Year: 2008
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Cast: Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Melanie Thierry, Gerard Depardieu, Charlotte Rampling, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong
Babylon A.D. is a sci-fi actioner based on the novel Babylon Babies. Set in the distant future, it centres around Thoorop (Vin Diesel), a mercenary for hire fighting for survival in eastern Europe. One day he's hired by Gorsky (Gerard Depardieu) to escort a girl named Aurora (Melanie Thierry) and her handler Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh) to New York.
At first, Thoorop doesn't really care about who the girl is, or why she's so special that she needs his protection to go all the way to New York. But along the way he discovers uncanny things about her, like how she is able to predict danger before it happens, or how she knows things she has never experienced. To make matters worse, other men have been sent to kidnap her, some sent by her father, thought to be dead, and some men by a religious cult called the Neolites who have a hidden agenda.
Before going to watch this film, I have heard of numerous negative reviews regarding Babylon A.D., but decided to give it a try. And it isn't as bad as it seems. Director Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika) succeeds in creating a scary yet realistic view of the future, where refugee camps are rampant, and people would kill each other for survival. It's similar to the world you see in Children Of Men. In fact, the storyline is quite similar as well, except that Babylon A.D. leans more towards being an action film.
Diesel does just fine as Thoorop, though sometimes you can see him channeling Riddick, his other famous character in his performance. Yeoh and Thierry hold themselves up well alongside Diesel, their chemistry quite intact as it should be. However, there are reasons why this movie bombed at the box office, and the main reason is the ending itself.
Not only is it anti-climactic, but it makes little sense. You'll be wondering where the rest of the story ended up when the theatre lights come on. And the answer is: the cutting room floor. Word has it that the film's distributors cut out 70 minutes of Kassovitz's work, probably to fulfil their idea of what audiences want to see. Naturally Kassovitz was disappointed, and so are we. It probably would have made more sense to leave the rest of the film intact, in order to get the point across accurately. Don't these guys know anything about filmmaking or trusting their director? Sigh. And another gripe I have is the action sequences, which are poorly shot. It's like Batman Begins where fight scenes are filmed up close, and you can't see what happens clearly.
So Babylon A.D. ends up as the film that almost was. It's a pity, considering the heavyweights attached to this film, it could be so much more. (3.5/5)
Year: 2008
Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Ido Mosseri, Rob Schneider
Adam Sandler movies can be either really funny or really stupid. But what I do enjoy is Sandler's honest approach at comedy. He knows what he's good at and uses it to his advantage. But there are times when he goes overboard, and you need to keep yourself from cringing too much.
In You Don't Mess With The Zohan, Sandler plays, get this....an Israeli counter terrorist agent called Zohan. He's the best in his organisation; he kicks holes through walls, swims faster than a jetski and catches bullets with his nostrils, among other things. Yes, they made Sandler a superhero with all the powers of the Justice League. Anyway, Zohan has been given the task to apprehend his arch-nemesis, the terrorist from Palestin called The Phantom (John Turturro). However, Zohan is growing weary of all the fighting between his country and Palestin. All he wants now is to do something else, namely cutting and styling hair!
So what does he do? He fakes his death during a battle with The Phantom and flies to America. Once there, he wastes no time in trying to get a job as a hairstylist, but finds that no hair salon will take him seriously. He befriends a guy named Michael (Nick Swardson), who offers him a place to stay. Then he meets up with an Israelian living in New York, Oori (Ido Mosseri), who helps him get a job at a hair salon run by a Palestinian girl, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Dalia is sceptical of Zohan (who calls himself Scrappy Coco after arriving in NY) because he has no experience, but is truly impressed when Zohan does a great job in styling the hair of numerous middle aged women at the salon. All is fine and well until a Palestinian taxi driver (Rob Schneider) recognises Zohan and makes plans to capture him.
This is a unique film in the sense that it makes light of the Israel Palestin crisis, showing both sides being able to get along on the streets of New York, and making fun of the people from both countries in a stereotypical way. But it is by no means offensive, unless the viewer happens to be an extreme type, which I am not. Director Dennis Dugan, working on a script co-written by Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), throws the action and laughs hard and fast, sparing no effort in making the film as crude and outrageous as possible.
