - Gramedia, Depok - Pokus, Depok. Dan selama itu gw merasa bener-bener bisa tidur berdiri. Terutama saat naik kereta dari Kota - Depok. Tapi gw rasa itu jalan yang terbaik, daripada gw di kos harus menghadapi dia di tengah usaha gw untuk menggembok si rasa marah yang pasti akan segera bebas seandainya terus digelitik, gw pergi jalan-jalan, dan belanja. O yes, i spent almost 400 thousand rupiahs in that day. What a feast, what a costy anger management. Tapi cukup berhasil, bahkan gw ragu-ragu kalau misalnya gw membayar psikiater untuk melakukan anger management yang mungkin malah lebih mahal daripada biaya gw hari itu akan seberhasil anger management yang gw lakukan. Tapi gw ga ingin marah2 lagi ah, mahal.

Screening Log Column #6

2005-02-14T21:32:00.000+07:00

Babblings:

Gw membaca salah satu artikel tentang otak. Dari situ, gw mengambil kesimpulan kalau cara berpikir gw itu sangat-sangat visual, non-linear, dan multi-purpose (terutama dalam hal 'tujuan') yang kesemuanya merupakan fungsi otak kanan (simptom yang paling sederhana, mana yang lebih mudah buatmu. Mengingat nama orang atau wajah? Kalau gw, jelas wajah. Gw sering ketemu teman yang gw bener-bener lupa namanya tapi ingat betul sama raut wajahnya. Dan lebih jauh lagi, gw bisa mengidentifikasi 4 dari 5 mahasiswa FISIP UI. Hah hah, gw melebih-lebihkan tentu saja). Dari artikel itu pula gw melihat bahwa si penulis artikel merekomendasikan untuk menjadi seorang seniman, pelukis (honest, i once had a hunch to bought myself a canvas and start painting anything that comes to mind, but it was so expensive i rather bought a paperback instead), atau musisi. Sedangkan seorang penulis, direkomendasikan untuk mereka yang lebih dominan otak kirinya.

Informasi ini gw simpan baik-baik. Dan lantas gw bandingkan dengan keadaan gw yang sesungguhnya. Selama ini, ide datang dan pergi secara visual di benak gw. Bahkan lewat mimpi yang selalu gw ingat setiap bangun tidur (bukan cuma satu, tapi sering kali dua mimpi gw di malam sebelumnya bisa gw ingat di pagi hari). Tapi ketika mencoba menterjemahkan informasi visual itu ke dalam bentuk verbal, gw seperti mendaki dinding batu dengan kemiringan sembilan puluh derajat setinggi ratusan meter tanpa bantuan apa pun. Sulit. Benar-benar sulit. Padahal sayang sekali jika ide-ide visual yang mampir di otak gw itu dilewatkan begitu saja, atau gw nikmati sendiri. But hell no! i'm going to keep writing until i received my very first declination note sent by the publisher.

Weekend U.S Box Office (Feb 11 - 13):
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Hitch - US$ 45.3 mills - US$ 45.3 mills
2. - Boogeyman - US$ 10.8 mills - US$ 33.3 mills
3. - Are We There Yet? - US$ 8.5 mills - US$ 61.5 mills
4. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 7.58 mills - US$ 45 mills
5. - Pooh's Heffalump Movie - US$ 6 mills - US$ 6 mills
6. - The Wedding Date - US$ 5.6 mills - 19.5 mills
7. - Hide and Seek - US$ 5.55 mills - 43.5 mills
8. - Sideways - US$ 4.75 mills - US$ 53 mills
9. - The Aviator - US$ 4.63 mills - US$ 82.2 mills
10. - Meet the Fockers - US$ 3.4 mills - US$ 269.9 mills

Will Smith meskipun memulai karir akting sebagai bintang utama sitkom "The Prince of Bel-Air" tidak pernah membintangi film feature bergenre komedi. "Prince of Summer" ini selalu membawa sukses yang menggiurkan bagi film-film yang dibintanginya karena memang selalu laris dan sukses. Sebut saja "ID-4", "I, Robot", atau "MIB". Pun begitu, film-film tersebut genrenya selalu fantasi menjurus ke aksi CGI. Hitch mungkin merupakan film komedi romantis pertamanya. And man how he'd succeeded at that. Hitch, yang mengisahkan kisah seorang konsultan percintaan (matchmaker) yang diperani oleh Will Smith, Eva Mendes dan disutradarai oleh Andy Tennant yang sukses membawa "Sweet Home Alabama" ternyata bisa merebut pencinta film di U.S sono dengan merajai box-office dengan perolehan 4 kali lipat dari saingan terdekatnya, thriller Boogeyman. Agaknya nama Will Smith memang masih menjadi jaminan. Film baru lainnya, Pooh's Heffalump Movie tidak akan gw bahas mendalam di sini. Toh, dia cuma another Winnie the Pooh's cartoon, yang mungkin hanya memuaskan penonton anak-anak atau hardcore fans dari Winnie the Pooh. And i was neither.

Later this week, we see Because of Winn-Dixie, Constantine, dan Son of the Mask. Dari forum-forum, gw bisa menyimpulkan penonton Indonesia really anticipating Constantine, sebuah adaptasi komik tentang seorang anti-hero, John Constantine yang diperanin oleh Keanu Reeves. Well, i didn't like Keanu Reeves at all. Tapi trailernya kelihatannya cukup menjanjikan. Film ini juga sudah masuk di Indonesia (http://www.21cineplex.com) meskipun tampaknya baru akan midnight pada tanggal 26 Februari nanti.

Tentu masih ingat sama The Mask, film konyol (yet another adaptation of comic) yang diperanin oleh Jim Carrey. Son of the Mask cukup punya kualifikasi untuk disebut sebagai sekuel-nya. Sesuai judulnya, The Mask diceritakan punya 'anak'. Bagaimana alur logisnya, gw sendiri pun masih meraba dalam gelap. Because of Winn-Dixie adalah satu lagi adaptasi dari cerita yang diangkat ke film. Dan itu melengkapi 100% film adaptasi yang akan dirilis minggu ini. Bercerita tentang persahabatan seorang gadis cilik dengan seekor anjing yang ia temukan terlantar di sebuah supermarket. Dari tema-nya tentu saja ini akan menjadi sebuah film keluarga yang bakal mengharu biru. Apalagi tokohnya seorang gadis cilik (7-10 yrs old) dan seekor binatang.

From the Screening Log:

Screening Log hanya melihat tiga film minggu ini meskipun ada libur selama lima hari. Assault on Precinct 13 versi asli. Sesuai kebiasaan, gw mencoba untuk menonton atau membaca karya asli dari sebuah film yang diangkat sebagai remake atau adaptasi darinya. Dan karena di tahun 2005 ini, film Assault on Precinct 13 di-remake, maka gw mencari dan kemudian menonton film aslinya. As expected, filmnya lame, tapi kasar. Austin Stoker sebagai tokoh utama anti-hero di film ini tampil luar biasa. Dan suasananya, feelsnya juga dapet. Mencekam. Walaupun adegan penyerbuannya sangat bapuk (wajar mengingat ini film dibuat tahun 70-an), satu hal yang membuat gw kagum adalah adegan aksinya yang kasar tanpa koreografi. Tidak wah, bahkan mungkin bisa ditertawakan tapi tetap memberikan nuansa indah yang unik. Body count: 6 Police Officers, 1 Telephone Service-Man, 2 Convicts, 1 Civillian, 40-50 Thugs.

Jackie Brown. Gw pernah menyinggung film ini sebelumnya. Dan memang, ini adalah kali ketiga gw nonton film ini. Filmnya lambat, dan lama (dua setengah jam) tapi tidak membuat gw mengantuk. Dialog-dialog khas Tarantino, karakter-karakter yang lovable (si gila Samuel L.Jackson, si misterius Robert Forster, si dungu Robert De Niro, si penggoda Bridget Fonda, si ambisius Michael Keaton, dan tentu saja si cerdas Pam Grier) dimainkan tanpa cela oleh para aktor-aktrisnya. Dibuka dengan dialog tidak penting (sekali lagi, ciri khas Tarantino) tentang macam-macam senjata oleh Samuel L.Jackson, yang paling menarik dari film ini adalah tidak ada karakter yang under-developed. Semuanya (bahkan Bridget Fonda yang nyaris sepanjang film memakai bikini) di bangun dengan serius oleh QT. Dan ini yang membuat film ini sangat-sangat menarik dan tidak membosankan buat gw, and clearly it was QT's best shot meskipun tidak sukses. Body count: 4.

Shark Tale. Semenjak pertama kali film ini keluar, gw tidak mengharapkan banyak dari film ini. Pertama, desain karakter-nya yang sama sekali tidak lucu dan kedua, review-review yang tidak sanggup mengangkat popularitas film ini, dan ketiga, Finding Nemo. Ya, karena dihajar cukup telak oleh Finding Nemo dan sama-sama membawa dunia bawah laut. Ekspetasi gw menjadi kenyataan, selain parodi dari film-film dewasa yang sudah berumur (gw yakin kalian juta sedikit mengetahuinya :)) seperti Scarface, Appocalypse Now, Godfather, The Untouchables, Jaws, Seabiscuit, sampai Titanic (lukisan Kate Winslet), nyaris tidak ada yang menarik dari film ini. Bahkan cameo-cameo dan soundtrack yang catchy tidak sanggup melegakan kepenatan gw akibat terlalu bosan sama film ini. Penyelesaian masalahnya terlalu sederhana. Simple talks, (bla bla bla and everybody's happy) dan tema yang sedikit 'dewasa', film ini malah jatuh di kebingungan antara menjadi film yang menarik penonton dewasa (which is not) atau film untuk anak-anak (which is definitely not). Gw menilai, bisa atau tidaknya seseorang menikmati film ini diukur dengan bisa atau tidaknya mereka menemukan referensi terhadap film-film klasik dewasa yang diparodiin di film ini.

Clint Eastwood

2005-02-11T20:15:00.000+07:00

Quote: "I bow down to you. You are a talent beyond compare. If I'm half the person you are and half the talent you are when I'm 74, I will know that I've accomplished something great." -- Hillary Swank ketika menerima SAG Award kategori Best Actress kepada rekan mainnya dan sutradara dalam film "Million Dollar Baby" (6 Februari 2005).

Komentar bombatis itu datang dari seorang Hillary Swank. Aktris yang kemampuan berakting dan totalitasnya dalam seni peran telah membuahkan penghargaan SAG (Actors Guild) sebagai aktris terbaik di tahun 2004 lewat perannya sebagai seorang wanita berotot di "Million Dollar Baby". Penghargaan ini juga melengkapi penghargaan Hillary Swank setelah sebelumnya ia mendapatkan Golden Globe juga lewat film yang sama dan menjadikannya sebagai kandidat serius untuk merebut piala Oscar untuk aktris terbaik akhir Februari ini.

Jadi tentu saja komentar bombatis yang datang dari seorang aktris yang sudah diakui terhadap rekan kerjanya tentu bukan sesuatu yang bisa dianggap enteng.

Saya mengenal nama Clint Eastwood nyaris bersamaan dengan waktu saya berkenalan dengan film yang berarti sekitar tahun 1988 - 1989. Waktu itu saya sebagai seorang newbie di dunia film langsung bisa mengasosiasikan nama Clint Eastwood lewat peran-perannya di film Western. Meskipun baru beberapa tahun kemudian saya berkesempatan untuk menonton "Unforgiven" (1992), yang memberinya penghargaan Oscar sebagai Best Director, dan baru di tahun 2004 saya menonton film western pertama yang mengangkatnya ("A Fistful of Dollar"), nama Clint Eastwood sudah terlanjur melekat dengan topi koboi, bot bergerinda, dan revolver enam peluru.

Selanjutnya, tentu saja "Dirty Harry". Film yang buat saya waktu itu sangat fenomenal karena penggunaan profanity-nya, dan kekerasan dari seorang penegak hukum. Oh ya, saya memang sudah diijinkan untuk menonton film apa saja, dan bangun sampai pukul berapapun meskipun saya masih SD oleh orang tua saya (i love you, guys) dan itu tentu saja bertanggung jawab untuk membentuk diri saya yang sekarang ini (coffee-addict, movie-lovers, and insomnia).

