Film Works

Toy Story 3 Film Review: Toys to Infinity and Beyond

Like the first two films, Toy Story 3 simply captures you with emotional magic in film form. Entertaining, well-crafted, and emotional, this third film of the historical animated film franchise is powered by fun, fueled by intellect, and driven by heart. It is a fitting finale for a Pixar animated trilogy perfected in tone, delivery, timing, humor, and drama. Its charm goes to infinity and beyond.

Toy Story 3 Photo Slideshow courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

List of the New Toy Story Characters Featured in Toy Story 3

List of the Toy Story Classic Characters Appearing in Toy Story 3

This film can bring you back the old memories of your toys and literally wonder where they are now. Whether tears come out from your spectator eyes or not, its ending offers an undoubtedly heart-wrenching moment that grabs the child in you. And this can simply be described as “cinematic magic.” By taking a bunch of animated toys teaching people about the mystery of human lives and struggling through it, Toy Story 3 becomes a sentimental journey with a heartfelt mix of sugar and spice. Every scene is delightfully engaging and there is so much to be absorbed without straining its theme and story. The gags are all set in the right places until the film wraps up with an enchanting finale.

The well-embraced Pixar tradition of a short film preceding the main feature attraction is nothing but clever and enchanting. Day and Night directed by Teddy Newton, also the voice behind the toy character Chatter Telephone, is a masterpiece on its own and it perfectly complements Toy Story 3.

This third motion picture from the franchise comes full circle. It’s a rare sequel that clearly endures the test of time. Like its theme and story, it mixes joy and sweet sadness for the complicated choices about staying in the comfort zone and embracing change. It emphasizes the relationship between toys and a child’s imagination. It’s about the inevitable moments of having to leave some things behind. It’s about the feeling of abandonment that comes with age and passage of time. And it’s about accepting how changes in life can sometimes be harsh and unfavorable.

Toy Story 3 has a basic plot and a simple, straightforward story orientation. What makes it stand out from the rest? The filmmakers know what they want, they know what they’re doing, and they know how to do things with utmost sincerity. It has such a simple formula, yet the delicate combination of the various aspects of film production goes beyond being objective and quantitative. The challenge in reaching such level of cinematic marvel requires careful choices and bull’s-eye decisions for the script, choice of shots, animation requirements, audio requirements, and voice performances. It’s a candid story that delves about living life, feeling outdated, getting misunderstood, and facing things beyond your control. It answers the question about what happens when “playtime” is over in a figurative and emotional way that is surprising, self-realizing, and considerably hurting while still being gently comforting.

While it celebrates consumerism with its many brands and product placements, the genius in Pixar impressively manages to keep the film’s innocent pleasures of imagination. Toy Story 3 succeeds beyond its glossy and gleaming pixels both in 2D and 3D. It has a valuable script with animated characters as real as a child’s sense of wonder. It balances rollicking adventure, wrenching pathos, and brilliant humor in an exceptional package. Exuding with enough emotional resonance, it creatively ties up the first two films at a very suitable time: without having to rush things as how the mainstream filmmaking bible dictates it (think of how studios rush sequels for the sake of commercialism). It took years and years until the new technology now enables 3D films and how this era showcases a new age of toys to add up to the Toy Story collection. Even the actual voice behind the little Andy character of the past now renders his voice as a grown up young adult himself.

This third worthy installment kicks off with a brief playful sequence of breathtaking mastery, evocative detail, wonderful camera work, all aptly resolved in a true little boy’s eyes. It impressively opens up with a scene that reminds people of what Toy Story really offered more than a decade ago. And as the fun treats of the film progresses, it carefully blends the moments of sadness and ache that come along as life shifts towards another direction. On a lighter note, there is an appreciation for Pixar’s brilliance in making a nice, long gag reel side by side its closing credits. Aside from bringing a satisfyingly intelligent but fun resolution to the movie, it offers additional time to wipe away those tears before the screening finishes.

Pixar’s now trademark of “ingenuous storytelling” serves up yet another exceptional animated treat that doesn’t surpass its predecessors, but simply continues its virtuous tradition. The studio simply knows how to tell a brilliant story in an animated movie format without resorting to brainless gimmicks and cheap sentiments. It winds up its way gently towards its serious themes without grabbing desperately on them.

With inspired homage to jailbreak movies, director Lee Unkrich presents a thoughtful story about regret for the past and fear of the future. It’s nothing but worthy to mention much of the people behind this masterwork: writers Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich; producer Darla K. Anderson and executive producer John Lasseter; music composer Randy Newman; and the very long list of animators, production artists, and film crew who made the film what it is. As a clever piece of storytelling magic, this family-friendly movie illustrates a natural progression melding with ease in many levels of thematic resplendence.

On the technical side, Toy Story 3 lives up to the expectations. The characters design and animation are spectacularly detailed and well rendered. From Barbie and Ken’s robotic moves to the almost palpable strawberry smell of Lotso as how this gets established in the film, this emotional cinematic treat employs technical wizardry in par with its storytelling. The cinematography and production design are so vivid and fitting in every sequence and scene.

The vocal performances coming from a mix of the old cast and the newcomers create such powerfully emotional characters. Whether a major or minor role, each one really brings his/her character to life. Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear lead the pack of toy characters with such brilliance. Buzz’s Spanish mode is a hysterically fun treat. Aside from these two best buddies of the franchise, the audience shall remember such iconic performances from the many human and toy characters. To mention some: John Morris as Andy; Joan Cusack as Jessie; Ned Beatty as Lotso; Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head; Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head; Jodi Benson as Barbie; Michael Keaton as Ken; Wallace Shawn as Rex; John Ratzenberger as Hamm; Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants; Jeff Pidgeon as Aliens; Blake Clark as Slinky Dog; Emily Hahn as Bonnie; Jeff Garlin as Buttercup; Bonnie Hunt as Dolly; John Cygan as Twitch; Whoopi Goldberg as Stretch; Laurie Metcalf as Andy’s Mom; Bud Luckey as Chuckles; Beatrice Miller as Molly; Javier Fernandez Pena as the Spanish Buzz; and Lori Alan as Bonnie’s Mom.

There is so much to absorb in this animated opus for a viewer of any age. Watching it over and over again further makes a strong bond between the film and its viewer. Best advice: Buy the Toy Story Blu-ray collection once it hits the market. Such a release is truly worthy of anyone’s collection. It doesn’t sell just with merely crappy marketing materials and bonus features. It’s the actual film that hits every button from laughter to tears, from adventure to realizations, from audio-visual flair to earnestness. It’s “magically deep, sweet, painful, and real.”

Like its characters, the Toy Story films are to be treasured forever.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Movie Review: A Curious Narrative

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Movie Review: A Curious Narrative
Based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages backwards, this far-fetched fairy-tale about the freakish birth of an infant born as an old man captures the sadness and exhilaration of life and the melancholic ideas concerning mortality.
Read More

The Shining Movie Review: Stanley Kubrick’s Horror Masterpiece Shines for Many Generations

The Shining Movie Review: Stanley Kubrick’s Horror Masterpiece Shines for Many Generations
The Shining is a masterpiece of modern horror. With its remarkable visual panache and a keen sense of irony, it is a rare, chilling, majestic piece of cinematic fright benefiting repeated viewings.
Read More

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review: Masterful, Moody, and Magnificent

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review: Masterful, Moody, and Magnificent
This sixth installment in the Harry Potter film franchise is of the right mix for the specific needs of the story. It is never dumb and yet it is not pretentiously profound. It is smart as it is honest. It is dark as it is funny.
Read More

Batman Begins Movie Review: A Great Beginning for the Dark Knight

Batman Begins Movie Review: A Great Beginning for the Dark Knight
Batman Begins is one classic Batman.
Read More

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Movie Review: A Dark, Adolescent Potter Film

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Movie Review: A Dark, Adolescent Potter Film
Darker, a little more mature, and a little less magical, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire deals primarily with rejection and hormones as Harry and his friends struggle through the transition from childhood to young adulthood.
Read More

Watchmen: Deconstructing the Film in Reference to the Graphic Novel

Watchmen: Deconstructing the Film in Reference to the Graphic Novel
The film Watchmen is no doubt a love letter to those who have been waiting for the graphic novel’s cinematic rendition for the last two decades.
Read More

Corpse Bride Movie Review: A Charming Grave Fairy Tale

Corpse Bride Movie Review: A Charming Grave Fairy Tale
Behind its eerie theme, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is fun, genial, expressive and charming. This semi-musical stop-motion animation celluloid baby is set at death’s door and salutes the liberating power of true love and sacrifice.
Read More

Iron Man Movie Review: The Stark of Iron Myth-making

Iron Man Movie Review: The Stark of Iron Myth-making
Finding great escapist twists on an exhausted genre, Iron Man is one of a handful of exceptional superhero movies to date.
Read More

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Movie Review

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Movie Review
The story centers on a tightly knit group of the four girls Lena (Alexis Bledel), Bridget (Blake Lively), Carmen (America Ferrera) and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn).
Read More

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Movie Review: A Slick and Solid Family Slapstick

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Movie Review: A Slick and Solid Family Slapstick
This eye-popping and mouth-watering film cooks up a veritable buffet of the bland and the bizarre, the sweet and the sour, and all other tastes generously offered on screen. It serves up a riot of glee, color, and absurdity.
Read More

The Top 5 Best 3D Movies List

The Top 5 Best 3D Movies List
In the era of IMAX and Real 3D, the worldwide resurgence of 3D films hit the theaters with what stereoscopic 3D technology can offer
Read More

The Top 5 Worst 3D Movies List

The Top 5 Worst 3D Movies List
There are actually many movies (both animation and live action offers) that are made into 3D flicks for the heck. And not all stories or film style or cinematic treatment are best suited for the 3D medium.
Read More

Up Movie Review: Pixar Goes Up, Up and Away

Up Movie Review: Pixar Goes Up, Up and Away
Pixar’s “Up” further strengthens its impressive track record of making noteworthy animated films.
Read More

Film Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

A Slick and Solid Family Slapstick
By Rianne Hill Soriano

Catch colorful candies and marshmallows from the sky. Play around ice cream snowballs. Hop around nacho cheese fountains. Slide onto a giant gumball hill. Go gaga with a palace of Jell-O. Get endless supply of jellybeans. Then there comes the massive pancakes, tornados of pasta, pools of nacho cheese, hailstorm of jellybeans, ice cream blizzard, pizza flurries, and deadly gummy bears… Suddenly, it’s raining steak and gumballs! It’s “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.”

The story is engagingly ridiculous. And it’s fun. And it works.