And actually, that's where the problem really lies. Less is more sometimes, and I do wish they hadn't tried so hard to bury the film with an array of sexual humour. In the film, Zohan 'bangs' his customers after he styles their hair, and honestly I don't see why this is necessary, and it's not very funny either. And the numerous references to Zohan's crotch and what it does (if you know what I mean) wasn't humorous too.
But the film does have several good moments, especially when Zohan shows off his superhuman skills. It's cartoonish sometimes, sure. But just go with the flow and keep in mind it's Sandler on screen, and you'll enjoy it. I'm also impressed with Sandler keeping his body well toned for this film. He's the last guy I'd expect to do that. Also look out for numerous cameos from Chris Rock (least funny one), John McEnroe, Kevin James, George Takei and Mariah Carey.
Overall, it's not the best Adam Sandler flick, but it's passable. (3/5)
Year: 2008
Director: Bryan Bertino
Cast: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman
Have you guys seen the trailer to this film? It's freaky, I tell you. I had posted the trailer on my other blog a few months ago, because I loved it. Today I finally watched the film, and sadly it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.
The plot for The Strangers is pretty straightforward. A young couple, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt, return to the latter's summer house after a party late one night. Things haven't been smooth for them because apparently Kristen turned down James' marriage proposal just a few hours ago. However before the two can even get over their not so jolly mood, they are attacked by three masked strangers who break into their house. Kristen and James are forced to fight for their lives against people who are stealthy and dangerous.
And basically, that's it. That's the story. First time director Bryan Bertino wrote the script based on actual events, and manages to get a couple of competent actors in Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman to play his leads. I'll give him credit for successfully creating a spooky atmosphere by minimising use of music, other than a vinyl record player playing old songs in the film. Credit is also given for making the intruders wear masks and not revealing their faces to the audience to create a sense of mystery about them.
But other than that, the film fails elsewhere. The plot isn't much to speak of, so the film is forced to run at a slow pace in order for the story to move along. You'll see as the intruders take their own sweet time in terrorising their prey. Now, there's a difference between taking time to savour the thrill of the act, and taking time because there's not much else to do, and unfortunately it's the latter here. It's clear that the intruders are in complete control of the situation. They know where to hide, where to appear and how to stop the couple from seeking help or escaping. But they are so methodically slow, and it made me wonder if they're bored or something. There's a scene where Tyler is standing right in the middle of the dining room, and one of the intruders walks in. He didn't look in her direction, so he didn't see her, but he walks in the opposite direction of where she is instead. Then as she hides, he comes back and takes a seat at the dining table. And I'm thinking, why is he doing that? They can just easily capture their prey, yet they wait till the end to do so, and there are many other instances where they just watch the couple instead of just getting it over with. Plus throughout the film there are many loud sounds of doors getting knocked, things falling over and breaking; all to either scare the audience or make us believe the intruders are clumsy half the time and stealthy the other half of the time.
To sum it up, The Strangers is good for a few scares and terrors, but doesn't score in the logic department. It could have been better. (2.5/5)
Year: 2008
Director: Andrew Stanton
Voice cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger
When it comes to Pixar, no one does animation better than they do. They never seem to fail in creating a product that excels in visual and storyline. It's little wonder that Pixar films are the yardstick for animated fanfare.
This year, Pixar tries their hand at creating an adventure that is quite different from what they had done before. It's not about bugs, toys, fish or cars that talk, nor about rats that cook or superheroes that bicker. This time, it's a robot that doesn't really talk.
WALL-E is set in the very distant future, where earth is now empty, with no living creature in sight, just a whole lot of trash. It is here where we meet a little robot called WALL-E, which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth class. WALL-E has spent the last 700 years cleaning up the planet. We see his daily routine i.e. charging his power cells, picking up trash, compacting it into little cubes and stacking them up as high as skyscrapers. However, WALL-E isn't just an ordinary robot with a directive to collect garbage. He actually has curiousity and emotion. WALL-E takes the time to examine some of the stuff he finds, and keeps some of them, such as a lighter, Rubik's cube, cutlery and whatever he finds fascinating. In his spare time he watches Hello Dolly on video. The only companion he has is a cockroach that follows him everywhere.
All is fine and dull for WALL-E until one day when a spaceship touches down from the sky and releases a robot probe named EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator). EVE is a highly advanced robot programmed to find signs of plant life on earth. WALL-E is curious about his new guest and takes a liking to her. He shows EVE around and the things he found, but when he gives her a little stalk plant he had just picked up a few days before, EVE takes it and goes into sleep mode.