Sebenarnya saya tidak pernah menganggap Clint Eastwood sebagai aktor yang bagus. Betul kalau dia memang punya evil grin yang meyakinkan, Dirty Harry pun bisa melekat dengan sempurna sampai saya tidak bisa mengasosiasikan orang lain sebagai Inspektur Harry Callahan. Dan sampai film keempatnya di tahun 80-an, "Sudden Impact", Dirty Harry telah berhasil membuat saya memimpikan bagaimana rasanya meledakkan Magnum ke kepala orang (ah well, when we're young, we wanted everything, rite?, after all, i'm only 9 - 10 years old at the time). Pada intinya, sampai sekarang jika ada yang menyebut nama "Clint Eastwood", saya selalu teringat film-filmnya Sergio Leone, dan Dirty Harry, dan selalu bisa membayangkan Clint Eastwood sebagai koboi dengan pistol terhunus, rokok di ujung mulutnya, dan disampingnya, Clint Eastwood sebagai seorang inspektur, dengan jas warna abu-abu dan celana yang senada, evil grin, dan Magnum terhunus. Dan sampai tahun 2003, hanya itu yang bisa saya bayangkan tentang Clint Eastwood.

Di tahun 2003, saya mulai serius menyukai film. Saya mulai memilih-milih film bukan lagi berdasarkan genre ataupun aktor-aktris-nya. Saya mulai memilih film berdasarkan nama sutradara dan screen-writer-nya. Maka saya heran begitu Mystic River, film yang disutradarai oleh Clint Eastwood mendapat review yang bagus dan bahkan masuk nominasi Oscar di tahun itu.

Saya penasaran. Akhirnya beberapa bulan kemudian saya berkesempatan untuk menonton film itu. Dan ya, untuk pertama kalinya saya melihat Clint Eastwood bukan sebagai boneka Sergio Leone, dan bukan pula sebagai Inspektur Harry Callahan. Saya langsung suka sama Mystic River. Kedalaman ceritanya, twist-nya, karakterisasi pemain2nya. Tapi terlebih, karena memang waktu nonton pertama kali saya ingin melihat Clint Eastwood, saya merasakan 'shot-shot' misteriusnya yang membawa Mystic dari Mystic River itu sendiri. Saya bahkan tidak bisa menggambarkan dengan kata-kata. Tapi terutama saya suka waktu Sean Penn berteriak dikerubuti polisi, juga adegan karnaval di terakhir film, dan tentu saja jalan tempat rumah karakter Sean Penn berada. It was magical and mysterious in some kind of weird way. Sayangya, waktu itu Clint harus mengalah sama PJ yang menyelesaikan trilogi The Lord of the Rings-nya di tahun itu.

Lalu kita sampai di Million Dollar Baby. O yea, dengan nuansa misterius yang sama, saya juga langsung jatuh cinta sama Hill.. eh, filmnya. Terlebih penampilan Hillary Swank yang serius, all-out, sampai dari aksen cara ngomongnya saja kita sudah bisa percaya banget kalau Fitzgerald (tokoh yang diperanin olehnya) tidak punya keinginan apa-apa selain menjadi petinju dan memiliki tingkat intelejensi yang rata-rata. Saya benar-benar angkat jari untuk Hillary Swank di film ini. Bahkan di sepertiga film terakhir kita bisa benar-benar tertarik ke karakter Fitzgerald ini, bisa memposisikan di posisinya yang menghadapi redup terakhir dari cahaya harapannya, dari hidupnya. Tapi tentu saja, tanpa Clint Eastwood, saya rasa akan beda rasa misteriusnya, akan beda cara kita menangkap kegigihan dan kegetiran Fitzgerald yang ditampilkan oleh Hillary Swank di film ini. Wajar kalau nanti (February 27th) dia diganjar Oscar untuk sutradara terbaik. Tapi tetap saja, saya masih tetap ingin Martin Scorcese yang membawa pulang patung emas itu.

All in All, Clint Eastwood, dengan 50 tahun pengalaman di dunia film tetap menjadi salah satu legenda film. But i still could see him as one of Sergio Leone's puppet or Dirty Harry.

Screening Log Column #5

2005-02-07T13:31:00.000+07:00

Babblings:

Writing is a damn full time job. Tidak seperti menulis jurnal semacam ini yang bisa gw tulis sambil lalu, nulis fiksi bener-bener butuh konsentrasi dan suasana yang tepat dan buat gw, suasana yang tepat adalah suasana yang tenang, tanpa ada suara apa pun selain inspirasi gw yang membalik-balik cerita di benak gw. If you see me now, gw lebih sering menutup pintu kamar gw, bahkan menguncinya. Padahal sebelumnya, jam tiga pagi pun pintu kamar gw selalu terbuka untuk menerima 'tamu'.

So, chapter one is up.
Chapter 01.

Mind you, chapter satu di atas inspirasinya baru datang hari Sabtu kemaren. The original chapter one was pushed back to chapter three after I added two chapters as a prelude. Gw udah dapet topik permasalahannya, karakter-karakter protagonisnya. Cuman masalahnya gw masih belum bisa menentukan bagaimana karakter-karakter protagonisnya menyelesaikan masalahnya. Ah, it will kicked in sometime soon, .. i hope ..

Weekend U.S Box Office (Feb 4 - 6):
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Boogeyman - US$ 19.5 mills - US$ 19.5 mills
2. - The Wedding Date - US$ 11 mills - US$ 11 mills
3. - Are We There Yet? - US$ 10.4 mils - US$ 51.05 mills
4. - Hide and Seek - US$ 8.9 mills - US$ 35.7 mills
5. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 8.77 mills - US$ 34.6 mills
6. - The Aviator - US$ 5.44 mills - US$ 75.9 mills
7. - Meet the Fockers - US$ 5 mills - US$ 265.3 mills
8. - Sideways - US$ 4.8 mills - US$ 46.8 mills
9. - Racing Stripes - US$ 4.42 mills - US$ 40.5 mills
10. - Coach Carter - US$ 4 mills - US$ 59.5 mills

Minggu ini, Amerika disibukkan dengan Superbowl. Tapi, thriller 7 juta dolar Boogeyman berhasil meraih 19 juta dolar dari opening weekend-nya. Bersama film baru lainnya, The Wedding Date yang terang-terang ditujukan ke penonton cewe berhasil merajai dua besar box-office minggu ini. Jawara minggu lalu, Hide and Seek malah turun ke peringkat ke-4.

Later this week, two movies shall be up. Hitch, featuring Will Smith as a matchmaker. Dan satu lagi Pooh's Heffalump Movie. Nothing interesting in the movie except that every citizen of Hundred Acre Wood participating in it. Ada satu lagi film yang sudah dinikmati di Indonesia tapi dibuka secara limited di U.S sono, spin-off dari Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Bride and Prejudice. Tapi karena kolom ini spesifik untuk film-film rilis wide, I shall let it slide for another screening session.

From the Screening Log:

Minggu Oscar. Oh yeah, Screening Log memulai minggu ini dengan film thriller standar, The Forgotten . Tentang seorang ibu (Julianne Moore) yang percaya bahwa anaknya masih hidup sementara orang-orang disekitarnya tidak ada yang ingat bahwa si ibu ini pernah punya anak. Instingnya sebagai ibu tidak mau menyerah begitu saja dan ia mencari kebenaran tentang anaknya sampai ketika ia dihadapkan pada kenyataan yang mengejutkan. Julianne Moore tidak cukup menarik dan tidak cukup meyakinkan sebagai seorang ibu yang percaya bahwa anaknya masih hidup. Dan mungkin itu yang membuat film ini tidak sebagus dan semenarik yang disodorkan oleh premisenya. Kenyataannya juga terlalu sci-fi untuk bisa dijelaskan dalam waktu 10 menit.

Empat film berikutnya, Screening Log menyaksikan film-film yang punya nominasi di Oscar. Dimulai dari Ray . Film semi biografi tentang Ray Charles Robinson ini segera menjadi film favorit gw. Dengan musik R&B yang kental (i love R&Bs), film yang panjangnya nyaris dua setengah jam ini menarik untuk diikuti. Terlepas dari kecenderungan screen-writer-nya untuk menulis film ini dengan penyesuaian terhadap diskografi-nya Ray, sejak awal konsentrasi gw memang sudah terpaku pada Jamie Foxx. After all, he had a Golden Globe award on this movie and a serious contender for the Academy next February 27th. And he delivers.. o yea, he delivers. Potret-nya sebagai seorang jenius musik dengan segala keterbatasan fisiknya sungguh menarik dan meyakinkan untuk disimak. Terlebih lagi, tidak seperti orang-orang buta yang dipotretkan oleh sinetron-sinetron Indonesia, Ray Charles sama sekali bukan orang suci. Di satu titik, dia bahkan mengolok-olok Tuhan. Jamie Foxx is definitely a center of attention here. Tapi, tak urung gw juga suka penampilan nyokap-nya Ray kecil - walaupun ia tampil di beberapa adegan kecil - yang bener-bener convincing dan menyedihkan. If you love good drama and good R&B's, watch it.

Next, Being Julia, featuring Annette Bening sebagai nominasi Oscar untuk aktris terbaik favorit. Bersetting di London tahun 1930-an, Julia adalah aktris teater yang paling populer saat itu. Filmnya sendiri jelas dibagi menjadi dua bagian. Bagian pertama, 50 menit pertama bener-bener boring luar biasa. Menceritakan kisah Julia yang merasa bosan dengan kehidupannya sebagai aktris teater dan memutuskan untuk berhenti saja sampai ia berkenalan dengan seorang pemuda Amerika (a gold-digger, if you familliar with the term) dan dari dia ia menemukan seks dan inspirasi yang membuatnya memberikan penampilan terbaik di teater dan jatuh cinta kembali kepada teater. Suaminya, seorang produser teater mengetahui affair tersebut tapi ia tidak peduli selama istrinya bisa tetap menampilkan penampilan terbaik di teater. Kalau tidak karena Annette Benning yang so gay and so fun to watch, gw udah pasti tertidur karena bosan. Tapi, bagian keduanya, 45 menit terakhir, was sooo powerful. Ketika pemuda Amerika selingkuhan Julia tidak lagi tertarik kepada Julia dan justru malah merekomednasikan aktris muda kekasihnya untuk bermain di drama terbaru Julia. Di luar dugaan, Julia merekomendasikan aktris muda tersebut ke suaminya - aktris muda yang ini ternyata juga berselingkuh dengan suaminya - untuk dimasukkan ke drama terbaru mereka. Dan kemudian, Julia membalaskan dendamya kepada semua orang di stage terakhir, pementasan terakhir dari Being Julia. Annette Bening has all the spotlight in the movie.

After that, Finding Neverland . Drama romantis, sedikit fantastis tentang J.M Barrie, the man behing Peter Pan. J.M Barrie (Jhonny Depp) adalah seorang penulis teater (gosh.. another theatre?) yang sedang berada di titik terendah karirnya. Sampai ketika ia bertemu dengan seorang janda, Sylvia Davies (Kate Winslet) dengan keempat anak laki-lakinya. Segera Barrie menjadi paman favorit dari keempat anak tadi, dan sepanjang petualangan mereka, J.M Barrie mendapat inspirasi untuk kemudian ia tuangkan di sebuah teater paling terkenal dari Barrie, "Peter Pan". Ceritanya indah, dengan perpaduan antara fiksi (Neverland) dan realita yang walaupun sedikit tersendat tetap menarik. Jhonny Depp tidak seflamboyan ketika di Pirates tapi tetap memberikan energi yang luar biasa dari penampilannya. Dan Kate Winslet tampil kuat seperti biasanya (she's a good actress, really good). Walaupun fakta-fakta yang merupakan aib bagi Barrie disembunyikan (isunya, Barrie adalah seorang pedofil), "Finding Neverland" tampil sebagai cerita yang "safe", nggak berlebihan, dan cukup punya emosi antara drama, fantasi, sampai tragedi. Tidak ada yang kurang di film ini, meskipun juga tidak ada yang lebih dari film ini.

The last one, Million Dollar Baby . Film ini nyaris sama seperti Rocky, jika tidak ada twist di menit ke-93. Seperti Rocky, Million Dollar Baby menitik beratkan pada Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank) seorang wanita berumur 30 tahun-an yang ingin bertinju. Dia menginginkan Frankie (Clint Eastwood) untuk menjadi manajer dan pelatihnya. Frankie sendiri adalah seorang manajer yang 'safe'. Dia terlalu concern kepada petinjunya sehingga jarang mengambil resiko untuk mengadu petinjunya dengan juara dunia karena ia khawatir akan berakibat buruk untuk petinjunya. Hal ini membuat ia ditinggalkan oleh petinju-petinju asuhannya yang justru menjadi juara dunia. Pada awalnya, Frankie tidak mau melatih Maggie. "I dont train girls". Tapi, dedikasi Maggie lama-lama menggerakkan Frankie dan kemudian jadilah Maggie seorang petinju wanita yang ganas. I leave the twist for you to enjoy. Filmnya lumayan bagus, lepas dari fakta bahwa "i'm a sucker for a sport movie", kalau dibandingin sama Rocky (yang menang Oscar di tahun 1970-an), Million Dollar Baby buat gw jauh lebih gelap, lebih kelam dan lebih bagus tentu.