This eye-popping and mouth-watering film cooks up a veritable buffet of the bland and the bizarre, the sweet and the sour, and all other tastes generously offered on screen. It serves up a riot of glee, color, and absurdity. And it actually looks fresh and witty beyond the expectation for it.

With a solid gag ratio and a pretty good animation, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” serves as a commentary on the potential perils of genetically engineered food and the downside of “overabundance.” It makes a social point about how people now have too much of what they need. It’s a culture of excess where wastefulness seems next to coolness.

This impressive film from Sony Pictures is a downright odd family flick with exuberant animation, quirky humor, and plucky characters. It’s a slick and solid slapstick made with technical sophistication and engaging storytelling. This animated venture from writer-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have utilized the popular children’s book by Judi and Ron Barrett into a nice movie feature.

The filmmakers know how to play with their food. And at the same time, they capitalize well on the universal compulsion for stomach-filling delight. As a computer-animated 3D extravaganza, it provides entertaining food fights and pleasurable food trips. It amusingly expands the book for the big screen. It provides whimsical detail through: increasingly surreal weather activities, in a way that climate change in the real world suggests a call for action; and a hunger for more when everything is too much already, in a way that capitalism and consumerism in the real world becomes an alarming concern for every nation.

From the gloriously surreal buffet of predatory giant chickens to the psychopathic gummy bears fighting to death, things are quite weird but really wonderful. Mutated food isn’t that far from the reality of junk food and some unwholesome fast food stuff. And all these are actually best seen in 3D splendor. Technically, this 3D food adventure makes terrific use of the format. Things really look stunning, but that doesn’t mean that its conventional 2D counterpart is of no good value. In fact, the film is a good DVD collectible. It’s just that, dining on 3D is another cool treat. It looks natural for the format and it enhances the story. And it’s good to know that the excellent animation is a veritable feast for the eyes and doesn’t overwhelm the storytelling.

As a computer-animated flick, it is bright, cheery, and at times flat-out hilarious as it provides winsome sight gags involving giant food, references to disaster film clichés (including “Independence Day” and “Twilight Zone”), and endearing characters that vividly come to life. The running gags are pretty neat clichés. It’s mostly slapstick yes, but it’s a pretty charming kind of slapstick that works well for its intended commercial value.

The sophisticated presentation doesn’t look pretentious, and it doesn’t sweat the message. As a family-friendly movie, it provides a frenetically tasty offer. It’s insanely funny and at times wonderfully weird. Things work well with the gastronomically hilarious pace and tone of the comedy. It’s visually inventive and can be swallowed very easily while serving some serious food for thought on the side.

Unlike most children movies being insipid and lowbrow, this film doesn’t insult its audiences. It’s light on its feet and it’s quick-witted. It is silly and surprisingly enjoyable – not to mention, a little trippy. It bursts with random sight gags that boast intricate design and goofy humor. It has some grown-up gags to keep the adults amused as well. The characters are likeable amidst the fact that in terms of character development, they don’t render something of the caliber of Pixar’s “Up.” Yet, this movie really assures the audience with such a tasty adventure.

As a hyperbolic exposé of human greed, abusive behavior, and environmental destruction, this food revolting spin of the 30-page children’s book into a 90-minute bountiful big screen buffet is something that the general viewer won’t regret sinking his/her teeth into. Its delicious and imaginative concept takes flight with a real tasty family delight. And while it rains big food, it also rains big laughs and sheer fun.

Dueling DVD Reviews (Terra & Rianne)

Dueling DVD Reviews (Terra & Rianne): Twilight

Posted using ShareThis

Film Review: Up

Pixar’s “Up” further strengthens its impressive track record of making noteworthy animated films. This must-have DVD provides a symphonic balance of touching silence and witty dialogue where the flight of fancy is carefully crafted through a wildly creative fantasy, inner childhood, and rediscovery.

As an emotional and heartfelt story with various levels of relationships and sense of belongingness, this high-altitude exploration about love and loss and letting go makes a beautifully balanced effort – propelling the viewers up, up and away with its colorful balloons of cinematic adventure.

“Up” is a family film that doesn’t pander. The audience’s suspension of disbelief especially for some of its preposterous elements never insists itself as a negative issue. In fact, the cleverness and originality the film exudes through it becomes considerably boundless. Highly supported by visual wonder and worthwhile story investment, the theme of this exquisitely cinematic work tweaks the common elements of a grownup tale and rejuvenates the storytelling with much spark and pop.

From belly-laugh humor to tear-in-the-eye despair, it never becomes anything less than incredibly touching and entertaining. Alternately funny and touching, and exciting often all at once, this tale about unfulfilled dreams and fulfilling promises is punctuated by gentle whimsy and tender human values. Through its intimate character study about rediscovering the soul, or surviving the worst and making the most of it, the film’s creative synergy of sharp, funny, and tear-jerking elements delivers both a thrillingly fantastic adventure and a devastatingly poignant piece of realism.

What makes “Up” more special is how its animation efforts are utilized for maximum value. It combines the basic filmmaking requirement of imaginative and sincere storytelling with dazzling and dreamlike visuals on a level that can work best on animated films – creating an experience that is a special characteristic of animation – at once utterly convincing and completely impossible, but all in all, lovingly acceptable for its kind of medium.

This swashbuckling romp starts slowly, but classy. Then it picks up helium and soars into a continent-hopping adventure and an understated, nuanced psychodrama with an end as inspiring as its title. For children, it’s an adventure movie; for adults, it’s an adventure on a whole different level. “Up” is a breezy kid’s fun yarn embedded in a sentimental grownup tale with serious consideration on love, death, and lives left behind. The “visual wow factor” can resonate more powerfully to the kids while the amusing brilliance as a sweet, gentle, and imaginative tale about grief and regret, purposes lost and rediscovered can resound more to the adults.

The opening sequence sits in silence, telling the story of young Carl and Ellie filled with emotions and alleviated by Michael Giacchino’s magnificent music transporting the viewers to a make-believe place. Tears fall at the end of this beginning to cast a spell over the willing audience. It hits the right notes as the musical score becomes practically a character in the film itself. The contemplative montage taking Carl from childhood to widowhood truly makes imaginations take flight. Director Pete Docter and co-director Bob Peterson, along with all the talented people from Pixar, create such a palpable story while maintaining itself as a piece of expertly-rendered and artful type of entertainment.

Colors match the emotions seen on screen. Shapes and sizes in every frame promote such valuable storytelling subtexts like: the character design of Carl being very edgy while the designs of Ellie and Russel being full of curves.

The various characters balance the thrills and tenderness to make a truly beautiful and compelling work. The gruffy old widower Carl Fredrickson (voiced by Ed Asner) ties thousands of balloons to his home and sets out to fulfill the lifelong dream initiated by his already departed wife Ellie (with the young Ellie heard in the film voiced by Elie Docter) to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, becomes a stow away on the trip. And as he finds himself reluctantly sharing his ride with the short-attention-spanned kid, he embraces the jungle adventure with more and more characters coming their way including the colorful, sweet-toothed bird Kevin, the talking dog Dug (voiced by Bob Peterson), and his childhood idol, the adventurer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer) with his pack of dogs led by Alpha (voiced by Bob Peterson).

“Up” has a genuine warmth of a true classic. It orchestrates itself into one truly unforgettable piece of animated film for all ages.

Film Review: Star Trek

A Warp-speed ‘Wow!’
By Rianne Hill Soriano

Something old reboots as a glorious new.

Director J.J. Abrams and his crew build the ‘Star Trek’ franchise into a truly glorious enterprise. Interestingly, amidst the many clichés and formulaic characterization, it actually turns out fresh, funny, and emotionally engaging. The reinvention has a good mix – and it works!

Reinventing a classic sci-fi series is prone to becoming victimized by the blackhole of franchise re-openings, but what this new ‘Star Trek’ presents is a flaring shine of a supernova from start to end. The plot may be preposterous, but the way the film is constructed provides a genuinely rollicking adventure – a fine escapist entertainment that has just validated the tagline, ‘Live long and prosper.’

‘Star Trek’ maintains a nostalgia play that manages to have reverence for its source material; and at the same time, it carefully adapts to the needs of a 21st Century version of the franchise. It is invigorated without destroying the original. It’s like warping to the contemporary while still respecting the past. And for the brave new universe Abrams and his crew explore, the film passes its obstacles with dazzling, time-warping colors by being a clever, campy, and endearing form of warp-speed/sci-fi entertainment.

This new adaptation has some significant flaws and missteps, but on its own merits, its creative precision in telling the story still makes itself a skillfully constructed studio picture. It’s not the type that engages the viewers as intellectually or emotionally as the best prior movies and TV episodes of the franchise, but Abrams breathes enough energy to this offer to make it hugely satisfying in its own right. Youthful, fast-paced, jaunty, and savvy, the swift storytelling keeps up with the needed momentum and celebrates the sheer joy of having the characters back in the big screen. And his approach for this latest revamping validates a playful and unpredictable mix of special effects, an involving story, a good script, and fine ensemble acting. And for the rightful fun it needs, he truly goes full speed ahead.

Fueled by adventurous spirits, scriptwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman maintain a kind of ‘final frontier nostalgia’ for Trekkies and newcomers alike. The pacing races well with Abrams at helm. He moves the plot at breathtaking speed; yet, he is still able to provide time to feature heroic acts from all the original show’s key players and make the characterizations blend well for the story. It boldly opens a new chapter in the series while giving it a fresh shot of life during the process – and the whole thing feels fully realized. Moreover, it effectively conceives Kirk and Spock as two rebels looking for a cause. And with the occasional philosophical underminings to discuss love, friendship, duty, family, and pride, this ‘Star Trek’ essentially turns out to be a fiery dynamo.

‘Star Trek’ could please a wide cross-section of viewers – smart enough to be accessible to everyone, while retaining enough respect for the franchise’s legacy. It’s a pretty good example of pop culture demands crafted by good hands – proving that commercial cinema can still deliver a sledgehammer punch. And perhaps, this can be a new populist benchmark on how to rebrand and relaunch a classic, or any franchise for that matter.

From the first stunning visuals of a pre-Enterprise time to the final iconic sweeping space shots, the film easily grabs the audience by mixing warp speed action and tongue in cheek humor. It’s a witty, light-on-its-feet prequel with an unbridled enthusiasm that is interestingly engaging for fans and newcomers alike.

Another strength for this new ‘Trek’ is its cast. The performances are superb – all bristling with energy and excitement from start to end. Chris Pine as James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock make the journey worth taking; while the appearances of Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime and Eric Bana as Nero take the tale even further. The rest of the supporting cast are equally strong: Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Christopher Pike, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, Ben Cross as Sarek, Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk, Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk, and also Jimmy Bennett as the young James Kirk.