WALL-E tries his best but is unable to wake EVE, and then her spaceship returns to pick her up. WALL-E hitches a ride on board the vessel, determined to follow EVE wherever she goes, and discovers a whole new adventure, as well as where all the humans have been all this time.
Director Andrew Stanton has done it again. The guy who brought us Finding Nemo gives us a character that is not only adorable, but charming as well. You'd think that a robot that sounds and moves like R2D2 couldn't possibly carry a whole film by itself, but Stanton somehow pulls it off. For the better part of the first half, WALL-E is seen going about his business on an empty planet of trash, and even by not talking, WALL-E makes his daily activity most entertaining. It's a lot like Will Smith in I Am Legend, except here there are no monsters.
In the second half, Stanton shows us what mankind has become: lazy, obese and unable to do anything themselves. Every activity is assisted by machines and computers, and it gives the audience a stark reminder of what the future would be like if we carried on being so complacent. But this isn't the focus of the film. The film is more on the love story between WALL-E and EVE, as they risk their own safety in order to save each other and do the right thing as well.
A big compliment goes out to sound designer Ben Burtt, who created the voice for WALL-E. Burtt also made the sounds for R2D2, and here he proves again why he is the best man for the job. Kudos also to Jeff Garlin and Sigourney Weaver for their contributions as ship captain and computer voice respectively, and of course the obligatory voice of John Ratzenberger is also here.
WALL-E is a great movie for people of all ages. It has everything you'd want in a film: love, action, adventure, comedy and drama too. And all this from a pair of robots? Amazing indeed. (4/5)
Year: 2008
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart, Jason Flemyng
Mirrors is yet another horror flick from director Alexandre Aja, who directed The Hills Have Eyes and produced P2. The former was brilliant but the latter utterly boring. This time Aja tries his hand at something more supernatural.
In Mirrors, Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer on hit TV show 24, stars as Ben Carson, a cop on suspension who's having problems with his marriage, and is an alcoholic to boot. While being separated from his wife and family, Ben stays over at his sister Angela's (Amy Smart) place.
In order to make ends meet, he takes up a job as a security guard at a burnt down department store. It is at this place where Ben starts to have weird experiences with mirrors. He sees reflections that shouldn't be there, and starts to believe that the mirrors are alive. However, no one believes his claims, not his sister or even his wife Amy (Paula Patton), who is still having problems reconciling with him. But when the evil behind the glass kills Angela, Ben starts to fear for his family's life, and sets out to find the truth about what happened in that building.
You know, when I had finished watching Mirrors, I humorously thought that this film is simply an exercise of putting Jack Bauer in an episode of Supernatural, and wondered if he should have called the Winchester brothers to help him. But jokes aside, this film isn't half bad. Aja and partner Gregory Levasseur, who wrote the screenplay together, keep the pacing tight and succeed in creating a sombre mood that suits the film nicely. Sutherland is the driving force here, playing Ben with great conviction. He's not much different from the Jack Bauer character (sorry for the excessive 24 references) but it works nonetheless. Patton isn't as effective playing Amy however, and Amy Smart is wasted in her role as Ben's sister. Her role was basically to play a victim, and that's it. Her death scene is truly a highlight of this film, if you're squeamish, you might want to turn away when it happens.
So what doesn't work for Mirrors? The scare techniques. Aja did The Hills Have Eyes very well, up to the point that even looking at the vast empty desert where the monsters lived was scary enough. In Mirrors, every scare technique you've seen in textbook horror flicks are used. The one where you turn away from a mirror and when you look back at it, there's something there? Check. The one where you're looking in the dark and an animal comes out of nowhere? Check. Aja also uses the same trick used by the Korean film that this story is based on, where the reflection in the mirror doesn't move when you do. He even borrows a few ideas from Dark Water and The Exorcist. It's all fine and dandy, but if I can see the scares coming, then it's not very scary, is it?
And there's also the stereotype character of the troubled lead with a dark past trying to pick up the pieces. Same ones you've seen in The Ring and Dark Water. It makes me wonder why evil things never look for happy people to torment. I guess this is the new school of horror, whereas in the past, the evil in Poltergeist preyed on a happy family.
But all in all, it's not a bad effort by Aja. It's better than P2, and certainly better than the last two films I watched before this. (3.5/5)
Year: 2008