Sebelumnya, gw menjagokan Hillary Swank untuk meraih Oscar Aktris Utama terbaik. Tapi setelah melihat Being Julia dan Million Dollar Baby, gw sekarang menjagokan Annette Bening. Alasannya, jika di Million Dollar Baby, gw lebih tertarik kepada bagaimana cerita membawa karakter Hillary Swank, di Being Julia gw lebih tertarik kepada bagaiaman karakter Annette Bening membawa cerita. Dari situ sendiri sudah bisa disimpulkan siapa yang menjadi center-of-attention dan siapa yang lebih bisa membawakan tanggung-jawab untuk mengantarkan cerita. Lagipula di Million Dollar Baby, cerita tidak melulu berkonsentrasi pada Maggie. Ada banyak side-story, cerita si tua Morgan Freeman, cerita si Frankie dengan putrinya, cerita si Maggie dengan keluarganya, dan cerita tentang seorang petinju bernama Danger. Intinya Hillary Swank tidak melulu mendapat spotlight di Million Dollar Baby. Beda sama Annette Bening di Being Julia.

So, that's a wrap. Tinggal nonton The Aviator sama Sideways.

Screening Log Column #4

2005-01-31T10:37:00.000+07:00

Babblings:

Gw terperangkap sakit seminggu yang lalu, sehingga edisi Column #3 tidak sepenuhnya lengkap, lebih jauh lagi dari hari Selasa sampai Jum'at gw ga nonton film sama sekali. Tapi, hari Jum'at, tepat jam empat sore, gw dapet ide dan mulai menulis apa yang menjadi - mudah-mudahan - cerita pertama gw. I've finished one chapter with 7 pages long on each, and currently working on the second. Gw sendiri ga tau ceritanya bakalan seperti apa meskipun gw udah bisa kebayang beberapa possible endings. Sebenernya gw pengin ngepost chapter pertama di sini. But then again, mungkin nanti, gw ga mau nantinya tiba-tiba berhenti di tengah jalan seperti kebanyakan cerita yang gw mulai tulis. Mungkin nanti, setelah gw masuk chapter 6 atau 7. Okay, let's kick off this edition of Column.

Weekend U.S Box Office (Jan 28 - 30):
#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Hide and Seek - US$ 22 mills - US$ 22 mills
2. - Are We There Yet? - US$ 17 mills - US$ 39.1 mills
3. - Million Dollar Baby - US$ 11.8 mills - US$ 21.1 mills
4. - Coach Carter - US$ 8 mills - US$ 53.5 mills
5. - Meet the Fockers - US$ 7.6 mills - US$ 257.9 mills
6. - The Aviator - US$ 7.5 mills - US$ 68.1 mills
7. - Sideways - US$ 6.3 mills - US$ 40 mills
8. - In Good Company - US$ 6.2 mills - US$ 35.9 mills
9. - Racing Stripes - US$ 6 mills - US$ 34.5 mills
10. - Assault on Precinct 13 - US$ 4.2 mills - US$ 14.7 mills

Yes, for once I was right. Minggu lalu gw memprediksi Hide and Seek bakalan bisa mencapai puncak. Dan ya, dengan aktor sekualitas Robert De Niro dan Dakota Fanning, sulit rasanya untuk tidak menjadi yang terbaik di minggu ini. Buat Robert De Niro, ini merupakan 'comeback'-nya ke box-office setelah minggu lalu, Meet the Fockers yang cukup digdaya selama tiga minggu berturut-turut digusur sama Are We There Yet?-nya Ice Cube yang sekarang ada di posisi ke-2. What a 'comeback' I say, cuman butuh jeda seminggu buatnya untuk kembali ke posisi ke-1 box office.

Film baru lain yang juga dirilis minggu ini malah ndak ketahuan di 10 besar. Juga koheren dengan prediksi gw minggu lalu. Uwe Boll masih ga kapok dengan jebloknya House of the Dead. Besutannya yang terbaru, Alone in the Dark yang juga jadwal rilis wide tanggal 28 Januari sama sekali ndak kelihatan batang hidungnya di top 12. Semakin kasian melihat Christian Slater yang supposedly menggunakan film ini sebagai titik baliknya sebagai aktor. Dan seakan tidak cukup, Uwe Boll juga tengah mempersiapkan film berikutnya yang juga diadaptasi dari game, Bloodrayne dibintangi oleh si seksi Kristianna Lokke yang maen di T3 sebagai musuhnya Arnold. Ck.. ck.. tak cukupkah para produser itu menutup mata mereka dan menyadari bahwa si Uwe Boll tidak lebih dari pembuat film yang sangat sangat buruk. Hell, maybe i can even do better.

Another expected expectation came to realization, ketika pengumuman nominasi Oscar membantu film-film yang dinominasiin menarik penonton lebih banyak. Million Dollar Baby, Sideways dan The Aviator masing-masing naik posisinya di 10 besar Box-office. Way to go!.

Later this week, pecinta film disuguhi dua film yang bergenre tolak belakang. Boogeyman, horor, dan The Wedding Date, komedi romantis. Tak banyak yang bisa gue ceritain soal kedua film ini. Hell, bahkan nama-nama aktris-nya (kecuali Lucy Lawless yang punya peran minor di Boogeyman) dan sutradara-nya ndak familiar. Jelas dong, kalo gw ragu akan kiprah mereka di box-office minggu ini. Itu untuk yang rilis wide. Yang rilis limited diantaranya ada Nobody Knows, film Jepang yang pengen gw cari sebenernya soalnya banyak yang bilang bagus. Bahkan diputer di Jiffest segala kemaren. Nobody Knows bercerita soal empat bersaudara yang tiba-tiba ditinggalin ibunya sementara selama ini ibunya berusaha agar empat orang ini tidak 'exist'. Jadilah mereka berjuang sendiri untuk hidup. Hmm.. kelam, pasti kelam.

Screening Log Movie of the Week:

Dulu, pas gw masuk SMA kelas 1, gw bisa dibilang sebagai orang pelit. Uang saku gw sering habis untuk maen band, beli kaset, atau nyewa Laser Disc. Pas waktu itu (sebelum satu-satunya penyewaan Laser Disc di kota gw gulung tikar), gw sempet minjem Heat dan Se7en yang keduanya lantas menjadi film-film yang gw sukai. Heat in particular, sangat memorable buat gw. Dibintangi oleh aktor-aktor favorit gw saat itu, is and still now, Robert De Niro dan Al Pacino, ada tiga adegan yang selalu gw ingat dan membuat gw menganggap Heat adalah salah satu film heist terbaik. (1). Adegan perampokan di awal film, adegan ini menjadi pembuka yang mantap dan menjanjikan bahwa film ini akan jadi film aksi yang bagus, meskipun kenyataannya berkata lain. (2). Adegan kopi di tengah film, adegan ini adalah "clash-of-characters" yang memorable di mana masing-masing pihak (De Niro dan Pacino) yang bermusuhan mengungkapkan filosofi dan keinginan mereka dalam melaksanakan tugasnya. Gw inget, gw dag-dig-dug banget pas di adegan itu, dah beberapa dialognya yang berikutnya akan menimbulkan kontradiktif karakter di antara keduanya nanti. Dan (3) adegan terakhir. Jelas. Bisa dianggap sebagai klimaks, dari sebuah drama yang bagus, atau anti-klimaks dari sebuah aksi yang membosankan, tergantung bagaimana penonton melihat film ini. Gw yang menganggap bahwa ini adalah film drama yang bagus, tentu saja terkesima dengan adegan terakhirnya. Kesedihan Al Pacino yang kehilangan musuh besarnya, yang sebenernya meringankan pekerjaannya tapi ironisnya juga seperti kehilangan sahabat, bahkan saudara. Kentara banget dengan karakter-nya yang ditekankan oleh Michael Mann (juga menyutradarai Collateral) sebagai seorang polisi yang work-aholic dan kesepian.

From the Screening Log:

Hereby, i declare it as the miserable week. Dimulai dengan bagus oleh film-nya Martin Scorcese, Goodfellas (1990), minggu ini ditutup dengan kekecewaan. Goodfellas mungkin buat gw adalah film gangster terbaik sejak Godfather part. II berfokus pada seorang anak muda yang sedari kecil sudah ingin jadi mafia sampai mencapai kesuksesan dan lantas jatuh berantakan (Ray Liotta), Goodfellas menunjukkan kemampuan Scorcese dalam menyajikan visual yang stunning. One memorable of this film was the very long shot yang mengikuti Jimmy (Robert De Niro) masuk bar dan menyalami semua orang yang ada di dalam bar itu. A Very Long Shot (maybe as long as 1 minute), with no cuts in the middle. Spesial kredit untuk Danny De Vito yang kocak sekaligus sangar.

Kontras dengan Goodfellas, Catwoman boleh gw bilang nyaris ndak ada shot yang lebih dari satu detik. Film ini bahkan bisa gw bilang bukan motion-picture atau gambar bergerak, tapi malah lebih kaya still photograph cycled in a very fast speed. Pusing. Kualitas akting-nya? jangan tanya deh. Benjamin Bratt, entah canggung gara-gara Halle Berry atau ga bisa akting, atau dua-duanya tidak kelihatan seperti aktor. Sharon Stone juga tampil flat. Maunya jadi penjahat yang licik dan menakutkan tapi malah jadi lucu. Halle Berry? ummm, her *meow* at some point really really annoys me. But on top of it all, gw paling gedeg sama pengambilan gambarnya. Switching like crazy. Pitof, nama sutradaranya harus ganti nama untuk proyek selanjutnya. Jangan sampai kaya Uwe Boll yang udah gw cap sebagai sutradara yang tidak layak.

Hari Sabtu, temen-temen gw dateng ke kos, bersama kita nonton tiga film berturut-turut (o yea, three!), Kung Fu Hustle, One Missed Call dan The Grudge. Kung Fu Hustle, film barunya Stephen Chow (disutradarai olehnya) mengecewakan buat gw. Tidak sekonyol dan se-fun Shaolin Soccer, gw juga tiba-tiba merasa bosan dengan gaya gambarnya Stephen Chow di setengah akhir, untungnya Beast muncul, jadinya agak-agak berkurang bosan gw. One Missed Call, film horor Jepang besutan Takashi Miike. Gw beli film ini karena Takashi Miike, dia yang bikin film-film dengan tema aneh yang biasanya melibatkan kekerasan kaya Ichi The Killer, Audition, dan Visitor Q (gw punya tiga-tiganya), tapi gw bosan dengan One Missed Call. Tidak ada kematian yang menakjubkan, tidak ada penyiksaan, tidak ada mutilasi, hanya hantu penasaran (ya, ya, dengan rambut menggantung, dan mata membelalak, i've seen it soooo many times) dan ending yang ga jelas. Flat. The Grudge, juga tidak menjanjikan apa-apa, hanya remake shot per shot dari serial aslinya, gw lebih bisa menikmati versi aslinya. Selain itu tidak ada yang lebih menakutkan dari The Grudge yang bisa dinikmati. Orang2 Amerika jelas suka The Grudge karena mereka tidak pernah nonton Ju-On yang asli.

The Stepford Wives. Honest, i was enjoying this movie. Setelah dihajar berturut-turut oleh film-film yang membosankan, The Stepford Wives ternyata cukup ampuh buat jadi Redemption. Nicole Kidman tampil seperti biasanya, sedikit berlebihan, with that round face of her, which she used to its extreme measurement in the movie, was likeable at best, but absolutely not in one of her best performances. The Stepford Wives, however, mampu mengantarkan ke-satir-an dan isu feminisme. Gw sendiri sebagai cowok, bahkan sempat simpati kepada para istri dan despised the husbands. And all the over-the-top performances was actually adds the fun. All in all, The Stepford Wives was a successful comedy. And i love it.

Sore dewa, that's a wrap for this edition.

Oscar Nominations

2005-01-28T20:25:00.000+07:00

Finally, the nominations announced. Berikut nominasinya, walau hanya beberapa yang gw anggap interest terbaik.