With a snappy direction, strong cast, great effects, strong story, big action, comic touches that work, and respect for the material, Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’ is a truly a bold, entertaining reboot. It is brilliantly watchable even if not perfect – a ‘Trek’ that beams bright enough as a supernova.

Film Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Fluff and Pathos Equals Adult Fairytale
By Rianne Hill Soriano

“Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day” is a gentle period piece that keeps the comedy humming while unpacking Miss Pettigrew’s one extraordinary day. This Depression-era Cinderella comedy has a certain kind of sophistication backed up by a fluffy form of lyrical cleverness. And for those who are into ultra-light screwball fun, artsy romance, and happy endings, this grown-up fairytale can surely live up for a day of cinematic entertainment.

Light and pleasant, this snappy adaptation of a 1938 British novel by Winifred Watson is a valentine to a by-gone era. Its old-fashioned qualities explore women’s roles in the society at the time – with an impending war hanging heavily at the background. Nicely cast, this handsome production is a delightful farcical fairytale that plays like a joyous whirlwind. Its mood and treatment is reminiscent of a period theatrical piece bolstered by moments of depth and emotion. It’s a veritable treat that’s quick, breezy, witty, and charming amidst the considerably tough and uneasy blending of comic delight and pathos.

Set in 1939 London, the era, costumes, sets, and music make the film feel like a classic. The world war fear is carefully dissolved into a blend of eye-candy production value, cliché romanticism, and screwball comedy that give the film a certain gravitas to keep up with. Director Bharat Nalluri maintains a light mood, a brisk pace, and a pleasurable wordplay for such a film that is pulled down by its own predetermined ending.

Period comedy is a tough act to mount. And “Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day” works with a certain heft. Interestingly, it is aimed at the ‘art house’ crowd while keeping a treatment that is as light as a feather and as stereotypical as your usual romantic comedy. What it lacks in substance is counterbalanced by the energy of its heavyweight actors and actresses – the thespian acting performances fitting the film’s fairytale-ish needs. At the same time, those who are not demanding for some heavy meanings and deeper artsy points would still enjoy the film by just the sights and sounds of cheeky purses, shoes, and dresses, vintage cars, and period music.

Delightful performances make the film a charming 1930’s “Cinderella-meets-Sex and the City.” Frances McDormand puts a frazzled charm and endearing insecurity to her character as the frumpy Miss Guinevere Pettigrew. Amy Adams as a wide-eyed delight of a would-be starlet Delysia Lafosse lends her frivolous charm amidst such an autopilot-ish acting for her ingénue character. The two ladies blend in a likable manner that keeps up a British fortitude and class to the mounted picture. Even the romantic angles of each one (Delysia’s young womanizer producer Phil played by Tom Payne, the rich, have-it-all businessman Nick played by Mark Strong, and the financially modest but simpatico musician Michael played by Lee Pace, and Miss Pettigrew’s urbane fashion designer Joe played by Ciaran Hinds) form an appealing bond that promotes light and gentle laughs. The rest of the supporting cast led by Shirley Henderson as Edythe and Christina Cole as Charlotte Warren are equally entertaining.

This film works as a quick throwaway comedy mixed with period romance, theatrical drama, and relevant theme. Overall, it is fluffy as it is fun.

Film Review: The Reader

Illiterate Passion
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“The Reader”
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Jeanette Hain, David Kross
Official Website
A provocatively intentioned story about sexual awakening and moral dilemmas, “The Reader” is a tragic film romance examining post-Holocaust guilt, the confronted atrocities of Nazi Germany, the beauty of literature, the shame of man, and the limits of law. It is a film that contemplates on the deeply complicated relationship between rational thoughts and instinctual feelings.

Based on Bernhard Schlink’s “Der Vorleser” which is also a hugely popular selection of Oprah’s Book Club, this film adaptation directed by Stephen Daldry tells the story of a young boy’s first sexual encounter traversing an uncomfortable territory. Set in post-war Germany, he finds himself having a torrid affair with an older woman, only to find out years later, as a law student immersed in courtroom proceedings, that she is a Nazi war criminal. While confronting his own family’s complications as an aging man and experienced lawyer himself, he is then haunted by the trial he witnessed from years ago and determined to sort out his own feelings of guilt and love. And so, from a titillating romance between an upperclass Berlin teen and a sexy but coarse tram worker, the film suddenly morphs into a modestly scaled courtroom drama that pushes profound questions about guilt and redemption.

Carefully, specifically designed to be adored for a certain demographic, the film starts erotic and sensual – with naked bodies in various states of repose and impassioned lovemaking – punctuated by the school boy reading through his school works with his woman: Homer’s “Odyssey,” “Huckleberry Finn,” “The Lady with the Little Dog,” and eventually even reading comic strips for her. After a sensuous first half, it becomes an exercise in philosophy and history where the past haunts the present in how truth and reconciliation can finally exist in such a chaotic and painful world.

“The Reader” is a Holocaust morality play alternating on passion and pain, distance and drama, literacy and law. Daldry’s sensitive treatment of a challenging, nuanced subject merits the attention of a discerning audience. Its structured plot and twists justified by the impressive performances make it a skillful piece of emotional manipulation where literature is an aphrodisiac and living with arresting secrets could reach out to blight lives in unexpected turns.

“The Reader” is admirable within its limitations. There are some convoluted and unevenly executed parts, but under the gloss of high production value and layered ambiguity about redemption, deception, and hidden truths, Daldry’s approach in making an emotional impression makes the film an absorbing drama about reconciliation. With its probing script by David Hare, atmospheric camerawork by Chris Menges and Roger Deakins, and painterly production design by Brigitte Broch, the film is considerably a worthy memorial to its producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella.

For some, especially to those who are not able to read the book, “The Reader” is actually easier to admire than to genuinely like. It seems to lose its more confident footing with some jumbled inserts of the past and present having indistinct pacing. There are also instances that the long, redemption-seeking end tends to detract from the impact of its most poignant moments. Nevertheless, this cloaked male fantasy, soft-core love story turning into a nuanced historical drama gets the viewer’s hand to gloss its very surface then move to certain depths mainly through its convincing characters. From within its own choppy and overdrawn elements, it interestingly develops a certain cumulative power to make things work.

“The Reader” is elevated by calibrated performances. The pleasingly adult material is powered by searing portrayals of Kate Winslet as Hanna Schmitz and David Kross as the young Michael Berg who commit to their piercing relationship with substantial nudity and the real colors and looming tragedies of their lives. There is something gripping about the May-December love affair between Michael and Hanna. The intricate, sensual performances pave way to a heartbreaking reunion in the end. Winslet, whose tense body language speaks of a quietly forceful, heartbreaking Hanna, finds herself as a woman who is willing to share her body, but never the secret that defines her. Built around her enigmatic character, she is brusquely adult and childishly vulnerable at the same time. She is intended to be an uncompassionate and unsympathetic character – and the audience doesn’t quite feel sympathy towards her. And yet, her achingly, crushingly real presence puts a validated foundation to the film being a moving tale of complex affection and shortcomings. Kross is superb as the coming-of-age Michael. He brings such a grounded, impeccably crafted characterization to his role – to the point that he actually gets missed by the film’s end part. Ralph Fiennes as the adult Michael Berg plays out a stately part as a solid, respectable, and matured man whose hidden and repressed boyish demeanor comes out as he tries to make up for what has haunted him through the years. The sharp work from the supporting performances also defines the film’s emotionally engaging presence where passion is nothing far from how illiteracy becomes an issue in itself.

Film Review: Grand Torino

Like Wine at Its Best
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Gran Torino
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Brian Haley

Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” proves to be an ideal platform for the actor/director/writer, who, at 78, still commands the screen with another character-driven opus. It represents the culmination of this Hollywood icon’s screen power with an apt story grasping on the compassion and universal human flavor of a career-summarizing film work. It may not be perfect, but it works in many levels through the hands of a master craftsman honed by time and experience. His directing and acting have reached a level of maturity – comparable to that of an excellent wine – in this compelling dramatic story refined with a vintage touch of humor.

Such a story is challenging to pull off for the big studios in terms of being a vehicle for box office earnings. And it’s clear that only particularly talented stars of high caliber, charisma, and bankability can make such a provision realized in the big screen. In this case, “Gran Torino” is an unlikely tale made plausible by Eastwood who is truly at the top of his game in the twilight of his career. It unfolds effortlessly into his diverse canon of work. And just like Walt Kowalski’s passion for his Gran Torino, Eastwood’s own film engine is still purring as well as it did during his prime.

A thoughtful rumination that continues the film artist’s continuing, remarkable late-career surge, the story provides a good venue for Eastwood to tease out the many layers that make this character drama satisfying both in its realism and its dramatic license – capturing an engrossing snapshot of a human saga about a character letting go of the past, making the most of the present, and accepting how the world now is not the world he grew up in. It utilizes a sublime character study of a man who knows more about death than living, and discovers redemption at the most unexpected times. It shows the belated flowering of a man’s better nature as he realizes how people can lament change all they want, but ultimately, what’s gone is gone. And what’s more important is what they leave behind. As he goes deeper through the racial clashes within his neighborhood, he also shows a more positive outlook on how Americans of different races grow more open to one another during these contemporary times. From an angry, lonely, bigoted old man, his heart softens through his relationships with the members of a Hmong immigrant family living next door. From here, he journeys on with his questions on responsibility, vengeance, love, sacrifice, and goodwill.

In this part modern-day Western, part vigilante flick, this entertaining film hybrid about urban American multiculturalism boasts of a riveting study on anger and violence and the guilt and shame shadowing them. For all its neat moral and psychological elements, the manner in which the topic of violence is approached puts both irony and sophistication to its bluntness and sincerity. “Gran Torino” boasts of crusty humor, heart, and conscience through the undistracted momentum on its storytelling. Its details give much resonance as it provides the laughs when it wants to be funny, earns empathy when it wants to be affecting, and makes the viewer think when it speaks its mind –amidst its many textured and tangled complexities, its intimate moments, and its jaw-dropping emotionality. Both Eastwood’s performance and direction veer from broad melodrama to broader comedy and back again as he loads his film with intelligent scope of ideas and deep themes without falling prey to ostentatiousness in the many issues explored in the story. He directs and acts with remarkable restraint and doesn’t allow moral instruction to dilute the entertainment value of the film. He skillfully gets far beneath the surface with gun-happy action, beer-soaked reflection, and fueled car defiance that could only be sold by a powerful artist connecting to the viewers through his heroic acts and lawless encounters. He also crafts a careful balance in utilizing offensive words and racial slurs being justified for the screenplay’s needs without being offensive beyond the dialogues in the story – where cinematic license doesn’t push for true insolence against races outside the cinematic box.

