La Caja 507
So, on Wednesday night, me and few colleagues and friends decided to catch a free movie screening in UM. it's "La Caja 507", a spanish film.
first of all, the place where we watched this is kinda wrong already... it's like conference room, a big one lah, situated in the Faculty of Linguistic in UM. but then again, the light's off, it still look like a cinema hall to me.
(i so hope that UTAR will finally have a movie club, and then we can screen movie weekly in a proper theatre hall or something! and i seriously think that the students of broadcasting shall pick up the responsibility to do so -- they just watch too little films!! sigh... )
secondly, when it's stated there Spanish Film Festival, we expected to see some arty farty national cinema... but it seems that the film is a spanish commercial/mainstream movie. so we were disappointed in general. simply because our expectations were not met, and not because the movie is not good!
La Caja (pronounced La Caha) means the box... box no. 507 is the key to the story. it talks about a banker - Modesto, whom unluckily become the target of a group of bank robbers. they tied him up and drugged him, while swipe out most of the safety boxes. after Modesto woke up, he vomited in box 507, and discovered some strange documents from the box, which are related to his daughter's death 7 years ago. as he pursued the truth, he revealed even bigger scandal.
the story is very flesh and original, you can't really predict what's going to happen next. the actings are believable. and i particularly think that the control of pacing is great... there's no single boring plot, very energetic film. but like i said, because we went in with different set of expectations, all these strengths only appealed to me after i've reflected on the movie. i was originally hoping for some Almodóvar rather than this.
my rating: 7/10
Re-cycle
OK, i admit i went to watch this movie due to the actress, patriotic mah. :P but i am still amused by her performance in "the eye".
the movie, according to a lot of audience, is a boring piece, a let down. but i, on the contrary, like this movie. disappointing? perhaps you went in with an expectation to see a typical horror movie, or wanted so much to be scared - maybe only the first half an hour of the movie satisfied your need, the rest is just a... well, letdown.
it is actually a serious arthouse movie, i mean the subtext - if not the text. it talks about the things, the people, the ideas, the memories that we've forgotten or taken for granted. all this forgotten materials are kept in a secret realm, and will get recycled once it's been totally forgotten. ok, it sounds illogical, but when all those sepia-toned images appeared in front of my eyes, i got such a nostalgic feelings - especially that merry-go-round and the old library. they sorta summarize what i wished for in my childhood, a mysterious circus and a room full of books to read... but when all these appear in a forgotten land, i was like getting a slap on my own face -- i have forgotten about all these things too!! i no longer got attracted to circus, fun fair, not even merry-go-round anymore. i no longer crave for books, no longer enjoy the fantasy world of a book anymore... what a shameful feelings.
so, yes, it's the "recycled" movie idea of "Alice in Wonderland" or "Wizard of Oz", but this is a much gory one, and a more adult version. it talks about how Lee Sin Jie, the protagonist, accidentally bumped into this realm of forgotten land, and trying hard to find her way out. (i shall not be a spoiler and tell you how the story ends) the setting of the "wonderland", in this movie it's the "recycleland", is simply wonderful -- of coz you can't compare it to the multi-billion-budget Hollywood movies. The mood is right, the young girl's acting is superb, the old man's acting is good, the main actress' acting is... errr... forget about it... :P
ok ok, i have to admit the last scene of the movie has gone over the top... ok ok, even the 2nd last scene is a bit cliche... ok ok, so the pace of the movie especially in the "wonderland" is draggy like hell... (ok ok, i know i mumble too much without reviewing much about the plots, character development blah blah blah)... but so what, i enjoyed the movie, i got my own imagination running throughout the film, and that's enough for the price of a ticket.
rating: 6.5/10
Superman Returns
yup, i've been wanted to watch the movie when it returns after so many years. hehe. me and frens even went to Cineleisure 2 weeks before the premier only to find out that the movie was not on yet... hehe, really paiseh!
few reasons why i wanted to watch the movie:
1. to experience my childhood again, i remembered quite well that superman's series are among those of my early exposure to movie world.
2. to feel the heroic actions of superman all over again, and to believe that there's a savior to the world.
3. to listen to the theme music again, and be (somehow) motivated.
4. to go watch Kevin Spacey, he is my all time favorite actor since American's Beauty.
so yes, finally me and a few frens went to Cineleisure for the wednesday cheap session of the movie...
the review:
all of the above reasons to watch the film failed...
1. soon i realized i can't have my childhood back, it has long past, no more fantasy... sigh... can't deny the fact that i AM old already. -.-
2. i realized i don't believe in hero anymore. all of us have to depend on ourselves. and it's very clear that superman is just a product to sell - he's NOT real!
3. when i listened to the theme song while the "planets" credit sequence is shown, i finally realizeed that i've mixed up Star Wars' theme song to Superman's theme song... hahaha!! paiseh... :P
4. Kevin Spacey just didn't perform, or he has no chance to perform at all. the director has done an appalling job to design this antagonist. it's very superficial and have no weight at all. audience don't get to know who this Lex Luther is, seriously, let alone giving him a childish and somehow moronic motivation to create an island!!!??? come on, who are you kidding??
my fren complained to me 1 hour down the movie and said, "where is the story going? i don't even know what's the important plots or core of the story yet!!" very very true... i think the script is poorly written, the tension and the conflicts didn't build up at all the first half of the movie. too much of reminiscence slows the whole movie. the last 30 minutes of the movie only the pace picked up, which is a little too late. then everything followed happens too fast too rush.
another fren told me after the show that he fell asleep for at least half an hour in the first part of the movie. he asked me what have he missed. nothing, i answered... that shows how bad this movie is!
okay lah, the special effects are good no doubt, the colour of the film is superb too. technically, nothing's wrong with this movie! but it's just not enough in so many fundamental aspects - storyline, structure, character design, control of the pace....
my rating: 5/10