Best Picture
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways

Actor In A Leading Role
Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda
Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator
Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
Jamie Foxx, Ray

Actress In A Leading Role
Annette Bening, Being Julia
Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake
Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Actor In A Supporting Role
Alan Alda, The Aviator
Thomas Haden Church, Sideways
Jamie Foxx, Collateral
Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
Clive Owen, Closer

Actress In A Supporting Role
Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
Laura Linney, Kinsey
Virginia Madsen, Sideways
Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda
Natalie Portman, Closer

Directing
Martin Scorsese, The Aviator
Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
Taylor Hackford, Ray
Alexander Payne, Sideways
Mike Leigh, Vera Drake

Lima tahun terakhir kita menyaksikan perebutan Best Picture Oscar secara 'biasa'. Dalam artian pemenangnya sudah bisa ditentukan jauh-jauh hari. Tahun lalu, siapa sih yang ngejagoin "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"?. Dua tahun lalu, meskipun banyak yang ndak setuju, siapa pula yang tidak menjagoin "Chicago"? soalnya sudah nyaris udah jadi rahasia publik kalau film musikal selalu jadi favorit. Say, "Moulin Rouge", atau "The Sound of Music", atau "Gigi". Tahun ini, mungkin sejak 1999 ada perlombaan yang cukup ketat. Di tahun 1999, gw masih ingat menjadi pembenci Gwyneth Paltrow - yang juga menang Best Actress - ketika film yang dibintanginya, "Shakespeare In Love" mendapat Oscar Best Picture mengalahkan film-film macam, "Saving Private Ryan" dan "Shawshank Redemption". Perlu diketahui, "Shawshank Redemption" juga adalah salah satu dari sepuluh besar film terbaik sepanjang masa buat gw.

Tahun ini, "The Aviator" meskipun menang Golden Globe perlu mewaspadai "Sideways" yang juga menang Golden Globe untuk komedi. Kerugiannya, cuma sembilan film komedi yang berhasil memboyong Oscar sejak tahun 1934. Dan ditambah pula "The Aviator" adalah satu-satunya film epik tahun ini yang masuk nominasi. Dan Film Epik selalu jadi favorit. "Lord of the Rings"? anyone? nod. nod. Pasar taruhan di London - yang selalu mempertaruhkan hampir segalanya - juga menjagokan "The Aviator".

Untuk aktor terbaik, gw rasa Jamie Foxx bakalan out-perform Leonardo DiCaprio meskipun keduanya menang Golden Globe untuk drama dan komedi, respectively. Out of my respect to DiCaprio, i personally thought that he's no better than a child actor. Therefore, nowhere near as good as Foxx.

Aktris terbaik, Hillary Swank. Gw rasa hampir pasti. Tahun lalu, Charlize Theron menang lewat "Monster" lewat performanya yang tidak feminin. Tahun ini, gw rasa Hillary Swank (yang jadi petinju di "Million Dollar Baby" bakal mengikuti jejaknya dan mendapat pengakuan yang sama seperti yang didapat Theron tahun lalu). Dan yes, Kate Winslet masuk nominasi best actress pula lewat my favourite film of the year 2004 thus far, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Pasar taruhan London, however menjagokan Annette Benning.

Untuk supporting role Actors, meskipun Jamie Foxx juga dinominasiin buat jadi pemenang lewat "Collateral", opini publik ditambah penghargaan Golden Globe gw rasa membuat Clive Owen ("Closer") bisa pulang dengan Oscar di tangan. Gw sendiri belum nonton, jadi ndak bisa komen macem-macem. Untuk Actress, gw rasa tak perlu diperdebatkan lagi. Satu-satunya aktris favorit gw, yang gw suka karena kualitas aktingnya bukan karena kualitas fisik atau putusnya saraf malu mereka. Yes, Cate Blanchett. Natalie Portman memang menang Golden Globe dan tampil berani di "Closer". Tapi, gw ga rela kalo aktris favorit gw, Cate Blanchett dilangkahi untuk ketiga kalinya di ajang ini (that son-of-a-**** Gwyneth Paltrow took her Oscar back in 1999).

Best Director. Jelas Martin Scorcese. Mungkin sebagai sutradara pemegang rekor sebagai sutradara yang selalu diremehkan di ajang Oscar. Tahun 1974 "Mean Street" tidak dapat nominasi sama sekali. Tahun 1976, "Taxi Driver" cuma nominasi, kalah sama "Rocky". Tahun 1980, "Raging Bull" (belum nonton) dapat nominasi best picture dan best director tapi kalah sama Robert Redford dan "Ordinary People". 1988, "The Last Temptation of Christ" (belum dan ndak mau nonton) kalah sama Barry Levinson, "Rain Man" yang emang bagus. Tahun 1990, "Goodfellas" (buat gw, film mafia terbaik setelah "Godfather part.II") nominasi best picture dan best director tapi kalah sama Kevin Costner dan "Dances with Wolves". Dan tahun 2003, film terbaik buat gw di sepanjang tahun 2002 "Gangs of New York" dapet nominasi best picture dan best director tapi kalah oleh Roman Polanski dari "The Pianist" yang gw ga tertarik buat tonton dan "Chicago". Gw rasa, dan kalau gw jadi orang yang mengontrol penghargaan Academy, gw bakal memerintahkan supaya Martin Scorcese menang Oscar untuk Best Director.

Penyerahan nominasi diberikan pada tanggal 27 Februari.

Screening Log Column #3

2005-01-25T15:21:00.000+07:00

Babblings:

Hm, baru tau kemaren kalo Gunung Kelud mulai menunjukkan tanda-tanda keaktifannya. Gw inget banget dulu waktu gw masih kelas 4 SD, Gunung Kelud meletus. Prevensi bencananya sebenernya sudah bagus sehingga most likely, lahar panas / dingin yang muntah dari perut Kelud tidak akan sampai membahayakan Kota Blitar (my lovely, and peaceful hometown). Tapi tentu saja, abu yang menyembur dari gunung tersebut tentu tidak bisa dielakkan. Mudah-mudahan abunya tidak sampai membuat rumah gw roboh. Ah well, mungkn dalam satu - dua minggu ini gw akan pulang kampung.

Weekend U.S Box Office (Jan 21 - 23):

#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Are We There Yet? - US$ 18.5 mills - US$ 18.5 mills
2. - Coach Carter - US$ 10.5 mills - US$ 42.7 mills
3. - Meet the Fockers - US$ 9.6 mills - US$ 247.2 mills
4. - In Good Company - US$ 7.9 mills - US$ 27.4 mills
5. - Racing Stripes - US$ 6.8 mills - US$ 27 mills
6. - Assault on Precinct 13 - US$ 6.5 mills - US$ 8 mills
7. - White Noise - US$ 4.9 mills - US$ 49.3 mills
8. - The Aviator - US$ 4.8 mills - US$ 58 mills
9. - Andrew Floyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera - US$ 4.5 mills - US$ 33 mills
10. - Elektra - US$ 3.9 mills - US$ 33 mills

Yare yare, badai salju di Midwest membuat perolehan box-office untuk minggu ini sedikit tersendat. Dan oh my, orang Amrik kayaknya lagi butuh komedi, sehingga film barunya Ice Cube, Are We There Yet? yang jelas-jelas mengusung genre komedi keluarga bisa mendapatkan 18,5 juta dolar untuk duduk di posisi no.1, menggeser Samuel L.Jackson dengan Coach Carter-nya.

Film 'baru' yang lain, Assault on Precinct 13 yang tidak sepenuhnya baru karena merupakan 'remake' dari 'cult-classic' 1976 ternyata tidak begitu disambut antusias oleh penonton yang nge-fans seri originalnya. Terbukti cuman duduk di no.6 yang bahkan lebih rendah dari Racing Stripes.

Keberhasilan Meet the Fockers yang masih bertahan di posisi ke-3, menunjukkan bahwa Amerika memang masih ingin melihat komedi. Komedi ini sekarang malah sudah menggeser Bruce Almighty untuk duduk di posisi ke-2 film live-comedy terlaris sepanjang masa, sedikit dibawah Home Alone.

Seperti biasa, rubrik ini selalu ditutup dengan semacam prediksi untuk minggu depan. Dan seperti biasa pula, seperti telah dibuktikan di edisi-edisi awal, 'prediksi' gw tidak pernah tepat. Tapi whatever, i say what i wanted to say. It's my privilige anyway. Gw minggu ini (atau untuk edisi minggu depan) menjagokan Hide and Seek sebuah thriller yang dibintangi oleh salah satu aktor favorit gw, Robert De Niro dan aktris cilik favorit gw, Dakota Fanning. Si Fanning ini sudah terbukti mampu beradu akting dengan orang dewasa dengan sangat bagus (ingat: "Man On Fire") jadi sepenuhnya wajar kalau gw bilang film ini bakal jadi thriller wajib-tonton buat gw. Tapi, mengingat beberapa minggu ini, Amerika menginginkan komedi, maka agak susah juga kiprahnya meski dua minggu lalu, tahun 2005 dibuka dengan film thriller, "White Noise". Yang kedua, Alone in the Dark Gw pengen nonton film ini, bukan di bioskop pasti, bukan pula di DVD bajakan, soalnya gw cuma pengen ketawa nonton film ini. Film ini dibikin oleh Uwe Boll, sutradara yang sukses menghancur-leburkan "House of the Dead" dan membuat nya sebagai satu-satunya film yang gw tonton cuma 10 menit untuk dicaci. Persamaannya, kedua film ini adaptasi dari game, jadi wajar juga kalau gw menganggap film ini bakal 'hancur-lebur' seperti pendahulunya. Yang bikin gw heran, "House of the Dead" dianggap lumayan oleh sebuah majalah film, yang membuat gw akhirnya ndak mau beli majalah film itu lagi sampai sekarang, dan ditampilin pula sama studio 21. Bener-bener deh.

Screening Log Movie of the Week:

Merayakan keberhasilan The Aviator di Golden Globe membuat gw pengen menulis tentang sesuatu yang berhubungan dengan Martin Scorcese sebagai Movie of the Week minggu ini. Dan pilihan gw jatuh ke Gangs of New York . Seperti gw udah bilang sebelumnya, film ini mengenalkan gw kepada Martin Scorcese dan mengubah pandangan gw terhadap Leonardo Di Caprio sepenuhnya. Film ini dibuka dengan adegan yang luar biasa, dan memorable buat gw. Adegan itu gw kasih nama "Battle at Five Points". Pertempuran ini luar biasa brutal soalnya hand-to-hand dan outcomenya membuat salju jadi merah. Film ini juga salah satu film pertama yang gw review, salah satu film pertama yang gw anggap punya aktor yang sangat bagus, Daniel Day-Lewis. Man, this guy was sooo intimidating that i felt sorry for Di Caprio. In short, i love this movie like there is no other movies like it.

From the Screening Log:
Sebelumnya gw minta maaf, soalnya rubrik ini gw biarkan seperti apa adanya sekarang. Tidak sempat. Mungkin besok. But anyway, minggu ini Screening Log cuma merayakan Cellular thriller yang lumayan, meski flat dan tidak mengejutkan, Anchorman film komedi dengan cameo yang buanyak banget, The Terminal yang sekali lagi mengeksploitasi kemampuan monolog Tom Hanks, dan The King of Comedy film tahun 1982, besutan Martin Scorcese. Mudah-mudahan besok sudah bisa update article ini.

Screening Log Column #2

2005-01-17T11:00:00.000+07:00

Babblings:

Gw musti berhenti minum teh kotak sebelum naik kendaraan. Gw perhatiin setiap kali gw minum teh kotak sebelum naik kendaraan, perut gw rasanya mules dan aneh. I can't stop bleaching dan itu sangat sangat tidak nyaman. Baik buat gw ataupun buat orang lain.

Special Coverage:

62nd Golden Globe Awards. Seandainya ada penghargaan film yang mendekati penghargaan tertinggi, Academy Awards, tentunya Golden Globe tidak bisa diremehkan. Diselenggarakan oleh Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Golden Globe diselenggarakan 1-2 bulan sebelum Academy dan acap kali dianggap sebagai barometer dari film tersebut terhadap penilaiannya di Academy. Tahun lalu, kita menyaksikan The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King sebagai pemenang Best Dramatic Film di Golden Globe dan ultimately juga meraih Best Picture di Academy. Tahun ini? Here's the list of some of the winners (untuk kategori film saja):
Best Dramatic Film - The Aviator
I found it no surprise here. Martin Scorcese sukses mengubah image Leonardo Di Caprio di mata gw lewat "Gangs of New York", and he was one of my favourite directors among others. Gw masih menunggu film-nya sih, entah di 21, Glodok, atau internet. Mudah-mudahan bukan untuk waktu yang lama.
Best Comedy / Musical Film - Sideways
Best Director - Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)
Udah saatnya.
Best Actor for Dramatic Role - Leonardo Di Caprio (The Aviator)
All the more reason for me to wait for The Aviator.
Best Actor for Comedy / Musical Role - Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Udah gw prediksi jauh-jauh hari. Kandidat kuat buat Oscar mungkin.
Best Actress for Dramatic Role - Hillary Swank (Million Dollar Baby)
Best Actress for Comedy / Musical Role - Annette Benning (Being Julia)
Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen (Closer)
Best Supporting Actress - Natalie Portman (Closer)
Well, that's the list folks. Gw cuman rada kecewa soalnya film "Eternal Sunshine.." tidak mendapatkan satu penghargaan pun. Sebenernya sih gw prediksi "Eternal Sunshine.." dapat satu award buat screenplay lewat Charlie Kauffman. Cuman award itu dicomot oleh Jim Taylor / Alexander Payne lewat "Sideways".