With Eastwood on the driver’s seat, “Gran Torino” grinds through its gears with an efficient muscle car yarn of filmic power while putting in both an entertaining and reflective caricature of things he has done before. An “Old man Dirty Harry” (a deliriously dark and funny self-parody that can provide nostalgic fun for “Dirty Harry” fanatics) is one way to describe his miserable racist character Walt Kowalski, a disgruntled Korean War vet who begins to question his negative opinion about his Hmong neighbors. Kowalski sets out to reform the young Hmong teenager who tried to steal his prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino. Immersing himself to the Hmong culture of his neighbors, he makes his own life-changing realizations along the way and becomes a surrogate father-mentor to the vulnerable Hmong boy. Walt Kowalski has many of Eastwood’s own iconic qualities; thus, he redefines what it means to be a grumpy old man, specifically on the big screen. With the nuanced, textured actor Eastwood has become, the role becomes a terrific vehicle for him.

Embellishing his trademark “Dirty Harry” snarl, along with the exasperated grunts, contemptuous growls, and persistent curses, Eastwood delivers a stunning performance as an angry war veteran who gives young punks and gangsters a stink-eye precision of fear and antagonism against him. His racial epithets are preposterously entertaining all throughout. His raspingly geriatric brusqueness, antipathy, and animosity insist of a character of being a right bastard who then changes through the course of events of his life and the lives of his neighbors.

The novice cast are a little uneven, especially Bee Vang as Thao Vang Lor, who generally works for his character except during the latter part of the film where his breakdown/moment scenes look too annoying and amateurish. There are other clunky parts especially with the story’s often predictable personality; but overall, the characters still come through in unexpected ways. Supporting performances from Christopher Carley as Father Janovich, Ahney Her as Sue Lor, Chee Thao as Grandma, John Carroll Lynch as Barber Martin, to the rest of the Kowalski family, the Hmong gangbangers, and the minor acting stints, the filmmaker in Eastwood allows his characters to provide worthy performances meant for the story’s valuable requirements.

“Gran Torino” is defiantly old-fashioned in its mood and feel while being a heartfelt topical urban drama with a rueful comedy of enlightenment. It is occasionally endearingly self-indulgent, and despite its obvious shortcomings, it is nevertheless effective and affecting. Though not perfect, the many aspects of the production come together to make things work – the screenplay, cinematography, production design and art direction, editing, music, sound design, and acting performances. With a story that’s easy to relate to, Eastwood’s directorial aesthetics puts vigor to the film and effectively utilizes relaxed paces and bursts of intensity while keeping up with a style that’s pleasing to watch for most people.

Balancing all of the explored issues engagingly without coming to terms with any of them or giving any imposing answers, the film’s solemn finale makes “Gran Torino” a beautifully realized film. There is the clear passion and depth for this filmmaking endeavor which makes it well worth the ride. And just like the character’s redemption in the film, it comes across Eastwood’s own career arc and it feels like a summation of everything he represents as a filmmaker and a movie star. And if the rumor of this being Eastwood’s final turn in front of the camera is true, then this film is a brilliant send off – with a classic performance that is nothing short of legendary. Perhaps, it is a more fitting way to say farewell to one of Hollywood’s most iconic and revered stars.

Film Review: Doubt

In Doubt and Certainty
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“Doubt”
Directed by: John Patrick Shanley
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

The powerhouse ensemble film “Doubt” is a cautionary tale about the dangers and consequences of both doubt and certainty. It provides a provocative glimpse into specific issues within the Catholic hierarchy through its hypothetical and debate-fueling ideas, interplay, and intrigue. With a collection of acting styles from the broad to the contained, the passionate performances really make the film work at its best.

Weaving an intense drama with some gun and blood-free thriller elements, it navigates around the claustrophobic air of the characters’ setting – a Catholic school and the church governing it – where moral ambiguity usually goes side by side with various human motives. It is a psychologically expansive film with crackling dialogue and top-rate acting. Its resounding themes and provocative issues raise major social questions and speak volumes about the many convictions thrown into the issues of tolerance and morality. Its own need for certainty and understanding in a world that is ambiguous and contradictory fuels faith vs. uncertainty debates in the heart of a church milieu.

Directed and written by John Patrick Shanley, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play of the same title, this stage-to-screen adaptation becomes a commendable new rendering. The film focuses on the questioning and proving of an allegation by utilizing drama, tension, and suspense to level up its emotional thrust. And the film’s mood and temperament adds a certain enigma that makes its title even more texturized in presenting its own thematic underbelly; thus, justifying the relative triteness of the material. The story is set right after the assassination of John Kennedy, a tragic time in America that shook the nation and questioned people’s faith in humanity and in each other. With its treatment on its internal conflicts, it effectively provokes varying interpretations, serious convictions, and lively conversations.

The film makes for a great story and magnificent on-screen performances. It proves what great actors can do when given roles that require complete conviction in order for the film to really work. Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman inhabit their characters to the fullest. The face-offs between them form the film’s foundation – making “Doubt” an intense experience. They step up to the plate against each other while holding your attention for the supposedly typical confrontational drama. They gracefully fight in a riveting death match of words and actions. As Sister Aloysius Beauvier and Father Brendan Flynn, these two star heavyweights become a formidable pair as a nun and priest at odds over an unspeakable suspicion. The child molestation charges against Father Flynn become a series of quick-fire dialogue discussing themes and issues on religion, morality, and authority. You despise Sister Aloysius for her bitter crusade on the first minute, but then doubt Father Flynn’s innocence the next second – the clever treatment and performances make you swing to and fro for the trust and belief on these characters. You try to figure out whether the nun’s intentions are pure, whether her relentless pursuit of the priest is rooted in virtue, fear, jealousy, or any kind of angst inside her.

Meryl Streep is frighteningly good as Sister Aloysius, the “holy woman is a beast” principal of a 1964 Bronx parochial school. Acting like a fire, a storm, and a heavy wind who can put the fear of God in you, her histrionics makes a chillingly scary performance – and the film acts up right along with her as her sternness and cold-hearted behavior place a blanket of fear in all the students and even with the people of the church. Hoffman as the genial neighborhood priest successfully meshes suspicion with a charming personality and a friendly aura. The seemingly hypocritical personality is tough to pull off, and he does it in a way that people can like him while also pondering if he has the darker side behind an amicable mask. Impressive performances are also seen with Amy Adams as the innocent young nun and teacher Sister James and Viola Davis as the conflicted black mother Mrs. Miller. There has been a funny moment on Davis’ peak dramatic point though, and for purposes of not giving out a spoiler: the said scene just makes people laugh with the way she handles her face during a tough crying scene. The rest of the acting talents are superb in their jobs as well. And for all its high-caliber performances, indeed, the film showcases some of the finest screen acting in cinema today.

What raises the film’s aura is the apparently confident filmmaking utilized in it. The fiercely tight and clever script and the gifted production staff and cast makes “Doubt” an absorbing psychological thriller, a fine film adaptation of a provocative play with its distinct dramaturgy carefully re-crafted for the big screen. The tidy narrative provides powerful arguments and cinematic word play about a child molestation scandal that manages to be deeply disturbing on many levels. The authentic period detail where you can almost smell the Catholic setting – where Filipinos can tend to relate to given the fact that most are Catholics and have certain experiences with Catholic schools. Even the church scenes provide such familiar elements. There are moments, however, that the awkward and canted angles with the camera work kind of lose the grip on how the general audience can take such an approach – overall, the reasons for them not being that solidly defining for that matter.

“Doubt” lets things simmer for a while, and provide such electrifying results. Its success lies in its defiant refusal to ordain even a slightly satisfying answer to the question: “Did he or didn’t he?” And the guilt-drenched final line becomes a prism revealing new facets of character which strikes you, impresses you, and makes you ponder about things.

Film Review: Changeling

Finely Weaving a Human Drama
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“Changeling”
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Gattlin Griffith, Michelle Martin, Jan Devereaux

“Changeling” draws you from its quiet beginning, holds you through the creative steam of its compelling mystery and agonizing human drama, and keeps you through its beautifully mounted conclusion – all resonating with integrity and uncompromising emotional truth.

A gripping, powerful drama about a woman victim who struggled against the system, this long-winded cinematic retelling of a real-life case holds you through its perceptions on the capriciousness of crime and the determination of those who choose to fight it. Staged with somber exactitude, this mystery-cum-character study is intensified by its absorbing drama and engrossing tale – finely-weaved together.

Director Clint Eastwood crafts a discursive narrative and indulges realistic and complex character sketches to understand both how fragile and how essential people’s hopes for decency and truth are in a world of both love and chaos. He effectively draws a family and community together in the struggle against organized crime – from street violence to public service malpractice. For a drama about an ill-fated mother searching for her missing child, the story shows a parable of wronged innocence which has found expression in a woman’s tough experiences in a directly corrupt society. Set during the late 1920’s to the mid 1930’s, it exposes the era’s concerns which are still parallel to the societal issues of today. In collaboration with writer J. Michael Straczynski, “Changeling” boasts of a powerful story mounted to be nothing less than riveting as it uncovers the disorderly side of the period – police corruption, mental institution incarceration of women, and grisly serial murder of little boys.

“Changeling” is rich with diverse elements slowly unwrapped with significant details. It traces a good dose of the needed components of related subgenres including the corrupt-cop thriller, seeking-of-justice melodrama, courtroom drama, and political satire. For all its power, fury, and superb tension, the film marks inherently intriguing storytelling that takes advantage of the many strong emotions found within the story. Eastwood’s classical route in laboring the details of the film builds it with hammering intensity. And with a powerful central performance by Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins, along with a valuable cast coming together with rare brilliance, this emotionally gripping drama succeeds as both a compelling mystery and a period piece that still feels relevant today.

Eastwood’s directorial canon is very apparent. “Changeling” bears his personal stamp on each frame. With outstanding period detail and moody characterization, his meticulous direction tells the story without the much poorly contrived dramatics nor shocking stunts that most filmmakers fall prey to. The polished details of the era are very much commendable and work accordingly with the story’s requirements. The film’s impeccably fashioned 1920’s to 1930’s Los Angeles provides an opportunity to peer into a different era with enough creative precision. From the production design by James Murakami, to the cinematography by Tom Stern, to the film editing by Joel Cox and Gary Roach, to the original music also by Eastwood, everything works for its favor and flavor. The period costuming and vehicles, the emotional baggage, the satirical moments… all of them work together for the film’s needed language. You see the crooked cops crippling the City of Angels and victimizing innocent civilians here and there with enough emotional investment. There are many finely directed sequences showing the anguish and pain of losing a loved one, the forces of motherhood and politics clashing in front of the media, the many facets of anger, the sacrifices made in the name of truth, love, and justice, the fear of loss, the many faces of abuse, the shocking moments of a victim, the animalistic nature of a murderer, the instinctive nature of survival and saving a face, among others.