Weekend U.S Box Office (Jan 14 - 16):

#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Coach Carter - US$ 23.6 mills - US$ 23.6 mills
2. - Meet the Fockers - US$ 19 mills - US$ 230.8 mills
3. - Racing Stripes - US$ 14 mills - US$ 14 mills
4. - In Good Company - US$ 13.9 mills - US$ 14.4 mills
5. - Elektra - US$ 12.5 mills - US$ 12.5 mills
6. - White Noise - US$ 12.2 mills - US$ 41.2 mills
7. - The Aviator - US$ 4.7 mills - US$ 49.9 mills
8. - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - US$ 3.9 mills - US$ 110 mills
9. - Andrew Floyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera - US$ 3.5 mills - US$ 26.4 mills
10. - Ocean's Twelve - US$ 2.8 mills - US$ 119.8 mills

My, my, terlihat jelas bahwa gw memang masih belum bisa menyisihkan perasaan pribadi gw dalam memprediksi film. Kalau minggu lalu gw dengan PeDe-nya memperingatkan Meet the Fockers untuk berhati-hati terhadap Elektra, tapi kenyataannya minggu ini penonton bioskop di US lebih memilih untuk menonton Coach Carter, film terbarunya Samuel L. Jackson. Mungkin karena kisahnya yang lebih dekat dengan masyarakat Amerika (Coach Carter diangkat dari kisah nyata) sehingga penonton (di US) lebih suka melihat-nya dari pada aksi Jennifer Garner. Quote dari Wesley Morris, "...the only difference between Garner's new movie and her four-year-old television show is that the movie is boring.". Ah well, i'm going to watch it anyway.

Minggu ini juga menyaksikan dua film baru selain Coach Carter dan Elektra. Well, satu film, In Good Company sebenarnya tidak sepenuhnya baru. Film komedi yang mengisahkan persahabatan dua orang pekerja yang istilah Amrik-nya, "trying to make the end meets" dan dibintangi oleh Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, dan Scarlett Johannson ini memang baru dirilis bebas di minggu ini. Satu lagi adalah film keluarga, Racing Stripes yang seperti kebanyakan film keluarga yang melibatkan hewan, gw yakin tidak akan memberikan kejutan.

Dari chart di atas sebenernya 4 dari top-5 film adalah film baru. Namun, ke-4 film ini tidak cukup untuk menghentikan Meet the Fockers yang meskipun harus menyerahkan posisi no.1-nya kepada Coach Carter tetep sehat di posisi ke-2. Untuk minggu ini, ada dua film baru yang dirilis wide. Di hari Rabu, ada re-make thriller sukses Assault on Precinct 13 dengan Ethan Hawke, dan Laurence Fishburn dan di hari Jum'at ada komedi baru dari Ice Cube, Are We There Yet?. Kecuali kalau Assault on Precinct 13 terbukti tidak mengecewakan fans film original-nya, maka boleh jadi Meet the Fockers atau film-film yang dirilis minggu lalu bisa tetep berbuat banyak. However, hasil dari Golden Globe Awards juga tidak bisa diremehkan. Bisa jadi, The Aviator yang masih diputar di bioskop mampu menarik penonton kembali. It's all remain to be seen though.

Screening Log Movie of the Week:

21 Grams. Film yang sangat enak untuk disimak. Dengan storyline khas Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu (sang sutradara) dan aktor-aktris istimewa (especially, Bennicio Del Toro dan Naomi Watts), kelemahan film ini bagi gw hanya pada aspek filosofis yang abstrak dan kabur, yang mungkin sebenarnya lebih disebabkan karena otak gw udah capek untuk menjaga agar alur logis tidak lepas kemana-mana. Beberapa akan menemukan kisah tiga orang yang masing-masing terkait dengan sebuah kecelakaan mobil menyentuh dan membuat penonton serasa berada di dalam alurnya, namun beberapa juga akan menganggap 21 Grams terlau exaggerating dan pada akhirnya kehilangan esensi karakter dan pesan humanisme-nya karena terlalu berat digelayuti muatan filosofis. Apapun anggapan-nya, gw tetap merasa 21 Grams merupakan salah satu pengalaman terbaik gw dalam menikmati sinema.

From the Screening Log:

Minggu ini, Screening Log mempersembahkan, Amores Perros, Misery, Without a Paddle, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, Mulan 2, dan Paparazzi.

Dari sutradara yang membawa 21 Grams, Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu, Amores Perros (2001) adalah film pertama yang digarap dan dirilis oleh Innaritu. Meskipun cetak birunya mirip sekali dengan 21 Grams, kisah tiga orang manusia yang kisahnya taut-berpaut melalui sebuah kecelakaan mobil, gw suka Amores Perros lebih dari 21 Grams dari berbagai aspek. Memang, storyline-nya lebih sederhana dari 21 Grams, bahkan Amores bisa dibagi ke dalam tiga episod berbeda yang masing-masing nyaris secara naratif independen terhadap dua episod lainnya. Muatan filosofisnya juga lebih ringan dan lebih jelas daripada 21 Grams. Tapi, justru itulah yang membuat film ini istimewa. Gw menemukan diri gw hanyut dalam kisahnya. Meskipun ada kecenderungan untuk turun gunung (secara kualitas) di episode ke-2, klimaks dari Amores sendiri mampu naik dan menyimpulkan kisah tiga orang pelaku episod-nya dengan resolusi unik masing-masing yang bebas untuk diintepretasikan oleh penonton. Hanya satu yang menyamakan ketiga orang ini, takut. Rasa takut karena terlupakan. Another magnificent adventures in cinema, but as yet, gw ga setuju kalau film ini disebut sebagai "Mexican Pulp Fiction".

Pelaku sinema tampaknya tak pernah kapok untuk mengadaptasi karya-karyanya Stephen King meskipun kebanyakan dari film-film hasil adaptasi tersebut jeblok di pasaran. Misery (1990) adalah satu dari sedikit film adaptasi tersebut yang memperoleh pengakuan. Paling tidak, di film ini pengakuan tersebut datang kepada Kathy Bates, pemeran Annie Wilkes dalma bentuk Oscar untuk Best Actress. Secara keseluruhan, kualitas film ini sebenarnya nowhere near the book. Penderitaan Paul Sheldon, penulis yang secara mental (dan fisik) tertekan kurang bisa disampaikan oleh James Caan. Thriller-thriller-nya juga kurang greget, beberapa bagian yang menurut gw penting untuk menaikkan tensi ketegangan justru dihilangkan. Usut punya usut, mereka dihilangkan karena dianggap terlalu sadis. Wajar. Sinema Hollywood masih belum se-vulgar film-film cult buatan Jepang. But anyway, Kathy Bates, si pemeran Annie Wilkes memang luar biasa. Karakter-karakter ciptaan Stephen King adalah karakter-karakter biasa dengan bentuk fisik yang cenderung kurang, tak terkecuali Annie Wilkes. Tapi, tunggu dulu, Annie Wilkes versi Kathy Bates ini lain, tidak seperti Annie Wilkes versi Stephen King. Annie Wilkes di film ini bisa tampil manis sehingga Paul (dan penonton) bisa percaya akan kebaikan hatinya, tapi sedetik kemudian ia bisa tampil layaknya seorang psikopat profesional. Kejam, tapi tenang. Dan Kathy Bates sukses dalam menterjemahkan dua sisi koin Annie Wilkes ini ke layar. Secara keseluruhan, film ini tidak sebagus adaptasi Stephen King lainnya, The Green Mile apalagi bila dibandingkan dengan adaptasi Stephen King terbaik, The Shawshank Redemption. But nonetheless, this film is enjoyable.

Without a Paddle dan The Princess Diaries 2 buat gw jatuh ke area yang sama. Mereka berdua adalah drama-komedi yang flat, tidak lucu, dan nyaris tidak kemana-mana. Kalau Without a Paddle mencoba menyuguhkan pentingnya persahabatan untuk tiga orang pemuda biasa (i called them, 'Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest') dalam sebuah petualangan yang muskil dan komik, maka Princess Diaries, seperti pendahulunya menyuguhkan pentingnya menjaga perasaan dalam sebuah hubungan dari seorang putri negeri antah berantah. Persamaannya, keduanya punya villain yang super-bodoh tapi sukses dalam pekerjaan mereka (di Without a Paddle, villain super-bodoh-nya punya ladang ganja yang hasil penjualannya sanggup memberi makan seluruh penghuni kamp pengungsi di Kenya, di Princess Diaries, villain super-bodoh-nya duduk di salah satu posisi penting di parlemen). Keduanya juga menceritakan pencarian jati-diri yang sukses (di Without a Paddle, ketiga karakternya berubah drastis, di Princess Diaries, seluruh negara Genovia berubah). Perbedannya, ini yang membuat gw menaruh Without a Paddle setengah tingkat lebih tinggi dari temannya. Di Without a Paddle, kita bisa lihat pesannya sampai walau dengan alis mata terangkat tanda tak percaya, kita bisa lihat masing-masing karakter-nya meski pretentous dan komik, masih believable. In the other hand, Princess Diaries was way too ego-centric, and selfish. Pada intinya, jika Without a Paddle seperti melunakkan kepingan puzzle untuk bisa sesuai dengan pasangannya, Princess Diaries adalah kepingan puzzle yang tidak mau sedikit pun untuk membelokkan kurva-kurvanya supaya bisa sesuai dengan pasangannya. "It's them that had to change, not I. For Lord's apple-pie, i'm the princess after all!". Puih. What a selfish and pompous princess you're. Overall, gw tidak merekomendasikan dua film ini.

Film Paparazzi punya durasi yang sangat pendek. Secara singkat, gw bilang film ini efektif untuk memprovokasi penonton supaya simpati semua terarah pada sang tokoh utama yang pada akhirnya bisa dijustifikasikan tindakannya yang acap kali membengkokkan pedang keadilan. Ceritanya sederhana, tentang kesulitan seorang aktor yang naik daun menghadapi serbuan Paparazzi sampai ketika ia sampai di titik di mana ia memutuskan "to get an even, even steven" dengan para paparazzi tersebut. Pretty crappy stuff for a film, tapi surprisingly film-nya enjoyable. Seperti yang telah gw sebutin di atas, film-nya cukup efektif untuk membuat kita merasa menderita, semenderita si tokoh utama, dan bersimpati padanya, dan memberkati apapun tindakannya. Villain-nya juga cukup OK, masih tetep bodoh tapi paling tidak, ia tidak punya hati. Ada satu adegan yang mencomot "Silence of the Lambs" (yang membuatnya sedikit tidak keren), emosi chemistry antara si tokoh dan keluarganya juga kurang terbangun, some funny cameos, dan ending-nya? well, seandainya gw punya keluarga seorang paparazzi, gw pasti akan diam-diam mengutuk si tokoh utama. Yang pasti ending-nya adalah dua sisi mata uang yang masing-masing bisa dibenarkan dan disalahkan di saat yang bersamaan. Thought provoking, meskipun film ini jelas-jelas berpihak pada si tokoh utama (aktor) dan jelas-jelas memberi statement bahwa Paparazzi itu adalah sekumpulan bajingan yang tidak perduli dengan privasi orang lain.