The film is uniformly well-acted. Topping the bill is the main character played by Jolie in an award-bait role that the Oscars and other award-giving bodies would definitely take a look on. Propelling the film with a beautifully measured intensity and subtlety amidst her svelte figure not very much so 1920’s, her charisma in presenting a single mother’s heart in desperate moves to find her son delivers a performance of which any actress can be truly proud of. She renders a believable and shining character overcoming the striking beauty she is endowed with which could have upstaged or distracted her acting performance in the eyes of the audience. The rest of the cast, whether on major or minor roles, makes the film a truly well-acted period piece. To name a few, John Malkovich as Rev. Gustav Briegleb, Gattlin Griffith as Walter Collins, Jeffrey Donovan as Capt. J.J. Jones, Michael Kelly as Detective Lester Ybarra, Jason Butler Harner as Gordon Northcott, Colm Feore as Chief James E. Davis, Amy Ryan as Carol, and Devon Conti as Arthur Hutchins all contribute to the success of the film in the acting department.

“Changeling” is a very good cinematic offer that just misses some outstanding points by small margins. The material is sufficiently compelling enough to override most of the film’s minor problems. On the side that the film seems made with awards season in mind, overall, it works. Although on a minimal degree, there are parts that suffer from more than its fair share of showy moments. There is a very minor concern on its deliberate pacing and contained sense of melodrama. You are impressed, but the touching part yields more on the artsy side that you generally appreciate it well, but the consciousness to the aesthetics builds a considerably thin wall against the core of the emotional attachment and the strike of the story. And this, on a small dose, hampers the complete sharing of the heroine’s pain, disorientation, rage, and grief to the policemen who have subverted their duty with staggering arrogance and misused their power for mere personal gain.

To sum it all up, “Changeling” is a mature, thoughtful, compelling, moving, and well-told adult period thriller that is sure to attract Oscar buzz.

Film Review: Wall-E

A Robot’s Heart
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

For the nth time, Pixar creates an animated masterpiece pushing the limits of computer animation and storytelling possibilities. By now, it’s safe to say that its creative genius appears to have no boundaries – from the vastness of the sea to the nooks and cranny of the kitchen to the galaxy far, far away… Wistful and whimsical, this visionary robotic romance is a moving parable of what humans waste and what they should treasure – wrapped around in a romance so touching and engaging courtesy of its pair of robots in the main roles.

Another groundbreaking work from the makers of the now classic animated films “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” and “Ratatouille,” “WALL•E” is one of the best love stories ever told in the big screen. This animated masterpiece about a robot’s journey as he travels the vastness of the universe to be with his beloved robot wins the heart of the human audience as it leaps beyond its mechanical pieces to convey emotions of true love. It is very simple on many aspects, but at the same time, it is pure of movie magic. It is a rare picture of hope, wonder, and joy. Its every deft little touch brings complex, heartfelt circuitry to the characters – transporting the viewers to a cosmic place filled with the future’s “what if’s” through the main character WALL•E being a poetic figure of a robot drawn to human splendor.

So far and yet so near… The story primarily showcases robots and humans enslaved by technology. And this archetypal fable about loneliness and love is both simple and deep. The filmmakers have extended the parameters of the art form to create a whole new universe of pure emotional content amidst the film’s very superficial blueprint and physicality. The genuinely heartwarming story may happen hundreds or thousands of years and light-years away with machines programmed to do specific physical works and humans who don’t even know what touching a fellow human being is like, but there is an amazing amount of life and humanity all throughout. Indeed, the wit, invention, and sheer charm of a wonderful story told well can never lose its touch regardless of the kind of character and mise-en-scene used.

Withstanding the pitfalls of human existence as a Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class robot, “WALL•E” is an utterly adorable character with a welcome surge of honesty, impishness, introspection, humor, determination, and sentimentality. This humanly mechanical hero supplies such surprising and engaging moments with his earnest robot reverie. He is built with such emotion, brains, and humor that the heart of the story revolve around his whirring tones and binocular eyes. And amidst his mechanized clunks and beeps, he moves like a true human character holding on to his dreams. His fantastic journey on a never-before-imagined vision of the future is deeply moving and fun. His irresistible rattles and eye rolls keep up with his ingenious sight gags needing no words for them to work. And for the most part, this considerably silent comedy reveals a lot of personality with its robots – more than its human characters who seem to have actually lost the true humanity in them.

This computer-animated cosmic comedy is nothing short of magical. At the same time, it is an endearing post-apocalyptic romantic adventure that is as fresh as it is funny, as heartwarming as it is innovative. “WALL•E” never feels preachy or pushy. Its animation is spectacular without being a mere show-off. While the film’s social message comes through loud and clear, it never detracts the heart of the film – especially the unlikely romance between the knick-knack collector Wall•E and the sleek search robot EVE. It works in recreating such an intricate world that is moving too fast and changing too rapidly. It gives serious moments to pause and reflect on what makes life valuable to live without losing its sense of wonder. It has a social and moral conscience without pushing too hard. It promotes an ecologically minded message with an artful nod for its modestly profound portrait of loneliness, duty, and desire for reciprocated attention. And this film saves the world through the “power of holding hands.”

On a personal note, what makes “WALL•E” even more striking to me is how it successfully pays homage to one of my best-loved films “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick. From the music to the visuals to the aspect of the story where the computer tries to outwit the human and vice versa, this film gives justice to paying homage to the work of a master. It also has a Charlie Chaplin feel to it especially with its almost comedic splendor for its non-talking scenes.

Academy Award-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) and his crew incorporate surprising elements that mix vintage sci-fi with old musicals, armageddon environment, and a futuristic rendering of man’s complete dependence on technology. “WALL•E” is in full battery – powered up as it makes a massive leap in technological talent with its textural, tactile quality pushing CGI and 3D animation into uncharted artistic heights. With its technical aspect as artful as it is state of the art, and its approach being committed to a touching robot romance, it validates how animation is capable of much more than talking animals and fairy tale characters. Along with its fantastic and hearty visual value through the innovation of its Pixar talents in film and animation, it also provides a marvel of sound design and music courtesy of Ben Burtt and Thomas Newman. Indeed, this film illustrates Pixar’s downright heroic commitment to the craft by combining the wonder of art and fantastic entertainment value for the audience. Add up its continuing take on featuring a short animated film as a worthy prologue for its every feature film and things just become even more wonderful. Pixar really lets the witty storytelling and expressive animation transport the viewers into a whole new but touchingly familiar world.

Central to its serious, thoughtful, and vital messages about the environment and humanity, “WALL•E” is a smart, heartwarming, and savvy story about love, loneliness, perseverance, and triumph. And it hits its pro-green, anti-consumerist points remarkably as well. It truly shows the transformational power of love in such a beautiful, energetic, intelligent, and satirical way.

Joining WALL•E and EVE is a hilarious cast of a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots, a pet cockroach, “evolutionized” human beings, and a “pasaway” computer. The film’s visions of a ravaged, abandoned Earth of the future and a mechanized, corporately controlled space ark/pleasure cruiser vs. a small waste collecting robot doing his job in the barren planet makes up an exciting and imaginative adventure. WALL•E’s determined courtship to the completely indifferent EVE has as much truth about humanity’s sweetness and struggle as any piece of story with real human characters. Take note, the central characters merely show affection with their overall body movements, the rolling of eyes, and the mechanical sound they make. Everything just works so stunningly. And with WALL•E chasing EVE across the galaxy – against all odds – the story validates the human need to find a partner and friends with whom they can share their life experiences.

“WALL•E” is a rare and precious gem in cinema. It’s a great work of art. It’s a sci-fi funhouse and a romantic animated feature film for all ages. It draws the moviegoers with a close encounter with an enduring classic.

Film Review: The Dark Knight

A Superhero Noir: The Disturbed Vs. the Disturbing
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal

“The Dark Knight” is a complex and violent tale with such an exquisite order in the chaos – between art and industry, poetry and entertainment. It is an explosively provocative film with straightforward action sequences collaborating with the character study and metaphor of what Gotham City is (both in the fictional world of its characters and the mundane world of its audience). It is a dark, disturbing, complex, ambitious, and visionary crime epic about people of courage, repressed love, firm dispositions, individual perspectives, and clashing egos.

Locked in a struggle for Gotham City’s soul, “The Dark Knight” transports the viewer to an alternate yet recognizable realm. This is matched by a kind of moral complexity that is not usually associated with comic book film franchises. Director Christopher Nolan lets the film’s spectacular action scenes seem like the natural consequences of the conflicts between characters; which is then parallel to the contemporary state of this age’s terrorism-obsessed actuality. The setting may be Gotham, but its landscape is transformed into a series of disquieting issues that effectively place the conflict between the tortured good and the contented chaos seen in the world’s past, present, and perhaps, even its future. Gotham stands in for any of today’s nations, superpowers, terrorism, and the rules of law and order. From these thematic explorations, it digs through the ideas of heroism, human nature, and fragile morality. Its riveting psychological thrill creates a masterful drama and tragedy shaking both the conscious and sub-conscious. And its disturbing darkness brings about the unconscious rants and raves of human hearts wrenched by the restraints of the society and the corrupt system that dominates it.

“The Dark Knight” weaves a high level of bond between the outcast hero and the outrageous criminal. Its emphasis on plot and character development is very much apparent especially if compared with most comic-book film adaptations. It goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind with a diverse impact on art, literature, and human emotions. Indeed, with the uncontested hype and the exhilarated artistry of this pitch-black thriller, it is a rare pop-culture oddity that shall certainly keep both comics fans and uninitiated audiences equally happy. This film is subtle and powerful that it renews the audience’s faith in adaptations and sequels.

“The Dark Knight” is one of the most hyped movies to date with its marketing and promotion, the success of its predecessor (also crafted from Nolan’s aesthetic lead), the manic zest seen on the teasers/trailers especially of the late Heath Ledger’s The Joker, and the untimely death of Ledger who undoubtedly makes history with his jaw-dropping performance as the malevolent villain. Irregardless of the tragic loss of his life too early on, he has marked himself as one of the best classic villains ever to appear in film. For an acting talent tragically curtailed, it is rather a deeply felt loss that his life has come to an end at a very young age; but this film bringing such an extraordinary performance from him should be the best way to remember and acknowledge him.