Judul ofisial-nya adalah Mulan II. Masih mengusung tema yang sama dengan instalasi originalnya - "True to your heart", kali ini Fa Mulan mendapat misi untuk mengawal tiga putri raja dalam sebuah arranged-marriage dengan putra mahkota kerajaan tetangga demi menjamin persekutuan yang diharapkan bisa menahan serbuan bangsa Mongol yang selalu mengancam. Kali ini Fa Mulan bersama General Shang yang kini menjadi tunangannya, dan masih bersama tiga pengawalnya.. hm? ya? tiga.. tiga putri.. tiga pengawal.. get it?. Pertunangan Fa Mulan dan General Shang ternyata membahayakan posisi Mushu, si naga iseng pengawal Mulan di film Mulan yang pertama oleh karenanya kemudian Mushu berusaha untuk membuat percikan api diantara Mulan - Shang demi menjamin posisinya. Sementara ketiga putri lambat-laun menemukan bahwa arranged-marriage bukan sesuatu yang mereka cari. It was love that they wanted. And so.. bla.. bla.. bla.. like all Disney's movies, the events tingled with each other and meets the end in a happy-happy-joy-joy for everbody to enjoy. Crappy.

Few, that was long... okay, that's a wrap for this week edition, i shall wrote again next week. Ta.. ta..

Screening Log Column #1

2005-01-10T16:55:00.000+07:00

Weekend U.S Box Office (Jan 7 - 9):

#. - Title - Weekend Gross - Cumulative Gross
1. - Meet the Fockers - US$ 28.5 mills - US$ 204.5 mills
2. - White Noise - US$ 24 mills - US$ 24 mills
3. - The Aviator - US$ 7.6 mills - US$ 42.9 mills
4. - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - US$ 7.4 mills - US$ 105.5 mills
5. - Fat Albert - US$ 6 mills - US$ 41.2 mills
6. - Ocean's Twelve - US$ 5.4 mills - US$ 115.4 mills
7. - National Treasure - US$ 4.4 mills - US$ 160.7 mills
8. - Spanglish - US$ 4.4 mills - US$ 37.6 mills
9. - Andrew Floyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera - US$ 3.4 mills - US$ 21.5 mills
10. - Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - US$ 2.6 mills - US$ 19.3 mills

Weekend pertama di tahun 2005 dimulai lambat dengan hanya satu judul dirilis wide di Amerika Utara. White Noise, drama thriller yang mengisahkan seorang arsitek (Michael Keaton) yang harus menghadapi kenyataan bahwa istrinya menghilang dan kemungkinan mati. Penyelidikannya membawanya berkenalan dengan fenomena EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) ketika ia bertemu dengan seorang laki-laki yang mengklaim dia menerim EVP dari Anna, sang istri. Meski cukup kuat dengan opening 24 juta, dan praktis tanpa saingan di slot weekend yang bersangkutan, White Noise belum sanggup menggeser kepopuleran Meet the Fockers komedi terbaru Ben Stiller, sekuel dari Meet the Parents yang udah nangkring di posisi #1 box-office selama tiga minggu berturut-turut. Dengan super-star casts, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, dan kembalinya Barbara Streisand, cerita yang akrab dan menjual ditambah dengan trailer yang super lucu, komedi ini gw prediksi masih bakalan cukup kuat sampai dua minggu ke depan. Tapi minggu ini mesti hati-hati dengan Elektra yang sudah pasti ditunggu oleh penggemarnya (me included).

Screening Log Movie of the Week:

Datang dari tahun yang gw anggap sebagai "the golden year of movies" (1994) Screening Log memilih Natural Born Killers sebagai Movie of the Week. Mungkin ketika gw menonton film ini dulu, instead of now (actually i've seen it for quite some time) gw bakal menyerah di tiga puluh menit awal. Soalnya di film ini, Oliver Stone - sang sutradara - tidak cuma bikin film yang cuma menyuguhkan cerita dalam rantai adegan saja tapi di setiap mata-rantai-nya dia mencampur-adukkan berbagai macam esensi seni. Ujung-ujungnya, setiap adegannya exaggerating, berlebih, too-stylistic, very unreal yang malah membuat kebanyakan penonton, terutama penonton film-film summer ogah melihatnya. Now, the movie's cinematography is truly a brilliant. Seiring dengan bertambahnya pengetahuan tentang film (can somebody had that kind of thing, really?), sesorang bisa meng-observe kesatiran, maupun kritik dari Oliver Stone tentang komunitas barat lewat jukstaposisi dan simbolisme yang acap kali menghujat. Genre-nya pun bisa berubah-ubah dengan subtle dari tragis, komedi, drama sampai horor. Meskipun memang kekurangannya banyak, tapi secara sinematografi ini film luar biasa artistik.

From the Screening Log:

Minggu lalu, boleh dibilang minggu baca buku. Ada tiga buku yang secara simultan gw baca, Tom Clancy's Cardinal of the Kremlin, Stephen King's The Stand sama Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time: Part I - The Eye of the World. Trus gw juga mulai belajar Bahasa lagi (kali ini gw belajar bahasa Java 1.5 dan ngelanjutin belajar bahasa Jepang setelah terbengkalai berbulan-bulan). Alhasil cuma tiga film yang gw tonton selama satu minggu tersebut. Dua diantaranya film ringan yang bisa ditonton sambil merem. Yang pertama, Takeshi Kitano Dolls . Takeshi Kitano adalah salah seorang sutradara yang keberadaanya gw ketahui dari aktifitas gw di Internet. Ada yang bilang bahwa dia adalah salah satu sutradara Jepang terbaik saat ini. Jadinya sangat masuk akal kalo gw mencari-cari film karyanya. Dolls ini adalah film garapannya tahun 2002 yang populer di beberapa festival film internasional. Kadang kala ada beberapa film yang keberadaanya hanya sebagai media untuk senang-senang buat sutradaranya. Film-film ini kebanyakan cuman jadi film festival karena memang ketidak-menarikkan-nya yang membuat film ini dijauhi oleh komersialitas industri film. Dolls adalah salah satu dari film tersebut. Kitano membuat Dolls berdasarkan inspirasi dari Bunraku, seni tradisional Jepang yang mirip wayang. Sesi Bunraku ini diperagakan di awal cerita dan nyata bahwa cerita yang diusung oleh Kitano semuanya berkaitan dengan Bunraku ini. Namun, terus terang gw agak gagal melihat substansi dari Bunraku, apalagi untuk mengaplikasikannya ke cerita. Ceritanya sendiri ada tiga cerita independen yang masing-masing tampaknya tidak berkaitan satu sama lain. Gw udah berusaha untuk berpikir menarik benang merah dari tiga cerita itu tapi tetep gagal, mungkin yang paling mungkin adalah bahwa "Cinta itu butuh pengorbanan". Tapi tentu saja tidak perlu Kitano untuk menegaskan hal tersebut, bukan? Di luar itu, gw suka sama sinematografinya. Masih di bawah Kurosawa's Dreams tapi tetep beautifully stunning. Dan pemeran cewe-nya (Miho Kanno yang nyaris ndak pernah ngomong, sama Kyoko Fukada) tentu saja cukup enak dipandang mata. Dua film berikutnya, gw masukkan ke kategori sampah. Sedikit kredit lebih kepada White Chicks walaupun tidak masuk akal dan menghina cewe pirang, tapi cukup memuaskan keinginan gw yang memang ingin menonton film yang ringan-ringan sambil lalu saja. Agak beda dengan Van Helsing. Featuring Hugh Jackman, aktor yang gw daulat sebagai 'Wolverine' sejati, malah lebih buruk dari yang gw duga sebelumnya (padahal sebelumnya gw udah yakin kalo Van Helsing bakalan buruk). Apabila sebuah film menimbulkan banyak pertanyaan yang level-nya udah di logika antar adegan, maka film tersebut tidak mungkin bagus (menurut gw tentunya). Van Helsing adalah film semacam itu, banyak "Hows" dan "Whys" sepanjang film yang tidak mungkin buat gw untuk mengacuhkannya. Juga jangan lupa banyaknya coincidence, action style a la John Woo or Matrix yang membuat film ini tidak berkenan buat gw. Pemerannya juga tidak ada yang istimewa permainannya, standar, dan skrip-pakem semua. Sampai-sampai gw gagal dalam memutuskan untuk menikmati suguhan aksinya aja (perlu diketahui, di White Chicks gw cukup berhasil untuk mengacuhkan flop dan menikmatinya apa adanya). Kalo ada yang bisa gw kasih kredit, gw bakalan ngasih kredit ke credit title sequence-nya yang cukup nikmat untuk dipandang.

Upcoming 2005

2005-01-05T13:12:00.000+07:00

Setelah kemaren gw terbitin tulisan gw tentang tahun lalu (menengok ke belakang, over my shoulder), sekarang gw mau nulis tentang tahun ini. Sekali lagi tentu saja tak bosan-bosannya membahas tentang the very reason this virtual home was built. Movies.

Tapi sebelumnya, gw mau ngutip hasil poling di IMDb tentang best and worst di 2004. Baru hari ini lho gw lihat, dan langsung gw kutip meskipun gw sendiri ndak ikut poling-nya. Here's the result.

See. I've told you already that Eternal Sunshine and Kill Bill vol.2 was the best, and Catwoman was the worst. Sebenernya ada tiga judul yang kemaren gw lupa nyebutin. Satu, Phantom of the Opera. Gw agak2 lupa sama judul ini karena saking banyaknya versi dari si Phantom ini yang udah di film-in. Dua, Sideways -- gw belum nonton. Katanya sih termasuk satu film lucu-cerdas (non-slapstick-humor-kind-of-movie) terbaik di thn. 2004. Juga dapet nominasi di Golden Globe. Tiga, Garden State. Minimnya info soal film ini, dan juga fakta bahwa film ini adalah film indie menyebabkan film ini luput dari pembajak DVD di Glodok ataupun jaringan 21. Film ini boleh dibilang mirip sama Eternal Sunshine, cuman bedanya Garden State mungkin lebih asing karena konsentrasinya lebih pada kehidupan remaja Amerika. Much like Thirteen (maksud gw dari cara pengambilan inspirasinya). Hey, ada Natalie Portman lhoo... :).

Okay, cukup. Sekarang balik ke topik awal. Gw bukan orang film, juga bukan orang media yang dekat dengan informasi tentang film. Cuman penikmat saja yang kebetulan sekali waktu ngikutin berita tentang film lewat internet (ultimately, dari Yahoo! Movies dan forum RottenTomatoes). So, prediksi gw tentang thn 2005 bisa aja salah total.

Film yang paling gw tunggu-tunggu tahun ini tentu saja, Batman Begins . Setelah dirusak oleh Joel Schumacher di Batman Forever dan Batman and Robin lewat penampilan komik cerah nan warna-warni dari si Ksatria jagoan gw yang seharusnya berada di bayang-bayang kegelapan dan penuh muram ini, Christopher Nolan (the man who brought you Memento) mengembalikan Dark Knight ke origin yang seharusnya: gelap. Kembali ke suasana Batman dan Batman Returns yang dikomandani Tim Burton dulu.

Nah, ngomong-ngomong soal Tim Burton, sutradara yang gw kenal karena hasil-hasil filmnya yang fantasi sekali (ingat: Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands) di tahun 2005 juga menyiapkan film fantasi. Kali ini dia kembali berkolaborasi dengan Jhonny Depp untuk (kalo gw ga salah lho) keempat kalinya (setelah Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood dan Sleepy Hollow) dalam Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . Sekarang ini siapa sih yang ga kenal dengan Johnny Depp? terutama setelah penampilan slenge'annya yang berbuah nominasi Oscar di Pirates of the Caribbean. Dan lagipula, kolaborasi Tim Burton - Johnny Depp selalu relatif sukses. Jadi menurut gw, film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ini layak tunggu.

Juga di tahun ini, layar perak kembali kedatangan rombongan superhero. Dimulai dari Januari ini, sempalan dari Daredevil akan menampilkan Jennifer Garner sebagai Elektra. Kabarnya cerita yang diangkat adalah pasca Daredevil (yang mana Elektra jatuh terkena serangan Bulls-Eye dan akan disimpulkan di Daredevil 2 (mudah-mudahan si Ben Affleck tidak kembali jadi Matt Murdock). . Selanjutnya di bulan April ada Sin City. Sedikit yang gw tahu soal film ini. Tapi cast-nya lumayan wah. Ada Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, dan supporting-cast favorit gw, terbaik karena sering dapet Oscar: Bennicio Del Toro. Berikutnya, jauh di November, meskipun statusnya masih tentatif, ada si Nicholas Cage lewat Iron Man. Di summer, selain Batman yang udah gw sebutin. Juga ada sekeluarga superhero punya-nya Marvel, Fantastic Four. Menarik karena nanti kita tidak hanya akan menyaksikan pertarungan Marvel dan DC di komik, tapi juga gontok-gontokkan di Box Office Summer. Siapa yang lebih baik? buat gw, tentu saja Batman! Batman rulez!!! meskipun gw juga bakal nungguin Fantastic Four juga nonetheless. Oh iya, nyaris lupa. Aktor tidak berbakat, Keanu Reeves juga bakal membintangi film yang diadaptasi dari komik, Constantine. Bukan film yang gw tunggu sih, yang sebenernya alasannya cukup personal, Reeves. Really. Sebagai penggemar komik, tampaknya gw harus ke bioskop tahun ini.