This film earns much respect for Nolan’s creatively intelligent direction, he and his brother Jonathan Nolan’s engagingly psychological screenplay, Wally Pfister’s pin-sharp cinematography, Nathan Crowley’s brilliantly dark production design, Lee Smith’s formidable editing, and James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer’s zealous music. There are many excellent moments and action set-pieces from the initial shots of dizzying, vertiginous overhead scenes of glittering skyscrapers and minuscule streets to the electrifying fight scenes that exude modern wages of fear – everything is crafted with absolute brilliance that never runs out of fuel. The film’s energy is deeply felt until the credits begin to roll. Moreover, a delightful addition to the magnificent experience is a healthy amount of IMAX footage, which significantly adds to the thought-provoking meditation of being on a personal and gruesome tour of Gotham. Truly, the powerful technical and thematic elements, the huge IMAX sequences, and the endearing performances give this “Batman” a truly great commanding feel.

“Dark Knight” ably stands on its own with or without Nolan’s first offer of the franchise – “Batman Begins.” He has definitely crafted this newest “Batman” film with a remarkable impact that clearly presents the title character’s wavelength with a valuable understanding of how a crisis of such magnitude could affect good men trying to do the right thing. While the caped avenger stands for the good of Gotham in the place of the police force and its counterparts who are unable to keep up with their duties given the various circumstances, the questions of what is good and what is right become such genuine topics for debate and pondering.

Christian Bale plays such a well rounded Batman and Bruce Wayne. Countering him is Heath Ledger’s The Joker whose cruelty and cleverness becomes such a fearsome combination. Facing each other from opposite ends, they create a mesmerizing and unforgettable completeness to the story. They both turn in superb performances with a sensitivity of making their characters work together to make the best out of the already high quality material.

Bale continues to maintain both the elite gentleman demeanor and the intense and misunderstood cape crusader character in the world of crime and chaos.

Ledger’s manically creepy, unhinged, deranged psycho role takes evil to a new level. With The Joker’s anarchist mind, his ability to make a clown into the most terrifying character takes the audience’s psyche for a twirl in the same way as he gives both the cops and the crooks nightmares in the film. He remains mysterious with his every eye contact, every gesture, every delivery of words – all getting under the viewer’s skin the way they get into his victim’s throats. While providing humor amidst the terror, it is impossible to not have chills for the valuable screen time he has for the film. Some may say that his untimely death becomes the ultimate source of hype for The Joker, but I beg to disagree. And what makes everything more riveting is the fact that there is just no more chance for him to explore all the roles he could possibly tackle if he were still alive.

Aaron Eckhart is equally good as Gotham’s new District Attorney Harvey Dent. His transformation into Two-Face ably assumes the mantle of fine performance and characterization. Maggie Gyllenhaal deserves praise for taking over the role of Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes as she provides such a strong-willed character blending perfectly with the rest of the characters in the film. Supporting roles including those of Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox all deliver tour de force performances to further solidify the film’s greatness.

As the film circles on Wayne’s weariness and loneliness, Harvey Dent’s transition into Two-Face, and The Joker’s mysterious heart and soul, this superhero story’s dark unpredictability goes beyond the typical epic standards. The characters are disturbed in their own ways, and they effectively extend their lives, issues, questions, and struggles to the audience.

“The Dark Knight” is every inch a classic superhero noir.

Film Review: Kung Fu Panda

The Unlikely Hero’s Destiny
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Directed by: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Starring: the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, David Cross

Fast, light, and easy-to-love, “Kung Fu Panda” would probably elevate the panda to the penguin’s cinematic status. Convincingly, the panda here makes movie magic. And the film succeeds in its playfulness.

Cinematically charming and ingenious, this animated cross between the elements of movies like “Forbidden Kingdom” and the premise of the likes of “Karate Kid” is definitely sweeter than expected. It actually shows more heart than you might think. The film is loaded with fun experience of comedy and action while keeping itself as a solid family film material through that black-and-white face of cuteness.

Without much expectation given its typical commercial disposition plus the fact that most movies similar to it (regardless of how many big-named stars are billed for voice services) become big disappointments, “”Kung Fu Panda” is such a pleasant surprise. If the initial assumption is that this animated comedy is slapstick, mediocre, or potty, it actually turns out to be a snappy, good-looking, and delightful cinematic offer that draws smiles for the whole family, the film buffs, and even the animators who would greatly appreciate the kind of animation and the heart that binds the elements together. More than starring a bunch of cute, highly-merchandisable animals, “Kung Fu Panda” has a genuine kung fu love that permeates the film to shine for anyone who is a fan of top-notch animated filmmaking, as well as those followers of the comedy and martial arts genres.

“Kung Fu Panda” is about an unlikely hero’s journey to fulfill his dreams of becoming a kung fu master. Po is a plump, drowsy, huggable black-and-white bear who has one, and only one, aspiration in life – to become an expert in a martial art that relies on agility, mental prowess, and lightning-fast reflexes. With his paunchy punching bag looks, he figure-atively throws his weight around and becomes an accidental fighter and subsequent Dragon Warrior – elevating his self-esteem and panda potential into kung fu heights.

With its inventive visuals, wonderful animation, tasteful music, appealing characters, and genuine story execution, this animated film stands apart from what has become a trend – making something different from the other recent animated films. It may be an unoriginal variant on the misfit-with-a-dream movie, but this action-packed kung fu animation respectful of the genre presents its refreshingly simple tale with dynamic animation and slapstick humor to compensate for the story’s lack of originality. It benefits from a buffet of Asian cinema influences while finding the right mixture of comic playfulness, satire, and affection to bring out the best of the material. What it lacks in surprises, it makes up for in its whimsical fun.

This family friendly fare is simple and lighthearted. It is slick, energetic, and entertaining enough to separate it from most of the heavily formulaic DreamWorks animation entries that depend on pop-culture references. While its storyline might seem familiar, there’s enough invention to make the film feel fresh within the bounds of the studio’s pen. From the cuddly slapstick to the Chinese wisdom, “Kung Fu Panda” clearly utilizes an age-old fable and comes up with a timeless family entertainment movie. Sticking to a tried-and-true formula about the hapless underdog discovering he is the “Chosen One,” this film still proves effective by keeping up with its snappy pace, fun spoofs, unpretentious sweetness, and striking visuals.

More than just the classic beauty of the animation, another draw comes close with its IMAX-big visuals compensating its colorful locale and battles, cool fight choreography, superb facial expressions, and well-rendered movements. The animators have clearly invested some time in studying and gleaning ideas from kung fu classics. Gorgeously animated and done with expert timing, the kung fu scenes show crisp, thrilling, and funny moments that whiz by in its one and a half hour run time.

This film’s hero’s journey story embraces humor that plays well across age groups and nationalities. As an amusingly witty family comedy, it promotes kids with a fairly respectable mix of action, amazement, and amusement. It’s noodle-long fun stints are seen all over that the children of all ages, including the grown up ones, will undoubtedly love its surprisingly smart and tender moments, its morality tale, and its audio-visual charm.

The image of a face-stuffing panda who loves to eat – transforming into a kung fu master – is touching enough through the characterization of lead talent Jack Black and the geniuses of its filmmakers. The animators are able to capture the mood and tone requirements of the story. The film primarily bases its humor in its voice performances. While being another celebrity-voiced animal adventure, it stands out from the crowd of similar films with its witty and charming celebrity voice performances. Jack Black as the chubby misfit-hero seems to really pour himself completely into his role. He inhabits the animated panda Po and he gives the audiences a double dose of his comic persona through it. With the rest of the stars doing the voice essentials (including Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, Randall Duk Kim as Oogway, Ian McShane as Tai Lung, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Seth Rogen as Mantis, Lucy Liu as Viper, David Cross as Crane, James Hong as Mr. Ping, among others), the signature whimsy of the film is realized.

It is also interesting to know that the young Filipino recording artist Sam Concepcion sings the film’s theme song “Kung Fu Fighting” during the closing credits of the “Kung Fu Panda” Philippine screenings – and the said cut is a part of the film’s album offer also available for the Filipino audience.

The adorability quotient of “Kung Fu Panda” definitely buoys this DreamWorks animated romp as a great source of movie entertainment. With its well-written script and its messages “To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special” and “Be your own hero” may best be proven by the existence of this unpretentious and more than bear-able crowd-pleaser. As a solid family flick and soon to become an addition to the roster of good-natured animated classics, this welcome animated treat is no less than a real charmer.

Film Review: No Country for Old Men

A Neo-Western Mind Game
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald

You may never look at a coin toss, or an air gun, or the way to fix a bullet wound in the leg, or a hunt in a motel, or the aftermath of a car crash… the same way again. You might also find a new way to utilize an oxygen tank or robbing a store without getting noticed.

Here’s a film about how easy you can enter the world of bad men and how hard it is to escape it. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen make a dark and bleakly comic vision of a violent culture in this film, the Academy Awards Best Picture for 2007 “No Country for Old Men.”

This intense and provocative chase thriller set in the dusty southwest of America is both perplexing and engrossing as it explores man’s animal instincts and brutal senses. With a visual lyricism matching Cormac McCarthy’s cold and bleak view of humanity, it is a masterful interpretation of McCarthy’s novel into an enigmatic, metaphysical mind game with solid alternations of comedy and violence. Braced with a sensibility strongly matching the original material, this neo-western tale leaves you with your own perceptions whether such elements are real, a byproduct of cinematic minds, or a combination of them. Its sense of place and its poetic voice is both tight and organic. It has a great sense of style; and yet, it doesn’t overcome the film’s very substance.

“No Country for Old Men” exudes rich visual imagery. There is so much depth to the perception of the characters through its mise-en-scéne. It boasts of well-crafted shots, class A acting, astounding sound design, tight pacing, and masterful editing. The careful use of dead silence and sparse dialogue to produce nearly unbearable tension and a signature atmosphere of dissolution makes it an adrift zeitgeist that is shockingly effective and incomprehensibly great. It is ironic, contemplative, acerbic, metaphorical, epic, intimate, terrifying, humane, darkly funny, and deadly serious. With the Coen brothers’ evocative and ingenious writing, directing, and editing, Roger Deakins’ exquisite cinematography, Jess Gonchor’s sensitive production design, and Craig Berkey’s topnotch sound design, all the technical requirements consolidate with the thematic aspects of the film – making it an eerily quiet and bracingly violent genre classic.