Untuk sekuel, bagaimana? yang paling hangat tentu saja instalasi terakhir dari trilogi prekuel Star Wars. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. . Meskipun dicerca habis-habisan gara-gara Episode II yang secara kualitas menyedihkan (terutama adegan pas si Amidala sama si Skywalker guling-gulingan ala Bollywood di padang rumput. Adegan yang sama sekali ga penting), si George Lucas tampaknya tetep pengen namatin trilogi prekuel dari Star Wars-nya. Meskipun gw ragu hasilnya bakal bagus (jangan dibandingkan sama yang original, kasihan), gw pengen tau bagaimana ia menutup trilogi prekuel dan sambungan ceritanya ke Episode IV. Ah, lagipula ada Natalie Portman lumayan lah. Tapi gw rasa, kalo fans-nya Star Wars, film ini wajib ditunggu. Released on summer, by the way.

Juga layak tunggu, meski masih tentatif juga di akhir tahun ada Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yang pengen gw liat sih bagaimana caranya memendekkan instalasi keempat dari seri Harry Potter ini menjadi film yang durasinya tidak lebih dari tiga jam. Menarik untuk ditunggu, meskipun gw rada kecewa sutradaranya ganti. Padahal gw cukup senang dengan gaya penyutradaraan siapa-itu-namanya-gw-lupa di instalasi ketiganya kemaren.

Artikel ini gw tutup dengan film epik yang banyak dibicarakan di forum rottentomatoes. Steven Spielberg kembali bekerja bersama Tom Cruise. Kabarnya Tom Cruise pun menunda proyek Mission Impossible III nya buat konsen penuh di film ini. Diadaptasi dari cerita sci-fi klasik karya H.G Wells, summer 2005 akan menyaksikan sebuah film sci-fi yang sepertinya berbudget besar, War of the Worlds. As much as i didn't like Spielberg's works, gw pengen liat film ini. Seperti komik, gw juga rada seneng sama film-film yang berbau sci-fi apalagi kalau diadaptasi dari cerita klasik macam punyanya H.G Wells, atau Jules Verne atau yang usianya udah puluhan tahun seperti punyanya Arthur C.Clarke. Lagipula, Tom Cruise jarang mengecewakan gw (pengecualian: Minority Report yang dia kerjain bareng si Spielberg sama Mission Impossible II) dan juga ada aktris cilik berbakat, Dakota Fanning yang tampaknya cukup berhasil membuat kagum Spielberg dan penonton tentunya lewat mini seri Taken.

So, and that's a wrap. See you at theatres..

New Year's Resolution

2005-01-04T14:34:00.000+07:00

Tunggu... tunggu.. ada yang salah dengan judulnya. Gw tidak pernah percaya sama resolusi tahun baru dan sebaliknya, secara sederhana membiarkan roda waktu untuk bergulir dengan sendirinya sembari membawa gw, keinginan gw, atau apalah yang menjadi tujuan hidup gw untuk menuliskan babak-babak baru di buku sejarah gw. But, but, tentu saja selalu dengan usaha dan do'a.

Dengan demikian, tulisan ini tidak lantas menunjukkan resolusi gw terhadap 361 hari yang musti gw jalanin ke depan tapi lebih kepada apa yang terjadi sepanjang tahun 2004 yang baru lalu. With all the respect to the world, somethings that aren't directly concerns me were omitted from this article.

Yup, betul kalau hari ini adalah hari ke-4 di tahun 2005. Dan kebanyakan kaleidoskop, summary dari tahun sebelumnya biasanya ditulis tanggal 30 / 31 Desember. Tapi, tulisan ini bukan ditujukan sebagai wacana berita yang perlu dikemas dengan keakuratan data yang perlu ditampilkan dengan segar. Tulisan ini lebih merupakan sebuah entri diary dari seorang Rhama. Dibaca syukur, ndak dibaca juga tidak membuat gw sakit hati kok.

Well, so let's get started. Even terbesar tahun ini tentu saja jatuh pada kejadian tanggal 26 Desember yang lalu. Ketika gempa tektonik dengan kekuatan nyaris 9 pada skala richter, dan disebut-sebut sebagai gempa terdahsyat di bumi selama say, 40 tahun? (*Redaksi: gw agak-agak lupa) menggoncang perairan di sebelah barat pulau Sumatra dan pada efeknya menimbulkan gelombang tsunami yang meluluh-lantakkan beberapa kota di Sumatra bagian utara dan menyebabkan ratusan ribu orang kehilangan nyawa-nya dan beberapa ratus ribu lagi kehilangan tempat-tinggal, harta benda, dan terutama keluarga. As i've said earlier, with all the respect to the world, gw cuman bisa menyematkan do'a dan sedikit bantuan yang mungkin ga seberapa. But, rest assured. Pray to the Lord that all the deceased shall found a better place there.

It was a mourning season all right, but there shall be many goods came out of it since God knows what good for its creation even in the most subtle way.

Okay. Kewajiban telah dipenuhi (again, with all the respect to the world). Let's talk about something yang sinkron sama tujuan, visi dan misi diciptakannya tulisan maya ini. Movies. That's right! movies.

Di awal tahun 2004, gw punya keinginan untuk sebisa mungkin keep-up dengan setiap film yang di rilis tahun truly. And truly, that was easier said than done. Meskipun gw punya prioritas untuk itu tetap saja susah dilakukan. Kenapa itu bisa terjadi? tentu saja gw selalu punya kambing hitam untuk ditunjuk apabila ada sesuatu hal yang salah dengan rencana-rencana gw. Pertama, di tahun 2004 gw sama sekali tidak pernah ke bioskop. Yah, begitulah semenjak kekasih gw merantau jadi pegawai negeri di ujung Sulawesi, gw tidak pernah lagi merasakan kenikmatan untuk duduk di baris F deket jalan dan menikmati film di layar lebar. Hiks. And i missed those moment. That came to one thing. Ada yang mau jadi volunteer buat nemenin gw ke bioskop? preferably cewe :) punya sense yang lebih dari rata-rata buat nikmatin film, talkactive, dan terutama, mau bayar sendiri. Okay. Kedua, meskipun gw mendukung piracy untuk film dan DVD, gw tetep ogah untuk beli DVD yang nembak bioskop. Jadi boleh dibilang, gw cukup, bahkan sangat telat kalo dalam urusan film-film yang udah ditonton. Sedih emang, tapi mau gimana lagi?. Jadilah, rencana gw untuk ngeliat semua film di tahun 2004 jadi tinggal angan-angan kosong dari seorang pemimpi.

Di sisi lain, yang lebih ceria tentunya, gw nonton film banyak banget di tahun 2004. Ga tau jumlah pastinya, tapi pasti lebih dari 100 judul film udah gw embat di tahun 2004. Itu berarti rata-rata 2-3 film per minggu-nya. Dan itu tidak termasuk film-film yang gw tonton di TV. Gw mulai dari Akira Kurosawa. Tahun 2004 yang lalu gw banyak sekali berkenalan dengan film-film dari bapak ini. Dari yang hitam putih, ndak jelas karena banyak dipotong seperti Hakuchi (1951) sampai yang berwarna seperti Yume (1990). Juga kisah petualangan seorang ronin Sanjuro lewat dua film-nya, Yojimbo (1961) dan Sanjuro (1962) yang lantas mengilhami Sergio Leone untuk membuat trilogi film western paling monumental "A Man with No Name": A Fistful of Dollar, For A Few Dollar More, dan The Bad, the Good and the Ugly. Studi tentang relativitas kebenaran di Rashomon (1950) atau intisari dari hidup dilihat dari seorang yang mendekati ajal di Ikiru (1952). Hura-hura samurai jaman feudal lewat Kumonoshu Jou (1957) dan Kakushi Toride no San Akunin (1958) atau sketa seorang Yoda di Dersu Uzala (1975). Juga petualangan seorang polisi di Nora Inu (1949) (featuring "Bengawan Solo" by Gesang as its OST). Also not to mention, Ran, Kagemusha dan Akahige. Tidaklah berlebihan kalau gw menyebut tahun 2004 sebagai tahunnya Kurosawa buat gw dengan 13 film besutannya yang gw apresiasi.

Lalu bagaimana dengan tahun 2004 sendiri? banyak yang bilang kalau tahun 2004 terjadi penurunan kualitas dari film-film tahun 2003. Sebenernya gw sendiri tidak bisa terlalu banyak ngomong untuk film tahun 2004. Pasalnya, film-film yang gw tunggu-tunggu justru jatuh di akhir tahun, mepet-mepet sama Oscar and hence, gw belum sempet buat mengapresiasinya karena dua alasan yang udah gw singgung di atas. Sebut saja Closer, Finding Neverland, Ray dan tentu saja The Aviator. Film-film ini semuanya rilis di akhir tahun. Bahkan Finding Neverland baru diputer di New York dan Los Angeles. Sebenernya ada satu film lagi yang cukup sering disebut-sebut bakal jadi fenomena di Oscar 2004. Millions Dollar Baby. Dibintangi oleh Hillary Swank, dan Clint Eastwood, banyak yang menjagokan kalau Clint Eastwood tidak akan jadi nominasi lagi tahun ini untuk sutradara terbaik lewat film ini setelah tahun lalu jadi nominasi lewat Mystic River. Filmnya sendiri baru diputer di LA/NY/Chicago/Toronto. Still a long way to reach 21 Network here.

Tapi selain fakta-fakta di atas tentu saja, gw juga udah punya shortlist untuk film-film terbaik tahun ini (khusus film-film produksi Hollywood lho ya...). Ada tiga film yang bakal gw langsung kedepankan seandainya gw ditanya film terbaik untuk tahun 2004. In no particular order. Yang pertama, tentu saja Kill Bill vol.2. Gw suka karya-karyanya Quentin Tarantino. Dan menurut gw, seri Kill Bill adalah kulminasi sekaligus otobiografi dari Tarantino. Kenapa begitu? bear with me, it's rather long. Di film pertamanya, Reservoir Dogs jelas sekali terlihat Tarantino ingin membuat suatu style sendiri (make istilah favorit gw, "exercising in style"). Lepas dari originalitas ceritanya (banyak yang bilang Tarantino nge-rip cerita salah satu film mafia Hongkong yang dibintangi oleh Chow Yun-Fat), style-nya jelas terlihat. Di Pulp Fiction, film berikutnya style itu makin nyata. Dengan cast yang nyaris sempurna, nonton Pulp Fiction adalah perjalanan yang menyenangkan. Menegangkan seperti naik roller-coaster, sekaligus juga menenangkan seperti naik perahu lewat Istana Boneka. Meskipun demikian, Tarantino tidak lantas mementingkan style dan melupakan substance seperti banyak dilakukan oleh sutradara2 yang ngaku nyentrik seperti (sorry buat pendukungnya) Noel Brothers misalnya. Dan itu yang membuat gw demen ama film-filmnya. Berikutnya adalah Jackie Brown. Di film ini Tarantino mulai meninggalkan style-nya dan mulai membangun substance. Lewat pergerakan alur yang lambat, film ini tidak punya banyak fans dan tenggelam di bawah kedigdayaan Pulp Fiction. Tapi menurut gw, justru di film ini Tarantino terlihat makin dewasa, dan justru di film ini pula Tarantino menunjukkan bahwa identitas jenius yang suka disematkan kepadanya bukan hanya lip-service doang. Nah, di Kill Bill, semua elemen yang muncul terpisah di tiga film-nya sebelumnya (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, dan Jackie Brown) dimunculkan secara bersamaan dalam sebuah sekuen film yang kronologis lewat vol.1 dan vol.2. Di Vol.1, style-nya Tarantino jelas terlihat. Dia pengen senang-senang seperti halnya dulu dia senang-senang waktu bikin Reservoir Dogs. Adegan di bar, ketika The Bride vs Crazy 88 indicated it. Setelah itu, dengan mempertahankan style yang sama, pelan-pelan Tarantino mulai memunculkan substance (Pulp Fiction) dan lantas menutupnya dengan dewasa di vol.2 (Jackie Brown). Itulah sebabnya. Dan menurut gw, jika pengen ngomongin, nonton, atau memberikan penghargaan terhadap Kill Bill, musti disebut dua-duanya. Tidak bisa dipisah antara vol.1 dan vol.2.