The film creates an insinuation into a person’s consciousnesses and sensibilities. As it presents the essential problem of being human and the stark and grimly place one can get into with an uncontrollable force suddenly appearing, this morality tale of existential proportion allows you to absorb the details and takes you to places you don’t anticipate going to. Its haunting implications and thrilling incarnations of evil infused with touches of signature humor don’t seem like flashes of style – it makes a measured and yet excitingly tense, violent, and maturely sorrowful story of philosophical and metaphysical scales. The film is thematically consistent and it delivers something far more delicate and contemplative. It is full of unexpected twists and switchbacks, and opportunities for the audience to breathe and ponder about their own ramblings and musings. And as the story progresses, it becomes gradually more nerve-wracking as each plot point makes itself known.

“No Country For Old Men” marks the Coen brothers’ unique stamp of auteurism in faithfully adapting McCarthy’s work to their own specifications and considerable strengths. They understand the stark immediacy of this tale as they load it with realistic touches and dead calm irony. At times, the film deliberately leaves you grasping to understand what you have just seen. Their supreme command of their craft is very much apparent that the film, in one way or another, sweeps up the audience with the vision for this singular mythic masterwork.

There isn’t a performance in this film that isn’t exquisitely in key. Just like every shot and moment in the film, not a word or a gesture is wasted. The Coens’ creepy direction and deadpan humor creates such an unexpected nature on the characters and what happens to them. Javier Bardem’s unnerving performance as the chilling psychopath-hitman Anton Chigurh works so brilliantly with his realistically monstrous character. A true embodiment of a ferocious fiend, he creates a ghoulish homicidal maniac with a firm conviction on flipping a coin to determine who lives and who dies. He ups his ante by using an oxygen tank as his best friend to open locks and holding a cattle gun to kill his victims. Scary-smart and horrifyingly appealing, by now, Bardem can be considered as one of the greatest film villains in the memory of cinema. Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss is often seen in the midst of a chase and save-your-life moments. And he portrays the role right on with such effective movements, actions, and lines without being a cliché for such a traditional role. Tommy Lee Jones as the weathered sheriff Ed Tom Bell interacts with a stolid demeanor in a land of desperate men struggling beyond law and order. From his voice and eyes, there is a sorrow that is held back by his own personal and work struggles. Kelly Macdonald as Llewelyn’s wife Carla Jean Moss is also excellent when called upon. And the rest of the characters, no matter how long or short their screen appearances are, all contribute to the success of this film.

“No Country for Old Men” is a modern thriller masterpiece. As an expertly laid-out adaptation of the McCarthy novel, this is a film of unbridled power and purpose. It is indeed a stunning achievement in cinematic storytelling.

Stanley Kubrick DVD Collection – 2001: A Space Odyssey and Full Metal Jacket

Stanley Kubrick Revisited
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Good news to film buffs and DVD fanatics, now, you can include Stanley Kubrick’s opuses ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’ to your collections.

To those who are yet to get themselves familiarized with Kubrick’s works, here are brief insights and reviews about the master’s greatest works now available at your favorite DVD stores:

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

This film is a classic – a brilliantly conceived celestial alignment of man, medium, and material.

Long after its 1968 release, this intelligent attempt to explore human development is as relevant today as it is four decades ago – retaining its artistic magnificence for all these years. Indeed, it still makes a spectacular impression in clearly influencing a great number of films after it until today. It has caused culture shock during its release – making major changes on the conventions, style, and prestige of the genre. And it has taken a good look at what the world might be like by the first year of the 21st century.

As the title implies, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is an archetypal journey with a motive repeated for thousands and even millions of years. This motive depicts a trip in space and time and beyond. Part space opera, part cinematic symphony, and part horror tale, the film is a poetical contemplation of many eternal questions and issues on self-discovery, contemplation, and intellect. It tracks the odyssey of mankind, from the dawn of man around four million years ago to the exploration of deep space during this century. Like the mysterious monolith it probes, the film speaks with hard-edged imagery, metaphor, poetry, philosophy, and suggestion.

This film is more than just dialogues, plots, apes, or spaceships. It transcends the ordinary into a visual and aural spectacle about the entire human species.

Kubrick’s ‘2001’ is a triumph of technological storytelling. It has highly impressive production values for its time and era and it never feels outdated even until today. Its greatness lies in its scope of cinematic splendor and its attempt to marry some of man’s most beautiful music to the infinite mystery of space – a perfect blend of spectacular special effects and classical music bringing to life creations of great human imagination in both realistic and poetical ways. And with such a film that creates its effects essentially out of visuals and music, its meditative pace is told mostly not by words but by cinematic means of expression. It explores an inscrutable tale of birth and rebirth, human evolution, and artificial intelligence of the past and the future. It also examines the relationship between the evolution of humankind and the development of human morality. And it expresses the hope that the stages of evolution further improve from the theories about the idiotic ape creatures of the past to the human beings of today to the more superior incarnations in the years and centuries to come.

With its artistic treatment requiring extensive establishments and long pacing and deep philosophical thoughts about the vastness of space and the relative matter occupying it, this film is a monumental and confounding picture that may probably have half of the audience cheering and the other half snoring. It lies somewhere between hypnotic and boring depending on the viewers’ varying tastes. For someone sharing the same wavelength as Kubrick and company, it can be one of the greatest films of all time – surrendering to it makes it nothing less than a mind-shaper – awesome, influential, and mind-blowing.

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is one of the most mysterious, talked about, and intellectually stimulating films to date. It will definitely retain its mythic resonance as a visionary masterpiece about possibilities beyond imagination and other possible life forms. Indeed, it is a landmark in filmmaking – a true science fiction classic.

‘Full Metal Jacket’

This film is a moving commentary on the dehumanizing process that occurs when soldiers prepare and engage in battle. It shows Kubrick’s notion of how the military changes ordinary people into killing machines.

Bleak but darkly funny at times, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ is a cinematic critique of how war affects the lives of many. Kubrick seems to direct his vision beyond the reality of the Vietnam War to issues far more universal and timeless. Set in the point of view of U. S. Marines from their brutal basic training to the bloody street fighting set in 1968 Vietnam, the film provides a riveting look at military life. Adapted from Gustav Hasford’s novel ‘The Short Timers,’ this 1987 Kubrick film is told through the eyes of Private Joker played by Matthew Modine, a cynical aspiring photojournalist who is forced to fight for his life and the lives of his fellow recruits.

The first half of ‘Full Metal Jacket’ focuses on the training of a squad of Marine grunts and the troubled relationship between their brutal drill sergeant Gny. Sgt. Hartman played by real-life drill instructor Lee Ermey and an oafish, flabby misfit and demented sharpshooter Leonard ‘Private Pyle’ Pratt played by Vincent D’Onofrio. This first half is jaw-droppingly good in its entirety – from the presence of the ensemble to the audio-visual splendor of its technicality to the simple and yet precise elements that infuses a dream-like, fatalistic quality on its theme and story.

The second half takes the grunts to Hue City during the turning point of the Vietnam War. And just like Kubrick’s powerful antiwar classics ‘Paths of Glory’ (set during WWI) and Dr. Strangelove (set during the Cold War), ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ once again explores the behavior of men in battle through a solid depiction of combat and the process by which the soldiers come to realize that they are, like it says on Private Joker’s helmet, ‘born to kill.’

What is even more fascinating with Kubrick’s films as this one is how they get to effectively manage universal themes while being specifically set in particular periods –never getting in any way obsolete until now. At this time and age, wars are still fought. The U. S. A. waging war to Iraq and Afghanistan can be interestingly compared to what has transpired in ‘Full Metal Jacket’s’ sixties Vietnam War setting. The comparison is edifying. And apparently, nothing has really changed much. Just like in the film, the soldiers trained to become killing machines are obliged to follow orders from their superiors, and in one way or another, they don’t acquire much knowledge about the people they come to defend. The morality issues are also explored. Private Joker wearing both a peace sign and a helmet with ‘born to kill’ writing maintains such irony the way the soldiers sing the Mickey Mouse Club hymn after fighting. Such similarities abound and they testify for the film’s take in the imposition of democracy through gruesome violence and destruction.

Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ and ‘Full Metal Jacket’ are extraordinary, obsessive, beautiful works of art that warms the audience – especially with repeated viewings. With their universal resonance as immortal classics, they span eras and generations of powerful cinematic glory. They may be oldies, but they are definitely goodies – all sparkling with indelible and remarkable images working hand in hand with powerful sound and music and abstract and intangible musings.

Personally, Stanley Kubrick, along with Tim Burton, is one my favorite directors of all time. And with these Kubrick films now immortalized in DVD, he and his films can become treasure pieces for you too, the way they are to a hard-core fan like me.

Film Review: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

A bloody good musical
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ is another feat for auteur director Tim Burton. Visually expansive and imaginative, it has a razor-keen wit for its dark tale of vengeance – successfully marrying the flight and fancy of a musical and the grisly grimness of blood and goth. It takes pleasure in its own theatricality with a complete trust in the power of Stephen Sondheim’s music and the masterstroke of Burton’s signature visual style.

The film starts with a Burtonish trademark as a director and animator – an opening credits summing up the distinctively cynical, chill-inducing, blood-splattering cinematic operetta set in a spidery gothic world. It sets the mood for its mercilessly dark humor and oddly amusing tunes. It binds together the CGI and live action parts of the film quite admirably with the effective approach of Burton’s expressionist elements. From its operatic gruesomeness to its Victorian gothic moodiness, the consistently dark and foggy visuals create the right dose of menace as the murder, music, and ‘monsters’ become happily drenched in blood gore. And interestingly, when the characters break into songs, they become tailor fit to the world Burton has built.

As always, Burton’s work is filled with great imagination. Having the most outlandish extremes as a great storyteller, he keeps his very stylized pursuits without sacrificing the thematic and emotional elements. In this film, he has not allowed the lavishly dark production design, the fantastically haunting cinematography, and the elegantly thrilling music to dominate the storytelling. In fact, he utilizes all these to turn a great play into a great film. Burton creates a vast world that ideally sets off Stephen Sondheim’s grimly intricate lyrics with the right scale for his film version of the grandiose 1979 Broadway musical. He seems clearly in love with his material and makes the film strangely beautiful and beautifully strange at the same time. With a director without much stage experience, ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ is such a great feat for Burton – a perfect fusion of the filmmaker and his material where his bravura for his visuals stamps its way to offer such an unlikely pairing of musical and horror. Indeed, Burton brings ‘Sweeney Todd’ to life for his audience. The dark, disturbing pictures and the lilting melodies make for a mad synthesis that really suit the story, in a way that they both coincide and contrast each other. The city is literally dark, and yet, the people living in it are even darker. And the film has a wicked humor and characters initially showing ghoulishness but ultimately revealing themselves as sad and sympathetic. And more than the brooding gothic romanticism and throat-slitting mayhem, the macabre story goes beyond the gothic yarn of revenge and lost love – it is a venerable human story.