Berikutnya, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Ada satu hal yang membuat gw heran dengan film ini. Film ini sebenernya udah rilis sejak Maret. Namun anehnya, 21 baru mulai memutar film ini bulan Januari ini. Nyaris setahun. Padahal film ini adalah satu dari sedikit film yang menerima keseragaman rating dari berbagai pihak. Paling nggak, berbagai pihak yang sering gw baca reviewnya. Dibintangi oleh Jim Carrey dan Kate Winslet (dua-duanya dapet nominasi leading actor / actress di Golden Globe), yang masing-masing maen luar biasa (di luar biasanya mereka maksudnya), Eternal Sunshine bercerita tentang bagaimana pentingnya sebuah memori tentang cinta yang meskipun pahit, tetap menghangatkan untuk dikenang. Jangan terkecoh dengan nama Jim Carrey. This film was unlike his usual comedy (all with those rubber-faces). Rekomendasi penuh dari gw buat yang demen sama film drama. Hmm, sebentar. Kalau ada waktu, cari juga Annie Hall (1970-sekian), film drama romantis besutannya Woody Allen. Itu juga mantap.

Berikutnya, yang terakhir untuk segmen terbaik datang sekeluarga superhero, The Incredibles. Is it just me, or Pixar really knew how to make a movie worth watch by toddlers and adults alike. Superhero sudah banyak berubah. Ketika dahulu, superhero selalu muncul dengan kekuatannya yang sempurna, sisi kemanusiaan yang tanpa cela, selalu menang melawan penjahat dan sepertinya punya kehidupan yang didambakan oleh setiap manusia. Tapi sekarang? apa yang kita punya? jadi superhero pun tidak selamanya menyenangkan. Bahkan mereka bisa mengalami krisis identitas. Ingat Peter Parker di Spider-Man 2? itulah contohnya, ketika superhero tidak lagi menjual mimpi kepada anak kecil untuk menjadi pahlawan bertopeng, berkekuatan super, dan dielu-elukan masyarakat menjadi superhero sebagai manusia dengan problematika yang umum ditemui yang kadang-kala hanya bisa dicerna oleh orang dewasa. Minimal remaja deh. Di sinilah The Incredibles berada. Ketika superhero harus dihadapkan dengan masalah yang suka atau tidak suka akan dihadapi oleh nyaris setiap manusia di 2/3 hidup mereka, keluarga. Permasalahan yang dekat dengan penonton dewasa namun tetap memberikan nuansa komik yang memikat penonton anak, membuat The Incredibles jadi film yang cukup sukses di tahun 2004 disamping tentunya jaminan mutu dari Pixar dalam membuat film-film keluarga. Tidak akan berbuat banyak di Oscar sih, kecuali tentu saja sudah pasti bakal dapet Oscar untuk kategori animasi, if you haven't seen this one, you ought to see it now. Shark Tale? lewat.

Ada yang terbaik tentu saja ada yang terburuk. Menurut gw sih, mutlak sekali untuk tahun ini (mungkin sama mutlaknya kaya Gigli (2003) tapi kayanya lebih multak deh) gelar film terburuk jatuh kepada Halle Berry ups.. Catwoman. Gw sih belum nonton, belum mau. Soalnya, pertama Selina Kyle alias Catwoman datang dari serial superhero favorit gw, Batman. Dan ketika gw melihat kostum Halle Berry di film tersebut, serta merta, efeknya hampir instan gw langsung membenci film itu. Kenapa mesti begitu kostumnya? padahal dulu Michelle Pfeiffer bisa tampil deadly-sexy meski pakaiannya tidak seterbuka Halle Berry di film Batman Returns. Kedua, sejak Monster Ball, gw benci sama Halle Berry. Di film Monster Ball, Halle Berry dapat Oscar. Gw lantas bertanya, buat apa? perasaan gw sih di film itu, Halle Berry cuma tinggal bugil terus 'main-main' sama Billy Bob Thornton. Cuih deh. Dan semenjak itu, gw merasa Halle Berry makin pongah dengan menaikkan tarif mainnya. Sukurin aja dia maen di film jeblok kaya Catwoman. It suits you well, slut!. Dan gw sangat-sangat bahagia seandainya dia beneran tidak dateng lagi buat jadi Storm di sekuel ketiganya X-Men.

Well, pada akhirnya itulah yang bisa gw simpulkan dari tahun 2004. Sampai jumpa tahun depan, tentu saja dengan resolusi yang sama. Gw pengen nonton semua film yang rilis di tahun 2005.

Hotaru No Haka (1988)

2004-12-21T20:16:00.000+07:00

Also Known as "Grave of the Fireflies"

Directed by: Isao Takahata
IMDb Top 250: #168
My Rating:

Film anime produksi Studio Ghibli ke-tiga yang gw tonton (setelah "Spirited Away" - "Sen to Chihiro Kamikakushi" dan "Princess Mononoke" - "Mononoke Hime") dan paling depressing, paling sedih, paling nyebelin, walaupun secara kualitas gw masih lebih demen sama "Mononoke Hime". Well, gw bilang sih selevel sama "Spirited Away".

Film ini secara implisit memicingkan mata dengan sinis dan penuh kebencian terhadap perang. Bukan terhadap siapa di balik perang tersebut. Tapi cukup kepada perang itu sendiri lepas dari siapa ngebom siapa, atau siapa njajah siapa.

Mengisahkan pejuangan Seita, seorang bocah laki-laki remaja dan Setsuko, adik perempuannya yang baru berumur 4 tahun dalam menghadapi masa-masa sulit Perang Dunia II. Ayah Seita dan Setsuko adalah seorang pejuang yang tentu saja harus ada di garis depan. Dan ketika dalam suatu air-raid sekutu menyebabkan sang ibunda meninggal, Seita dan Setsuko harus berusaha untuk mempertahankan hidup.

Seorang temen memperingatkan bahwa film ini adalah film yang luar biasa mengharukan. Bahkan dia (kebetulan cewek) bilang, selalu menangis tiap kali nonton film ini entah untuk yang keberapa kalinya. Pftt.. girls. That's what i thought before i had my hands wet with it. Filmnya mengharukan dan buat gw, layak masuk ke jajaran film terbaik tentang perang (termasuk di antara "Full Metal Jacket", "Appocalypse Now", "A Bridge Too Far").

Yg gw suka dari film ini adalah nihil-nya ke-protagonis-an setiap karakter. Mungkin yg masih tersisa adalah lewat cute-ness dari Tetsuko. Some thought it annoying, tapi buat gw it just so natural kalo datengnya dari gadis kecil umur 4 tahun. Seita, sang kakak meskipun cinta-nya jelas tak terukur terhadap adiknya buat gw malah bisa qualify untuk jadi antagonis. Bagaimana tidak, he's lazy and stupid. Padahal jelas-jelas semua orang harus bahu membahu untuk membangun Jepang yang porak poranda gara-gara perang tapi apa yang dilakukannya? geez. Sang Bibi walaupun sangat menjengkelkan (kalo kita memutuskan untuk berpihak pada Seita) tapi tetap saja tindakannya sangat masuk akal demi melihat suasana perang yang membuat semua hal jadi susah. Pada intinya sih, gw melihat setiap karakter di film ini hanya melakukan apa yang memang mesti dilakukan di kondisi itu (pengecualian buat Seita yang memiliki harga diri agak berlebih). And for me, that was the strength of the movie.

Buat alur-nya? tidak masalah. Alurnya straight-forward. Lurus lurus saja dan dalam pace yang wajar. Gw akui gw terlalu berlarut pas menonton film ini yang lantas mempengaruhi penilaian gw. Tapi, gw yakin adegan terakhir dari film ini bisa membuat hati siapapun sesak.

Intinya, perang itu buruk. Tidak masalah siapa yang bersalah siapa yang benar. Perang itu buruk. Dan pesan itu, yang ingin disampaikan oleh film ini mengena. War sucks. Hey, Jepang adalah negara yang dulu selama tiga setengah tahun pernah membuat ribuan pemuda Indonesia mati meninggalkan keluarganya.

Damn, i miss my brothers.

Yojimbo (1961)

2004-12-21T16:15:00.000+07:00

Foreword: I've actually seen the movie for quite some time, but i just got enough time to put thought about it and to write article about it.

Starring: Sekali lagi, tak bosan-bosannya Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakdai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Kato, Seizaburo Kawazu, dan peran kecil oleh Takashi Shimura
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa
IMDb Top 250: #103
My Rating:

Impresi pertama gw ketika ngeliat film ini, dari setting kota-nya terutama adalah "Wah, Western banget". Desain kota-nya (atau desa) adalah bangunan-bangunan tua di sisi kiri dan kanan sebuah jalan raya yang membelah kota tersebut tepat di tengah-tengah, lengkap dengan Devil's Grass yang meluncur malas diterpa angin. Akira Kurosawa memang sedikit banyak terinspirasi dari film-film western ketika membuat film ini. Dan uniknya, tiga tahun kemudian seorang sutradara yang pada akhirnya menjadi sutradara western terkenal, Sergio Leone membuat 'remake' shot-per-shot dari "Yojimbo" melalui sekuel pertama dari trilogi "Man with no Name": "A Fistful of Dollar" dengan Clint Eastwood pada posisi Toshiro Mifune. Thus, the circle is complete.

Arti harafiah dari "Yojimbo" adalah "Bodyguard". Film ini memposisikan Toshiro Mifune sebagai seorang (lagi-lagi) samurai ronin, tak bertuan yang pengembaraannya membawanya ke sebuah kota di mana didalamnya dua kubu gangster berseteru. Mengaku sebagai Sanjuro Kuwabatake, setelah membuat persahabatan yang unik dengan seorang penjaga warung sake dan mempelajari kejadian di kota tersebut, ia memutuskan untuk memainkan peran sebagai "Bodyguard" bagi pihak manapun (dari dua kubu gangster yang berseteru) yang membayarnya lebih.

Scene-scene awal mengindikasikan bahwa Sanjuro adalah seorang anti-hero yang brutal, tidak ubahnya dengan para villain yang merongrong ketentraman kota tersebut dan tentu saja mengedepankan ego dan kepentingan dirinya sendiri terlebih dahulu. Gw enjoy banget nonton scene-scene awal, gw serasa lagi hura-hura, ongkang-ongkang kaki bersantai ketika Sanjuro dengan asik-nya membunuh tiga orang demi mendapatkan impresi dari pemimpin gangster yang berseteru bahwa ia lebih dari layak untuk menjadi seorang "Bodyguard". And that scene which follows the murder of three when he coldly asks for coffin-maker to make another three coffins was wicked cool. Dan cuma Toshiro Mifune yang bisa membuat gw menggeritkan gigi demi menahan emosi ke-keren-nan (rada ga jelas niy) yang muncul dari dalam diri gw.

However, setengah jalan genre-nya berbelok cukup drastis ketika akhirnya Sanjuro menunjukkan sisi melo-dramatic-nya, sisi kemanusiaan-nya yang terenyuh, yang lantas diikuti oleh kesalahan Sanjuro sehingga menyebabkan ia dipukuli dan disekap oleh salah seorang gangster. Dari sini genre-nya berubah jadi sedikit gelap. Gw pribadi ga terlalu suka sama alur-nya, too crappy, too western, too often tapi dari scene ini yang keren cara Kurosawa memvisualisasikannya. Gw paling inget ketika muka ancur Sanjuro (habis dipukuli) di-shot dalam gelap dengan sedikit cahaya yang menyinari sisi mukanya yang masih relatif mulus dan menyorot mata liar Sanjuro yang memancarkan kemarahan. And that's another teeth grinning for Toshiro Mifune.

All in all, dari awal sampai akhir film ini agak njelimet alur-nya. Suka lompat kesana-kemari. Bahkan dalam satu scene, gw sempet mundur beberapa menit karena scene Sanjuro berikutnya yang terpengaruh oleh scene sebelumnya ternyata cuma dipicu oleh satu dua baris script dalam hitungan detik yang secara mudah akan terlewat kalau nontonnya sambil lalu. Selain itu, adegan terakhirnya juga agak-agak cliche. But, i've seen worse. Dan meskipun Sanjuro pada akhirnya harus meluluh-lantakkan sepasukan gangster dengan sabetan pedang-nya, implikasi logisnya jauh lebih nyata dari pada...say, "Rambo"?, "Collateral Damage", "Cobra", atau any Van Damme's movie. Yah itulah, Kurosawa is Kurosawa bagaimanapun dia membuat film, artistik kaya "Dream" atau eksyen seperti ini, pada akhirnya gw masih merasa digiring ke konsep humanity yang selalu disuguhkannya.