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ is an interesting and invigorating stage-to-screen translation. It provides the audience with moments to get twisted, manipulated, repulsed, and entertained. The film benefits from Dariusz Wolski’s jaunty and swooping camera work and darkly whimsy lighting with a groundwork for a really discomfiting sense of horror and fantasy. The dismal sets, cartoonish gore, and the cheeky, good-looking splatter fest from production designer Dante Ferretti and his team carefully blend with the CGI works from the special effects department. Chris Lebenzon’s elegantly stylized and spasmodic editing is in par with the imagery, propulsive orchestrations to create an intoxicating blend of vengeance and madness. And the overall caustic, spider-blood visual scheme takes pleasure of the power of Sondheim’s gorgeously intricate rhymes and melody to make a fluid and dynamic story from the screenplay of John Logan, coinciding with the writings of Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler for the musical and Christopher Bond for the musical adaptation.

Burton’s uniquely collaborative relationship with his longtime lead actor Johnny Depp proves nothing less than film worthy. So goes with his off-screen and on-screen muse Helena Bonham Carter. The performances are pitched at just the right scale as fantastic morbid and fantastic sets, gorgeous costumes, and twisted CGIs all match the wry and maniacal characters of the film. Depp and Bonham Carter illustrate the psychological factors of their characters in subtle nuances – producing strongly deep emotional performances with stupendous rapture. As an actor, Depp is such a tour-de-force. Depp as the malevolent, ivory skinned serenading barber slitting throats in random really skirts along the edge of emotional chasm. He successfully incorporates Sweeney Todd into his own. From being once a pure man to his transformation into his darkest, most menacing persona, Depp makes Sweeney Todd disturbingly attractive. And his defining performance for the title role is convincingly one of his greatest. Indeed, with such a director-actor tandem of Burton and him, there is no role too great for Depp. Bonham Carter as the cheeky Mrs. Lovett is delightfully gruesome. Laced with morbid humor, she is equally charming in a dark and twisted way. Her meat pies are just as stuffed as her performance. Undeniably great performances are further strengthened by a number of great acting talents including: Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, the true personification of evil in disguise of an elite member of the society; Sacha Baron Cohen as Signor Adolfo Pirelli; Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford; Jamie Campbell Bower as Anthony Hope; Laura Michelle Kelly as Lucy; Jayne Wisener as Johanna; and Ed Sanders as Toby.

The outstanding singing performances from most of its gifted cast members have one main issue: the main performers are not great singers. It’s good Burton is witty enough not to make Sweeney Todd about the songs. Depp may not be a trained singer, but his voice is more than passable – and his mere presence as a great actor overcomes the singing limitations. Despite the considerably weak vocal works from Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, this cutthroat musical effectively presents the story. They may not be carrying their tunes quite as impressively as a deadly sharp razor or as a truly delectable meat pie, but the film maintains such brilliance in storytelling.

Burton deconstructs and redefines Sondheim’s masterwork into a motion picture masterpiece. This uncanny film version is true to the composer’s original vision while being spectacularly cinematic as well. It is at once different from the play and yet not different at all – it is such a unique achievement. It makes the play’s already familiar fare into something that has awakened and inspired the audacious Burton. With a cinematic visual style paying homage to a truly ‘Grand Guignol-ish’ appeal, Burton’s morbid imagination transforms the piece into a cheerfully gothic morality tale. The source material plays right into his cinematic wheelhouse as the music and spirit of the original piece show the way in bringing to the fore all the additional aspects that the film can provide as a medium and art form. And Sondheim’s musical provides a deliciously demonic dalliance for a combination that is as engrossing as it is unlikely. It may be rare for a film to achieve a feeling of unequivocal, breathtaking transcendence, and yet, this film adaptation does just that.

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ preserves best the corrosive power of Todd’s revenge. Its sense of tragedy and loss weighs heavily in its compelling story. Although not without some flaws, overall, it stays faithful to its own, uniquely haunted soul. And it serves as a satiric commentary on a human being’s greed, capitalism’s cannibalistic thrust, and human nature’s sense of vengeance.

This elegant slasher film glories in the gory. As a wickedly entertaining blood feast, it is hypnotic, brilliantly executed and positively electrifying. It breathes new life into the genre by dousing itself in buckets of blood spurting spectacles the way ‘300’ makes its own trademark blood spurts as its own glorious treat. It is a thoroughly entertaining gore-filled cinematic experience.

Film Review: Enchanted

Traditional Meets Postmodern Enchantment
By Rianne Hill Soriano

Disney’s ‘Enchanted’ is the best postmodernist fairy tale I have seen to date. And I am confident to say that it is bound to become a classic. This shimmering pastiche is obvious but inescapable: ‘Enchanted’ is as good as its name.

How refreshing it is to be able to gently make fun of Disney tradition while upholding it at the same time – no cheap or vulgar jokes or any treacle of whatever kind. Under director Kevin Lima’s inspired helm, this heart-winning musical comedy is a new breed of fairy tale that pokes fun at Disney’s animated classics without any hurting. ‘Enchanted’ maintains a delicate balance between the magic of traditional fairy tale and the deconstructionist approach to the princess genre. As a sweet, lighthearted antithesis to what is commonly shown in cinemas nowadays, this sardonic fairy tale unites animation and live action, fantasy and realism, practicality and dreaminess, and CG effects and hand drawn elements all suitable for kids and adults alike. Essentially postmodern and deconstructionist, the film indulges in all the dreams of fairy tale romance while making some 21st-century adjustments. It equally sprinkles fairy dust to its world of traditional fairy tale animation and its contemporary New York counterpart. As an expert blend of comedy, romance, and adventure, it proves that a motion picture can be light and frothy and yet still be intelligent and emotionally rewarding.

‘Enchanted’ takes its enchanting premise and prances away with it, and in turn, holds the audience happily captive. An irresistible blend of screwball comedy and fairy tale musical, it manages a warm, charming story that makes itself much more than a simple satire. It successfully recasts the traditional, sugar-spun Disney fairy tales into a winning, modern-day opus spinning its story with the needed puffiness as provided by its sharp and clever script, enchanting direction, and charming performances. This witty romantic fantasy romp playfully spoofs animated-fantasy formula with unabashedly romantic goofiness and clever winks – delightfully reworking the many old Disney favorites while incorporating fresh twists of its own as it commutes between Disney’s patented cartoon universe and the real world all with cleverness and grace. This surprisingly sophisticated riff on animated fairy tale movie clichés is one of those rare pieces that will actually work for all ages: not only kid-friendly but a guilty pleasure for adults as well. In short, it provides an all out entertainment for the whole family.

Disney really goes ‘meta’ in this witty, exuberant musical comedy with classic Disney set pieces, splashy production values, and freshly deconstructionist approach to what the Disney canon has offered for all these decades. From its real world fairy tale premise, its parody of its own is notable for how its heroine makes us realize how far a bit of innocence and optimism can uplift the people’s outlook in today’s untrusting world. While keeping its wish-fulfillment fantasy aspect in tact, it recognizes the idea that the world inhabited by its audience is filled with disappointment as well as with joy. And its pastiche and nostalgia serve as a sweet and affecting romance with fluffiness surviving the needs of its postmodernist attack.

The situations in this cinematic charmer are funny. It feels effortlessly fun. As a hugely clever and comic story of a fairy tale heroine who finds herself in real-life New York City, Princess Giselle’s happily ever after views on life and love changes after meeting a handsome and pragmatic lawyer from the Big Apple. What is even more impressive is how the film’s postmodernist outlook effectively tries to touch on both sides of the world’s duality: the traditional and the modern as seen from the plot to the production design; the happily ever after concept of love and the realistic pains and happiness of loving; the damsel/prince charming in distress and the damsel/prince charming fighting and saving her/his true love; the lover who fights for his love and the lover who loves unconditionally to the point of doing the ultimate sacrifice; the sweet and adorable animals on children’s stories and the sweet and not so sweet animals found in the big cities; and the storybook romance and the complicated situations in the real world of love and relationships. There are simple and yet commendable symbolisms all throughout the film. And it gets its message across and makes us think of what are the Andalasias and New Yorks in our own lives.

Cinematography, production design, visual effects, editing, sound design, and music are pretty tight in contributing to the film’s acceptable musicality, fluffiness, and puffiness to the point that some may even want to sing all the way home and make some clothes out of the favorite curtains.

Anchored by an entrancing performance by the lead performer Amy Adams, along with the strong ensemble cast, the film is sensationally fueled. To begin with, watching Amy Adams’ thoroughly captivating acting as Princess Giselle is worth the price of admission. Her genuine comical charm weaves some serious movie magic as she keeps up with her role as a ‘Disney heroine come-to-life.’ Truly magical and cartoonish in the right dose of it, she looks and sounds as if she really emerges from a fairy tale land. This bewitchingly good actress is every Disney princess in one ebullient package. The sight of her gliding and beaming and chirping in this film is nothing but a magical cinematic fair. She brews up her most transfixing expressions and sings great fairy tale songs that absolutely complement her vivacious performance. She does something akin to what Johnny Depp has in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise where an adorably inventive performance is what it takes to push the film over the top. Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip is terrific for his role as the representation of the postmodernist-deconstructionist thrust of love and life. James Marsden as Prince Edward makes a wonderful version of the storybook Prince Charming with a comic touch to it. Susan Sarandon’s wicked Queen Narissa blends with the ensemble even though her real-life version tends to look more like a drag queen than the typical dark, evil queen and witch with a traditionally classy but menacing beauty. The rest of the ensemble makes the film nothing but a true delight to the eyes, ears, and heart. This includes Rachel Covey as the cute, sweet, and street-smart little girl Morgan Philip, Idina Menzel as the modern woman with a soft side Nancy Tremaine, Timothy Spall as the loyal servant and guilty struggler Nathaniel, among others. Most people will adore the slapstick performers as well – including a prominently featured CGI chipmunk. Indeed, all of them contribute to a musical comedy so affectionate with the conventions it spoofs and the message it brings.

Disney returns to its roots while embracing the manhole covers of actuality and modernism in this rare musical comedy that will appeal to the whole family. ‘Enchanted’ may not be a perfect film, but it is so thoroughly delightful that the audience can’t go wrong with its lightly and sprightly demeanor. It’s silly and sweet, but never cloyingly so – bringing sheer movie bliss to its audience. A great family film that entertains both the kids and adults, ‘Enchanted’ hits every high note it sings… and it more than lives up to its title.